Bang, bang, bang.
In an underground space of the Hunter Association, in a hall about the size of a soccer field, two figures were engaged in a fierce battle. Each of their movements radiated immense power, causing the surrounding air to tremble from their clash.
"As expected of Netero," Daniel Davis remarked seriously as he retreated several meters after taking a hit on his right shoulder from Netero. His eyes were fixed on Netero, who had a glint of excitement deep within his eyes, with a faint, inexplicable smile on his lips.
Netero had brought Daniel Davis to the underground space of the Hunter Association for one purpose: to spar with him. More accurately, to give him some guidance. Initially, this was Netero's intention. After all, based on Biscuit's account, Daniel was considered a disciple of the Shingen-ryu school, and with Biscuit's high evaluation of him, Netero, as the Hunter Association's president who loved nurturing the younger generation, naturally held some hope for Daniel.
Netero was a martial arts fanatic, spending his entire life pursuing higher realms. Unfortunately, human strength has its limits. This is why the appearance of the Chimera Ant King excited him so much. Even though he sensed the King's overwhelming aura, he stubbornly insisted on challenging him one-on-one.
The reason he carried the Poor Man's Rose was to take responsibility for his own recklessness. The Chimera Ant King posed too great a threat to humanity—not just to one or two people or countries, but to the survival of the entire human race. Thus, Netero brought the Rose as a last resort. If the King were human, Netero would never have taken the Rose with him. He could lose and even die, but humanity could not afford to lose.
Netero enjoyed mentoring the next generation, hoping to find an opponent who could give him a worthy fight. Unfortunately, this condition had never been met. Among the Five Nen Masters, even Netero wouldn't lightly challenge them. For fighters of their caliber, an all-out battle would often result in not just determining a winner but also ending a life. To date, everyone who had fought Netero seriously, except for that old guy from the Zoldyck family, had died.
Netero's title as the world's strongest Nen user wasn't just empty talk; it was earned through countless real battles. In his prime, Netero had almost defeated all the top fighters in the Hunter world, just to find a worthy opponent.
Jing had the strength, but he wasn't interested in a life-or-death battle with Netero for no reason. Originally, Netero had hoped that Daniel might become a worthy opponent in a decade or two, even though Netero was already over a hundred years old. If this were the world of *One Piece*, even characters like Garp or Sengoku might have long lost their fighting capabilities. But for Netero, his powerful Nen abilities would likely remain unchanged for decades.
However, after the actual battle, Netero realized he was wrong. Daniel Davis already had the qualifications to make him take the fight seriously.
"With equal strength, I'm definitely not his match; the gap in battle experience is too vast." Daniel thought, rubbing his right shoulder where Netero had struck him, feeling a bit emotional.
In terms of absolute strength, Daniel was undoubtedly stronger than Netero. It wasn't that Netero wasn't strong enough; rather, the world of *Hunter x Hunter* limited him, just like Yoriichi in *Demon Slayer*. However, with equal power, even with Daniel's highly refined martial arts techniques like the Six Powers, he was still at a disadvantage.
"He hasn't even used Hyakushiki Kannon yet. It looks like I'll need to bring out a bit more power." Daniel didn't actually want to fight Netero, but he did want to witness Hyakushiki Kannon. So, he had no choice but to engage in this battle.
"The chairman is indeed powerful, but I'll need to go all out now. Be careful," Daniel warned.
"Please do," Netero responded, clasping his hands together.
"Here I come." Daniel stepped forward with his left foot, leaving a deep imprint on the reinforced floor. His figure then vanished, reappearing to Netero's right, delivering a powerful punch.
Netero's eyes flickered as he saw the imprint Daniel left on the floor. This wasn't just any floor; it was specially reinforced by the Hunter Association for combat. The floor and surrounding walls were all reinforced with divine characters, so even Netero's battles wouldn't cause any damage under normal circumstances.
Nen battles could be highly destructive, and if the floor were just ordinary material, they'd have to rebuild it after every fight, which would be too troublesome, even though the Hunter Association had the resources. Thus, they built several of these special arenas for internal battles.
Facing Daniel's display of greater power, Netero's smile grew wider. The unexpected surprise made him very excited.
Bang.
A dull thud echoed in the hall as Netero's figure was forced back for the first time. Seizing the advantage, Daniel immediately launched a follow-up attack. Using Soru repeatedly, his figure flickered around Netero, forcing him into a somewhat disheveled state.
However, despite being in a tight spot, Netero's eyes only grew brighter.
Boom.
Suddenly, a giant golden palm appeared out of thin air. Although Daniel noticed it in advance, the palm was so large that he had no choice but to punch it. The powerful collision caused the entire hall to shake.
"It's finally here," Daniel thought as he retreated, gazing at the towering golden figure over ten meters tall behind Netero. It had many golden arms, and its face bore a serene and kind expression, resembling a statue of Avalokiteshvara.
"Twenty arms?" Daniel noted. Although it was called Hyakushiki Kannon, it didn't actually have a hundred arms right now. Perhaps Netero didn't see the need to summon all of them.
"What a powerful aura. This is on a completely different level from Hisoka and Chrollo."
"Be careful," Netero said this time, immediately launching an attack. One of the golden figure's arms chopped down like a blade towards Daniel.
"So fast, no wonder giants have such an advantage over ordinary people," Daniel thought, observing the speed of Hyakushiki Kannon's attack. Due to the speed, anyone else would have had no choice but to take the hit head-on. However, Daniel sidestepped at the last moment.
Boom.
The giant golden palm struck the divine character-reinforced floor, which seemed like tofu as it was smashed into a massive crater.
Boom, boom, boom.
Before Daniel could counterattack, the other arms of Hyakushiki Kannon began their assault. Facing the barrage of twenty giant arms, even Daniel couldn't evade all of them, having to both dodge and take some hits head-on.
"I can't get close," Daniel realized. With so many long arms, even trying to charge directly at Netero wasn't easy.
"Who is that guy? He's making the chairman use that technique," someone exclaimed as the hall's door suddenly opened, and five or six figures walked in. Their expressions immediately turned blank upon witnessing the scene before them.
They had come to check out the commotion, which had breached the usually soundproof arena—a sign that this was no ordinary battle.
"The arms increased. Is he treating me like the Chimera Ant King?" As the battle continued, Netero seemed to realize that even his current form of Hyakushiki Kannon couldn't overwhelm Daniel, so he increased the number of arms.
Although Hyakushiki Kannon had landed several hits, Daniel wasn't actually hurt. Even without using Armament Haki, Netero couldn't break through his defenses with just his advanced Nen techniques. Daniel only looked a bit battered due to the overwhelming number of arms, but he was otherwise unharmed.
"Looks like someone else arrived," Daniel thought, noticing the new arrivals. He immediately started retreating toward the door, and Netero, seeing this, had no choice but to stop his attack.
"Netero, are you trying to kill me?" Daniel asked, looking extremely disheveled, his face pale as if he had been gravely injured.
Defeating Netero wasn't a problem for Daniel, but the aftermath would be troublesome. If not for Netero's Nen abilities, Daniel wouldn't have agreed to this fight.
Although Daniel's identity was cleverly concealed, the more famous he became, the more likely someone would uncover the truth.
"Sorry, I got a bit too excited," Netero said, casting a deep glance at Daniel before turning to the others. "Clean this place up. I got carried away."
With that, Netero walked out the door without introducing the newcomers to Daniel. After leaving the hall, he gestured for Daniel to follow.
"Morau, Kite, Pariston—quite the famous group," Daniel nodded at the newcomers before quickly following Netero.
"Next time, let's have an all-out fight somewhere else," Netero said with a smile in his office, standing by the window after a shower and change of clothes. He looked very pleased.
"Sure, but I have one condition. Did Biscuit mention my Nen ability to you?"
"She mentioned it briefly. You want my Hyakushiki Kannon."
Netero was a perceptive person. Although his strength was far below Daniel's, that was a matter of their worlds. In terms of experience and insight, especially in combat, Daniel couldn't compare. Netero had observed Daniel's performance closely during their fight.
"Exactly
," Daniel admitted directly.
"Your own Nen ability will always be the best, but if you really want it, I don't mind."
"I know my own would be better, but that takes too much time." For Daniel, developing his own version of Hyakushiki Kannon wouldn't be too difficult—it was just shaping his aura. But creating it from scratch would take too much time.
For Daniel, the Ope Ope no Mi and dimensional magic were his core abilities. He didn't want to waste too much time developing other powers.
By studying Hyakushiki Kannon, Daniel could easily develop techniques like Senju Kannon or Buddha from it.
"Want to join the Association?" After some casual conversation about Biscuit, Gon, and Killua, Netero invited Daniel to join the Hunter Association.
"What position?"
"How about one of the Twelve Zodiac?"
"I thought there were no vacancies in the Zodiac right now."
"If you want it, there will be. I recall one member has been wanting to step down for some time now." The position of Zodiac was both a symbol and a constraint. For some Hunters, becoming a Zodiac was a lifelong dream, but for others, it was just something they reluctantly accepted.
"We'll see about that later. By the way, I want to see the Hunter Association's records on divine characters. What are the requirements?"
"Join the Association."
"Alright, I'll join."
Joining and leaving the Hunter Association was a simple matter. Although there were sometimes missions from above, Hunters could decline them. Besides, even if you wanted to do a mission, it wasn't guaranteed you'd get one—the Hunter Association's specialists monopolized most internal tasks.
After his conversation with Netero and a look at the Association's internal records, Daniel realized his understanding of the Hunter Association had been incomplete.
The true Hunter Association offered a lot of freedom. The Twelve Zodiac, for example, each had another identity. For instance, Kite was a doctor, while others included a prosecutor, a lawyer for a private security company, a musician, and so on. It seemed like their Zodiac identity was more of a side job, or perhaps their other roles were the side jobs.
"Having someone to work with really speeds things up," Daniel thought as his study of Hyakushiki Kannon advanced rapidly with Netero's full cooperation. He quickly mastered the shape formation, and next came the battle techniques.
Instead of externalizing Hyakushiki Kannon behind him like Netero, Daniel took it a step further by enveloping himself with Nen to form Hyakushiki Kannon around his body, making it both offensive and defensive.
As for the size of Hyakushiki Kannon, that was simple. It depended on how much Nen you infused—the more Nen, the larger the figure and the stronger the power.
Perhaps eager for a full-fledged battle with Daniel, Netero was open to anything, allowing Daniel to study Hyakushiki Kannon freely and even advising him on battle techniques.
"You two come to the Hunter Association now for the final part of the Hunter exam," Daniel called Bokur and Ponzu over to him as he continued studying with Netero and researching divine characters. He hadn't forgotten his promise to teach them Nen.
"But we already passed the exam and got our licenses," Bokur replied, puzzled.
"A license alone doesn't make you a true Hunter. You'll understand once you get here. Contact me when you arrive."
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