6:00 a.m., Day 10 of the voyage. The Ninth Prince and his private soldiers had not slept.
Before them sat a man bound to a chair—Smit-Lee, supposedly one of their own, now regaining consciousness.
As he slowly opened his eyes and saw the Ninth Prince in front of him, his voice trembled:
"P-Prince Halkenburg..."
"What is your division and authorization code?" Halkenburg asked with cold precision.
Surrounding them were several black-clad private soldiers, poised for immediate response—if Smit-Lee so much as twitched, they'd strike.
Smit-Lee froze. His expression faltered. After a moment of silence, he opened his mouth—but said nothing. Because he couldn't answer.
"So you're not Smit-Lee. Then... are you Hikaku?" Halkenburg asked again, this time with certainty.
He turned to his men. "Dispose of him. He's no longer of use."
His voice was cold—but tinged with sorrow.
One of the private soldiers raised a gun and shot "Smit-Lee" in the head. Or rather—Hikaku, who had taken over Smit-Lee's body.
"Smit-Lee's sacrifice has paved the way for our understanding. We now grasp our ability's true effect." Halkenburg stood and moved to the whiteboard.
He scrawled quickly, erasing and writing simultaneously:
"My Guardian Spirit Beast unifies the will of all its believers. That will forms into unbreakable armor and piercing arrows—armor to shield us, arrows to strike our foes!
My own aura becomes the bow, infusing the arrows with my conviction.
War is the act of forcing one nation's will upon another through power. But battle is the purest form—erasing your enemy's will altogether.
This power only awakens when one is prepared to die.
The arrows pierce all defenses, stripping the enemy's will from their flesh. The price... is the body of one of our own."
When Halkenburg faced Hikaku earlier, his arrow had pierced straight through him, despite Hikaku's defensive Nen.
Hikaku's soul and will vanished. At the same time, Smit-Lee—one of Halkenburg's soldiers—fell unconscious.
Then Hikaku's body rose, claiming to be Smit-Lee.
Halkenburg brought that body back to the Ninth District, conducted an exhaustive examination, and confirmed: Smit-Lee was in a sleep state.
Based on that, Halkenburg developed four hypotheses:
Hikaku had died the moment he was struck—his soul erased.
Hikaku and Smit-Lee swapped bodies.
Hikaku's body now hosted both Hikaku and Smit-Lee's wills.
Hikaku's soul had been transferred elsewhere—into someone else's body.
Unable to reach a conclusion, and with Smit-Lee showing no signs of waking, Halkenburg decided to test hypothesis 2 and 3.
Initially, he planned to have "Smit-Lee" (actually Hikaku) commit suicide in front of Tier Seven's entrance. It was a calculated maneuver—risky, but logical given what he knew.
Ideally, he'd consult a Nen master—but the only trustworthy one he knew was Kurapika.
However, events in Tier Four had shaken his faith in Kurapika's camp, and so he delayed "Hikaku's" mission—he needed more intel.
Then he overheard voices in the corridor—Kurapika's group. They were involving themselves with the First Prince's private soldiers.
Seizing the opportunity, Halkenburg ordered "Hikaku" to strike one of the First Prince's men there. If the enemy was eliminated, Hikaku would kill himself immediately after, right in the corridor.
Tier Seven soldiers had also emerged—perfect timing.
But Babimaina had easily parried "Hikaku's" attack—and killed him instantly. Half the plan succeeded. The other half collapsed.
Yet from this, Halkenburg confirmed that Kurapika's faction and the First District were far from allies.
And Kurapika... could no longer be trusted. He was on his own.
Just then, something crawled across his arm. Looking down, he spotted a bizarre ladybug.
Its underside was exposed—but it wasn't biological. It was mechanical.
Someone was trying to warn him.
His protective Nen hadn't been triggered, meaning it wasn't hostile. Halkenburg scanned the crowd and locked eyes with Dio.
He knew of Dio—but not well.
Still, the mechanical ladybug sparked recognition. This wasn't the first time he'd seen such a device.
In fact, there had been several in Tier Nine.
If they were mechanical, they could eavesdrop. Meaning... everything that had happened in Tier Nine might already be known to Dio.
Even his secret audience with King Nasubi could have been compromised.
And yet Dio didn't act on this. He exposed his surveillance—a show of good faith.
In that instant, Halkenburg understood everything.
He didn't act. Once the corridor incident ended, he returned to Tier Nine.
He didn't destroy the ladybug. He pocketed it.
After dealing with the Smit-Lee situation, he still hadn't been contacted. That silence stirred unease.
Until—another ladybug buzzed in through the ventilation and landed on his shoulder.
It morphed into a strip of paper with writing:
"Controlling Hikaku reveals your ability to the First Prince. If he sends more people, it's to isolate you.
Our goals align—we both want to end the Succession War. I propose an alliance."
The message came from Joey.
Hikaku's death, and his erratic final words, while technically justifiable, had clearly exposed that he'd been manipulated.
Joey had already submitted intel to the First Prince about the Ninth Prince's Guardian Beast. He trusted Barusamirco would deduce at least the basics of the ability, if not its full scope.
That posed a major threat.
Against a collaborative Nen ability like Halkenburg's, isolation was the most effective counter.
If the First District continued to send people into Tier Nine, they were baiting Halkenburg to strike—so they could litigate and force him into V-VIP confinement.
And under V-VIP restrictions, the Ninth Prince could only take one private soldier with him.
His collective Nen power would plummet.
That was the First Prince's opening.
Whether through trial or during isolation, they'd gain an edge over Halkenburg.
Joey didn't dislike the Ninth Prince. So he warned him.
But he also knew—even if Halkenburg recognized it as a trap, he'd likely walk into it anyway. Because Halkenburg had his own calculations.
So to Joey, the key wasn't whether they acted—but when.
Halkenburg studied the note, pondering if Dio could be trusted.
Another ladybug landed on his shoulder. It unfolded into another message:
"All you need to do is delay the attack by one day. Strike tomorrow at 9 a.m.—by then, it'll no longer be your responsibility."
"Only one day? Fine," Halkenburg said aloud.
As if acknowledging the agreement, the first ladybug on his shoulder morphed into a listening device.
At 9 a.m., Viktor—First Prince's private soldier—knocked on Tier Nine's door and began surveillance.
In Tier Seven, Gangjidol began inspecting the guards.
Of the surviving guards, aside from the late Satobi, five others were Queen Second's direct soldiers.
Since Shurikov had confirmed Satobi was a Nen user, Gangjidol concluded the others might be hiding abilities too.
But identifying which ones wasn't easy.
More troubling—almost all of Queen Second's guards were stationed with the Seventh Prince.
That didn't add up. Even if she claimed neutrality, she was still physically located in Tier Two.
And her children weren't just Prince Second and Prince Seven—she also bore Prince Five and Prince Nine.
As he dug deeper, Gangjidol remembered Barusamirco's earlier suggestion: to let Wu Xiaobei take his place in Tier Seven.
Wu Xiaobei's ability wasn't suited for assassination, but it was perfect for identifying Nen users.
Shurikov would've been ideal—but he was dead now.
"Still busy? Then can I find someone else to play with?"
The sudden voice—and its suggestive tone—snapped Gangjidol to attention.
He didn't realize that as he focused on the Twelfth Prince's beast's decoy and her unsettling question, someone behind him was watching with a sly grin.
"No. You can't," Gangjidol snapped.
"Really? Why not? I have so many treasures to show you!" the beast's clone giggled.
A small pouch had appeared on her belly, radiating mystery, drawing Gangjidol's gaze.
As if catching him staring, the clone clutched the pouch and turned slightly, hiding it.
It was like something sacred lay within.
"You free? If you are, I can show you~" she teased, voice dripping with temptation.
Gangjidol's eyes glazed—until Basho's voice cut through like a blade.
"You seem... off. If you can't focus, return to Tier One. I don't want another incident here."
Gangjidol jolted. "No, I'm fine. Actually, I had something to ask you—did Satobi ever act strangely?"
"Strangely? Just like you—he always seemed distracted," Basho said bluntly. "So you tell me—should I be worried?"
Gangjidol's heart clenched. Had he been found out?
Basho walked off without waiting for a reply, joining the Seventh Prince, who was calmly watching a movie and smoking a legal cigarette.
Despite monitoring him, Basho had found no irregularities in the prince's behavior—not even signs of ties to the Kakin mafia, despite prior intel.
In fact, the Seventh Prince hadn't contacted the mafia at all during this voyage.
Basho had passed intel to Kurapika. He knew turf wars were heating up below decks.
Yet here sat the prince—smoking, watching movies, utterly disengaged.
Was he just biding time? Or was he truly unaware?
If the latter, he might just be a puppet—meant to take the fall.
In that case, the mafia's true power lay elsewhere.
But... was that even possible?
Basho furrowed his brow.
In Tier Six, Izunabi had similar doubts.
The Sixth Prince's Guardian Beast infiltrated like air itself. Juliano had become obsessed with the Tyson Scriptures the prince had given him.
He'd finished reading it—and was visibly changed.
Izunabi watched Juliano grow more and more like the Sixth Prince's soldiers.
That morning, the Sixth Prince had even thrown a birthday party for him, complete with cake. Juliano's demeanor was off.
Even the night before, returning from the corridor, Juliano's gaze had seemed... dazed.
No—he had probably looked strange too.
A tiny black Nen beast sat on Izunabi's shoulder.
He sighed deeply.
Perhaps the only person in Tier Six still in full control... was First Prince's private soldier Olaw.
In stark contrast to Tier Six's jubilant cult-like atmosphere, the Fifth Prince's chambers were quiet—she sat at her computer, meticulously organizing data.
The First Prince's spy still watched from the shadows.
But the Fifth Prince was uneasy. Ever since the Eighth Prince died, her alarms hadn't stopped ringing.
She'd observed the First Prince's private guards rotate shifts in Tier Eight. She concluded the Eighth Prince's death was no accident.
To survive, she had to know when her observer would rotate.
Second, she had to uncover the true cause of the Eighth Prince's death, and the details of that shift.
Only then might she survive the First Prince's assassination schemes.
She compiled every Nen ability she could think of into a plan, which she saved onto a USB drive.
She entrusted it to one of her guards—someone who had recently awakened Nen in Tier Twelve.
She hoped that passing intel before their Nen fully developed might shape their power.
But she also understood: her biggest problem was a lack of true strength at her side.
She needed a powerful ally.
And from the beginning, she had only considered one—Kurapika.
The Fourth Prince's disappearance made her hesitate.
But after weighing the risks, she made her choice. It could only be Kurapika.