No more skyscrapers, not to mention bright, glittering lights.
The rows of houseboats were like stranded whales, their rotting wooden exteriors setting the tone of this place.
The walls around were covered in graffiti, mafia symbols, distorted faces, and smeared slogans overlapping each other.
In a corner, the remains of a dismantled vehicle sat abandoned, only a rust-colored shell like an insect carcass scattered across withered grass.
The shrill wail of police sirens in the distance seemed like a never-ending background sound.
Mixed with the never-ending arguments, mafia laughter, and the delirious screeches of those who had taken some kind of white substance.
Luke soon found the meeting place he had agreed on.
An abandoned building located in a remote area of this district.
Well, the Phantom Troupe did have a strangely good affinity for these remote spots.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
His footsteps echoed dully against the vacant floors.
"Looks like someone arrived ahead of schedule."
The perception transmitted back by the released En allowed Luke to immediately grasp the situation inside.
So, when he entered the innermost base, someone had already been waiting there for a long time. "Yo, Captain!"
The now-grown, handsome, blond, blue-eyed Shalnark raised a hand and greeted Luke with a bright smile befitting a sunny youth.
Luke glanced at Shalnark, then his gaze turned towards Chrollo, who was sitting on a stone staircase.
Chrollo was quietly reading an ancient book.
Noticing Luke's arrival, he looked up, and they exchanged a silent nod.
Between the two, nothing more needed to be said.
Pakunoda was there as well; the four of them had already arrived.
"Machi told me she's already off the airship and on the way here."
"Phinks also contacted me. He and Feitan have entered the city and will be heading here shortly..."
Shalnark reported. "Uvogin and Nobunaga haven't contacted me."
"But honestly, those two are the last ones I would worry about being late."
Everyone in the troupe knew Uvogin was the one who adhered to time the most.
Since it wasn't time yet, he would certainly arrive before the deadline.
"As for Franklin—"
"I'm here."
Before Shalnark could finish, Franklin's deep, steady voice sounded from the entrance.
His increasingly massive and muscular frame stepped inside.
Behind him was a man completely wrapped in bandages, eyes peeking curiously through the gaps.
"So this is the new member you mentioned before?"
Shalnark looked at Bonolenov Ndongo with curiosity and scanned him up and down.
Then…
"Phinks will definitely get along with him."
His opinion matched Franklin's earlier judgment based purely on appearance.
Pakunoda nodded in agreement.
"A Gyudondond... Tribe member, huh..."
Chrollo gently closed his book, eyes flickering as he examined the bandages.
A tribe that raised its members under harsh, specialized training that involved breaking the body and enduring inhuman suffering from childhood, leaving behind a broken form…
In Chrollo's view, it was practically the perfect foundation for Vows and Limitations.
That kind of innate cruelty and pain, as if born for a powerful Nen ability.
Even he couldn't help but feel curious: if this man from the Gyudondond Tribe mastered Nen… What terrifying power might he unlock?
"You're Bonolenov Ndongo, right?"
Luke had already received Franklin's message on the way.
"I heard Elder Veyron recommended you, and Franklin already performed an initial evaluation..."
Luke looked at the towering, two-meter figure.
"Franklin is very satisfied with you, so he requested to bring you here. I naturally have no objections, and..."
He glanced at Franklin with a smile.
"He even asked me to personally confirm."
"But to me, that's no longer necessary. Since Franklin says you're fine, then you're certainly fine."
"Welcome to the Phantom Troupe."
Luke's straightforward acceptance left the silent and observant Bonolenov Ndongo momentarily stunned.
"That's it? I passed and can join just like that?!"
"No additional recruitment test or anything?!"
"Didn't Franklin already do it?"
Luke said casually, "If Franklin acknowledges you, then we have no objections."
"Exactly."
Shalnark and Pakunoda nodded in unison.
Chrollo also expressed no disagreement.
Franklin's character, sense of responsibility, and seriousness were recognized by everyone in the Phantom Troupe.
If Franklin approved, then there was surely no issue.
"So easy..."
Bonolenov Ndongo's eyes beneath the bandages widened slightly.
To be honest, after passing Franklin's evaluation and traveling from Meteor City to Ambrossa with him, he had heard Franklin mention the basics of the Phantom Troupe.
The most impressive of all was the existence of the Phantom Troupe's leader.
Even though Franklin restrained his emotions along the way… Bonolenov Ndongo could still clearly detect the reverence hidden in his words.
Now standing here, seeing every member in front of him, they were exactly as he had imagined.
At first, he instinctively thought that the man sitting on the stone steps, holding an ancient book and bearing a cross-shaped mark on his forehead, was the leader of the Phantom Troupe.
After all, that aura of his naturally made people feel he carried the dignity of a leader, a figure who stood at the head of an organization.
But later, Bonolenov Ndongo also noticed that many other people's gazes were focused on that man who looked utterly ordinary.
Franklin had told Bonolenov Ndongo that the Phantom Troupe operated under a dual-leader system, with both a leader and a deputy leader.
He just hadn't expected that the man who visually seemed more like a leader... Turned out to be only the deputy.
Because when Franklin first walked in here, the first person he looked toward was that plain-looking man.
And when that man opened his mouth to speak, that was the moment Bonolenov Ndongo fully realized... He was the true leader of the Phantom Troupe.
"So the deputy has presence, but the leader doesn't draw attention? Is that it?"
That was Bonolenov Ndongo's very first impression upon meeting the Phantom Troupe.
He didn't know much about the internal structure of the Phantom Troupe.
In fact, not only he, but many external forces had never even heard of the Phantom Troupe.
Most of what circulated was merely rumors inside Meteor City.
But even within those rumors, after arriving here and listening around, Bonolenov Ndongo had already heard three or four different versions.
It showed how mysterious and unknown the Phantom Troupe still was.
He originally came along with Franklin, hoping to catch a glimpse of the iceberg beneath the surface.