With Ope Ope no Mi in Hunter x Hunter

The Chimera Ants weren't a recent arrival from the Dark Continent. If they were, neither the Hunter Association nor the V5 would have any data on them, let alone experts studying them. The current Chimera Ant incident was actually an anomaly. Normally, Chimera Ants are the size of regular ants, and their destructiveness comes from their sheer numbers, similar to how Kite killed a swarm of ants by shooting the ground when Gon and Killua first met him.

But don't be fooled by their small size—they're far from weak. Even Killua, who had Nen protection, was once injured by a single Chimera Ant. If an ant of this size poses such a threat, imagine how dangerous it would be if it were the size of a human. Even without Nen, it would be a formidable opponent for any Nen user.

The Hunter Association has always had teams hunting down dangerous Chimera Ants to prevent them from growing in number. In fact, this is the main job of many professional Hunters. The world is full of dangerous creatures, some small but extremely hazardous to humanity. Even Chimera Ants of regular ant size are a serious threat. They reproduce quickly, and if they spread into human society, the disaster would be enormous. They could easily kill people and bring down entire buildings by undermining their foundations.

Morau, for example, is an Ocean Hunter. His job is to clear out dangerous sea creatures. Compared to land creatures, those in the ocean are even more dangerous. The reason why humanity hasn't discovered the Dark Continent yet is largely due to these sea creatures. Without them, human explorers would have realized long ago that there's something unusual about their world.

The real mystery of this Chimera Ant incident is why a Queen the size of a human suddenly appeared when Chimera Ants are normally the size of regular ants.

Of course, Daniel Davis wasn't an expert on Chimera Ants, so he didn't know the answer to this. But he did have reservations about the experts' predictions. In the Marvel universe, countless disasters were caused by experts who underestimated risks. Like biohazard outbreaks and escaped laboratory creatures, these people seemed oblivious to the concept of preventive measures. It all came down to money—no one wanted to spend more than necessary.

For instance, if an expert said one inch of reinforced glass was enough to contain a biohazard zombie, they'd only install one inch. If it were Daniel, he'd insist on five inches, just to be safe.

As expected, on the third day, when Netero was about to continue clearing out Chimera Ant soldiers as planned, a surge of strange and powerful, yet deeply unsettling, Nen energy erupted from the Chimera Ant base. It was a type of Nen that awakened the darkest recesses of the human mind.

When Knov sensed this, his body began to tremble violently, and he quickly retreated into his Four-Dimensional Apartment.

Not long after, Netero emerged from the Apartment, his expression unusually grave as he felt the Nen coming from the Chimera Ant base. Even when facing the Royal Guards, he had maintained a smile, but now his demeanor had changed.

"It seems the Ant King has been born prematurely. This is troublesome."

"What happened? Why did the Ant King emerge so early?" Morau shouted.

"Something must have gone wrong. We'll find out soon enough," Netero replied softly after a moment of silence.

Shortly after Netero spoke, the powerful auras of the three Royal Guards that had been hovering outside the Chimera Ant base suddenly disappeared. Soon, the group realized that the Chimera Ant squad leaders were leading their soldiers out of the base and dispersing in all directions.

"It looks like something really did go wrong," Netero said as he charged forward. At this point, cautious tactics were no longer an option. Daniel and Morau followed closely behind him.

"Humans!" As the three of them stormed into the Chimera Ant base, they were quickly noticed by the Chimera Ant soldiers, who swarmed to confront them.

"President, you go ahead. We'll handle this," Morau said, smashing one of the charging Chimera Ant soldiers with his giant metal pipe.

Netero nodded at Morau's words and dashed forward. Meanwhile, Daniel reluctantly materialized a long sword and began fighting the Chimera Ants that rushed toward him.

"Is this the Chimera Ant Queen?" After defeating the soldiers, Daniel and Morau reached the depths of the cave, where they found the Chimera Ant Queen lying on the ground, a large hole in her chest. Several other Chimera Ants stood around her, their faces full of despair.

"Even in a different place, she couldn't escape this fate. Incorporating human genes into Chimera Ants… that's the biggest mutation of all." Human emotions are the most unpredictable. Just as a mother might summon superhuman strength to save her child from falling, these Chimera Ants, who were once loyal to their Queen, now chose to rebel. Instead of saving her, they were trying to escape her control and establish their own kingdoms.

"Send in a medical team," Netero said, taking the phone from Morau and dialing a number. He instructed the Hunter Association to send a medical team and dispatch other Hunters to chase down the fleeing Chimera Ants.

"Those scattered Ants need to be dealt with. I'm counting on you," Netero said, turning his gaze to Daniel.

"I'll do my best," Daniel replied. He took one last look at the dying Chimera Ant Queen before leaving, knowing he had no time to waste in pursuing the scattered Ants.

"Which way should I go? Let's go left." Leaving the Chimera Ant nest, Daniel chose a direction at random and sped off in pursuit. Netero's earlier order was essentially a bounty mission issued by the Hunter Association. When criminals become too troublesome, official authorities often delegate the task to the Hunter Association.

If the Phantom Troupe had continued causing trouble, the Hunter Association might have eventually sent experts to eliminate them, much like how Jing personally dealt with Razor on Greed Island.

"I've found them. I wonder if there are any strong Nen users among them," Daniel thought as he swiftly followed the trail of the Chimera Ants, soon catching up to a group of six.

"Six Chimera Ants, only one squad leader? I suppose it makes sense. The squad leaders would never submit to each other. Now that they're free from the Queen's control, none of them would want to be subordinate to the others."

"Who's there?" The leader of the group, a Chimera Ant with an elephant's head, turned to face Daniel as he blocked their path. The other five Ants, each with unique forms, immediately went on guard.

"A human… a rare human at that. Looks like I've finally found something worth enjoying," one of the Ants sneered as they eyed Daniel greedily.

When the Queen was alive, ordinary humans could be devoured by the lower-ranking Ants, but Nen users were reserved for the Queen alone. While ordinary Chimera Ants might not have cared, those with human genes were entirely different.

"Get down here!" As the Ants stared at him with hungry eyes, Daniel made his move, targeting a Chimera Ant flying above. From the shape of its wings, it seemed to be a cross between a nightingale and a Chimera Ant.

"Capture him!" The other Ants quickly joined the fray, each using their Nen abilities.

"Nothing special," Daniel thought, feeling a bit disappointed as he observed the six Ants' Nen abilities. Three were Emission-type, including the bird-like Ant, while the remaining three were two Enhancement-types and one Manipulation-type.

Realizing that none of them had the abilities he was looking for, Daniel didn't hold back. He used his chains to string the six Ants together and hung them from a nearby tree.

When Daniel returned to the Chimera Ant nest after dealing with the six Ants, the Queen had already passed away due to her severe injuries. The medical team summoned by Netero had only managed to prolong her life for a short while, even with Cheadle's help.

Such severe injuries could only be healed by something like the Angel's Breath Nen ability. The Queen's body was then taken away, as it still held great research value, especially for someone like Cheadle.

"Where's the President?" Daniel asked Cheadle as he surveyed the Hunter Association members transporting the Queen's body.

"He's gone back to prepare for the battle against the Ant King," Cheadle replied, then turned her attention back to organizing the transport of the Chimera Ants.

"You don't seem happy. Did something happen?" Daniel noticed Cheadle sigh deeply after finishing her tasks and curiously asked.

"If this situation isn't handled well, the President could be in danger," Cheadle replied after a moment of hesitation.

The Hunter Association could have sent more Hunters to deal with the Chimera Ants, but Pariston had rejected the proposal. Suddenly, all of his normally idle specialists were assigned tasks elsewhere.

The Chimera Ant incident was a major disaster. Even though the leaders of East Gorteau were corrupt, they were still members of the V5. Such a significant event required someone to take the fall, and it wasn't going to be the V5 officials. That left only Netero to bear the blame. As long as the Chimera Ants remained a threat, the pressure on Netero would only increase.

With external pressure from the V5 and internal sabotage by Pariston, it was no wonder Cheadle was so worried.

From the current situation, it seemed that even if the Chimera Ants were defeated, Netero might be forced to step down.

"You're worried,

 but you don't realize that Netero doesn't care about his position as Chairman," Daniel said. With Netero's influence within the Hunter Association, dealing with Pariston would be easy. He could remove Pariston from his Vice Chairman position with a single word.

In fact, Pariston's rise within the Association was entirely Netero's doing. Netero was bored, and since no one could match him in combat, he sought challenges in other areas. Pariston, who constantly caused him trouble, was the perfect opponent.

If Netero had appointed Cheadle as Vice Chairman instead, he would have been even more bored.

Daniel didn't say much more. He wasn't interested in the power struggles within the Hunter Association. Soon, most of the Association members in East Gorteau left, as the Chimera Ants had dispersed and there was no longer any need to stay.

In the end, only Daniel, Gon, Killua, Morau, Knov, and a few others remained, preparing to face the Ant King and the Royal Guards who had taken over the palace in East Gorteau.

The Ant King's side was too strong, and keeping too many people around would only lead to unnecessary casualties. Netero decided to adopt an elite strategy and began a closed-door training session, wearing his battle vest in preparation for the fight against the Ant King.

"Things are back on track. Meruem and Komugi will definitely meet," Daniel thought. Gungi was only played in East Gorteau, and Komugi was the unbeatable champion.

Daniel didn't take advantage of Netero's seclusion to storm the palace and kill Meruem and the Royal Guards. It wasn't that he sympathized with them—if he had any sympathy, it was only for Komugi.

Daniel's reason for not attacking was simple: Meruem's rise had indirectly changed the fate of East Gorteau. It was ironic, but the V5 and Hunter Association both knew about East Gorteau's situation, yet no one had acted to change it.

Perhaps some had wanted to intervene, but various restrictions had prevented them from doing so. After all, it wasn't their country. But now, Meruem had cleansed the country, wiping out its corrupt leadership.

For the next few days, Daniel and the others waited in East Gorteau for Netero's signal. Meanwhile, most of the Chimera Ants scattered around the world were hunted down.

The Hunter Association had learned about the Nen abilities of all the squad leaders from the survivors of the Chimera Ant nest. With this knowledge, and given that the Ants were unfamiliar with human tactics, it was only natural that they were defeated.

Those Ants who managed to escape and tried to seek refuge with the Ant King were intercepted by Daniel, Morau, and the others, thanks to the Hunter Association's intelligence network.

Not a single Chimera Ant made it into East Gorteau.

The chaos caused by the sudden appearance of the Chimera Ants was classified by the V5 as a new type of magical beast, and the events in East Gorteau were kept under wraps.

**PS:** Apologies for the delay. I won't skip updates tomorrow. I'm just a small-time author, so I'm not really affected by things like a "no-update holiday."

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