#chapter 414

Also have a nice reference as we set up Benjamin's soldiers. Like many of them, it's a work of classic literature in Lord of the Flies. Bit of a weird name to append to this ability but I'll take it. Of course it's the classic tale about kids on an island fending for themselves. Naturally I'm more familiar with The Simpsons parody episode Das Bus. And I do tend to agree with the more modern criticism that Lord of the Flies depicts such a dire scenario specifically because they were posh boys from a ritzy, competitive private school setting whereas say, kids used to looking out for each other in a poor inner-city neighborhood would fare better. But we're not here to talk about Lord of the Flies the novel, the ability is pretty interesting for a guy in this position.

Now the real meat of this chapter comes when we get back to Kurapika's group. Go figure the main chatacter has the best stuff. Naturally I mean absolute continuous gigachad Bill. Who keeps being one of the real sleeper hits of this arc. Reminds me of like, Melody in Yorknew.

I love, love, love this line about Kurapika having a very villainous trait. And good use of an English idiom that works here from the translator. I've mentioned before I grew up in a very rural, very fundamentalist part of the US. And that specific phrase. Man...I could be the rebel growing up. Those types, you know you tend to see the worst when they know they're just on the wrong side of an almost 50/50 environment but when you're in a setting they don't really have to worry about being out of controlling the local culture? You can find a lot of tolerance for like, questioning religious aspects. Had a lot of lively debates with pastors and stuff as a teen and they tended to respect that at least I was a kid that took the time to read parts of the Bible or look into the historicity of it or be able to compare/contrast to other religions. A few even used it as an impetus to try and sweet-talk me. Sorta like...admitting there's a few contradictions but not everyone is smart enough to handle that. Open a door to considering a career in ministry.

You wanna see that fundamentalist type short-circuit? Wanna know the real magic phrase? "I just don't really see the inherent value in 'sticking to your guns.' If there's a better idea, just move on and go with that." Oh man...even "progressive" religious types get nutty when you introduce that idea. Because it really gets to the heart of why folk like that think the way they do. Targets their insecurity. They tend to pat themselves on the back for being able to ignore a strong counterargument about a social issue or religious point of contention or whatever. You succeeded a test of faith. But if you target the idea of doing that being silly in and of itself? And I know that's a tangent, but Kurapika is very much this type of person. He has two unerring goals, he's the paladin if we compare to D&D classes. When I say this arc is setting him up for a test of that, engineered to pit slaying the spiders and recovering the eyes against both each other and the much more noble task of protecting Woble...Bill just laid out exactly why that type of thing would be so hard for a person like him.

Luckily...Kurapika has grown so much over Yorknew and the course of this series. Now if you'll excuse me:

AHHHHHHHHHHH EVERYONE LOOK ITS SWEET BABY ALLUKA AND HER BIG BROTHER AND MFING GON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Who doesn't love this? How can you not? Instant top moment in the arc and series not just because it's so exciting to see Gon/Killua (and Alluka!) work their way into the arc. Uh, Noko too. Hi Noko! In a clever way, I love this plan about if they can locate the real Woble it's a huge advantage to the team on the Black Whale. But it is also such a perfect way of showing how much Kurapika has grown. He was so resistant to relying on his friends in Yorknew, but here he's proactively reaching out to them when they can help. Assuring Oito he trusts these two (And Alluka!) more than he does himself.