But that spinach never made it into Usamen's mouth. It was intercepted midair by a streak of lightning.
What actually landed in Usamen's mouth was nothing but charred waste burned black by the lightning.
Usamen didn't even have time to spit out the scraps in his mouth before Ronin was already closing in on him through the electric light.
But just as his two-finger nukite hand was about to pierce through Usamen's heart, a huge eye suddenly appeared out of thin air behind Usamen.
In the next second, Usamen vanished, and Beyond's figure appeared in his place.
Ronin's thrusting hand smashed directly into the fist Beyond had thrown, and the instant they collided, a violent roar erupted.
So this curse can even do something like that?
Ronin was shocked. His fingers failed to pierce through Beyond's fist, and instead, Beyond's other fist began rapidly enlarging in his vision.
Susanoo instantly wrapped around Ronin, pushing Beyond back at the same time, while one of its massive hands reached toward Usamen.
And in that moment, as Ronin drew closer to the treasure vault, he finally saw what was inside.
The gorgeous display cabinet was completely empty. The Scarlet Eyes and Pairo's head, which he had seen in the cabinet before Kurapika entered the vault, were all gone.
Clearly, Ronin's earlier guess had been right. There really was someone in Beyond's team with a spatial ability who had entered the vault.
But that person probably wasn't Usamen.
Susanoo's other giant hand ignored Beyond and grabbed onto the vault itself.
As Beyond's attack landed on Susanoo, Susanoo also erupted with tremendous force and tore open the vault's ceiling.
As morning light poured into the vault, Ronin completely ignored the glittering jewels and gold. Instead, his eyes locked onto a short figure who had appeared at some point near a side opening in the vault and was now fleeing outside.
Ronin knew that person.
His name seemed to be Pekotero. His face had a few animal-like features, and he wore a bubble-like hat on his head.
The moment Pekotero saw Ronin appear, he instinctively tightened his grip on the backpack he was carrying.
The bag didn't look large, but the fact that it could hold all the Scarlet Eyes from the vault proved it was no ordinary item.
A cracking sound reached Ronin's ears.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw cracks appear in the spot where Beyond had struck Susanoo.
Was this guy a monster?
A simple punch from him was already nearly comparable in power to Franklin's self-destruction, and the ability Beyond had displayed shouldn't have been Enhancement-type.
In other words, in other people's eyes, Beyond should be similar to Ronin himself: a Specialist who leaned toward the top three Nen categories.
A stabbing pain came from Ronin's eyes. Forcibly using Susanoo had already begun making his eyes feel uncomfortable.
But now wasn't the time to think about how strong Beyond was. The priority was capturing Pekotero as quickly as possible and taking back the Scarlet Eyes.
So Susanoo's giant hand suddenly changed direction. At the same time, Ronin, protected inside Susanoo, completed another set of hand seals.
Chakra gathered in his mouth, and a burst of flames sprayed out.
Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!
Flames erupted from Ronin's mouth and spread rapidly, engulfing everything dozens of meters in front of him.
But in the very next second, two gaps appeared in the sea of fire at the same time.
One was forcibly pushed open by Beyond with Nen.
The other was created by the strange bubbles that rose around Pekotero and repelled the flames.
But Ronin gave Pekotero no further chance to use his methods. His Mangekyō Sharingan activated Ame-no-Tokotachi, ignoring the damage it caused to his eyes.
Pekotero's body was still twisting, but his ankle was suddenly locked in place.
And in that brief instant, Susanoo's giant hand had already torn through the bubbles surrounding him.
The enormous cursed eye appeared again.
But this time, the curse eye's effect failed to activate. It couldn't swap Pekotero's position with Beyond's.
Only now did Beyond's expression finally change slightly. His calm movements shifted as well, and he vanished directly from where he stood.
But it was already too late.
From the very beginning, Ronin had known how to break spatial abilities.
Use a spatial ability of his own.
So activating Ame-no-Tokotachi wasn't just to restrain Pekotero. It was also to guard against the curse eye appearing behind Pekotero, just as it had with Usamen, and swapping his position with Beyond's.
At first, Pekotero had shown no panic at all. Especially when the curse eye appeared behind him, a few traces of mockery even surfaced on his animal-like face.
But that mockery immediately froze.
Susanoo's giant hand grabbed him in one motion, crushing him with overwhelming force.
But it didn't intend to simply crush him to death. Instead, it yanked him off the ground and swung its arm, about to throw him toward Ronin's position.
However, the moment Susanoo lifted Pekotero, the Ame-no-Tokotachi effect binding his foot was also broken.
And in that instant, the vanished Beyond reappeared.
The place he appeared was none other than inside Susanoo's giant hand.
That fierce pressure posed no threat to him at all. Instead, having been tricked, Beyond erupted with even more powerful Nen. With both hands braced outward, he actually forced Susanoo's giant hand open.
But by then, Ronin's attention wasn't on Beyond at all.
From the moment he grabbed Pekotero, he had already prepared for this.
Whether Beyond chose to keep activating his ability and swap places with Pekotero, or ignored Pekotero's situation and charged Ronin by force, Ronin had a solution.
Because Susanoo had never truly intended to throw Pekotero in the first place.
So Ronin's real movement was to pull another Fun Fun Cloth from the Fun Fun Cloth inside his pocket, then leap out and jump toward Beyond's position.
Beyond was fast, but he couldn't escape the Sharingan's powerful perception.
So no matter what choice Beyond made, this Fun Fun Cloth would catch something.
Either Beyond himself would be covered by it, or Pekotero, after being swapped into his place, would be.
Beyond made his choice.
The Fun Fun Cloth fell directly over the head of the transferred Pekotero. He had no room to resist and was instantly taken inside.
By the time the huge Fun Fun Cloth landed on the ground, it had shrunk to the size of a candy wrapper.
At that very instant, Susanoo around Ronin shattered. He bent down, picked up the Fun Fun Cloth containing Pekotero, and kicked it into his pocket without even looking at it.