Hunter x Hunter 277

1
Hunter x Hunter
#277: Insult
[side text: Amidst the terror and crushing pressure // Meleoron meets up with Killua!!]
Killua: ......All right, we should be okay here. // Give me the situation.
Meleoron: God's Accomplice, release!! // Shoot is out for the count, and Knuckle is trying to take on Yupi alone. / You have to help them! // It looks like Knuckle's trying to buy time by just running from Yupi's attacks... it's crazy!!
Killua: Okay... // How long can you be sure of holding "God's Accomplice" for?
Meleoron: The first time, I screwed up and ended up tapping after ten seconds, but I've calmed down since then. // If I don't have to move around, I'm sure I could make a minute at least!
Killua: Fine. / Then I'd like you to lend me that power one more time.

2
[Text: About three minutes and five seconds before Killua raised his index finger... // Knuckle was in midair. // If there was one thing in which Knuckle had confidence... // ...it was his ability to run.

3
[Text: There was one occasion where, in order to let his friends escape, he knocked down a policeman, and was forced to evade, on foot, four police cars and two patrol bikes for an entire day and night. // Eventually, he managed to escape - this was on the day of his primary school graduation. // He's a "Gazelle Type".]
[TN: Thanks to shrimpy for figuring out what the katakana meant - it makes perfect sense now I think about it.]
[Text: His stamina, his capacity to maintain his top running speed for as long as he needs to, far exceeded that of a cheetah. // His decision to show himself in order to distract the enemy from Shoot, using a hit-and-run disturbance strategy...]
Knuckle: !
[Text: ...was, in general, a good idea.]

4
Knuckle: (He's not coming after me...?!)

5
[Text: If we are to say that Knuckle made a miscalculation, it was a simple matter of perspective.]
Knuckle: (Shoot...!! Oh, shit!!!)
[Text: To Shoot and Knuckle, Yupi represented a major, important target... but to Yupi, Knuckle and Shoot represented nothing of the sort. // The job of the Royal Guards was to protect the King; Yupi's priority was to ensure that nobody managed to approach the King. // Yupi was still under the impression that the King was in the Throne Room, // and believed that whilst he himself had been assigned to watch over the Great Staircase, both Pitou and Pufu were guarding the King himself. // As such, as far as Yupi was concerned, the most important thing was to prevent the enemies from approaching the throne room. // With the number of intruders currently unknown, the abilities of the enemies that appeared before him were but a secondary concern. // Enemies who ran away, and enemies who had been thoroughly disabled, were no longer worthy of his attention.]

6
[Text: Shoot was still alive.]
Knuckle: What, you're just swatting us aside...? // ...Is that all we are to you assholes...?
[Text: It was evident that Yupi's eyes must have passed over him as he made his way back. // In other words, Yupi could not care less whether Shoot lived or died. // This was a greater humiliation than either of the two of them had ever before experienced.]
Knuckle: Are Shoot and I... // ...just flies to be swatted?!

7
Knuckle: (Fine, then...... you'll regret looking at us that way!! // We'll see just what you think of this fly's attack in ten minutes or so......!!!)
Yupi: You in there, huh?!! // Hey!!
Knuckle: (Boss is using "Smoke Jail" in the throne room right now... // ...which means that he's going one-on-one with Pufu!! That can't be where the King is...!!) // Hahahah... // (That idiot... // Protecting the room the King's left behind...!! // I can take Shoot... // ...over to the other side, and get a decent overview of things!!)
Shoot: Dammit...all...
[Text: But once Knuckle noticed this miscalculation... // ...a new miscalculation was born.]

8
[Text: Entirely contrary to the calm, reasoned words he had just thought to himself, Knuckle's insides...]
Knuckle: (Shoot met Yupi's eyes head-on...! // From that moment, Shoot was prepared to die in battle... // That's the kind of battle this was meant to be!!)
[Text: ...were boiling over with the most profound fury he had ever felt in his life. // He imagined Yupi's face, giving Shoot only the slightest of glances as he made his way up to the third floor...]
Knuckle: (But that bastard... // ...ignored him completely!!)
[Text: ...and recognised the new miscalculation that he had made.]
Knuckle: (That guy slighted the honour of my comrade-in-arms...)
Shoot: ...all... // ...dammit...all...
Knuckle: (How can I just stand by?! // For what purpose?!)

9
Knuckle: (For the world?! // For humanity?! // But then once this mission is complete... // ...will I be able to shake Shoot's hand?! // Will we be able... // ...to smile and laugh together about this afterwards?! // Knowing all the while... // ...that I just let this bastard insult my friend like this.........?!)

10
Knuckle: (Not a chance in hell!!!) // It's impossible...

11
Shoot: ...... // Hey... / What... are you......
Knuckle: Ah... / ...Sorry. // I'm real sorry about this... // ...but could you just hang on in there a little longer? // 'Cause I still haven't looked that guy in the eye... // ...and placed my fist straight in his idiot face. // Now... for your sake, too...!! // I'm gonna smash this bastard up for sure!!!
Shoot: (...This is where I ought to keep calm, and stop Knuckle doing anything stupid... // But seriously?! That's crazy!! How can I just lie here and buy time like that......?! // That's... my...!!)

12
Shoot: Please... Knuckle!!! / Dammitall!!! That bastard... // He just... he looked at me... like a piece of trash...!! // You smash that bastard... // ...For me, too...!!!

13
Knuckle: Leave it to me!!! // (I'm sorry, Master!! // We're just simple fools.)
[Text: He had miscalculated...]
Knuckle: (There are some things more important than the world!!)
[Text: ...the importance of precious things.]

14
Yupi: (Even my attacks can't penetrate this smoke?! // Your Majesty!! // Pitou!! Pufu!! // Are you in here?!! Hey!! // HEY!!
Morau: (Is that Yupi...?! // The two of them couldn't have been... defeated...?! // I sure hope the old guy's doing all right...)

15
Morau: (But why isn't Pufu responding to his call? // That's very strange...! How can he just sit there so calmly in his shell?! // Surely he should be panicking a little and trying to get to the King... // Is there... something... // ...something we've misunderstood about the Royal Guards...?! // Is this operation really... // I must not hesitate!! // I must concentrate on completing my mission!! // ...proceeding as it should......?!)
Pufu: (Doubt... insecurity... uncertainty... even as these negative sensations sweep through your body, the part of your mind concentrating on your true goal does not waver... // The mind of a truly excellent warrior... I am sincerely impressed. // However, that itself will serve as the shackles that dull your resolve...)

16
Yupi: Shit! // (Why the hell can't I feel Pitou's "En"?! // Have the King, Pitou, and Pufu all disappeared off somewhere?! // Am I the only one left here...?! // What happened?! What's going on?!)
Potclean: It's time. // Now adding interest!
Yupi: Shaddup!!! // (This weird black fog on my shoulder won't disappear... // ...and the numbers on this thing just keep on going up... // I've gotta find the King, and quickly! // Dammit... maybe if I'd killed that fly down below, this stuff on my shoulder would've disappeared... // But finding the King comes first! // The hell is going on here?!! // It pisses me off so much!!!)

17
Knuckle: Hey.

18-19
Yupi: WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON WITH EVERYONE AROUND HEEEEEERE?!!!!
[insert text: Disinterest, scorn... slighted by the enemy!! Now rage, grind, fight, Knuckle!!!!]