Phinks's pupils contracted sharply—the young man's display had caught him off guard. This kind of formidable concealnt, which even he had failed to notice, was enough to show what level he had reached. And it wasn't just Phinks. Several other mbers of the Phantom Troupe also showed an involuntary trace of wariness in their eyes the mont they saw the youth.
"Next, I'll need so of you to disguise yourselves as staff mbers of the auction and infiltrate the venue," Chrollo continoued calmly.
"One group will be responsible for launching an attack inside, creating chaos throughout the site. anwhile, another group will use that opportunity to move to where the auction items are stored and take everything."
Feitan raised his hand. "Let handle the disguise part. That sounds fun."
"Count in too," added Franklin, glancing at Feitan.
Shalnark nodded. "That works."
"Additionally," he continued, "we'll need a few people to pose as regular auction guests and cover the exits, clearing out the fleeing crowd."
He looked toward Machi, Uvogin, and Nobunaga. "This task is yours—can you handle it?"
"No problem," Machi nodded in response.
"Next is the transfer of the auction items." Shalnark's gaze shifted to the youth, the new Number 8 of the Troupe. "Hooker, I'm leaving that to you—is that alright?"
"No problem," Hooker replied.
Shalnark looked around the room. "That's the core of our plan. Those not assigned a role will act freely according to the situation." The unassigned mbers included Hisoka, Kalluto, and Bonolenov. If a switch was needed, Kalluto would act. If not, Hooker alone was enough. Hooker's ability also belonged to the spatial category.
Chrollo rose to his feet. "This is our first full-mber operation in years. I expect nothing to go wrong." He looked around. "Everyone clear?"
Uvogin grinned. "Of course. Now this is what I call an operation—I'm fired up already."
Feitan's eyes glead with eagerness. "I hope ti passes faster. I can't wait."
Hisoka stared at Chrollo, his eyes narrowing slightly. From up close, one could even see Hisoka's body trembling slightly—not from fear, but from excitent. But it wasn't excitent about the Yorknew auction, nor about this mission. It was about Chrollo himself.
"I'm getting excited."
"As I thought, Chrollo still has that pull for . After my match with Ron, my interest in him faded a little."
"But now, seeing this man in person again, the thrill is overwhelming."
Chrollo nodded. "Then let's adjourn for now. There's still ti before the auction starts. You're free to move around until then."
With that, the group began to disperse—only to gather again in another location not long afterward. Everyone returned, except for two: Hisoka, and Hooker. The reason was simple: neither of them ca from teor City.
Hisoka was from the outside. No one in the Troupe knew exactly where he ca from—they only knew that he was strong. No—more accurately, very strong. Among the Troupe, his strength ranked near the top.
As for Hooker, he too ca from the outside world. The Troupe actually knew where he ca from. He was a survivor who had escaped from the biological research laboratories run by the Underworld Mafia. The unique features on his body were the result of human experintation. Though these modifications left him less than human in appearance, they had given him considerable innate talent.
Aurean Experintal Base No. 2—the very place where Ron had once been. After assimilating Aurean traits, Ron had killed Dandins at the base and released all the experintal subjects. Most of them died, but a few survived. So fled Aurean and entered the outside world. So remained hidden underground in Aurean. Others took on new identities. A few, like Elita, were recruited by the Underworld Mafia and beca high-ranking officers. Hooker was one of the first kind.
These survivors were further categorized into various types. So were failures, severely flawed, and wouldn't live long. Others were considered successes. And among the successes, there were even more distinctions. So had exceptional talent and could progress far along the path of Nen. Elita had beco a B-rank Nen user. Hooker was also B-rank.
So survivors even had the potential to reach A-rank.
But this kind of talent ca from two sources: one was the success of the experint, and the other was the experintal subject's original human potential. Between the two, the latter might matter even more. When one sees a forr test subject beco an A-rank Nen user, it may not be the experint that deserves credit—but rather the fact that had this person encountered Nen on their own, they might have reached that level regardless.
Experintal Base No. 2 had gathered many individuals with strong innate gifts to serve as test subjects. Those with poor potential weren't even considered worth using by Dandins.
The clearest example was a character from the Chira Ant arc: Gyro, the underground king of NGL. After reincarnating as a Chira Ant, he instantly recovered his human mories and broke free from the Queen's genetic control, leaving the colony on his own. The Queen had only given Gyro the body of a regular soldier ant—not even a division commander.
What did that imply? It ant that even without being reborn as a Chira Ant, had Gyro encountered Nen as a human, he would have beco an extrely powerful Nen user. His willpower and ntal strength surpassed that of many established Nen users—stronger than Pokkle, for example. Even Kite's post-reincarnation presence didn't quite match Gyro's in that respect.
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