The reason Razor sensed something was wrong wasn't because he detected a problem with those people through Nen.
It was because, as a game master, he couldn't sense any player traits from the people behind Ronin.
In other words, those people might all have been created from aura.
However, his quest required fifteen people to be gathered before it could begin, so there was only one possibility.
At first, the other side did have fifteen members, but only four had actually reached the fortress. The remaining eleven were all fake bodies created from aura to fill the numbers.
Then whose ability was it?
Razor was not unfamiliar with this kind of ability at all. After all, what he was best at was also creating multiple Nen beasts.
Ronin's brow lifted slightly. From that brief change in Razor's expression, he had already noticed something.
At that moment, the pirate who had brought them here explained to Razor why Ronin's group had come.
Razor showed no surprise at all, nor did he immediately expose the identities of the shadow clones.
"In that case, let's have a match. Each side sends fifteen representatives to compete. The first side to win eight rounds wins.
"We'll decide the events. If you win, we'll leave this city immediately. How's that?"
"I have a question." Neon raised her hand like an elementary school student.
"Please go ahead." Razor was polite and courteous, nothing like a real pirate.
"What happens if we lose?" Neon asked curiously.
"Nothing much. You'll just have to leave this place," Razor replied, still wearing that easygoing, smiling expression. "Well? Will you take part?"
"No." Ronin stepped forward on his own. "I propose we go straight to a king-versus-king fight."
Razor frowned slightly. "You want to duel me?"
"Yes." Ronin nodded.
"I refuse." Razor smiled.
After all, the reason he had set up the match was to test the level of the other side's clones.
Besides, if they wanted to trigger a one-on-one match, they had to wait until the opponent won seven rounds first.
At that point, he would give them the chance to all come at him together and challenge him alone.
With the other side's strength, it should turn into a satisfying dodgeball match.
After answering, Razor had already started warming up impatiently.
Because he didn't believe Ronin would simply turn around and leave.
"What a pain," Ronin complained, then quietly waited for Razor to continue.
The matches began very quickly, but to Ronin, they were completely meaningless. His shadow clones utterly crushed the ordinary pirates.
Even though those pirates were all skilled in Nen, Ronin's shadow clones could use ninjutsu.
Boxing, racing, weightlifting…
After a series of events that looked like something out of a sports festival, their wins quickly accumulated to seven.
Ronin never made a move. He simply looked at Razor with a faintly provocative expression.
"Well? Is it your turn now?" Ronin was already rubbing his fists together in anticipation, and Razor had completely finished warming up as well.
"Mm." By now, Razor understood that Ronin had come specifically for him.
He was just curious.
Did he know Ronin?
Where had this guy gotten information about him?
He had been in this game for around ten years, yet someone had still managed to find him. That was honestly pretty amazing.
It seemed that even though he was no longer active outside, his legend still lingered in the world. Interesting.
"My next event will be eight-on-eight dodgeball."
As Razor finished speaking, his aura was released as well, rapidly forming seven players beside him.
Each Nen beast player had a numbered mark on its body.
"That's such a shameless tactic," Neon muttered quietly.
Clearly, she had already realized it. No matter how many wins they got today, they would still have to deal with Razor in the end.
If they couldn't beat him, then all the earlier victories meant nothing.
"If you beat me, it counts as eight consecutive wins," Razor said with a smile. "How about it? Fair enough, right? Will you participate?"
"Of course." Ronin stepped forward, then turned to look at the three people behind him. "Do any of you want to join?"
Neon and Abaki shook their heads at the same time. Both of them had felt Razor's enormous aura up close, and from the way Razor had seriously warmed up earlier, it was obvious he had no intention of holding back.
They had also seen the excitement in Ronin's eyes.
So being cheerleaders on the sidelines was just right. As for the match, that could be left to Ronin and his shadow clones.
Ronin's gaze fell on Shizuku.
"I won't participate either. Watching the two of you clash with the same kind of technique will be more interesting than joining in," Shizuku said after thinking for a moment, ultimately choosing to refuse.
She was actually quite interested in the dodgeball match Razor had proposed.
Especially because, in her eyes, Razor was a very good whetstone. Her recent training had reached a bottleneck, and if she could find a suitable opponent, she might gain some insight and improve.
But she wasn't in a hurry.
After Ronin's match ended, she could find another chance to spar with Razor. Besides, watching the match would also be a good opportunity to broaden her thinking and perspective.
Ronin didn't continue asking. He didn't even use the shadow clones who had come here with him.
Instead, he formed a cross-shaped seal with both hands and created seven new shadow clones.
Although he could tell Razor had probably already seen that most of the people he brought were shadow clones, Razor would never have guessed that those shadow clones had all been prepared in advance and stored inside sealing scrolls.
In other words, the chakra those shadow clones had did not come from a new division of his own current reserves.
Using them would feel like taking advantage.
So he simply used the Shadow Clone Technique and split his current chakra into eight portions.
However, he used a special trick: he did not divide all of his chakra equally.
If he were a pure ninja, doing that would have been difficult.
But he wasn't.
All he needed to do was not convert all of his Nen into chakra, and he could precisely control how much chakra each shadow clone received.
Ten thousand.
That was the amount Ronin chose after careful thought.
Leaving more than fifty thousand aura for himself seemed more than enough to him.
Razor hadn't expected Ronin to be able to use an ability so similar to his own, and that gave him an initial judgment of Ronin.
An Emitter.
But that straightforward personality also leaned a little toward Enhancement.
Still, regardless of the specifics, this was the first time Razor had experienced a match where clones fought clones. A fresh sense of anticipation filled his whole body.
The rules of the game were not complicated. The match was divided into an inner court and an outer court.
If a player in the inner court was hit by a ball thrown by the enemy, they were ruled out and moved to the outer court. When all players on one side were sent to the outer court, that side lost.
Players in the outer court could call Back and temporarily return to the inner court.
The rules for being hit used a rebound system. For example, if a ball thrown by Razor hit enemy player A, then bounced off and hit enemy player B before landing, both A and B would be out.
But if B caught the ball, then A would not count as having been hit.
Likewise, if the ball hit A, then bounced off and struck Razor's teammate C before landing, then C would be the one ruled out.
Of course, if C caught the ball, then A would be judged out instead.