The airship was smaller than the commercial liners Liam had taken before. Compact. Designed for maybe a dozen passengers at most. It sat in the open tarmac, engines humming softly.
A flight attendant in a crisp uniform smiled and gestured toward the boarding ramp. "This way, please."
Liam and Shizuku climbed aboard. The interior was sparse. Soft leather seats arranged in rows. A few overhead compartments. Everything clean and expensive-looking.
There was only one other passenger.
Tetsuro sat cross-legged in the middle of the cabin, eyes closed. Meditating. His aura had a different quality than the last time Liam had seen him. Denser. More controlled. The guy had been training.
Tetsuro's eyes opened at the sound of footsteps. He glanced at Liam and Shizuku. His expression flickered. Recognition. Then something like resignation.
He's gotten stronger, Tetsuro thought. Then he grimaced. Wait. Has he? I can't even tell anymore.
He smiled bitterly to himself and nodded in greeting.
Liam raised a hand. "Hey."
He and Shizuku found seats a few rows back. The engines kicked up a notch. The landing gear retracted with a hydraulic hiss. The airship lifted off smoothly, rising into the sky.
Just the three of us, huh?
Either not many 200th-floor fighters had qualified for invitations, or most of them had declined. Liam suspected it was a mix of both. Floor Masters were busy. Regular fighters on the 200th floor were either too weak to get eight wins or too smart to waste time on a ten-day martial arts expo.
Liam stared out the porthole. The city shrank below them. Buildings became toy blocks. Roads turned into lines. The airship banked, heading east.
"What's wrong?"
He turned back to Shizuku. She sat across from him, chin resting on her hand, staring at him with that blank, unreadable expression.
"Is there something on my face?" Liam asked.
"No." Shizuku tilted her head slightly. "Why are we going to Sensui Mountain?"
"What do you mean?"
"Suzaku is going for the Scarlet Eyes," she said. "That makes sense. But why are you going?"
Liam leaned back in his seat. "Wing said we're still in the development stage, right? Traveling helps. Seeing new things, meeting different fighters. It's good for Hatsu development. And besides, my aura growth is slowing down now that I'm close to twenty thousand. Feels like I've hit another bottleneck."
According to Wing, every ten thousand aura was an invisible threshold. Every three hours of Ken was a barrier most people couldn't cross. Liam was approaching six hours now. The second major wall.
Six hours of continuous Ken. That's an entire workday of maintaining maximum output.
The time investment was brutal. Every training session took longer. Every mistake cost more. Without insane focus and discipline, most people would quit at this stage. Or convince themselves they'd hit their natural limit and stop pushing.
If you had six hours, what would you do with it? Train? Or literally anything else?
Liam shook his head. No point dwelling on it. He'd committed to the grind. No turning back now.
The airship cut through layers of clouds. Ahead, a mountain rose from the horizon like a titan's spear. Sensui Mountain. Massive. Snow-capped peaks piercing the sky.
"Wow! Brother Wing, is that Sensui Mountain?"
"Brother Wing, what's the competition at the conference like?"
"Wow! There are so many airships! Why are they all flying to the top of the mountain? Why are we going to the bottom?"
The boy asking the questions was maybe eleven years old. Dressed in a white martial arts uniform with a red belt. His hair stuck up in spiky tufts. He practically vibrated with excitement, bouncing on his heels beside Wing.
Wing sat calmly in his seat, reading a book. He closed it with a soft thump and looked at the boy. "Hart. One question at a time."
"Sorry, Brother Wing!"
Wing adjusted his glasses. "The airships flying to the summit are for the art exhibition attendees. Painters, collectors, musicians. They're VIPs. They get to skip the climb. But us? The martial artists? We're going to the back of the mountain first. We gather at the base and climb up together."
A martial artist from another school sitting nearby nodded. "It's tradition. The old way of participating in the Sensui Mountain Conference."
Hart's eyes went wide. "But why is there even an art exhibition? Shouldn't it just be martial arts?"
The other martial artist shrugged. "If they hadn't added the art exhibition, this conference would've been canceled years ago."
Another fighter chimed in. "Think about it. How many martial artists with real strength are going to waste time on an exchange event with no prize money, no media coverage, and no commercial value?"
The group muttered in agreement. Hart looked confused but slowly nodded like he understood.
The airship descended. It touched down gently at the base of the mountain. The engines powered down. The cabin door hissed open.
Hart practically leaped out of his seat. He rushed to the door, stopped at the threshold, and looked up.
His jaw dropped.
All around him, other young disciples were stepping off their airships. They stared upward, frozen in place. Gasps and murmurs rippled through the crowd.
Hart couldn't blame them.
The mountain was unreal. It towered above them like a wall between earth and heaven. Clouds wrapped around the upper half, obscuring the peak. The sheer scale made him feel tiny. Insignificant. Like an ant staring up at a skyscraper.
But the mountain itself wasn't what made everyone stop.
It was the stairs.
A massive stone staircase zigzagged up the mountainside. Each step was enormous. The shortest steps were taller than Hart. The tallest steps were over two meters high. Taller than Wing. Taller than any human had a right to build stairs.
It's like a ladder for giants.
The stairs climbed endlessly upward, disappearing into the clouds. Some sections wound back and forth in tight switchbacks, clearly designed to exhaust anyone foolish enough to attempt the climb.
"It's called the Ladder to Heaven," a voice said from behind the crowd.
Everyone turned.
A middle-aged man stood at the edge of the gathering. He had gray hair streaked with white, but his face was smooth and youthful. No wrinkles. Rosy cheeks. He looked like he was in his forties, but his eyes had the depth of someone far older. He wore simple robes and stroked a short beard thoughtfully.
The man looked up at Sensui Mountain and smiled. "In ancient times, martial artists believed that climbing this ladder would allow them to transcend mortality. To become something more than human."
He chuckled softly. "Of course, what they really meant was that the process of climbing would force open your aura nodes. By the time you reached the summit, you'd have awakened your Nen. That's the 'transcendence' they were talking about."
His expression turned serious. He swept his gaze across the young martial artists. "In other words, if any of you haven't mastered Nen yet and try to force your way up this staircase, there's a very real risk you'll fall and die. Think carefully before you begin."
Hart blinked. "Who's this old guy?"
Wing grabbed Hart by the head and pulled him into a bow. "Sky Master. I didn't expect you to be waiting at the base of the mountain."
The others quickly followed suit, bowing respectfully.
The Sky Master looked at Wing and smiled. "I remember Netero's little disciple. A cute girl, if I recall. How did she turn into a young man?"
Wing's face flushed. "Sky Master, please don't tease me. The disciple of President Netero you're thinking of is my master, Biscuit Krueger. She couldn't attend this time."
The Sky Master waved his hand dismissively. "Ah, same difference. I'm getting old. Memory's not what it used to be."
Everyone stared at him.
You look like you could run a marathon.
The man's skin was flawless. His posture was perfect. His aura radiated vitality. If this guy was "old," then Netero must be ancient beyond comprehension.
The crowd murmured among themselves. More martial artists arrived from other airships. The gathering grew.
The Sky Master stroked his beard. "Don't rush. We're still waiting for a few more."
A moment later, the sound of engines echoed overhead.
Another airship descended. Small. Sleek. The logo on the side was unmistakable.
Heavens Arena.
"Someone from the Arena came?"
"I thought they stopped sending fighters years ago."
"The Sky Master built that place himself, didn't he?"
The airship touched down. The cabin door opened.
Three people stepped out. Two men and one woman.
Hart's eyes went wide. He tugged on Wing's sleeve. "Brother Wing! Weren't you at Heavens Arena before? I heard you got a ten-win streak and became a little Floor Master!"
"Technically, ten wins only qualifies you to challenge a Floor Master," Wing corrected. "And it wasn't easy. Especially the loss."
Hart's head whipped around. "You lost? Is it one of them?" He squinted at the three approaching figures. The woman with black hair looked harmless. He ruled her out. His gaze shifted to the tall, muscular man walking in front. "Brother Wing, is it him?"
Tetsuro overheard the muttering. He glanced at Hart and spoke calmly. "I lost to Wing."
"It's not him," Wing added. He watched the two figures behind Tetsuro. "It's him."
Liam walked over. "What's 'him' and 'not him'?"
He looked down. A kid in a martial arts uniform stood beside Wing, staring up at him with wide eyes. The boy was maybe eleven. Short. Spiky hair. His aura was active, though. Nodes open. Nen trained. Decent for his age.
Liam nodded. "Hey."
Hart stumbled backward, eyes locked on Liam like he'd just seen a ghost.
Both Liam and Shizuku tilted their heads in confusion.
What's his deal?
Wing smiled. "I told him I lost to you. Now he's scared."
Hart's brain worked overtime. The big guy lost to Brother Wing. Brother Wing lost to this person. So how strong is this guy?!
Liam smirked. "What's the big deal? Wing's not that impressive."
Hart bared his teeth at Liam. Rude!
Wing and Liam exchanged a glance. Both grinned.
A loud laugh echoed from nearby. The Sky Master looked at Liam and Shizuku with approval, then raised his voice to address the entire crowd.
"Everyone, please begin your ascent. I'll be waiting at the summit."
He trailed off mid-sentence.
Liam blinked. The man was gone. Vanished. Like he'd never been there.
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
Liam turned to Wing. "Who the hell was that?"
"The Sky Master," Wing said. "Founder of Heavens Arena. He's from the same generation as President Netero."
Liam's eyes went wide. "Wait. The same generation? As Netero?"
Netero is over a hundred years old!
Liam looked back at where the Sky Master had been standing. The man had looked forty at most. Smooth skin. Perfect health. No signs of aging.
"How?" Liam asked.
Wing shrugged. "Some kind of Nen ability, probably. Maybe Specialization. Or Conjuration. I don't really know."
Before anyone could discuss further, Tetsuro moved. He leaped onto the first stone step. His body moved like a cat's. Smooth. Agile. He climbed to the second step without hesitation, then the third.
The crowd murmured. Impressed. This fighter from Heavens Arena was clearly a cut above the rest.
Liam watched Tetsuro disappear into the mist higher up the staircase.
Then he looked at Shizuku. "Ready?"
She nodded.
They stepped forward. The climb began.
[TN: Hart is not Zushi, at this time, Zushi hasn't become Wing student, Zushi became Wing's student at least six months before registering at the Heavens Arena. Zushi registers at the Heavens Arena on the same day as Gon and Killua]