There were more patrol officers on Molding City's streets now, and the number of "suspicious persons" being detained was also high.
Many of them had criminal records—most were involved in organ trafficking.
So many people like that flooding in made the city's security forces tense.
Ronin drew the curtains. "Looks like someone's tracked us down. That's some impressive reach."
"No—if anything, it's because Milia's promotion campaign was too successful," Kurapika said, a little helpless.
Even though they were already on the Yorbian Continent, Ronin's identity as a hugely popular Heavens Arena fighter was still easy to recognize.
Especially for paparazzi—those people had instincts far sharper than ordinary folks.
If Ronin didn't use the Transformation Jutsu, then in the eyes of professionals, his "disguises" were basically meaningless.
But since most of the people pouring in were criminals, the real reason was likely Ronin's Sharingan—what he'd revealed on the ring.
Even in earlier fight videos, that crimson glow had already sparked plenty of greedy interest.
Anything different would either be worshipped… or treated as heresy and eliminated.
Ronin's Sharingan was clearly being coveted. The question was whether the people coveting it were strong enough to take it.
They'd already made their choice regarding Omokage.
Avoiding danger wasn't Ronin's style—he preferred to strike first.
That was partly his personality, and partly because "running and getting cornered" had a higher chance of going wrong. If he attacked proactively, he could set traps and let his shadow clone test everything.
The "doll steals eyes" ability required eye contact with the real person—so as long as Ronin himself didn't go, even if the shadow clone ran into a doll and something went wrong, it wouldn't affect him.
The prophecy's key point was Ronin himself.
Once his eyes were taken, it was over.
In Molding City's church, a tall, thin man appeared.
He had long silver-gray hair, and his right hand was wrapped in bandages.
He was Phantom Troupe member No. 4—Omokage.
He liked churches. Maybe it was because in his childhood, he often got food from churches. Or maybe because, to him, a church was where souls returned.
Here, it felt like you could reach out and touch a soul.
Chrollo had taken an interest in Ronin, but this time Omokage didn't plan to eat leftovers.
He wanted to steal Ronin's eyes first.
He'd watched some of the videos Shalnark sent to Chrollo, and he could tell that Ronin's ability use was tightly tied to changes in his eyes.
If the thief Chrollo confirmed that first, Omokage wasn't sure whether Chrollo would also covet those special eyes.
Omokage had visited Uvogin.
The raging brute spent every day either howling about the pain of his burns or cursing Ronin, swearing to swallow him alive.
In Omokage's view, Uvogin was a pure lunatic.
But even lunatics had their uses.
With a little guidance, Omokage got the madman to replay Ronin over and over in his head.
Extracting that memory, Omokage created a doll in Ronin's likeness.
But a Ronin doll without eyes couldn't perform anything like what Uvogin described. To Omokage, the doll was just a smaller version of Uvogin—another stupid brute.
Why hadn't Ronin simply burned Uvogin to death?
Then Omokage could've gouged out Uvogin's eyes and made an even stronger Uvogin doll.
Instead, he had to come collect those eyes himself.
As for Shalnark's analysis of Ronin being "dangerous," Omokage didn't care.
He had already collected many dolls of Troupe members. He believed that even alone, his combat capability could rival—and exceed—three Troupe members working together.
And with his eye-stealing ability, Ronin was nothing to fear.
Besides, Shalnark had also analyzed that Ronin's ability to fight Uvogin evenly likely came from borrowing aura from someone else.
And the one lending him aura was most likely the gold-level agent Milia.
Now Milia was still at Heavens Arena. Without borrowed aura, if Ronin still couldn't be dealt with—Omokage might as well gouge out his own eyes.
Sitting in the front pews, Omokage produced two jars.
Inside both jars were Scarlet Eyes.
They were trophies he'd taken during the Kurta massacre.
It was a pity he couldn't see what made Scarlet Eyes different from ordinary eyes—at least, putting them into dolls hadn't produced anything particularly impressive.
But using them as bait?
He didn't believe a Kurta like Ronin wouldn't bite.
Though the one who came would probably be a clone.
According to Shalnark, Ronin's real body wouldn't be far from the clone. So as long as the clone appeared, he could search outward from it and eventually find Ronin.
Then he'd use his eyeless dolls to force eye contact, and the rest would take care of itself.
Uvogin probably wouldn't care whether the Ronin he caught still had eyes or not.
Two dolls appeared beside Omokage—already prepared.
One was a doll of the Troupe member Nobunaga, complete with a katana at his waist.
The other was a doll Omokage had made deliberately: a black-haired boy who looked gentle and easy to talk to.
If Kurapika were here, he would cry out that name:
Pairo.
Kurapika's best friend.
And the only Kurta whose head had been cut off and taken away. Omokage still remembered those breathtaking eyes.
Unfortunately, they didn't belong to him.
Now Omokage handed one pair of Scarlet Eyes to Doll Pairo and the other to Doll Nobunaga.
Then Doll Nobunaga was the first to leave the church, while Doll Pairo climbed up to the church's high platform.
Doll Pairo didn't need to do anything—just sit there.
Omokage's job now was simply to wait.
His time window wouldn't be long. By the time he found this lead, Chrollo's side was already wrapping things up.
Once Chrollo arrived, Omokage might not get to act first.
One after another, dolls appeared around the church, then quickly hid themselves in different corners. The moment someone entered, they could coordinate with Omokage to surround and slaughter the target.
As for the priest and staff—Omokage had already stolen their eyes and killed them quietly.
Outside, Doll Nobunaga—with Scarlet Eyes—strode brazenly onto the streets of Molding City.
The hunters already flooding into the city reacted like sharks smelling blood, surging toward Doll Nobunaga one after another.
Scarlet Eyes had been driven up to well over a billion. That was not a small number.
But after seeing that the "Nobunaga" who kept walking away safely was always the one leaving, those who coveted Scarlet Eyes had to reassess whether they were capable of escaping alive with them.
Ronin's shadow clone also spotted Doll Nobunaga.
And the pair of Scarlet Eyes in Doll Nobunaga's eye sockets made Ronin's eyes light up.
If he could get that pair, his strength would rise again.
Not only would his eyes evolve from two tomoe to three, his aura reserves would skyrocket too.
Then even if Omokage had helpers, Ronin believed he could still fight.
So—
Do it.
And to secure those eyes safely, he'd bring the real body along as well—only then would the odds be highest.
~~~
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