Chapter 408

Negotiation: Part 2 (交(こう)渉(しょう)()()()()()()()()②, Kōshō (Ni)) is the 408^th chapter of the Hunter × Hunter manga, written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi.

Synopsis[]

The negotiation game between Morena and Borksen begins, and Morena tells Borksen to begin by picking a card. Borksen looks at the seven cards in front of her, and decides to choose the "Aim" card. The two look at each other as Morena picks up the "Aim" card, and asks Borksen why she had chosen it. Borksen scoffs at Morena's choice of starting small talk instead of explaining what her aim was, and asks to join in as well, taking care to check that there is no penalty for doing so.

Morena gives her permission to do so, saying that they might as well get to know each other. Unexpectedly, Borksen turns to her right and asks the two underlings there if they had any other members, guessing that there are about 50 of them. They smile at her but keep silent, and Morena compliments Borksen for the attempt before telling her that they wouldn't talk. Morena tells Borksen that there are other members, but tells Borksen to use a card if she had any questions. Borksen condescendingly retorts that she chose the "Aim" card to help her decide on her final response, "obviously". She continues her patronizing tone and adds that she wouldn't answer any more of Morena's questions either. Morena is disappointed and concedes to Borksen, offering to let her ask a question for every question she answered. As Borksen thanks Morena for her concession, she judges the Heil-Ly's response to her actions. She guesses that they have fewer than 50 members, probably closer to half the number, because Morena responded immediately yet did not tense up.

Morena candidly tells Borksen that her goal is the destruction of the Kakin Empire, and after that she would keep trying until all humanity was destroyed. Morena tells Borksen that she needs her in order to do that, and smiles at Borksen, waiting for a response. Borksen is confused, and Morena is confused at Borksen's confusion. Borksen tells Morena that her explanation was not nearly enough, around a 3 out of 100, if 100 meant complete understanding. Morena sees Borksen's point and remarks that she was very curious, agreeing to explain more.

Morena decides to begin by explaining her upbringing. She asks Borksen if she had heard of the term "Second-Track Faker" before. Borksen says it describes royalty like Morena without succession rights. Morena tells Borksen that it was true for the actual Morena Prudo, but her, the person speaking at the moment, is not even royalty—the real Morena is in a grave marked for the current Morena. Borksen is even more confused, and asks Morena who she is. Morena hints at her background by stating "Carne Levare and Lèse-majesté", asking Borksen if she understood now. Borksen understands, responding by saying that she is a "Carnival Orphan".

The narrator explains that "Carne Levare", literally "Farewell to the Flesh", is a carnival for the Kakin Royal Family held once every few years. A randomly-selected village is visited in secret and a "feast" is hosted there. All the villagers are sorted on the spot into "Entertainers”, and "Others”. "Lèse-majesté" is explained as any offense against the crown, punishable by death. It is revealed that before modern times, crimes that were considered lèse-majesté included lower-ranking officials speaking frankly, and civilians looking at royalty in the face. Even in the present-day post-democratization Kakin, actions such as contraception, abortion, or genetic testing involving members of the royal family are still considered treason against the prosperity of royal descendents, and are immediately punishable by death.

Morena tells Borksen that her mother was forced to "entertain" the visiting royalty for several days without rest or sleep, unable to even be aware that she'd become pregnant and given birth to her, and had finally died when Morena was two. She explains that all carnival orphans were scarred at birth and sent to an institution, a base of operations for a human trafficking ring run by the Heil-Ly and also affiliated with an underground hospital that "treated" the mothers. There, Morena and the other carnival orphans were scientifically sorted into "Second-Track Fakers" or "flesh"; Morena was categorized as the latter. She looks directly at Borksen and smiles faintly as she continues sharing her past. She reveals that for around 20 years she lived as "flesh", choosing not to give more explicit details and hoping that Borksen gets the idea. This continued until recently, when she was fortunate to become the boss of the Heil-Ly. Borksen lowers her gaze as she listens, unable to respond.

Morena says that while fulfilling her role as "flesh", she became aware of a certain she had and gradually honed it. This ability she developed served as a catalyst for her to plot the demise of Kakin. Morena shares that the Carne Levare is held irregularly, and carnival orphans are classified according to the last two digits of the Kakin calendar year, with Morena herself being from the '98 year. Seven new batches of carnival children had entered the facility over the 20 years it took for her to become the boss of the Heil-Ly, with the most recent batch that entered last year being from the '20 group, indicating that it had been two years since the last carnival, the year after celebration commemorating Kakin's democratization. Morena asks Borksen if she understands, emphasizing that Kakin has not changed at all, and will not ever change. She explains that this is the general framework from which her desire to destroy Kakin grew.

Morena tells Borksen that she needs people to help her achieve her goal, each with special abilities. Among them, there is one whose ability will fill the most critical role, and Morena hopes that it will be Borksen, which explains why Borksen was invited, and why they were trying to recruit her. Borksen asks why she is the one, but Morena tells her that she cannot answer that with the "Aim" card, and slides it to the graveyard.

Orarge leans over and picks up Borksen's five response cards, gives them a quick shuffle using the Hindu shuffle technique, and lays them neatly in a row in front of her. Morena asks Borksen to move one closer and then turn it over. Borksen slides the second card from the left over, and flips it over to reveal that it is the "Joker" card, which could turn into either "Yes" or "No" if it is the final card remaining. As Borksen looks at the card, she thinks about how the card has practically no effect on her, since "Yes" or "No" makes no difference to her. Morena tells her to discard the "Joker" to the graveyard and choose her next card.

Borksen points and chooses the "Ability" card. Morena pauses for a moment, before blushing slightly and saying that she is flattered that Borksen had chosen to ask about her twice in a row. Morena promises to try to explain it as clearly as she can, and asks Borksen if she had ever heard about "Nen". Borksen says that she had only recently heard about it and is unsure how much of what she had heard is right. She explains her understanding that it is basically a superpower, and is supposedly being used in the succession battle. Morena confirms that her understanding is correct on a general level, and begins to elaborate. Morena explains that although Nen is like a superpower, anyone could learn it with training. She also reveals that her own Nen ability is one that can awaken people to Nen, meaning that Borksen would not have to train a long time. Borksen asks Morena what her ability exactly is, and Morena obliges her. Morena explains that her ability is to give abilities to those with the same goal as her, and growing that circle of influence. The ability views her as a dealer or "mother" of up to 22 players or "children", who themselves are able to become parents themselves after they accumulate a certain number of points and produce more children then. She describes her ability as being rather like a pyramid scheme, and explains that she listens to each child's goals, considers their attributes, and assists and supports the development of their abilities.

As Borksen listens to Morena's explanation, she notes how cunning Morena had been, having taken care to structure her explanations so that regardless of whether "Aim" or "Ability" had been chosen first you would want to know about the other; Borksen guesses that if "Ability" had been chosen first, Morena's explanation would end there. Borksen admits to herself that she doesn't want Kakin to cease to exist despite not particularly caring about duty, responsibility, or national defense. She had planned to float through the rest of her hopefully long life ahead of her, and the idea that someone else's big ambition could suddenly waltz in and mess it all up was unnerving, something she didn't need to happen. She thinks back to her own upbringing, how before she could remember, she was in a military school and taught that her duty was to defend Kakin's safety, happy to do it as long as war did not break out during her lifetime. By luck, she had been just smart enough to squeak into the Officer Training School. She recalls how just listening to pop songs from rival countries, even a few months after their release, put their lives at risk, yet they were taught about the "untouchable outside world" in high school. They had learned how Kakin had the lowest rate of flood control in the world yet the highest production rate of man-made particles that linger in the stratosphere and the highest in information procession throughput. Despite that being the country she lives in, it is still home to her. Borksen thinks of how she was supposed to live a modest, ordinary life in her own little corner, probably somewhere between "military prep school" instructor in the boonies of Kakin and, at most, some fourth secretary to a general affairs office deputy director in a military agency, and how she didn't want any of what she faced in front of her. She thinks of how "Beyond or whoever" pledged to go to the new continent, and suddenly they were talking about superpowers and destroying humanity.

Morena shares that the destruction of Kakin is her personal small goal, and that the larger goal the current Heil-Ly have in common is killing people in general, directly or indirectly. Borksen listens to her but thinks about how despite feeling sorry for Morena, she could not agree with Morena's way of dealing with people in her life she wanted to have go away, more specifically that she would never consider murder as an option. Borksen continues to think as Morena explains that although they each have their own reasons, circumstances, targets, and numbers, they were ultimately the individual's "small goals", and that the superpowers are greatly influenced by an individual's personality and state of mind. Ultimately, Borksen decides that she appreciates Morena's honesty but cannot relate to her goals, and so has to get out of the extraordinary mess she found herself in no matter what.

Borksen returns her focus to their conversation, and brings up that Morena had earlier said that personality affects superpowers. She asks Morena how she knows that her ability, which has yet to be acquired, is important to her when she hardly knows her, pointing out that Morena could hide behind the rhetoric that "everyone is special", and suggesting that Morena's earlier words were part of a negotiation tactic to make her think that she is special. Morena tells Borksen that she is a Specialist. She explains that there are six Nen categories, and Borksen belongs to the extremely rare specialization category. She had been identified because one of their members who was an Enhancer had enhanced his sense of smell and gained the ability to sniff out abilities, to the point where he can identify someone's type even from the faint aura emitted from someone unawakened. He is still searching for unawakened specialists like Borksen aboard the ship. Morena shares that her own research indicates that roughly 1 in 3000 people were specialists, though she concedes that there may be inaccuracies in her research, but asks Borksen if she understands what the numbers imply. The Heil-Ly members beside Borksen watch Borksen as she listens to Morena, but Borksen does not react. Morena explains that although the users are relatively rare, on board a ship the size of the Black Whale, there were bound to be at least 50-60 more on board. Morena states plainly that it would be best if they could find someone among them who has a common "larger goal" with them, and emphasizes to Borksen that it did not have to be her. Morena takes the chance to share that the Heil-Ly Enhancer had already encountered multiple awakened specialists, including one that had excited him, a Floor Master at the Heavens Arena, super famous among the mixed martial arts crowd.

Morena concludes her response to the "Ability" card by clarifying that what she had just explained was what she meant by saying that the risk to Borksen increased the longer the negotiation went on; that a Heil-Ly underling was continuing to search for people like her as they speak. She slides her card to the graveyard, on top of the "Joker" card, and Borksen asks to know more about "Specialization", specifically asking what kind of ability Morena would want her to have if she were granted one. Morena thinks for a moment, hesitating because of the relevance of Borksen's question to the "Yes?" and "No?" cards. She decides to begin by explaining Specialization and starts by explaining that Specialization is a convenient Nen type to have. Morena explains that the other types have practical limitations, Transmuters, for example, struggle with learning Manipulation abilities, unlike Specialists, who have none of those struggles. Morena says that if there were any negative to being a specialist, it would be that they might not recognize that they are a specialist, focus on another type, and regret it later. Morena points out that if one already knows that they are a specialist beforehand, one can take on challenging hybrid techniques, that require mastery of multiple categories to manifest or utilize at a high level, and could attempt truly unique abilities that don't belong to any category at all.

Morena reveals that she's also a specialist. She explains that her ability, which can be summarized as "join me, and learn and improve Nen abilities based on points", is quite unique, much like a high-level hybrid technique combining elements from the other five categories. She adds that this is why she has specific requests regarding Borksen's ability, but refrains from mentioning more, apologizing and explaining that it requires Borksen to choose the relevant card, as she points to the "Yes?" card. Morena tells Borksen that if she chooses the "Yes?" card, she would tell her the ability she wants her to learn if she chooses to join them. Morena says telling Borksen what ability she wants her to learn would be part of the discussion of what role she would be expected to have once she joins their team, rather than a question about Nen abilities.

Borksen is satisfied with the answer, and Orarge picks up the remaining four cards to shuffle, once again using a Hindu shuffle. As he shuffles, Borksen thinks about how regardless of which card was next drawn from the remaining four, the number of options she had would not change. She thinks about Morena's responses so far, and decides that if a question from a card other than "Question A" were asked, Morena would give reasonable answers even after its card was sent to the graveyard. She decides that it's always better to have more information, but worries about the time risk that Morena had mentioned, and decides that whether she will prolong the game or not can be decided once her options become limited. Borksen slides the leftmost card with her left hand forward, and reveals it to be the "Yes" card.

Morena covers her mouth and gasps, remarking that it was a shame that Borksen had decided not to join them after only the second card was revealed. Borksen notes the reactions of Morena and the Heil-Ly underlings surrounding her, and decides that since even the underlings look disappointed, she can conclude that at the very least, they had not witnessed any cheating in the past. She reminds herself to not be complacent, since she did not know if Morena had played the game with someone who did not want to join the group—if Borksen were the first, the Heil-Ly's reactions makes perfect sense.

Morena moves on and restates that she would do her best until the very end. Morena casually remarks that there's a big difference between "No" and "X", and tries to lead Borksen on, asking her if she wanted to know the difference between them. Borksen obliges and picks the "No?" card. Morena begins her explanation by saying that the essential part is the difference between the two mentioned cards, "No" meaning that Borksen will not join the Heil-Ly, and "X" voiding the game. Morena says that they would consider "No" to be an firm expression of Borksen's will, a complete and irrevocable rejection. Borksen notes that nothing unexpected had been seen so far, that up till then, "Yes" and "No" have been the same. She prepares for a threat to force her to choose "Yes" between a choice of "Yes" and "No". Morena continues her explanation by saying that Borksen and those around her would be viewed as "not one of [them]", one of the "other"s, simply points for the Heil-Ly to accrue and level up on the way to attaining their goal. Morena tells Borksen that she would not try to recruit her again, but now that she knew their secret, they could not just let her leave. Borksen senses the looming threat of the third trap, that even the "X" card is pointless and that the whole game is a trap to make her say "Yes".

Contrary to Borksen's expectations, Morena explains that if the "X" card remains, despite it being true that Borksen would still know their secrets, Borksen's knowledge of their secrets would be included in the voiding of the game. Borksen looks up at Morena, unprepared to hear that response. Morena continues by saying that it did not mean that Borksen's memory would be erased, rather, they would trust Borksen and pretend that none of their negotiations happened, and would try not to make any contact with her if possible. Morena also promises that there will be no cheating by twisting "none of it happened" into "hey, we've never met, let's play a game", and would try not to involve anybody around Borksen. She clarifies that they would go over the information they learn and the people Borksen cares about, share that information among them, and avoid the people Borksen associates positively with, although concedes that with consideration for her ultimate goal, it would be more correct to say "put them off until later" rather than never deal with them. Borksen decides to cut to the chase and says she needs to ask something outright, asking Morena if she could explain how it makes sense for Morena to include the "X" card and trust Borksen after bringing her in under the circumstances she was brought in, since the "X" card has no merits for her and in fact has high risks. Morena says that she was about to explain, and summarizes a long explanation by stating that the merits are precisely that it is very risky, taking the time to explain vows and limitations after. Borksen learns about vows and limitations, how a high risk would get a high return. Morena adds that it's a very important component in Nen, and in her case, if the negotiations failed in a game of life and death, that was it, she had to accept the outcome even if it came at great risk. She clarifies that by playing the game the way she did, her ability can more strongly support her team, and it was the same for those who joined, since by taking on the risk that they die if "No?" was their last card, the effects of her ability and the resulting team unity become stronger.

Morena watches Borksen for a reaction, and after a short while judges that it didn't upset her much. Morena is pleased to note this, though Borksen comments that she knew it was coming, and also mentions that it did not feel real yet to her. Morena says that it will feel quite real for Borksen when she's down to two cards, and prompts Borksen to pick he third card. Once again, Borksen slides the leftmost card forward, flipping it over to reveal that it is the "X" card. She briefly notes that the cards she has left are "No"—equivalent to death, and "Return"—equivalent to survival. Her thoughts are cut off as an alarm blares. Borksen and Morena instantly look up, and hear that special martial law is declared. The announcement is repeated for clarity, emphasizing that the declaration of special martial law is not a drill.

Characters in Order of Appearance[]

Trivia[]

“Levare,” descended from the Latin “levō” (present infinitive levāre), has “remove” as one of its meanings in both Italian and Neapolitan, and “carne” means “meat” in both (and also “flesh” in Italian).

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