Chapter 8: Ship x Storm x Dolle
The day was finally here; in different locations, both Gon and Jett ready themselves to head to port. Jett's goodbye hadn't been emotional; he had said goodbye to his grandmother, and Gon had a more emotional goodbye to his aunt. While she cried, Gon was still resolute to become a hunter. Meanwhile, Jett had already found himself in the island port. The message from the Hunter exam only said that a ship would pick them up on Whale Island. A small note was added to the message, which only stated that a hunter should be able to find their way.
So, while Jett and Gon knew a ship would pick them up, they didn't know what ship. He is the first to the meeting place that both he and Gon agree to meet. Jett took it upon himself to search for information on the ship; he didn't believe that anyone hadn't figured out what ship they were supposed to take; he had already seen a few other people who had weapons, and he assumed they were also taking the hunter exam. He closed his eyes and focused his ears on listening to the voices, separating those voices that were just simple chatter until he heard those that spoke of the hunter exam.
"Exam."
"Ship."
"Do you know?"
"Is The Kaijinmaru."
Jett's eyes snap open, only to find clear brown eyes looking at him at a close distance. Gon had arrived earlier and had found Jett standing with his eyes closed. He shouted at Jett to get his attention, but Jett still kept his eyes closed. Gon had gotten closer to Jett, ready to scream in Jett's face, only for Jett to open his eyes simultaneously. Without caring how close Gon was, Jett said.
"I found the name of the ship we need to take," Jett said.
"Really! That's amazing. How did you do it," Gon asked.
"Easy. I listen and filter out the voices of the regular people and listen for those who could also be taking the exam." While this may seem like some unique ability, it wasn't. Even people from the world he came from had this ability, and many use it subconsciously. It was a skill they had developed because of being born in highly populated areas. Sometimes they do it consciously, at times while eating while everyone is talking around them, they suddenly hear a word that catches their interest, and their sense of hearing then focuses on that conversation.
"It's not that hard. You have good hearing, and if you focus, you could do it too," Jett said. As he got to know Gon more and more, he discovered that Gon had a few talents. He had a good sense of hearing and an amazing sense of smell. Jett contributed those skills to Gon's living in the wild, just like he had naturally learned how to enter Zetsu. Jett watches as Gon closes his eyes and tries to listen to all the voices.
"Ah, I got it," Gon shouted.
"See, I told you it was easy," Jett said.
"You're amazing, Jett. I would never have thought of finding information this way." Gon said.
"Well, it is not a good way to do it; you could do it here because no one cares if you overhear them," Jett said. It was true; the information was so insignificant that it didn't matter if others found out. If one didn't want to be overheard, they would have whispered or gone somewhere without people.
They left to search for the ship and found out that it hadn't docked. So they had to wait. Bored while waiting, Jett and Gon went around the port. As they walked around the port, they were distracted by a ship advertising a rare beast.
"Hey, you there, come, come." A man in a hat pulled Gon inside the ship; Jett had no choice but to follow, although he was also curious about what kind of animals they had. As they went inside, Jett saw a two-headed snake, a giant toad, and one of the island species, the fox bear. The fox bear caught Gon's attention, and Jett knew it was because he had a fox bear friend.
As the woman responsible for the tour explained how a few people died capturing the fox bear, Gon started walking close to the cage. The fox bear kept roaring at Gon as he got closer. Jett watched expressionless; as much as he wanted to sympathize with the bear, Jett didn't care about it. So he watched as Gon approached the bear; Jett knew he would be okay. The only thought Jett had was that Gon was too trusting, and it would one day get him killed.
"I'm sorry; I know you shouldn't be locked up in this cage; I know you rule the forest just like Ponta," Gon said; the fox bear calmed down and started licking Gon's hand. Jett saw two men push their way through the crowd. As he watched them get close to Gon, Jett hid his presence and backed into the shadows. He knew something would happen, but he didn't want to get involved. A few comments later, Jett was laughing at Gon in front of the cage; he hadn't even done anything and just let people lock him up in a cage with the fox bear. It was a good thing for him. He was like an animal.
"Stop laughing and help get me out, Jett." Gon was puffing his cheeks while looking at Jett with an angry look.
"Ha, why did you let them put you in the cage, you idiot? Who does that? You practically walk in there yourself." Jett kept laughing; Gon had an even angrier look.
"Okay, okay, I'll help you get out." As Jett got close to the cage the Fox Bear growled at him, Jett not caring simply looked at it. The fox bear froze, its instincts, telling it if it attacked, it would die. As the Fox Bear backs away from the cage, Jett approaches and pulls on the bars, using a bit of nen to break the lock. Gon saw the whole situation between the fox bear and Jett, but he stayed quiet. Jett had thought Gon would tell him something about it or ask how he did it. Over his time with Gon, he discovered that while Gon was naive and trusting, once you became his friend, he wouldn't be bothered by what you did and would accept you all the same.
Jett could say this because he had gone into the forest one day to train. While he was training, a fox bear attacked him. Jett ended up killing it; he wanted to test his strength compared to that of a powerful wild animal. It was why he had gone into the forest; he tried to get attacked. Gon, who was looking for him, saw him kill the bear. At that time, Jett had been expecting Gon to be angry at him because Gon himself was friends with a fox bear.
"Why did you kill it?" Gon had simply asked. Jett stared at Gon for a few seconds, trying to understand his question. Finding nothing, he simply decided to be honest.
"I wanted to see if I was stronger than it." Jett had said. Jett had indeed wanted to see if his physical strength was more potent than the fox bear and if he was more substantial than it while not using Nen. He had been doing muscle training and wanted to check if training while using Nen helped make him stronger physically. To his surprise, Gon had accepted his answer and had said nothing else. However, he did force him to bury the fox bear and give it a grave.
Jett had freed Gon from the cage. However, being the only one free for Gon wasn't enough for him. He ran in search of the keys to the captain's cabin. Finding the right keys, he opened all the cages to the animals. Jett had thought it was stupid; there were dangerous animals in there that had been attacked by humans, and if they let them loose, they would start attacking the townspeople.
Jett didn't voice his concerns to Gon, although the image of a massacred town popped into his head, making him stop for a moment. It made him ponder if he was being too cold. After thinking for a few minutes, he decided that he wasn't. If the townspeople were attacked, it would teach Gon not to trust animals too much. As for the town's image in his mind, Jett shook his head, not caring; that memory had never been his; to begin with, he would not let it affect his actions.
(Dong, Dong) A gong could be heard, meaning a ship was departing.
"Ah, the ship. Let's go, Gon. We are going to miss our ship." Yelled Jett at Gon.
He and Gon left running, making it three minutes before the ship set sail. A rough-looking man could be seen sitting on the deck of the boat. As Gon and Jett boarded, all eyes turned to look at them. Jett wasn't bothered; Gon wasn't either. Scanning the crowd, Jett saw that all those people looked arrogant. In Jett's opinion, it was those who didn't have any skills. He saw two people who seemed like they didn't have a care in the world.
The first one was a middle-aged-looking man in a blue suit holding a suitcase and eating an apple. With a slight change of breeze, the smell of solid cologne attacked Jett's nose. The second person looked like a pretty girl with blue eyes, but Jett wondered. In his mind, he saw those people in anime who looked like girls but were guys.
The ship ride was as dull as possible; only water surrounded them. Jett had just been sitting next to Gon while he fish. That was until the next day when Gon suddenly said a storm was coming. As far as he could remember, Jett had never been in a storm at sea. He could say that it was scary; the waves were huge, and most of the time, Jett thought the ship would overturn. Drowning wasn't one of Jett's ways that he wanted to die. Not after he got reborn.
Jett had initially been worried they would capsize, but after a few hours, the constant rocking had made Jett fall asleep on the floor. His body kept sliding across the floor as the ship moved. Gon's sweat dropped as he saw Jett sleeping unbothered by the constant rocking. As the night passes, the storm still rages outside the boat. The captain came into the cabin and gave everyone a scrutinizing eye, shaking his head. The captain's eyes pass over everyone, spotting Gon, Kurapika, and Leorio as the only ones doing okay, not spotting Jett, who had slid onto a pile of crates. He decided that those three were the only ones that would pass to the next stage.
"You three come with me." Hearing the captain, Gon ran to Jett, who was inside the pile of crates.
"You can leave him there." Said the captain.
"What, why?" said Gon. The captain was about to tell Gon not to bother, only to stop when he saw Jett was snoring like nothing had happened.
'Well I'll be, I didn't think he would be sleeping.' thought the captain. While he did sense Jett in the crates, he had thought he was unconscious. Not once did he think that he was sleeping. He couldn't blame himself, who in their right mind sleeps with create on top of them.
"Alright, wake him up." Gon didn't have to bother since Jett had already opened his eyes.
"What's going on? Are we at Dolle already," said Jett.
"No, the captain wants to see us; come on, Jett," Gon said.
"Carry me on your back, Gon," said Jett like a spoiled child. Jett didn't wait for Gon to agree and climb into his back. Gon was too nice for his own good. Just carry Jett and follow the captain. In the wheelhouse, where the captain steers the ship, Gon, Kurapika, Leorion, and Jett stand next to Gon, waiting for the captain's words.
"What are your names?" the captain asks.
"I'm Gon."
"Jett."
"Kurapika"
"Leorio"
"Why do you want to be hunters." the captain asks again.
"Excuse me?, I don't think you're an examiner. Why would we answer you?" complains Leorio.
"Answer!" said the captain.
"I want to be a hunter because my dad is one." Gon answer.
"I want to have the most epic fight," Jett said. It was true, but it wasn't all.
After that, Jett didn't bother with anything they were saying. Until the two other people started fighting. Which made Jett cheer for them to kick the other person's ass. The storm rage around them, as the two people were fighting the boat suddenly tilted and a guy flew off the ship. While Jett could have done something, like flash step right in the guy's path and catch him, he didn't bother. He saw that the two people fighting also saw him and moved to catch the guy. They didn't move fast enough, and the guy was about to fall into the water when he saw Gon jump. That made Jett's eyes open wide, not because of Gon's choice to jump, but because he did it without hesitating. Gon didn't have any fear; it was those kinds of situations that made Jett's blood pump faster. It made him want to fight Gon when he did things like that.
Jett saw that the two people jumped after Gon and grabbed him before he fell, saving him and the other guy both. Soon after, the storm continued raging, and they both held on. The captain explained to all four of them that they had passed the first stage of the hunter exam. Two days later, the boat reached Dolle harbor without any problems; they now had to find a way to get to Zaban, where the exam would take place.