Onboard the airship, Joey phoned Mizaistom and relayed everything—Ed's capture, the mercenary ambush, and his suspicions about who was really pulling strings.
Mizaistom gave a one-liner:
"Wait for news."
Then he hung up.
Almost immediately after, Kite's phone rang—it was Morel.
The message was simple in words, but its implications were anything but:
Killua had exposed Illumi.
Illumi was deploying his "Needlemen"—human puppets—to intercept Killua near the hospital.
Morel would file a recovery request to the Hunter Association to deal with them.
Not Illumi, just the puppets. That was intentional.
It was a way to shield Killua from direct consequences.
Because once it was official that Killua "betrayed" his brother, the Zoldyck dynamic could spiral out of control.
The clean-up would be passed off as an ordinary Association job.
Of course, Mizaistom would be nearby. Partly because Joey had business with him.
Mostly because Nove paid well—three hundred million jeni.
For Nove, that was chump change.
With Mizaistom on-site, Morel and Nove could expand their operating range a bit.
Joey figured Iron-Ladyn would grab the mission.
The case involved a professional Hunter possibly violating the rules—triggering Article 4 of the Hunter Commandments:
"Hunters may not treat fellow Hunters as prey. However, those who commit heinous crimes are exempt from this clause."
Iron-Ladyn's crew had always pushed for a return to preemptive control—finding violators before the crime happened.
They'd long advocated the revival of the "Purification Squad"—a bygone era's elite task force.
But Joey thought it was a joke.
None of the trio—especially Bushidora—had the strength or experience to build a real elite team.
More likely, they'd get slaughtered first, and the Association would become the punchline.
Still, Morel seemed happy to feed them rope.
He could've hidden that a professional Hunter was involved. If he'd done that, Iron-Ladyn's side wouldn't have taken the bait.
Maybe this was about payback.
They'd heard from Gon what happened outside the Association building—how Iron-Ladyn and crew blocked Kite from entering.
It wouldn't be hard to justify giving them a lesson.
As long as they didn't pick a fight with Illumi or Hisoka, casualties would stay manageable.
And even if someone else took the mission, Hunters always had to accept risk.
That was the rule.
"A Hunter must be prepared to die, every time they accept a job."
Joey yawned.
Their airship would arrive slightly later than Killua's.
Which meant they weren't part of the real escort—just decoys, flying toward the hospital to muddy Illumi's intel.
Except there was one snag.
Killua's whereabouts had already leaked—to Zebro, the family's surveillance specialist.
That meant no matter how good their misdirection was, Illumi wouldn't bite.
He'd wait where the real Killua would appear: the hospital.
Joey tapped his finger rhythmically on the table.
He could only hope Killua's plan would hold up.
But fate had a way of kicking careful plans in the teeth.
As the Pursuit Team tracked Killua via airship, their carefully layered plan began to... evolve.
Killua, instead of heading straight in, hovered his aircraft in the air—waiting for Kite and the others to rendezvous.
With Shooto's help, Killua leapt across airspace, carrying Alluka in his arms and landed aboard the main ship.
What he didn't account for?
Three Zoldyck butlers—Zebro, Amane, and Canary—were tailing him, too.
Their job:
"Verify Killua hasn't broken any family rules."
They didn't know that on the road here, Killua had already told Morel about Alluka's wish-granting ability and her role in healing Andre.
The airship landed thirty kilometers from the hospital.
Nove waited for them there.
"So... the butlers have to see everything?" Nove asked flatly, eyes locked on Zebro's monocle.
"Yeah," Killua said, a little annoyed.
"Fine. Get in the car."
Nove had prepared four identical cars, each with a hired driver—paid mercs just to get the cars there.
With the team assembled, Nove began the split:
Joey and Gon: one car
Knuckle and Shooto: another
Kite: solo
Meleoron, Killua, and Nove: third car
Palm and Ikalgo: take the rear, heading straight to the hospital
But only one butler, Goto, would accompany the convoy directly.
The others would tail invisibly.
"Safety first," Kite reminded everyone before boarding.
"Got it," they replied in sync.
Joey knew one thing for sure:
As long as Zebro was with Killua, Illumi wouldn't attack them.
He and Gon were bait.
That's all.
Gon climbed into the passenger seat.
"Uh, Joey... do you even know how to drive?"
"I learned on automatic, but passed the manual test." Joey twisted the key. "It'll be fine."
"Automatic?"
"You'll learn when it's your turn."
The car moved smoothly down the road.
Dark tint on the rear windows made it impossible to see who was inside.
Perfect for misdirection.
Still, Gon stayed tense.
Illumi was Hisoka's friend.
And anyone associated with that psychopath couldn't be weak.
Gon didn't believe for a second they could win a straight fight.
But they didn't need to. They just had to stall.
If Illumi struck, they'd call Nove.
Nove would open the door from the Fourth-Dimensional Mansion.
Morel, waiting on standby, would instantly leap through preset portals into whichever car needed help.
Honestly?
This operation made the manga look cheap by comparison.
But the Zoldycks were unpredictable.
In the end, it came down to Killua's resolve.
Joey wasn't worried.
After meeting him, he knew Killua would use Nanika to remove Andre's curse if worst came to worst.
Killua had already accepted that burden.
That was enough.
As for Alluka—
Joey watched her closely.
Definitely a girl.
Which meant: the Zoldycks deliberately used neutral titles—"younger brother," "son"—even for daughters.
Probably a defensive measure for an assassin family.
As Joey idly mused over this, he drove on.
The roads were mostly empty.
By the time they hit the city outskirts, a few cars appeared, but it was still 3 a.m.—the nightlife had long ended.
Near the hospital, Gon's phone buzzed.
Text from Nove:
"Illumi made contact. Intercepted Killua. With me and Morel present, he backed off. Situation stabilized. Rejoining the convoy. Meet you at the hospital."
Gon exhaled hard.
Relief flooded him.
Then—
ROOOOAAAAAR.
The sound of a semi-truck revving hard.
Blinding lights.
Gon turned instinctively toward the window—
And saw it.
A behemoth in the dark, barreling toward them at full speed.
"LOOK OUT!!"
But the truck wasn't what hit them.
From the opposite side, another mid-sized van came out of nowhere and slammed into them.
BANG!!
Their tires screamed.
The car rolled.
Sparks showered the asphalt as metal scraped the road, flipping toward the curb—
And the screen went black.