The Hunter World didn't have airplanes. It had airships. Massive flying vessels with interior spaces that felt more like cruise ships than aircraft. Shops lined the corridors. Passengers could book multi-person cabins, private rooms, or luxury suites depending on their budget. Viewing decks offered panoramas of clouds and ocean. Entertainment areas kept people occupied during long flights.
The staff sections—cockpit, crew quarters, security offices—were off-limits to passengers.
This particular flight ran from the northwest corner of the Ochima Continent, where Ochima federation sat, to Tokeyou International Airport on the east coast of Kukan'yu Kingdom. Twenty hours, straight over open ocean.
Liam checked his phone. 11:44 AM. They wouldn't land until tomorrow evening.
"So few passengers," one flight attendant whispered to another near the boarding gate, maintaining her professional smile.
"Didn't you hear? Some thief stole a bunch of tickets at the airport. Our flight got hit the worst."
Liam's ears twitched.
Shizuku stared at them.
"What?" Liam asked, deadpan.
"Your ears moved."
"They do that." Liam reached over and tugged gently on hers. "See? Yours too. Come on, let's get to the room."
"Why?"
"We need to prepare."
"For what?"
"Our aura's too obvious." Liam led her through the rest area toward their assigned cabin. They collected their key from the front desk and navigated through corridors packed with other passengers hauling luggage. "Here we go."
He unlocked the door. Shizuku started to peer into the hallway, curious about their neighbors.
The door next to theirs opened. Pariston stepped out, loosening his tie. He spotted them immediately.
"What a coincidence," he said, grinning.
Liam pretended not to hear, yanked Shizuku inside their room, and slammed the door.
Pariston's smile didn't falter. He shrugged on his suit jacket and strolled off down the corridor, hands in his pockets.
In the viewing area, a young man with black hair and a white headband looked up from his book. His eyes followed the blond man disappearing into the luxury suite section.
"What's wrong, Chrollo?" Machi asked.
"Just saw someone strong," Chrollo said calmly, then returned to his book.
Pariston made his way to the luxury private room area. Unlike the standard cabins, these suites had transparent windows facing the corridor, showing off plush interiors and ocean views through the airship's outer hull.
One door chimed. A large, sweaty man peered through the curtain, then brightened with recognition.
O.Zee. The wife-murderer.
He opened the door wide, arms spread for a hug. "Lawyer Pariston! What a coincidence! Are you—"
He stopped. Pariston's expression had gone serious.
"Mr. O.Zee," Pariston said quietly. "There's a killer on this ship. They're targeting you."
The color drained from O.Zee's face. "What? Who—why—"
"I can't say more." Pariston's tone was grave. "But I'd advise you to stay in your room. Lock the door. Don't let anyone in. Not even the staff."
"I won't! I swear! There's food in here already, I'll just—"
"Good luck, Mr. O.Zee." Pariston turned and walked away. "I hope you survive the flight."
O.Zee slammed the door and triple-locked it, heart hammering.
Back in their cabin, Liam and Shizuku were working on what Liam called "preparation."
"It's basically just camouflage," Liam explained, sitting cross-legged on one of the beds. "We adjust the aura on our body to look sloppy. Like we don't know Ten. And we let a little bit leak from the top of our heads, the way normal people do."
This felt wrong on a fundamental level. Liam had spent weeks training himself to keep every drop of aura locked down. Now he was deliberately wasting it, like poking holes in his own pockets and letting coins fall out.
"The Phantom Troupe's on this ship," he continued. "Fewer passengers than normal means we'll stand out if we don't blend in."
"Can't we just stay in the room?" Shizuku asked.
"I want to see the viewing deck. Watch the clouds."
"Oh. Okay. Me too."
They both activated Ten, then started loosening it deliberately.
Ten minutes later, Shizuku had nailed it. Her aura looked soft, uncontrolled, leaking naturally from her pores. She could pass for a civilian.
Liam was still struggling.
"This doesn't make sense," he muttered, frowning at his own aura.
Shizuku studied him with Gyo. His aura was too neat. Even when he tried to make it messy, it looked artificial. Like someone had carefully arranged dirt to look random.
"I think this is a Transmutation problem," Shizuku said. "I'm a Conjurer. Conjuration is next to Transmutation on the hexagon, so it's easier for me. You're a Manipulator. You're on the opposite side. Further away."
Liam groaned. "Right. Manipulators get 40% efficiency with Transmutation. The worst possible matchup."
He'd basically ignored Transmutation for this exact reason. Why waste energy on something that'd only work at 40% when he could dump everything into Manipulation or Ken?
But now he needed it.
Another half hour of frustration later, Liam finally managed a passable disguise. His aura looked loose and untrained. A thin wisp of "smoke" rose from his head, neither too thick nor too thin.
"I'm starving," he said, standing and stretching. "Let's test this out. Grab food, see if anyone notices."
Shizuku tilted her head. "How do we confirm if they noticed?"
Liam paused, chopsticks halfway to his mouth. "Good point. We can't exactly ask them. And if we watch them to check if they're watching us, they'll notice us watching them, which defeats the whole purpose."
They stared at each other.
Then they went back to eating in silence.
The airship glided smoothly over the ocean.
Liam and Shizuku wandered the ship until around 1 PM, then returned to their cabin. They couldn't practice Ken as freely as they had on the ship to Greed Island, but they could still work on Hatsu development. Manipulators and Conjurers were relatively quiet. No explosive energy blasts or earth-shaking enhancement.
Shizuku sat on one bed, experimenting with Blinky's suction patterns.
Liam sat on the other, trying to fuse a Star Mark with a Spirit Gun.
He wrapped a thread pulled from the bedsheet in aura, suspending it above his palm. With his current Emission proficiency, the aura bullet could float for hours without dissipating. And because he was a Manipulator, he could control its trajectory remotely.
"I just need to add restrictions," Liam muttered. "Trade power for stability. Make the bullet harmless but reliable."
"What restrictions?" Shizuku asked, looking up from Blinky.
"Not full restrictions. More like... prioritization. I give up destructive power completely. Make it a delivery system instead of a weapon. That should increase the odds of successfully planting the mark."
Shizuku nodded and went back to her vacuum cleaner.
Hours passed.
Night fell. The airship sailed under a blanket of stars, moon dim on the horizon. Below, the black ocean stretched endlessly.
Inside the ship, most passengers were asleep in the shared cabins. Flight attendants and security made their rounds through quiet corridors.
Liam lay on his back, staring at the ceiling.
"Can't sleep?" Shizuku asked, rolling over to look at him.
"Something feels wrong." Liam sat up, frowning. "The atmosphere's... off."
He swung his legs out of bed and stood.
"I'm going to check something. Go back to sleep."
"Okay." Shizuku lay back down and was out within seconds.
Liam stepped into the corridor.
Ahead of him, Pariston walked calmly toward the luxury suite section.
And behind Pariston, barely visible in the dim lighting, Chrollo followed with a book in one hand and his other hand in his pocket. Silent. Patient.
Then Chrollo stopped abruptly.
Is this the guy?
Liam watched Pariston disappear around a corner. What's he doing, sneaking around at night?
He crept forward, activating Gyo, and peered through one of the transparent windows into a luxury suite.
His eyes widened.
Inside the room, a huge fat man—O.Zee—slumped on a sofa with his back to the door.
And floating in the air above him, impossibly long and slender, was a massive white fish