2- in 1- chapter: Note, Yo! Our first 2-in-1 chapter for the HxH fanfic!

For those who don’t know what that means—it’s basically two chapters that I could have released separately, but I decided to combine them into one so readers can enjoy it without any interruptions.

And yes, the word count is the same as it would’ve been if they were released as two separate chapters.

Anyway, happy reading!

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As they stepped onto the Gatekeeper Continent, an unfamiliar pressure settled over them like a second atmosphere. The air itself was heavy, not thick in a physical sense, but weighted with something unseen—something that was markedly different.

Every breath carried a faint metallic tang, and the silence was too special, as if the land itself was listening.

The terrain defied natural order. Biomes shifted erratically, bleeding into one another without transition.

Southward, the terrain shifted into an unstable wetland. The ground sagged underfoot, soft and spongy with layers of moss that oozed water when stepped on. Shallow pools spread across the low ground, their surfaces smooth and dark. They didn’t reflect the sky. Steam drifted upward in slow strands, carrying a faint, metallic smell.

Insects hovered above the water; however, what was strange was that none of them seemed to emit any sound. None of them buzzed.

Some of the trees had sunken trunks, bent at angles too steep to be natural. Roots crept out from the water like fingers reaching toward land. The mud bubbled in places, even without movement. Nothing in the area seemed immediately aggressive—but rather it felt like everything was waiting for someone to make a move.

Just past the marsh, without warning, the ground dried and cracked. The moss stopped, the steam faded, and a harsh red plain opened up. The soil was dry and packed hard, streaked with veins of iron. Sharp rocks jutted from the earth at uneven intervals, their shapes narrow and splintered.

The heat came not from the air, but from the ground itself. It rose through the soles of your feet and settled deep in your bones.

There was no wind. Nothing moved across the cracked flatland like a still image.

To the east, dense jungles breathed in slow pulses, trees cloaked in fungi that glowed faintly even in daylight. The canopy formed an almost seamless ceiling, blotting out the sun in patches and casting the forest floor in a humid, dim green haze.

What lay beyond was unknown as the moment someone stepped foot in the forest, they would immediately be assaulted by the thick air. It was filled with moisture and an acrid sweetness that clung to the back of the throat. At first it only irritated. Then it thickened. After just a few breaths, it felt like something was coating the inside of the mouth, as if they’d swallowed a layer of glue.

To the west, the land changed into something unnatural. The ground was coated in fine, pale dust, but beneath it lay brittle layers of crystal. Each step cracked the surface slightly. In places, it gave way entirely, revealing sharp holes filled with chemical fumes and jagged stone.

Tall, mineral formations rose from the ground. They weren’t uniform—some grew in spirals, others in flat blades that twisted toward the sky. They looked like coral pulled from the ocean and turned to stone, but there was nothing organic about them.

A mist hung across the area, pale and still. It didn’t move with the wind. It didn’t swirl or break apart. It stayed in place, sitting just above the ground like it was pinned there. Breathing it in caused headaches and nausea. It didn’t feel like gas or vapor—it felt like stepping through a membrane.

Small creatures appeared now and then. They looked simple at first—lizard-shaped, low to the ground—but their skin was translucent, and when they turned their heads, their movements repeated seconds later, like a skipped frame looping again.

Further inland, a forest of black trees stretched across the slope. Each trunk was smooth and hard, almost reflective, like it had been carved from cooled volcanic glass. They rose in exact lines, spaced at regular intervals with no undergrowth between them.

The pattern was unsettling.

It didn’t feel planned, but it also didn’t feel like something nature would create on its own.

The trees had no bark, no scent, and no insects crawling along them. Their branches held thin, shard-like leaves that didn’t sway with the breeze. Every few seconds, one would vibrate, releasing a short burst of sound— like radio static or a misfiring signal.

The eastern shore, where they had landed, was the calmest. It bore a coastline of deep green sands and rock formations twisted like frozen waves. And yet, even here, the shadows felt too long. The sun was in the sky, but its light curved strangely, distorting depth and distance. No breeze touched the water, but ripples moved in slow, deliberate spirals across the surface.

Ron scanned the horizon. This place didn’t welcome or reject them. It instead wore down your sense of direction. It broke your balance. It made you uncertain whether the ground beneath your feet was still the same from one step to the next.

And if this was the gatekeeper’s domain, then whatever lay deeper in—the true Dark Continent—was worse by far.

If even this threshold between worlds carried such unnatural weight, then what waited deeper within? What kind of territory needed this place as its buffer? That question lingered in the mind of every experienced Nen user present.

The Gatekeeper Continent was vast, distorted, and deeply alien.

But it was only the doorstep.

…………..

……

.

After making landfall, the group set up camp in an open clearing. Compared to when they first boarded the ship, their numbers had dwindled significantly, but even so, there were still over a hundred thousand people.

Ron scanned his surroundings, alert as always. A figure approached him.

“Ron,” the man said, “I’m here on behalf of the others to make a deal.”

It was Mizaistrone. Although the full Twelve Zodiacs hadn’t participated in the Dark Continent expedition due to the rushed schedule and the extreme requirements for members, thankfully, none of them had been lost during the voyage on the Black Whale. Other factions weren’t so fortunate. Most of the Kakin princes were already dead, and the Phantom Troupe had lost two members.

Mizaistrone shrugged. “They sent me to negotiate with you.”

“What kind of deal?” Ron asked.

“We’ll give you intel on the Gatekeeper Continent. In exchange, we’d like your help securing cooperation with a few Gatekeepers.”

Ron raised an eyebrow slightly but then nodded. “Alright.”

“Mind if we sit?” Mizaistrone gestured toward a large rock nearby.

“Over there,” Ron replied.

The two of them sat down together on the boulder.

“Gatekeepers are essential for reaching the Dark Continent,” Mizaistrone explained, gesturing toward the still mist clinging to the crystalline trees in the distance. “Without them, you’ll get lost. The fog out on the sea is extremely dangerous. The second half of the journey is far more lethal than the first.”

He paused for a moment before continuing.

“Botobai already told me about what you encountered earlier—the enormous creature that attacked the Black Whale. That kind of thing might appear sporadically in the first half of the journey, but in the second half, their numbers increase drastically. Humans can’t overcome them. Even the strongest Nen users aren’t enough. Only the Gatekeepers have methods to avoid these giants.”

He leaned forward slightly, voice steady. “But Gatekeepers aren’t human. They’re more like semi-biological entities—something between man and machine. Think of them as hybrids. To gain a Gatekeeper’s approval, certain conditions must be met. Only then will they agree to guide us. But each Gatekeeper can only carry a limited number of people.”

Ron interjected, “So they’re like NPCs in a game? Complete their quests, and the reward is transportation to the Dark Continent?”

Mizaistrone chuckled and nodded, it was comments like that that made him remember Ron was still very young compared to them.

“That’s a fair way to describe it. Gatekeepers know the way, but not in the normal sense. Only they can serve as vessels to the Dark Continent. To be precise, the Gatekeepers themselves are the transportation. They can transform into ships or submarines that move through the sea and evade most marine life. We’ll be traveling inside them.”

Ron’s pupils narrowed slightly. This was something he hadn’t expected at all. He’d speculated on multiple possibilities about the Gatekeeper Continent before—maybe it was inhabited by humans slightly different from those on the Human World, a divergent branch.

Or perhaps it was home to magical beasts. He’d even considered whether the people there might be chimeric beings, hybrids between humans and Dark Continent creatures—like Chimera Ants, or perhaps something like the Kurta elder whose entire body had been covered in blazing red eyes that could hardly be called human anymore.

But it had never occurred to him that the Gatekeepers themselves were living transportation—semi-organic, semi-mechanical beings that served as the only path forward.

“Plenty of people have already arrived here,” Mizaistrone said. “But only a small number are Nen users. Most are just ordinary civilians. And this continent isn’t a place where people can stay for long. There’s a strange force here—something harmful to all living things. Once they’ve come this far, they can only move forward or turn back. But none of them want to go further if they knew the true horror of the Dark continent… and even if they did, no ship would carry them. Finding a compatible Gatekeeper is difficult. That’s why we’re asking for your help.”

Ron understood the implication immediately. Once someone reached the Gatekeeper Continent, there was no going back. Staying too long was also fatal. The only path left was forward—to the Dark Continent.

Even though the death rate on the Dark Continent was extremely high, staying here also meant certain death. Retreat wasn’t an option. Kakin would never permit it—that much was obvious. The Black Whale had already sailed far beyond the range of return.

There was no way the ordinary civilians could seize control of the Black Whale and force it back.

The only way to reach the Dark Continent now was through the Gatekeepers. But earning their help required completing their missions—and ordinary civilians had no chance of succeeding. Kakin wasn’t going to lift a finger to help. So the burden once again fell on the Hunter Association.

The Twelve Zodiacs believed it was their responsibility to assist. That’s why Mizaistrone had come to Ron personally, offering information in exchange for his help securing a few Gatekeepers.

“Are the Gatekeeper missions difficult?” Ron asked.

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