I think that Kurapika is betting on the fact that multiple people might benefit from a fall of the Kakin dictatorship.
This information is a big game changer for the incentives facing every single guard who is unhappy in the dictatorship - it's no longer just "how do I protect my prince because that's how I survive" - it's "can I do it in a way where this awful regime will end".
We already had clues from Borksen that the little people all live in fear - she talked about literally risking her life with friends to listen to music from other countries, when she was in military school.
It's a bit of a bet about the time limit but it's plausible - I like his logic about needing to leave choices - and he knows escape is impossible - so choice must lie somewhere else. It links well with Morena's card game, which was also about both constraining choice and leaving it open.
Bingo. I’d go so far as to propose that this is what Halkenburg is actually aiming for. His suicide-based plan never really made sense to me if he was actually intending to win the war for himself, but the reveal of this condition makes it more likely that his plan is actually to eliminate the “dangerous princes”, (himself included), so the remaining princes can wait out the clock and cause the ritual to fizzle.
That, or he’s designated a different prince he’s trying to Kingmake, but this seems more in line with his characterization as has been established so far.
I haven't finished rereading the arc yet, so I'm not sure if it's even possible for Halkenburg to live inside Balsamico's body indefinitely, but if it is, what if he could use that to trick people into thinking one of the other princes is the last one remaining while still being alive himself.
without spoiling too much, it is very very unlikely that halkenburg can live even another day in balsamicos body.
Idk if Halkenburg can use his ability in balsamicos body, but if he can, maybe he will fire the arrow enough times to inhabit a new body
True, but that’s reliant on Balsamico not realizing what’s happened to him. Given the shrewd judgment and Nen experience he’s displayed so far, once Balsamico wakes up he’ll probably put two and two together and either seek out an exorcist or just kill himself to protect/avenge Benjamin.
I was just asking myself why exactly Kurapika would essentially provoke the older princes like that, and I like this answer. I’d say it could also increase interest in Nen classes even further, because someone who knows Nen is bound to get a good position in the future, regardless of who is in power, as mentioned by one of the guards in this chapter.
This information is a big game changer for the incentives facing every single guard who is unhappy in the dictatorship - it's no longer just "how do I protect my prince because that's how I survive" - it's "can I do it in a way where this awful regime will end".
Yeah I think this is evident in Tenftory's
Fall? You're saying the dicta-- no I mean there'd be a regime change?
It's obvious not everyone would want to stay in that state forever, and while people remained safely passive in a situation where they believe any efforts for change would be futile and only risk themselves personally, posing a real possibility for real change could easily motivate people who wouldn't otherwise be motivated, especially when they're risking their lives regardless. (As in, they're not safe regardless.)
Agree that's how i see it, people criticizing Kurapika for revealing this info but i think he's trying to gain people on his side in a way to cancel this deadly SW, that requires turning the guards against their princes.
Some people seem to be overlooking that Kurapika is trying to create a chaotic situation that both hinders and hurts the other princes, while drip-feeding important new information in a way that constantly forces other princes and their allies to adjust and reconsider their best options. There's also no telling what role Morena, the troupe, the mafia, etc will play in all of this, and these are factors Kurapika is largely unaware of at the moment. I could easily envision a scenario in which all of the princes are killed, or just forced into a situation where they cannot complete the ritual due to extenuating factors.
what I assumed. Once guards know that if princes are left alive the kingdom collapses, they might turn to not follow what the princes want. And as well, with saying that wobble is not eligible is in play. Saying that she isn’t part of it, making sure that TWO princes survive and the kingdom collapses as well, wanting to feed that information to the other princes to see who takes the bait and tries to attack wobble in play sight.
I really like the idea of Kurapika pushing towards a revolution or total fall of Kakin. It's a nice continuation of his narrative parallels with Morena.
Oof, pretty sure they fucked that one up. A better translation (original text so you guys can check on your own: 現在、仕事中は録画したテレビドラマを聴いてます。サレ夫の子役の声が好きです。):
Note that "A Betrayed Husband with Three Months to Live" is a guess at which series he's talking about, he only says サレ夫 (sareo - you can see where Viz got "Sareo") is slang for cuckold husband (note the Japanese title of the series). So... there's a connection here to the SW arc that Viz, unfortunately, missed.
Makes me wonder if Kacho can do some cool shits considering she is literally a sentient nen person. I mean, being able to phases through walls alone is already incredibly useful. It feels like Togashi is still withholding her potential.
Kinda crazy since I have a theory that Kacho GB might exploit the sisterly bond and fool everyone including Kacho herself that it is supposed to act as the guardian of Fugetsu, but it actually is a parasite that drain Fugetsu's life force to, maybe, resurrect the real Kacho while preserving Kacho soul in GB incorporeal form.
It fits both narratives that GBs should only protect their own princes and Kacho being good at acting and lying which her GB took it from.
I wanted so badly to say you were cooking necause I loved this idea. Had it typed up......
But then I remembered the narrator said it's to protect the living sister. I guess technically until they are the last 2 is still possible but Fugetsu is fading faster than how long it would take for the contest to end.
Indeed, that's the point. The power of vows and limitations comes from the fact that there are alternative outcomes, so there's a risk of the conditions not being satisfied at all. If you're about to die then sacrifing your life as a vow gives you nothing, as there's no alternative outcome. Similarly, the alternative outcome to only one prince surviving is that either none survives or more than one do.
Yeah exactly. The whole point is that he willingly gave up his future especially being so young. I'm guessing he was going to die if Nanika hadn't come along.
Exactly. The fact that Gon didn't have to do what he did and consciously chose to anyway seems to have played a large role in making it so effective. You gain more the more you sacrifice, and if your death is inevitable, what are you truly sacrificing by saying, "I'll sacrifice my life for x."
That’s super interesting, it implies Gon’s brain didn’t even absorb what pitou said about killing him. He was just solely focused on his anger and grief.
It's about knowing the inevitability first and if it's part of your equation second. Gon literally didn't care about it that's why he got to be so powerful. If he had given it a single thought that he could lucky punch his way out of this by doing it this way, he'd be dishonest to himself and the despair he felt about being at fault that Kite died.
It's kinda like being nice to a person because he might let u ride his Porsche or being nice to a person distinct from the fact that he drives a Porsche. First would make you immediately act unauthentic.
I mean, in a normal weekly manga it would be a bit much, but given that we only get a little bit of content every now and then, it's nice to be able to go back and really chew on each chapter multiple times.
I think I've reread the current Arc like five times now, which I definitely wouldn't if it wasn't so dense
Everytime a new batch comes out I re-read ghe whole arc. It’s just sooo good and wild to say it’s my favorite arc in any manga (especially when it’s not even done yet).
Yeah, I'm on my 4th read through. I love this shit. Gimme all the lore. I texted my work manga homies group chat like "dialog x dialog has returned to our lives, we can smile read text again."
There’s not much more Tserrednich can learn from his guards. If he finds out Kurapika is an elite men user and teacher he could show up demanding private lesson, cancelling the beginner class and ending Kurapika’s search for him.
I was thinking of him making himself an exam out of them. Maybe as a way to compare who is a better trainer. Pika or his beloved Theta. Would add some twisted cute factor to it.
Also would nicely parallel with his backstory from slackers where he locked himself for a long time to get better at guns and showing off. Very Netero like. Also in that situation it is very likely Kurapika would realize who is Netero's son.
And everyone else would be probably absolutely horrified at the display of Tserri's nen. Basically all of Kurapika's worst fears. And probably a display that will make everyone realize how little they are compared to this... thing.
Tserrednich coming to room 1014 just to have Kurapika teach him feels a bit out of character. He would rather send a bodyguard to invite / summon Kurapika to his room, just like he did with Melody.
I truly can't imagine that more than one or two of them will matter in the long term, and once we know what they are, we can just go back and reread the arc, paying closer attention to them while we wait for the next batch of chapters
Technically, the whole arc was like 4 days worth of time, since 3 days pass at the end of the arc while Fujitora keeps rolling the dice to decide whether to go after Luffy or not.
I will be training in the mountains like Netero until then.
Genius move by Kurapika as now he’s recruited others to protect woble and disincentivized people from attacking the young prince to begin with by saying he’s off limits in the tournament. Whether it’s true or not is another matter entitely
I just wanna see the chaos upon people learning about the martial law. Togashi typically does something big after putting multiple people in the same room and making the time slow.
I hope he does show all tiers and groups in a single chapter and we get to see both the individual reactions and their ultimate collusion.
So Kurapika basically lit a match but is trying to con everyone that Wobble isn’t eligible using the information he’s given out as assurance? Curious to see what reason he gives for this.
Either prince woble was born after the succession war started, woble isn't the prince and it's the mom, and/or the mom was daughter of the king and was impregnated by her own father, making woble a granddaughter and not daughter of the king.
The blood and parentage filliation doesn't matter.
If the Prince is acknowledged by the King and an official offspring of the Queen (meaning they can also be adopted), they enter the contest via the jar ceremony.
Something I’ve always thought is that one of the requirements for the Seed Urn Ceremony is the host's desire for the crown. Wobble is a baby, so I don't see how she could meet that requirement. Queen Oito didn't see the ritual's outcome because she cannot see Nen.
I don't know how accurate the translation is but I remember the rule being "Offspring of one of the king's Legal Wives" That's why Zhang Lei Counts even tho he's not the King's son, as far as he knows, and many theorys point towards many of the children not being the King's as well, One being a child of Beyond, but they still were able to take part in the Seed Urn Ritual so they're all participating.
So it should be Either Woble is not a Daughter of Oito, Or Oito is not a Legal Wife, or my preffered option, Kurapika is just Bullshiting.
Perhaps, as a baby, Woble cannot consent to the ritual? This would count as enforcement, because it would be forcing the baby to go through the ritual.
If that were the case then they could’ve said it from the start and honestly I think the family is cruel enough for the “consent” part here to not matter.
IMO it may have to do with nen. Kurapika waited until all involved parties were knowledgeable and fully believing in nen before the reveal. If Wobble can’t manifest a nen beast, then they wouldn’t be “eligible” to participate (whether Wobble actually can or not is what would make it a bluff).
It's no longer a squid game where one person needs to survive in the end. If several people survive, then the whole game fails and the current government loses a ton of power. This benefits a majority rather than one specific party.
There's always parts that don't flow like they're translating too literally instead of localizing.
Like when Belerainte was asked about the murder that went unsolved he responds with "I don't know" in one of the fan translation they put "literally" but the official used "honestly"which flows way better.
Kurapika claims that Wobble is not qualified for the Succession War but i don't think that the others will take his word for it. Doubtless they will be weary and demand evidence of this astonishing statement.
Do you agree with me ? And if so do you have any hypothesis about what kind of evidence Kurapika could provide ?
Preface, I got my hypothesis from someone else. The "evidence" that Kurapika will provide is the Nen class participants themselves.
Anybody who has their nen unlock can see both their and other princes Guardian Spirit Beast. This is "proof" that they qualify for sucession. "But wait, where's Woble's GSB? If Woble was qualify surely she would have one right?". Now, we the audience know that Woble is instinctively using Zetsu and therefore hiding her GSB but, do the other novice Nen users do?
I don't know if that would be convincing, as other princes don't necessarily have obvious nen beasts. Not that the guards would necessarily know that, though.
On another note, it's possible that Woble isn't subconsciously hiding her nen beast. There are several possibilities, like it not having a visible form, not yet having physically manifested sort of like the Fugetsu/Kacho situation, or Woble just literally not having one for some reason. Maybe he will assert that Woble never actually took part in the ritual.
They would need to consider the reason Kurapika is painting a target on 14th's back. It would make more sense if he were really ineligible. But they would still need to check. This complication plus the nen lessons would lower Wobble's priority in the hit list. I think it's a stall tactic.
A theory I seen going around was Wobble is biologically one of the 14 princes but instead her mother is actually one of beyond’s kids. Would be interesting twist if true.
I think Kurapika is lying. The explanation he’ll likely give is that Nasubi is not the father, which may be correct. But we already know from Longhi that’s not a prerequisite, as long as she’s Oito’s daughter
I don't know, it seems pretty clear to me that this is framed in way where Kurapika is saying something that undoubtedly puts the target on the lower princes (even Furykov says as much) and now, with what he's going to say about Wobble, he will stop that idea.
Whatever he's going to say next will be to convince the others that killing the lower princes and trying to end the succession is not worth it.
In before “Togashi picked up where he left off in his overall narrative instead of giving me an action packed slug fest. Wah Wah” comments start appearing.
So excited for the story to continue knowing there’s at least 10 more ready to go.
Honestly at this point its not about that they have to like this arc or anything but it’s by definition insanity that they keep falling into that cycle.
Having all of these servants of the princes/queens brought in, all having their own perspectives and goals, all while internally explaining how they THINK their associated princes/queens think is just amazing to read on the page.
Keeping it all straight in the old dome can be a bit of a hassle, but drawing the lines between relationships and motives here is something that feels so rarely done this well in a story.
I had predicted, on a stream me and my friend do together, that two of the things we'd receive in this batch are an explanation for the nen ritual around the succession war, and that we'd see Kurapika's plan start to come into motion.
Seeing both of those here in the first chapter of the batch makes me only wonder how much were gonna see in this batch, and if we're even gonna progress much past the already 12 days we're at.
Looking forward to each week now, I'm gonna happily enjoy these ~2-3 months.
Are we actually going to see Balkenburg spraying Benjamin wit
h TSK-17 in this batch of chapters? During the last batch, we’d all assumed it was going to be off-screen.
Previously, I’d hoped Melody could train Fugetsu in Nen even just a little if just to increase how much aura she has to better weather her Nen curse. At this point, a) it’s clear she hasn’t done that, and b) more importantly and worse, the curse may be leaving her too tired and sick to be trained anyway. Really hope Melody, Kacho-Beast, and Kaiser are able to help her and she pulls through.
The change also really makes me see Sarahell’s scowl and her “loving” persona as like theater masks.
I have a soft spot for the maids in Kurapika’s classes because they’re just ordinary folk who don’t want trouble and are scared at what’s happening, but it’s amusing to see Ladiolus and Illardia enjoying the benefits of Ten. The new ones are even getting ambitious. And calm down, Naipei!
One thing I wondered is where guards and servants of fallen princes go. That’s been answered now: if they belong to a queen with another prince still in the game, they can be reassigned and stay in Tier
One.
Oh, Maor… The appearance of Tubeppa’s Nen beast won’t be a deterrent with Rihan in her room. It’s up to either you or Longhi to stymie him.
Ha. With the exception of Borksen, Gipper gets Nen before the rest of the Tserried Friendship Squad.
If I understand Kurapika correctly, there’s a time limit to kill your fellow princes and become sole survivor to gain the crown. It’s thus possible for multiple princes to still be alive by the end of the allotted time. What happens then? The ritual fails, but those princes survive. Thus militarily and politically weak younger princes who practically have no way to win can at least still live. The point being is that this creates Nen risk instead for the older established princes because they’re no longer guaranteed to win and instead can lose everything. The younger princes may not become king in that scenario but at least get to survive and have less to lose.
I
have no idea why Woble is no longer eligible. I am simply open to whatever Togashi throws at us to pull it off, and I look forward to the surprise.
Horror story last panel. I sure hope Oito’s not dead- but I also don’t think she is. Is she in a trance? Is it Nen? Is it her Nen ability? Or is she going through the emotional rollercoaster of a terrifying realization about Woble
Addendum: D’oh! I just realized that Kurapika increasing the size of the classes is going to make it easier for Silent Majority to operate. And as a follower of the Shimano/“The maids are SM’s unwitting agents” theory, now there are 3 more servants in the classes!
Edit: Please pardon me. Reddit mobile is messing up my comment’s formatting.
The change also really makes me see Sarahell’s scowl and her “loving” persona as like theater masks.
She looks even more like Duazul than Camilla. Which means that, if only Duazul wasn't such a demure lady and went around scowling with shaved eyebrows, she'd look just like Sarahell.
it’s amusing to see Ladiolus and Illardia enjoying the benefits of Ten.
Kurapika might be starting a rumor with Oito's permission that she's an illegal wife so Woble is not qualified for the SW rules...or maybe Kurapika wants to alert them about the SW flaws requiring vows while infants are not conscious enough to decide if they want to be part of this, so they need to wait for Woble to grow and be at least a little conscious like Maryam.
Many have noticed Kurapika's words to Oito in Chapter 403 might hint about his plan to protect Woble, it's true we got a follow up where he asked Oito about The letter in the same chapter...But in context he was talking about a way to protect Woble and other young princes saying there's hope to escape death...we might get a continuation of that scene where he asked Oito's permission to get along with whatever he plans to say about Woble not being suitable for the SW contest.
Tho there's a possibility that Kurapika intended this to be a lie...only for it to be accidentally part of the truth, with or without Oito's knowledge...it's possible that Beyond swapped his child with the real prince Woble and that the real baby Woble is a hostage at the moment, even if they find out the truth about swapping his child with Woble...Beyond can use Woble to threaten them if his plan doesn't go as he wants. Especially now they're talking about the end of Hui Guo Rou regime, what if Beyond planned sneaking his child to take over the Kakin regime with his bloodline? So even the SW failure wouldn't stop him, the guy been planning for decades so he must've thought of every scenario.
There are a lot of theories about Beyond's kid, i myself a believer of Tserriednich or Oito as Beyond's kid...the predictable option is Beyond's kid being an adult as he planned this from 30 years ago...but I'm thinking Woble being Beyond's kid would also make sense not only because it's likely much easier to fabricate the urn rituals with infants as they'd have less strict rules to join cause their unconsciousness would not fit the urn vows to get a GSB this early and needs to wait until they grow older...
This makes Woble as an unpredictable candidate because no one would even think Beyond would include his SW heir without much protection despite his heir is still a baby (although there's a theory the SM user is hired by Beyond to protect Woble)...ironically it suits Togashi's style that Beyond's perfect plan gets exposed accidentally by Kurapika's lie even tho it wasn't his intention lol
A small detail that might support the theory in Volume 35 cover is Woble being the only prince whose not placed directly to the seed urn, maybe because she doesn't really have the royal blood of Hui Guo Rou family, even the illegal mafia princes got the royal family blood because they are the sons of Nasubi's half brothers, but Woble is a special case they likely didn't care if the seed urn didn't react to her blood sample because this should be normal with infants they just give it time till she grows up a little, and Beyond took that flaw for his advantage, might be with Nasubi's knowledge as a deal between them "let my child join the SW and i help you go to the DC trip"
Maybe this is why Togashi brought the story focus on Sarahell to start her mission to curse/kill Woble, she might succeed to curse the baby (aka Beyond's baby) and everyone will panic but it would turn out the real Woble is still safe with Beyond. This scenario fits the karmic consequence to hit Beyond if his precious SW heir ends up being nen cursed by others, since Beyond himself brutally cursed all his other children "except his heir" with the purpose to kill other princes.
If this theory is true, and Oito somehow doesn't know about her baby swap, it's likely because Beyond swapped them since Woble's birth so even Oito wouldn't know about his plan, but if she's in the know about this then it means she's doing what Beyond is asking her to do, all to protect her real child who's held a hostage by Beyond.
Another Important rule i noticed is the contest gets cancelled if one of the candidates dies before the ceremony starts...if Togashi is going with the SW cancellation scenario, i doubt he put this rule there for no reason, and i don't see how this kind of twist can get applied with any of the older princes, but it's much easier to do with the baby swap concept, i can see Togashi going dark with this twist to reveal the real prince Woble already died since birth and Beyond just sneaked his baby instead without Oito's knowledge so all this time she thinks it's her child.
So Beyond probably got this crazy joker card in his hand to cancel the entier contest by revealing the real Woble is already dead if things doesn't go as he plans. I think it's a fun twist if Kurapika unknowingly been protecting the child/heir of the enemy all this time.
One flaw to this theory that Beyond seeks the power the winner gains after the deaths of all the princes, so if his kid is not related to them by blood then I'm not sure if it would benefit him, unless he got other ways to benefit from it or that the mother of his child is one of Nasubi's half sisters so he can benefit from this SW contest.
However, I don’t think the “real Wobble is already dead” theory holds water because I don’t think the Princes would have been able to generate Nen Beasts otherwise. A Nen ritual that’s fueled by this much risk wouldn’t have the power to sustain itself as if it was functioning properly right up until the end if one of the essential set-up conditions weren’t filled in full. It’d much more likely just fizzle immediately and everyone would immediately realize something was up.
Looking at the quote coming from Tesrri, I don’t think it’s actually a make or break rule, but an enforced tradition. The amount of Nen empowerment the winner gets from the final ceremony is likely proportional to how many princes were sacrificed to produce it, so the current generation always has the incentive to make sure there are as many living princes as possible right up until the ritual starts. If prince Wobble is a fake and was switched out at the start, that just means the ritual has one less participant then everyone assumed it did, and the real Wobble’s death wouldn’t have any effect on it.
so if his kid is not related to them by blood then I'm not sure if it would benefit him,
Well, Succession ceremony failing would mean that HGR dynasty falls out of power, so there the Beyond's bastard might come into play - as a way to keep the HGR "technically ruling" the Kakin (at least to the general populance) while avoiding the curse blowback.
Theory: queen oito will attempt to give up her title as queen which would make woble ineligible to be part of the succession war. She’s scared about the possibility of getting executed by king nasubi
Oito’s desperate, but she’s focused on the mission of getting Woble out alive and safe. And Kurapika and Woble have been giving her hope. Shimano and Bill too. She’s not desperate enough to do something stupidly suicidal that can still get her baby killed.
Based on the Duration of the SW, it's possible that it fails in the last minute because there are more than one prince still alive by the end of the trip, since its condition requires only one prince to remain alive to be considered the winner.
Maybe Kurapika will work on keeping as many princes alive as possible especially the younger princes, to get this SW cancelled.
In one instance in one of the past chapters, in the original japanese text Oito referred to Wobble as her "son" (musuko). Dunno if it was a mistake or intentional..
Since One Piece is my big focus on friday, I will comment HxH on Sundays with the official translation.
The cover is already worth talking about, is this the same head Tserriednich had in his room? That people theorized being Pairo's (Kurapika's best friend) head?
It has to be Pairo, narratively speaking. It wouldn't have nearly the same impact if it were just a random Kurta child. Though I don't know why the head has no eyes. Maybe they're inside the canister?
I think someone in the Hei-Ly went to the village after the massacre to retrieve a child's head, because they knew this was what Tserriednich was specifically interested in. (I have a theory this was Sheila.)
The fact he has no eyes all but confirms to me the troupe are not responsible for Pairo's head being in Tser's collection.
Its funny, over the years, I wonder how many times everyone thought : "surely this will be the batch that silent majority is revealed." Must be for nearly a decade now lol. I like to think this time the context is more favorable.
Yes it's his head. The only head with the eyes still in place. All others had the eyes ripped out. 1 of 1. However, kurapika is still alive. The 4th prince can theoretically have a whole body specimen with kurapika. Morbid shit cuh.
Also aside from that being pretty dark, if Oito is the actual prince then we would have seen her nen beast already. Marayam is obviously younger than Oito is and we’ve already seen his
Regarding Woble’s alleged ineligibility in the succession battle, I’ve changed my opinion on this matter a bit since the pre-release post, when I was fairly confident—due to Kurapika’s conversation with Oito about the letters in the last batch—that it was a lie to protect her and the other young princes. Now, I believe it may be true—but in a limited sense, and only due to a technicality with how the Seed Urn ceremony works. Think about it. If Woble, as the 14th Prince, were to win the succession battle, she would be unfit to rule at her current stage of development, which means someone else—presumably Oito—would have to rule in her stead as regent. For similar reasons, Oito was likely the one who granted consent for Woble to participate in the succession battle, and it could be that she used her own hand to guide Woble’s into the Seed Urn (or maybe it’s just because she gave consent on her behalf), unknowingly entering into the contract with her and becoming her surrogate; that is, she may be the one “playing” on Woble’s behalf, making her the real participant—and the new target of any threats.
Feels like the Gon method. Dam if you do, dam if you don’t. So instead of hesitating, pick the best decision and hope the candle will burn long. If not, use that shorten time to your advantage and blow out your opponent candle out before they can react to your action.
It might help to look at this page. Slakka is a bodyguard working for the second queen who's part of Zhang Lei's guard to keep watch on him and gather intel for the queen. When Kurapika made a deal with Zhang Lei to hold the lessons and provide useful information about Nen to Zhang Lei, Slakka got permission from his queen to leave Zhang Lei's room and keep watch on Kurapika and Sakata (Zhang Lei's guard) to get Kurapika's info. I don't know if he's referencing something specific in this chapter, but it looks like Sakata has managed to keep Slakka from getting anything useful out of Kurapika, so now he's forcing his way into the lessons.
Also, after Kacho sent out her letters to the other princes after her death, with added intel from the justice department, Kurapika decided to share the contents of the letter addressed to Oito at the next lesson. Next chapter will probably explain what the letter says.
Okay, time to be crazy: what if, somehow, that baby is not Woble? What if Kurapika hid Woble somewhere and made some sort of copy, so whatever test he is about to run to prove his claim will end up legitimising it?
Very little evidence, but Oito has her back turned on the baby, and she looks very scared. That's unusual as she has always always always been comforting the poor baby even in dire circumstances so far. Also, so far, all signs pointed to Woble being a legit prince (the ominous aura, the ritual proceeding as intended, etcetc). We even got the caveat ten chapters ago when being born from a queen is enough and being blood relatives is not required, which leaves very little room for twists.
So remind me: is there some ability somewhere that could have copied Woble, or swapped his mind with something, or... whatever leads to a Woble-shaped living creature that is not a Prince?
I don't think Kurapika is lying in here. It's too risky to lie. Some bodyguard might be good enough to detect lying. I would say someone might swapped the baby. They never showed us Wobble's guardian spirit, right? Babymyna assume Wobble can't summon it because Wobble is too young, or maybe it has counteractive ability.
Maybe, Wobble can't summon it, because the baby is not the real Wobble.
What's also interesting is that Chrollo could be exactly they key figure capable of ending this succession war. By having the info and a way to steal the Kakin treasures that are being used to sustain the ceremony, having them stolen would probably cancel the whole thing.
What i love about this arc apart from the sheer volume of factions, influences, interactions and allegiances is that so many of the competitors are competent, logical and well reasoned and so many of them have distinct personal motivations that you can get behind.
When they make mistakes you can see how they did and why and it makes navigating it that much harder for the characters you're rooting for and much more intense compared to a story where the opponents or antagonists are easy to hate or stupid and the hero doesn't struggle much to overcome them.
1) Theories floating around, Oito knows something and has hidden that info from Pika. Her reaction to Beyond's child reveal also feels weird in retrospect.
She quickly connected the dots "the father need not be the king". Maybe it's not that difficult to figure it out then. But the way she said it, it could very well be her pretending to not know and act like she figured it out then.
2) I hope Furykov figures out Sarahell can use nen with this skills. Hopefully, Togashi didn't forget about this and Sarahell is not some insane nen specialist.
3) The Black whale is huge enough to feel like an entire country. In the first page, I couldn't help notice so many people doing paperwork behind Balkenburg all probably related to the various affairs on the boat. The ship is a small functioning nation that's eroding rapidly.
4) Likewise, I loved the characterization of the new and old bodyguards introduced. Tenftory getting some and all the 7th princes' guards. It's always fresh seeing minor characters feel like real people with their own motivation that might create butterfly effect.
5) I wonder what Sarahell's comments about the maid being her real self means? Could she be redeemed?
This feels like a heavy hint that Tserri IS in fact Netero's grandson. Where both Tserri and Netero are corrupted version of a religious figure. Netero is corrupted version of Buddha and Tserri warped version of Jesus. Both bearing inherit hypocrisy in them. Also That Netero cover being exactly hundred chapters before Tserri one.
Ah he could be. Also he is apparently based on Shoko Asahara who was a doomsday cultist who also combined hinduism with buddhism in his... weird beliefs. So maybe Beyond with his ability will have something of a hindu theme going on.
I'm curious how this Woble is disqualified thing is going because, supposedly, the only requirement to have someone participate the game Succession Contest is to be a son or daughter of a Kakin queen.
So Woble is either not a daughter of Queen Oito or Oito is not a Queen.
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u/3bee 25d ago
I think that Kurapika is betting on the fact that multiple people might benefit from a fall of the Kakin dictatorship.
This information is a big game changer for the incentives facing every single guard who is unhappy in the dictatorship - it's no longer just "how do I protect my prince because that's how I survive" - it's "can I do it in a way where this awful regime will end".
We already had clues from Borksen that the little people all live in fear - she talked about literally risking her life with friends to listen to music from other countries, when she was in military school.
It's a bit of a bet about the time limit but it's plausible - I like his logic about needing to leave choices - and he knows escape is impossible - so choice must lie somewhere else. It links well with Morena's card game, which was also about both constraining choice and leaving it open.