After one of the bodies explodes, blowing off his left hand, Hisoka tries to assess the situation. He soon comes to the conclusion that Chrollo figured out which body he decapitated, imprinted a left-handed plus mark on the body with his book open, before imprinting another minus mark on a different individual, then manipulating that individual using Black Voice, making them touch the body's plus mark, and creating a maximum-power bomb. Hisoka realizes the dangerous situation he is in and chooses to "go all in", decapitating several puppets and climbing up the Heaven's Arena walls using Bungee Gum in order to find Chrollo on the second floor. With the puppets in pursuit, Hisoka is faced with even more directly ahead of him, which have been ordered to self destruct after spotting Hisoka. Due to this, a large explosion comes from the second floor, sending Hisoka flying towards more puppets on the arena floor and blowing off his left leg. Before he is able to use Bungee Gum on his remaining leg to escape to the ceiling, a puppet from the second floor flies into his chest due to Chrollo's intervention. Hitting the floor, Hisoka is surrounded by a crowd of puppets before a large explosion engulfs them.
Later, a news reporter at the scene of Heaven's Arena confirms the end of the deathmatch which resulted in several audience casualties. Hisoka's dead body is seen before Shalnark, Kortopi, and Machi in another room. Shalnark explains that the large crowd of puppets had a cushioning effect which protected him from the bulk of the explosion, however Hisoka ended up dying from lack of oxygen due to the blast and the mass of flesh. Kortopi and Shalnark then leave after Machi says she'll stitch him up. Before she can do so, aura begins to re-emerge from his corpse and Hisoka comes back to life; it is later revealed that he placed Bungee Gum on his heart and lungs in order to restart them after his demise. After a brief conversation in which Hisoka admits he bit off more than he could chew, he says that it will be his enemies which won't have a choice in where and who they face. He then proceeds to restrain Machi using Bungee Gum before she leaves, saying that he won't stop until he's killed the all of the Spiders. He then leaves Machi, who continues to threaten him.
Shalnark talks on the phone with Chrollo, who are planning to board the Black Whale of the Kakin Royal family in order to steal their valuables. After he hangs up, Shalnark wonders why Kortopi is taking so long in the toilet. As he receives another call, Hisoka exits from the toilet with Kortopi's severed head in his hands. He throws it at Shalnark causing him to scream out and become distracted, Hisoka dashes forwards and delivers an extremely powerful strike to his head, killing him. Shalnark's mangled corpse is then seen tied to a swing, with Kortopi's severed head placed in front of him.
The day before the voyage arrives, and the eve festival celebrations start as all the voyagers gather in Kakin, in front of the Black Whale. The Kakin royal family is gathered at the assembly, with some princes believing that they will win the succession battle. Passengers begin entering the Black Whale; the first tier is structured for the Kakin royal family, V5 politicians and industry dignitaries. The second tier is for the rich and celebrities, while tiers three, four and five are designed for general passengers. Balsamilco, Captain of the Guards of Prince Benjamin, begins discussing the schedules of the princes, to the other soldiers, noting they will act as guards until the disembarkation ceremony, also telling them that actual opportunities to assassinate the other princes may not come.
Kurapika and Queen Oito are discussing ways of escaping the Black Whale. Kurapika ponders the quantity and strength of the other princes' forces, as well as the consequences of the frivolous examination conducted by Dark Continent committee. Mizaistom calls Kurapika to inform him of the increasing conflict levels on the third and fourth tiers, due to fights, apparent ticket forgeries, larceny, etc. Because of this, the Zodiacs are unlikely to meet up as planned. Kurapika assures Oito that there are escape routes if the worst happens, to which Oito reacts emotionally because she was initially prepared to face death. Kurapika calls the system controls room to get data, when he senses Nen coming from Prince Woble, shocking him.
The Black Whale sets off for the Dark Continent. It will take 3 weeks, passing through territorial waters before venturing in the more volatile uncharted water for 5 weeks. The ship will make a nominal stop at a new continent to avoid public outcry, while Beyond, the Zodiacs and other Hunters will head to the dark waters using Morel's ship after crossing the gate at the far ocean boundary. The departure ceremony takes place with the King, Princes and Queens attending. Kurapika and the other guards find the exsanguinated corpse of the guard Woody. Kurapika demands to know if the guards can use Nen, but they all claim they haven't even heard of it. Some guards chastise Kurapika for mentioning Nen, believing that their mission was simply to protect Queen Oito and Prince Woble.
The royal family attends a banquet, with the royal attendees believing that they will kill their siblings and win. Prince Kacho, Melody's employer, forms an alliance with Prince Fugetsu and acts like a diva; the latter action is discovered by Melody to be a facade. Kurapika comes across more murdered guards, prompting him to use his chain and interrogate the people in the room.
While interrogating the other bodyguards, Kurapika reveals that the true nature of the voyage was a Succession Battle among the Princes of the Kakin Empire. Several guards admit to being aware of this, and also confess to not being fully aligned with Prince Woble. They explain that 7 bodyguards were chosen to keep tabs on Woble; one from each higher-ranked queen. While they are assigned to keep Woble alive, they must make sure that Woble does not become a threat to their clients. One guard divulges the Seed Urn Ceremony, which gave Woble an egg that would hatch into a Guardian Spirit Beast. Kurapika theorizes that one of the murdered guards had tried to act on his own, and the Guardian Spirit Beast reacted to him. However, the other guards disprove this by saying that the amount of time since Woble received the egg (one month) was too short for her to master Nen to such a degree. All of a sudden, some Guardian Spirit Beasts start crawling over the Nen-oblivious guards, and the room becomes infested with Guardian Spirit Beasts. Kurapika makes an emergency call using all channels and contacts his fellow Hunters-, but they all state there's nothing abnormal going on. Kurapika realizes that the princes themselves are unaware of the Guardian Spirit Beasts. Kurapika asks Bill if the parasite-type Nen acts like a curse, to which Bill confirms. Bill decides that he and Kurapika must be more open to each other. The Guardian Spirit Beasts have disappeared, except for one sticking to Sayird, influencing him to murder the other guards. He goes to kill the other two, but Kurapika prepares to fight him.
Kurapika easily restrains Sayird and asks Bill whether Sayird's Nen ability is necessary for the mission. Bill reveals that Sayird's ability is an Emission-Manipulation based that allows him to project his aura into a ball and then control any creature caught inside the ball. Reminiscing on a training session with Izunavi where he told Kurapika to focus on co-operation with allies, Kurapika uses the Steal Chain to absorb Sayird's aura in the hopes that it would draw out the parasite in his body, which turns out to be a small spider-like creature. Though it manages to escape, Kurapika finds out that Sayird's Hatsu is called Little Eye, and it allows him to control captured creatures, excluding those that are created by Nen. Free from the Guardian Spirit Beast's control, Sayird admits that he was not in control. Because he is under arrest, he informs Kurapika that the largest creature he can control is the size of a hamster, but one can get sensory information from the creature. Additionally, he recommends that Kurapika not use tiny creatures like flies because they could easily be killed. With only two guards left, Bill says that without Kurton, in order to escape, they would need either Pariston or Beyond, both of whom would be difficult to co-operate with.
Prince Momoze allows her bodyguards to be transferred to Prince Marayam, feeling pity for him and his mother as they would be unable to win in the battle to the throne.
Prince Halkenburg announces to his father that he will be withdrawing from the battle, stating he initially joined to merely save his father's reputation, and he does not wish to earn the crown through bloodshed. Nasubi accepts his son's withdrawal.
Bill discusses the key issue surrounding countering parasites which is the parasite's propensity to being made through the host's thoughts and feelings. Oito states that the First through the Fifth Princes lust this upcoming battle and would never willingly opt out.
Meanwhile, Tserriednich and Tubeppa agree to an alliance as the lower-ranked Princes are either unwilling or unable to fight, and the top 3 Princes have massive character flaws. Nasubi's monologue explains the rules regarding the usage of Guardian Spirit Beasts as follows:
Guardian Spirit Beasts may not kill each other.
Guardian Spirit Beasts may not directly attack other Guardian Spirit Beast bearers.
His monologue goes on to explain that Guardian Spirit Beasts are designed to protect the princes, but it is up to the princes themselves to figure out how to kill their brethren. During the age of rival warlords, Nasubi's ancestor created the urn, and his children helped build the Kakin Empire to what it is today. The Guardian Spirit Beasts are supposed to protect the one who possesses the legacy of the Hui Guo Rou family: one who has foresight, carefulness, and strong planning abilities.
Theta discusses how she will instruct Tserriednich to stay in his quarters without leaking the secret of Nen to him with Salkov. Salkov suggests that she inform him about Nen, but train him to use it in an inefficient way, such as having him use his weakest Nen type in combat. Luzurus and Tyson become aware of Nen and the Guardian Spirit Beasts that surround them. Halkenburg is horrified as he stumbles upon the unconscious bodies of at least eleven of his bodyguards. Theta is confronted by Tserriednich and his Guardian Spirit Beast, and he begins interrogating her about Nen. Theta admits that she is both aware of it and capable of using it.
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