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Ronin didn't sweat the Illumi situation too much. After finishing his call with Hisoka, he and the others boarded one of the garbage ships heading out of Meteor City.
Airships weren't exactly rare around here, but not many people actually rode them. Way too many had gotten blown up lately, so the garbage transport ships felt a lot safer.
Once the ship reached the port city outside Meteor City, they could switch to an airship straight for Heaven's Arena. The whole trip would take about two days.
That meant Ronin would hit the Arena on the 30th.
Kurapika had already set everything up back in Meteor City. Even if someone raided Ryan's villa, the contingencies he'd left behind would still keep the intel flowing.
This time the big ship didn't explode halfway through the journey.
They reached the port safely and transferred to the airship. This was also Shizuku's first time ever leaving Meteor City.
She stared at everything around her with open curiosity.
Ronin sat with Kurapika, going over the Zoldyck family situation.
"Illumi probably won't drop the job that easily," Ronin said with a sigh. "I thought our relationship with the Zoldycks was pretty solid. What the hell was going through that guy's head when he took the contract on me?"
From their cooperation back in Yorknew, Silva and Zeno should've realized how tough he was to handle.
Unless Chrollo had offered them a price they literally couldn't refuse, Ronin honestly hadn't worried much about anyone taking an assassination job on him.
Especially since Zeno and Silva still had Kurapika's long-term contract to wipe out Phantom Troupe members.
Kurapika's move had been designed to block the Zoldycks from ever coming after him at the source.
But clearly the family's internal situation was way messier than they'd expected.
"The only ones we can actually control are Zeno and Silva. The rest of the family members are a lot harder to pin down," Kurapika replied, sounding just as frustrated.
He couldn't figure out why Illumi would accept a job that looked this difficult and completely unrewarding.
Ronin actually had one theory.
It just sounded way too ridiculous.
After all, he'd only had that one short interaction with Killua at the arena—and they'd barely said two words. If something that small could spark Illumi's jealousy, the guy was seriously messed up.
The more he thought about it, though, the more it started to feel like the most likely reason.
Damn it.
Next time he ran into that psycho, Ronin wasn't holding back. If he got the chance to kill him, he'd do it without hesitation.
Any fallout after that? They could deal with it when it actually happened.
"Don't worry about it. Just act normal," Kurapika said, holding up his phone. He'd already told Silva about Illumi's assassination attempt.
Silva's answer had been brutally simple: "Since he took the job, it means he was ready for the consequences. If he dies during the assassination because he wasn't skilled enough, the Zoldyck family isn't going to avenge a failure."
Cold as ice.
Ronin took him at his word.
"I was hoping he'd step in as family head and force Illumi to drop it," Kurapika said, a little disappointed.
This Zoldyck family was seriously twisted.
Right now it was basically family members split into two teams, each trying to assassinate the other side's employer.
"It won't happen. This whole situation only ends when either me or the Phantom Troupe gets wiped out. Once one client is gone, the contract dies on its own. That way the Zoldycks keep their perfect 100% success rate," Ronin explained, drawing from what he remembered.
In the manga the Zoldycks had played both sides exactly like that—some taking the Ten Dons' commission to kill the Troupe, others taking Chrollo's money to hunt the Dons.
In the end Illumi brought in Maha and another member to take out the Ten Dons, stopping Silva and Zeno from finishing Chrollo.
It had been really close.
If Illumi had been even a little slower, Chrollo probably would've died at Silva and Zeno's hands.
Wait. No.
Ronin remembered Chrollo's fortune poem from the story. It had clearly said something like "Even if only half your comrades remain, your superior position will still stand firm."
That meant Chrollo had known that if he followed his usual plan, the fight against Silva and Zeno would be his best shot at stealing their abilities.
And if he went all out, he didn't have to worry about dying in the process.
Everything that happened had been inside his calculations.
Truly terrifying.
Even now, when Ronin replayed Chrollo's moves, he still found them impressive as hell.
"Let's hope the October divination gives us something good," Ronin said, glancing over at their secret weapon—Neon.
"Illumi will probably try to bring in Maha or Zigg from the family!" Kurapika said. He'd gotten the full family breakdown from Ronin earlier.
Even Ronin only knew that these two were older than Zeno and still alive. He had no clue what kind of abilities they actually had.
Zigg had once gone with Chairman Netero and the gourmet hunter Linne to the Dark Continent, and all three had returned safely to Mobius Lake.
That alone proved how monstrously strong he was.
Official records showed 149 human expeditions to the Dark Continent. Only five of them had any survivors—and the total number of people who made it back alive was just twenty-eight.
For Zigg's three-person team to explore the place and come back? They were monsters among monsters.
Maha was an even older monster than Zigg.
If Illumi actually pulled those two in, Ronin would definitely feel some real pressure.
Dealing with opponents like that was tough.
The smartest move was to leave coordinates behind in advance and run when it counted.
Ronin laid out his plan, and Kurapika agreed completely.
Honestly, Kurapika had been worried Ronin might get excited and want to throw down with Maha or Zigg right away.
Hearing that he was already prepared to bail if things got bad put his mind at ease.
"When your strength isn't there yet, running away isn't embarrassing. Being able to escape from a stronger opponent is a kind of strength too. Once you've powered up later, you can always come back for revenge," Ronin said casually.
He didn't have that "fight to the death, never retreat" mentality.
He'd only been training for less than a year. Facing monsters who'd been alive for over a century right now just wasn't fair.
He'd at least need another two and a half years.
Then it would be anyone's game.
Ronin had total confidence in his own growth—especially these Mangekyō Sharingan eyes, which made him believe he'd eventually surpass everyone.