Royal Glam Gas had always had an excellent reputation.
Even back when the Moritonio Troupe mysteriously disbanded after a performance, and the troupe leader vanished, no one had ever suspected Royal Glam Gas of having anything to do with it.
Of course, Royal Glam Gas really hadn't been involved in that incident.
Because the one who killed Moritonio was Hisoka.
And Moritonio, the troupe leader, hadn't been some innocent man either—he was a serial killer.
After seeing the makeup on Abaki's face, Ronin gradually dredged up the relevant plotline from his memory.
It was from a fan manga—
Hisoka's backstory, drawn by Sui Ishida, the author of Tokyo Ghoul, and even recommended by Togashi himself.
It told the story of how Hisoka learned Nen after being taken in by a circus troupe.
You could say that the circus leader, Moritonio, was the teacher who taught Hisoka how to use Nen, while Abaki had been Hisoka's senior apprentice.
The story ended with Hisoka discovering Moritonio's identity as a serial killer, then secretly engaging him in a life-and-death battle without telling anyone else.
In that fight, Hisoka displayed his unmatched talent for combat and killed his opponent with Bungee Gum, then left the troupe behind.
Ronin hadn't expected the world to be this small.
After all that circling around, he hadn't run into a young Hisoka here—but he had run into someone from Hisoka's past.
He wasn't especially interested in Abaki's personal history, but he was very interested in the ability she had mastered.
Still, when he thought about the fishing rod in her hand, Ronin couldn't help but think of another spiky-haired boy—Gon.
He wondered whether part of what had drawn Hisoka to Gon back then had also been that fishing rod in his hand.
Abaki's ability clearly had a strong connection to her fishing rod, and from the earlier performance, it was already possible to tell that her ability development also incorporated spatial attributes.
That was one of the major development paths for Emitter-type Nen users.
Among the best examples was Knov. A beginner-level example was Leorio. And then there were the pirates on Greed Island.
The other direction was pure Emission effects—like Razor's aura volleyballs, Franklin's double machine-gun fingers, Zeno's Dragon Head and Dragon Dive, and the resurrected Ant King's aura shockwaves that could blast entire mountaintops apart.
It was hard to say which development path was better, but one thing was certain: once spatial properties were added, an Emitter's abilities had far greater support value than abilities that pursued pure destructive power.
At least, that was how Ronin understood it.
Once they came out of the theater, the crystal ball had already begun reflecting what was happening inside.
As soon as the last audience member left, every door in the theater was shut under the control of the security staff.
At the same time, armed men began appearing throughout the theater.
Through the crystal ball, Ronin and the others could clearly see the actors gathered onstage go from hopeful anticipation to panic and confusion as soon as they saw the armed men enter.
"Lord Ryan, what does this mean?" the centaur stepped forward and asked.
He was also the leader of the Freak Show Troupe—Norman.
"It means nothing much. I just want to borrow a few things from all of you. I'm sure you won't refuse me that much face, right?" Ryan lazily rose from his chair, his gaze sweeping greedily over everyone on the stage except Abaki.
"Borrow what?" Just from Ryan's expression alone, Norman felt deeply uncomfortable. He also knew that even if he asked, he wouldn't get a good answer. But in their current situation, they were the fish on the chopping block. It was no longer up to him what happened next.
"Oh, just some things you have that other people don't. Like your lower body. One of her heads. That white fur coat of his..."
Ryan pointed at them one by one, all of them the unusual body parts that made these freak show performers different from ordinary people.
Some of them might not die if they lost those parts—
but they would lose the very things they relied on to survive.
What surprised Ryan, though, was that the people he pointed at no longer showed the fear they had earlier. Instead, their eyes held numbness and helpless resignation.
It was as if they had already gone through this kind of thing countless times before.
"Sorry, but I can't agree to your request." Norman maintained his manners, but the aura around his body had already shifted from Ten into Ren, making his stance perfectly clear.
Ryan laughed. He wagged a finger, wearing a thin, nasty smile. "No need. I was only being polite."
Then he waved his hand.
"Don't damage my precious collectibles. Capture them alive if you can."
As a high-ranking member of the Glam Gas family with enormous authority, Ryan had no need to act personally. His subordinates could achieve anything he wanted for him.
But the moment the words left his mouth, the one he cared least about—the one he hadn't even bothered to pay attention to—Abaki moved faster than any of the Glam Gas family's hounds.
She swung her fishing rod hard toward Ryan's direction. The fishing line whistled through the air, shooting toward him at incredible speed.
But a tower-like figure stepped in front of the hook first and reached out to grab it.
Yet just as the hook was about to touch his palm, it flashed—and vanished.
The security man who had moved to block it jerked his head around, only to see that the hook had already appeared in front of Ryan and struck him dead on.
Flesh tore.
The hook pierced into Ryan's arm. Then, as Abaki yanked hard from a distance, the line snapped taut. Ryan let out a scream as the hook caught on the bone in his arm, dragging him stumbling toward Abaki.
Watching everything through the crystal ball, Ronin didn't make a move immediately.
Because he sensed something was wrong.
Ryan had already seen Abaki's ability during the earlier performance. So why had he and his security team still let her land a hit so easily?
Most of the people who had the same thought as Ronin realized the problem in the very next moment.
That included Abaki herself, who had just landed the hook.
Because although Ryan screamed loudly, not a single drop of blood sprayed from the torn flesh on his arm.
It was a dummy.
Abaki reacted instantly—
but she was already too late.
The dummy's hand shot out and grabbed hold of her fishing line.
"Got you."
A mechanical voice came from the dummy's mouth. Nen began spreading along the fishing line, rapidly invading Abaki's position.
Alarm bells rang in Abaki's mind. Before she could decide what to do, the security man who had tried to catch her line earlier disappeared from where he stood.
A bad feeling flashed through her.
Her hand darted into her pocket, and a pair of scissors appeared in her grip.
She had to cut the fishing line first.
As for the one attacking her, she didn't even spare him a glance.
Because at the exact moment he appeared in front of her, a pair of backward-kicking horse hooves was already slamming toward his chest.
~~~
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