The Reincarnator's Tavern

Chapter 41 Razor and his 14 Devils

The silly hat-wearing pirate led the group of players outside the bar and past the city to a large facility with a built-in lighthouse.

If Rayleigh had just used Psychometry on Ging's Hunter License, he would have recognized it as a node for nen transmissions throughout the island, but unless he purposefully tried to retain it, most of the knowledge Rayleigh obtained using Psychometry faded shortly after using it. If it didn't, his head would be packed with thousands of lifetimes worth of knowledge by now and probably caused brain damage. That meant he didn't recall the identities of the Game Masters or the details of the important quests, so this was all mostly new to him.

The other pirates followed the group as they were escorted from the bar to the lighthouse and entered the facility with them as they were led into a massive space within that appeared to be a very large, very clean gymnasium.

Unsurprisingly, everyone using the place wore a stupid hat. Everyone except for one person, someone who seemed exceptionally strong and dangerous.

They were led to this person who looked over the new arrivals and asked, "Who are these guys?"

Their pirate guide answered honestly, "Guests. Seems they want us to leave."

The pirate leader, the only man who didn't wear a stupid hat, stated, "Oh? Then we'll hurry on to the main topic. Let's have some duels. Fifteen representatives from each side will fight. One person, one win. The group that gets eight victories wins, but we choose the fighting style. If your group wins, we will leave the island. Is that okay?"

One of the players spoke up, "I have a question."

He continued, "What happens if we lose?"

The pirate who didn't look like a pirate politely answered, "Nothing in particular. We just ask you to return where you came from."

The other players gave each other an assessing look before agreeing, "Let's do it."

Surprising most of them, the pirate leader stated, "The Battle Theme is Sports. Each one of our members has a favorite sport. They will all challenge you."

The burnt sumo loudly exclaimed, "Okay! I'll fight that stupid brat! Come here! We'll finish out sumo fight!"

That actually stunned Rayleigh for a moment. He really was a sumo? The guy who was six times wider than Killua certainly had the build for it, but he completely lacked the mental aspect of it. Though they were pirates, so Rayleigh figured he shouldn't outright judge them for lacking professionalism.

Killua smartly replied, "Let's wait. I'd prefer to fight after our team has seven victories."

The fire-scarred sumo seemed more than a little pissed at Killua's rejection, but another pirate walked over and said to him, "Calm down and cool your head a little." He wrapped some tape around his knuckles and said, "I'll be the first fighter. My theme is boxing."

He walked over to a boxing ring in the corner and jumped in before stating with some provocation, "So, who's gonna fight me?"

The ring was elevated enough for those looking at it to ignore the Divine Script written into the ring. Rayleigh only needed to glance at it to figure that it was based on Emission Hatsu, though he couldn't decipher the exact effect.

Before anyone could volunteer, the pirate leader stated, "I think you already know, but each player can only fight once. You cannot take part in more than one game."

Mr. Fuzzy hat asked, "Can we use Nen?"

The boxer pirate exclaimed, "Of course. We'll use it a lot."

Another of the players walked up, stating, "Okay, then I'm going."

The man was offered some boxing gloves he graciously took before the pirate put on his own gloves and asked, "Do you know the rules of boxing?"

The confident player replied, "You have to knock down your opponent with your fist, right?"

The Pirate leader corrected, "Yes, but here, there are special rules. You can use tools, but only if they come from your Nen."

Some of the players were surprised that such a ruling. It wasn't difficult for a Materialization Nen user to create a gun or worse, so such a thing seemed far too advantageous.

The pirate added fuel to the fire by stating, "Don't worry, I only fight with my fists. Allowing weapons if only for your sake."

Rayleigh considered the rule and understood that it meant he could not use his Lightsaber, since it was not made of Nen. Still, it wasn't like he couldn't use other things.

The pirate leader took the role of a ref and stated, "Three minutes per round. The fight goes on until a player is knocked out. Fight!"

For some reason, the challenging player showed a level of cockiness that seemed completely unearned. He stated brazenly, "I guess I understand why you chose boxing as your challenge." He then shot his fist forward though he was on the other side of the ring from the pirate. A shot of aura came out from the player's glove and streaked forward. The pirate bent to the side and the shot of nen grazed passed him, but the minor contact with the pirate's cheek it made drew blood.

The cocky player stated, "Nice dodge. It's impossible to stop it if you're not prepared in advance. I'm positive you're an Emission user too, right? Fighting within a confined area while keeping your distance from your opponent. There are no better conditions for an Emission user."

The player then leaned forward and took a stance while exclaiming, "You only made one mistake. There are stronger Nen users than you, like me!"

The player released a flurry of jabs, each imparting a shot of aura that rammed into his opponent. At the same moment, the pirate performed an uppercut, and Rayleigh got to see what the Divine Script actually did.

In a single moment, the placement of the pirate's arm changed from in front of him to right below the player's chin as the uppercut was performed. Not expecting it in the slightest, the cocky player didn't even see the perfectly positioned fist that magically appeared directly below his chin and struck up hard enough to shake the man's brain like a pinball machine.

The pirate boxer received the heavy barrage of aura blows and went down while the player remained standing. The pirate's fist returned to its original placement almost instantly after the uppercut. Everyone but Rayleigh's group was preoccupied with the flurry of aura jabs and didn't even notice the uppercut.

When the players saw the boxer go down, they exclaimed, "Yeah! Easy victory!"

Rayleigh countered to the crowd, "No. He lost."

Before Rayleigh even finished stating his observation, the player was already crumbling and hit the ground the moment Rayleigh said the word 'lost.' It was clear that the man was not getting back up for a few minutes.

The pirate on the other hand quickly got back up. Unlike his opponent who took his attack without any kind of defense, the pirate actually had the awareness to use Ken to block the aura attacks and defend himself.

The pirate leader did a ten count but stopped to ask his pirate, "Can you continue?" to which he answered, "Of course." The hatless pirate continued his ten count. With the player not getting up before the count of ten, the pirate leader declared, "End of the fight. That's our first victory."

Mr. Fuzzy hat walked over to Rayleigh and asked, "What happened?" Since Rayleigh was the one who spoke up, they figured he saw what happened.

Rayleigh explained, "The pirate's fist changed its position in the ring at the moment he performed an uppercut. Your friend was so focused on attack, he didn't put up any defense when a fist appeared below his chin and rattled his brain with a quick but heavy strike."

The players seemed impressed, not only with the ability displayed but at the easy-to-understand analysis given by Rayleigh.

Another pirate stepped forward with a soccer ball in hand and stated, "I'm next. The game is soccer ball bouncing."

Considering the quality of the assembled players, the chance of winning eight matches was zero. Killua whispered to their group, "Lose on purpose so we don't show off what we can do. We'll try again later."

Biscuit agreed, "Right, it's better this way." Biscuit herself then stepped forward to participate in the soccer bouncing game.

The soccer pirate exclaimed, "Oh? A little girl like yourself? Take care not to get hurt."

Biscuit asked innocently, "Get hurt? It's just bouncing a ball. Right?"

The pirate chuckled before explaining, "Well, let me explain the rules. The winner is the one who lasts the longest. You can attack your opponent with Nen, but you can't touch your ball or the opponent's ball with your hands. The battle takes place within this room. If your ball touches the floor, you've lost. Same thing if your ball is touched by one of your allies."

Gon, who was terrible at deceiving people, directly looked at Rayleigh, likely thinking the same thought as the rest of them. 'How badly could Rayleigh screw his opponent over using rules like this with his telekinesis?'

The pair started, but to the surprise of everyone who didn't know her, Biscuit missed her first bounce. With the ball hitting the floor, she lost right away.

Killua then stepped forward and said, "I'm next," before looking at the burnt sumo and stating, "Wanna go for it?"

The angry sumo stepped back into the ring and explained the rules once more. He even bragged that, as long as Killua didn't leave the ring, he could thrash him as long as he wanted to according to the rules.

The hatless pirate leader acted as ref again and started the match, but the moment the sumo charged forward, Killua dodged and 'accidentally' stepped out of the ring, immediately losing the match to the raging chagrin of the shouting sumo pirate.

The pirate leader called aloud, "Ring out. That's our third victory."

Two others had to hold the fat pirate from charging Killua who smirked cheekily at him, but the small glance from the head pirate cooled the sumo's temper and rendered him quiet.

Various games were played by the remaining pirates with consecutive losses, even from the players who tried to win.

Somewhat disappointingly, the remaining contests didn't have any gimmicks as interesting as the divine script in the boxing ring. That made sense in a way. Such a formation would need to be made by the person using it, so the boxer wrote it using his own nen. Did that mean every pirate was also a master of divine script? Of course not. The first guy was the exception, not the rule.

For the remaining games, the pirates were simply more skilled that the players who matched against them. Using the built-in bowling alley, the bowling pirate scored a respectable 267 while his opponent was an embarrassment to watch.

The free-throw-shooting pirate made thirty shots before the player even made twenty, winning that match.

The wrestling pirate was a pure Enhancer and a level stronger than the player who challenged him.

Their seventh loss was in a Ping Pong Game, and Razor stepped forward for the eighth game of volleyball.

Neither Gon nor Rayleigh participated in any of the matches.

Without any suspense, Razor defeated the player and calmly stated, "That's our eighth victory. We've won."

The pirate who led them into the facility approached and said, "Please go back to where you came from. We'll keep doing as we please in this town."

With that polite telling-off, the assembled players were taken out of the facility built into the lighthouse where they gathered together to discuss their thoughts.

A series of short conversations later and the various groups parted ways. They had no intention of trying again since their goal was achieved. There was no way for the Bomber to get the card; if someone did get it, it would only make them a target.

One by one the groups left until it was only Rayleigh's party and one other who stayed.

Rayleigh asked the man, "What about you?"

He answered, "Same as you. Try to gather strong companions and get the card. The others are mistaken, it's best to get the card as fast as possible if we want to clear the game."

Killua pointed out, "If you can win one of those games then we have five at the moment. We need three more to win."

The man nodded, "My name is Goreinu. There are a few of those games I can win easily."

Rayleigh and the rest introduced themselves as well before Goreinu continued, "Hopefully we can get some guys who don't want the card or will accept one copy as payment."

If you used Fake to make a fake copy of Plot of Beach, you could see the card and confirm it had a max transformation limit of three. So other than the original, you could use Clone or similar cards to create two copies. Goreinu obviously wanted one, so that meant they only had a single copy remaining to use as payment for hiring more capable players.

Rayleigh stated, "Let's find a restaurant to discuss this, I'm hungry."

No one argued with getting some food so after a bit of wandering using their noses to guide them, the group found a nice seafood restaurant with tables overlooking the ocean and continued their discussion after getting a seat and placing an order.

Goreinu asked, "Do you know any players we could invite?"

Killua countered, "What about you? Do you have any teammates?"

"If I did, I wouldn't have come here alone."

Gon asked aloud, "What about Binolt? Think he is still around?"

Killua asked, "How would we know?"

Goreinu stated, "If you put Long Range Regular Spell cards like Peek, Fluoroscopy, or Contact into the slot in the back of your book, it gives you a list of everyone you've met that you can cast the card on. You can actually remove the card after looking through the list without casting it, so you can use that to see the names of those you've met. When you do so, there is either a white dot or a dark grey dot next to their name. If there is a white dot, they are still in the game. If there is a dark grey dot, then they have either left the game or are dead."

Gon placed a Peek spell in the back of his book and watched as a list of names popped up before going through them until he found Binolt. The dot next to his name was dark grey.

Gon and Killua began discussing those they'd met and their names with Goreinu, but it was mostly a dead end. The only names they were familiar with were either too weak or players with too much baggage to be worth it. Goreinu was surprisingly knowledgeable about many of them.

Rayleigh stated, "I might know three guys and their strength shouldn't be weaker than ours at least."

Biscuit asked, "Oh? Someone we met on the island?"

Ray shook his head. "We've never met them before. Give me a moment. I shall use a mysterious means to ask them."

Rayleigh then turned to the open Hunter Chat Room box and left a message.

[Swordsman: Hey guys. I need help getting card 002. If you help out, you can get a copy and I'll pay you with a copy of 082 Staff of Judgement.]

[Poison King: Really? You got the staff?]

[Demon Hunter: What kind of help?]

[Green Lantern: You're not trolling, right?]

[Swordsman: Getting 002 requires eight strong players. There are five already. Need three more. If you agree, you can meet the Hunter World Main Characters.]

[Demon Hunter: The Main Characters? Are they strong?]

[Swordsman: Would you like to find out?]

[Dragon Chef: Hey Swordsman, you've been traveling with the Hunter Main Characters this whole time?]

[Swordsman: Since the last Hunter Exam.]

[Justice: And you kept it all to yourself. How sneaky.]

[Puppeteer: I approve of the sneakiness.]

[Demon Hunter: Alright, we agree to help out. We'll meet you in the City of Magic in an hour.]

[Swordsman: See you then.]

Rayleigh stopped looking off in a random direction while the others stared at him with confusion and interest. Ignoring the latter completely he stated aloud, "They agreed to help."

Killua was the first to ask, "Who are they?" He didn't ask about the mysterious means since Ray would not have been purposefully vague if he was going to tell them anyways.

Rayleigh answered, "Remember those weirdos you fought in the Hunter Exam? It's three more guys like that."

Biscuit asked, "Are they trying to clear the game?"

Rayleigh shook his head, "Not exactly, though they do want certain cards. They want Staff of Judgement."

Gon exclaimed, "That's why you made a copy of it!"

Rayleigh nodded. It was lucky they found it or it would make negotiating more of a pain.

Killua asked, "What about the other seven participants?"

Rayleigh said, "We'll make a copy of number 086 and use that."

Gon opened his book to check the card Ray referred to. It was one of the Imposed Slot Cards they already had.

[086 Quiver of Frustration A-11

You can cast as many "Leaves" as you have arrows. It comes with 10 arrows, and one will be used each time you cast "Leave."]

Biscuit looked at the card in Gon's book and nodded. That would work. Plenty of players wanted to leave the island, but weren't strong enough to beat up the ticket guy or never found a Leave Spell Card. It wouldn't be difficult to find seven losers who would do anything to get out of the game and get them to fill in the spots for a chance to escape.

After finishing their seafood the group headed for the City of Magic to meet up with their new partners.

The moment they arrived, Rayleigh turned his head to the side and spotted a trio of kids their age. The one who stood between them had black hair and brown eyes. He seemed to be the strongest. The one to his right actually had grey hair and was squinting for some reason. And the remaining one had brown hair and blue eyes and a cocky expression.

Noticing where Rayleigh was staring, the others of his group looked over and spotted the three kids as well before walking over.

Rayleigh introduced themselves. "Hi. I'm Swordsman. This is Gon. He is the son of the game's creator and wants to beat the game to find a clue to hunt down his dad. This is Killua. He is a retired professional assassin. This is Biscuit, our teacher. And this is Goreinu, the extra."

Everyone ignored Goreinu's crestfallen face at the introduction and looked back and forth between the kids and Ray with interest, wondering why he introduced them like that.

The black-haired kid stepped up and said, "I'm Demon Hunter. This is Poison King. And this is Green Lantern."

Killua asked, "You guys chose weird nicknames too?"

Demon Hunter looked over Killua for a moment before answering, "Pretty much. I heard about you from Lightning Lord. You remember him from the Hunter Exam, right?"

Killua looked confused for a moment before realizing they were probably referring to the guy who could turn into lightning.

Before the conversation could be led into more awkward questions, Rayleigh explained the situation to the trio.

Demon Hunter nodded and asked, "Alright. How do you want to play this?"

Rayleigh answered, "Safely. Give up six of the first seven matches, give up the Razor Match, and win the rest. Worst case scenario, it takes us two attempts. We'll recruit people who can lose the matches from our side."

Gon quickly interjected, "Wait, you want to lose the first matches? But we can win them!"

Rayleigh shook his head, "You are too trusting Gon. They are pirates. We should prepare for the worst."

Green Lantern arrogantly stated, "You said Razor played Volleyball? I could beat him with both hands behind my back."

Rayleigh shook his head, "If we can't win one of the first six, you can try. Otherwise, we'll stick to this plan."

Green Lantern looked like he was about to argue but was stopped by a hand gesture from Demon Hunter who said, "You're paying us, so you make the call. However, if it takes more than one attempt, we'll be asking for an additional fee."

Rayleigh nodded, "As long as the reason for the failure of a previous attempt is not on your side, that can be discussed."

Demon Hunter held out a hand and Rayleigh took it for a shake.

From behind, Poison King asked, "So when are you gonna attack?"

Rayleigh answered, "We'll recruit some guys to fight the first few rounds tomorrow and if we get seven right away, we'll do so that night and meet back up here and use Accompany to head to the port city."

Plenty of players praying for a Leave hung around Masadora since this was the only place you could buy magic cards anyways.

Gon asked, "Hey, why are you guys playing the game? I'm looking for my dad, but what about you?"

Demon Hunter gave a pensive expression before answering, "My dad told me to train here for a while. Poison King and Green Lantern's parents know my dad and they agreed to send them with me. Our parents are all Hunters and my dad owns a copy of Greed Island."

That answer satisfied the group, but Biscuit seemed more than a little thoughtful by it.

The groups separated with Goreinu staying in Masadora to see if he could look for the extra players himself.

Biscuit asked, "So what's the plan? You seemed to have something in mind?"

Rayleigh nodded and admitted aloud, "I got a bad feeling every time Gon wanted to check out those Bandits in the woods. I think they'll give us a good card, but after they do, we'll be attacked for it. So we'll gather the seven players, then get that card, quickly return to Masadora, and then all go to the Port City and fight the pirates. After that, we'll have two cards they need, so they'll definitely attack us. They should attack Demon Hunter's group as well."

Killua said, "That's sneaky of you to drag them into this, but if those guys are as strong as the weirdos from the Hunter Exam, we might be able to beat them if we work together."

Rayleigh scoffed, "If things go bad, I'll just cut off their arms and legs." He wasn't going to let his friends get hurt.

By the morning of the next day, Goreinu had successfully gathered seven scrub looking guys with the promise of using Leave on them if they helped get a card for them.

That afternoon, Rayleigh and the group headed for the forest north of Antokiba and met back up with the Bandits. Unsurprisingly, they were all still sick. Rayleigh asked if they were willing to put their faith into his hands, and since he had given them just about everything he had the last time they met without receiving anything back, they were willing to do so. Each of the Bandits turned into a card that was essentially cursed. One by one, Gon and Rayleigh picked up each card and the effect of Paladin's Necklace went into action, removing the curse on the card, changing the Sick Villager Cards into Healthy Villager cards.

Once every bandit was cured, they all reverted back into bandits and celebrated. The head bandit presented Rayleigh with a box and said, "Thank you so much! Take this as proof of our gratitude."

Rayleigh opened the box and it revealed a gemstone ring that sparkled for a moment before being turned into a card.

[075 Wild Luck Alexandrite A-20

Its owner will get to have once-in-a-lifetime experiences, though you cannot choose whether they're for better or for worse...]

Rayleigh put it into Gon's book and immediately used the S-Rank Spell card, Fortress, on the page the card was in. With that, no one could steal it directly.

[1035 Fortress S-10

Cards inserted in slots on target Imposed Slot page are permanently protected against stealing and destruction spells as long as they remain in the slots (Free Slot pages cannot be chosen).]

Keeping to the plan, they returned to Masadora and met up with Goreinu and the seven lame players along with Demon Hunter, Poison King, and Green Lantern.

With a quick use of Accompany, they returned to the port city and made their way back to the Lighthouse where Razor and the Pirates were held up. Rayleigh wondered if they expected them to return the next day.

*Author's Note*

They will be finishing the game earlier than canon. In canon, the only reason Bomber didn't attack them right after they got the card was plot armor. Seriously. He could literally tell that big guy was injured. Hell, with the exception of Biscuit, they were all injured. The reason he claimed didn't attack was because he thought the big guy had some hidden cards. (which he didn't) and wanted to play it safe. But without the big guy, there's a 100% chance he wouldn't wait.

Technically, if the game finishes this early, the rich guy hiring them might have been in time for his girlfriend not to die, but I'm killing her off anyways, since there is no Kite or Chimera Ant Arc if they don't get the cards.

Her sacrifice is, as Dumbledore would say, For the Greater Good!

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