Chapter 52: Glass Cannon
"Chirp! Chirp!"
The insistent, frantic sounds were the only things moving in the otherwise silent, pressurized motel room.
On the dusty windowsill, Rock Sparrow and the two "Kai-Crows"—now released from their active commands—were tearing into the pile of birdseed Kai had left for them. Their tiny, sharp beaks pecked at the feed with a frantic, almost violent energy, completely oblivious to the incredible feat of endurance happening just a few feet away.
Inside the room, the atmosphere was one of absolute stillness, heavy with a tangible, shimmering pressure. Kai and Shizuku sat cross-legged on their respective beds, facing each other. They were as perfectly motionless as statues, their eyes closed, their breathing slow and deep. Their bodies were enveloped in the dense, shimmering, almost visible shroud of their maximum Ken. They were deep in the grind.
On the cheap, particle-board desk between them, the glowing red digits of a digital clock ticked by. Click. Click. Click. Each jump of the second hand was a physical marker of time passing, a silent metronome counting down against their endurance.
With every single second that passed, the price for their training was paid. Maintaining that peak defensive state, that maximum-output Ken, was siphoning their energy at a steady, measurable rate.
One second. One point of Aura.
It was the great equalizer of this specific training method. The more Aura (P.O.P.) you possessed, the stronger your will and the more refined your Ten had to be to hold all of that explosive energy in a stable Ken field. The consumption rate was a constant. It didn't matter if you were a mountain of muscle or a small child. The effort required to keep that floodgate of power open at maximum capacity, yet still perfectly contained, was dynamically the same for everyone.
...Everyone, that is, who had mastered the technique. Any amateur whose control was sloppy, whose Ten was weak, would "leak" Aura, wasting precious energy and burning out far faster. But Kai's and Shizuku's control, forged in the fires of their non-stop training, was now rock-solid.
The red digits on the clock ticked past the one-hour mark. The invisible pressure in the small room remained immense.
Soon after, the first sign of strain appeared. The shimmering, invisible shroud of Aura around both of them began to almost imperceptibly shrink, pulling closer to their bodies as their minds fought a desperate battle to maintain the output.
At the 1-hour and 20-minute mark, Kai's Ken field wavered. It flickered like a dying flame, the once-perfect sphere of his defense becoming irregular and unstable. He was gritting his teeth, his entire body trembling with the sheer, sustained effort.
The clock ticked on.
1:45:50...
With a final, explosive gasp, Kai's Aura sputtered and vanished. The pressure was gone. He collapsed backward onto the mattress, his new, larger body completely drenched in sweat. He'd held on. His new Total Aura (P.O.P.) was 6,350.
He lay there, panting, his eyes fixed on the clock, watching Shizuku. Her own form was trembling, her face pale and glistening, but she held.
Another seventeen minutes and seventeen agonizing seconds ticked by.
2:02:07.
Finally, Shizuku's Aura died. She slumped forward, her shoulders heaving, her own Aura-tank completely dry. Her new record: 7,387 P.O.P.
They panted in the sudden silence, sharing a look of mutual, exhausted respect. Thanks to the passive healing of the Star Marker Kai had placed on her, Shizuku's recovery was already kicking in, the deep, bone-weary exhaustion receding faster than it should have.
She was the first to speak, her voice raspy. "This... is this the only way? To increase our Total Aura?"
Kai gestured weakly to Rock Sparrow. The bird, sensing its master's exhaustion, dutifully flew to the tiny bathroom and emerged a moment later, dragging two small, dry hand towels. Kai caught one and threw the other to Shizuku. "It's the only one I know," he said, wiping the sweat from his face. And, he thought, it's the only one the manga ever mentioned.
His logic was sound. If Biscuit Krueger, a living grandmaster of the Shingen-Ryu school, had forced Gon and Killua to grind their P.O.P. using this exact, mind-numbing, brute-force method... it was safe to assume this was the one true, orthodox path to raw power.
Shizuku, however, was still analyzing the problem. "But... if the goal is just to completely empty our Aura... wouldn't it be more efficient to just repeatedly fire our Hatsu into the air? Just drain the tank as fast as possible?"
Kai had already thought of that. If that worked, Bisky would have just had Gon stand there and spam Jajanken. One of those punches burned, what, 4,000 P.O.P.? He could have emptied his entire 20,000+ pool in five shots. Then he'd get a massage from Miss Dolly, recover instantly, and do it all over again. It would have been infinitely faster than this multi-hour grind.
But she didn't.
And if Bisky didn't do it, there was a very, very good reason.
"But..." Kai said, a slow, analytical grin spreading across his face. "A theory is just a theory until it's tested. You're right. We should find out why." He knew, instinctively, that a Hatsu-dump was different from a Ken-drain, but he needed to prove it. "It's too dangerous to test in the motel. We'll find an open space... a park, maybe. Tonight, we try it your way."
"Okay," Shizuku agreed.
The rest of the day was a stark, painful reminder of what they had lost. Without Menchi's miraculous Rainbow Seasoning, their training efficiency plummeted. The grinding cycle of holding Ken until their Aura was completely empty—a process that now took over an hour and a half for both of them—was followed by a minimum of thirty minutes of gasping, agonizing recovery just to be able to stand... and then they'd have to do it all over again.
Kai now truly understood Biscuit's benchmark: one month of this hellish, full-time training to add 10 minutes (600 P.O.P.) to their Ken time. It wasn't just about talent; it was a brutal, physical limitation of time and energy.
They just kept at it. Round after round of Ken. Exhaustion. Collapse. Recovery. Repeat.
By the time the city lights flickered on outside their window, they had managed to eke out small, painful gains. Kai's new record was 1 hour, 48 minutes (6,480 P.O.P.). Shizuku's was 2 hours, 4 minutes, 50 seconds (7,490 P.O.P.).
After a quick, cold shower, Kai changed and waited in the hallway, chugging a bottle of water. Shizuku emerged, her wet black hair wrapped in a towel. She put her glasses back on.
"Let's go," Kai said.
They left the motel, grabbed a quick dinner from a street vendor, and used their new smartphones to find the largest, nearest public park. They walked there as the last vestiges of twilight faded, the city's neon glow painting the clouds above. The park was just as they'd hoped: completely, utterly empty. The terrorist attack that morning had scared everyone indoors.
Kai released his three birds, sending them to the perimeter to act as lookouts. He and Shizuku found a wide, secluded grassy field.
"Time for the experiment," he said.
Shizuku, however, just sat down on the grass, her hands in her lap. "Blinky barely consumes any Aura," she stated. "And I don't have any other Hatsu. This experiment is on you, Boss."
"Just looking for an excuse to slack off, huh?" Kai teased. He was almost certain he saw the corner of her mouth twitch in a tiny smile, but it was gone before he could be sure.
"Fine." Kai took a deep, steadying breath, planting his feet in the soft grass. He raised both hands, hooking his thumbs to his index fingers, and began to charge two Divine Flicks at once.
This is the test. He ran through the theory in his head. Aura wasn't just one number. It was three.
Total Aura (P.O.P - Pool of Aura Power): Your entire fuel tank. This is what the Ken-grind trains.
Actual Aura (M.O.P. - Maximum Aura Power): The maximum amount of Aura you can release at any one time. The "size of your fuel hose." This was his physiological limit, and for all intents and purposes, it was the exact amount of Aura he burned every second while holding his maximum Ken.
Potential Aura (A.O.P. - Available Aura Power): The hidden "reserve tank" you can't consciously access. Irrelevant.
He remembered Gon's stats. His M.O.P. was about 1/12th of his P.O.P. Kai, after his own hellish, non-stop grind, had managed to push his own ratio to about 1/10th. His Total Aura (P.O.P.) was 6,480. His Maximum Aura (M.O.P.), therefore, was 648.
But a Hatsu... a true finishing move... was designed to break that limit.
When he'd first developed his Divine Flick, its base, zero-second charge had been 100 Aura. Now, with his P.O.P. so much larger, his base power was already 700 Aura—higher than his M.O.P. of 648.
And his charge rate had grown with him. Every second, the spinning, compressed orbs on his fingertips gathered another 100 Aura.
800... 1000... 1500...
He held the charge for a full thirteen seconds. The two orbs of light were now thrumming with a terrifying, destructive power, each one containing a compressed charge of 2,000 P.O.P.
2,000 Aura.
As a Manipulator, his Emission Hatsu was capped at 80% efficiency. This meant the actual destructive power of each shot was "only" 1,600 Aura. But 1,600 was still a number that could vaporize steel.
He did the math. A 1,600-Aura attack could shatter the Ken of an opponent whose M.O.P. was 1,600. An opponent with an M.O.P. of 1,600 (assuming the same 1/10 ratio) would have a Total Aura pool of at least 16,000. If they weren't a natural Enhancer, their P.O.P. would have to be even higher, maybe over 20,000, just to produce that level of defense.
In other words, Kai, with his meager P.O.P. of 6,480, could already, with a single well-placed Hatsu, one-shot an opponent with three times his total power.
He thought of Morel, a certified, high-level Pro Hunter... and his P.O.P. was only 70,000.
And this was just his Emission side-ability. This wasn't even touching his 100%-efficiency Manipulation Hatsu. If he could land a Star Marker, it didn't matter if the opponent's P.O.P. was 20,000 or 2,000,000. It was game over.
This was the entire point of a "finishing move."
This line of thinking revealed a fundamental truth of Nen combat. Most Nen users... they were all Glass Cannons.
It was why, in this world of bizarre and overpowered abilities, no one was truly safe. No matter how strong you were, you had to be cautious. A well-coordinated team, a single, clever Hatsu... could easily overturn an opponent with ten times their raw power.
Just like Gon and Morel. After just one month of training, Gon's Jajanken was already powerful enough to make a master like Morel feel a genuine sense of mortal danger. If Morel had been arrogant, if he had let that punch land... it would have been over.
BOOM! BOOM!
Kai fired both 2,000-Aura shots into the empty night sky. They tore through the air, detonating high above the city with a sound like distant thunder. He immediately charged again. BOOM! BOOM!
In less than thirty seconds, firing two massive, 2000-Aura shots at a time, he had completely emptied his entire 6,480-Aura pool.
He collapsed onto the grass, his body limp, completely and utterly drained. He lay there, spread-eagled, panting at the stars. "Well," he gasped. "Now... we just... wait for me to recover... and then we see... if my Ken time... got any longer."
...
Two hours later, under a bright, indifferent moon, Kai, having fully recovered and then run a new Ken test, sat on the grass, his face a mask of profound disappointment.
"It was useless," he stated flatly. "No change. Not a single second."
"The test is complete. Fact: To increase your Total Aura (P.O.P.), you have to do the grind. There are no shortcuts. This 'Hatsu-dump' method is just a waste of time."
They were both silent for a moment.
"So," Shizuku said, her voice completely deadpan, "we just sat out here for two hours, getting eaten by mosquitoes, for nothing."
"We have Ten," Kai grumbled, standing up. "The mosquitoes can't bite us."
"Back to the grind," he sighed.
"Mm."
They walked back through the silent, moonlit streets, the shadows of their three avian scouts circling high above. Shizuku, ever practical, offered Kai her shoulder, supporting his exhausted frame as they made their slow, weary way back to the motel.
(End of Chapter)