With Ope Ope no Mi in Hunter x Hunter

"Goodbye," Daniel Davis whispered as he clapped his hands together, then snapped his right fingers. Instantly, the numerous corpses around him were engulfed in flames—an alchemic fire.

As Daniel walked out of the base, he set everything ablaze. By the time he reached the exit, the entire facility was consumed by fire. The bodies, along with a large amount of drugs and drug-making equipment, were reduced to ashes.

Boom.

After letting the fire burn for a while, Daniel used Earth Alchemy to sink the entire base deep underground. This way, even if someone were to excavate the site later, there would be no trace of the alchemic arrays left behind.

"Time to go back." With everything done, Daniel opened a portal using his secret technique and left the NGL Autonomous Region. The rest would take care of itself without his involvement.

"The Chimera Ant Queen didn't appear in the NGL Autonomous Region but instead surfaced in the Republic of East Gorteau. That Queen sure is lucky," Daniel thought as he boarded a zeppelin heading to a neighboring country of East Gorteau. He had instructed Red Queen to send all the video footage to major news outlets according to his schedule.

If the NGL Autonomous Region and the Chimera Ants were a perfect match, then the Republic of East Gorteau was the second-best location for the Ants to develop without being exposed.

East Gorteau did not reject modern technology, but it was an extremely closed-off country. All foreign communication channels and media were tightly controlled by the country's elite.

Externally, East Gorteau presented itself as a very poor country, receiving aid from many nations and organizations. Daniel found this type of aid strange, but since it involved national-level decisions, it was normal that he didn't fully understand it from his perspective.

However, what was surprising was East Gorteau's internal propaganda, where the government portrayed the country as the best in the world, claiming that people in other nations were starving and destitute, with many dying of hunger.

As for the aid supplies, they were all embezzled by the country's elite, leaving the citizens with nothing. In some respects, the standard of living in East Gorteau was even worse than that of the NGL Autonomous Region's peasants.

At least the NGL peasants didn't have to pay taxes, but the people of East Gorteau were burdened with heavy taxes. Although some brave souls formed a revolutionary army, their efforts were hindered by the overwhelming power disparity and the years of brainwashing that left the populace unsupportive of their cause.

Moreover, the internal spy network and collective punishment system made it difficult for the revolutionary army to grow, until the Chimera Ant Queen appeared and made the country her breeding ground.

Kite, Gon, and Killua had been tracking the Queen and arrived just in time. However, as in the original story set in the NGL, they were delayed at the border, giving the Queen time to develop.

East Gorteau was nothing like the sparsely populated NGL, where villages like the one where the brother and sister lived could go unnoticed by the Ants. East Gorteau had a much higher population density, so the Chimera Ant Queen immediately found plenty of food and even some Nen users.

This put the upper echelon of East Gorteau in a panic, and they stopped blocking Hunters from entering the country. But by then, it was too late. The Ants had already grown in number, and the ranks of squad leaders and soldiers were much larger than in the original story, thanks to the higher population.

Despite Kite's strength, he was overwhelmed by the sheer number of Nen-using Chimera Ants and had to retreat with Gon and Killua, eventually calling for reinforcements.

"So that means the 'Proof of God's Absence' might not happen?" Daniel pondered as he reviewed the intelligence provided by Killua. The mention of this Nen ability reminded him of a theory he had.

"Proof of God's Absence" might be a higher-level application of *In*, theoretically learnable by anyone—though only in theory.

"Uncle, you're here," Killua called out as Daniel arrived at the edge of a forest in the Republic of East Gorteau, where Gon, Killua, and several Hunters and medical personnel from the Hunter Association had gathered.

"I'm glad you're both okay," Daniel said, relieved to see Gon and Killua unharmed.

"We're fine, but Kite..." At the mention of Kite, both Gon and Killua fell silent.

"Is that Jin's disciple? What happened to him?" Daniel asked, surprised. Despite the change in location, had Kite still not escaped his tragic fate?

"We're not sure," Killua explained. Kite had been seriously injured while protecting them from a squad of Chimera Ant leaders. If not for the timely arrival of Netero and his team, Kite, Gon, and Killua might not have made it out alive.

Even though they were rescued, Kite's injuries were severe, and he remained unconscious. The medical staff present couldn't help him, but the Hunter Association had already summoned Cheadle, one of the Twelve Zodiacs.

Cheadle, a specialist in difficult cases and one of the few three-star Hunters, was considered the world's best doctor, barring special Nen abilities like the Angel's Breath. If Battler had found Cheadle earlier, his girlfriend might not have remained in a coma for so long.

"President Netero is here. Where is he?"

"He's dealing with the Ants."

Kite's call for help hadn't gone unanswered like it did in the NGL, where they had to leave the border to get a signal. This time, the Hunter Association responded quickly, but they had still underestimated the Chimera Ants' strength, leading to heavy losses.

Among those who passed the Hunter Exam with Daniel, Gon, and Killua, some had perished in this mission. The power gap among professional Hunters was vast, even among one-star Hunters. Kite, a one-star Hunter, was leagues above Getz Getlar, who couldn't even defeat Bomber, while Gon could defeat Bomber with sheer effort.

Upon learning of the casualties, Netero decided to keep other Hunters out of the battle. He, along with Morau and Knov, entered the forest to confront the Chimera Ants.

"They're over there? I'll go check it out," Daniel said, noticing smoke rising from the distant forest and heading toward it.

"Who goes there?" As Daniel approached, Morau swung his large pipe and turned to face the direction of the sound, while Knov crouched down, pressing his right hand against the ground, creating a black ripple that opened a portal.

"How did they detect me? Was it because of the smoke?" Daniel wondered as he stepped out from the shadows and said, "It's me, you two."

Daniel recognized Morau and Knov from the Hunter Association. Both were staunch supporters of Netero and one-star Hunters.

"It's you, huh? What brings you here?" Morau asked, lowering his pipe as Knov stood up.

"Looks like you don't need my help," Daniel observed, noting the white smoke covering several kilometers of the forest.

Nen doesn't always rely on *En* for detecting enemies. Morau's smoke could also serve as a detection tool, with a much larger range than *En*. The smoke was all formed by his Nen.

"Smoker should learn from Morau on how to utilize a Devil Fruit," Daniel mused. Morau's ability was similar to Smoker's, except he couldn't turn into smoke himself.

In terms of smoke manipulation, Smoker was completely outclassed. Morau could use his smoke for many things: smoke bombs, puppet soldiers, cages, and clones, while Smoker mostly just flew around, trailing smoke.

Even in a world with Observation Haki, vision was still crucial.

"President Netero will handle the enemies himself," Knov said confidently after adjusting his glasses.

The strategy was to use Morau's smoke to scatter and blind the enemies, while Knov's Nen ability trapped them in his "Four-Dimensional Apartment," allowing Netero to take them out one by one. It was a perfect example of Nen teamwork.

"Let me go see the President," Daniel said after sensing the situation within the smoke and turning to Knov.

"Alright," Knov replied, glancing at Morau before crouching down to open the door to his Four-Dimensional Apartment.

The Four-Dimensional Apartment wasn't a huge space but rather a building divided into many rooms. It could store a large number of items, and even accommodate several people, making it as effective for logistics as the "Miraculous Handy Bag."

The Apartment also had space-transfer capabilities. As long as Knov had been to a location, he could use the Apartment to teleport there. While there were distance limitations, preventing transfers from one world to another, it was still an impressive escape tool—even if enemies blocked the door, Knov could flee at any time.

"Another one, huh?" Netero's voice echoed as Daniel landed inside the Four-Dimensional Apartment.

"It's me, President," Daniel responded. Seeing that it was Daniel, Netero relaxed and sat back down.

"You've killed quite a few ants, I see," Daniel remarked, wrinkling his nose at the sight of the dismembered bodies that filled the space. The stench of blood and decay was overpowering, but Netero seemed unaffected.

"Now that you're here, I'll leave the rest to you. I need a break," Netero said, getting up and walking into another room, leaving Daniel to take over.

"What an extraordinary species, able to selectively

 inherit and stabilize optimized genes. Chimera Ants are indeed a fascinating life form," Daniel mused as he used his Ope Ope no Mi powers to study the Ants' biology.

"Fortunately, only the Queen can achieve this. Otherwise, they'd be far more dangerous than a B-rank threat." The already fully-formed Chimera Ants had little research value. The real subject of interest was the Queen.

"This Four-Dimensional Apartment is quite complex. Seems like I won't have the chance to learn it," Daniel thought as he shifted his focus from the Ants to the Apartment itself.

It was an impressive Nen ability, but unless Daniel forced Knov to teach him, he wouldn't be able to learn it.

Knov's Nen ability revealed his deep-seated need for security—this Apartment was his sanctuary. How could he trust someone else with it? What if that person learned the ability and invaded his space? Even if the odds were slim, Knov wouldn't take the risk.

For every Nen user, their ability's details were a closely guarded secret.

So despite Daniel's desire to learn, he had to give up—at least for now. Resorting to extreme measures like torturing Knov was out of the question.

In fact, it would be easy for Daniel to infiltrate the Apartment. He could leave a mark inside and later use his secret technique to re-enter.

"Human, are you the one behind that smoke?" Daniel's thoughts were interrupted by the sudden appearance of a Chimera Ant dropping down from above. Upon seeing Daniel, the Ant's expression turned pale as it noticed the corpses of its comrades around them.

"Goodbye," Daniel said, materializing a dagger and throwing it at the Ant, piercing its forehead.

"Awakening the Ope Ope no Mi is really tough. I bet Doflamingo's already awakened the Ito Ito no Mi by now," Daniel thought, reflecting on how hard it was to awaken Paramecia-type Devil Fruits. Zoan fruits were the easiest, while the status of Logia fruits remained uncertain.

"Strange, why do the Royal Guards still look the same? They should have changed like the squad leaders. Could it be..." After killing dozens of Ant soldiers, squad leaders, and two division commanders, Daniel returned control to Netero, who had finished resting.

Daniel exited the Four-Dimensional Apartment and observed the distant Chimera Ant nest, where three exceptionally strong Nen signatures emanated, showing no concern for the massacre of their kin.

Before Daniel arrived, Netero had already faced the Royal Guards once. Despite being outnumbered three to one, Netero neither won nor lost, leading to a stalemate.

Netero was powerful, but taking on all three Royal Guards alone was impossible. Each of them had aura levels far surpassing Zeno Zoldyck's.

One-on-one, Netero would likely win, but the Royal Guards weren't foolish enough to fight him individually. They stayed close to the nest to protect the King's birth.

The previous encounter taught them that individually, they weren't Netero's match. If they separated, Netero would pick them off one by one. The humanoid Royal Guards possessed human-level intelligence.

"When will the Ant King be born?" Daniel asked, sensing the three Nen signatures.

"According to experts, it should be in about a month. We have enough time," Knov replied softly.

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