#tserriednich

I think it illustrating pretty much the feeling of all of us right now.

It's really funny how everyone (including me) suddenly started supporting Prince Benjamin when he began his scheme to kill Terror Sandwich. Fr we love you Benji!

Okay, he's not exactly a good person, but compared to his brother, he's an angel sent from heaven. Sure, he killed that lion during his introduction scene, but aside from that, he's still quite straightforward in his actions.

Do I think Togashi is setting them up to cross paths again? I do. But the way people frame it sometimes makes it sound like we're getting an epic shonen-esque protagonist/villain team-up plus "I never thought I'd be fighting alongside a Kurta" moment or something, and I just don't see it playing out that way. I know people saying this aren't implying they'll become friends or anything, but I do think they're kind of brushing over how painful and emotionally complicated an alliance like that would actually be for both of them.

To me, it's much more likely that they'll temporarily align because their goals happen to overlap, and because right now they both have bigger priorities than killing each other. Chrollo wants to steal Kakin's treasures to upgrade Skill Hunter and get enough power to defeat Hisoka, while Kurapika wants to stop the Succession War, and those treasures will probably end up being the key to doing so. If they run into Tserriednich, I think it'll be because their paths happen to cross, not because they deliberately formed a "team" to take him down.

I imagine something much closer to Kurapika and Hisoka working together in Yorknew—except infinitely more painful for both of them, because this time the shared history between the people involved can't be brushed aside. It involves Kurapika's trauma, which people tend to soft-ignore for some reason despite it being pretty obvious, consciously acknowledging it but also subconsciously gloss over it. And on Chrollo's side, he'd be working alongside the person responsible for Pakunoda's death.

People often forget that while Chrollo didn't lash out after Uvogin's death (probably because Uvogin knowingly walked into that fight alone when he didn't have to, and it was ultimately a reckless decision on his part), Pakunoda is a different story. Her sacrifice was her own "choice", sure, but it was made under immense pressure, and it was precisely that decision that kept the Spider from tearing itself apart. The other members almost certainly told Chrollo what happened. I also think it's very telling that Togashi skipped Chrollo's immediate reaction to her death, yet still shows him mourning her in the present. That feels very deliberate to me, and it tells me Chrollo wouldn't be completely neutral or comfortable working alongside Kurapika at all.

That's why I don't really buy the idea of them functioning as neutral teammates. A temporary alliance that neither of them wants but both of them happen to need? Sure. An actual textbook team-up? I’m not convinced.

I also think the "they'll team up to take Tserriednich down" idea leans a little too heavily on the theory that Tserriednich was directly responsible for Sarasa's murder. Certainly not impossible, but as of right now there really isn't any strong evidence to prove it. Tserriednich only seems a few years older than Chrollo was at the time, which makes him being the mastermind behind it harder to sell. I wouldn't rule out the possibility that the people who influenced his "tastes" were involved, but that's still different from Tserriednich himself being the main culprit.

If anything, I think Tserriednich represents the kind of person the Spider was born in opposition to, rather than necessarily being one of the people directly responsible for Sarasa's death. Symbolically, that makes him exactly the kind of person Chrollo would probably despise the most. But that alone doesn't make him Chrollo's enemy, because Chrollo doesn't really have a personal reason to make Tserriednich his enemy, especially since he accepted becoming the "villain" a long time ago. I can definitely see Chrollo disliking Tserriednich if they ever meet, but I can't really see him going out of his way to take him down unless Tserriednich gives him a personal reason to.

My actual reaction to Theta's name being mention three times by Salcov this chapter :

I think i missed her a little bit.

Since Benjamins' men have been searching in Terror Sandwich's residential area, it is likely they will find her in the staff room unless the First Prince orders them to abandon the search and follow him in his maneuver after he has "killed" Terror Sandwich.

This guy really doesn't have time since he's going to die in half a day because of that witch of Camilla and especially not enough time for Terror Sandwich lol. I laugh so hard when he broke down in a very determined way the door of his apartments and when he didn't even wait a single second to kill him as soon Terror Sandwich opened his mouth.

The problem between these two seems way too personal XD. I wonder if it's because they have the same mother and therefore lived together whe they were kid. I don't know. Halkenburg is also Terror Sandwich's brother, yet they get along well.

But let's still applaud our hero Benji for shoting the fuck of Terror Sandwich, even if that bastard most certainly got away with it his Zetsu ability.

Very satisfying panel btw

As for the rest of the chapter, I really enjoyed it. There was a lot more action than usual, which was refreshing because we'd gotten used to the walls of text that gave us headaches after years of reading this arc chapter.

Our poor Benji is unfortunately going to leave us sooner than expected, but it's okay. He's already played a crucial role in this war. I didn't quite understand his and Furikov's whole thing about his Nen beast that would allow him to become some kind of mystical, spiritual being who could watch over the Kakin royal family or something like that, but it's amazing how quickly I'm starting to like him XD.

Prince Camilla will also have to leave soon since my little Benji gave her his disease (she was an interesting character, but frankly, I won't miss her). I don't know if this will affect the progression of the disease, but since she says she's capable of going into a state of hibernation, perhaps it will prolong her life. But I can't imagine our little Cami doing that, especially since she also has an army of people carrying a curse for each of the princes, so she certainly won't stay silent.

People theorized that Benji was trying to quickly kill all the princes and win the succession war before dying so he could pass the succession to one of his children (it's not even confirmed he has any, lol, I'm not even sure the princes of Kakin are allowed to marry). But since he lets Camilla die after him and leaves the other princes alive, I think he's more likely trying to eliminate his most tenacious rivals before dying. That way, he'll be sure he can easily manipulate the prince who wins the succession after he dies.

Terror Sandwich has already finished staging his death with Salcov. He had a particularly mysterious and charismatic aura during this chapter... He must have something else planned, I can't wait to find out what. I don't know how he's going to fake his death with the 10-second time delay, but I'm not too worried, This man is terrifying.

I also really appreciated Salcov's determination to save Theta. I've always loved their friendship, I've seen several people start saying he's in love with her, maybe I was just a blind aromantic not to see it, but I honestly don't have anything against the ship. I just hope Terror Sandwich doesn't do anything to him. I'm holding out hope because that guy could barely remember Salco's name XD.