Killer Queen's Primary Bomb had a base blast radius of three meters.
Joey could increase it slightly by pouring more aura in — but only by about half a meter at most.
So, with the hummingbird as the epicenter, a 3.5-meter kill zone bloomed out.
The instant Killer Queen pressed its thumb, the detonation launched Jamie through the air like a ragdoll, the force ripping the hummingbird to ash.
"Chao Ji Yao Mei Le!" (Translation: Roasted chicken's out!)
The shout rang out the same moment Killer Queen's Heart Attack blitzed forward.
Joey had already planted the tracking marker—Piercing Strike—on Jamie without him even realizing.
The blast cloud hadn't even fully dispersed before Jamie was back on his feet, blood leaking from his forearms, but nothing critical.
He spotted the incoming Heart Attack and raised his revolver, firing several times toward Joey—not to kill, but to suppress and stop the pursuit.
But just as Jamie tried to step back, his heel landed on something soft.
Squish.
He slipped.
His leg plunged into a shallow hole, dug who-knows-when.
His balance lost, Jamie reached out to catch himself—only for his palm to land on spines.
A spiky hedgehog had appeared beside him, back raised.
He also caught sight of what he'd stepped on—a dead mole.
Jamie cursed, aura flaring through his palm as he smashed the hedgehog with raw force and tried to rise.
But before he could—
A second hummingbird streaked from above.
Boom.
Another silent detonation, centered on Jamie's head.
He slammed into the ground, stunned.
Then Heart Attack arrived.
Its treads rolled over Jamie's revolver, now pinned beneath him.
A low clicking countdown echoed.
Jamie's scream of "No!" was swallowed whole by the next explosion.
Boom.
Just as Joey steadied himself, something orange shot past and struck the ground near his feet.
"What the—?"
That was Pokkle's orange bow — Joey was sure of it.
But how? Pokkle was mutilated, down an arm. No way he could draw a bowstring.
Joey's eyes snapped toward where Arturo had dodged earlier.
A blinding flash stabbed into his retinas.
A flashlight?
Joey realized it instantly.
But his vision whited out. Completely blind.
Bzzzzt.
Electricity surged through his body like needles. Joey's muscles locked up. He collapsed, seizing on the dirt.
"Dismiss your Nen beast."
Arturo's hoarse voice came from ahead.
And as Joey struggled to move, he felt it—Killer Queen vanished from his side.
So it was Manipulation-type… and the tazer?
The weapon suppressed control?
But the command was oddly limited.
Joey's thoughts surged in the dark.
Why not command me to slit my wrists? Or destroy my own eyes?
Conclusion: the manipulation via taser only worked for simple, instinctual commands.
He couldn't move. But his mind ran hot.
Meanwhile, the electricity was fading.
His vision blurred into shape again.
"You're impressive. Didn't expect Jamie to fall so easily," Arturo rasped.
Joey made out the brute hauling Pokkle up, ripping off his cuffs, smashing him with a baton, then booting his mangled body toward Heart Attack.
Joey also understood now: the bow was real, held by Arturo.
Pokkle had only fired an orange arrow, while Arturo had supplied the bow.
Pokkle slammed into Heart Attack—yet it didn't explode.
Heart Attack shook him off and continued toward Arturo.
Arturo turned and fired his taser again—straight into Pokkle.
"Stop this damn turtle bomb!"
Like a puppet, Pokkle lunged at Heart Attack again, dragging his ruined body in the way.
Then Arturo whipped the taser back toward Joey and fired.
Hit.
He grinned.
"Recall your turtle bomb."
No response.
Heart Attack kept coming.
Arturo frowned.
He inched closer to Joey, baton in one hand, taser in the other.
Around his waist: metallic handcuffs and a blue regulation flashlight.
[Arturo's Interrogation Tools] — Arturo's Manipulation Hatsu.
He could imbue prison gear — things he once used as a jailer — with specific effects:
The flashlight disoriented enemies and temporarily blocked Nen flow to the eyes.
The baton forced truthful speech from targets hit.
The taser suppressed movement and issued basic commands.
The cuffs were the final blow — anyone shackled by them entered forced Zetsu for 24 hours.
He'd used this same combo on Pokkle: suppress, manipulate, then arrest.
Now, he stepped toward Joey to repeat it.
First strike with the baton… then the handcuffs.
But when he got a meter and a half away, something stirred.
Killer Queen erupted into existence, gleaming with charged aura.
A fist the size of Arturo's head rocketed toward him.
Arturo flinched—shocked—but not panicked.
He raised his baton to parry.
He blocked two… three punches.
Then—
Bang!
Joey, now upright, fired a Nen bullet straight into Arturo's gut.
Blood sprayed.
His defense faltered.
Killer Queen's fists smashed through.
Arturo flew.
He hit the ground with a sound like a boulder cracking.
Joey strode toward him, fists hammering.
Arturo could only watch, stunned, as a coiled snake slithered out of Joey's shirt—the same spot the first taser had hit.
And a blackened coin fell from the second impact point.
"He tricked me from the first shot…" was Arturo's last thought before the lights went out.
"Stop!"
CRACK!
Two sounds.
One, a voice—hoarse and panicked—from a nearby ridge.
The other, Arturo's broken body smashing into the ground.
Joey's head snapped up.
There stood Jamie—alive.
One arm wrapped around Ponzu's neck, revolver in his other hand.
Aimed directly at Joey.
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