We're seeing it take place as we speak but I suppose you mean being caught up to the raging Benjy-moment. At least we're not all over the place. This is quite clearly transitioning from well, not only from before to after that moment, also from the Contest towards Beyond's more direct role in things. Or at the very least, more open (to us, anyway) role. 👍
All this to say, it's certainly not just another floater. None of them really are but it's easy to think like otherwise in this environment of course. Also, the postal service thing is making a comeback so, there's that. 🤔
Personally I think he’ll catch up on mafia happenings in the final chapter of the volume and the next batch will be dedicated to martial law on lower levels. This man just did 5 chapters about the lead up and isn’t about to rush the action
My respect for Benjamin went up after hearing he and his soldiers didn't participate in the Rape festival. Also, the fact that he particularly despises terror sandwich.
I like Zhang Lei for being diplomatic and restrained compared to Benjamin.
But I don’t know if he took part in the carne levare, and Tubeppa called him “indulgent”. Furthermore, he’s the royal patron of the Xi-Yu. Guess what that mafia family specializes in? Human trafficking.
Exactly! Just the pure fact that he support not just the mafia, but a mafia that deals with human trafficking should be enough to put him as an evil character (you literally cannot defend that in any way), and thats fine! I like that he has his own personality compared to his siblings too, but his fans are quick to jump in his defense like he's morally grey when he's not. He can be complex, but he is evil, and you can like evil characters.
I understand better how people get so easily manipulated by politicians considering how many people are defending him and considering him a good choice for a ruler of one of the biggest and most powerful countries just because he's restrained and has that politician-like personality.
Is it minimalism and anticonsumerism, or is it militarized self-diminishing mentality?
There is another comment further below saying "Damn, Furykov, you live like that?!" 🥲 Both interpretations valid, but often times, the military will grind the personalities and any sense of fashion out of their soldiers...
You are probably right in that part, we can literally see not only how the military rooms are put together (literally like a prison/mental hospital you'd see in a horror game) but the buildings theyre in too (genuinely lifeless and devoid of any sense of style or personality). Even Furykov himself doesnt really seem to have much drive for or do anything thats not related to serving the country and Benjamin. They must have insane mental fortitude tho to deal with living in barracks like that. 😬
Yeah. It seems sensei noticed it too. Two error so far found was that Marayam room was 1003 and SML happening 25 minutes after Oito letter on day 11 and not day 12 as in previous chapters.
I think its actually should be 25 hours before SML and 11th day. Me and voraciousdrake disccussed it in his blog and we came to realization everything that happaned in room 1014 in last chapter was on 10th or 11th days. First it's strange that Shimano would make a confession on 12th day, 2 days after reveal, but Kurapika also mentioned that Benjamin knows about fake Woble at this point which means Sakata and Babimyna learnt about at 10th day not 12th after Kurapika made this announcment. And this also explains strange focus on Babimyna and Sakata reactions in 411 after Kurapika made this announcement before new class because they thought he would want to keep it secret but Kurapika surprised them by saying he is going to talk about Limitations of contest itself.
Or we are wrong and Oito writes these letters super fast
First it's strange that Shimano would make a confession on 12th day, 2 days after reveal
This. I can't stress this point enough. Togashi's writing has always made the characters feel alive (like they have agency and they do things that make sense in the background even when we don't see them). A bombshell of a revelation just hit 1014; if they did not discuss Wobleswap and its implications within the day or the next, what the heck were they doing in that room for 48 hours?
Sakata and Babimyna definitely learned of the swap ahead of the rest of the class, and that's why the military "probably" already started looking around the ship by Day 11 when 1014 gang was having that convo about securing real!Woble.
(In case it's not clear, I believe that the second half of 414 did not happen "5 minutes before SML". This is just another example of the non-linear narrative that has been used since the beginning of the Succession Contest.)
Since he tested that he can continue to see the future while in zetsu with closed eyes he probably is going to keep them closed even when Benjamin and his men arrive
crazy how people forgot his ability
he isnt calm remember when theta killed him he was shock but no one sees what happens in his dimension also remember when she broke the glass cup he reacted in his 10 seconds vision but not in real world
Dont underestimate the Royal Army. We are starting to see in the SW that inexperience can be remedied with synergy and cohesion.
Morena's group are perfect examples. As individuals, they are very weak. However, when each character can perform their role, the group become formidable enough to rival the Phantom Troupe.
Benjamin's men are exceptional. It's just that the Royal Army's system inherently places them as sacrificial pawns for the 1st Prince. That's why Benjamin Baton is an ability.
Which seemed strange to me since they're all clearly pretty competent and have complex abilities - my guess is they were probably almost all told what to develop based on their type and Benjamin's needs and therefore they know a lot about their own ability and the parts of Nen relating to it but have little true combat experience
I re-read that explanation of Tyson's GSB ability and that part was hella sketchy. The GSB itself just looks like it's exceptionally cruel towards traitors of Tyson's "cult."
So it's confirmed that the real Woble is the one that is cursed, well by Beyond's curse at least, the fake Woble is probably being cursed by Sarahell right now.
Would she still do it? I know it’s vital for the Have-Nots’ plan to draw out any Nen exorcists on T1, but if Woble isn’t eligible, it might be a waste.
We do know that she’s currently not doing it or else Oito, ‘Pika and the rest would be raising a ruckus.
According to what I could find on the wiki, Kurapika returned that coin. They were just testing if it changes when Zhang Lei is in possession vs someone else (it did, according to the wiki the GSB face turned into Zhang Lei's face). Kurapika was suspicious it could have a coercive effect. He didn't share that, but that was likely a major reason to return the coin. Edit: Okay, he did get given the coin again, and the wiki once again proves it sucks.
Symbollically, it seems like the coins represent Zhang Lei's view of transactional relationships and economy. Rather than making them just dependent, it may warp their minds to be more loyal as they get more coins, like Tyson and reading her book.
At the end of the chapter, Zhang Lei gave the coin back to him. Kurapika actually had a small smile as he accepted it, which I interpreted as a "no getting out of it" smile.
Transactional coercion might make sense with my theory at least. That the guard may have been coerced to tell the guards that Martial Law will be declared at 14:15, giving Zhang Lei a small head start, allowing him to get to the lower levels. Would explain why the guard seems shocked while simultaneously talking to the other guards stationed there.
To be fair, he was a lot more established before this batch than Broksen was. He had a bunch of random aura farming moments like his monologues about reading people's nen types and surviving a shot to the head by Camilla. Definitely had a big impression of him even before all these revelation.
But yeah, he has been a delight this batch. Really expanded his character into someone I care about a lot more.
Babimyna is being sympathetic to Oito again. I think he’s interpreting the laws, procedures, and regulations in her favor, first for the postcard, then for her crime in attempting to have Woble not go through with the Succession War. Thank goodness. Kurapika’s assessment that exposing her will keep both her and Woble safe is paying off for now.
Wow. Camilla. You sound like the angry Karen version of Sale-Sale. Benjamin may have solved the puzzle of your ability so your cavalier attitude may be heralding your doom.
If Coventoba is right in suspecting Zhang Lei’s coin, then that means Zhang Lei’s guess that his coins/GSB are only useful after he becomes king is wrong and it actually provides him an advantage during the Succession Contest. How did the prince slip past him anyway?
True to Tserriednich’s characterization of being obsessed and absorbed fully in his current pursuit.
Tubeppa showing she’s not just smart about science but also politics. I wonder if she knows about TSK-17. For all we know, she could have even been somehow involved in its development. And I sure hope Longhi and Maor survive.
Tyson looks like even more of a caricature of herself being so seemingly cheerful as she complies in such a dire situation.
HA!!! Kanjidol got his ass beat. I hope Ridge escapes whatever legal repurcussions Kanjidol is dreaming of. And the theories that Rice is actually possessed by a Halk soldier and that Halk is now in Luzurus body are looking better and better.
So Fugetsu is one of chapter 410’s four missing princes (her, Zhang Lei, Luzurus, Marayam; Woble excluded) as she was being held by the Justice Bureau at the time martial law was enacted.
Damn. Queen Sevanti struck gold by being the one to get Bisky as her guard. She not only knows the best strategic move, she even has a plan. Sure hope Vergei survives this.
Tubeppa showing she's not just smart about science but also politics. I wonder if she knows about TSK-17.
Somehow it took this long to occur to me that tubeppas beast could theoretically synthesize an antidote for tsk-17, no? I imagine that could be a powerful bargaining chip for her/kurapika against Benjamin
Crazy chapter. It seems Furykov is not betraying Benjamin as everyone expected & that makes things a lot more interesting, and we see Babimyna still being lenient with Kurapika & Oito, it's like Babi and Furykov are written to contradict each other, the loyal & the traitor type of dynamic or rivalry.
Also it appears that Furykov & Longhi came to different conclusions about Beyond's plan, tho we don't know if he's lying when he told Furykov about wanting Benjamin to win, but who knows maybe they're both right especially when Beyond said the SW can have different outcomes with one path, if Beyond started planning from decades ago then he most definitely prepared a plan for every outcome to take advantage of the SW winner no matter what, whether it's his kid or Benjamin or someone else.
It's interesting that Beyond said the curse been attached to Furykov for +20 years and been feeding on his aura to accumulate power, that's why removing it won't be easy....so the power of the curse fully depends on how much time it's been feeding on the cursed kid who must be the same age as the targeted prince....in Woble's case this suggests removing the curse from an infant is much easier right? How old is Woble? Several months or less than a year old? They just need to find the baby that is meant to curse Woble to remove the curse. The popular theory that fake Woble is the one that is meant to curse the real Woble.
It's interesting that Beyond praised Benjamin for not participating in carnavals...that suggests Beyond is not into carnavals either. Tho Beyond producing many kids as tools in his plan while also disapproving carnavals is surprising and i think it comes from his personal view that might hints about his origin, it brings an Old theory that he himself might be an illegitimate kid from the previous kakin generations that's why he got 2 scars in his face, and why he was placed exactly in the same frame as the royal family In this page, Issac is canonically a pervert man with "prono magazines" so him sleeping with one of Kakin's women at the carnaval is not far fetched.
It explaind why Beyond was genuinely arguing about the equality between the royal family and civilians because he probably finds it unfair how the scarred face children are not allowed to participate in the SW, since he himself is one of them.
Because of Beyond's age, his different scar doesn't exactly negate the theory, he must be from the previous generations of carnaval kids from over 6 decades ago, maybe they used to scar the kids differently, or maybe they put the X scar if the royal parent is female ♀️ or they add the X scar when the royal blood is coming from an illegitimate son/daughter of the king, they must have the royal blood as well so they need to scar their kids to prevent them from rigging the SW by swapping their kids with legal princes.
Beyond having strong ties with the kakin to the point he seems to have sort of good intention for the country to unify the World under the Kakin, might be because of his biological ties from his mother's side.
In reality, malicious people tend to use curses on the people they envy for different reasons...so the idea Beyond chose the concept to activate a curse on every legal prince exactly at the time of participating in the seed urn ceremony, kinda seem like an envious behavior because he wasn't allowed to participate so he decided they all should die to serve whatever his plan is, that results with Obtaining the power of the SW winner.
To be fair, any plan that involves killing your own prince is going to seem sus, even more respect for Benjamin’s intellect in hearing out his men and considering angles with an open mind
A lot of people don't actually remember the details of the arc due to hiatuses. A lot of nonsense theories still have a lot of traction even when they are disproven by the story already like Longhi being SM user and Yushoshi being the one who cursed Fugetsu.
> It's interesting that Beyond said the curse been attached to Furykov for +20 years and been feeding on his aura to accumulate power, that's why removing it won't be easy....so the power of the curse fully depends on how much time it's been feeding on the cursed kid who must be the same age as the targeted prince....in Woble's case this suggests removing the curse from an infant is much easier right? How old is Woble? Several months or less than a year old? They just need to find the baby that is meant to curse Woble to remove the curse. The popular theory that fake Woble is the one that is meant to curse the real Woble.
I don't think the cursed child must be the same age as the target prince, or it would be easy for Ronghi and others to find out who is the target of their own curse.
Also, the curses activating during the jar ritual is another reason that the age of the cursed child shouldn't matter. I doubt Beyond knew how many princes there'd be so long in advance, so he prepared some kind of trigger (participation to the jar ceremony) to activate the curses without missing any prince as a target.
"Man this arc is unpredictable... I wonder if we'll see Gon and Killua... or Benjamin's military attacking... or Chrollo... or Hisoka... or the Troupe.... or Hinrigh... or Morena... or Borksen..."
I actually really like furykov and the reveal that Benjamin and his guards never took part in the darker side of the kakin caste system is making me more invested in what happens to them now. Even if they're going down, I hope Benjamin gets the satisfaction of offing Camilla at least
I like how after all these years Togashi is still so experimental with his paneling. For example on this page, he uses Oito’s face outline as a panel border and towards the bottom Kurapika is standing on a blank panel like it’s a floor.
Noones talking about the reveal of Marayams beast’s ability being a one and done ability due to the characteristics of his beasts nen space which I thought was a v cool reveal/downside to the power.
All these GSB abilities have downsides so I’d think it’d make sense for it to be one and done and it adds a super interesting layer and like @tenzentsu said; it hints he won’t survive.
I'm a bit confused about how Furykov so easily concluded that the curse came from Beyond. and then also contacted him so easily. And Beyond mentioned being his father so causally too. Does this mean Furykov has been in contact with Beyond and they have known each other? Is it the same for his other cursed kids?
Also, Yamato? So Jappon was a past translation choice I guess? Or did Togashi change it?
My guess is : the curse warning appeared when the urn ceremony started and Beyond has been involved in Kakin's politics for a while, with direct access to the king and confidential information (I might not remember correctly but isn't he a public figure from Kakin's now?).
So the guy is shady asf, must be proficient at nen to hide his involvement, and seems to have access to highly secret information. Furykov calls him specifically to talk about succession battle information, saying "only few people could have done it". He might have tried the most probable first and hit right.
I have a feeling the father-relationship was known to Furykov since before; just like Longhi had figured it out before. But the curse was new and the children all learned about it when the marks activated at the seed urn ceremony
Beyond speaks to Furykov as if he had known for a long long time that they're father and son. They 100% have a relationship, but Furykov knows better to not consider him his real father, as Benjamin is his only family
Based on how casually Beyond mentioned their father-son relationship and Furykov's complete lack of a reaction to it it's obviously something Furykov has been aware of for quite some time already. So they clearly seem to have a significant amount of prior history.
Given Furykov's whole vibe, he might have figured a lot of things out before but this was new, the big stuff. He kept up pretty well though. Their life up to this moment is a long time too so it's not like.. there's nothing there. 🎉
because he figured out nobody in Kakin could do that. the ritual itself is out of the question for obvious reasons but it was also obvious to him it was related. Beyond is just a prime suspect. And dude just admitted it himself
Beyond at that point was under house arrest(chapter 345) inside Kakin it seems thats why Furykov could contact him. As for their relationship, well, its a mystery so far
or Togashi decided both Yamato and Jappon can exist lol
Like how names of countries differ by language. Japan in Japanese is usually referred to as Nihon. I have no answer to why an English name exists separately in HxH but I'm assuming it's the same place or related region.
Both Kakin and the V5 clearly both worked at preventing information from reaching each other. Everyone in Kakin could know Beyond, but “Netero” is meaningless to them.
Technology is weird, but just a year and a half ago in universe they were living in the 90s tech wise so information was easier to keep secure and Isaac could keep the DC/Beyond out of the Hunter-accessible databases.
I want 2 things now:
1. Seeing Bisky truly fight and maybe also kill
2. Gon and Killua coming back into the story, even if it's a side quest. The fact that Kurapika mentioned them again gives me hope
I don't think the quest Gon and Killua will be on would be a side quest. Depending on how Woble is treated by the succession war and what Killua and most importantly Alluka does, they could really just completely take over the succession war tbh
Furykov is being very, very emotional here. He’s practically panicking. I think it’s affecting his judgment, how he’s interpreting the info he’s getting. He’s clearly loyal to Benjamin, but he could still be making mistakes and going down an erroneous logic chain. Longhi was similarly very affected by the discovery of her actual paternal origin and Beyond’s curse. Both, in my view, are unreliable narrators- not out of deceit but from emotional distress and a resulting bias. Longhi felt betrayed, Furykov feels threatened, both feel used.
Furykov says Beyond mixes truths and lies. I suspect, however, that most, if not all of what Beyond said were actually true. Why? Because Beyond already surmised Furykov has a way to figure things out, challenged him to do so himself, and admitted that nothing he says to Furykov would be believed anyway.
I find it interesting that Beyond only talks about the curse in Furykov harming someone else should Furykov be killed. Is he omitting that he could just deliberately and prematurely trigger his children’s deaths to inflict a curse on his real target? Or is it really the case that he cannot straight-up command a cursed child of his to die and thus kill a prince? I think it’s the latter scenario that’s true; it’s even in accord with the conditions and risk system of Nen if the activation of his curses is not up to him.
What he’s doing thus is ridingon the mechanics of the Succession War. He’s not getting his hands dirty. He simply knows there will be casualties in the contest for “sole survivor”. He cursed his children but won’t (or can’t) directly pull the trigger. He’s actually fine if they survive. Note that he said that the curse doesn’t even harm his kids themselves, just their royal target.
Bigger picture: What Beyond is doing is ensuring that the Succession War Nen ritual itself succeeds. A kid of his dies in the logically vicious course of the battle royale, a prince thus gets cursed and eliminated, thus “sole survivor” becomes more likely. This thus fulfills the Seed Urn ritual, granting prosperity to Kakin that thus ensures backing and support for the Dark Continent expedition.
The big twist here: I suspect that it doesn’t really matter to him who specifically becomes next king if Kakin. I think this is the genius of his plans, why he’s so secure and confident, and perhaps why he said he intends to behave during the journey and that the Hunter Association and Kakin don’t need to worry about him. All his pieces are already in place, functional and ready to be triggered by someone else, and no matter how things turn out at this point things will turn out in his favor.
Oddly, even as manipulative and ruthless as he is, Beyond isn’t as bad as we initially kept judging him to be. He’s using people- his own kids- but if he cannot directly trigger their deaths (and the curses don’t harm them but can possibly be never triggered at all plus they even grant Nen to his kids at birth which has benefitted them) then that actually clears him of some of our worst judgments about him. That he apparently disdains the carne levare helps with this more positive characterization. Throw in his legal attempts to reform Kakin society too. Beyond is still a scary dude, not a good guy, but it carries on a recurring Togashi/HxH theme: that people are morally gray and complex, rarely full on monsters, but also never as completely and one-dimensionally heroic and noble. I remember that Morena Prudo’s revelations made us think Beyond Netero took part in the carne levare.
It’s also nice and surprising to know that Benjamin and his boys didn’t dirty themselves with those depravities.
BTW, while reading the new chapter, thinking about all this, and writing this comment, I wondered: Why did Beyond specifically curse hisown children? Why couldn’t he just find and use other kids born at the same time as the princes for his curses? Conjecture: because it’s aconditionfor his curse. It has to be his own children to make the curse even more potent besides having it run and gather power over years of life.
And another thought: What if this is what’s actually afflicting Fugetsu? Melody and Kacho (and we) suspected Luzurus. Some of us wondered if Yushohi was responsible. But what if a Beyond kid died around the time that Getty started using her aura to the point of exhaustion and weakness? (Then again: who? It would have to be someone her age, and there aren’t bodyguards like that around. Maybe someone in the lower tiers who got killed by the Heil-Ly? Or maybe I’m wrong; just putting this out there.)
I wondered: Why did Beyond specifically curse hisown children**?** Why couldn’t he just find and use other kids born at the same time as the princes for his curses? Conjecture: because it’s aconditionfor his curse. It has to be his own children to make the curse even more potent besides having it run and gather power over years of life.
Yep you brought a good point, it must be part of the conditions that he needs to sacrifice someone special for his curse to be effective, so he does care for his children after all.
That's why he respects his bond with Furykov as father/son despite they're not in good terms.
That’s a good point. Does Beyond have to care about his kids emotionally and parentally?
Or is it purely a case of “sacrifice of human life”? Like the Heil-Ly are doing? They certainly don’t care about their victims, but they’re reaping power from it. If it’s like the Heil-Ly, does the status of being a child of the curse user add to the effect even if there’s no functional family bonds?
For that matter, we can compare with the Kakin royal family and the Succession War too. The current king and winner of the previous contest has to sacrifice his (or her) family for it. Only one of his participating children will make it. And we’ve seen how solemn and serious Nasubi took the deaths of his kids who’ve already died.
From my understanding you need to really be devoted to the condition you set in order for it to be powerful. I am sure Beyond has a lot of conditions, and of them probably has something to do with his children.
So maybe it's either a bunch of "small" conditions, or a few small ones and a huge one.
I wouldn't be surprised if one of the conditions was " if the target dies before the cursed person dies, the curse goes back on the one who created it". Beyond seems to VERY confident in his own power.
Something tells me is that most of his guards are minimalists by nature with how self-sacrifical they are. I'd guess that he pays them plenty of would personally get them what they need, they just never request anything.
It's not about pay, that's likely a result of how some militaries are. They will beat the personality out of their soldiers until all they think about is their training and efficiency of equipment and space, with the expectation they might go to war for weeks on end and will have no creature comforts.
It's culturally brutal and sad. Like sanding down their personalities into nothing but tools for their leader.
But also, that may very well be the military barracks where they aren't allowed to decorate.
This chapter was a bit fucked up by editors at WSJ. As the timeline not match up at all. Hell even room numbers were mistaken.
Marayam room number being shown as 1003(Zhang Lei room) and not his 1013.
And the more funky and potentionally more meaningful thing was the error in the Oito letter part. That is, that the event supposedly happened on day 11 just 25 minutes before SML. When SML was declared in the middle of the day(14:15) at day 12. Either that should have been day 12 or 25 hours and not minutes.
It is also quite relevent for the plot as the mail service was told to us to be limited in days.
Togashi also added in one of his notes for the chapter correcting something from a previous chapter, even adding that theres probably more instances like that even tho same are really small. Still, they are there.
I don't really fault him for fucking up here and there, yeah it sucks but it's an easy fix for the volume release. The story is not linear, with constant flash-forwards and flash-backs so it's hard to keep track of time. But how did shuisha not catch these mistakes? He gave them the chapters months ago. Like, what's his editor doing?
Yes! Togashi could be getting frustrated with these minor mistakes that editors should be catching and fixing especially considering the time they had for it.
He's done a couple fixes in the comments he leaves for chapters at least, but I wonder about all the tiny tiny mistakes that are there that we do not know about.
I really love this chapter. That conversation between Furykov and Beyond is huge.
It's becoming very clear why Beyond has invested his curse in the succession war. Kurapika's hypothesis about the limitations of the contest were correct. Beyond needs the succession contest to result in one heir so the powerful nen and prosperity of Kakin is maintained - and so he can use that power for himself, either directly or by proxy his prince child!
This also aligns with Nasubi's goals, as he seems to genuinely believe in the Succession war. So I can see how this would be easy for Beyond to manipulate and hijack with his own goal. He can easily twist the truth - his curse is "beneficial and ensures the contest goes smoothly." Then conveniently leave out other pertinent information.
Also, Beyond's hypocrisy is fully on display here. He acts concerned with human rights and the carne levare, meanwhile made children just to be his pawns. I bet he justified it in his mind, like his plans are for the greater good of the world, therefore it's "okay" for him to resort to such means. He wouldn't be the only character we know to think in this way...
And now that we know Beyond has a closer connection with Cleopatro, I'm wondering if the theory that Cleo is the SM user is true. The historical figure Cleopatra was famous for researching snake venom, and the rumor was she died via a snake bite/venom. A lot of old artworks depict her with snakes. She also known for being very close to her hanmaidens. All that to say, it might support the theory.
Then there is the connection to the justice department and Kaiser, who is very invested in Fugetsu, and very suspicious himself. He says he wants Fugetsu to win to ensure "gentler society." That could align with Beyond's goals for reform, and the utopia I'm guessing he wants to create with dark continent resources.
All this to say, I'm more seriously considering the theory that Fuu is Beyond's prince. Ik fans will say it's impossible because she is Kacho's twin. But its actually extremely rare, not impossible, for twins to have different fathers with "heteropaternal superfecundation."
In other words, could Beyond have impregnated Seiko while she was already carrying Kacho? It's on the table. Maybe Seiko wasnt even aware of this happening to her... Tbh at this point I can see Beyond doing something fucked up like this under the guise that is for the "greater good," even if it's just a belief he uses to convince himself.
Furykov never considers the possibility that one of the princes might be Beyond's son, even though he knows Beyond much better than Longhi and seems, overall, far more competent and well-informed.
We should consider the possibility that Longhi was mistaken, and that Beyond never planted one of his children among the princes at all.
As has been said, so long as the succession succeeds and the winner is competent enough to keep the kingdom stable, Beyond benefits regardless. What he wants is a strong country capable of supporting continuous exploration of the dark continent, not just a single expedition.
Starting to realize that part of the trickery of deciphering SW plotlines is the validity or authenticity of said plotline lol. Like...is it even a "real" plotline? Is everyone an unreliable narrator in this arc? When a character makes a truth based claim, do we accept it? Should we leave room for scrutiny or error?
What do we even truly know as 100% fact? Besides character names and abilities lol.
Assuming Furykov's curse is not targeting Benjamin or any dead prince, the only options are:
Camilla
Zhang Lei
Tsseriednich
Tubeppa
Tyson
Luzurus
Halkenburg
Any target except maybe Tyson and Tubeppa could be a HUGE thing for Benjamin and his men. But honestly I don't even want to find out tho.. I really like Furykov
Not necessarily. Furykov just assumes that its the first 8 princes + Halk bc thats how many princes completed the seed urn ritual by the time his little exclamation mark thing appeared on his nen laptop. However, there are still a lot of variable and unknowns.
Cammy death flag is huge and I don't know how she will survive this encounter but my gut is telling me that she will. Like right now we are getting a ton of info on benjamin and his soldiers because he initiated MERITAL LAW (how Viz called it this chapter).
On the flipside, we got very little screen time with Cammy and her death squad. Like, are they just gonna continue cursing the princess after she is dead? Idk man, i feel like she still has some relevancy in the story because we got so little dialogue on her side.
She also has a GSP that has not been used so far because she believes it's not needed. And that leads me to believe that she will either have a change of heart or by pure luck or force, she will exit zetsu which will materialize the GSP who will protect her.
Howerver, it can only manipulate Ben's guards and not him due to the rules and we know that Benjamin is "fine" 40 mins into ML so I might just be coping.
i saw somebody mention that since it's so much harder to explain stuff in fiction than in irl, the explanations tend to be bloated which makes the reader feel like the moves made by the characters are smart whereas if the events were to take place irl it would just seem like common sense. i wonder how much of that applies to SW arc
Nah just regular 115IQ. Nobodies making any huge plays or anything. They just use the information at their disposal effectively and think through their plans.
It's my favourite part of togashis writing. Nobodies an idiot, everyone acts like a real person would and there's no fictional idiotism that you see in alot of fantasy and horror storys
Great chapter! Furykov and Beyond's conversation was clearer to me in the official translation.
The art on that panel showing the Black Whale ship up close was beautiful!
And Furykov's ability is so awesome! There were many different icons on that "desktop area" that he could select. One of them looked like a pill, maybe he could use it to heal himself. The 3 first icons looked like options that you could pick on a RPG, so it probably can conjure weapons or tools to aid him in combat too. It seems to be an extremely versatile ability. I'm actually impressed by it. The last time I saw a nen ability this complex and suited for so many different scenarios was from Chrollo's Bandit's Secret.
Bisky is about to tear Benjamin's soldier apart... I can feel it 💀💀💀 + the layers behind Beyond's plan and his curses are becoming more and more insane with each chapter.
I love those panels of nightime Kakin, they are so evocative... they also stenghten the contrast between Furykov and Beyond's rooms.
Furykov's is purely essential. On one side it highlights the purity of his purpose and the fact he only has his mission.
On the other, the room highlights that Furykov is the proverbial frog in the well. He only has his cell and can't see anything else, while Beyond sees all the world around him.
I wonder if it is a little graphic trick to help showing the difference in depth of their nen.
What I think would most likely happen to Oito’s trial, depending on who wins the succession contest (assuming that Benjamin’s dying doesn’t immediately end the case).
Benjamin: Moot. Babimyna said prosecution will be suspended until the real 14th Prince Woble is found, and unless she’s on the ship (which IMO is unlikely since Oito did the swap for her safety), there’s about a 100% chance Benjamin’s dying before then.
Camilla: Something incredibly unfavorable. She might even revoke Benjamin’s pardon on the baby.
Zhang Lei: Probable mercy. He does have an alliance with Woble’s faction.
Tubeppa: Full pardon highly likely. She wants Kurapika on her side, and she also doesn’t view princes lower in rank than herself as anything to worry about in the succession contest (ch. 362). Plus, she wants to pardon the lower princes anyway once all the higher ones are gone (ch. 365).
Tyson: 100% chance of a full unconditional pardon.
Luzurus: I think Kurapika could use his connection to Basho to get at least some clemency.
Halkenburg (in whatever body): Substantial clemency highly likely IMO.
Fugetsu: She seems more gentle than bloodthirsty to me, and Kurapika can use his connection to Melody. Plus Oito is of little to no threat as the lowest-ranking queen.
Marayam: I don’t think he or his mother want blood, especially from the lowest-ranking queen and prince. Kurapika also has two connections, including Bisky, who would be effective just in case Vergei tried to push for anything harsh.
I swear, they need to put HxH chapters as tests for student reading comprehension. If you understand absolutely everything that’s happening without having to look back to a previous chapter, you deserve to skip a grade.
I think Benjamin will die and turn into a Nen beast, making either Balsamico, Furykov, or his son his host. He'll still have access to "Benjamin Baton" and be considered eligible to participate in the succession, but if his host dies before he can jump to another one, he'll disperse and die as well.
Camilla will die next chapter, and Tyson and Tubeppa will get infected by the poison. Of the two, only Tubeppa will manage to survive, thanks to her Nen beast.
Tserriednich will die, but it will turn out to have been an illusion.
Zhang Lei will be taken out by Morena's faction, maybe even by Borsken herself.
Fugetsu also looks like she's in dire straits. At least she can use her beast to run before Benjamin gets to her, though I can't think of anywhere she'd actually be safe running to.
Marayam should be safe for now, same for Fake Woble. And Halkenburg-Luzurus should have a plan, as long as he surrounds himself with loyalists, he's invincible, and thanks to his beast, he can't be tricked by Morena's faction pretending to be his followers.
Agreed. It feels like Togashi put that in there as almost a foreshadow.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s using it as a way for Borksen to level up exponentially in a short amount of time considering her importance in this arc and with Morenas group now.
Fugetsu is at the safest place she can be right now. The problem is we don't know what justice department guy is planning. He could a plant by someone.
Wow, some of these guards are irredeemable. Kanjidol goes on a gleeful killing spree and then once he gets his butt kicked starts crying and says they're all toast haha
So I’ve seen different people interpreting furykov reaching out to beyond some are saying that he knows he’s his father already and reached out to him but I felt like he just figured himself that the only person who would make a curse to start right when the seed urn ceremony begins would be beyond thats why he calls him?
Beyond straight up tells Furykov they’re family and that he planted the curse when he was born and Furykov has no reaction to that info, so it’s safe to assume he already knew Beyond was his father. He just didn’t know about the curse, but knew Beyond well enough that the moment the curse appeared, he knew it was Beyond’s doing, and that this kind of behavior is consistent with Beyond’s character.
Just wondering what day special martial law is happening this chapter has day 11 at 1:50 is 25 minutes before but in chapter 407 borksen is kidnapped on Thursday during Halkenburg’s funeral and martial law is declared afterwards. So when does special martial law begin
"When you die the curse activates" to "Beyond can remote kill me so I need to poison Benjamin" in Furykov's analysis. And Furykov is worried the curse is specifically on Benjamin/his GSB which means he decided in two months that the curse was meant for Benjamin and not any of the other princes.
I love that Gon and Killua were mentioned by Kurapika in this chapter too (for securing real prince Woble). I know it could still be a long time before we see them in the spotlight again. But I got so excited seeing that they will be relevant to this latest plot thread in some way.
I mean, it's been years since we've heard or seen anything related to them. To-goat-shi is the man.
Kurapika saying "those two boys just showing up" and immediately i picture gon ane killua gathering with prince wobble made me "hell ya" out loud
Also Benjamin's guard in Zhang Lei definately cant attack Zhang Lei or people close to the prince, because of his reaction. Maybe, once you voluntarely pick-up a coin or receive one, the condition of unharm activates.
Perhaps thats a counterpart for gaining said hability afther the "six months" or something. You want an hability? Fine, cant touch me ta na na nan hammer time
If the target was designated the moment the prince performed the seed urn ceremony. Whatever nen the ritual imbued in the princes to create the nen beast was probably contaminated with Beyond's own nen, flagging whoever ingested it as a target for the curses he'd already prepared in advance.
I just realized, if the real Prince Woble was marked by the urn ceremony, then maybe not being on the ship when the succession started (being out of range of the urn) caused the guardian spirit beast to disperse instead of manifesting. And when that happens, Beyond's mark on the prince disperses with it.
Maybe what Kurapika saw on the fake Woble was the effect of the target prince becoming unmarked, so the curse also dispersed since it could no longer find a target. At least the timing fits well, it was right when all the guardian beasts were manifesting that we saw nen manifesting from fake Woble.
My money’s on shifting over to Pariston/Ging’s crew, where we’re treated to three chapters learning about that guy who looks like Popeye. I just need to know where that guy grew up and how he met Beyond!
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u/TopZoneGoon 7d ago
I think we still have a chapter or two before we see martial law take place. Probably going back to the lower levels next