The cleaver's bloodsucking was incredibly fast—but it didn't drain the corpse entirely dry. Some blood still remained.
The vein-like tendrils that emerged looked more like an illusion, disappearing in a blink, leaving behind a corpse Joey found eerily familiar.
Familiar because he'd seen this before—when rescuing Nakuru.
Corpses drained by the cleaver left behind that same strange flesh the pig-headed man had manipulated.
But what truly shocked Joey was that the shriveled monkey holding the cleaver was beginning to change, its features subtly shifting toward that same pig-headed form.
Joey could feel it—the monkey hungered for the blood-tainted flesh of the corpse. If he relaxed his control even slightly, the monkey would lunge and devour it ravenously.
A chilling idea crawled into Joey's head:
Were those pig-headed creatures not Demihumans at all… but humans transformed?
He stared at the corpse, then made a decision.
He wouldn't let the monkey continue the experiment.
No matter what it was now, that had once been a human body—
Watching it get eaten in front of him would leave a bitter taste.
Besides, the monkey wasn't a real living creature.
After the cleaver's "feeding"—or more precisely, its attack—the monkey's body had grown weak.
Without any command from Joey, it began to collapse.
Soil poured from its abdomen as it reverted into a shattered flowerpot.
That was likely the damage inflicted by the cleaver when it tried to siphon the monkey's life force.
Even if the monkey had appeared alive, at its core, it was still an artificial construct.
The cleaver could only extract the Nen from Golden Experience that gave it the illusion of life.
Once that aura was absorbed or destroyed, the monkey simply ceased to exist.
Joey didn't bother pouring more Nen into the broken pot.
Instead, he had Weather Report's wind beast lift the cleaver behind him, suspending it in mid-air.
Detecting atmospheric disturbances with Weather Report was no simple feat.
Even Joey doubted whether what he'd sensed earlier had been accurate—just a flicker in the air, gone in an instant.
Still, he had already created the perfect conditions.
Whether or not the trail was real, he had to follow it.
At the very least, it would let him break through the Royal Army's encirclement.
The cleaver, now dangling in the wind, behaved itself again.
But Joey stayed wary.
This bizarre weapon was unlike anything he'd seen.
He had a suspicion—it might not be ownerless.
It was just a gut feeling, based on little evidence.
In all his experience, Nen-infused items were incredibly rare.
Only one came to mind:
That sacred urn passed down by the Kakin Royal Family, the one used in the Succession War.
He didn't fully understand that urn either.
So how could he hope to decipher this cleaver's secrets?
Even so, Joey wasn't about to abandon it.
Not because he coveted it—he didn't like weapons, especially melee ones.
He was a Emitter, after all. Range was his game.
Releasing large-scale En already weakened his Ten and Ken.
He never relied on brute force up close.
His strategy leaned toward overwhelming opponents with numbers and quirky "magic"-like abilities.
Honestly, he did everything he could to avoid close combat.
Even if the cleaver somehow boosted melee prowess, it wouldn't mean much to him.
No, Joey carried it to prevent it from falling back into Royal Army hands.
With its strange properties, it might easily spawn another pig-headed man.
That would be dangerous—
Not to Joey, but to any mid-tier Nen user, especially close-range fighters like Nakuru.
Throwing it into the ocean wasn't an option either.
Who knew what kind of pig-headed sea monster it might create?
The best move was to seal it.
And Joey had an idea for that.
The soldiers couldn't stop him.
This time, it really looked like none of them were Nen users.
As long as Weather Report shielded him from bullets, Joey moved as if unchallenged.
He stopped at a thick metal door, placing his palm against it.
Golden Experience surged forth, infusing it.
In a second, the door transformed into a giant toad with an enormous mouth.
The toad let out a guttural croak, its tongue snapping forward and swallowing the cleaver whole.
Then, its body shifted again, re-solidifying into a steel door with a heavy thud.
But just as the transformation finished—
a screech exploded across the upper deck. Piercing. Deafening.
The moment the sound erupted, Weather Report snapped its fingers.
Atmospheric pressure surged, damping the sound before it reached Joey's ears.
Even so, goosebumps erupted on his arms.
That noise… it was like nails clawing across slate—unbearable.
But Joey remained composed.
Not so the soldiers nearby.
They dropped like puppets with cut strings—clutching their heads, some rolling on the floor, ears bleeding.
A non-discriminatory AoE attack, clearly Nen-based.
Either the user had high status on the ship and didn't care about casualties…
Or they'd lost control.
Joey heard anger in that scream.
So he leaned toward the first possibility.
Besides, a few ruptured eardrums probably didn't matter to that person.
He quickly traced the direction of the sound—
not forward, but from behind, where the soldiers had chased him.
Not far either.
Combined with how the scream occurred right after he sealed the cleaver,
Joey's theory gained traction.
The cleaver had a creator.
That person had followed him—and had just screamed in rage.
No… wait.
Joey furrowed his brow.
A new thought overturned his previous assumption.
If the cleaver's owner had appeared, they were likely a Conjurer.
But the scream had Nen woven into it—its destructive force was far more aligned with Emitter traits.
Emitters and Conjurers were opposing types.
Which meant the user of that vocal attack couldn't be the cleaver's creator.
Unless they were so absurdly powerful they'd overcome the natural incompatibility…
But Joey dismissed that.
To produce that level of power across distance, you'd need to be Troupe-level at least.
Of the Kakin Nen users he'd encountered,
only King Nasubi and First Prince Benjamin reached that tier.
The rest? Not even close.
Still, Joey didn't rule out the possibility that hidden aces lurked in the Royal Army.
Caution was still necessary.
But he now leaned toward a two-person theory.
One person created the cleaver.
The other unleashed the screech.
Yet… why use such a wild AoE attack?
Just blind fury at losing the cleaver?
Joey kept moving, thoughts churning.
His atmospheric trace had only given a general direction,
so his path forward was a straight line—which meant blasting through walls.
That kind of direct charge would reveal intent.
If the observer was smart, they'd realize Joey had locked onto them.
Joey's eyes lit up.
He was being provoked, drawn off-course.
This wasn't just an attack—it was a distraction, a challenge, a deterrent.
Which meant he was on the right path.
The observer—the one who'd been spying on him—was ahead.
But how far?
Joey prepared to face at least two enemies.
BOOM!
A wall beside him exploded.
A cleaver he knew all too well burst through—
slashing directly at him.
The hand wielding it was long, hairy, and distinctly inhuman.
Not a pig-headed man?
Killer Queen, busy smashing walls, responded instantly.
Its left arm rose—
the ornament representing the "Withering Heartpiercer" defense shimmered, taking the brunt of the cleaver's strike.
CLANG!
The floor beneath Killer Queen cracked,
but its arm held firm—completely blocking the blow.
Weaker than the last pig-headed user's attack.
Joey's palm opened—
a Nen bullet formed instantly.
He didn't stop running.
The Nen bullet flashed forward toward the creature behind the ruined wall.
But before it could connect,
a bloated corpse-beast—made entirely of that rotten flesh—leapt out to intercept it.
BOOM!
It exploded mid-air, bits of meat raining down.
Then came a screech, near Joey's feet.
Another cleaver went flying—but before it hit the ground,
a gust of wind caught it, suspending it in the air.
Suddenly, another wall nearby crumbled.
But before the rubble landed, it transformed into a massive toad,
which snapped up the cleaver.
By the time it hit the ground, it had turned back into a steel wall.
Explosions kept detonating around Joey.
Grotesque flesh-beasts surged from every gap—but they were nothing against the Heartpiercer's destruction.
Behind them loomed more pig-headed figures.
From a distance, Joey saw through one shattered wall—
His expression darkened.
Those weren't random monsters.
After seeing what the cleaver did to the first soldier,
he understood: each of those beasts had once been human.
Where had they come from?
The lower decks—
the people dreaming of reaching the Dark Continent.
How could he be so sure?
Simple—he could estimate their time of death.
And after dissecting countless corpses in East Gorteau, Joey was an expert.
All of them had died within the past week.
Down below, the Ai I family used civilians to fuel their abilities.
Up here, the Royal Army butchered hopefuls to create monsters.
Kakin was rotten from the top down.
Killer Queen's foot ornaments vanished as it ran.
Behind Joey, the sound of explosions echoed endlessly.
And then—he smashed through another wall—
To find a man kneeling before a tea table, sipping quietly with eyes closed.
His Nen formed a solid aura of Ken,
similar to Joey's own.
Men who maintained that level of Ken were usually Emitters or Manipulators.
If this was the observer who'd been watching him,
then Joey was sure—he was an Emitter.
Just as Joey studied the room and the man's posture—
the man set down his phone, turned his head—
and opened his eyes wide.
(End of Chapter)