Gourmet Hunter (HxH Fanfic)

The unknown liquid in the syringe caused Desser's body to swell significantly, but it seemed to come with severe side effects. Desser's eyes bulged, and his face twisted in agony.

"Urgh urgh..."

With his windpipe crushed, Desser could only make incoherent sounds as he struggled. Bloody foam spilled from his mouth, sliding down his cheeks and onto the worktable.

The person who had injected the liquid put away the syringe and began carefully monitoring Desser's vital signs as his body underwent drastic changes. The other person, who had crushed Desser's windpipe, was jotting down notes in a notebook.

"The vital signs are stable. So far, the success rate is 78%." The person in charge of recording the data said in a cold, emotionless tone.

Desser's consciousness was still intact, but his strength was fading, and his struggles gradually subsided.

He felt despair and terror, realizing that his life was nearing its end.

He was the eldest son of Modeno, one of the Ten Dons, and was destined to take over his father's position, ruling over one of the ten districts across the five continents. That lofty life was something anyone would envy.

That was his future, a bright and promising future.

However, the light he had once eagerly anticipated had now plunged into eternal darkness.

Desser's consciousness grew hazy, but he could still faintly hear the conversation between the two people beside him.

"In half an hour, proceed with the baptism."

"Get Warehouse 9 ready."

Outside the glass, the bespectacled man pulled out a slice of pizza from somewhere and began eating it with his bare hands, taking bite after bite.

"As long as the success rate is above 50%, it will be qualified for official use, but I'm still not satisfied."

"Every limb is extremely precious. Even though there's a risk of death, we must reduce it to 10%."

"Just wait, Netero, and all you high-and-mighty bastards. We'll make you remember... the name of that flower."

Veins bulged at the corners of the bespectacled man's eyes, twitching slightly, revealing his inner turmoil.

He suddenly devoured the remaining pizza in one vicious bite, as if he were swallowing Netero and the so-called 'high-and-mighty bastards' he had mentioned.

The half-eaten slice of pizza filled his mouth, puffing out his cheeks. When the food in one's mouth is too large, it interferes with chewing, creating a painful experience.

However, the bespectacled man didn't chew. Veins began to surface on his face, and his eyes gleamed with a cold light as he swallowed the pizza whole.

Gulp…!

The unchewed pizza was rolled into a ball by his tongue and slid down his throat. From the outside, the movement of the foreign object was clearly visible as it traveled down his neck.

It looked so bizarre, as if the gentleman had no larynx and his esophagus was made of pure flesh.

After swallowing the pizza, the bespectacled man slowly extended his greasy right hand and placed it on the shoulder of one of the people sitting at the control console. He wiped his hand back and forth a few times to clean it, then withdrew his hand.

Afterwards, he picked up the wireless microphone and said indifferently: "I'll be waiting in Warehouse 9."

After saying that, he casually tossed the microphone onto the control console and left the room.

The person sitting at the control console carefully put the microphone away and then turned their attention to the situation inside the laboratory.

Time passed slowly, and soon, half an hour had gone by. Desser's vital signs remained stable, and his body had grown significantly larger, as if his physical abilities had been greatly enhanced in a short period.

"Let's begin."

The person recording the data spoke calmly.

The one who had injected the liquid into Desser nodded slightly and placed his hand on Desser's body, slowly injecting Aura into Desser's body.

He was going to forcibly open Desser's Aura Nodes, turning him into a Nen user.

Through this baptism, someone who knew nothing about Nen could gain the potential to become a Nen User in a short amount of time. However, the process was extremely dangerous. If the subject's physical condition wasn't up to par, the result was often death.

The liquid in the syringe seemed to have the effect of enhancing a person's physical abilities. This group had first strengthened Desser's body and then performed the baptism on him to reduce the risk of death.

The Aura rushed into Desser's body violently and pried open Desser's Aura Nodes with the most brutal means.

In less than thirty seconds, the man withdrew his hand and calmly observed Desser's condition.

In his eyes, he could see the Aura leaking from Desser's body, and the entire process had been effortless.

Desser's aura nodes had been forcibly opened. And since he's in semi-conscious state, Desser was unable to close them on his own, and his life energy began to seep out uncontrollably.

"He's ready to be sent to Warehouse 9."

The man who had performed the baptism on Desser spoke.

As soon as he finished speaking, the door to the laboratory opened, and two men in black uniforms entered. They grabbed the barely conscious Desser and dragged him out of the room.

The person recording the data followed closely behind.

The two men in black carried Desser to Warehouse 9, where the bespectacled man was already waiting for them. He wasn't alone, as there were two other men standing beside him, one tall and one short.

The tall man was burly, with a bald head covered in gruesome scars. The short man was as thin as a monkey, with a comical little mustache on his upper lip.

The three of them stood outside Warehouse 9, which was enclosed by reinforced glass. Through the transparent walls, they could see a strange, emotionless creature sitting inside.

It was a creature with a human head, but a beast's body from the neck down.

From its appearance, the lower half of the creature resembled a black-furred gorilla, while the head was that of a human with a fierce, meaty face. The head was shaved, and the number '726' was tattooed on it, which is a prisoner identification number.

Law had once seen statues of creatures with animal heads and human bodies in the tomb, but this living being was the opposite, with a human head on an animal body.

This is Warehouse 9. In this area, there were a total of one hundred rooms, each containing a person who had undergone human modification. Like the creature in Warehouse 9, they all had human heads and animal bodies.

Judging solely from this human-headed gorilla hybrid, the combination of head and body seemed unnatural and grotesque, yet they had been successfully fused together.

This phenomenon closely resembled the creations Law could produce using his God Hand.

The glass of the room seemed to be one-way, preventing those inside from seeing out. However, the hybrid creature in the room appeared to sense the presence of the people outside.

It had been sitting quietly, but when the men in black brought Desser over, it suddenly looked up. Its inhuman eyes, filled with a cold, predatory gaze, locked onto Desser through the glass.

Then, its eyes revealed a greedy, intense desire. That was... appetite.

When the bespectacled man and his two subordinates had first arrived outside Warehouse 9, the hybrid creature had shown no reaction. But when Desser was brought over, it immediately responded.

This was because the creature could sense the Aura leaking from Desser's open Aura Nodes. The bespectacled man and his two subordinates were also Nen Users, but their Aura Nodes were closed.

This indicated that the hybrid creature had a certain level of sensitivity to Aura.

"Send the food in."

The bespectacled man looked at Desser, addressed him as food, and spoke in a rather cold tone.

The two men in black silently carried out the order, while the hybrid creature's gaze followed Desser's movements.

They had gone to great lengths to perform the baptism on Desser, only to use him as food...

…

Meanwhile, Sanbica had reached the central lake of Alcatraz Island. Through the thin mist over the water, she could vaguely make out the outline of the prison at the center.