6 Cannibalism Is Illegal

As a jester and an armored figure stood before each other, ten meters apart, the atmosphere was tense, and the air felt electric with every breath stinging their lungs.

Just as Hisoka was thinking of attacking, a sudden development occured which halted his thoughts.

"My joker!" His opponent suddenly shouted happily, jumping around in excitement, much to Hisoka's confusion.

"Yes~♦️?" Hisoka said jokingly, and this time, it was Juzou's turn to be confused.

"Huh?" Juzou paused.

"Hmm~?" Hisoka smiled.

"Oh! I meant my combat suit." Finally realizing the cause of confusion, Juzou explained. "It's part of the Arata series, the Arata Joker~"

What is that? An ability? It doesn't seem to be made of nen. Even looking at it with Gyo is not revealing anything. And an armor couldn't have just appeared out of nowhere.

"Hmm~ Is that so?" Hisoka hummed, pretending to have understood. "Ah! Perhaps you might want to take back the aura you're currently leaking out."

Juzou tilted his head.

"Otherwise~ You might die~♥️"

Playfully, Hisoka tapped his lips with a card, hiding a smile despite the serious situation.

Even though the jester was acting casually, Juzou instinctively knew that the matter was dire, judging from how he felt like he was slowly losing his energy.

Aura? Something was leaking out of him, and if it all escapes, he would die. Was this the nen he heard about from Ging?

Juzou closed his eyes, trying to feel for the energy, which wasn't actually that hard. Once he had a grasp of it, he started pulling it back in, but it took longer than he expected since there was just so much of it.

Furrowing his brows, Juzou stuck his tongue out in concentration, making Hisoka chuckle.

A few minutes later, after finally containing his aura, Juzou sighed in relief, facing Hisoka with a carefree smile.

"Bleuh..." Suddenly, Juzou turned towards the wall and dry-heaved. "Uhh- I think I have a concussion."

Hisoka chuckled, amused. "Fufu~♣️ You did hit your head quite hard."

"It was you who did that to me in the first place!" Juzou pouted, eyeing Hisoka frustratedly, but then widened his eyes in surprise. "Oh! I suddenly feel better now."

Hisoka blinked, watching as Juzou shook his head this way and that without any negative effect.

That was a quick recovery period. Normally, a concussion would take days or weeks in order to be healed, but, he barely took a few minutes! It made Hisoka curious of how long he would last in battle, being injured continuously and healing continuously. Would there be a limit to his healing factor? If so, how much would he have to be injured before it stops?

But, as Hisoka was lost in thought, Juzou himself was quietly pondering about something.

Why did his Joker disappear into his back and reappear again? Did he become like the Quinx squad members, a human-ghoul? Or was it ghoul-human? Quinque-person? RC-Homo Sapiens?

Hehe~ RC-Homos.

"Okay! I think I get it now~" Juzou stretched his body, grinning underneath his armor. "Oh, and one more thing."

Suddenly, Juzou dashed towards Hisoka and kicked his chest, so fast that the jester couldn't even react.

"Revenge, get!" Juzou cheered and skipped off towards the next tunnel, his mysterious armor disappearing into his back.

"Ahn~ You truly are-" Hisoka shivered as he grasped at his throbbing ribcage, eyes rolling to the back of his head in delight. "The best~♥️"

...

Traveling through the dark, Juzou hummed a tune to occupy himself but, suddenly, a mass of cards began flying towards him at extreme speeds, cutting through the air like paper.

"Hmm??!" Juzou was stunned, partially coating an arm with armor to deflect the cards aimed at him. "Round two?"

At the entrance of the tunnel, Hisoka stood with a warped expression on his face, panting from something that wasn't exhaustion.

"Even without the help of nen, you were able to fight me on equal grounds with ease. It really makes me impatient to see what you would be like once you're fully ripe~" Hisoka licked his lips, looking at Juzou as though he couldn't wait to eat him.

"Ahh~ I have to endure~ But, one day... I will eat you~♠️" Well, he really does want to eat him.

Juzou tilted his head, feeling unsettled for some reason as he activated his full Arata suit. "Is this cannibalism, I hear~?"

"It's illegal, you know~" With a pleasant smile on his face, Juzou swung his Jason, ready to fight another round.

...

Battling in places with limited space was not Juzou's forte. Unless he wanted the whole tunnel to come crashing down on him, he would never be able to fully showcase the increase in strength which his Arata suit brought him.

"Do you want to see it?" Hisoka whispered as Juzou tried to lift his foot, only to feel as though it were stuck to something. "My Bungee Gum~♥️"

Apparently, having learned his lesson from the previous battle, instead of aiming his Bungee Gum directly at Juzou, he opted to stick them towards the floor where Juzou might step on and on the walls in order to snag his opponent's weapon when it would brush past.

"Use your nen, direct it to your eyes." Hisoka chuckled, strangely sinister despite him actually giving out helpful tips. "That's Gyo~♣️"

Juzou pursed his lips and directed the new energy he possessed towards his eyes, slightly reeling back in surprise when his vision caught sight of pink. A lot of pink.

"Now you can see it~♦️" Hisoka smiled happily and was suddenly confronted by multiple knives being thrown at him, forcing him to retract his Bungee Gum from Juzou in order to block the knives.

Hisoka pouted, feeling wronged. He was doing his best to be a good teacher but his student was actually repaying him by trying to stab him. How rude!

"Hehe~" Juzou smiled carefreely, tapping his freed foot on the floor.

"Lesson is over~♣️" Hisoka huffed, pulling a bunch of cards out of nowhere, ready to fight seriously.

...

In the dark tunnel, two figures stood before each other, one with a pleased expression, while the other was bent strangely, bound tightly to the floor by several strands of pink nen.

"Hisoka, stop flexing on me with your cards. The meme doesn't work that way~" Juzou puffed his cheeks as a rain of cards fell on top of his body.

Suddenly, a gold bank card fell along with the regular playing cards.

"Oh, that works too." Juzou nodded, approving Hisoka's flex. "But, can you please let me go now? My shoulders are kind of going numb."

"Fufu~♥️"

And, with a snap of his fingers, the Bungee Gum disappeared. Only because Juzou asked nicely.

Speaking if Bungee Gum, Juzou still doesn't know what that is yet. Or anything, really.

What was he doing in this exam again?

"Right! A while ago, you said something about Bungee Gum, Gyo, and nen, right?" Juzou exclaimed, eyes gleaming with curiosity. "What is it?"

"Hmm~♣️?" Hisoka hummed playfully, pretending to be confused. "I don't know what you're talking about~"

"I mean, I've heard someone else talk about nen before, but I haven't really understood what it is yet." Juzou pursed his lips as they began walking through the tunnel. What is it really? And why do people keep it a secret?

Also, what are Hunters?

Looking at the person beside him, Hisoka suddenly felt compelled to enlighten him despite it being none of his responsibility.

"Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell you about it~♣️" The jester said and immediately, Juzou was bouncing in anticipation.

"Bungee Gum, to put it simply~" Hisoka trailed off, purposely adding mystery to what he was about to say next. "Has the properties of both rubber and gum!♥️"

"..." Juzou's smile stiffened. "Oh."

Hisoka chuckled, finding Juzou's reaction amusing. "It is also my Hatsu~"

That explanation would have been a good clarification... If Juzou actually knew what Hatsu even was.

"As for Gyo, it is the ability that helps you see nen~" Well, this one was much easier to understand. "While nen itself, is the ability that allows you to manipulate your aura, or, simply put, your lifeforce~♦️"

So to say, what was escaping from his body a while ago was his own vitality...

Instantly, Juzou's understanding of Hisoka was remade. He's really another level of crazy.

Just so he could quickly create a powerful opponent for himself, Hisoka was willing to risk it all for a whim.

But, even though Juzou thought so, he actually didn't mind that much as it did provide an opportunity for him to access a completely different skill tree from what he was familiar with much earlier than he would have if Hisoka didn't interfere.

In any case, he would have been put through the same situation sooner or later.

"By the way, Hisoka, are you fine walking like that?" Juzou suddenly asked, eyes drifting elsewhere. He'd actually noticed for a while now. He just didn't bother to say it until several minutes passed without it going away yet.

"Hmm? Like what~♣️?" Hisoka mused, acting like nothing was wrong.

"That thing..." Juzou pointed at a certain part within Hisoka's pants. "It looks painful."

"Oh~ Hehe~♥️"

He seems fine. Yeah, it's better to pretend nothing is wrong.

...

"34 minutes have passed. The total amount is 34 million Jenny." Gittarackur greeted them as they exited the tunnel and Hisoka threw him a bank card as though this was a normal occurrence between the both of them.

"Thank you for your patronage."

Actually, Gittarackur could have gone ahead of them, but he actually chose to wait so he could get his payment.

Really. Just how much does this guy love money?

In front of them, three different tunnels were presented, making it obvious what was to happen next.

"Well, I suppose this is where we separate~♣️" Hisoka smiled, shuffling his cards between his hands.

"Mhm~" Juzou hummed, checking the batteries of his headphones, finding more than half left.

"Click click click." It seemed that Gittarackur returned the nail on his chin.

"Well, I'll see you both later~" Putting his headphones on, Juzou casually waved towards his companions and headed towards a random tunnel, the entrance sealing shut after he disappeared into the shadows.

Moments later, the other two tunnels were sealed shut as Hisoka and Gittarackur headed off as well.