Chapter 378

Balance (均(バラ)衡(ンス)()()()()()()()(), Baransu) is the 378^th chapter of the Hunter × Hunter manga, written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi.

Synopsis[]

A scene of the dingy food service areas on Tier 5 transitions to gourmet food in Xi-Yu boss Onior's luxurious residence. Onior is spoon-fed his meals as he speaks over the phone with Cha-R boss Brocco Li, lounging in his room with his collection of animals. Onior speaks of balance, its importance, and the importance of not giving the proletariat masses power to Brocco, who speaks disparagingly of the Phantom Troupe, describing them as difficult-to-control freaks who could not even fit into Meteor City, savages who do not hide their talons and do not care about life or death. Brocco mentions that some of his young associates are actually secret fans of theirs, and their conversation shifts to indirectly talking about the Heil-Ly boss, and how the Phantom Troupe would eventually clash with them even without doing anything. They agree that they want to control when their encounter happens, and separately tell both their underbosses, standing to their sides, to find Hisoka before the spiders do.

The two underbosses move swiftly and take different approaches to fulfil their bosses' request. Cha-R underboss Ken'i Wang has his subordinates gather all group leaders and offer anyone with useful information 10 million, correcting himself and immediately revising it to 10 million to anyone who finds Hisoka and another 10 million to the leader of that area. He tells his subordinates to use their connections among the laborers to do so. Xi-Yu underboss Hinrigh Biganduffno tells his subordinates to get the manifest and to search the list of single male passengers, and to look through families of more than three if he is not found there, including elderly and children.

One of Ken'i's subordinates tells him that he is unsure if they could capture him, because he is a floor master at Heavens Arena. He earns himself a mild admonishing from Ken'i, who says that he already knows, and suggests that he has a score to settle from his fight there with the leader of the spiders. Hinrigh's subordinate asks to understand the reasoning behind searching families. Hinrigh answers that it is because he's least likely to be there; Hinrigh suggests that if Hisoka is not found among the long travellers, he is being vigilant and taking precautions. Hinrigh continues speaking as he thinks and says that Hisoka is most likely stowed away, difficult to pull off but hardest to catch once done successfully. He instructs his subordinate to contact the Queen to get the soldiers to do a round of ID and ticket verification. Both underbosses tell their men to find Hisoka, and that they would take care of the rest.

In Room 302, Heil-Ly boss Morena Prudo speaks to her underlings, thanking them and expressing her gratitude for choosing to follow her when she used the ceremony to take over the Heil-Ly family name as a junior member, to utter her command to kill. She says that she does not care about anything in the world, including herself. She addresses all 22 members of the Heil-Ly assembled there, and tells them that she would fulfil her promise and bestow an ability upon them, asking them to come up one by one. Morena kisses each member on the lips, infecting them with her Contagion. She explains the level system for her ability, and sends them off.

It's stated that illegitimate children of the King who cannot become rightful heirs receive two scars on their face at birth with a single stroke of a double blade and are permitted to exist in exchange for permanently remaining in the shadows. Morena thinks about the royal family selfishly procreate, fear the progeny, doubt them and dread them, then scar them for life and forgive them, which makes her laugh in incredulity. She traces her scar with her finger and remembers why she likes it, the scar keeping her from sliding closer to death, and making her able to perch on the razor's edge. She finds the motivation to keep trying just a little bit more, to destroy what she describes as "this dung heap of a world".

Nobunaga, Phinks, and Feitan discuss the territories of the Mafia families on the ship and their relations to their Prince benefactors. They decide to leave Tier 5 to the Buor Family and search Tier 4 for Hisoka, but first retrieve weapons from the storage facility. Nobunaga wants to go alone, but Feitan and Phinks insist on coming along, saying there are items they want to retrieve as well and reminding Nobunaga that he himself had acknowledged Hisoka's abilities. They make their way to the warehouse, where one of the Cha-R underlings standing guard guide them in, having been told in advance to expect them.

In the warehouse, the underling leading them through the warehouse turns a corner. Nobunaga stops Phinks and Feitan and tell them to be careful, that the man had suddenly vanished from his En. Phinks and Feitan activate their own Ens and confirm that there was nothing around the corner. The spiders walk around and find themselves facing a dead end, without any sign of the Cha-R underling that had led them in.

Behind the corner they turned, they hear a thud. They round the corner and find the underling dead, with neck slit and blood from his mouth and from several stab wounds on his shirt. Feitan decides to ignore him and continue looking for their items on their own, since the underling is already dead. Nobunaga sees this and disagrees, asking what to do about the man. Phinks is surprised to see Nobunaga's concern over the man, and points out that a corpse could not help them, neither could they call the other underlings outside. Feitan says that they should prioritize Nobunaga's sword and his umbrella, and agrees with Phinks when Phinks tells Nobunaga his priorities are weird. From the ceiling, an opening begins to appear. Hands stick through it, slowly widening the opening.

In Tier 3's general passenger area, two soldiers stand guard at the entrance of an area and prevent the public from entering, declaring that the area is off-limits until forensics is done with the scene. En route to the area, Mizaistom speaks with an underling, who informs him that there were twenty victims killed quickly using a blade, by a perpetrator who entered the room disguised as royal army. The underling says it is unknown whether Nen was involved since there was no sign an ability was used. Mizaistom suggests it was a random attack, and asks if there were any witnesses. His underling says that there is one person who happened to be there, and that the perpetrator was in his twenties, 185-190cm tall, with a crescent scar on his left cheek, but canvassing the nearby areas did not return any eyewitness accounts of a man matching that description. The underling mentions that the testimony is uncertain, and some parts did not make sense, possibly because the witness is confused from the shock. Mizaistom ponders this for a moment, then asks to speak to the witness.

In the ceiling of the warehouse, Heil-Ly associate Luini spies on the spiders through the opening widened by his hands. The man with a crescent scar on his left cheek stares at his idols, electrified by the presence of the commando team for the notorious spiders, ready to destroy the world with them.

Chapter Notes[]

• The current bosses of Kakin's three Mafia families make their debuts.
  • Onior Longbao, Brocco Li, and Morena Prudo are the bosses of the Xi-Yu, Cha-R, and Heil-Ly families, respectively.
    • Onior and Brocco are King Nasubi's half brothers, while Morena is his illegitimate daughter.
• Upon their birth, illegitimate children of Kakin's kings have been marked with two scars on their face.
• Onior and Brocco order their respective right-hand men to find Hisoka before the Phantom Troupe.
  • Ken'i Wang, the Cha-R Underboss, is offering 10 million to anyone with useful information, and the same amount to anyone who finds Hisoka (as well as to the leader of the area).
  • Hinrigh Biganduffno, the Xi-Yu Underboss, orders a search for possible passengers who could be disguising as Hisoka, and plans to have the royal army verify the passengers' IDs and tickets through Queen Tang Zhao Li's influence.
• Morena plans with her 22 followers to wreak havoc on the world, starting with the Black Whale.
  • Morena's Nen ability "Contagion" allows her to form an infected community of 23 people (including herself) who are able to increase their Nen power and potential by gaining levels through killing a certain number of people.
    • Civilians, Nen users, and Princes are each worth 1, 10, and 50 levels, respectively.
    • Upon reaching level 20, the infected member gains a Nen ability. By level 100, the individual is able to start their own community of infected people.
• The source of income of Kakin's three Mafia families inside the Black Whale is explained.
  • All three families control commodities and distribute goods in their respective tiers.
  • The Heil-Ly and Xi-Yu are involved with human trafficking.
  • The Heil-Ly's main source of income is from being an intermediary between the wealthy of Tier 2 and the black market.
• Nobunaga, Phinks, and Feitan plan to head to Tier 4 to find Hisoka, leaving the search in Tier 5 to the Buor Family.
  • The three of them go to the warehouse in Tier 5 in order to retrieve their smuggled weapons.
• Luini, one of Morena's 23 members squad, kills 20 civilians in Tier 3, and later a Cha-R guard in Tier 5, gaining 21 levels and a transportation Nen ability in the process.
  • Mizaistom visits the crime scene to investigate, planning to interview the only witness of the murders.

Characters in Order of Appearance[]

Trivia[]

Intertextuality and References[]

• On Page 18 of this chapter, section SRCL 9041–SRCL 9488 is cordoned off for being a location where Luini murdered several people. SRCL 9041 and SRCL 9488 are catalogue numbers with Sony Music.
  • SRCL 9041 is the catalogue number of Silent Majority, the debut single of J-Pop group Keyakizaka46 (also the name of the Silent Majority user's main ability).
  • SRCL 9488 is the catalogue number of Masshirona Mono wa Yogoshitaku Naru, the first studio album released by Keyakizaka46, which includes Silent Majority as the first track after the group's standard introductory overture.

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