.........
Chapter 174: Let's Play?
..........
Yasuo wouldn't appear anywhere near the ship until it reached its first destination, the new continent, an island located in the Untamed Waters of Lake Mobius, and thus outside of the territory colonized by mankind.
It lies before the Border Waters and the area controlled by the Gatekeeper, it is technically not part of the Dark Continent. Compared to the latter, it is believed to be a much safer zone, which is why the V6 passed it off as the actual Dark Continent for the public at large.
Once the Black Whale lands in the New Continent, the team of explorers will be led to a relay base and then to the Gatekeeper by Morel Mackernasey.
The rest will explore the New continent thinking it's actually the dark continent. The V5 knew they can't stop the Kakin empire's expedition so instead, they decided to steer them elsewhere while a few people will still go to the dark continent.
Yasuo who is floating a few miles above the black whale looked at the New continent that went on as far as the eyes can see. He brought his ringing phone up and accepted the call.
The black whale itself is a massive cell tower that will act as a temporary center of communication until they build more towers within the continent, this is how everyone within and around will communicate.
The caller was someone that left the ship discreetly not long ago, Pariston Hill, "Where are you? You are going with us, right?"
"Of course, I will be there in a minute or so, and yes, I know where you are." Casually answered Yasuo before hanging up.
He then teleported to a specific small boat. The black whale is way too big to stop anywhere near land so it stopped a few miles from the shore.
There are hundreds of small boats within the ship already prepared for this. They started using them to transport every passenger to the shore though the expedition team constructed by Beyond seem to have other ways.
Only a few people were on that specific boat, not Beyond's team but another small team. "Give me the mark." Ordered Yasuo.
Orilin nodded and walked next to Yasuo already knowing what he means. He lifted his hand while focusing his Aura on it for a minute before asking. "Do you Yasuo Zoldyck accept the mark?"
"I accept." Responded Yasuo and the moment he did, a yellow circle appeared on his left palm. Then he disappeared directly after heading towards Beyond's team.
The mark is a part of Orilin's ability, something the latter developed across the years, and the reason it's extremely hard for most people to have any chance against him under certain circumstances.
Orilin always has certain loyal subordinates around him and it's for a reason, his ability only shines under such a situation and each of the ones with him has the same mark.
Yasuo's purpose for the ability is quite simple, communication. The ability allows everyone that has the mark to communicate with each other though Yasuo never used it before because it's not under his control and he knew he couldn't mimic it previously.
Now, however many things changed. He took a few drops of Orilin's blood and with the mark in his palm, it's only a matter of time before he can do the same though not mimicking the whole ability.
He can mimic the mark communication part which is what he wants but he can't mimic the other part for now and he isn't interested in that part.
Beyond's expedition team was still on the new continent, specifically on the shore far from the black whale. They are waiting not just for Yasuo but also for beyond who is currently under surveillance by the hunter's association
They did plant a mole within the association to release Beyond from his cell, however, that mole was discovered. That however didn't matter, something only a few in the team know is that was just a distraction, a mirage for the real thing.
The one who will help Beyond escape is none other than himself. Beyond opened his eyes with a wide smile surfacing on his face. "It's time."
The number of members of the expedition team counts roughly to about 50 people specifically picked by Beyond to achieve what he previously couldn't.
A bunch of specialists each with a field that will benefit their exploration of the dark continent though only 9 of them are specialists. However, the rest are also quite useful else Beyond wouldn't have picked them.
Well, not everyone is that useful as some of them are subordinates under some of the team members, mercenaries led by Muherr, one of the main members of the team, and the one who will be giving orders on the battlefield
At one point in time, every main member of the team turned their head looking in a certain direction, they're all strong Nen users so it's only natural they could sense the new obvious Nen signal that just appeared.
A portal Yasuo just appeared from and they didn't seem surprised by his appearance as they already know of his participation, Pariston told them. Yasuo turned his head looking at their means of transportation.
A boat, well, it could be considered as such if compared to the black whale, a small ship that was brought within the black whale using Beyond and Pariston's influence to make that possible and their relation with the Kakin empire made it easier.
Each member of the team remained just casually seated on rocks all around just waiting while Yasuo remained standing until Pariston walked up to him, "Beyond should be here at any moment now so you won't have to wait for too long."
Yasuo nodded and just waited along with Pariston with the latter being the first one to break the silence, "How about we play a game? If not then I'll just play it myself like I planned to anyway."
Yasuo asked in return, "What kind of game?"
They are quite a distance from the rest of the team, however, Pariston still asked with a brilliant smile on his face. "Do you know if anyone can hear us?"
Some could even with that distance, they heard everything clearly or read how their lips moved or so they thought. They could read their lips because it needs to move in a certain way to utter a word.
However, the words they perceive are actually quite different than what Yasuo and Pariston are saying and what can people expect from people as strange as them?
Some could hear that faint voice until Yasuo didn't allow them to hear anything anymore. "Say your piece."
That made Pariston's smile even brighter. "I think it will be a very enjoyable game. You can be the black piece or the white piece, it's all up to you.
The white piece will be responsible for protecting the team while the black piece will be responsible for making sure everyone within the team dies, and it doesn't matter the method, all that matters is the results. The winner takes all. Also, if the black piece doesn't show any results for a certain time span, the roles will be reversed."
A small smile surfaced on Yasuo's face as he noted. "That doesn't sound fair at all. In a place such as the dark continent, the black piece will have an absolute advantage."
Pariston instantly suggested already anticipating Yasuo's words. "Then you can be the black piece."
This time, a smile of amusement surfaced on Yasuo's face. "Have you perhaps thought about playing with people of your level? Just what did you expect would happen after saying all of this to me? Have you learned nothing from your previous losses?"
Pariston really wanted to play one last game with him, he wanted to actually win, he dearly desired to play the game and he was ready to go as far as threatening Yasuo just a bit to make him take the bait but the latter didn't give him the chance to talk.
"Are you thinking of just playing the game yourself without another piece and threatening me by that? Threatening to kill everyone and make the expedition fail? Do you think I will accept such a thing?"
Yasuo was truly amused as he figured out Pariston's goal of going to the dark continent, 'He seems to really like to watch people in despair or make them be in such a state. He most likely wants to make the people of the expedition team feel that especially Beyond who dreams of exploring the continent and he wants to play with me.'
It's not like Pariston didn't expect Yasuo will behave this way, he just didn't want to accept this option. He never really hated Yasuo but he's starting to, nothing goes his way when facing him so how could he not.
"I will be kind and give you a game to play though I believe you already to planned to play it in case I refuse, how about you play the game with him?"
Yasuo was talking about Ging who suddenly appeared next to them by Yasuo's portal ability. He was frowning because, in contrast to what Pariston thought, Yasuo allowed Ging to hear the conversation.
"I don't really care about your games, just don't bring me into it. You can solve the rest by yourselves." After that, he walked through another portal leading him a long distance from them and just waited leaving Pariston with an emotionless face, not a good sign.