Joey saw Hisoka's clone get punched across the theater by Phinks, but made no move to help. Instead, he turned and bolted toward the exit.
Hisoka's clone, slammed into the screen, didn't reappear either—clearly, it had used the chaos to escape as well.
What surprised Joey, however, was that as he dashed past several nearly invisible Nen threads and burst out of the cinema, no Troupe members chased after him.
Seemed the Phantom Troupe had learned from their previous mistakes.
But that was expected—after all, Joey and Hisoka had calculated that the three would act together if they attacked. That was why they had lured them toward the Ayii Family's hideout.
Morena's ability had created a small army of subordinates, each with unique powers. They were both her strength and her shield.
During his last visit to Morena, Joey had already sensed how odd the Ayii Family's hidden base was.
And now that Hisoka had given him a more detailed map, Joey knew exactly what would happen if they dragged the Troupe into that area.
Both he and Hisoka's clone had run in clearly defined directions, barely even trying to hide it.
This was an open trap—a psychological ploy.
They were announcing it to the Troupe: We're leading you somewhere. Follow us if you dare.
Back in the cinema, the three Troupe members didn't look pleased.
"Based on our contact, Joey was probably a clone," Franklin said after briefly interacting with him.
"Same with Hisoka," Phinks added.
"They came here deliberately, and now they're obviously trying to split us up and draw us out," Machi said coldly.
Her face was stormy. She didn't know Joey, but she had once been on decent terms with Hisoka—before the arena incident.
After Hisoka attacked Shalnark and Kortopi, she swore to end him. She didn't expect him to kill another Troupe member on the ship.
Her hatred for Hisoka had reached its peak.
Had it not been for Chrollo's warnings embedded in her memory, she would've chased after Hisoka the moment he split from Joey.
Even knowing it was bait, Machi was already resolved to follow through.
"Let's take down Hisoka first," Phinks said, eyes locked in the direction Hisoka had run.
"The Gashya Family will assist us," Franklin noted. "So picking off one of them first is definitely the best option. The problem is, both used clones—and we can't determine how far they can control them. That's the tricky part."
"I'd recommend dealing with Joey first," Franklin added. "His abilities are more troublesome. And I think the ones giving them clone and beast-control powers are more closely tied to him. Hell, one of those might even be his own ability."
Franklin had interacted with Joey the most, so he had a deeper understanding of how dangerous Joey could be.
Still, this wasn't the time to argue. He looked to Machi to make the final call.
Phinks, though annoyed, didn't object.
Machi thought it through. Without Franklin's input, she would've gone after Hisoka without hesitation.
After all, Hisoka had killed the most Troupe members—her hatred ran deepest for him.
But Franklin had a point. Both Hisoka and Joey always relied on splitting the Troupe up to win through one-on-one fights.
The key to that strategy? Those damned support abilities.
If they eliminated those first, fighting Joey or Hisoka would be far easier.
Knowing Hisoka's style, the chance of those support users being near him was slim. That meant Joey was the true weak link.
"Go after Joey," Machi said through gritted teeth.
The three didn't hesitate. As soon as Machi decided, they took off after Joey's clone.
Not long after they left, Hisoka's figure reappeared behind the large cinema screen.
"Smart choice... too bad," he muttered, then slowly vanished again.
Joey's insects had begun vanishing in silence. He immediately realized he was being hunted.
The Troupe had chosen him over Hisoka.
Apparently, their hatred for him ran deeper than he thought.
The clone he was using didn't have many Gold Experience constructs left. It was a limited resource. And since clones couldn't use En, Joey had little sense of what was going on behind him.
Fortunately, the cinema wasn't far from the Ayii Family's headquarters.
After running for a short distance, Joey reached a row of suspicious rooms.
3101, 3102, 3103—three highly unusual rooms.
According to Hisoka's intel, these rooms were both traps and gateways to the Ayii Family's real hideout.
Joey stopped at Room 3101, map from Hisoka in hand.
He tapped a finger against the paper, calculating silently.
When the three Troupe members finally appeared at the end of the hallway, Joey calmly lit the map on fire and turned to enter Room 3101 with a smirk.
Inside, someone was already waiting.
Hisoka.
He'd beaten Joey here and was clearly prepared.
But something was off. According to the map, stepping into Room 3101 should've teleported him—yet here he was, face-to-face with Hisoka.
Bang!
The door flew open. The three Troupe members stood at the threshold.
Joey was now caught in the middle.
"Nice setup," he told Hisoka.
Joey had already planned for this clone to be sacrificed. In fact, from the moment he sent it down here, he had never expected to recover it.
"I didn't lie to you," Hisoka said with a grin. "You just have to leave and come back in to trigger it. Probably."
His eyes shifted past Joey to the three at the door.
"I'll be waiting inside. If you have the guts, come find me."
His body began to fade, and then disappeared completely.
Joey turned to face the Troupe. He'd planned to exit and re-enter, hoping to reach the Ayii Family's base.
But would the three let him?
As they hesitated at the threshold, Joey scanned the room. Something was off.
It was narrower than it should be.
Joey had visited enough rooms on the ship to know their dimensions. This one was definitely too thin.
That meant there was probably a hidden passage behind it.
As that thought hit him, the Gold Experience insect he had deployed earlier crawled toward the back wall.
At the same time, Joey's clone bolted toward the bathroom.
If there was a hidden path, it'd be there.
Whether this provoked the Troupe or not didn't matter—they would invade eventually. The only difference was whether they came one by one or all at once.
But his hunch didn't pay off right away. As he opened the bathroom door, he noticed Machi was gone.
Joey frowned. Something was off. But no time to dwell—he raised a Nen-charged foot and kicked the wall.
Crunch.
His leg pierced the flimsy barrier.
Light burst in—he was right.
At that moment, voices echoed from outside. Machi had returned—with Gashya Family enforcers.
These weren't random civilians—they were armed mafia members, fully obedient to the Phantom Troupe.
Two men with guns entered immediately.
One crept toward the bathroom. The other stepped in—then turned back, inhaled deeply—and stepped in again.
Poof. He vanished the moment he re-entered, as if erased.
"Hisoka wasn't lying," Phinks said from outside. He didn't bother to whisper.
Inside, Joey locked eyes with the armed man.
He had already broken a hole large enough to crawl through in the back.
He flicked a coin with Nen—it shot straight at the man's forehead.
The mafia thug was fast—but not fast enough. The coin pierced through his skull before he could pull the trigger.
Joey didn't blink.
As the man dropped, Joey dove into the hidden passage.
Thump.
More thugs poured in. Some rushed the bathroom; others stepped in, exited, then re-entered.
The Troupe entered too—this time, they didn't leave. They moved cautiously toward the bathroom.
Inside the secret chamber, Joey saw bottled water and bento boxes on the ground.
Clearly, someone had been living here.
But were they gone because they'd awakened powers and moved on? Or had they simply left temporarily?
Joey couldn't tell. But he didn't hesitate—he located the matching wall for Room 3102 and kicked it open.
But just as he stepped into 3102, Nen bullets tore through the wall behind him.
Franklin.
Caught off guard, Joey's clone was riddled with holes.
Still, it didn't vanish. He surged toward the door, yanked it open, and burst outside.
What he didn't expect was that the moment he stepped out, several invisible Nen threads sliced into him.
Machi.
She'd left threads at the door.
Realizing too late, Joey tried to retreat—but only managed to get one hand back into the room.
Snap!
The Nen threads jerked—shredding the clone completely.
At that moment, Franklin casually knocked down the wall between 3101 and 3102.
"No way to tell if it was the real one," Machi said, disappointed. "He probably pumped the clone full of raw Nen. Meaning it had no anchor—no feedback trace."
"Let's have the Gashya Family keep pushing forward. As for Hisoka, we'll hunt him down once we find the exact location," Franklin said, settling into a chair.
They weren't going to blindly charge into the trap—even now.
Despite intel from the Gashya side, they were cautious.
"Should we notify the boss?" Phinks asked, unsure.
"No need. It's still too early. Knowing Hisoka, if all three of us show up at once, he'll bolt. Better to deal with the Ayii Family first—since they love helping Joey and Hisoka."
Franklin's grin turned cruel.
"Fine by me. Consider it a warm-up," Phinks said, smirking.
Machi twitched her fingers. "Joey's clone sent something into the room earlier. Probably got teleported. Looks like those two aren't all that united."
"Please, it's Hisoka," Phinks scoffed. "If someone teamed up with him and it actually worked, one of them must be seriously messed up."
(End of Chapter)