Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-5780397-20150116191314

Yesterday, by pure chance, I happened to come across a discussion about why the Extermination Team sent to wipe out the Chimera Ants had those members.

1. Wasn't it possible to just bombard the palace?

2. Why did they not involve the whole Association?

3. Weren't there stronger Hunters to take the place, let's say, of Gon?

4. And, last but not least, why did Netero not summon the Zodiacs to help him?

I'll list my hypotheses below. You are more than welcome to comment and mkae your own.

1. No, Togashi has been extremely careful in this sense: with the whole country still convinced that Diego was still the supreme leader, an attack on the palace would have meant war for sure. It would be pretty hard to convince the East Gorteaunese that he had been killed, his corpse pieced together and manipulaed, the palace taken over without anyone noticing, all at the hands of monstrous ants. Not to mention the fact that, even if the V5 somehow managed to convince the people, the higher-ups would still want a compensation, other countries would protest, and the whole incident would become public, spreading the panic. Letting aside the fact that the Royal Family would have survived, there were other Chimeras on the loose. All this assuming that an aereal raid would not have been intercepted by the regular military and stopped, which would surely have caused a commotion and belligerant feelings.

2. As we can read in the manga, Netero chose to take only a handful of people with him to avoid a scenario where the Ants manage to strike down and resuscitate the strong Hunters to use them against the team or to learn how to grow more powerful.

Now, the answers to 3 and 4 are more or less the same. I excluded Palm because the reason she is involved is clearly stated in the manga.

-Morel and Knov: Their abilities are perfect for guerrilla. I doubt that even among the Zodiacs there is someone as skilled as them at it. Not only guerrilla, but also spying, killing, disorienting the enemies: considering Netero had to take the least people possible, they were the best. Furthermore, they seem to be used to working together, I mean both with each other and Netero himself.

-Shoot and Knuckle: First of all, they are Beast Hunters, the perfect type of Hunters to deal with the Chimera Ants. They have strength, but also the knowledge ad experience to fight and understand animals. Like Morel and Knov, they seem accustomed to working together, considering they are disciples of the same master, and very likely with Morel, too, making it easier to coordinate them.

-Gon and Killua: They had first-hand experience with the ants, which could be helpful. Besides, Netero knew Gon would not give up: had they forbidden him to come, he would have killed himself trying to rescue Kite on his own. Perhaps this is why they did not choose anyone else to compete wit Shoot and Knuckle. But anyway, they are both pretty strong: after removing Illumi's needle, Killua got full access to his capabilities, becoming much stronger. In terms of raw power, without counting his Nen abilities, he is not too far from Knuckle's level. He is also a good strategist, and would follow Gon everywhere. Gon, on the other hand, already had the aura of a mid-level pro: after seeing Kite's corpse, it increased dramatically. Again, I think he could have rivalled anyone in the team with that kind of power.

-the Zodiacs: As I have already mentioned, their abilities might not be as suited to guerrilla as those of Morel and Knov. Besides, they are the twelve best Hunters around, and the XxH world is full of mysteries: it is not too far-fetched to assume they could have been on equally important missions (with "equally important" I mean important to the Association or the V5, not humanity). Also, as we have already seen when Morel tried to enlist Riakke, his request was refused by the Association. Morel (or Knov, can't remember which) clearly stated that the ones dealing with this kind of burocracy had absolutely no idea of what went on in the field, so they might have somehow interfered.

Thak you if you followed me up till this point. What do you think? 