It was the morning of the third day of the Fourth Phase of the Hunter Exam, Sinbad got off the rocky floor and stretched. He woke up earlier than yesterday and decided to do his morning stretches out of the cave. The heated sunlight warmed his body making it easier for him to complete his routine. Bending over to wrap his fingers underneath his toes, he exhaled and then sensed Pokkle's timely arrival.
"Someone's up bright and early," Pokkle groaned, envious of Sinbad's carefree attitude. "How did yesterday go?"
"A successful hunt," Sinbad replied, rising to full height standing a half a head taller than Pokkle. He turned around and started walking back into the cave. "Follow me."
Together they walked to the back of the cave and laying on the ground were five stolen ID badges.
34, 198, 362, 103, 89.
Sinbad sat on the floor, crossing his legs. "Random question but have you ever heard of Heavens Arena?"
With the Hunter Exam closely coming to an end, it was time for Sinbad to piece as much information as he could about the necessary requirement to remain as the rightful King of Magi. Two days ago, he discussed with Yama if she had heard anything about it but she had no clue.
Pokkle closed his eyes, concentrating. A part of him wanted to be as useful as possible to Sinbad. "I'm afraid not."
Sinbad nodded without showing much emotion.
"Oh, right," Pokkle mumbled as he remembered the events of Gon's death and Hanzo's devastation. "Yesterday also went well."
"Good," yawned Sinbad.
Pokkle looked at the man in awe and terror. A burning curiosity blazed on his mind like a wildfire.
"Is there something you would like to know?" Sinbad asked, falling onto his back.
Pokkle nodded but then reorganized his thoughts because he had more than one question. "Did Gon do something to piss you off?"
"No," Sinbad answered, bluntly. "I have a habit of needing to prove people wrong and I especially hate when someone tells me what to do."
Pokkle understood the implications but wondered what happened which led to staging Gon's assassination. Then, he remembered the information he gained yesterday evening. He caught a glimpse of Hisoka and Ponzu, then told Sinbad the creepy man's and woman's location.
Sinbad kicked off the ground and retrieved his sword. 'Time to indulge the clown.'
…
Yama sprinted in between trees and bushes, finally after four days, she found her target. An old man with long white hair tied in a ponytail and long featherlike eyebrows.
She carried her long silver spear in a reverse grip, the long metal staff was pressed on her back as she pursued the quick man. Even in his older age, the man was light on his toes.
So, after pursuing for seven minutes, Yama lost her patience. She slammed her right foot forward and pulled her upper body backward as she twirled the spear into her dominant left hand. Pulling all of her momentum forward, she launched the spear like a javelin.
The man reacted in time and sidestepped but the edge of the spearhead clipped the man's side, just below the ribs. Yama's target, number 191, was waiting for this moment. As his key to victory relied on her losing her weapon. The racing weapon sailed past and then struck the ground seven feet away.
Yama sprinted toward her spear as the target blocked her path. Charging like a wild animal, she leapt into the air and went for a roundhouse kick. The old man shifted his stance and raised his left forearm to block the kick, and then swiftly kicked out Yama's leg from underneath her.
Yama landed on her back and rushed to bring her arms to protect her chest, blocking the old man's punch. However, she still felt the impact in her chest. As the man pulled his fist back, Yama locked onto the man's arm and then shirt, yanking the man toward her. She slammed her head into number 191's forehead, a nasty gash opened up on both foreheads.
With blurry vision and a piercing headache, Yama reached out and stuck her fist into the man's wound, scratching at the open flesh. The man screamed in pain as she shuffled underneath him and wobbled to her spear.
After eight seconds of maneuvering with concussed vision, she grabbed the silver spear. The cool slick metal refreshed her mind as her body went into practiced muscle memory, twirling the spear between her hands, arms, and behind her neck.
'He can't move around much anymore,' Yama thought as she lost her footing for a second.
"You fight with no honor and discipline,' the man berated her, tending to his injuries.
Yama flashed a nasty smile as the blood streaked down into the corners of her lips. "In the seas, there is no such thing as honor, only food."
The man shifted into a fighting stance and then charged at Yama.
Yama spun in the spear directly in front of her, creating a tiny vortex effect. The spearhead blurred in a tiny glint of silver light, unable to be tracked or predict where she would thrust from. As the man approached, she thrusted the spear at the man's left thigh, piercing a hole in the thick muscle. He tried retaliating with a counter jab but Yama flicked her wrists and blocked his jab with the blunt end of the spear.
Then, she kicked the man in the chest. With her absurd strength, it sent the man into the air. Yama reeled back the spear, preparing to throw it like a javelin and then launched the spear.
"Gungnir!" She shouted as the spear traveled through the man's chest. The moving spear struck a tree fifteen feet away.
Yama collected her target's tag and achieved six points to pass the Fourth Phase of the Hunter Exam.
…
Sinbad stood alone in a dry dirt clearing, a rocky mountainside was to his right and the woods to his left. With most of his goals completed for the Fourth Phase, it was time to fight Hisoka. He wanted to get a closer look on what their interlocked fates have in store for the both of them. And to get his first taste of a Nen battle.
Sinbad unleashed large amounts of his Nen in Ren, a sudden outburst of his Nen for Hisoka to pinpoint his location. Now, he waited for the bloodthirsty clown to arrive. In the meantime, he thought of strategies and ideas to steer the battle to his advantage.
After ten minutes of waiting, Hisoka arrived. He confidently walked out of the forest while shuffling his deck of cards,moving them back and forth as if he were clapping.
Sinbad went on high alert, studying the man's moves and mannerisms.
Hisoka slapped the deck of cards together and drew the top card. A slight smirk tugged at his lips. "How well do you know Nen?"
"I learned the basics about a week and a half ago," answered Sinbad, truthfully.
Hisoka revealed the drawn card. A red king of diamonds. "Isn't this your card?"
Hisoka skillfully threw the card at Sinbad who effortlessly swatted it down, using his right hand.
Due to Hisoka's eccentric personality toward fighting and the context clues Sinbad pulled from the name, he had a strong feeling of getting some information regarding Heavens Arena.
"Have you ever heard of Heavens Arena?" Sinbad asked, casually.
Hisoka nodded. "I am currently a Floor Master."
Sinbad smiled, unsurprised of this revelation. "How do I become a Floor Master?"
"Reach the 200th floor and then beat a Floor Master," answered Hisoka.
Sinbad clenched his fists. "So, all I have to do is beat you."
"Percisely," said Hisoka in a seductive manner.
The two Nen Users activated their Ten and the prelude of one of the deadliest Floor Master fights in Heaven's Arena history would commence.
Sinbad and Hisoka blitzed each other. In the first exchange, Sinbad focused on observing and learning Hisoka's fighting habits. For Hisoka, his only focus was crushing Sinbad.
Quickly, Sinbad learned the difference in experience in Nen. He could tell for every hit he received, it did more damage than three of his, this wouldn't be too big of a deal but Hisoka was a deadly fighter. He barely escaped an overhead axe kick that shattered the ground beneath them, scattering dozens of different sized rocks.
Sinbad couldn't help thinking of his twin brother, Judar as they're savagery was a bit similar. However, Sinbad was quick to learn how wrong he was because out of nowhere, Hisoka switched fighting styles.
He stopped throwing fists and kicks but transitioned to mixing in elbows and chops.
Sinbad backpedaled to dodge a wild spinning chop to the head and Hisoka quickly eliminated the distance between the two. He launched a rapid uppercut at Sinbad's chin. Sinbad moved his head to the side in time to dodge the attack, he countered with a jab to Hisoka's chest.
Hisoka caught Sinbad's wrist with his left hand.
Sinbad slightly maneuvered to wrap his right leg to kick Hisoka in the head. Usually, a kick like this from Sinbad would put anyone to sleep, however this barely knocked Hisoka off balance. On impact, Sinbad did feel an increased intensity against his foot, realizing Hisoka must have done something to strengthen his defense against his kick.
'He focused a majority of his Nen to protect his head while keeping it on the rest of his body,' Sinbad thought as he smiled. All it took was one touch and Sinbad discovered the secrets of the advanced Nen technique known as Ryu. He practiced as his focused Nen flowed from his hands, forearms, shoulders, and then head. 'Nen is so fascinating!'
Upon seeing Sinbad's elated reaction, Hisoka was overjoyed. His body 'He is learning at an incredible rate but it's still much too early. I must show restraint.'
"You still have much to learn about Nen before I can truly enjoy this battle to the fullest and then kill you," said Hisoka, revealing a bunch of flowers from his pockets. He smelled the red carnations and yellow lilies before they bursted into flames.
"I'm happy to learn more," replied Sinbad, unsheathing his sword.
"Splendid!" Hisoka responded with an over enthusiastic smile. The tone of his voice raised to that of a gossiping woman. With his left index finger, he pointed at Sinbad. "Did you know that with a little extra effort, Nen could be hidden?"
Sinbad didn't respond as he felt a terrible omen.
"As a magician, I hate to reveal the secret to my tricks but I need you to understand the reality of a fight between Nen Users and their Nen Abilities," Hisoka said. "You must use Nen to see what is hidden."
Understanding the hidden message in Hisoka's message, Sinbad focused Nen into his eyes but struggled to keep a constant flow of Nen to the rest of his body but this allowed him to see threads of Hisoka's pink Nen.
'What is this!' Sinbad thought as a pink goo was stuck to his right cheek and right hand.The threads of his pink Nen were held by Hisoka's left hand.
"Bungee Gum," Hisoka said. His left hand pulled on the pink threads of aura, yanking on Sinbad's sword hand and face. "This is my Nen Ability."
The reason for Sinbad's passive En to not detect Hisoka's Bungee Gum was because this ability doesn't do any harm to Sinbad, so there was no need for his En to trigger or forewarn him of upcoming danger.
Sinbad's aura spiked as he got serious, golden rays of Nen exploded from him.
The animals hiding in the nearby woods, the insects crawling in the dirt beneath them, and the pack of birds which flew toward Zevil Island all hid in fright of the man's Nen.
'How dare he move me without my permission?'
Hisoka's eyes flashed in pure delight as he witnessed Sinbad's true Nen for the first time. His body squirmed from the future potential of the boy.
Sinbad threw his sword into his left hand and channeled the Nen onto the blade, enhancing it with his golden aura. The blade brimmed with energy as he brought it down to cut the threads.
'I'm not going to let you do as you please.' Hisoka thought as he yanked on the side of Sinbad's face and right hand, pulling him directly to him. "Bungee Gum has the properties of both rubber and gum."
Then, Hisoka started swinging Sinbad and growing the threads of Aura but imbuing it with more of his aura. The Nen thread grew large and long enough to smash Sinbad into the nearest tree.
To mitigate most of the damage, Sinbad unleashed his Nen to operate as a barrier. The tree trunk broke and splintered off into different directions as Sinbad suddenly stopped and crashed into the ground.
As Sinbad rose to his feet, large chunks of the tree trunk suddenly flew directly toward him. They were glowing in Hisoka's pink Nen, and he transferred the other end of the threads onto the broken trees, releasing the stored energy with the rubber and gum.
Reinforcing his blade with gold Nen, Sinbad cut the trees. Hidden amongst the splintered wood, Hisoka popped up but thanks to Sinbad's foreseeing En, he reacted in time to block Hisoka's heavy punch with his forearm.
Trying to put distance between the two, Sinbad tried leaping away but Hisoka stuck his left foot to the ground. Sinbad lunged forward with his sword but was parried by one of Hisoka's playing cards and then he jumped backward out of Sinbad's subsequent consecutive slashes.
Hisoka put away his card and then folded his arms. "Do you know about the six categories of Nen?"
"No," Sinbad answered, feeling a bit tired from the battle. Even though Sinbad had massive amounts of Nen, he was still a novice and switching between different advanced Nen techniques naturally brought fatigue. "Care to explain?"
"Enhancer. Transmuter. Conjurer. Specialist. Manipulator. Emitter," Hisoka said and then gave a small introduction of each one. "I wonder which of these categories you fall under."
'How and what determines my category?' Sinbad grew slightly frustrated and anxious. A little annoyed by the vague and little information given to him.
"You must know which category you belong to before developing your Nen Ability," Hisoka advised as he turned to walk away. "And when you do, I will be waiting at the top of Heavens Arena."
Seeing Hisoka's back, Sinbad relaxed and sheathed his blue ornate sword. As soon as he did this, a playing card flew directly at his right hand. Sinbad tried to activate his Nen but was too tired and the enhanced playing card cut into his right palm.
"I'll leave that card with you," Hisoka said without turning around. "I look forward to our real deathmatch."
Sinbad pulled out the bloody red king of diamonds from his hand.
His face stretched into a devious smile as he recounted the events of their fight and the humiliation he suffered from being manipulated and controlled by Bungee Gum. The feeling of his attacks not doing the necessary amount of damage. And the magician's mind games directing his attention elsewhere while conducting his magic trick. belong under," Hisoka said, mostly to himself. "Usually when I am unsure, it means you would be a Specialist."
'I will learn everything there is to know about Nen, the limits and restrictions of these categories, and then develop my Nen Ability.' Sinbad squeezed his bloodied palm. 'And then, I will kill you, Hisoka.'
Chapter End…
// AN
Hello readers! I'm back from break and excited to keep releasing more chapters.
Anyone want to try and guess Sinbad's Nen Category?
With only one phase remaining in the Hunter Exams, who do yall think will fail the next phase?
Thanks and I hope you all keep enjoying the story. Would love to hear all comments about the story.