Familiar scenery. Familiar dialogue.
"It's definitely Kurapika," Luo Ou said, looking at those blood-red eyes.
Before transmigrating, Luo Ou really did like Hunter × Hunter, but unfortunately Togashi was just too cruel. He had only rewatched it twice at most. Still, perhaps because of the transmigration, when he thought back now, the memories were surprisingly clear.
Rubbing his chin, Luo Ou suddenly thought of something else. He lifted his head and scanned his surroundings, and sure enough, he spotted a fish shop not far away. He felt he had just come up with a brilliant idea.
"Should I buy all the fish… or just that one?" Luo Ou pondered. "I need a method that's cheap, yet effective."
After thinking it over, he made his decision and walked toward the fish shop.
Standing beside the stall, Luo Ou positioned himself so he could hear in all directions and observe everything around him.
He had just settled into place when a shrill cry suddenly pierced the air.
"Help! Thief! Stop him!"
The tall, skinny fish shop owner rushed off in pursuit.
All that was left behind was the unattended stall, piled high with fish. They looked incredibly tempting—raw, fishy, and reeking of the sea—but to someone who had gone hungry all day, the temptation was stronger than a box full of money.
Luo Ou quickly dismissed the idea.
That might be true for ordinary people, but for Leorio, even starving to death wouldn't outweigh the appeal of money.
"Ou? What are you doing here?"
Gon's sharp eyes spotted Luo Ou standing by the fish stall. Without bothering about the person he was following, he took a few quick steps and ran over.
"Nothing. I just happened to be passing by," Luo Ou replied. "Gon, did you find anything useful?"
Luo Ou glanced at the man standing beside Gon.
A neatly pressed suit, glasses perched on his face, eyes squinting so much they were nearly gone, and an unmistakable air of a well-dressed scoundrel—it was Leorio, the man who had just eaten his apple earlier.
Who would've thought that Gon would still end up meeting Leorio by pure coincidence?
"We've got a lead already. We should be close," Gon nodded.
While they were talking, Leorio suddenly darted toward the fish stall like a monkey. In one fluid motion, he lunged forward, scooped up five fish, and bolted, the entire sequence smooth as flowing water.
Luo Ou pulled some Jenny out of his Jenny card, took out two thousand, waved it in the air, and shouted after Leorio:
"Hey, the guy in the suit up ahead! We meet again! Times are tough—help when you can. I'll treat you to those fish, so stop running!"
Leorio heard him, but without even turning his head, he shouted back, "Then I'll take it as a free meal—thanks!"
And he ran even faster, as if a pack of rabid dogs were chasing him.
As he ran, Leorio muttered to himself, "You say times are tough, yet you think I'll fall for that? Apples might be free, but fish aren't! We've only met once and you're treating me to fish? You think Jenny grows on trees?"
To Leorio, it was obviously a trick.
Money in Hunter × Hunter was always a bit vague, but there were clues. For example, in Heaven's Arena, winning a match on the first floor earned 15 Jenny—just enough to buy a bottle of juice. That put Jenny roughly on par with Japanese yen.
Five fish would cost about 120 RMB.
Treating a complete stranger you'd met only once to food worth over a hundred—especially in the Hunter world—was definitely not something a normal person would do.
But Luo Ou wasn't normal.
He was a good man who had transcended low-level tastes.
"Ou, you're really a good person," Gon said. "You even paid for that uncle."
"Times are tough," Luo Ou replied solemnly. "Help when you can."
At that moment, Luo Ou might as well have been the Bodhisattva Guanyin, descending to save the suffering.
Gon nodded in deep agreement.
"Gon, keep gathering information. I'll meet you at the harbor later," Luo Ou said.
"Okay, I'll go first!" Gon ran off in Leorio's direction.
"He's really fast," Luo Ou remarked, admiring the cloud of dust left behind.
Luo Ou stayed where he was. Before long, Kurapika finished eating and left. More than twenty minutes later, the tall, skinny fish shop owner finally returned, head hanging low like a defeated rooster. It was obvious he hadn't caught the thief.
Luo Ou quickly walked up to him.
"Boss, five fish—two thousand Jenny," Luo Ou said, placing the money into the man's hand. "You weren't here earlier. My friend had an emergency, so he took them first."
The fish shop owner stared blankly, mechanically accepted the money, and put it into the cash box, still not quite processing what had happened.
Watching Luo Ou's departing figure, the owner muttered to himself, "He really is a good person."
After settling everything, Luo Ou—just in case—took the time to visit a beach not far from the harbor. He booked a boat in advance. It was fast enough to catch up with the Sea God.
Luo Ou had no intention of changing the way Gon and Leorio boarded the ship. Using a fishing rod or similar tricks—no matter how many times he watched that scene, it still made his blood boil. And besides, how could listening to a recording compare to seeing a live performance?
That said, sacrificing a bit of time to prepare in advance was still absolutely necessary.
When Luo Ou arrived at the harbor, he paid a deposit to rent the boat and finalized the terms with the captain. When the time came, he'd just pay the remaining fee. If the boat wasn't used, the deposit would be forfeited, but the boat would remain on standby at all times.
"Let's find a supermarket and buy some supplies, otherwise—"
Before Luo Ou could finish the thought, a familiar scene from the anime unfolded before his eyes.
"Kid, why are you doing this? Looking for a fight? Do you know who I am? I'm a Hunter!"
A blond man wearing a green hat snarled at Gon.
It was the fake Hunter Luo Ou had treated to a meal earlier.
"It looks like Gon has already freed the foxbear family," Luo Ou said to himself.
Standing at a higher vantage point, he could clearly see the four people involved: Gon, Leorio, the fake Hunter, and the black-hearted ship owner.
The general situation was this:
Gon had boarded the wrong ship—one belonging to the black-hearted owner, who charged admission to display rare animals. Many of those animals had been captured by the fake Hunter in the green hat and sold to him.
Among them was a family of foxbears. They weren't Gon's foxbear family, but Gon's extraordinary sensitivity allowed him to feel animals' emotions, and he sensed the foxbear parents' desperate desire to rescue their child.
Unfortunately, Gon was still too young. Before he could help, he himself was locked in a cage. Later, Leorio snuck aboard to steal the black-hearted owner's money and happened to find Gon, freeing him.
Gon hadn't forgotten the foxbears.
So he released all the animals on the ship.
In Luo Ou's opinion, the black-hearted owner's biggest mistake was locking Gon and the animals together.
The owner suffered heavy losses, and naturally, so did the fake Hunter. As a result, they caught Gon and Leorio, and the four of them were now locked in a tense standoff.
"You're not a real Hunter," Gon said firmly.
Ignoring the fury on the green-hatted man's face, Gon simply spoke from his heart.
"What did you say?" the man snarled. "You've got guts. I'll show you the consequences of opposing a Hunter!"
As he spoke, the man raised his hunting rifle, the pitch-black barrel aimed directly at Gon and Leorio.
The black-hearted owner cheered him on from the side.
Leorio tensed up completely, preparing to strike back.
Luo Ou felt that this was the moment he needed to step in.
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