Black Whale – Deck 8, Forgotten Hatch
The walls here were sick with rust.
Wet chains swung like wind chimes for the dead.
Kaen walked alone.
No guards. No allies. No light.
Only the whispers of the sea groaning against steel.
He stopped beneath a broken hatch.
A faint pink thread hung from the bolt.
And then—
"Hello… King."
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🃏 Hisoka Appears
He stepped from the shadows like a magician from a curtain.
Painted lips. Bloodlust behind a smile.
Hisoka Morow.
The man who once tried to kill Chrollo.
The man who killed to feel something.
And now…
The man who had been watching Kaen.
"You're more interesting than I expected," Hisoka grinned.
"That power of yours… Mind Palace, was it?"
Kaen remained still. Every hair on his body knew one truth:
Hisoka did not follow logic. Only desire.
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🎭 A Game of Wills Begins
Hisoka flicked out a deck of cards—each glowing faintly with Nen.
"Let's play a game.
Five cards. Five truths.
You answer one, I answer one.
But if you lie…"
He snapped his fingers. A card embedded itself in the steel beside Kaen's face.
"I get to test your heartbeat with my hands."
Kaen didn't flinch.
"Fine."
⸻
🃏 First Card – The King's Desire
Hisoka drew the Ace of Spades.
"What do you want, King?"
Kaen's eyes didn't waver.
"A world where imagination reshapes reality.
A world where power is earned, not inherited.
I want to stand at the summit… and invite others to climb."
Hisoka chuckled, licking his lips.
"Such noble dreams. And here I thought you were another crown-hungry boy."
Kaen answered:
"I don't want a crown. I want to create the crown."
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🃏 Second Card – A Warning
Kaen drew the Queen of Hearts.
"Who's hunting me… besides the princes?"
Hisoka's grin vanished—for a second.
"An old ghost. He used to be a Hunter. Now he hunts Hunters.
You'll meet him before this ship docks.
He's testing your name… to see if it's worth killing."
Kaen's jaw tightened.
"A name?"
"Yeah. Yours is traveling fast. Even Ging might have heard it by now."
⸻
🔥 Flashpoint – The Blood Uprising
Suddenly, alarms blared from Kaen's mental network.
Selva's voice screamed inside his mind:
"They're attacking the lower decks!"
"One of the Princes—Prince Marayam—just sent mercenaries to slaughter your followers in Deck 7!"
⸻
🧠 Mind Palace – The Inner Court Reacts
Inside the throne room of Kaen's Mind Palace, his advisors gathered around a glowing model of the Black Whale.
Tiny red lights lit up Deck 7.
Kaen's cult—the "Crownless Faith"—was under siege.
"They fight in your name," Mora whispered.
"If they die, so does your legend."
Kaen stood.
"Then we'll save them. Even if we must rewrite space itself."
⸻
🌌 New Ability Unlocked – Crown Gate: Memory Step
Kaen planted his hand on the Mind Palace floor, channeling every thread of spatial data gathered aboard the ship.
"Visualize… every room… every corridor…"
His Nen pulsed—
Crown Gate: Memory Step
Allows Kaen to teleport to any location he has vividly recorded in his Mind Palace, using his own memory as a spatial anchor.
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⚔️ Deck 7 – The Slaughter Begins
Gunfire. Screams. Nen blades tearing through civilians who had only begun to believe.
Mercs laughed as they dragged a young man—a painter who preached Kaen's philosophy—by his hair.
"No fake King's gonna save you down here—"
BOOM.
The floor rippled.
And then—he appeared.
Kaen, eyes blazing like a judgment.
"I write my throne in your blood."
He raised both hands—and two constructs formed from his imagination:
1. Barrier Form – Crown Dome: a half-sphere of invisible pressure crushed half the attackers mid-sentence.
2. Speed Construct – Royal Drift: a force-field that accelerated Kaen's reflexes to near-instant reactions for ten seconds.
Kaen moved like thought—
Each palm a weapon.
Each enemy a lesson.
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🩸 Ending Scene – The Aftermath
The cult survived.
Barely.
But among them, the whispers had grown.
"He's not just a Hunter…"
"He's something more…"
Kaen looked out over the bloodied crowd.
"I will not abandon those who believe. Not now. Not ever."
Above him, the Mind Palace glowed—brighter than ever before.
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📚 TO BE CONTINUED in Chapter 39 – A Throne of Questions