This kind of collapse was nothing to Ronin.
Although he had fallen, that did not mean he had completely released the Ultra-Light-Weight Rock Technique.
For something like a ghost ship, decay was only to be expected.
What was not expected was the enormous crab claw that emerged from beneath the collapsed deck.
The Ultra-Light-Weight Rock Technique switched into the Weighted Rock Technique. With a boom, the humanoid creature with crab claws was stomped by Ronin straight into an even deeper part of the ship. Ronin himself fell down with it.
Only then did Ging land on the deck.
There were still a few wooden planks left around the broken edge of the deck, and Ging stood on top of them. Yet those thin, rotten planks showed no sign of breaking at all.
From below the deck came a series of banging sounds.
Ronin was causing them.
When he flew back out of the ship, he was dragging two humanoid beings with aquatic features in his hands like dead dogs.
The ghost ship's deck had long since become unsuitable for placing anything on, so Ronin simply shook his head at Ging and flew back toward their own ship.
Ging carefully swept his gaze across the ghost ship. He even pressed his hand against the hull and sensed it carefully, but still gained nothing. He could only follow Ronin back, which left him somewhat disappointed.
When the ghost ship first appeared, he had genuinely felt some anticipation.
By the time they returned to the ship, the two aquatic people had already been casually thrown onto the deck by Ronin.
Kurapika and the others circled the two aquatic people and examined them carefully, but they could not figure anything out either.
The half-dead aquatic people trembled on the deck. If they had known they were provoking such terrifying people, they would never have brought the ship over no matter what.
The two aquatic people kept babbling something with their mouths, but unfortunately, Ronin could not understand a word of it. So he could only look toward Ging for help.
Ging spread his hands, indicating that he was not omnipotent.
He did not know this aquatic language either.
And after Ging shook his head, Ronin simply raised his blade and brought it down. The heads of the two aquatic people fell directly onto the deck, and the deck instantly became quiet.
"What were they babbling about? Cut their heads off and see." Ronin spread his hands just like Ging.
As for the two fallen aquatic people, Ronin did not care at all. In any case, they had definitely not approached with good intentions, so killing them was killing them.
"Fine." Kurapika sounded somewhat helpless. "I was thinking of keeping them for a bit and trying to decipher their language."
"That wouldn't be simple," Ging said, his tone carrying a bit of appreciation.
He understood Kurapika's intention in an instant. There might very well be natives on the Dark Continent. If they truly encountered them, then language would be key.
"Of course. That's why we need to try more," Kurapika said seriously.
"To me, everything those weird things said sounded the same. They were probably begging for mercy," Ronin said, acting as a translator for a moment.
Everyone accepted that and stopped dwelling on whether they could communicate with the other side.
Instead, they turned their attention to the ghost ship.
That ship had not stopped just because Ronin and Ging had captured the aquatic beings causing trouble aboard it. It was still following behind Ronin's ship, and judging from its posture, it even seemed intent on chasing them to the bitter end.
That was somewhat interesting.
What was even more unbelievable was that when Ronin gathered Nen into his eyes, he could actually see a faint layer of Nen on the ship.
Ging had already returned to the ghost ship, but Ronin, on the other hand, had somewhat lost interest in it.
Compared to exploring the ghost ship, he was more looking forward to reaching the place where the Dark Gate was located as soon as possible.
As the ship continued forward, time also passed.
When the light of dawn was about to leap over the horizon, the ghost ship finally changed again.
It began sailing beneath the sea.
That was right.
It submerged!
And even while submerging, it did not break away from Ronin's ship. Instead, it continued following from below, in the place where sunlight could not reach.
One had to know that all the ships Ronin had bought were equipped with motors. Their sailing speed was not something a ghost ship that relied on wind, sails, or even sailors rowing could compare to.
Yet no matter how Kurapika accelerated, they could not shake off the ghost ship behind them.
"Now it really does look like a ghost ship. It's completely filthy stuff." Standing at the stern, Ronin looked at Ging as he surfaced from the sea. This time, his interest had truly been stirred by the ghost ship.
And when Ronin became interested, his method was to use ninjutsu to attack the ghost ship.
Did it not have Nen?
Then let him see how it protected itself.
He even wanted to see whether, after it was torn apart, the broken wooden boards could still track his ship.
Water Release: Water Shark Bullet.
Sharks formed entirely from water-nature chakra appeared in the sea and rushed rapidly toward the ghost ship.
Each huge shark had sharp, saw-like teeth in its mouth. Every time they struck the ship, they tore off a large piece of its hull.
The ghost ship let out a mournful cry beneath the sea.
From aboard the ship, Ging seemed able to see through the sea surface and observe everything happening below. A flash of pity crossed his eyes, but he did not speak to stop Ronin.
Because he also understood that they could not allow this ghost ship of unknown origin to keep following them.
So he rather admired Ronin's decisiveness.
If it had been up to Ging, he might have chosen to stop the ship, carefully study the principle behind the ghost ship below, and even figure out the reason for its appearance before continuing onward.
"Maybe none of you noticed, but I can responsibly say that the Nen emitted by the ghost ship is gradually increasing.
"That increase is almost invisible to the naked eye, but it's real. And energy can't appear out of nowhere. So my judgment is simple: while it's tracking us, it's also absorbing the Nen we unconsciously release."
Ronin's gaze focused mainly on Ging.
Because throughout this process, only he and Ging had been constantly using Nen. Everyone else's Nen was kept in a state of Ten.
And Ten would not cause their Nen to be consumed.
So the result was that the ghost ship had been constantly stealing Nen from Ronin and Ging.
"Not enough," Ging immediately said. "If only the two of us are supplying it with Nen, that's not enough."
"Of course." Ronin nodded in acknowledgment. "But what if more creatures have appeared in this sea because of our presence? Those creatures don't know how to control their life energy and prevent it from leaking out. So where does that leaked life energy go?"
Ging was suddenly startled.
Although he was cautious enough, his attention had been mostly drawn to the ghost ship below earlier, to the point that he had failed to notice immediately that more and more sea beasts were now following near their ship.
"The sounds the ghost ship is making while being attacked by the Water Shark Bullets may not be cries of grief or pleas for mercy as we understand them," Ronin said sharply. "They may be a new round of offense—a method that can lure sea beasts closer even more effectively."
~~~
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