To them, the Beri that Gon took were completely insignificant compared to the Beri in Kyle's backpack.
Kyle and Killua headed right, and shortly after leaving the town, a dozen pirates who had been lying in ambush decided the time was ripe.
The leader, a man with a Scarface, signaled to three of his subordinates, who immediately understood and quickly circled around, attempting to cut off Kyle and Killua's path.
This was their usual tactic: to catch someone, the best way was to first cut off their escape route.
Seeing that his three underlings had already circled around to Kyle and Killua's front, Scarface no longer hid and openly led the rest of his men out.
"Hey, brats up ahead, where are you two off to?"
Kyle and Killua turned at the sound, seeing seven or eight pirates, swords in hand and grins on their faces, approaching them.
In his opinion, the moment Killua and Kyle saw them, their first reaction would be to run, but to his surprise, the two brats not only didn't run but stood their ground.
Kyle rubbed his head, feigning confusion as he asked, "Uncle, are you trying to rob us?"
Scarface was surprised that Kyle showed no fear, but didn't think much of it.
How could two twelve or thirteen-year-old kids possibly contend with battle-hardened pirates like them?
Moreover, he was a "Great Pirate" with a bounty of 500,000 Beri.
"No, no, don't use such harsh words," Scarface's dark humor emerged, and he joked, "We're just borrowing some money from you to spend."
The pirates behind him laughed cooperatively at his words.
"Kyle, should I kill them all?" Killua looked at them, his eyes revealing a chilling killing intent.
This killing intent was so palpable that it pierced Scarface directly.
The mockery on his lips instantly froze in his throat, and he felt a chill shoot from his spine to the top of his head, as if the air around him had solidified.
His body trembled uncontrollably, and a deep, instinctive fear overwhelmed him. "How can there be such a terrifying brat?!"
"D-did it suddenly get cold?" A pirate beside him rubbed the goosebumps on his arms, his voice trembling.
"Captain… why are you shaking?" Another person felt the oppressive air and looked at Scarface's bewildered expression.
At this moment, Scarface fully understood the disparity in their strength, and his voice trembled uncontrollably: "P-please don't kill us! This is our first time, we'll never dare again!"
"Killua, don't scare them anymore." Kyle looked at their expressions and smiled, stopping him.
Killua heard him, casually withdrew his killing aura, and looked bored: "Tch, how uninteresting. I got my hopes up for nothing."
Kyle smiled helplessly; this was quite normal in the weakest East Blue.
Scarface felt the icy, bone-chilling aura disappear from him and quickly wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, saying in a terrified voice, "W-we'll go surrender right now!"
With that, he turned, intending to leave with his subordinates.
"Trying to leave already?" Kyle's voice rang out.
Scarface froze in place, turning to look at Kyle, his face full of pleading. In his eyes, Kyle was the one willing to let them go.
"Don't worry, we won't kill you," Kyle said seriously, "but we need a small favor from you."
"Of course! Absolutely, of course!" Scarface, at this point, wouldn't dare refuse.
"Kyle, including the three who went around back, that's eleven people in total. Is it necessary to keep so many?" Killua asked, a little confused.
"Of course it's necessary," Kyle's eyes flashed with confidence, "This time we're going to train intensely for ten days. More people means better auxiliary effects, which will greatly help with our training."
Killua looked at Kyle's shining eyes, and an ominous premonition arose.
Especially when he remembered the bump on Gon's head when he returned, this premonition grew even stronger.
Just then, the three pirates who had circled around saw their boss and companions following the two brats like quails, assumed something had gone wrong, exchanged glances, and charged at Killua with raised swords.
However, just as they approached, Killua's figure flickered like a ghost, disappearing into thin air.
The next second, he reappeared behind the three of them.
Two of them collapsed directly to the ground without even a grunt, unconscious.
This scene completely stunned Scarface, and he finally understood why he had been so terrified and trembling just now—it was his body issuing the strongest warning!
He instantly dismissed all thoughts of escape.
"Bring them along." Kyle gestured to Scarface.
"Yes! Yes!" Scarface swallowed hard and quickly ordered his subordinates to comply.
---
The group arrived at the mountain spot.
Kyle pointed to a patch of forest and ordered the pirates, "Go cut down those dozens of trees and carry them to this open space."
"Yes, we'll go right away!" Scarface responded, about to lead his men to work.
"Remember," Kyle's icy voice rang out again, like cold water poured over everyone's heads, "Do not try to escape. If even one person is missing, the rest… will all die."
The pirates looked at each other in horror, instantly understanding what this meant—they had become each other's strictest supervisors.
"But don't worry," Kyle's tone softened, "I won't make you stay too long, just ten days. After ten days, I'll set you free."
Scarface and his subordinates, who had been ashen-faced, suddenly saw hope upon hearing this.
With something to look forward to, everyone's motivation to work increased significantly, and they busily set about their tasks with enthusiasm.
Kyle watched this scene, a satisfied smile on his face.
He knew very well that giving clear hope was far more effective at extracting the potential from these "tools" than pure intimidation.
Just then, at the end of the mountain path, Gon's figure appeared.
He was carrying a huge package several times taller than himself, leaving deep footprints in the ground with every steady step as he walked up.
A pirate who was working glanced over, his jaw dropping in surprise.
"That package… must weigh at least five hundred pounds?!"
Seeing this, Killua's lips curved into a mischievous smirk. He approached Gon's blind spot and, with a light leap, jumped onto Gon's package.
Initially, Gon was completely unaware of the added weight.
But as Killua's smile deepened, the package's weight began to subtly increase… Gon felt the weight and knew exactly what was going on.
This had to be Killua's doing, and he was not one to admit defeat, so he continued walking towards their destination with Killua on his back.
With each step, his footprints became deeper and deeper. Although Killua's weight wasn't heavy, when he exerted himself, his body's power would continuously increase.
By the time Gon arrived in front of Kyle, he was already drenched in sweat from exhaustion.
Kyle looked at Gon, who had carried Killua using only his physical strength without activating his Nen, and smiled, saying, "Gon, are you tired?…"