"Hasn't anyone tried to contact you? Any more info about the base?"
Pokkle ran lightly beside Joey, voice low but clear—fishing for intel.
"No one."
Joey kept his tone neutral. "Since leaving the village, I haven't received a single transmission."
Not what Pokkle wanted to hear.
But after traveling with Joey for this long, Pokkle had started to piece together the man's attitude.
Joey clearly wanted one thing:
To get out of NGL. Alive.
His full cooperation, his willingness to show the phone, the map—it all pointed to one motive.
"Take me with you."
And that desperation confirmed something else:
Joey hadn't been lying about the Chimera Ants' numbers—or their threat.
"You said you were being chased before?" Pokkle asked.
Joey held up four fingers.
"I counted four. One looked like a monkey, another like some kind of wolfhound—shot both with the rifle. There was a third, like a roly-poly bug… I hit it with a grenade, tore up its guts. Not sure if it died, though. Thing was tough."
He didn't mention Killer Queen or Sheer Heart Attack.
Just guns and grenades. The mundane.
Let Pokkle draw his own conclusions about the rest.
Pokkle gave a small nod.
He hadn't sensed any Chimera Ants after arriving—Joey's kill count seemed accurate.
Still…
His gaze flicked subtly over Joey's form, eyes narrowing.
He ran a mental checklist.
No aura. No Hatsu behavior. No Ren or Zetsu.
From posture, reactions, physical control… Pokkle was about 80% sure Joey couldn't use Nen.
But two things didn't add up.
First:
That "Nen beast."
The humanoid, muscular guardian that clung to Joey like a second shadow.
That wasn't normal.
Even Pokkle, not long in the Hunter business, could tell it wasn't your average Conjured beast.
And Joey could command it.
That meant some connection, even if he didn't use Nen consciously.
And the explosions?
That tank-like thing?
Definitely an offensive Nen construct.
So what the hell was Joey?
Could someone without Nen… have a battle-type Nen beast?
And if so, was there more?
What else was he hiding?
Second:
Joey had seen Pokkle's Nen.
That wasn't supposed to happen.
Non-Nen users couldn't perceive aura unless it was cranked up massively—and even then it would be vague.
Pokkle remembered when he'd drawn his bow and loosed the red energy arrow at the Chimera Ant.
It had been a test.
If Joey couldn't see Nen, he would've been confused at Pokkle's mimed draw and release.
No reaction.
Maybe a frown, a tilted head.
But Joey had flinched.
His eyes had locked onto Pokkle's glowing hand.
He'd felt threatened.
Proof.
He could see aura.
That didn't make sense.
Unless…
Joey was a hidden master, faking inexperience.
Or…
He was something else entirely.
Pokkle thought back to their first meeting.
Joey hadn't looked directly at the Stand—the "Nen beast."
Hadn't acknowledged it.
Maybe he hadn't seen it then.
But he saw the arrow now.
So had something changed?
Did he suddenly become aware of aura?
Or had he always been able to sense it—but only when it was dense enough?
It didn't help that Pokkle had investigated him in the village.
Locals said Joey—"Yoshikage Kira"—was just a quiet agriculturalist.
Didn't speak much.
Refused all matchmaking offers.
A bit obsessive about symmetry—his crops were geometrically precise.
Even the scarecrows in his fields wore matching clothes and posed identically.
Odd, sure.
But not dangerous.
Yet when Pokkle had called out his name in the forest, Joey had barely blinked.
Too calm.
He knew who I was.
Which meant Joey had probably been watching them.
And the fact he handled weapons?
That pegged him as Organization—the kind of insider who had access to firearms in this anti-tech country.
So the most likely conclusion?
Joey had been investigating Pokkle's group, quietly gathering info.
Which made Pokkle's own threat gesture—miming an arrow—also a test.
He hadn't just been warning Joey.
He was seeing how much Joey already knew.
And the way Joey's eyes tracked Ponzu's bees?
That confirmed it.
Pokkle had already retracted most of the swarm, leaving just a couple for recon.
But Joey had noticed them anyway.
How the hell did he know Ponzu could control bees?
Pokkle's thoughts circled back again and again to Joey's weird inconsistencies.
He wasn't acting like a spy.
But he knew things he shouldn't.
Didn't understand Nen—but could perceive it.
Had a powerful Stand—but acted like he barely knew what it did.
What are you?
Beside him, Joey raised his head—and their eyes locked.
Polite. Calm.
A slight nod.
Pokkle mirrored it.
Just as polite.
Just as unreadable.
Then both of them looked away.
Joey, meanwhile, was having his own internal crisis.
Why the hell can I see Nen?
He knew—knew—he hadn't awakened it.
He couldn't use Ten, or Ren, or any technique.
But he had seen that red arrow clear as day.
Felt the pressure in Pokkle's eyes.
Felt the threat.
Maybe it was his strong spiritual pressure?
Or…
Maybe it was the Stand?
He thought of the wallet again.
The strange, luminous glow.
That light had felt like Nen.
Maybe that thing had changed him somehow.
But he wasn't about to ask Pokkle for help.
Not when Pokkle was already suspicious.
Joey cast a glance toward Pokkle—just as Pokkle looked at him.
Both nodded.
Both turned away.
And for a flickering instant…
Each thought:
The other one's hiding something.
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