Killua’s expression became grave when he heard the name Phantom Troupe.
Seeing his reaction, Gon asked seriously, “Are they really that strong?”
“Yeah.
My father once killed one of their members.”
“That was also the only time I ever saw him feel that a job hadn’t been worth the trouble.
He even warned me not to provoke them carelessly.”
“They were strong enough for your father to warn you?”
Shock appeared on Gon’s face.
Killua’s father was a professional among professional assassins.
For someone like him to issue such a warning was more than enough to demonstrate how dangerous the Phantom Troupe was.
“They’ve all developed Nen abilities of their own,” Kael said.
“If we want to fight them, we must first create our own special techniques.”
“Then, during the time we have left in the other world, we’ll combine those techniques with Haki and develop even more powerful moves.”
Gon and Killua both nodded.
“To save time, let’s start training!” Gon declared as he stood up.
After hearing Kael’s explanation, he felt that they had very little time remaining.
Killua agreed.
He took out an electric shock device that he had prepared earlier.
Seeing it, Gon immediately understood what Killua intended to do and watched curiously.
Killua paid no attention to Gon’s stare.
He turned the current up to its maximum setting and pressed the electrodes against his left hand.
Bzzzt!
The harsh crackling of electricity was enough to make anyone’s scalp go numb.
Killua, however, did not release so much as a muffled groan.
Once the electric shock ended, he held his hands before Gon and Kael and pointed his fingers toward one another.
Arcs of electricity immediately appeared between his fingertips.
When Gon saw this, he knew he could not afford to fall behind.
His expression became serious as he resumed practicing the technique that gathered all his aura into his right fist.
Kael activated the Book of World Resonance and began trying to adjust the difference in the flow of time.
Time-related abilities belonged within the realm of Specialization.
However, controlling the relative flow of two separate worlds would require him to add an entirely new function to his ability.
With that thought in mind, Kael focused on the soul imprint representing the world of One Piece within the Book of World Resonance and began experimenting.
The three of them trained as though possessed.
Led by Gon, they entered the forests of Whale Island and even practiced among the branches of the enormous trees.
When their training reached a critical stage, the three boys, who had initially trained together, each found an isolated place to continue experimenting.
It was almost as though none of them wanted the others to discover how far they had progressed.
Just as Kael finally began to understand how to create another function, a tremendous explosion rang out from Gon’s direction.
Boom!
Kael and Killua immediately rushed toward the sound.
When they reached Gon, they found a deep crater beneath his feet.
“Gon, did you do this?”
“Yeah!”
Gon clenched his fist excitedly.
“This is my ability.
I decided to call it Jajanken.”
He then looked seriously at Kael.
“Kael, can we go to the other world now?”
Kael nodded.
“After training for the past two days, my ability has also gained a new function.”
“A time ratio.”
“A time ratio?”
“Yeah.”
Kael activated his ability.
As the glowing gateway formed, a new time-setting function appeared above the curtain of light.
The available settings were:
Two times.
Three times.
Four times.
Five times…
All the way up to ten times.
“Kael, are those controls for adjusting the time ratio?”
“That’s right.
But activating a time difference requires a corresponding price.”
“Take the two-times setting as an example.
For every day that passes in our world, two days will pass in the other world.”
“With a two-times ratio, doesn’t that mean our remaining month becomes more than two months?”
Gon’s face lit up with delight.
“Exactly.”
“Although this is a new function of my ability, choosing the two-times setting comes with a cost.”
“My aura can only recover to ninety percent of its normal maximum.”
“The higher the time ratio I choose, the lower my total usable aura will become.”
“With my current aura reserves, I can only activate the two-times ratio.”
“To use a higher ratio, my total aura reserves will need to reach two hundred thousand.”
“Two hundred thousand?”
Gon looked puzzled.
“Kael, how do you calculate someone’s total aura?”
Kael was already breathing heavily.
“I’ll explain that later.
I’m almost at my limit.”
Killua looked at Kael’s increasingly pale face and finally understood how much strain the ability was placing on him.
The three selected the two-times ratio and immediately stepped through the glowing gateway.
Seeing how exhausted he was, Killua immediately took a bottle of water from his backpack and handed it to him.
Kael accepted it and drained the entire bottle in one breath.
Only then did he begin to feel slightly better.
He had not expected activating the two-times ratio to consume so much energy.
Furthermore, he could currently operate at only ninety percent of his full strength.
Although the drawback was somewhat troublesome, it was not a major problem.
They were still in the East Blue, where there were very few truly powerful people.
Half an hour later, Kael had recovered most of his stamina.
He looked at Gon and Killua.
“Gon, Killua—it’s time for us to set sail.”
Both boys immediately became excited.
“Kael, are we going to buy a ship?” Gon asked eagerly.
“Why buy one?
That sounds like too much trouble.”
Killua gave a mischievous grin.
“I think we should just steal one.”
“Killua’s right,” Kael said with a smile.
“There are pirates everywhere in this world.”
“All we have to do is find one unlucky pirate crew and take their ship.”
“Their vessels probably won’t be anything impressive, but one will be more than enough for the three of us.”
No matter the world, robbery was an extremely profitable business.
Since they were robbing pirates, they felt no guilt whatsoever.
After thinking about it, Gon agreed with Kael and Killua’s suggestion.
Those pirates were ruthless criminals.
Taking their ship and sending them to prison would be the most appropriate punishment.
Once they had made their decision, the three quickly arrived at the harbor of Shells Town.
They looked through the crowds coming and going, but they could not find a single obvious pirate crew.
“Kael, it doesn’t look like there are any pirates here.”
Gon searched the harbor but saw no ships flying a Jolly Roger.
“The Marines are stationed here.
Of course pirates wouldn’t openly fly their flag.”
“Look at those people.”
Gon and Killua followed Kael’s gaze.
More than a dozen men dressed in ragged clothes were walking toward a ship.
Arrogant smiles hung from their lips.
Each carried a different weapon in one hand while hauling newly purchased supplies with the other.
“Kael, there’s a very good chance those are pirates who came ashore to purchase supplies.”
Killua sounded excited.
“Yeah.”
Kael revealed an equally eager smile.
“Let’s follow them.”
(End of Chapter)