Chapter 35: Death X Devastated
Hisoka's body glowed with pink Nen, activating Bungee Gum. The severed necks glowed in a concentrated intense Nen, the torso of the body and the neck attached to Hisoka's head. A pink goo of Bungee Gum connected the two body parts, after releasing the elasticity and tension, the two body parts latched onto each other, making Hisoka whole again.
Using Bungee Gum and Texture Surprise, Hisoka's head was reattached.
Perplexed and fascinated by Hisoka's return from the dead, Sinbad fixated on the whole experience. He was unwilling to miss a single detail of the operation, because after all this was happening due to Nen and nothing was more important to him.
'Nen intensifies after death!' Sinbad came to the correct resolution.
Right before death, Hisoka was devastated. Angered, saddened, and disappointed from the outcome of what was supposed to be a magnificent fight to the death but Sinbad ruined it. This left Hisoka devastated beyond death and becoming the Jester Who Fools the King.
A Jester's performance that disobeys the King's command. This symbolic theme resonated with Hisoka and his Nen to intensify and surpass Sinbad's King's Court, allowing him the free use of Bungee Gum.
Using Bungee Gum to anchor his feet to the floor, he rose from the ground, lifting his head and upper body first to stand upright.
Sinbad lifted his obsidian clawed hand to cover his smile as he looked at the resurrected clown. Noticing this, Hisoka's lips stretched into a bloody grin.
Together, they laughed hysterically and manically.
The spectators who couldn't witness the strange situation shuddered from the insane laughter. The Nen User's who could see what was happening exchanged confused and worried looks. Beads of sweat condensed on Silva Zoldyck's forehead.
"We still can't see a thing and they are laughing together!" Cocco shouted with frustration, annoyed to be left out of the joke.
Playfully, Sinbad tossed the red king of diamonds playing card at Hisoka. "Take the damn card back."
"Fool, I wanted you to keep it," teased Hisoka, knocking the card onto the floor.
"I'm the fool here?" Sinbad asked, resting a hand on his chest.
"No…" Hisoka answered, shaking his head. His eyes ran up and down on Sinbad's new dark transformation. Casually, he pointed at Sinbad. "You are a beautiful horrific beast."
Naturally all this time, Sinbad had Gyo activated and when Hisoka pointed at Sinbad, he tried to attach Bungee Gum on him. So, he vanished, dissipating into the Abyss. He reappeared behind Hisoka, solidifying from the shadows..
"Nice try," teased Sinbad.
"It was a worthy attempt," Hisoka replied, throwing up his hands with a smile. Picking up his location through his voice, he turned around to face Sinbad. He reapplied the Nen Technique En, canceling out the protective barrier around his body to keep track of Sinbad's location. "Now, let us dance to the tune of death."
The key to Hisoka's victory was to wait for Sinbad's eventual attack, track it with his En and then cancel the application right before Sinbad's strike and then deliver the fatal counterstrike. He flicked a playing card into his hand, an ace of spades.
'Wonderful,' Hisoka thought. Without needing to see the card in his hand, the Jester, Hisoka knew the card, remembering that this was the exact same one he drew during the Hunter Exams. A smile stretched on his lips.
Sinbad unsheathed his blue ornate curved blade. His right arm and sword vanished into the Abyss. "I am afraid I will be giving you another disappointing death. For I can't sustain this form much longer and I am in desperate need of knowing a particular cute woman's name."
Hisoka laughed, knowing of Sinbad and the cute woman's bet. "Her name is Machi–"
"Abyss Blade!"
Without needing to move from his position, Sinbad's right arm and blade solidified next to Hisoka. Still mentally and physically connected to his arm, he swung his blade, slicing horizontally through Hisoka's head and mouth.
He hurried to end the man before he ruined Sinbad's joy of seeing her fluster before eventually giving up her name and then hearing her wonderful name falling from her own lips.
Devastated, Sinbad ended the transformation. All of the dark and horrific transformed body parts shattered into golden particles of Nen, slowly coming back together to condense around his neck, reshaping the gold medallion.
He stuck out his hand, allowing for the Abyss to shrink to the palm of his hand as a black orb of darkness, blinding light shone on Sinbad and Hisoka's corpse. He closed his palm, crushing the darkness into wisps of shadows as the light killed it.
A few people screamed in horror due to Hisoka's head being cut off, separated by the upper teeth and jaw. The referee–used to seeing graphic results on the 200th Floor–pointed a hand at Sinbad. "Sinbad has been crowned victor by the death of Hisoka Morrow!"
"The winner and our new Floor Master, Sinbad!!" Cocco shouted, announcing the results into her mic. Heavens Arena experienced a miniature earthquake due to the sudden explosion of cheering and applause for Sinbad. All of the Sinbad Fan Alliance cried tears of happiness as they clapped, cheered, and celebrated together.
Gilgamesh rose to his feet and headed for the exit of the announcers booth. "Two more to go."
In the corner of his eyes, Silva watched the golden-haired boy leave, sensing the density of Gilgamesh's Nen. 'Those Magi brats need to leave the rest of us mortals alone.'
In the audience, the monocle wearing Magician rose from his seat as one of the few people not celebrating and quietly left.
After Sinbad's victory, Machi's heart quickened its beat, realizing that she must follow through with the bet. She expected some grand flair and chivalry from him, confessing his victory for her name. As she continued to watch Sinbad's movements, ever since the darkness left, he had seemed depressed.
It left her confused. Regardless, she gave one last sentimental look at the deceased Hisoka and left the audience.
Killua, Pokkle, and Zushi all high fived each other and shouted for Sinbad's victory. Tears of joy streamed down Zushi's face.
"I can't believe he actually did it," Zushi mumbled, tasting his salty tears as he opened his mouth.
Killua playfully smacked him on the side of the head. "How can you not believe it? It's Sinbad."
Pokkle nodded, gently petting Rain who sat on his lap.
"Yes, but still," Wing added, clearing the fog from his glasses. Technically, Sinbad was his first student to ever become Floor Master, he couldn't help being a little proud and happy for him. "It's only been a little over one month and he accomplished this."
"True but he allowed us to schedule fights on days he could have fought, extending the time period," Pokkle answered, rising from his seat. He noticed something wrong with Sinbad, he appeared to be in severe pain. "Is Sinbad in pain?"
"What?" Killua said, taking a closer look at Sinbad as the man clutched at his chest and fell forward. Sprinting to action, he rushed in front of Sinbad, getting to him before he fell on his face.
"Note to self, Kil," Sinbad mumbled through the excruciating pain spasms all over his body. "Transforming hurts."
"It did look a little extreme," said Killua, lifting Sinbad's arm around his shoulder.
"Hey!! White haired brat!" One of the girls of Sinbad's Fan Alliance shouted at Killua. While carrying Sinbad, Killua turned to face the woman. Her facial features tensed up in rage."What are you doing grabbing onto my Sinbookins?!"
"Hey!" Pokkle shouted back, holding onto Rain. All hundreds of the members of the Sinbad Fan Alliance snapped onto the lone Hunter. Zushi, Baygor, and Wing removed themselves from standing too close to Pokkle, quickly finding an arena exit. "Shut up, you psycho bitch!"
All of the eyes and hair of the Sinbad Fan Alliance sparked into a burning inferno. The nearest and somewhat close batch of girls rushed over to him, dozens of the women threw cut out cardboards of Sinbad's face, his blue sword, and golden crown at Pokkle. The furthest group of women sprinted to block all of the exits to trap the blasphemer from leaving their sights.
Pokkle and Rain's eyes widened in fear, then he shifted his gaze toward the onlookers, Sinbad and Killua. He mouthed out 'help me'. Rain's front paws pressed together as if he were praying for Sinbad's divine intervention.
Sinbad and Killua completely ignored them.
"Let's go," said Sinbad.
Killua nodded and helped Sinbad off the fighting stage.
In the announcers booth, Cocco turned her mic back on. "It appears as if this lone heckler, which has now been identified as Pokkle, a 200th Floor fighter, has angered the Sinbad Fan Alliance!"
Her amused face quickly turned into horror, once the horde of women managed to capture him.
"Oh…I can't be an accomplice to this," muttered Cocco, leaving the booth.
"Wait!!" Pokkle shouted for his last lifeline to come back and help him. His clothes and skin being torn free off. "They are going to kill me! HELP ME! PLEASE!"
Cocco closed the door behind her, leaving the booth. "I'm sorry, I can't."
…
A few hours later…
In Sinbad's private suit, Sinbad and Killua were fighting over a paper map, arguing over where to go next. Apparently, Killua also does not want to go out to sea, so naturally a fight occurred. They both fought over control of the map while sitting on Sinbad's luxurious bed.
"What are you some sort of scaredy cat?" Sinbad teased, tugged on the paper scared. He jumped to his feet on the left side of the bed.
"No!" Killua shouted, rising to his own feet and pulling on the thin paper map. "Why should we go out to some random place at sea? When we can find some cooler place on land."
Sinbad scrunched the paper into his tightening grip. "The sea is cool!"
"Only to you!" Killua shouted back and pulled harder until the map ripped in half.
As they huffed for breath, Pokkle–while holding Rain in one hand–barged into Sinbad's suite. The two of them forgot all about their argument as they stared at the naked and red Pokkle. Thin red line marks covered his entire body, rivets of blood spilled from the wounds. He held a single piece of cloth to cover up his private parts.
Killua pointed at him. "You're naked."
Pokkle released Rain onto the red carpet floor. His eyebrows narrowed and lips tightened.
"Why are you walking around the building naked?" Sinbad asked, disgusted. He dropped the half torn sheet of the map and slid back into bed, relaxing his head against the headrest. "Also, extremely weird that you came to my room first instead of changing."
Killua waved an agreeing finger toward Sinbad. "Right, very weird and strange. Any normal person would have gone to their own suit and changed before coming here."
Pokkle's body shook as Rain ran underneath the bed to find shelter from the upcoming explosion. "Any normal friend would have not ignored me! Those psychotic savages almost killed me!"
Sinbad threw up his hands. "You don't speak to women that way, especially to a group of women."
"'You don't speak to women that way'," Pokkle's voice rose and waved his hands around, mocking Sinbad. He stepped toward the edge of the bed. "I don't care! You guys were supposed to have my back. Especially you, Killua!"
He thrusted an accusatory finger at him and then winced from the pain caused by the sudden movement. His voice boiled with betrayal and rage.
"Me?" Killua asked, sticking his tongue out. "What did I do?"
"Oh, don't act all clueless," Pokkle said, stomping over toward Killua to put him in a headlock. Without much difficulty, he slipped out of Pokkle's grasp.
"Calm down, Pokk," Sinbad added, yawning. "You are going to give me another noise complaint. If it wasn't for me charming that lady, I would have gotten kicked out of the room."
"That doesn't matter! You are a Floor Master now!" Pokkle shouted back, throwing his bleeding arms back and forth.
Theatrically, Sinbad wiped away imaginative tears from his eyes. "And I am so proud of myself. But everything is ruined now."
Pokkle calmed down for a second, he looked at Killua. "What is he talking about?"
Killua sighed, annoyed. "He is being stupid and dramatic, some bet he had."
"It wasn't some bet. This is what it means to be a man," Sinbad snapped, shooting out of bed. He pinched his thumb and index finger closely together, nearly touching each other. "I was this close to earning the name for myself."
"A name?" Pokkle asked.
"That pink haired girl he keeps talking about," said Killua.
"She isn't 'that pink haired girl' anymore," Sinbad sobbed, collapsing face first onto his bed. "Her name is Machi."
Killua snorted, holding back his laughter. "Well, you cut his head off before he could have finished the name, right? What if it's Machiatto?"
"Or Machiette?" Pokkle joked as he and Killua bursted into laughter.
"I'm devastated," Sinbad mumbled, his face still planted into the mattress. "Curse that Jester."