Chapter 33: Returning to Loguetown
"Why are you looking at me like that? You're kinda creeping me out..." Kyle said, taking a half-step back.
Killua and Gon's gazes were like sharp knives, scanning him. The sun at their backs cast long, intimidating shadows that completely enveloped him. The only sound was the wind.
"Killua," Gon said, his voice deadly serious.
"Got it," Killua replied, a sly, wicked grin spreading across his face.
In an instant, both of them shot forward.
The three blurs collided on the beach, the sound of fists and feet impacting with dull thuds. They weren't using Nen—this was a pure, physical brawl.
Kyle was instantly on the defensive, struggling to keep up as Gon's straight-line, powerful punches and Killua's vicious, tricky kicks all aimed for the same target: his face.
"My face! Not the face!" Kyle yelped, barely dodging a roundhouse from Killua, only to get clocked in the jaw by Gon.
An hour later, all three were collapsed on the sand, gasping for breath.
Killua's face was a swollen, "pig's-head" mess of purple and blue, his eyes narrowed to slits.
"My... defense... feels stronger..." he slurred, every word pulling at his split lip.
Gon, who had a matching black eye, nodded. "This... is... a pretty effective... training method..."
Kyle was in the worst shape, having taken a 2-v-1 beating. He felt his swollen, misshapen face and wanted to cry. "You guys... you went way too far..."
This was, in fact, the exact defensive training he had taught them: a full-contact brawl to increase pain tolerance and force the body to adapt. He just never, ever thought they'd use it on him.
As the sun set, they rested.
"Kyle," Killua's voice was still slurred, but his mind was sharp. "This fight... it's going to get Marine HQ's attention, right? You want us to go back and 'farm' him later, not twice in a row, because you're afraid they'll send a real powerhouse."
Kyle wasn't surprised Killua had figured it out. He nodded, which made his bruised neck twinge.
"Exactly. We proved we can beat a Logia. That means we have Armament Haki. At our age, with this power, we're a huge red flag. If they send a real top-tier, we're not ready."
And that top-tier, Kyle thought, would probably be Garp.
Killua's eyes lit up, which looked ridiculous on his swollen face. "I get it. We left Loguetown, so they think we're on the Grand Line. But there are seven routes. They can't find us, so they won't send anyone now."
"But if we hit Smoker a second time," Kyle continued, "they'd know we were toying with them. They'd send an elite squad to lock this area down."
"Right," Kyle smiled. "But they don't know that by that time, we'll be gone from this world. When we come back, we can farm him all over again."
He rubbed his aching nose. "Besides... it'll probably take him a month to fully heal anyway."
Gon, having listened, finally understood. And he remembered... they had the Phantom Troupe waiting for them back home.
"We have to get stronger. Now," he said.
Ignoring his pain, Gon staggered to his feet and activated his Ken, his Aura flaring. Kyle could already see his Nen capacity had grown. That was the benefit of their training—Haki and Nen were the same core energy, just expressed differently. Training one boosted the other.
"Killua," Gon said, his eyes burning, "let's practice Ken flow."
Killua shot to his feet with a backflip. "Let's go!"
The two began to spar, their Auras rippling, while Kyle went to meditate, practicing the flow of his own Armament Haki.
Far out at sea, on the Going Merry, Luffy, Sanji, and Zoro were staring at a new bounty poster.
"Kyle Link... 100,000,000 Beri," Luffy read, his eyes wide.
He wasn't upset that it was 70 million more than his own. He was thrilled. "He's my rival, all right! I'm not gonna lose!"
Sanji just blew out a cloud of smoke. "Those bastards... they're growing way too fast."
Zoro said nothing, just polished his new swords.
Back in Loguetown, Smoker saw the same poster. He crumpled the paper in his fist, his knuckles white. He would heal, he would go to the Grand Line, and he would hunt them down.
On the deserted island, Kyle was annoyed. A month had passed, and not a single News Coo had shown up. Did the government suppress the news? Or can the birds just not find this island?
But it didn't matter. After a month of non-stop, high-intensity Haki and Nen training, their growth was explosive.
Gon and Killua's Nen capacities had both soared to over 30,000.
Kyle's, boosted by their shared resonance, had reached a staggering 80,000—and that was at his 90% cap.
Back in Loguetown, Smoker was fully healed, standing in his office, feeling better than ever.
"Tashigi, any sign of them?"
"No, sir!" she said, saluting. "We have no reports from any of the seven routes."
"We're not waiting. Set a course for the Sabaody Archipelago."
Tashigi understood immediately—Sabaody is where all seven routes converge. "Yes, sir!"
She turned to leave, but a Marine burst into the room, his face pale with panic.
"What is it?" Smoker growled, a bad feeling rising.
"SIR! The... the Hunter Pirates... their ship! It's... it's heading for Loguetown!"
The Marine was terrified. It's like they knew. It's like they were waiting for him to heal.
Smoker's face went grim. He knew the power gap. He wanted revenge, but he wasn't an idiot. He needed to be stronger. But his duty...
He grabbed his Jitte from the wall. "We're going."
When Kyle's ship docked, Smoker was already there, waiting. The wind whipped Kyle's coat as he stepped onto the pier.
He looked at the grim-faced Marine, and smiled.
"Yo, Captain Smoker. Long time no see."