Chapter Text
Reunions always seem so sweet. It was sweet for the young trio to find an older teen standing behind them, helping Gon pick out a phone. The man who was studying to get into medical school was here. Leorio has finally reunited with the three teens. There was something off though. They were missing one more. Kurapika was nowhere to be seen. Everyone else assumed that he was busy doing something.
With Gon having a new phone, the reunited four continue to walk around the streets of the market, catching up with lost time.
"Wait wait wait wait, are you saying you're really the missing arena champion's daughter?" Leorio choked, his eyes looking at (Y/n). She sent him a smile before looking away. That kind of...feels weird, especially if you're walking with someone who's basically a celebrity in another part of the world. Leorio didn't know how to feel about this honestly. He's like...walking with a missing child, except she wasn't at all missing.
"I guess it's really shocking for some people. The case happened years ago. It's not even that big of a deal anymore," (Y/n) mumbled, "Even if there are people that want to solve that case, it doesn't matter. My dad's missing and I'm here." The girl rubbed her arms as she continued to walk with her friends. "I'll find my dad eventually...I'm looking for clues, really, and talking to different sources whenever I have free time. Doing my own research."
"You'll find him eventually," Killua mumbled, "Don't let it be a wild goose chase though. It's gonna be all for nothing."
"Hey, we can always help you find your dad you know." Gon gave his friend a thumbs up and a smile in the hopes that it'll cheer her up. Luckily for them, it did work and the girl was back to smiling again.
Mumbling her small "thanks" to her friends, they proceeded to talk about something else. Leorio talked about haggling, which is something he and (Y/n) bonded over. Killua and Gon looked at them, listening to what they had to say about the art of haggling for lower prices. They talked about negotiations and lower prices. It was basically the same things (Y/n) explained days ago.
It was news to the trio that Leorio has also learned nen. Leorio seemed to change his attention after he talked about nen. The eldest male looked at the person who learned nen first and smiled at her. "Hey, I finally learned that magic you've kept from us back in the hunter exam!" Leorio grinned as the teen laughed.
"Hey, it wasn't even a secret. I told you guys about it didn't I? I just didn't talk about it in detail," (Y/n) hummed, "We're glad that you got to learn nen though. Here's to hoping that you actually get to learn more about it! Since you didn't have enough time for yourself, you're planning on learning it after classes right?"
"Yup! And honestly, I gotta learn more about it. It feels like I'm lacking something you know?" Leorio replied. He pushed his glasses up and fixed the collar of his suit as they walked around. Eager to catch up with each other's adventures, the quartet found themselves a nice hotel to stay at for the duration of their stay in York New.
(Y/n) sunk down on a comfy couch as the others took their place elsewhere. Gon sat on a chair closer to Leorio while Killua plopped himself down next to the girl. There he snacked on a bunny-shaped candy on a stick. The girl he sat beside took interest in the treat and handed her a stick. Now both were nibbling on treats.
The quartet continued to talk about the auction that the trio was interested in. Leorio seemed to be troubled about their money, seeing as they only had 300 million at their disposal. The pre-med student talked about how the world ran on money, only for Killua to say that everything that's bought with money wouldn't be considered a real treasure. Leorio seemed a bit frustrated by that comment but decided to push his feelings away.
"300 isn't gonna be enough to bid for the game that you want," Leorio mumbled, "we need to get rich quick and that means we gotta find some way to make money. We gotta drag people in" The male sat there on his chair, pondering for ways to get money.
"If you really put it that way, it sounds like you're gonna make us do a scam," (Y/n) remarked, smirking a bit.
"Im not putting impressionable teenagers into scams," Leorio mumbled, "Instead, we'll be the scams!"
"That...I don't know if that's any better, actually," Killua hummed, "but we'll do whatever we can to get money."
Gon looked at his friends, tilting his head to the side for a moment. "This isn't a crime, is it?" He didn't wanna get locked up by people. Whatever it is they're gonna do, he's hoping that they won't get in trouble because of it.
"Nope! Or at least I don't think so," Leorio grinned. He stood up and grabbed his suitcase. He brought the teens over so that he could talk about his plans. He told them about an arm-wrestling match where it's rigged. They present a prize of a precious ring and a ton of money so that could lead in a lot of people. Each contestant would need to pay some money so they could try and beat Gon at an arm-wrestling match. Since it's rigged, the contestant wouldn't be able to win, and there wouldn't be refunds.
This generates profit real quick since people would think they could beat Gon. He's not that intimidating and not that muscular, so of course, they would get the impression that they wouldn't be able to beat him in an arm-wrestling match.
Once the plan was set, the four went outside with their own table and their own prized ring and sat outside of a populated street. Immediately they got looks from various men who were in it for the money. As (Y/n), Killua, and Leorio advertised their contest, Gon was sitting there winning matches with ease. One by one, each contestant fell. With each customer, they gained money. Leorio's plan really is working for them.
Time goes by where the four repeated the same stuff until they were met with someone that might give Gon a hard time. It was their first female contender, and she looked indifferent about the situation. It was a woman with a black turtleneck and glasses. Her hair was cut short and she wore a necklace.
As Gon and the stranger did their match, it was clear that Gon was having a hard time with this one. (Y/n), Killua, and Leorio looked at each other, fearing that they actually might lose their stuff to this woman. As they anticipated the end, they all started to sweat. Even the crowd behind them was quiet as they watched the arm-wrestling battle.
Eventually, Gon managed to bring down that woman's arm, ultimately making him win. Unlike the past few contestants, this stranger wasn't obnoxiously loud when they saw that they've lost. She sort of shrugged it off and started walking away. The woman talked with her friends, supposedly about the match before they disappeared beyond the crowd.
(Y/n) approached Gon and looked at him. "Jeez...you're sweating a lot," the girl commented. She handed him a towel so that he could wipe the droplets off. She smiled at him before saying "She was kind of tough huh?"
"She was," Gon mumbled, brushing his hand through his upright locks of hair, "but I'm glad that I managed to beat her. If I didn't, we might have lost the ring and we'd have no more prize to show them."
The quartet went on with their arm-wrestling match before they decided to pack it up and leave. (Y/n) stared at the displeased crowd, picking up words like "this is a scam" and everything similar to that. She decided to shrug it off. As they walked back to the hotel that Leorio was staying at, the girl thought about adding to their funds. She thought about the money she had stored. If there was still a lot of money left in the savings her dad left her, she could potentially help with the cost.
She plans on heading to a bank account and getting some of that money, probably around 100 million, if that's even possible.
The girl was stuck in her thoughts that she didn't even realize that someone was standing in front of her, snapping their fingers. "Heyyyy," Gon mumbled, "You're lagging behind." He waved his hand in front of (Y/n, making her eyes widen at the sight of her friend being that close to her. She nodded her head and smiled at him.
"Sorry, I'm thinking about things again," (Y/n) replied.
"You always do that, you know," Gon commented, "It's a big habit too." He laughed a bit and nudged his friends. He walked beside her as Leorio and Killua talked about how to get more money. They both know that the arm-wrestling gimmick won't last that long, so they got to have a backup plan. As they all walked back, the two lagging behind talked about smaller things. (Y/n) eventually ended up talking about how she wants to get some of her money to help the cause.
"A hundred million?" Gon gasped, "You're kidding right?"
The girl shook her head. "That is if the banks would let me. Since it's still under my dad's name, I feel like they would think that I'm some random girl that managed to get his account. I can't get that much money from him, so the most I can scrape out is around a million jenny. So we'll probably have around 309 million, if I get that million." (Y/n) frowned the more she thought about her plan. "I'll try to get some money to help you guys out."
Leorio looked back at the teen and shook his head. "Might as well save those savings for another time. If you get locked up, you know it's over for you. Besides, don't worry about it. We got this."
Killua chimed in their conversation and hummed. "You don't have to you know. You said before that you weren't gonna. I know what you're thinking, though. You're thinking about how we won't have money and how 'I have to help them out with money.' You know you don't have to. As Leorio said, if we work together, we can get enough money to get the game Gon wants. You don't have to spend your own money for us. Besides...we're just going off of your money since you were the one that saved the money when we first started this whole thing." The ex-assassin smiled at her before turning his attention to Leorio.
They were talking about their backup plans again. (Y/n) continued walking with Killua and Leorio's words in her mind. It'll be her own backup plan for all of them. If they manage to lose everything, she'll come in clutch with her own money so they could have enough to get the game from the auction.
Back in the hotel, the group of four counted their money and found that they've only had 308 million in total. It seemed almost impossible to raise up money, but Leorio made a small remark that made the three teens look up at him. The arm-wrestling match wasn't going to be their main source of income, but rather, it was bait all along. Leorio was trying to get someone from the underground to notice them so that they could get some more money.
How Leorio knows this was a big mystery, but this information was important nonetheless. Even if Killua and Leorio were proposing a few plans earlier, they were just backups in case that they don't manage to get the attention of people. If they were to grab the attention of police here, then there would have been problems that would make them go to their backup plans.
The group agreed to continue their arm-wrestling match the next day. The started around the early afternoon. As the three of them advertised and hyped up the arm-wrestling match, no one in the crowd seemed to budge. Looks like the rumors were getting to them. The business was running slow for the most part, but then someone stood up to try and have a try at Gon.
The man was big, giant too. He was definitely bigger than the people Gon had been facing. The teens weren't scared by his appearance at all. Gon kept his smile as he looked at the incoming challenger. Before Gon could take the man down with his arm, Leorio stepped in and asked if the guy would like to fight him instead. Gon looked at his elder, curious to what he was going with. (Y/n) and Killua did the same and they all watched Leorio try to fight this man.
Judging by the show, Leorio just wanted to use his nen too. Killua and (Y/n) smirked at the sight, but Gon seemed astonished. The challenger had the same expression as him, equally as surprised that Leorio managed to almost break the table they were fighting on. The stranger was impressed by the medical student and was curious when Leorio mentioned that the three teens behind him were much stronger than him.
Leorio was given a card. This card was a sign that they got somewhere underground. As the teens packed up their things and headed back to the hotel to put their set up away, Leorio passed around the business card. It was simple like the ones front desk attendants give people after they talk. As they were given a specific time to be there, this card was like an access card more than anything.
"Be there at 5?" (Y/n) asked, "Do we have time to go eat lunch or something. We've been standing there for the whole morning." The girl pouted as she tugged on the straps of her backpack. "I've been telling Killua to let me go get a snack earlier but he wouldn't let me."
"You'd be slacking off if I let you. As if a real employer would let you slack on the job." Killua rolled his eyes and shoved his hands in his pockets. He tossed her a small chocolate bar he had in there. "There. I had an extra choco-robot in my pocket."
"You had this the whole time?" (Y/n) frowned, "You could have just given it to me."
"Like I said, you'd be slacking off."
"It was just a quick snack..."
As the supervising adult for this bunch of reckless teens, Leorio decided that they should probably get some lunch before they head off to the place they were supposed to go to. The group of four walked inside a small restaurant, grabbed a bite, and enjoyed their time. As they ate, they made lighthearted banter. They talked about how they felt about the arm-wrestling matches.
They finished eating soon after and they paid for their meal before heading off. The bunch strolled to a public convention area. As they walked to the back of the building, they were met with tall guards standing outside of another entrance. This one led to an elevator that went down. As the doors opened, the group found themselves among a sea of people. An announcer was heard. She stood tall in the middle of a boxing ring and started talking about a conditional auction.
This one required the participants to find people in a flyer. As the group was given the paper, they recognized some of the people. Three of them were there the night they first started the arm-wrestling bouts.
There were no deadlines to capturing these people. The targets could be caught dead or alive. This auction felt more like they were giving bounty hunter jobs. Whoever these people were, they were desperate to get this specific group posted in the flyers.
(Y/n) and Killua looked at the papers together and mumbled things that seemed fishy. Gon and Leorio talked among themselves too, mostly about the prize they were going to get for turning these people in. The two probably thought that it would be somewhat easy to catch these people because they've seen three of them already. The other pair thought that it wouldn't be as easy.
As they walked out of the building, they hear other participants get ready to find the targets themselves. The group kept walking so they could go back to the hotel for the day.
"This isn't just an auction anymore. 200 million per person? We're bounty hunting a group of people who caused the underground some trouble," Killua commented. (Y/n) nodded her head while looking at her two friends who stood there baffled almost.
The white-haired assassin explained that the underground had trouble with these people. Usually, the prizes weren't checks, but it was clear that they were stolen. The thieves would be none other than the people they were assigned to hunt. As the group talked about this, they all come to a revelation that it was the same people that Kurapika was chasing.
Looks like they all have the same objective in this city. It was to hunt down the Phantom Troupe, either for revenge or for money.
"Speaking of Kurapika, where is he?" (Y/n) mumbled. She grabbed her phone from her pocket and scrolled through her contacts. "Have you guys tried calling him?"
"I have," Leorio replied, "He hasn't been picking up though. My only guess is that he's busy with work."
"Where does he work anyway?" (Y/n) asked.
"I called him a few days ago. He said that he was a bodyguard," Gon answered.
"Figured," Killua spoke, crossing his arms. "Underground business is gonna get him to where he wants. He's probably working for people who are really up there in the mafia."
The group continued to talk about their friend Kurapika and where he might be. Killua adds in to the conversation by talking more about his family's experience with the Phantom Troupe. His dad said that it wasn't worth it, and his father told everyone in his family to stay away from that specific bunch of people. It implies that even powerful assassins don't want anything to do with the Phantom Troupe.
Despite the warnings, it seems like Gon still wants to go after them. (Y/n) smiled a bit at her friend, feeling a bit nervous. Unlike her friends, she was a bit cowardly. She knew when to stay back from a group of people. She evaluates her opponents and targets based on their strengths and their nen. She could take on people if she knew that she had the advantage.
With the troupe, she would be at a disadvantage.
Swallowing her fear, (Y/n) would go along with her friend's plan. There would be no other way to overcome her cowardice if she can't face it head-on.
Back in the hotel, Leorio, Gon, Killua, and (Y/n) talk about their plan, which they would execute tomorrow morning. Each person in the group would take on different points of the city and they would communicate with each other through cellphone calls. They would be scouting in populated areas of York New.
The following day, (Y/n) found herself sitting in an open mall. She looked like she was playing with her phone when she was really observing her surroundings. She would peer around, pretending to look for her friend. She would occasionally call through her phone, reporting her status to her friends. After four hours of sitting around the populated area, she came back empty-handed. Aside from a few snacks, of course.
Leorio and Killua talked about bringing up another plan since Leorio's plan isn't working right now. (Y/n) walked with Gon today and gave him a few chips she had. She tapped Killua, offering him some too, before eating the rest. The ex-assassin brought up a few good points about what's wrong with Leorio's current plan. They were dealing with professionals, of course, they wouldn't walk around out in the open like this, especially if they knew people were looking for them.
The plan was unreliable and it takes a long time to do.
They discussed other plans, such as searching door to door or going through the hunter website for more information. Both of those would cost a fortune, both from their time and their money. They decided to just use other sources, like hearing tips from people. At the end of that day, they haven't made that much progress. The group guessed that this would go on for more days.
Another day passes by and the four found themselves hanging around a public computer cafe. Leorio looked through the line they set up in the store and found that the tips were just as useless as wandering around populated areas. With nothing to do, they were caught at a dead end. (Y/n) leaned against the booth as she looked at her friends. The thought about ways to get the people's attention.
"We'll just have to offer a big reward for anyone who spots anyone related to the troupe," Gon mumbled, "how much do we still have anyway?"
"About 305 million," Killua responded, "The line cost us a bit so we lost a 3 million. We still have a handful of cash. We can offer those as a reward. Probably go for 15 million jenny for anyone who catches some resemblance of our targets."
"I'll post something like that online," Leorio spoke, "that'll get their attention. That'll bring out budget down to 290 million jenny."
"If I can manage to get some money from my dad's account, add another million to that, maybe. I'll find ways to make up that money. It's not my concern right now," (Y/n) shrugged her shoulders.
The eldest one in the group nodded his head and hummed. "Alright...next thing we probably should get is one of the auction catalogues. We should have bought that earlier, but I thought that we could make more money in a span of a few days." The aspiring doctor pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He posted the new request online and stood up afterwards. "Lets go get that catalogue."
Leaving the small computer cafe, the four walked to the streets and headed towards a giant building. Leorio told the three teens that it was called the "Southernbees auction house," and it's supposedly the leading house for all auctions. Since (Y/n) was the one that had the money, and only split it off due to deposits, she had to buy the catalogue. She now bears the responsibility of holding the admission card too.
The girl made sure that the bank deposit was towards her money and not her fathers. She had her Heaven's Arena earnings in her own banking account.
Once they were all set, the girl gave Gon the catalogue so that he could look for the Greed Island listing. (Y/n) sat beside him as he flipped through the pages. She noticed all the items, ranging from magical bows to interesting trinkets. Finally they landed on the Greed Island page and they looked at its current price. The price itself went up. 8.9 billion jenny, but only for the minimum bet.
The group discussed what they would be doing. As they had already posted their ad for the spider, and having their way in the auctions, they had to think about ways to earn up money again. There was the option of capturing phantom troupe members but it was a lot of work. There was no guarantee that it would happen the way they want it, so they had to think about it. Getting lost in their own words, the four found themselves walking around a public, crowded area. There were vendors and stalls set up in this street. One of them caught Gon's eyes.
"What's this?" Gon asked, leaning down to look at a plush that had multiple prices written on the tag. Leorio helped him out by saying that it was a silent auction, where people wrote down their price on the tag. Who ever had the highest number before the clock hits a certain time would get the prize in the end.
"I've never heard of these kinds of auctions before," (Y/n) commented, "I've only ever seen ones where people would constantly out-bid each other. They're very vocal about it too."
The four continued to walk around until Gon stopped again. The teen knelt down and grabbed a knife. It was clear to everyone that Gon saw something in it. Killua nudged Leorio, asking if he could help with haggling. (Y/n) stood beside Killua and watched the scene unfold.
"Want the knife?" Leorio asked Gon, "I think I saw another one that had more bids in it." That was one way to get the vendor's attention. (Y/n) knew what tactic Leorio was gonna use. The girl had a small smile creep up on her face as she stared at Leorio and Gon. The eldest in the group started negotiating with the vendor about prices until they agreed on a number. 300 jenny for a knife that looked useless, but was actually very valuable.
The four inspected the knife with their nen, finding that there was an aura wrapping around the knife.
"Crazy how there's nen on this thing," (Y/n) mumbled as she spun the blade around, observing its edges, "what did you think the previous owner used it for?"
"Well, I mean an old serial killer used the knife. That should be pretty self-explanatory," Killua replied, "it's called a Ben's knife. An old serial killer named Benny Delon made different knives for different victims. He would then put them up for sale after he's done with them. They're devalued due to their relation to Ben, but I know collectors would pay a lot for it."
"Around how much are we talking," Leorio asked.
"About 5 million for each knife," Killua smiled, "It's a great way to get raise up money."
"Seeing that there's nen in some of the items, do you guys wanna look for more stuff we can potentially sell?" Gon suggested, "I think it's a good way to bring up some money! It'll probably be easy, but we have to make sure that we'll get the highest bid."
The other three looked at each other and grinned. Looks like they have something to do before the night arrives. Leorio shook his head and looked at his phone. He decided that he should leave this scavenger hunt to the two other teens with Gon. He's simply too old for this. He's got to take care of look through ads too.
"I'll see you guys back at the hotel. I'll call you whenever I find something interesting from the tips," Leorio smiled at the trio before waving off. Killua, (Y/n), and Gon looked at each other excitedly. They'll be occupied for the entire afternoon alright. Of course they were going to make it another big competition. For this one, (Y/n) would gladly participate and spend some of the money too.
The three split up, thus starting their competition to getting the most valuable things in the market.