Chapter 56 56 Hunting and Steel 1
Faced with all these prospects, Cricket simply couldn't refuse.
Thus, the Riding the Wind and Waves docked temporarily at Mock Town for refitting.
Everyone on board established new training grounds within the town.
As for Zane,
he had plenty to keep him busy.
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The Hunter World.
"You want to become a Crime Hunter?" Menchi asked in surprise.
Zane said righteously, "That's right. Eliminating evil is our inescapable duty!"
For Zane, he had been wandering the Pirate World for quite some time, but for Menchi, it was only the second day after their celebration.
Menchi never expected that right after finishing breakfast, Zane would suddenly suggest becoming a Crime Hunter.
She rolled her eyes at Zane's high-and-mighty proclamation.
Though her experience wasn't incredibly vast, she wasn't some naive little girl.
In her experience, whenever someone spoke with such intense morality, there was usually something dirty hidden behind it.
"Fine, being a Crime Hunter is pretty good too," Menchi sighed.
A Crime Hunter it is, then.
While it wasn't the Gourmet Hunter path she had hoped for him, she still supported Zane's desire to become a Crime Hunter.
Even if there was some ulterior motive, eliminating evil was never a bad thing.
Menchi was a Gourmet Hunter, but that didn't mean she was entirely unfamiliar with other branches of the profession.
Such as intelligence gathering.
"If you want to hunt criminals, you can use your Hunter License permissions to buy information on the Hunter Association's internal network. The prices are generally high, but at least the authenticity of the intel is guaranteed," Menchi recommended.
Zane nodded slightly. "I had that in mind. After all, finding them is more of a hassle than actually defeating them."
His intention to become a Crime Hunter certainly wasn't out of a sense of justice.
His plan for this trip to the Hunter World was clear: hunt Nen users to increase his strength so he could face Doflamingo with greater confidence.
Of course, he wasn't a natural-born serial killer. Therefore, aside from his enemies, the best targets were heinous Nen-using criminals.
He then engaged in active discussion with Menchi, making full preparations for his upcoming career as a Crime Hunter.
Three days later.
Zane bid farewell to Menchi and set out on his hunt.
Time passed quickly.
A month slipped by in silence.
"Halt! This is private property. Leave immediately!"
In front of an old castle, a guard watching the gate shouted harshly at the figure strolling toward him.
Thump!
Without stopping his pace.
The newcomer gave only a single glance, and the two shouting guards rolled their eyes and collapsed to the ground.
"Not good! Someone's breaking in!"
"Quick, quick! We have a trespasser!"
"Who has the guts to come here and cause trouble?"
"..."
Surveillance cameras were installed at the gate.
The guards' collapse was noticed by those inside the castle immediately.
Soon, before Zane could even get deep into the castle, a large group of armed guards had completely surrounded him.
They leveled their rifles and aimed.
Surrounded, Zane finally came to a halt.
'Unwilling to show your face?'
Scanning the numerous guards and finding no sign of his target, Zane's gaze hardened as he released his Malice once more.
BOOM!!!
The surging Malice was like a giant wave. Wherever it passed, the seemingly well-trained guards collapsed like mown wheat, falling in rows.
The ground beneath his feet vibrated.
Zane sensed the anomaly beneath him with sharp precision and leaped backward without hesitation.
CRASH!!!
A high-speed rotating drill burst from the ground where Zane had been standing, soaring a dozen meters into the air and kicking up clouds of dirt and howling gusts of wind.
Zane stared at the drill.
He saw it stop spinning in mid-air and transform into a tall, muscular metal man.
Whoosh!
The metal man plummeted toward the ground, but in the process, his arms transformed into two extending chains that lashed out violently at Zane.
BOOM!!!
The ground shook.
The two arm-thick chains whipped deep trenches into the earth.
However, Zane was nowhere to be seen in the ruts.
Way of the Soldier: Killing Fist - Swift as the Wind!
Having vanished from the chain's path, Zane appeared instantly at the spot where the metallic man was falling.
[KEN] and [RYU].
Concentrating 70% of his Nen aura into his right fist, Zane slammed it into the back of the metal man who had no time to react.
Amidst a thunderous explosion, a violent shockwave erupted.
The metal man was instantly sent flying like a cannonball, crashing straight through and demolishing the guardhouse at the castle entrance.
Thump!
As the momentum faded, the metal man skidded across the ground. His heavy body and residual inertia plowed a long furrow into the earth.
"Damn it!!"
His metallic body clearly possessed formidable defense.
Even after being blasted away by Zane's punch, the metal man hadn't suffered significant damage.
He climbed out of the furrow in shock and anger, looking up to find Zane.
Swish!
Zane appeared above the metal man, his right leg raised high like a battle-axe before hacking down fiercely.
BOOM!!!
Amidst the roar and flying soil, the metal man's head was slammed violently back into the earth.
As if hit by a bomb, the ground beneath the metal man shattered and collapsed instantly, forming a massive crater.
Using the momentum to land,
Zane settled gracefully at the edge of the crater.
"Kenneth, nicknamed the Iron Killer. Once slaughtered hundreds of miners to seize a metal mine, followed by a string of other crimes. Classified as an A-Rank criminal by the V5."
Looking down at the metal man in the crater, Zane practicedly pulled a phone from his pocket, opened the camera, and began recording.
"So you're a Hunter?" Kenneth growled as he scrambled out of the soil, looking up at Zane with murderous intent.
[BODY OF STEEL]
He could turn his body into metal and freely change its shape; furthermore, he could increase the strength of his metallization by absorbing metal ores.
That Kenneth could become an A-Rank criminal showed that besides having hands stained with blood, he had already absorbed a vast amount of metal ore.
Even after suffering two heavy blows from Zane, no obvious injuries could be seen on his body.
Even the indentations from the attacks were recovering at a speed visible to the naked eye.
In this short month, the hardworking Zane had already eliminated six or seven Nen-using criminals.
But compared to the previous criminals, the Kenneth before him was undoubtedly the strongest.
"Correct. And I should congratulate you on being the first A-Rank criminal I've taken down." Having finished recording, Zane put his phone away and flashed a smile.
[LET'S DUEL!]
The initial probing was over; now the formal hunt began.
Swish!
The moment [LET'S DUEL!] activated, both Zane and Kenneth were pulled into the Equality Space.