"Surprised?" Uvogin's face was full of smug satisfaction. "Once I confirmed you'd head to Z City, all I had to do was get there before you. The local thugs became my best set of eyes."
Even if Uvogin hadn't explained it, Ronin could more or less guess what had happened.
So when Uvogin gave him the answer, Ronin merely raised his hand and made a short gesture meaning just a little.
"Yeah, I'm a bit surprised. You're a lot smarter than I thought. I figured you were just a loud, barking gorilla."
What truly surprised Ronin wasn't Uvogin's method, but the fact that this guy had the patience to wait here for him.
A simple-minded brute, yet incredibly grudge-holding—and just like Ronin, someone who didn't let grudges carry over overnight.
"You sharp-tongued little bastard," Uvogin snarled. "Once I rip out your tongue, let's see what you can still say!"
Nen surged around Uvogin, forming Ren.
Believing in striking first, Ronin immediately began forming hand seals the instant Uvogin moved.
Snake – Ram – Monkey – Boar – Horse – Tiger
The six seals were completed in a split second. Ronin then sharply inhaled, leaned back, snapped forward, and exhaled in one powerful breath.
Flames erupted instantly!
Fire Release · Great Fireball Technique!
Blazing fire condensed into a massive sphere. The roaring flames surged forward, smashing through glass with a series of explosive crashes as they charged straight at Uvogin.
Uvogin had already been mentally prepared as he advanced.
The moment he saw the change in Ronin's eyes and the hand seals, he knew the kid was about to use an ability.
But seeing Ronin spit out fire directly still shook him to the core.
Even a Transmuter who specialized in turning Nen into flames shouldn't be able to use such an ability so effortlessly!
But trapped in the narrow corridor, there was nowhere to dodge.
So Uvogin planted his feet, twisted his body, and condensed even more powerful Nen into his fist.
The instant the flames reached him, Uvogin exhaled sharply and threw a punch straight into the fire.
Super Destruction Punch!
This was Nen unleashed in its purest form—an explosive straight punch that fully combined his monstrous physique with his Enhancement-type Nen.
Boom!
The sonic boom rang out after the punch was thrown. A violent shockwave erupted, colliding head-on with the incoming flames.
The front of the fireball caved in—then the flames were pierced straight through.
Uvogin's long hair whipped wildly in the turbulent air, but the fire could no longer threaten him.
However, when he looked through the hole blasted through the flames, Ronin was nowhere to be seen at the other end of the corridor.
Did he escape again?
Or was he planning another sneak attack like before?
But on an airship—where could you possibly run?
Uvogin's lips curled upward. If Ronin planned to leave by airship, then he'd turn this entire vessel into the kid's coffin.
Ronin really was no longer in the corridor.
But instead of heading toward the passenger cabins, he had used the Great Fireball Technique to blow out a window and was now outside the hull of the airship.
Uvogin's toughness… didn't seem quite as terrifying as it had in the manga.
Even though Uvogin had punched straight through the Great Fireball, Ronin couldn't shake that feeling.
He even felt that, right now, he wasn't completely helpless against Uvogin.
Ronin believed there were two main reasons for this.
First, this wasn't the Uvogin from more than three years later. His development of Nen hadn't yet reached its peak.
In fact, even the Uvogin from the Yorknew City arc probably hadn't reached his true peak yet.
Second, the evolution of the Sharingan had granted Ronin more chakra, giving him confidence.
Combined with the Sharingan's perception, Uvogin's movements didn't even seem fast to him anymore. Ronin was confident he could keep up.
But even if he could keep up, Ronin knew that defeating Uvogin would still require some kind of external factor.
Breaking through Uvogin's defense was still a major problem.
More importantly, the key to him being able to fight Uvogin at all was maintaining the Sharingan state—and the cost of doing so was far greater for Ronin than it was for Uvogin.
So a prolonged battle was absolutely out of the question.
An ambush would be best—or perhaps…
Ronin's gaze swept across the outer hull of the airship.
Noisy voices echoed from inside the corridor. Someone had noticed something was wrong.
After all, ever since the window shattered, strong winds had been pouring nonstop into the airship.
Ronin pressed himself tightly against the hull, not daring to move.
He knew all too well how sharp Uvogin's senses were as an Enhancer. Even the slightest scraping sound could give him away while Uvogin was on full alert.
He was also wary of Uvogin using En—an advanced application of Ten and Ren. Given their current distance, if Uvogin spread his Nen with En, it would be easy to detect Ronin clinging to the outside of the hull.
Uvogin's expression darkened.
A large number of crew members rushed into the corridor, approaching him with concern. On one hand, they wanted to understand what was going on; on the other, they were trying to guide Uvogin away from this "dangerous" area.
At the same time, with his keen hearing, Uvogin caught snippets of crew members contacting the captain, suggesting the airship turn back for repairs.
So this was Ronin's real objective.
If the airship landed, Ronin would have far more room to escape.
Realizing this, Uvogin immediately turned and headed toward the cockpit. He couldn't allow the airship to land.
The sky was the perfect place to corner that little mouse.
"Sir—" a crew member tried to speak.
But an irritated Uvogin abruptly raised his hand, grabbing the crewman's head like a basketball.
Crunch!
Even a hardened skull couldn't withstand Uvogin's overwhelming strength. The crewman's head burst like a watermelon in his grip.
The sudden brutality threw the entire corridor—crew and observing passengers alike—into chaos.
But just as Uvogin continued forward, he suddenly stopped and turned his head toward the window.
From the moment Ronin spat fire to the instant Uvogin punched through the flames, only a few seconds had passed.
Yet the crew had entered the corridor immediately afterward. Which meant that if Ronin had fled through the corridor, someone would have seen him.
"Before you came in," Uvogin asked coldly, "did anyone leave this corridor?"
As the words left his mouth, his Nen spread outward.
He might not be great at using En, but he wasn't trash like Nobunaga, whose En barely reached three or four meters.
Twelve meters.
That was the current range of Uvogin's En.
If Ronin was within that range, there was no way Uvogin wouldn't sense him—especially since Ronin entered Zetsu during combat and returned to Ten afterward.
A newly awakened Nen user simply didn't have the control needed to perfectly blend in with ordinary people.
Uvogin didn't get an answer from the crew.
But he didn't need one.
Because his En had already fed information back to him—someone was hiding outside the airship.
"Found you!"
Uvogin leapt violently into the air, his massive hand clawing toward the side wall!
The metal plating crumpled like tofu under his grip as he pierced straight through the airship's hull—
But the hand that broke through the wall failed to catch Ronin.