Joey pulled his phone from his coat, only to discover the signal had vanished entirely—who knew when it had disappeared.
It wasn't surprising. If Morel's team had been immediately suppressed and captured during the Royal Army's initial sweep, then signal interference made sense.
But the intel from Nakuru changed things—Morel and Xiuto were likely still hiding somewhere aboard the ship.
If that was the case, the Royal Army would never allow them the chance to leak information via mobile transmission.
That gave Joey an idea.
He could locate places on the ship that still had working landlines.
Those spots would be more heavily guarded—but they also made the most sense as potential escape points for Morel and the others.
Could Morel have chosen to escape from outside the ship, like Joey had?
Possible. With enough Purple Haze Soldiers, he might be able to.
But Joey had his doubts.
Did Morel still have his pipe?
And more importantly, even attempting to break through BW's hull wasn't simple.
Joey could do it easily only because Killer Queen's First Bomb bypassed logic entirely.
But Morel and Xiuto had no such destructive advantage.
Any excessive noise could bring the Royal Army down on them.
In other words, escaping the ship might actually make things worse for them.
The giant bird carrying Nakuru could hold out for a while longer,
but Joey needed to act before any enemy abilities targeted it.
Regular gunfire wouldn't do much to the bird—but unknown Hatsu could.
So Joey mentally calculated the safe window—and once he judged the time right, he ordered the bird to ascend and vanish from view.
In truth, the bird was simply circling back to the exit hole Joey had made earlier in the hull.
From afar, Joey had already observed Royal Army soldiers repairing another breach—no Nen users among them.
Given Nakuru's strength, even if he ran into one or two users, he should still be able to retreat successfully.
Plus, not much time had passed since the escape.
There was no guarantee the hole Joey had made had even been discovered yet.
No longer worrying about Nakuru's escape, Joey turned his attention to a nearby room marked Command Room.
Several soldiers guarded the entrance, guns at the ready.
More than guards, they looked tense—strained muscles, stern faces.
That kind of tension only came from knowing something was wrong.
They had to be aware he was here.
Which meant… his En had been detected.
Ordinary soldiers couldn't sense En—so the key was likely a hidden Nen user nearby.
But Joey hadn't picked up any strange aura via his own En.
That, more than anything, made him extremely cautious.
The command room was small—just one of many. Who knew what part of the ship it coordinated?
What mattered was that it had a landline. Joey had confirmed that much through his insect scouts spread across the ship.
They hadn't located Morel or Xiuto yet,
but pinpointing phones was easy—and quick.
Interestingly, people on the upper deck weren't very wary of bugs.
Either Joey's presence hadn't been reported up top…
or the enemy assumed he'd never dare come here.
Either way, it worked in his favor.
But Joey didn't plan to use the phone.
Instead, he left a listening-insect in the room and immediately moved on.
As for the hidden Nen user—Joey didn't care what they were planning.
His objective was clear: find Morel and Xiuto, even if it meant scanning the entire upper deck.
Given their familiarity, the moment they entered Joey's En, they'd likely recognize it.
They only needed to release a slight signal,
and Joey could lock on instantly.
The chaos on deck had died down.
By the time Joey reached his third target location with nothing to show for it,
he noticed an increase in patrols within the ship.
The Royal Army soldiers had returned from the deck
and begun sweeping the interior.
That feeling of being watched returned—softly, silently.
It had disappeared briefly when he released the bird,
but now that the bird had flown, it had returned—seeking him.
This time, Joey began to understand.
The surveillance wasn't precise,
but it likely blanketed the entire upper deck.
Also, it seemed the observer could only track one target at a time,
and their detection wasn't based on sight—but some En-like ability.
Otherwise, spotting Joey—who distorted light to remain nearly invisible—would be impossible.
Once he realized that, Joey considered a solution.
Just like when he'd created the bird, he needed to make something that could steal the observer's attention.
But there was a problem: Joey's ability to shield a target from detection only extended to the radius of his En.
If the decoy left that range,
it would draw attention—not just from the observer, but from the troops already converging on him.
Joey wasn't concerned about soldiers themselves.
But his clones and Golden Experience constructs weren't well-suited for confined-space combat.
In narrow corridors, numbers and automatic weapons became overwhelming.
Out in the open, his constructs could hold their own.
In tight spaces, a volley of bullets could destroy them.
Plus, the enemy wasn't stupid.
Even if Joey made a clone or decoy, the observer might keep tracking him.
That left two probabilities:
1. The observer couldn't identify shapes—just auras.
2. The observer could distinguish them, but Joey's clone introduced a 50/50 uncertainty.
Either case worked against Joey.
Worse: this ability was a massive threat to Morel and Xiuto.
The best move would be to track down the observer and eliminate them.
But how?
He had no clue where they were.
They never made direct contact—only watched.
Joey even suspected their ability had been created specifically to monitor the upper deck.
If so, they probably had no offensive or defensive power—just pure tracking.
Still, that didn't mean they couldn't be found.
Joey had an idea.
But first, he needed to deal with the Royal Army soldiers now blocking both ends of the corridor.
This could also give him the perfect opportunity to observe.
Normal people couldn't see him—or sense his presence.
If they locked onto him, it would be for one of two reasons:
1. The observer relayed his position, directing the troops to fire indiscriminately.
That was exactly what Joey wanted to happen.
2. The squads included a Nen user using En to actively scan for him.
If so, that Nen user would be Joey's first target.
Thin mist began spreading through the corridor as storm clouds gathered above.
Nen users could still use En in fog—but without thermal scopes or special tech,
normal soldiers would be completely blind.
Even if the observer gave them directions,
there'd be a delay in communication—and that delay was all Joey needed.
Whoever was feeding them info wasn't using a landline.
So that left three options: cellphone, walkie-talkie, or Hatsu.
First two—manageable.
Third one—had to be eliminated.
As long as the intel feed was delayed or interrupted,
the Royal Army would be headless chickens. And against that, Joey was untouchable.
Phones and walkies still emitted weak signals.
Even faint, they needed to propagate through the air.
Once Weather Report entered sensing mode,
it could pick up those subtle atmospheric disturbances.
And the moment Joey determined the signal's source,
he'd have the observer by the throat.
Just as the fog thickened, Royal Army soldiers poured into the corridor.
The mist obscured their vision,
but they still advanced cautiously—stopping just short of Joey's position and raising their rifles.
The squad leader raised his hand and pointed:
"Open fire!"
The storm clouds drifting above hadn't acted—just floated gently.
Gunfire tore through the corridor. Bullets screamed toward Joey. Everything happened in a blink.
But Weather Report didn't intercept the bullets.
Instead, it calmly closed its eyes, raising its hand, feeling.
Joey, meanwhile, narrowed his En slightly, reinforcing his Ken, and summoned Killer Queen to his side.
He could see every bullet's trajectory.
With precise footwork, he began dodging at impossible angles.
Killer Queen mirrored him—
decorative parts deflecting bullets, its body weaving like silk.
For now, none of the bullets could touch them.
The soldiers, blinded by fog and uncertain if their shots were landing, grew uneasy.
"Keep firing! Empty your mags!" barked the squad leader.
His decision came from the phone in his hand—currently in a call.
A muffled voice came through the speaker:
"I can sense he's still alive, but he hasn't moved. He's probably tanking the bullets with pure defense. Keep shooting. Even if he's an Enhancer, he can't survive heavy-caliber fire for long. Don't stop!"
But that voice didn't realize—
Joey was now smiling.
"...Heh. Got you."
Weather Report raised its hand—pointing.
Joey's En surged—expanding to its full 50-meter radius.
Inside the mist, cracks of blue lightning burst forth.
BOOM!
Thunder shook the corridor.
Soldiers screamed as their bodies collapsed, charred and smoking.
The lightning storm raged down the entire hallway—
non-discriminatory, striking every soldier within range.
Amid the chaos, Joey moved forward, boots echoing across scorched metal.
All incoming bullets slowed, then fell harmlessly to the ground—
blocked by Weather Report manipulating the atmosphere to create massive air resistance.
Joey picked up speed.
Just before sprinting, he grabbed the monkey carrying the cursed cleaver.
The monkey, blade clutched tight, eyes faintly glowing red,
sat obediently in his grip.
But just as Joey reached the front lines,
a burned, half-dead soldier lunged from the ground,
knife flashing toward Joey's exposed abdomen.
Too slow.
Before the soldier could connect,
the monkey's cleaver came down first—
hacking him apart in one clean swing.
Joey stopped abruptly.
He looked down at the monkey—its body visibly shriveled after the strike.
This knife…
There's something more to it.
Then he saw it—
Vein-like tendrils of aura slithered from the cleaver,
piercing the freshly killed corpse
as the monkey tumbled from his grip.
(End of Chapter)