Hunter × Hunter Chapter 21: Tie Break

The chapter title reads N°021 TIE BREAK. A triumphant figure with wild hair stands on a stage with both arms raised high in victory, mouth open in a shout. Behind him a digital scoreboard displays 1000 while a defeated Leorio slumps forward on his knees. A large starburst declares END OF THE GAME!! Another burst announces HOURS RAN OUT : DEFEAT OF LEORIO!! In a lower panel the same triumphant figure appears tiny and distant, arms still raised, while a close-up shows a sweating, grimacing face with the onomatopoeia LALALALALA. At the bottom left Kurapika, seen in profile with a sweat drop, says they will have to pay the fifty hours lost. Beside him another character states that Leorio lost the bet's game but overall the match is a draw at 2-2. On the right a mustached man wearing a shirt marked 16 gestures while speaking the draw result, with Killua visible just behind him looking up.

A bald man with a scar on his head smirks confidently. 'That means the real game they'll dispose is lower than 10 hours,' he declares. Nearby, a cloaked figure stands before a brick wall with a security camera. '59HR 45MIN,' reads the large display. 'So, how much time do they still have?' asks a voice. The cloaked figure replies, ''Cause the death of my next adversary is sure, no matter the time they still have...' In the next panel, the bald man continues speaking while a spiky-haired boy and another child watch from the side. Below, a man with number 403 on his badge looks irritated. 'You're doing humor now?' the bald man taunts. 'I felt this game pretty well, never-the-less...' the man answers. 'Damn!' he adds. Killua, wearing number 99, stands with a serious expression. 'The only one left is me,' he states. 'Well,' he continues. The man with 403 faces him and says, 'You'll give me pleasure if you shut up today.'

Killua stares at the man with number 403, who is now flailing his arms wildly with mouth open in a shout. 'Why are you making a face like that?' Killua asks. In the next row, Killua thinks to himself, 'If he gives me a problem with mental calculation, I can't tell, but...' The man with 403 yells, 'You're giving up on me even though we haven't seen my adversary, nor the way he fights.' Kurapika appears in the background shouting, 'Gon! Sorry!!' Gon replies, 'Yes, but...' The man continues, 'Gon... he's beginning to seriously irritate me. Damn! I absolutely had to win so that we'd be able to go on!!' A sign reading 'TAC' appears in a stone corridor where several people sit on the floor. The man with 403 holds his head and says, 'You're not all wrong, we may still have a chance...' The final panel is a close-up of intense, narrowed eyes.

Gon stares upward in shock, his mouth open as a loud GULP sound escapes him. Beside him, Leorio's face twists in alarm, eyes wide and sweat flying. Looming over them is a towering, muscular man with wild curly hair, torn clothes, and a menacing downward glare. Leorio turns and asks someone, "YOU KNOW HIM?" A voice replies, "YOU..." Killua crouches low, staring up at the giant with a tense expression. Leorio, now in profile with a bandage on his cheek, shouts urgently, "BUT DON'T FIGHT AGAINST HIM!!" and adds, "JUST FORGET ABOUT THE VICTORY..."

A dramatic close-up fills the page with Killua's intense face. His eyes are sharp and shadowed under messy white hair, lips set in a firm line. Above him the chapter title "TIE BREAK" is displayed prominently with an arrow design and the label "N°021".

A dramatic splash panel reveals the silhouette of a city skyline under a stormy sky as bold text declares the identity of a notorious killer. The narration identifies him as the greatest murderer in all the history of Zaban's criminality: Jones the Cutter. Further panels detail his horrific crimes, explaining that he even pulled out the heart of a still-living eleven-year-old child. Some of the bodies of his poor victims are cut into thousands of pieces, others partly amputated, with some parts staying at the place of the crime and others carried off with him. He follows no particular logic in his murders, killing with no distinction of age or sex; at least 146 people have been reduced to the state of shreds of flesh under his hands. A close-up panel questions whether they were all cut into at least fifty parts in the best case, noting that in fact the only common point between all those bodies is that they were all cut into at least fifty parts.

A silhouetted figure with spiky hair raises clawed hands while narration states that Jones has always acted with only his hands. The text continues, 'And this man...' as two 'CRIC' sound effects punctuate the image. The scene shifts to a police officer in a patrol car who suddenly realizes what has happened to his left arm, reacting with shock. The officer recalls that when he made Jones enter his patrol car and wanted to start it up, Jones didn't show any resistance when he was arrested. In the bottom panel the officer screams in agony, his left arm now a bloody stump, as large 'AAAAA' sound effects explode across the page.

A powerful hand grips and shatters heavy chains bolted into stone, the metal links snapping with sharp CRAC sounds as fragments fly. The muscular prisoner with curly hair and a mustache sits bound on a bench, his striped shirt torn to shreds. With a sudden burst of strength he rips the remaining restraints apart, his eyes closed in concentration. A narration box explains his particularity: he is able to pull out people's flesh with only his hands. Now standing in the ruined cell, the prisoner holds a dangling chain fragment, the walls around him cracked and debris scattered on the floor. A close-up reveals his fingers clenched with extreme force, the panel declaring that it is thanks to this power in his fingers that he is able to do this.

The prisoner lunges forward and smashes through a brick wall with a powerful punch marked CATCH. In profile he grips the broken edge with TCHAC. His fingers flex and a BOOM sound effect accompanies the display of raw power. The prisoner, now shirtless and covered in scars, spreads his fingers wide while speaking: "SINCE I LAST TOUCHED HUMAN FLESH..." and "IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME..." Below, Killua stands with his hand on a numbered panel marked 2, reacting with "EH!!" as another examinee shouts "KILLUA?!" A stern man in a 403 jacket warns that after this exam takes place every year one does not have to fight against such a monster. Killua glances sideways with a serious expression.

In the dimly lit corridor, Gon stands facing forward and says, "I DON'T THINK YOU UNDERSTAND." He turns slightly, asking "FIGHT?" and then "HOW WILL WE FIGHT?" The mustached fighter looms in close-up, declaring "ALL I WANT IS TO TOUCH FLESH..." and "I DON'T CARE ABOUT THIS EXAM, AND ALSO OF THIS AMNESTY... THERE WILL BE A ONE-WAY MASSACRE." He holds up a wanted poster reading "JONES MURDERER OF A VERY LARGE NUMBER OF PEOPLE. PUNISHMENT: 968 YEARS." From behind, Gon listens as the man continues, "CONCERNING YOU, JUST CRY AND SHOUT, THAT WILL BE ENOUGH..." The fighter snarls at Gon, "AND YOU, YOU'RE GONNA..." Gon replies calmly, "YES. YOU THINK IT'S BETTER THAN LOSING, DON'T YOU?" The mustached man answers, "OK."

Gon and the curly-haired fighter stand with their backs partially turned. Gon’s right arm is engulfed in a swirling, dark aura that crackles with energy around his shoulder and forearm. The curly-haired fighter remains still, facing away, while Gon looks forward with a neutral expression, his spiky hair and number 99 clearly visible.

In the dim arena, the towering muscular man with curly hair and a mustache stands battered, his torn shirt revealing a dark bloodstain across his chest. He extends his right arm forward, index finger pointing directly ahead, eyes squeezed shut in pain or focus as sweat drips down his face. Behind him in the shadows, Gon stands with his back turned, small against the massive figure. The man’s shoulder bears the sound effect 'collie'. In the next panel, Gon faces forward, his right hand glowing intensely with a bright aura as he examines a small dark object held between his fingers. Close-up panels show the man’s face relaxing with eyes closed, followed by his eyes snapping open wide in a sharp, intense stare.

A massive impact erupts with the sound effects 'DOM' and 'DOM', showing a heavily shaded, cracked surface shattering outward. Sweat flies from the muscular man’s wide-open eyes in successive close-ups as droplets trail down his face. In the following panel the man leans forward desperately, right arm extended toward the viewer, mouth open as he shouts 'GIMME... G...'. The final panel reveals Gon’s face in close-up, his eyes narrowed with a slight, confident smile forming on his lips.

Killua stands tall with his back to the viewer, right arm extended forward as a massive black ink-like explosion erupts from his hand. In front of him, Majitani is hunched over in agony, mouth wide open in a scream, body twisted and covered in heavy cross-hatching that shows the impact of the blow. Killua's posture is relaxed yet dominant, one leg slightly forward. Below the main scene runs a horizontal strip of eight close-up reaction faces. From left to right: a wide-eyed panicked man with an open mouth, a stern Leorio, a surprised Gon, a worried Kurapika, a furious man with clenched teeth, a shocked bald man, a wide-eyed Gon again, and finally Killua with a calm, slightly smug expression.

Killua stands alone in the center of a large empty room marked with numbered squares on the floor. Two speech bubbles appear above him: 'I suppose with this, we can go, can't we?' and 'There. 3 to 2.' Scattered 'Tic' signs lie on the ground near a small platform holding several motionless figures. In the next panel, Majitani, now standing and sweating, speaks while looking at Killua: 'You'll have to spend 50 hours there, that's the amount of time you lost.' A small inset shows Killua replying 'Passing through here, you'll arrive in a small room.' Majitani continues, 'Yes, you've won.' In a close-up, Majitani declares 'I renounce...' with a defeated expression. The final panels show Killua facing Majitani in a dark background, saying 'But, tell me, aren't you a bit frustrated for not having fought? Don't you wanna play with me?' Majitani answers 'Yes.'

Gon stands in close-up, smiling slightly with wide eyes as he looks toward a distant platform where several figures stand under a speech bubble containing only an ellipsis. Below, Leorio reacts with shock, exclaiming about the elite assassin's family while Killua confirms it calmly with a single 'Yes.' Leorio then questions where the boy comes from. The group of Gon, Killua, Kurapika, and Leorio stands together as Leorio suggests they move on. Sharp spikes labeled 'GLAC GLAC GLAC' drop from above. The scene shifts to a vast tiled chamber where the group descends a long staircase into the depths, with Leorio declaring they will pass.

A mechanical camera on the ceiling announces that the group must wait until the door opens and spend fifty hours in the room. The door slams shut behind them. Inside the cluttered room with a sofa, table, and scattered items, Leorio lounges on the couch while Killua sits on the floor amid debris and Gon stands near the bookshelves. Gon states he has only taken his heart. Leorio admits he cannot call it a technique. Killua asks what technique Gon used. Gon turns with a surprised expression as an unseen hand reaches forward.

Killua holds up his right hand with fingers extended, nails sharp and menacing, as he explains the change. "I just did a small modification to make the hold easier," he says with a slight smile. In a smaller panel, Gon stands surprised while Leorio looks tense. Killua continues, "Me, I'm an ex-professional. A killer stays despite all an amateur." In a close-up, Killua reflects, "If they were the ones fighting, the wound wouldn't have bled," while thinking, "My parents are much more skilled than me." Below, Kurapika looks concerned and says, "Yes... while he's still with us..." Leorio replies, "It's reassuring to have him with us," and Gon adds, "It's a cat?" as Leorio reacts with "Ah..."

Fifty hours later, the group stands in a long brick corridor with a flag marked 88 on the left wall. A man in a suit leads several examinees forward. Someone shouts "Let's hurry!" as a hand checks a digital timer showing 05:43:17. The scene shifts to a stone staircase descending into darkness. Gon, Leorio, and Kurapika stand at the bottom looking up at two paths. A sign reads "WHERE TO GO? O TO GO UP, X TO GO DOWN." with two exclamation marks nearby.