"Who the hell are you guys? This is a private party, so get lost!" One of the pirates spat.

"We're here to talk. Would you please leave this town?" Kazsule kindly asked.

The pirates burst in laughter. "It's been a while since we've heard that line." Another one sneered, and they continued laughing loudly. We stared at them with blank expressions as the biggest one poured alcohol on the floor and took out a lighter, lighting it up.

"Don't bother talking. If you want us to leave town, you'll have to use force to make us." He dropped the lighter, creating a ring of fire around him. "I don't care how many of you attack me at once. If you knock me out of this ring, then I'll take you to see our boss."

My eyes landed on the ring of fire around him, unsure if we really needed to do that.

"We just have to move you out of the ring? If it's brawn you're looking for, then I'm your man!" The guy produced his Ren, yelling with determination.

This guy should've worked better with his Ren. It shouldn't take that long to produce little aura.

The guy charged towards the large pirate, preparing to take him down. But the pirate easily grabbed him and lifted him up.

"You're stronger than I thought." He smirked as he carried the guy and held him over the fire, causing him to scream in agony.

"Stop! Let me go! I give up!" The guy cried, unable to break free from the pirate's grasp.

Before I could intervene, Gon kicked his face to make him let go of the poor guy.

"Aqua Spritz!" I activated my water ring and a burst of water extinguished the fire on his foot. The guy let out a big sigh of relief, and I glared at the large pirate.

"He said he lost. Why didn't you let him go?" Gon asked, anger evident in his voice.

"You knew the rules. You lose if you step outside the ring. Anything else, including forfeiting, is totally meaningless. You kicked me, then stepped outside the ring of fire. So there you go. You lost." The pirate smirked again.

"Oh no! Crap! Hold on! Let me start over!" The spiky-haired boy pleaded, and Killua placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't bother, Gon. I know you're eager to try out your ultimate move, but you shouldn't reveal it in front of all these people. Just let me handle this." He told him, and then started walking to the counter.

"What's this? Are you two gonna pair up or what?" The pirate focused his gaze on Killua as he went to pick up a bottle of alcohol on the counter.

"Let me have this." The silver-haired boy popped open the bottle, shocking the pirate.

"You wouldn't!" The pirate yelled, right before Killua entered the ring and jumped up with the bottle of alcohol in hand. Killua dumped the whole bottle on his face, and then used a tiny bit of his electricity, setting the pirate's head on fire.

He screamed in agony, and my eyes widened as I was dumbfounded by Killua's strategy. The pirate got down and rolled out of the ring, crashing into the wall at the end.

"There, I win." The silver-haired boy smirked, and I was absolutely speechless.

The pirate recovered from the attack and shot a menacing glare at the boy. "You...You're so dead!!" He bellowed and raced towards him, but another pirate kicked him in the face, sending him crashing into the wall again. We gasped at this sudden move.

"You made up the rules yourself. Don't get upset." The other pirate scolded him.

"Yeah, my bad." The larger pirate apologized.

"Come with me. I'll take you to the boss." He urged.

We were following the smaller pirate to their hideout to meet their leader.

"Did I surprise you?" Killua muttered next to me, and I turned to face him.

"Well, to be honest, what you did impressed me and freaked me out a little bit. So, thanks for being a show-off to me." My tone was neutral as well as my smile.

The ex-assassin shrugged and placed his hands behind his head, trying to hide the slight discontentment on his face.

When we got to their base, a lighthouse, the pirate opened the doors, revealing a huge gym with a couple other pirates playing sports.

"This is where your boss is?" Killua asked, eyeing the area.

There were pirates wrestling, playing basketball, ping-pong, volleyball, boxing, bowling, and juggling soccer balls.

"Boss, we have visitors." The small pirate called out to a muscular man who was lifting weights.

"Who are they?" He asked.

"They want us to leave town, sir."

"Is that so?" The muscular man put down his weights and turned to face us.

So he must be Razor. Beating him and his Fourteen Devils will be tough.

"Let's have a contest, shall we? If you win, we'll leave the town in peace. However, we choose the contest. Alright?" The man who I assumed was Razor proposed.

"What happens if we lose?" Goreinu asked.

"Oh, nothing. You'll just have to leave, that's all." Razor replied.

"Okay, let's do this!" Kazsule smirked.

"It's going to be an athletics contest, where each member will challenge you to a match in their best sport. One win per person! The first side to reach eight wins will be the victor." He explained the rules.

"I'm up first. And I'll go with boxing!" One of the pirates wore big gloves, looking fired up and ready to go.

"Well? Who's up?" Razor asked, his thumb pointing at the boxing ring.

"I've got this." A blond guy stepped up, being confident.

He and the pirate got in the ring, and we gathered around to watch them fight.

"There's one special rule. You can use items conjured by Nen." Razor stated, and everyone in our team complained.

"What?" Kazsule questioned.

"You can't call that boxing!" Someone else objected.

"Don't worry. I'm only gonna use my fists. That rule's only for your benefit. Wanna tag out?" The boxing pirate peered at the blond guy as he got ready to fight.

"No, I'll do it." The blond guy smirked.

"Fight!" Razor announced, stepping outside the ring.

They got in their stance and moved around the ring, waiting for a chance to attack.

"I know what's going on here. There must be a reason you chose boxing!" The blond guy threw a punch at the pirate, only for him to barely dodge. It left a cut on his cheek.

"You're an Emitter too, huh? We're fighting at a close range, in this finite space, making it an ideal situation for an Emitter. But, you have made one mistake! Not anticipating that I could be stronger than you!" The blond threw a series of punches in an unbelievable speed, landing many hits on the pirate.

"Wow! He can't dodge that speed!" Someone in our group shouted out.

I noticed a portal under the blond's chin, and a fist collided with it. I softly gasped as he was hit while landing the final blow on the pirate. The pirate was down, and everyone cheered.

"Yes, he's down! Too easy!" Another blond from our group shouted.

"No, they were both hit." Gon pointed out.

"He's right. Look." I pointed at the ring, and the blond guy fell down. The pirate stood up, shocking everyone.

"What just happened?" Kazsule asked.

"How?" The other blond guy replied.

"He teleported." Killua spoke up.

"What do you mean?"

"Just his fist. A short uppercut. His goal was to land a knockout counter. It was pretty obvious." He stated.

Razor knelt down and checked the blond's pulse. "Seems he's out cold. That's one win for us." He confirmed.

"Damn." Someone muttered.

"I'm up next. The next challenge is juggling soccer balls." Another pirate stated, holding up a soccer ball with one finger.

"Okay, I'm up!" Gon stepped up.

"Hold on!" Killua stopped him, and he looked concerned as well as Razor.

Killua explained the plan, and we understood his point of it.

"That would be wise, indeed." Bisky agreed, as well as Lizzy and I. But it seemed like Gon didn't, as he wanted to win the match.

"Okay, I'm up next!" Bisky stepped up to take on the challenge.

"A little girl, huh? Guess I'll have to be careful not to injure you." The pirate peered at her.

"Injure me with juggling?" The blonde innocently questioned.

"We can attack each other using Nen. If you don't touch the ball with your hands."

"I understand."

"Moving anywhere inside the building is allowed. Whoever drops their ball first loses." The pirate threw her the ball after explaining all the rules.

"Right. I got it."

"Okay, let's get started! Ready? Go!"

They both dropped the ball simultaneously, and as soon as they were about to juggle the balls, Bisky threw the match by not juggling her ball at all. Everyone gasped.

"Oops! That was harder than I expected. I guess I lose." She spoke in her girly voice.

"I'm up next. Wanna go, big guy?" Killua smirked at the large pirate.

"You bet I am! Prepare yourself, brat! 'Cause you're gonna get it!"

They got in the ring, preparing to fight. The large pirate sure looked determined to get revenge on Killua for what he did to him earlier.

"Ready, begin!" Razor announced, stepping out of the ring.

The large pirate charged towards the ex-assassin. "I'll crush you!" He yelled.

Killua jumped back and out of the ring, the pirate getting angrier by his sudden move.

"Sorry. I stepped outside the ring." The silver-haired boy casually said, placing his hands behind his head.

"For my next challenge, it'll be bowling!" A pirate held a bowling ball, smirking arrogantly.

"Bowling! I'm in!" Lizzy raised a hand and stepped up.

"Ah, a little girl. This'll be easy!" He snickered and turned to the alley, where ten bowling pins stood at the back of the lane.

"All you have to do is to knock down as many pins as you can. The one with the most points wins! You can use Nen to manipulate the ball, but not the pins." The pirate explained.

"Really?" Kazsule complained.

"That is against the rules!" Someone protested.

"I get it." She nodded.

"Ready? Go!" The pirate launched his ball, and it rolled on the lane in a perfect straight line. The ball knocked down all ten pins, earning him a strike.

"Let's go!" He cheered, pumping up a fist.

He took another chance to knock down all the pins, and he did, surprisingly.

"Wow!" A person from our group yelled out.

"Unbelievable!" Someone else replied.

"You go, girl." The pirate let Lizzy have her turn, and she picked up her ball.

"Whoa! This is so heavy!" She intentionally threw her ball with little effort, and it rolled into the gutter.

"Aw, man! This is too hard!" She cried, following Killua's plan.

After a long time bowling, the pirate won with 187 points while Lizzy only earned 15 points from missing so many times in most of the frames and earning a spare once from knocking down 5 pins on her next roll.

"Who's up next? I'm going for wrestling!" A muscular pirate stepped up, clenching his fists.

"I guess I'll go." I shrugged, knowing that I would lose the match on purpose like Killua told us to in his plan.

The pirate and I stood in the ring, getting in a stance as the match was about to start.

"Ready? Begin!" Razor announced as he stepped outside the ring.

The pirate grabbed my shoulders and instantly pinned me down to the floor. He smirked at his victory.

"Match over! That's another win for us!" Razor raised his hand, and I stood up as soon as the pirate let me go.

Goreinu lost the free throw match, adding another win to Razor's team. They had eight wins while we had none at all. Our group was terrible in terms of strength and skill, and Killua's plan was meant to get rid of our terrible group and create a new and stronger one.

We left their base and stood outside in the night with everyone else.

"You knew we couldn't win with this line-up, so you threw it and decided to focus on gathering information." Goreinu interpreted our plan.

"But once a party has lost, there are no second chances." Kazsule stated.

"But it's okay to simply switch out one member. It was a worthwhile risk." The man with silver hair replied.

"We're dropping out." Asta said, and we turned to her team.

"We've fulfilled our goal to prevent the Bomber from completing the game. It'll be impossible for them to assemble a team of 15. You should give up on this contest for a bit. If you get the card, you'll become targets." She explained as she walked away from us.

Everyone else looked at each other before having no choice but to use Accompany to get away from here, leaving us with Goreinu.

"They don't get it. Their strategy...it makes sense to obtain this card quickly." The spiky-haired man spoke up.

"Right. To reduce the chances of fighting within the group." Killua added.

"Exactly."

"Huh?" Gon tilted his head in confusion.

"You need at least 15 people to participate. Even if you use Clone, you can only obtain three copies of Strip of Beach. Looks to me that this event was designed to incite infighting." He explained.

"Ohhh..." Lizzy, Bisky, and Gon had surprised faces when they realized that.

"That's what you meant before, wasn't it?" Killua asked. "Of course, I didn't understand it right away."

"Assuming that the six of us are capable of winning, we still need two more up to the task. And ideally, they'd already be in a party of 9." Goreinu stated. "Do you have any leads?"

"Book." Gon summoned his binder, and we took a look at the list of names of the players we met.

"Looking at the names in my list, Chrollo's probably the strongest." He pointed out.

"But Kurapika said that he's definitely a fake." Killua told him.

"Who do you think it is, then?"

"It's probably a member of the Troupe." I implied.

"But why would a Troupe member be here?" Lizzy asked.

"I'm not exactly sure, but if it is to beat the game, shouldn't they be using their own name?" I replied.

"I have no clue." Killua shrugged.

"Try using Clairvoyance." Goreinu suggested.

"Huh?"

"If this person isn't here to beat the game, they won't bother collecting cards."

"Oh, that's right." Gon used what the man told him to use and checked all the details in 'Chrollo's' binder.

"This guy isn't even trying." Killua commented.

"Their only cards are for food and water." Gon replied.

"Actually, that can make it easier to invite them." Goreinu spoke up.

"But if it really is a member of the Troupe, we won't invite them. We'll see what they say."

"Then what's the point in even trying?" Killua retorted. "We already know it's one of them."

"We need to find out who they are, but why they're here is more important."

"Are you stupid?! You're gonna ask them why they're here?! 'Cause they're not gonna tell you anything!" The silver-haired boy screamed in Gon's face.

"Yes, I'm stupid! I'm still gonna ask and you're not gonna stop me!" Gon screamed back.

"Then go right ahead!" Killua huffed and turned away.

"Fine! I will!"

I sighed, knowing how Gon could be stubborn and naive in situations like this.

The spiky-haired boy pulled out an Accompany card. "I'm going!" He declared.

"Then quit yapping and just do it!" Killua retorted, and they started growling at each other.

"That's enough! We don't have time for this!" I interjected, stopping their bickering.

"Accompany on! Chrollo Lucilfer!" Gon cast the spell, and the light took us away from where we were.

We landed in a forest filled with lots of fog. A figure was standing ahead of us, and we kept up our guard. I tried to peer through the fog to see who it actually was, and eventually, I widened my eyes and kept my mouth shut.

"No way." Killua muttered.

"Not him again." Lizzy replied, her voice shaking.

"Hisoka!" Gon blurted out, and the said magician turned around.

When the fog was starting to clear up, we couldn't believe our eyes.

Hisoka was standing right there naked, not giving a damn if we were watching him.

"AHHHHHHH!!" Lizzy and I screamed, our faces turning pure crimson from looking at his body. We both covered our eyes to avoid staring at him for too long.

"Well, well. It seems that I have unexpected guests. Long time no see." The red-haired man emitted hostile aura towards us, and we immediately activated our Ren, despite his appearance.

He chuckled, sounding rather erotic. "Just as I thought. You've matured quite a lot, haven't you? You've clearly found an excellent teacher. You'll continue to grow more appetizing and ripen into sweet fruits."

We couldn't take our eyes off his naked figure, as it was extremely irresistible to look away. Lizzy and I covered our eyes again to stop ourselves from staring.

"Who is this pervy freak?" Goreinu asked, clearly aghast.

"I assume you are their teacher." Hisoka turned to the man, and then to Bisky. The blonde woman was aroused by his handsome figure that was in the nude. She was drooling and then quickly realized she was staring and looked away.

"Ahh! Oh no! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" Bisky squealed.

"Go put some clothes on, dammit!" I yelled, not wanting to deal with this anymore.

When Hisoka was finally dressed, we took a moment to clear the disturbing thoughts from earlier and get ourselves together.

"So, what do you want with me? Or perhaps more accurately, with Chrollo?" The perverted magician asked us.

"I have a question. What are you doing here?" Gon asked.

He took his time to answer, and we waited patiently for his response.

"I'm looking for Chrollo. He is still burdened by Kurapika's Nen, but there's actually a way to remove it."

"Exorcism." Gon replied.

"So you knew? Then that makes this much easier. I'm looking for Chrollo to pass it along, but I have no leads. That's when I remembered that some of the Spiders were interested in this game. I thought they might know where Chrollo is. And by using this handle, I'm certain that they'll try to contact me." He explained, and I doubted whether or not he was telling the truth.

"I get it. He was just pretending to be a member of the Phantom Troupe." Killua stated.

"Now, I have a question. Did you really come here just to ask me that?" The red-haired magician asked.

"Yes, I did." We were all taken aback by Gon's honest and innocent response, and Hisoka was amused.

"Um?" We turned to Bisky to see her acting as girly as ever. "To tell you the truth, we're looking for really strong people. Won't you mind joining us?"

Our faces scrunched up at her weird expression, thinking that she didn't know our history between us and the perverted magician.

"Umm, sure. But why are you looking for strong people?" He asked.

"I-I don't think I like this. It's too risky!" Goreinu objected.

"Yeah, you don't even know who this guy is, Bisky!" Killua grumbled.

"What? Of course I know him!" She started to form something with her aura, a message. "I feel a certain kinship with him."

He's lying.

"We should head to the City of Love, Aiai. It's not too far away from here. You could meet all kinds of people there. Perhaps find the strongest." Hisoka recommended.

If Hisoka was lying, I bet he wanted to find an Exorcist that was here in the game. There would be no reason for him to try beating the game if he had no interest in collecting cards.

We'll come back for you, Razor.