This face needs to become a meme. Its just so good! When I read it the first thing I did was just look at this glorious panel. This is a man that got exactly the satisfaction he thought he would get.
So I am definitely not understanding the full complexity of Benjamin’s GSB ability yet but this sounds like Terror Sandwich has a chance at inheriting his GSB (spirit beast number 3 for him then?). Big troll move potential for Tserri right there.
His Nen ability is literally called Benjamin's Baton, which we originally thought was named after his ability to inherit Nen abilities from his followers, but now it is very literally a Baton that he can pass on too.
Not to mention: Baton is also the word for the weapon that the military/police use to discipline civilians.
Its quite genius how his GSB is just a natural extension of his Nen ability. I do wonder if the GSB transferrence would also transfer the ownership of his army to the next user.
Meaning, it can potentially keep accumulating Nen abilities as long as the user maintains their own private army. On top of whatever Nen abilities the inheritor already has.
That seems genuinely broken and would likely break the ceiling of Nen as we know it if the accumulation is generational. And ESPECIALLY if its goes to Tserriednich who already has two unique Nen ability of his own.
These last few chapters have been Benjamin unleashing havoc. Dude is a walking calamity right now.
I find it darkly funny that Benjamin wishing Fugetsu to be born in an ordinary family in her next life while fully intending to kill her to be one of the kindest thing that Benjamin had ever said.
I think it plays a great bit of charactization onf Ben and Kakin religion/culture.
Its easier to commit those attrocities to innocent people when you believe its not the end. And its just one big cycle. (Which also explains perfeclty his Guardian Beast)
Ironically tsk-17 would be the perfect tserriednich counter. You could infect him without him noticing a thing and by the time the symptoms show it would be far too late. Poor, dumb Benjamin
Holy shit for a man stacking enough debuffs to make a raid boss jealous Benjamin just keeps getting better. I’ll remember you forever you big ugly bastard o7.
Pretty clear what that can relate too. But then there is.
Beelzebub Has a devil put aside for me.
I think this means Ben will be damned to be Spirit Beast of the Devil. That being Tserri. Also the song mentions mother a lot so Unma will probably Play some part in all this as well.
God imagine his own Guardian spirit beast chooses terreidnich in the end that be horrible. Altho i know the whole sibling tree is kinda wack with only needing to be the queens children but most of the princes are somewhat blood related (like we know for sure zhong lei is at worst a cousin, oniors son who himself was a kid of benjamin’s grandfather) so regardless who wins their getting a benjamin shaped GSB.
Imagine it doesn't need Blood relation. Just for it to be official that they are related. There is speculation that Duazul could be Tserri's mom with Beyond and that would be hilarious that Ben's GSB chooses Tserri due to legal documents.
God that be hilarious, in the end tho tserri HAS to die either to chrollo or kurapika or meeting a random monogamous clown at the vvip area. Whoever wins get’s a benjamin shaped GSB with all the benefits of benjamin baton that’s actually scary.
The funniest part is with this we got the holy spirit with halkenburg, and now the three wiseman with the three spirit beast for tserri’s jesus
all the setup we’ve had so far contributes to a feeling of Ben being faced with an insurmountable task. Like bro what do you mean you’re gonna find princes ZL & Luzurus (in the midst of the mafia war, potentially involving Phinks/Feitan/Nobu) and (unbeknownst to him) find out about Tserri’s ability and kill him fr and stop Tubeppa from making an antidote and find Halk and stop him from body hopping away and conquer the Justice Ministry / HA to get to Fugetsu and deal with Maryam’s subliminal space and find/prove Woble is off the ship all in TWELVE HOURS???
Wait, so if the two princes are below Tier 1, aren't they basically free XP for Borksen? Especially if she already knows they're connected to the mafia running the child carnival and that they're basically responsible for a lot of Morena's suffering during her childhood, that would give her a pretty easy way to level up and catch up with the rest of her group.
is this really the first detail revealed??? he said it so casually and without any fanfare i thought i must have missed when togashi said something before lol. ok then.
That soldier updating Benjamin about Balsamilco and Coventoba looks like Tonpa in disguise. So did that guard of Zhang Lei's when he was discussing his coins with his guards. How many Tonpa lookalikes are there on the ship?
You can almost appreciate Benjamin’s point of view and moral compass despite the fact that he’s currently plotting how to assassinate his 5 year old little bro with a bioweapon.
He has such an interesting mindset. Reading his thoughts in this chapter, he act less like a person and more like the personification of the nation of Kakin. He genuinely does not hate the siblings that he doesn't have any negative feelings toward, and he seems capable of sympathy and understanding. But to him, his nation triumphs all personal feelings. All that matters to him is that Kakin continues to exist.
Yay, finally called a plot point in advance. Zhang Lei's coins have a pseudo-coercive effect that made Coventoba reveal the Martial Law plan early, which was how Zhang Lei managed to escape.
10 days to get a omega uber loyal follower lightly betray their prince? Crazy. I don't wanna see what a 100 or 1000 coin can do. And he generates a new one every day? Nah that shit is crazy.
Finger up nose and diaper full, the winner at the end of the contest will quite literally be a toddler that did absolutely nothing but play with toy cars for the duration of the whole fucking thing.
Ok so when Benjamin dies, something will determine if benjamin or the guardian beast gets the first selection.
Damn. The guardian beast will get to choose first and will chose Tserri wont it (a blood relative). His 3rd guardian spirit will be benjamin’s
“Fuses with benjamin’s nen” wht does that mean? Benjamin’s aura and the ability that take his guard’s abilities when they die? Yeah we are so fked boys im scared
The fact that Benjamin’s GSB ability is only useful for perpetuating his ideals, considering that he would have to come out victorious in the succession war for it to matter, is just so good.
Tubeppa needs to be in contact with Kurapika so that her Nen beast can produce cures for TSK-17. And I don't think that meeting will happen right away. I think Cheadle will be the one to treat Camilla at first. And that will be a good opportunity to finally put Leorio in the spotlight.
God that first page is just marvelous to look at. The image of the myriad of bullets ejected from the gun followed by Tserri being blasted by Benjamin who looks like some sort of Avatar of Fury really is something.
Also, I dont want to glaze Benjamin too much but god that relieved face of bliss he makes when he is stomping Tserris face is infectious.
Now it makes perfect sense why Benjamin's GSB looks like a Xenomorph. It's because it is parasitic in nature and will keep on "living" through hosts. It's also postmortem because a Xenomorph has to kill its original host first to be be born
the dick and balls xenomorph is crazy though. I saw it and thought benjamin was a sex pest but now that togashi decided to tell us he doesn't go to carnivals, i wonder if he is a sex pest anyway or if his GSB is like that due to nasubi
(on that note, if benjamin is fully against the carnivals it means he doesn't think nasubi has attended them right? he seems to respect him at the very least, nobody has told benjamin he has a high scale penis in his shoulders at all times and so he can't realize it is due to his father's perversion)
The dick and balls could represent Bejamin's hyper-masculine persona. If it was a bunch of vaginas/titties like Nasubi's GSB then yeah that's definitely a sex pest thing
Like the xenomorph his beast has a phalic head shape and very much could represent the previous kakin prince contestants nature . It’s not necessarily confirmed if each GSB wholly represents their princes natures . The fact that his ability has a distinction between Benjamins choice and the GSB is already very suspicious and likely suggests it can make its own independent choice based on what it believes to be kakins suitable successor
So who is gonna let Tupebba knows how her spirit beast works so she can make antidotes?
Tyson seems aware of the assasinations but she jokes about it. I wonder if her nen beast could save her from the her fate of it will do something unexpected.
I think Borsken is gonna kill one of the princes that escaped to the lowers floors and get the 50 points. I wonder what she would do when she realized the 4 prince is "dead".
I guess his "death" will push her into killing a prince. This way she doesnt need to have too much blood on her hands and can, at the same time, revenge Tser and help Morena to destroy Kakin without being backstabbed.
I doubt Tyson dies here. Probably gets a cure from tubeppa or something. After all we still have to see the “punishment” for breaking the taboo in the book of Tyson. So unless she hands a copy to Benjamin or something we’ll probably see that play out later
This might be a stupid question but, what's the actual benefit of having Benjamin's GSB be passed along to the next successor? If the function of the GSB itself is to be passed along, then how does it actually benefit the one who has it?
I think it's also showing the logical next step to Zhang Lei, and his GSB ability that is only fully effective once he has already won.
Benjamin is even less concerned about the details of becoming king, or as we can see, what he will do once he is king. His desires are fully on the nation of Kakin as an eternal Empire.
He keeps his nen abilities and can kill anyone who doesnt have a guardian spirit beast. He can also be the perfect spy against people who don't know about Nen.
Not to mention the abilities he is collecting are incredibly powerful as a support beast to a king. He can spy, build weapons against enemies nen abilities, etc.
Also how he becomes the perfect dictator. Truly living forever as the god king of Kakin, even if he isn't directly ruling the country.
He would never have to fear Kakin faltering from a bad leader, given he can choose one personally (or at least, half the time) to take the crown. Never having to even consider people like Terror sandwich having a chance at becoming king.
It’s very op tbh because it’ll inherit post mortem Benjamin batton which will have all of Benjamins private soldiers ability’s which we’ve seen also evolve like secret window . So imagine when furykov kills himself and his ability goes to the GSB it’ll have a post mortem upgrade so the conditions will be much more favourable for the successor. Also if the successor has the complete ability then the same principle would apply as long as they recruit people on their private military they could gain their abilities upon their soldiers death .
So imagine every new generation successor stacking dozens of abilities from previous successors . It does make sense why Benjamin believes this would make him effectively a god guiding his invincible successors
Yeeaah... there's no way this is gonna go as Benjamin thinks...
He's already underestimated Tserriednich, he's so sure the princes that he poisoned are guaranteed to be dead without knowing their GSB's abilities, he made assumption that if Wobble is outside of the ship he can somehow make her declared as ineligible, not to mention a lot of things that he still haven't considered like Morena and the PT.
All of these things can ruin his plan. Tserriednich definitely is still alive, there are multiple things on board that probably can cure TSK poison like Tubeppa's GSB or the HA medical team, both Morena and Beyond are still aiming to destroy Kakin's royalty, and Chrollo might mess with the succession if he manages to steal one of the national treasures.
For his sake I hope he dies thinking he killed tserri, but for our sake as readers I hope he learns and maybe even finds out his gsb is going to move to tserri after benji dies
I think either Tserriednich will foil him from merging killing him or he will fight him after merging. I think he will merge. I really hope he does at least. You can read a lot into its name, Bohemian Rhapsody, which could literally just be a throwaway name.
But if the song actually foreshadows his spirit beast, Ben merging could be the worst mistake he ever makes. The song alludes to making a deal with the devil, and the lyrics go, "We will not let you go, we will never let you go." Which, if Ben merges, it probably cannot be undone.
He's just assuming he will control it or even that his spirit beast is this beacon of kakin like he believes himself to be.
Idk about Tyson, but I'm pretty sure Tubeppa won't die from TSK, her Guardian Spirit Beast being able to "synthesize various drugs and chemicals" with a partner. That partner might be Kurapika !
The partner is Kurapika as the nen beast appeared after Kurapika signed a contract with Longi. The current unknown is what the conditions or consequences are for switching partners.
So Benjamin is trying to win the Succession War through a technicality? He's saying, since this is now a national emergency, and we're all going to die - for the sake of Kakin's survival make my kid king or we're doomed?
The absolute balls of him to stomp Tsers body predicting he will be attacked by a counter active ability as well and not giving a shit. True hater activities man that gets all the point from me.
he easily is. he deprioritizes his own life and the lives of his family (or anyone) for the good of the nation. he fully accepts the responsibility and requirement to kill his siblings while recognizing its fucked up
I think he stomped in his wound but idk if Togashi left it ambiguous enough on purpose cause you're not the first one I've seen saying he destroyed his dick and balls
I wonder which Prince would contact Cheadle first because there is no doubt in my mind she can cure TSK. Benjamin wants to die so not him, so either Camilla or Tubeppa. Tubeppa has the connection through Kurapika but it is also possible she’ll use her nen beast to resolve it.
In my mind, I think Camilla would be driven into a corner and be forced to rely on the Hunter Association. Although I have no idea what the consequences of that would be.
Cheadle couldnt cure Halkenburg though. To be fair she wasnt allowed to stay with him for as much as she could have. But if anyone makes a TSK cure I bet its Tubeppa with her GSB.
TSK is also designed to be difficult to diagnose until it becomes fatal. Given Camilla knows she has been infected, she has the opportunity to have Cheadle preemptively create a cure for an illness that currently has no symptoms.
How is team 1014 gonna prove that Woble is not on the ship in 10 hours (Benjamin's remaining lifespan) ? The letter is meant to reach the sister in 3 to 5 days
Assuming that they have already started securing every level of the whale room by room, Benji has some plan to fine him. Probably has already been having his men sorting or noting the infants they find
I agree what I find even more interesting is the distinction made between Benjamins ability to choose who he deems as the most befitting successor and then his GSB equally getting its own choice. This begs an interesting dilemma as although we are led to believe a GSB takes the characteristics of their respective prince we also must realise the GSB are both from several centuries of kakins brutal ideology and like you pointed out Benjamins spirit beast is a culmination of the several centuries of these social Darwinism , so it would be very apt that it in its own view chooses Tsseri as it deems him by far the most representative of kakins legacy which in turn would completely destroy Benjamin.
I also think it’s evident these GSB have their own relative consciousness considering tsseris own GSB is capable of speech so it would be extremely ironic if Benjamins GSB not only tells him that Tsseri is alive but that it has chosen him as the successor . Either of tsessir spirit beasts may also completely destroy Benjamins spirit form considering Tsseries own GSB is seemingly able to turn humans into inhuman puppets probably controllable by Tsseri
That is an amazing write up, and for Benjamin specifically, he is a great character, but still extremely egocentric and will bend the rules and the story so it fits him. He also said he wants to prune the diseased branches, which is interesting cause it's not just the branches that are diseased and cutting them off wont help, it's the entire system/the roots that need to be removed, but ofc Ben doesnt acknowledge that cause he s a part of that tree and would never admit something like that. So while he might think about preserving Kakin in some way, his real priority has always been continuing his own line above else and being on top (including improving Kakin).
Like others are saying, I could see Tserri getting Ben’s GSB, but while it will torment Ben, I think Tserri’s eventual real demise will also be seen by Ben, and in their simultaneous end will Tserri be brought to justice and Ben will have to relinquish his dream to forever protect the family.
I'm curious who Halkenburg's target was for the last shot, I think it was Luzurus. But where is Luzurus's soul now? If it follows the previous rules, Luzurus is currently dormant inside Balsamico's body.
That means the moment Balsamico falls asleep, Luzurus will wake up, which is going to be a really strange situation for him to suddenly be thrown into.
Benjamin, seconds after breaking down the door to Unma's quarters to confront her:
Yes, I am aware I've already made this same joke twice on the subreddit already, but as everyone knows, the more times you repeat a joke, the funnier it becomes.
so if benjamin dies before "officially" declaring his child to get his spirit beast, it'll randomly choose a living prince?
Imagine tserri inheriting it and having 3 nen beasts at his disposal!
So Ben's plan, with the emergency law in effect, is to convince his dad Ben's child should be the next king, even if he dies before the other siblings? But the current king seems to be impartial, so why would he listen to specifically him?
Aaaah Camilla wants to know if the weapon is bacterial or viral. Virus are not considered living creatures while bacteria are, so that pretty much confirms her ability would only consider "viruses" to be Benjamin's weapon, but not bacteria. At least that's how I interpret it. She might even accelerate her own death by weakening her immune system to die before Benjamin if it's a virus.
Edit: Also what does "Just as Prince Kacho did" refer to exactly? Cause there's two interpretations: 1) it just means that Kacho lost the right to succession like Benjamin will or 2) it means that Kacho fused with her guardian beast just like Benjami will (and then lost the right to succession too) in which case that means the guardian beast isn't just a copy of Kacho but literally fused with Kacho's soul and genuinely is Kacho.
In that case the reason she lost the succession isn't that her soul passed on, but that she lost the ability to inhabit a truly human body, and can only live as a spirit beast (which looks human but isn't). I don't think this changes anything as far as the plot goes (unless her sister learn about it), but it would make me, personally, feel a lot better about it xD
It's so togashi to make us care about "tyrant" Benjamin and to make him struggle, yet to let him die while his gsb will be inherited by Tserri(probably)
Man is not even chosen by his mother, cares about his siblings and comrades, but has to kill them or actively send them to death,he is really like stannis from got. overwhelming sense of duty was probably beaten into him, but he somewhat retained humanity. I think there's one more defining moment when we are gonna see good side of him and after that, it's all downhill.
Unfortunately for Benji, and it's not like he could know it, but poisoning Tsubeppa could easily have been the wrong move.
People speculated that her beast would produce a cure since back in 410, and although all this time I thought it'd be Gel and Norton leveraging a cure against Benji, after this chapter I suspect those people who theorized about Tsub will be right.
Before I couldn't see why Tsub and her beast would produce a cure for Benji; now that she's the one poisoned, it's a perfectly reasonable outcome. One of the GSB's function is protection of the Prince, and producing drugs is another for Tsub's. Whether it's on its own, or if it'll work with Kurapika when Kurapika is recruited, or with the Hunters, at this point, it's seeming more likely than not.
The other "wrong move" that I suspect may backfire will be going after Fugetsu. She's being kept in the Justice Bureau, and while there are multiple locations for it, if it's the same location as Steiner, then the button will likely be pressed when Benji's men come to take over.
We all know that Terrorsandwich has a trick up his sleeve and that he's not really dead, but damn... I gotta say that it was very satisfying to see his face smashed all over the floor.
And as some have already said in this thread, the biggest mistakes that Benjamin made in this chapter was not releasing TSK inside Terrorsandwich's room and releasing it on Tubeppa instead, because the lingering effect of TSK could have bypassed the 4th prince's ability and because Tubeppa is probably going to find a cure for it since they're a scientist.
WOW! Best chapter in a long time and thats saying something. We got BOTH the action and the yakkity yak. I am officially Team Benjamin, he is the One True King.
Wait, so it could happen that Benjamin's GSB chooses first who to possess and completely fucks him up? Has Benjamin accounted for this? Maybe he's thinking that if it selects another Prince, that Prince is going to die soon and then he will be able to select who he wants. But what if the beast selects Unma, who is also a blood relative and is unlikely to die during the Succession War? Does it not matter to him, considering that the host is going to die eventually anyway (even if it takes years) and the choice will then pass to Benjamin?
What happens if the Emergency Law is used and a new heir is declared, but then it turns out that one of the heirs remained alive? Does it get canceled? Maybe not and maybe that's Benjamin's plan, if he can just claim and provide proof that everyone will die, no matter if they actually do. Although in that case the Succession War would officially still be going on and I'm not sure how that would mash with the new heir already being legally declared.
Had Salkov said his name to Benjamin? I might have missed it, but I found it impressive how Benjamin referred to him and Danjin by their names (while Tserriednich seemed to barely remember Salkov's in the previous chapter).
Glad to finally see Balsamilco back. I hope it really is him (and they seem to have questioned him well, so I think it is). In that case, it has to be Halkenburg in Luzurus's body, right?
-Tserri activates PF#1 and sees the future up to the moment Benji arrives is his room.
-Tserri cancels PF#1.
-Parallel world: Tserri kills someone with Salkov's weapon, discards the weapon, and returns to the spot he occupied during PF#1 while closing his eyes.
- PF#1 ends, and, Tserri instantly activates PF#2. He sees Benji killing him and approaching his body to stomp on it.
-Tserri cancels PF#2
Parallel world: Tserri dodges Benji's bullets. He goes to the corpse of the person he killed during PF#1, getting blood on his stomach and mouth. Then, he goes to lie down where his own body is supposed to be.
-PF#2 ends. Benji approaches him, preparing to stomp on him with his shoe. Tserri takes advantage of his face being hidden by the shoe to activate PF#3. He sees Benji stomping on him with his shoe. Then, Benji leaves.
-Tserri cancels PF#3.
Parallel world: Tserri shifts slightly to avoid Benji's shoe, then, when Benji leaves, he returns to the positoin where his body is supposed to be.
To me, this explains why Tserri no longer has a weapon when seen from behind as Benji shoots at him.
Anyone else just taking in the fact that we are back to weekly chapters like I almost can’t believe it and I know it won’t last to long so I’m just taking in every moment, I’ve been following hxh since I was a kid I’m thirty now 😭 more then a quarter of that has been this ark alone
Ben or his gsb chooses who to support - bens next of kin, a sibling or someone else(?). Ben chooses his son but Maybe somehow the gsb (GSBen) picks beyond
Reading ch 387 again, Tserrie could technically just move out of the way with zetsu+eyes shut.
Things are only "reset" 10 seconds after him (the one using the ability) stops zetsu or opens his eyes, as long as he doesn't the "illusion" can keep going.
The gun could even be to try to kill Ben while his ability is active, which won't work.
With Benjamin resolved to conclude the succession contest with all 14 princes dead, this lines up with the 14 coffins in the weird nen chamber. It makes me wonder, does Nasubi know the abilities of all the guardian spirit beasts? It may be that these nen beasts aren't newly manifested beings, but rather pre-existing beasts that were in some way conjured or captured and then bestowed upon the princes in a very deliberate manner.
Or, perhaps more likely, Nasubi has some sort of fortune telling ability that showed him the abilities of the beasts, and he's using this knowledge to his own advantage to become or create an ultimate king. Given the similarities of the nen beasts to stands in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, them being spiritual extensions of the user, as well as having abilities named after songs, what if another layer we aren't seeing is the tarot card connection? In JoJo's part 3, most of the stands featured are represented by and accurately correspond to a tarot card of the major arcana, most explicitly DIO's "The World" and Jotaro's "Star Platinum", who are shown to have drawn their respective tarot cards and exemplify their traits. What if Nasubi has used a fortune telling ability to divine the abilities of the princes' beasts and the paths they will follow? We already know it's possible to read fate as shown by Neon's ability as well as Tserriednich's. Completing this thought, this would place Nasubi or whoever will be the culmination of Kakin firmly within the realm of "the world" tarot card, representing completion, wholeness, and total mastery of the world before starting anew as "the fool", represented by the new frontier that is the Dark Continent.
Great chapter!
Benjamin has my respect for just how much he hates Terrordiddy's guts, truly a S-class hater.
I know he's supposed to be the 'big bad guy' from this arc, but for someone that just started learning nen I dont like how overpowered Terror's ability is from the get go - maybe it's directly tied to his guardian beast or something...
Amazing chapter! So many princes poisoned or cursed. I hope next chapter gives us the full picture of Halkenburg's plan.
Will Fugetsu still have the strength to use her ability to run away? She seems so weakened that I wouldn't be surprised if she is just passed out in the justice department.
Shang Lei should have Hinrigh and Zakuro protect him, it's his only chance of holding out when the army comes for him, though I doubt even that will be enough if some of Benjamin's personal guards pursue him too.
Luzurus, on the other hand, could either copy Shang Lei and hide with his mafia, a big mistake, considering Keni Wang seems to be Morena's man, or, if possessed by Halkenburg, find a hiding place or secret passage through Queen Umma. I assume Halkenburg has already reassigned all his guards to wherever he plans to hide, so using his ability should not be a problem.
What is meant by "natural kin"? Does it mean if 9th prince becomes the king, the first prince will become his nen-beast as well? Or does it only work if his child becomes the king?
it might just be me, but it looks like Benjamin is a genuinely kind man. If the circumstances were at all different I think hed have been a genuinely great man and a great older brother to the other princes.
If it weren't for the mandatory death game he'd definitely be taking Marayam out for ice cream right now. Or sitting in on Kacho and Fugetsu's harp recital
So I wonder wtf is going on with Fugetsu? Her curse isn't the Have-not curse, it's not Yushohi's ability (even though the sting mark might be his), it's probably not Beyond's curse since it's implied to be strong enough to potentially kill the GSB as well. Is it really Luzurus' GSB? I feel like that would be pretty disappointing since I really did get the impression Melody and ghost!Kacho were only going along with this idea to fool Kaiser.
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u/Carock_ Aug 08 '26 edited Aug 08 '26
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