Nobunaga Andonengao.
One of the Phantom Troupe members, and a member of the Gudongdonda ethnic group—
a tribe as strange as it is rare.
Unlike the Kurta Clan with their Scarlet Eyes,
the Gudongdonda people were known not for special organs,
but for turning every member into a living work of art.
From birth, each child's body was methodically pierced to form unique wind holes—
not unlike ear piercings,
but grotesquely magnified across their entire bodies.
Needles gave way to rods,
then bamboo tubes and carved stone anchors embedded into
the abdomen, face, limbs, shoulders—anywhere flesh could yield.
Each hole had a name.
Each hole was a Fengxue—Wind Cavity.
They were warrior dancers.
Each cavity whistled differently with movement,
and together, the sounds formed musical symphonies—
songs of battle.
Nobunaga was a prodigy among them.
His body was his weapon.
As wind coursed through his battle-scarred holes,
he created music of war—music that empowered him in combat.
One of those songs was what he unleashed
the moment he sensed Joey activating a hidden ability:
Jupiter – Martial Symphony.
A deafening crash shattered the ship's hull,
and even the black Nen mist coiling outside was blown open wide.
But the instant Jupiter struck Joey,
Nobunaga felt something wrong.
His dancing body jolted.
In that split-second, Jupiter vanished.
He appeared again—his figure freed from the meteor-sized aura—and leapt forward,
just as Nen threads snared his body and yanked him away.
"Hm?"
A soft murmur echoed from where he'd been dragged—
followed by a massive pink-skinned humanoid slamming its fist down onto the empty space he'd just vacated.
Nobunaga's face tensed.
He twisted midair like a corkscrew,
wind howling through his flesh-chambers like flutes of war,
and in that instant—
A coffin-like sarcophagus, as enormous as an ancient Pharaoh's tomb, materialized around him.
Just as a massive Nen bullet struck the sarcophagus.
BOOM!
The coffin splintered—
but Nobunaga was gone.
Joey's silhouette reappeared in the distance,
brows furrowed as he reactivated his 50-meter-radius En,
then slammed a fist down.
Air rippled outward from him like sonar.
He wasn't sure Machi was truly dead.
That's why he'd dispelled his clone and projection—
to bait a reaction.
If she were still alive,
this would be the perfect moment for a sneak attack.
But the figure that had stepped into the open wasn't Joey himself—
it was a new clone, freshly created after dismissing the others.
Even if it cost a bit of aura,
it was worth it for the chance to confirm Machi's fate.
Especially now—her En had vanished.
With no sensory bubble,
there was no way anyone could tell clone from real body.
So long as Joey remained invisible, the clone would pass for the real thing.
And sure enough, his instincts were dead-on.
Nobunaga's appearance had been unexpected—
and those threads that pulled him?
Machi's.
She wasn't dead.
As Jupiter fell, Killer Queen had silently broken through the ship's floor,
slipping belowdeck and launching an attack the moment Nobunaga crashed through.
The initial strike was a feint.
Had Machi not yanked Nobunaga clear,
that attack might've done real damage.
The follow-up was a Nen bullet—
Joey's fastest long-range strike.
He hadn't planted a First Bomb ahead of time, though—
when Jupiter hit, his En had already expanded,
which meant Golden Experience + First Bomb wouldn't work here.
Plus, the First Bomb coin hadn't been launched,
because after the coffin shattered,
Nobunaga vanished again.
A spatial ability?
That coffin wasn't just defense—
it was a teleporter.
And Joey hadn't sensed him with En afterward.
It reminded him immediately of Machi disappearing earlier.
Her sudden vanishing had been bizarre—
not once had she entered his En radius.
He couldn't attack what he couldn't find.
So Joey resorted to a different method—
a shockwave radar.
The rippling pulse from his strike was perfect for pinging anyone within 50 meters.
And Nobunaga's presence raised new questions.
If he was here…
Where were the rest of the Troupe?
Hisoka's calculations had been clever.
But maybe… the Troupe was a step ahead.
Nobunaga's ability to lock onto this location smelled fishy—
either a quirk of his Nen, or some kind of tech.
If it was a Nen ability,
Joey's first suspect was Kortopi.
That guy's paper could track all the Troupe members' locations.
If they'd contacted him after Machi, Phinks, and Franklin split up,
then Joey, Kurapika, and Hisoka's locations would be totally exposed.
If it was a device, that'd be best-case.
But Joey doubted it.
And if he fled now,
Kurapika and Hisoka would each have to fight two opponents.
With two, they might survive.
With three or more,
even those two wouldn't make it out alive.
Kurapika's powers were formidable—especially against the Troupe—
but they came with harsh costs and limits.
If surrounded, he'd likely be the first to fall.
As for Hisoka—
well, who cares if he dies?
Joey didn't.
Which meant the best plan was to stall Machi and Nobunaga here.
Even better if he could eliminate them.
Joey's eyes narrowed.
He'd already locked on to both of them.
There were others in the cabin, sure—
but they were panicked, fleeing the chaos left by Jupiter.
Totally different from Machi and Nobunaga's composed movement.
Tracking them via air ripple was easy.
His Weather Beast began to act.
The dark clouds outside dissipated—
but inside, storm clouds thickened rapidly.
Rain fell.
Winds howled through the cabin,
dragging the temperature down like a freezer.
This time, Joey didn't bend light around himself—
he was standing firm.
But the atmospheric radar also interfered with his abilities.
Storms and pressure were still elements he was controlling.
Ever since fighting Feitan,
Joey had grown obsessed with supercooling techniques.
Outside the ship, the terrain had limited Machi's threads—
but had also handicapped Joey.
Machi wasn't stupid.
If the terrain got bad, she'd just relocate.
Even a 50-meter radius wouldn't trap her for long.
But inside the ship, his niche abilities could shine.
Though, to be fair—Machi would be stronger here, too.
A few steps in, and he could already see it:
Dozens of near-invisible Nen threads stretched between the walls—
a deadly spiderweb eager to slice flesh.
Everywhere he stepped, danger.
From a distance, music floated in—
Nobunaga's battle prelude.
Machi didn't approach.
She just filled the cabin with threads,
like she was weaving her own Spider's Nest.
Joey felt like he'd wandered into the lair of demons.
And these threads weren't passive.
They moved—like blades, shifting to slice him the moment he got close.
Predators who wouldn't wait for prey to step in.
They'd hunt instead.
Joey stopped walking.
Then smirked.
Machi was serious about making this the battleground—
which suited him perfectly.
He didn't want to scare them off prematurely.
His moves would stay subtle, deliberate.
Nobunaga was a massive problem.
Jupiter's raw power was immense—
and that teleporting coffin was an even bigger issue.
To take them both down,
he'd have to beat Nobunaga before any new field manipulation.
Otherwise, they'd break out of any trap.
The rain and falling temperature began to freeze.
Within 100 meters of Joey's En center,
ice began to crystallize and accumulate.
His battlefield was becoming a solid frozen sphere.
Killer Queen appeared beside him—
but the back of his left hand was empty.
The Heart Piercing Attack Tank was still lost at sea,
unable to return.
Thanks to the thread net and the moving Black Whale,
the tank had no stable way to return.
Without it, Killer Queen's only option was the First Bomb—
a touch-based ability.
The Third Bomb?
Joey wasn't desperate enough to use that yet.
Against long-range specialists like Machi and Nobunaga,
Killer Queen was almost useless.
He'd already noticed that.
The First Bomb combo only worked if enemies didn't know his powers.
But Machi had already seen the swallow bomb trick.
She'd know to attack any unfamiliar presence nearby.
Using the Golden Experience combo again would be pointless.
And Nen bullets plus Weather Report?
Either required lots of prep,
or would be too weak.
Joey glanced at Killer Queen's hand—
then thought of JoJo Part 8's version.
Unlike Part 4's Killer Queen,
which only had one Heart Piercing Tank,
Part 8's could summon multiple tanks—
and even bubble bombs.
Joey had no plans for bubbles yet—
but the multiple tanks?
That, he'd already been working on.
The left hand's tank came from a skull emblem.
But that wasn't the only skull on Killer Queen.
There was another on the right hand,
and even one on the belt.
Why couldn't those be tanks, too?
Joey's thoughts sharpened.
And then—
the skull on Killer Queen's right hand fell off.
As it hit the floor—
it transformed into another Heart Piercing Attack Tank.
Then the ones on both his feet fell too—
transforming as they hit the ground.
BOOM. CLACK-CLACK-CLACK.
"Roast chicken's up! (Look over here!)"
A chorus of arrogant shouts filled the cabin,
and Joey smiled.
He raised a hand—
pointing directly to where he sensed
Machi and Nobunaga.
(End of Chapter)