Hunter x Hunter: The Strongest Zoldyck

The night passed quickly, and before dawn, the sky was still foggy, but the lights in the Sky Arena's F-3 arena were already on.

The bright incandescent laser lights shone on the ring, making it as bright as day.

Under the lights, two figures of vastly different heights faced each other.

One person had red hair and golden eyes, and was tall and slender; the other had white hair and silver eyes, and was petite and thin.

"I didn't expect to see you again..."

With a soft chuckle, the tall, red-haired man was the first to greet them.

"Yeah..." Roy's voice drifted over from the other end of the ring, not loud, but very clear.

"Although I had expected it, I didn't expect to actually run into you before the 200th floor..."

His voice carried a strange tone, both confirming and relieved. His silver-gray pupils gleamed slightly under the glaring light, like two sharpened blades or two lamps that refused to go out in the wind.

At that moment, Hisoka's expression changed...

Something subtle emerged in those long, narrow, golden pupils...

"Oh?"

Hisoka's lips curled up, his tongue darted out, and he licked his lips. He leaned forward slightly, shifting his weight from his heels to the balls of his feet, like a cheetah tucking in its weight.

"You...it seems like you were waiting for me?"

Roy did not answer.

He simply shrugged his shoulders, slid his right foot half a step back, bent his knees slightly, lowered his center of gravity, and exerted force with his right hand hanging at his side. The pale, dragon-like ghost hand emerged naturally, like a sharp knife yet to be drawn from its sheath.

But with everything prepared, Roy tilted his head back at a 45-degree angle and glanced at the slogan of the Sky Arena diagonally above him:

"Here, the weak fall, and the strong ascend."

At the entrance to the Sky Arena, this slogan, engraved on the titanium alloy gate, fell like a silent verdict upon Roy's head.

His silver-gray pupils reflected the silent slogan and the eerie red-haired figure opposite him, and he couldn't help but ask himself a question:

Am I weak or strong?

Roy's lips moved; he wanted to say something, but he didn't know what to say, because he knew the answer to this question wasn't in the slogan, nor in his heart, but in... the ring.

Within the brutal rules of this Sky Arena...

"I wasn't waiting for you... I was waiting for this moment."

Roy lowered his head, his silver-gray pupils meeting the red-haired, golden-eyed figure before him... Hisoka Moro said calmly:

"We're waiting for... a... hunt!"

As soon as the word "hunt" faded, Roy's originally silver-gray pupils turned completely red, and the deep dark red in his eye sockets revealed an ominous aura.

His pupils contracted slightly, his golden eyes narrowed into slits, revealing not a trace of fear or emotion, but only an undisguised interest—the primal, unadulterated interest that surges from the depths of a hunter's marrow when he discovers a top-quality prey.

On the arena, the lights were still pouring down.

The distance between the two people began to shrink continuously...

Ten steps...nine steps...five steps.....

step.......

Just a step away, the two stood side by side, like two fierce beasts facing off on the edge of a cliff, listening to each other's breathing, counting each other's heartbeats, waiting for the moment the whistle would sound...

The referee stood at the edge of the ring, holding a stopwatch in his hand. His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but he didn't say anything.

His hands were trembling slightly, not from fear, but from not daring to.

He didn't know when to press the stopwatch, or how to say "start".

Because he knew... these two people didn't need to start.

They've already started.

The battle began the moment they stepped into the ring, the moment they took their first step, the moment their eyes met in the air.

Hisoka raised his left hand.

The movements were very slow, so slow it was like a slow-motion video.

His fingers slowly rose from his sides, fingertips pointing forward, palms facing down, like a leaf blown by the wind, like a fish swimming in water, like something slower than time drawing an invisible trail in the air.

His fingers stopped in the narrow gap between the two people, his index and middle fingers joined together, the tips pointing at Roy's throat.

Roy did not dodge.

He didn't even blink.

Hisoka's silver-gray pupils reflected his two long, slender fingers with extremely short nails, the thin, transparent Nen aura at their tips, and the ever-deepening curve of his lips.

He could feel the pressure from those two fingers—not physical pressure, but psychological pressure.

Like a fully drawn bowstring, with an arrow on the string, ready to be released. You don't know when it will be released, but you know it will definitely be released.

Hisoka's smile deepened.

His tongue darted out from the corner of his mouth and licked his upper lip, his golden pupils reflecting Roy's expressionless face.

"Aren't you going to dodge?"

His voice was very soft, so soft it sounded like he was coaxing a child.

Roy did not answer.

His right hand rose from his waist... not slowly, but quickly.

Hisoka's pupils contracted slightly in that instant, the referee's hand slipped from the stopwatch, and the ring lights seemed to flicker.

His right hand shot out from his waist, his five fingers joined together, the fingertips like knives, aimed at Hisoka's throat.

It was not an attack.

It is a response.

Hisoka withdrew his left hand.

It's not about hiding, it's about yielding.

His body leaned back slightly, so slightly as to be almost invisible. Roy's fingertips brushed past him an inch in front of his throat, barely touching the air.

Hisoka lifted his right foot off the ground, not to kick, but to stomp.

The heel landed on the floor with a dull, drum-like sound—thump.

The entire arena trembled for a moment, as if something surged up from the ground and poured into Hisoka's legs, his waist, and his arms.

Roy withdrew his right hand, letting it hang at his side, his five fingers slightly curled and fingertips pointing downwards.

Hisoka's alluring face was reflected in his silver-gray pupils, along with the half-smile on his face and those golden eyes that were turning from interest to excitement.

His body slumped slightly, his knees bent, and his weight was between his feet, like a spring compressed to its limit...

It's not a defensive stance, it's an offensive stance.

Hisoka tilted his head, his red hair slipping off his shoulder and falling to the side of his face.

His lips curved into a deeper smile, and his tongue darted out from the corner of his mouth to lick his upper lip.

Golden pupils reflected Roy's expressionless face, and his silver-gray eyes, calm as a stagnant pool.

"you……."

His voice was very soft, so soft it was as if he were talking to the wind:

"...Aren't you afraid of me?"

"I'm afraid... but I'm afraid it's useless."

Hisoka's pupils contracted slightly.

The contraction was so brief that it was almost invisible unless Roy's eyes were fixed on it.

But Roy saw it.

He saw something flash across those golden eyes, like a spark... not anger, not surprise, but admiration.