Bang!!
"Kid, how could you enter the forest during this season?!!"
The tall man shouted angrily while pointing to a mark left on a nearby tree by the mother foxbear: "Look, that's the mark left by the mother foxbear, meaning this is her territory!!"
"No matter how dull an animal is, seeing such a mark will make it flee immediately!!"
"Didn't your father teach you that?!!"
The tall man grew angrier as he spoke and eventually turned away, refusing to even look at him: "Seriously, fortunately, I reacted to the warning of the chinchilla, but I haven't hunted like this in a long time..."
The tall man was still fuming when suddenly…
"I don't have a father or mother."
The low voice behind him made him pause slightly.
"They died in an accident shortly after I was born. I was raised by my aunt."
Gon leaned against a large tree, his head bowed, his tone low and melancholy.
The tall man: "... I'm sorry."
Only then did he turn his head, his tone softening slightly. Seeing Gon holding his arm, he handed him a bottle of medicinal herbs.
"Apply this so your wound won't get infected."
Plop.
The medicine bottle rolled next to Gon, who paid no attention to it.
Instead, he looked at the side…
"Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!!"
The little foxbear, who had lost its mother, was baring its teeth and staring fiercely at Gon and the tall man while emitting unclear, low growls.
Gon instinctively asked: "What should we do with this little foxbear?"
"Kill it."
The tall man said expressionlessly, "It's a cub that needs its mother's milk. Sooner or later, it will starve to death."
Ignoring the change in Gon's expression, Kite said calmly: "Even if it survives, having witnessed its mother's death will greatly increase its risk of attacking humans."
The tall man's consideration was thorough and very reasonable.
It seemed that, for now, killing the little foxbear was the only appropriate course of action.
Gon understood this and knew it was the correct choice.
But even so…
Whoosh!!
Without a word, he stepped forward and tightly held the little foxbear in his arms.
"I'll raise it!!"
Gon's tone was extremely determined.
"No, a foxbear cannot be tamed!"
The tall man's tone was equally firm.
"Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!!"
The little foxbear continued to bite and scratch Gon's arms, leaving trails of blood on him.
Yet Gon said nothing, tears filling his eyes, whether from pain, guilt, or something else.
His gaze was full of determination, fixed on the approaching tall man.
And those eyes made the tall man stop abruptly: "Your... Your father... Is his name Ging?"
Gon: "...?!"
"Mister, do you know my father?!!"
Hearing his father's name, even Gon couldn't help but stand up in excitement.
The little foxbear in his arms took the opportunity to break free and ran into a nearby tree hollow.
"..."
The tall man's mouth twitched slightly, but he chose not to comment further and lowered the brim of his hat.
"Heh, what a surprise..."
He chuckled softly: "I originally came to Ging's hometown to look for clues; it seems this trip wasn't in vain..."
He then sat beside Gon. "Sit, let's talk."
He smiled and said, "My name is Kite. I haven't been a hunter for long. Ging is my master."
"Hunter? Master?!"
Hearing the term for the first time, Gon murmured it under his breath.
Then, he and Kite talked about many things regarding his father.
"I learned basic tracking skills from Ging…"
"Only by finding him and passing this final test can I gain his recognition. This is even harder than hunting..."
Knowing this was Ging Freecss's hometown, Kite had specifically come here to see if he could find any clues about Ging.
Although he didn't find any, he found his son instead.
That face, those eyes, that gaze, exactly like Ging Freecss.
And to appear in Whale Island, Ging's hometown, it was natural for Kite to suspect Gon was Ging's son.
"Ging is the most outstanding hunter in the world I know."
"If it weren't for meeting him, I'd probably be dead in the slums by now."
Gon listened intently, his bright eyes growing even more radiant.
The mysterious past and experiences of his father fascinated him.
Yet the more he learned, the more questions arose in Gon's mind: "Ging... How did he die?"
Gon couldn't understand. Someone so talented and powerful, how could Ging just die like that?!
Kite: "..."
Uh, Gon's question was quite the shock.
"Ging is not dead."
Kite corrected Gon's misunderstanding. "Your aunt lied to you. She didn't want you to follow the same path as your father."
"But you have the potential to become an excellent hunter..."
Kite looked at Gon, then down at the cub by his feet, and smiled: "A good hunter... Should be loved by animals."
Squeak!!
The little foxbear came to Gon's feet, its eyes lively, no longer aggressive like before.
"Hunter..."
Gon muttered while looking at the little foxbear and bending down to pick it up.
At the same time, he noticed a card lying on the ground, imprinted with the Hunter Association's emblem, a professional hunter's license.
Although Gon didn't know what it was, after Kite's explanations, he could roughly understand: it was proof of being a professional hunter.
On this license were two stars.
A normal professional hunter's license has no marks. Only after achieving star rankings are stars added to the back.
Two stars mean a Double-Star Hunter.
Kite himself had not even reached Single-Star status yet.
So this hunter license…
"It looks familiar."
As Gon picked up the hunter's license and placed it in his pocket, a soft laugh suddenly came from behind him.
"Hmm?!"
Having just watched Kite leave, Gon instinctively turned his head back. He truly hadn't noticed that others had also arrived here.
"Who are you..."
He looked at the man walking toward him, dressed in a black trench coat, his steps steady, and exuding a natural elegance.
Gon asked curiously, without raising any guard. He didn't sense any malice from this man who suddenly appeared.
Even the little foxbear he was holding showed no extreme reaction.
"My name is Luke, and I'm also a professional hunter."
Luke said with a smile. "At the same time, I'm a friend of Ging Freecss."
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