Chapter 119: Conjectures on Illumi's Actions
Ronin didn't dwell on the failed assassination. After the call with Hisoka, he and his team boarded a waste freighter to leave Meteor City.
While airships weren't impossible to find here, few chose to use them. The sheer number of sabotaged vessels made them flying coffins; a sturdy garbage barge was a much more reliable way to reach the coast.
As long as they reached the port city outside the city's jurisdiction, they could catch a commercial flight to Heavens Arena. The journey would take two days.
They were scheduled to arrive on the 30th.
Kurapika had finalized the arrangements in Meteor City. Even if "Elder Ryan's" villa was raided, the hidden informants they had established would ensure they received fresh intel from the city at any time.
This time, the freighter didn't explode.
They reached the port safely and boarded an airship. This was Shizuku's first time outside Meteor City. She spent the entire flight staring out the window, her blank expression masking a quiet, wide-eyed curiosity.
Ronin and Kurapika sat together, discussing the Zoldyck factor.
"Illumi won't abandon the contract easily," Ronin noted, sounding more annoyed than worried. "Our relationship with his family is technically decent. Why would he pick a fight he clearly can't win comfortably? Is he just insane?"
Their cooperation in Yorknew should have proven to the Zoldycks that Ronin was a high-risk target.
Unless Chrollo had offered a price so astronomical it outweighed the professional risk, Ronin hadn't expected any family member to accept the hit.
Especially since Silva and Zeno were still under a long-term retainer from Kurapika to assassinate Phantom Troupe members.
Kurapika's hiring of the patriarchs was a strategic deterrent—a "Non-Aggression Pact" enforced by payroll. He wanted to make it impossible for the Zoldycks to target Ronin from a logical business standpoint.
But the Zoldyck family dynamics were... unconventional.
"We can only restrict Silva and Zeno," Kurapika sighed. "The other family members are independent contractors. We can't buy their loyalty through their father."
He too was puzzled by Illumi's persistence. The cost-benefit analysis of the mission was disastrous.
Ronin thought of a possibility. Could it be the thing with Killua?
In the ring, he'd beaten the boy effortlessly. Illumi was notoriously obsessive and overprotective of his younger brother. If that brief contact was perceived as a "threat" or "bad influence," Illumi might be acting on a personal vendetta masked as a contract.
Damn creep, Ronin thought. Next time, I won't hold back. If I get the chance to end him, I'm taking it.
He decided to worry about the fallout when it actually happened.
"Don't worry. Fight as you normally would," Kurapika said, gesturing to his phone. He had already messaged Silva about the encounter with Illumi.
Silva's reply was chillingly professional: "If he accepted the contract, he accepted the risk. If he dies, it is due to his own lack of skill. The Zoldyck family does not seek vengeance for professional failures."
It was a cold, hard response. But Ronin believed him.
"I expected him to at least tell Illumi to stand down," Kurapika said, feeling a bit of pity for the twisted family.
The situation was absurd: one household split into two factions, each trying to kill the other's client.
"It won't end until either I or the Phantom Troupe are dead," Ronin analyzed. "Once one side's employer is eliminated, the other's contract terminates naturally. It's the only way they can maintain their 100% success rate without a family feud."
Ronin recalled the events of the manga.
Illumi, Maha, and Kalluto had assassinated the Ten Dons specifically to end the contract Silva and Zeno had to kill Chrollo.
It had been a close-run thing. If Illumi had been a few seconds slower, Chrollo would have been a stain on the wall.
Wait.
Ronin recalled Chrollo's prophecy from the Yorknew arc. 'Your superior position remains unshakeable, even if your companions are halved.'
Chrollo had known that as long as he followed his plan, the confrontation with the Zoldyck patriarchs would be his best chance to steal their abilities. He hadn't been afraid of dying; he was calculating his loot.
Truly a terrifying individual, Ronin thought. Even replaying it in his head, Chrollo's cold-blooded logic was impressive.
"Let's hope the October prophecy gives us some good news," Ronin said, looking toward Neon.
"Illumi might try to bring in the big guns. Maha or Zigg," Kurapika said. He had learned the family tree from Ronin.
Even Ronin only knew that these elders were still alive. Their actual abilities remained a complete mystery to him.
However, he knew Zigg Zoldyck had accompanied Netero and Linne Hors-d'oeuvre to the Dark Continent and returned alive.
That fact alone made him a monster among monsters.
Statistically, of the 149 recorded voyages to the Dark Continent, only five had survivors. Only 28 people in history had ever come back.
For Zigg to be part of a three-person team that scouted the forbidden land and made it out proved he was in a dimension beyond standard Nen users.
And Maha? He was even older and potentially more dangerous than Zigg.
If Illumi successfully recruited them, Ronin would be in serious trouble.
Stasis won't be enough for those two.
"The best strategy is to leave markers everywhere," Ronin decided. "If those old monsters show up, we run. Instantly."
Kurapika nodded vigorously. He was relieved to hear Ronin wasn't planning to let his ego get them killed.
"Retreating when you're outclassed isn't cowardice," Ronin said casually. "It's a tactical reset. Surviving a god is a feat of strength in itself. We run, we grow, and we come back to settle the score when the odds are in our favor."
He had no interest in a "fair fight" against a century-old legend.
He had been training for less than a year. Expecting to beat Zigg Zoldyck now was irrational.
Give me another two years. Maybe three.
By then, with the Mangekyō fully mastered and his aura refined, who knew where the ceiling would be?
Ronin had absolute confidence in his growth. His eyes were his guarantee that he would eventually stand above everyone in this world.
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