On July 7th, the world was shaken to its core.
The excitement from the speech—the first time a non-human entity had founded a nation and secured the support of its populace—had not yet cooled. It was on this day that the Hunter Association and the Chimera Ants jointly announced their official duel.
Meruem, having left the choice of time and date to the Hunter Association, spent his day as he always did: immersed in Gungi with Komugi on the highest floor of the palace.
The two played with terrifying speed, constructing a masterpiece on the board that moved far too fast for a normal observer to track. Even Shaiapouf, watching from the sidelines, found the match increasingly incomprehensible. It was a game reaching a conclusion that felt like a pre-established harmony.
"8-7-4, Lieutenant General."
"...No. It's mate. Was move 77 the turning point? How would you have played it, Komugi? ...Komugi?"
Normally, Komugi would have started chattering about her tactical theories until she was blue in the face. Now, she sat motionless, her sightless eyes fixed on the board.
Pouf bristled at her lack of response, but Meruem raised a hand to stop him. He watched as a faint, shimmering aura began to leak from the girl.
"...Your Majesty, something is strange," she whispered, her cheeks flushing. "Inside my head... every possible move for this board is appearing! Moves I've never even dreamed of!"
Her fingertips, shrouded in a thin veil of aura, touched a piece. Suddenly, the aura surged through the grooves of the board, causing the entire game to glow with a soft light. Whether she realized it or not, her aura remained on the pieces even after she let go. The pieces began to move silently on their own, dancing across the board at a speed invisible to the human eye.
(I see... so this kind of awakening is possible,) Meruem thought, mesmerized. (What a beautiful flow. I had the arrogance to think I was the one making Komugi grow... but her true evolution starts now.)
(Impossible!) Pouf thought, his face contorting. (A human reaching this processing speed? I can't even track the state of the board! In the realm of Gungi, she is light-years beyond me. It's... infuriating!)
A few seconds passed—seconds that felt like hours due to the speed of the match—and the aura finally dissipated. Komugi bowed her head, an urgent plea in her voice.
"Your Majesty, I'd like to ask for a short break."
"Hmph. This is the first time you've ever asked to stop. What is the reason?"
"I want to arrange the records that appeared in my head," she said. "If I do it now, my slow brain will never forget them again."
Komugi, the Gungi addict who claimed nothing was more fun than playing, was willing to pause a match just to preserve these new strategies.
"I see. Hearing that, I cannot possibly permit it."
"Eh?"
Another addict sat before her. Meruem smiled, his voice carrying the weight of a royal decree.
"We play one more match before your break. I must experience this awakened power for myself right now, or I will not be satisfied."
"...Understood. I'll show you my best game yet."
As they set their initial positions, Meruem's brow furrowed in displeasure. Komugi was placing her King (Su) in an unorthodox position, isolated from her other pieces. It was a suicidal formation.
(The 'Hanare-gakure'... or more formally, the Kokoriko? Why use a dead strategy now?)
It was a tactic Meruem himself had devised during a previous match, only to have it immediately dismantled by Komugi, effectively erasing it from Gungi history. He remembered how she had looked sad as she killed her own creation, and how she had been quietly joyful when Meruem brought it back to life.
"It goes without saying, but this move is dead. I have analyzed it continuously since our last match, and the conclusion remains the same. ...If you play a half-hearted game, you know the consequences."
Meruem recalled the complex expression she had worn back then. He was certain she would never hold back in Gungi, yet he felt the need to state it.
The pieces were set. Komugi gave a small nod, her eyes fixed tenderly on the board, and the match began.
(...There are no new moves. If she continues like this, she will reach the same dead end as before.)
The match proceeded exactly according to the Kokoriko standard. Finally, Meruem placed the piece that should have signaled her total defeat.
"9-2-1, Lieutenant General (Advanced). Now, show me if there truly is anything beyond this!"
He was still skeptical, yet a small part of him held a desperate hope that a path to life existed on this board.
"4-6-2, Shinobi."
It was a move that seemed completely nonsensical. Yet, the moment it was played, the neurons in Meruem's brain fired with explosive force. Millions of new, infinite paths suddenly opened before him. In Meruem's evolved mind, the strategy that should have stopped breathing suddenly gasped for air, turning the tide and disrupting his own "respiration."
"This child... the one Your Majesty brought back to life... she's finally breathing again because of our matches. It's... well, it's embarrassing, but this move is 'ours,' isn't it?"
"Silence for a moment!" Meruem barked, not looking up from the board. "I cannot risk a single mistake in my response, or I will ruin this match!"
Battered by the sheer number of possibilities, Meruem didn't see the expression on Komugi's face. Pouf saw it and nearly lunged at her in a rage, but he bit his tongue until it bled to avoid disturbing the King as he experienced this ultimate ecstasy.
"Please, let me call your name soon, my King..."
The Gungi King, never doubting for a second that an answer would come, looked at her Sun with a smile of pure, radiant fulfillment.
***
The Hunter Association base in West Gorteau was no longer just a hospital—it was a cutting-edge technological fortress equipped with the world's best medical gear. Leorio Paradinight, having spent weeks treating the reckless Vanguard, had officially become the head of the medical team. He was currently in the middle of a surgery.
"Doctor Leorio! Shoot is caught in the crossfire! He's in critical condition!!"
"Knuckle's blood pressure is dropping! At this rate, he'll have permanent damage!!"
"Chairman Netero's arms and legs were just blown off!! ...Wait, he says it's fine, they were just Nen constructs!!"
"Morel and Knov are out of aura! They can't hold back the monsters anymore!!"
"Aaaah! Killua was just sent flying!!"
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU IDIOTS DOING?!" Leorio roared.
On this day of "final adjustments" before the raid, the group had pushed themselves so far that even the last man standing—Hisoka—was covered in wounds. Leorio was reaching his breaking point.
"Are you all morons?! I said adjustments!! Ending up as a pile of corpses is NOT an adjustment!!"
After a desperate round of treatment involving Leorio, Kurapika, and several Association healers, the four "monsters" were forced to sit in seiza and receive a lecture.
"Well, you have to test your full power before a life-or-death fight, right?" Netero mused, looking unbothered. "One must know their ceiling."
"You have to break the engine in," Hisoka added with a grin. "If you aren't in top gear during the real thing, it's fatal."
"I'm a victim here," Killua grumbled. "One second I'm fighting, the next I'm sitting on a riverbank next to some creepy reaper guys."
"I just got excited! ♥" Gon chirped.
"Seriously, killing the four of you might actually bring world peace," Leorio sighed, massaging his temples.
Some looked repentant, others acted like victims, but Leorio realized with a heavy heart that the fate of the world rested on these four lunatics.
"Knov and Morel are out of gas from trying to contain you. Knuckle has internal organ damage from a stray hit. Shoot has severe burns from Killua's indiscriminate discharge. What is wrong with you? Half the team is incapacitated before we even start the raid!"
Knuckle and Shoot had been on the verge of death. Killua, too, had nearly crossed over from the recoil of his own power. Gon, Hisoka, and Netero had suffered injuries that would take a normal person months to heal. Yet, thanks to Leorio—who didn't realize he was now arguably one of the top three surgeons in the world—they were all fully recovered.
"Knuckle and Shoot say they feel like they've powered up from the experience, so I'm letting it go," Leorio continued. "But listen to me. We are going there to save the ants if we can, not just exterminate them. Do you remember that?!"
"...Of course."
"Don't lie to me!"
Leorio sighed, his energy spent. He turned to Gon, his tone softening with concern.
"Gon, your Muscle Savings Transfer Body... it's too dangerous. I know anything is possible with Nen, but as a doctor, I don't want you using it."
One of Gon's primary Hatsu involved converting everything in his body—organs, fat, everything—into pure muscle fiber. Leorio didn't understand how a non-Transmuter was pulling it off, and that was exactly why he feared it. If the Nen cut out while the body was in that state, Gon would die instantly.
Even worse, if he were to be revived by post-mortem Nen after that, the world might witness the birth of a "Calamity Gon" who lived only for the pursuit of strength.
"Sorry, Leorio. It's an essential ability. I'll have to use it when I'm serious. I can't reach that level without it."
"I know that. I just wanted you to know how I felt. I don't want there to be any secrets or grudges when I'm treating you."
Leorio ruffled Gon's hair and announced he was done for the day. He stumbled off toward the room where his wife and newborn twins were waiting.
The four remaining warriors looked at each other, discussing their final results.
"Be honest. Are your trump cards ready?" Killua asked.
"No issues here," Netero replied.
"Perfectly ripe! ♥"
"I'm about fifty-fifty," Killua admitted. "I think if I get enough of an adrenaline spike, I can pull it off. What about you, Gon?"
"I'm still not quite there," Gon said. "I have a feeling that once I actually fight the King, I'll be able to do it."
"So you're saying you aren't ready."
They each held a final secret. Netero and Hisoka, through their experience and age, had finalized their techniques. Gon and Killua were still in the process of reaching theirs.
"Killua, you're going to use that thing, right? I'd be genuinely surprised if you managed to master it. ♠"
"I'm not 'mastering' it," Killua replied. "I'm just forcing myself to endure the ride."
"Even so, it is impressive," Netero noted. "Even knowing what Hisoka is capable of, your talent never ceases to amaze me."
Neither Hisoka nor Netero knew the details of Killua's trump card, but they knew the core of it—and they knew its difficulty. A teenager was achieving a level of technical mastery that most geniuses would spend a lifetime failing to reach.
"More importantly, what about Gon?" Killua asked. "If his card isn't ready, shouldn't he swap with Hisoka? There's no way the Guards are stronger than the King."
"No way! ♥ The cat is my prey. ♠"
"Why are you so obsessed with her? It's creepy."
Hisoka's plan for the matchups had been officially adopted. Killua was worried about Gon facing Meruem without a finalized trump card, but since everyone else was a battle-crazed monster, his logic was ignored.
"It'll be fine," Netero smiled. "He says he'll reach it in battle. And I'll likely finish the swarms quickly and come help anyway."
"Just don't interfere in my 1-on-1, okay? ♦"
"Of course not. If he's clearly losing, I'll swap in before he gets killed."
"Do you guys even realize we can't afford to lose?" Killua sighed.
"Heh... Poor Killua. The weight of responsibility is a heavy burden, isn't it? ♥"
"Don't you start with me."
Killua stood up and walked away, needing to test the new sensations he had gained from his near-death experience. Netero and Hisoka followed, leaving Gon alone in meditation.
(This might lead to something irreversible... but I have to follow through on this selfishness.)
Gon possessed a knowledge no one else did—the true strength of Meruem from the original story. While things had changed in this world, some facts remained. In the original story, Netero had been helpless against a Meruem who possessed even more latent potential than the one here. No matter how much stronger this Netero or Hisoka were, the impact of "Perfect Meruem" from the original was something they couldn't be certain of defeating.
(That's why I have to see for myself.)
The goal of this "Gon fan" was to surpass the original Adult Gon. If he fought Neferpitou as the original had, he might reach that level, but he wouldn't know if he had surpassed it.
(More than anything, I want to know... who is the truly strongest!)
In the original story, Adult Gon and Perfect Meruem never clashed. As a fan of HUNTER×HUNTER, he couldn't resist the urge to find the answer for himself, even in this alternate world.
(If the Guards are like the original, Pouf and Youpi will try to rush to his side. I feel bad for the others, but if I miss this chance, it would be a denial of everything I've done so far.)
He felt guilt toward his friends, curiosity about the mystery of strength, and an overwhelming exhilaration at the thought of facing Meruem. His aura began to turn dark and heavy—a shade seen often in the original story, indicating that Gon was far from a simple, innocent boy.
(Let's do this, Meruem! And let's do this, original Adult Gon! I... I am the strongest Gon!!)
He knew this was a different timeline, but he focused his intent solely on Meruem. The fan who had aimed for the "Strongest Gon" finally had the chance to grasp his idol.
What happens when the "Strongest Muscle" and the "Sovereign Sun" collide? At the very least, only one will walk away as the true peak.
The greatest physical clash in the history of this world was about to begin.
***
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