When Owl woke up, he found himself tied to a hotel chair.
Standing right in front of him was a pink-haired girl. She was eyeing him up and down like a shopper inspecting produce—or maybe a butcher deciding where to make the first cut. The look gave Owl a distinct chill, as if she were contemplating harvesting his organs right then and there.
"He's awake," Neon called out toward the hallway.
Ronin and Kurapika pushed the door open and walked in together. Ronin was casually eating a sandwich, while Kurapika's chains continued to float ominously around him.
Until they either returned Owl's ability or passed it on to someone else, Kurapika couldn't deactivate the Steal Chain on his index finger.
The reason they'd been standing in the hall was to discuss exactly what to do with their prisoner.
Owl's ability was incredibly useful, but Kurapika's own power—Emperor Time—put a heavy strain on his body, meaning he couldn't keep Owl's ability stolen indefinitely. If they wanted to utilize Owl's power long-term, they either needed him to cooperate willingly or force him into submission.
Ronin had proposed a different method, but Kurapika felt it was too cruel. It made them look too much like the villains, so he wanted to hold off on that option unless absolutely necessary.
Owl didn't know what was going through Kurapika's mind, but he could read a trace of pity in the blond boy's eyes.
Ronin's thoughts, however, were simple.
He didn't trust Owl.
Since he didn't have the Rinnegan yet and couldn't turn Owl into a "Pain" body, the next best option he could come up with was copying Sasori of the Red Sand: using Puppet Technique to control him.
After fusing with his fifth pair of Sharingan, Ronin could effectively call himself a master of ninjutsu—an otherworldly "Professor."
S-Rank. That was the highest difficulty rating for techniques.
Since Ronin could perform S-Rank jutsu, he had essentially mastered the vast majority of ninja arts. Aside from specific Bloodline Limits (Kekkei Genkai) other than the Sharingan, Summoning Jutsu, techniques requiring severe body modification, forbidden arts, or jutsu needing specific partner coordination, he could pull off almost anything.
He could even manage the techniques that required special tools if he had time to prepare the necessary materials.
Unfortunately, that mastery didn't include the creation of "Human Puppets."
Turning a human into a puppet was Sasori's unique genius; in the entire ninja world, Sasori was the only one who had perfected that art.
So, Ronin had to settle for the next best thing. He would use the technique Sasori employed during the Fourth Great Ninja War when he ran out of puppets and had to use the enemy forces instead: Red Secret Technique: Performance of a Hundred Puppets—specifically, the manipulation of a living body.
He wouldn't need Owl's permission. With the Puppet Technique, Owl would become a marionette on strings.
This kind of manipulation reminded him of Neferpitou. If Pitou were here, she could probably turn Owl into a pseudo-zombie puppet that retained some of its Nen, which would be even easier to use.
Ronin had also figured out the logistics of transport.
They could use Owl's own ability—Fun Fun Cloth—to shrink Owl down and wrap him up in his own cloth. He could carry him in his pocket like a handkerchief. He'd just have to toss some food into the cloth now and then, like feeding a pet, to keep him alive, and only let him out when needed.
To Ronin, the plan was practically perfect.
It was just that, much like Kurapika said, it wasn't exactly something a "good guy" would do. It didn't treat Owl like a human being.
But did they really need to treat him like one?
Ronin had zero sympathy for the mafia. If Kurapika's nice approach failed, Owl would eventually become Ronin's favorite new toy.
He could even use Owl's body to test out several techniques he'd been itching to try, like Sealing Jutsu or various Cursed Seals. Maybe Danzo's Tongue Cursing Seal? Or the Hyuga clan's Caged Bird? Or even Orochimaru's Cursed Seals!
Though, Ronin was a bit skeptical about whether Orochimaru's seal would work here, because...
In just a few moments, a dozen dark ideas had already flashed through Ronin's mind.
Meanwhile, Kurapika had started talking to Owl.
"Do you know where the Ten Dons are?" Kurapika asked, cutting straight to the point.
The chain on his ring finger dropped, ready to strike.
Owl had a vague idea of what Kurapika was doing, but he decided to press his luck. "I don't know."
His answer was met immediately by a heavy punch to the gut from Kurapika.
"Whoa," Neon gasped softly.
She hadn't expected the usually polite and gentle Kurapika to be so brutal during an interrogation.
"You'd best tell the truth and cooperate," Kurapika warned, his voice cold. "Otherwise, what awaits you will likely be a fate worse than death."
Behind him, Ronin gave a low, deliberate cough. It was a reminder to Kurapika—time was ticking.
Owl, however, managed a pained smirk. "Is that the best you can do?"
Arrogant guy, Ronin thought, the corner of his mouth twitching upward.
He knew that in the original manga, Owl had been interrogated, too. But his interrogator hadn't been the gentle Kurapika.
It had been Feitan.
Under Feitan's torture, Owl had likely spilled everything he knew, and probably things he didn't know, too. As for whether he died... well, Chrollo never used Owl's ability again after the Yorknew City arc, so Owl's survival was in a sort of Schrödinger's state.
But judging by the results of Feitan's interrogation, this guy wasn't nearly as tough as he was pretending to be.
Ronin didn't say anything to Kurapika, though. He just stood back and watched him struggle. If Kurapika couldn't get the answers, Ronin would step in.
Ninja Art: Mind Reading Jutsu.
It was a technique that allowed the user to read a target's thoughts without any mechanical devices.
In the Naruto world, Inoichi Yamanaka had used it to extract vital intel from a Rain Ninja. Aoba Yamashiro used it too, though he famously failed when trying to use it on Kisame.
Regardless, the ability to directly access someone's memories was incredibly powerful. It was essentially the same as the ability used by Pakunoda of the Phantom Troupe.
The interrogation dragged on for over an hour, but Kurapika got very little out of him.
Finally, Ronin stepped in.
He formed the necessary hand seals, placed one hand on Owl's forehead, and placed the other on his own forehead.
In the next second, his vision shifted. He began to scroll through Owl's memories from a third-person, almost god-like perspective.
He rewound past the gathering of the Shadow Beasts—seeing several members he'd never met before—back to a hotel room where Owl met a man with a scarred face. The man's name was Raymond, one of the Ten Dons who had summoned the Shadow Beasts.
He was Owl's direct superior.
The memory rewound further. The name of the hotel appeared in Ronin's field of view.
The floor number, the room number, even the number of mafia guards stationed along the route—everything surfaced from Owl's memory and was burned into Ronin's mind.
Ronin opened his eyes. There was a thin sheen of sweat on his forehead, but the Chakra consumption was less than he had expected.
"Let's go. Hotel Yadan, Room 1801," Ronin said.
As he spoke, he converted his Chakra into invisible threads that shot out and pierced into Owl's body.
For the first time, a look of genuine terror appeared in Owl's eyes.