Chimera Ant arc

The Chimera Ant arc is the sixth story arc of the series. The arc spans from chapters 186 to 318 of the manga. The arc was not animated in the original anime due to its irregular publishing schedule. The arc begins with episode 76 and ends at episode 136.

Reunion with Kite (2011 version)
After Gon and Killua use Accompany to meet Ging or "Nigg" so they were transported to Kakin, a country in Azian continent. Upon approaching Nigg, they were attacked by Nigg but turns out that they were actually saved from being attacked by Chimera Ants. It turns out that the Nigg they were sent to was Kite, Gon's savior when he was attacked by a Foxbear. Kite was surprised to meet Gon there.



They enjoyed eating dinner while Kite told stories of his life with Ging. Both Gon and Killua were surprised to hear that Ging was a Double Star Hunter who can also qualify to become a Triple Star Hunter. Kite also tells Gon that he was finally able to find Ging. He explains his mission to do a biological survey, and returns to his group. The group then discusses a Chimera Ant leg found on the Balsa islands. The group surveys a shore to find the Ant queen, but to no avail. Killua asserts that the Ant must be over 2 m long, enough to easily eat a human. Returning to Yorknew City, they inspect a map, and theorize that the Queen may be located in NGL, the neo-luddite nation. On the journey there, Kite explains the Chimera Ants' unique way of reproduction, phagogenesis, and ponders in horror the consequences of a Chimera Ant infestation in NGL. Only 5 of them manage to actually enter the country due to the harsh, anti-technological policies (Gon, Kite, Killua, Banana, and Podungo.



A Greater Threat
Meanwhile, on the Yorbian continent in the south of Balsa island an injured Chimera Ant Queen was left ashore and was trying to heal so that she could give birth to the King. The Queen feeds herself more and gives birth to some soldier ants. She orders the soldier ants to bring food. The crab-like soldier ant hunts two children, and the Queen eats them. Finding the human species to be highly delicious and nutritious, she orders her soldiers to hunt more of them, as well as giving birth to the first humanoid Ant, Colt.

After hunting more humans, the Chimera Ants move to a rock formation more inland, and Chimera Ant populations grow faster than ever. This infestation catches the attention of Pokkle, a Beast Hunter. With Ponzu, Balda, and Pekuba, the group enters NGL to investigate the Chimera Ants. Their group is attacked by the Ants on their journey, so they retreat to inform the Hunters Association. However, before they can do that, they are ambushed by Zazan's squad. Zazan takes Pokkle alive, but Ponzu manages to escape, only to be killed by one of Zazan's officers. Before this happened, she managed to use her bees to send a message to the nearest Hunter, which happened to be Kite, about the Chimera Ant infestation.

NGL
Kite, reading Ponzu's message, realizes that the Ant infestation was more severe than expected, ordering Podungo and Banana to return and notify the Hunter's Association. He allows Gon and Killua to accompany him, though. They enter a village, and are confronted by Rammot. Kite orders Gon and Killua to fight him; to ensure that they were strong enough to handle other Ants. They use Nen, but the Ant still overwhelms them. After many clashes, Gon and Killua use their hatsu to defeat Rammot. Since Rammot was severely damaged, Colt comes - having watched from the shadows - to retrieve him. Heading forwards, the trio reach a D2 factory, where they are attacked by Yunju's squadron. Kite, realizing the evil intent, tells Gon and Killua to kill them. Gon fights the Centipede and defeats him using Jajanken: Scissors, with Kite giving the fatal blow, Killua fights Mosquito and kills her, and Kite kills Yunju. Heading deeper into the Ant territory, the group is ambushed by Hagya's squad. The squad demands one-on-one fights, to which Gon, Killua, and Kite agree to. The first fight is Gon vs. Baro. Due to Baro's shell, Gon is initially unable to deal any damage. However, Baro enrages Gon, which gives him the idea to crush the armadillo-Ant while he was protected by the shell. Killua fights Rhino. Killua uses his electricity to damage Rhino's skin, until his bare hand was able to penetrate it. Frog is angered over the easy deaths of his comrades, but Kite uses Silent Waltz to kill all the Ants. Meanwhile, in the nest, Rammot recovers from his injuries and learns to harness Nen. Peggy wishes to interrogate Pokkle, who was also able to use such abilities. Pokkle, having survived, hides in the heap of skulls. However, the newly born Royal Guard, Neferpitou, appears and detects Pokkle. Pitou interrogates Pokkle, and learns about Nen types, creating Nen abilities to correspond with those types, and how to find Nen type. Pokkle is later turned to a human meatball for the Queen, whose appetite was growing to 250 meatballs per day as she prepared for the King's birth. Pitou leaves the nest, and attacks Gon, Kite, and Killua. She manages to cut off Kite's arm. Gon is enraged, but Killua quickly knocks him out. Kite orders Killua to take Gon and flee.

The King, the Two Assassins, and the 30 Days Without Nen
Killua returns to the border where he tells the group of Kite's fate. Just then, 3 pro Hunters - Isaac Netero, Morel Mackernasey, Knov - appear, deciding to take care of the Ants themselves. Netero orders Killua to leave, since he was too weak to deal with the Ants. Killua is depressed after failing to help Kite, however, Gon, who woke up, asserts that Kite was alive, and that they would get him back. In order to do so, Netero gave Killua two warifu pieces; their objective was to gain the other two from two assassins who were apprentices of Morel. They meet Palm, Knov's apprentice, who would help train them for one month until the battle against the two, where only one group would be able to go to NGL. To help them train, Biscuit returns. Her exercise involves using Ren for 3 hours. After the training, she would have them battle Knuckle, one of the assassins. Palm is skeptical of the Gon and Killua's chances against him, but Gon promises to her that he will be victorious.

The day where Gon seriously fights Knuckle; his penultimate battle comes. Gon is initially overpowered by Knuckle. He attempts to use Jajanken (which Knuckle coined himself), but Knuckle is not defeated, and explains its two weaknesses: it takes to long to charge, and that it would lower the concentration of aura in other body parts. Despite Gon's powerful Nen techniques, the boy simply lacked experience, so his Nen was unwisely dispersed. Ultimately, Gon lost the fight due to being out of aura.

Back at Palm's place, while Gon rests, Killua trains with Biscuit. She chides Killua for always attempting to flee, and warns him that one day he would run and leave Gon to die. So, if he lost against Shoot, he would have to leave Gon.

The day when the duo fights against the assassins finally comes. Killua and Shoot leave to the nearby forest. Knuckle begins the battle by a head-on attack, but Gon is able to handle it. He wonders why he was able to, only to find a strange creature called the Hakoware on his arm with a number on its forehead. It adds "interest", which Knuckle explains to be 10% per 10 seconds. Knuckle goes on to explain about AOP (actual aura power) and MOP (maximum aura power), and how Gon's aura techniques consumed aura at a greater rate than usual (1 aura per second), only to confuse the boy. Ultimately, when Gon expended aura, he decreased his AOP, but the interest increased. To add to it, Knuckle explains that in about 4 and a half minutes, his aura would be "bankrupt", and the Hakoware would be attached to him for a month and he would not be able to use aura for those days.

As for Killua and Shoot, Shoot begins with Hotel Rafflesia, where three floating hands would attack Killua. Killua uses his yo-yos to deflect them, but Shoot attack him at melee range. Killua begins to harbor thoughts of fleeing, as his brother instructed him to should he face an opponent stronger than himself. Killua notices that the spot where Shoot punched him was gone; the left side of his face. Shoot uses the created blind spot as an advantage and overwhelms Killua. Killua realizes that he wasn't actually fighting, and attack Shoot head-on.

At the border of NGL, the two duos arrive; Knuckle and Shoot were victorious. Knuckle promises Gon that they would save Kite. Gon weeps over being too weak, as does Killua. The latter swears to protect Gon for the 30 days he could not use Nen. However,

Meanwhile, in NGL, Netero's group attack nearby Ants. Morel uses his smoke to confuse the Ants, and then Knov uses Hide and Seek to send him into his dimension. There, Netero slaughters them. Neferpitou is shown to have killed Kite, but keeps his body because he was "fun". During the mission, Knov bets that both teams would make it; Morel bets that his disciples would win. The Queen gives birth to the two other Royal Guards Shaiapouf and Menthuthuyoupi. At the same time Gon and Killua were fighting Knuckle and Shoot, the Queen begins to give birth to the King prematurely. However, the King violently rips himself out of her. As the squadron leaders come, the King shows absolutely no regard for her or them, even killing Peggy and Turtle and cannibalizing them. The Royal Guards meet with their new leader and leave the nest; Pitou refusing to save the Queen. As the King searches for humans to eat, Colt approaches Knov and Morel for assistance. Most of the squadron leaders leave the nest as per their instincts. Netero assembles a surgeon squad to attempt to heal the Queen in the nest. The dying Queen tells the group present to tell the King that his name was Meruem, the light that illuminates on all, and dies. Colt finds the unborn twin. Morel assures Colt that he and the twin could live as long as they didn't hurt other humans. As this was going on, Meruem found a castle he liked in the Republic of East Gorteau.

During the 30 days that Gon cannot use Nen, he and Killua train, and Gon goes on a date with Palm. During the date, Killua secretly stalks them and fight Rammot, who happened to be nearby. Despite being unable to fight due to fear, Killua rips open his own forehead and pulls out a needle that was implanted by Illumi to make him fear an opponent and flee. He manages to kill Rammot. Knuckle and Morel, having returned from NGL, fight Cheetu and Knuckle uses Hakoware on the Ant, but Cheetu manages to flee.

The NGL group and Gon and Killua unite at a castle, where it is revealed that they managed to recover Kite. However, Kite was in a wrecked state where he was being controlled by the enemy's Nen. He did not recognize Gon and pummeled him. Gon, being unable to stand Kite's state, swears to return him back to normal.

The Republic of East Gorteau & Meteor City
Meruem and the Royal Guards storm the castle and kills the leader Ming Jol-ik and most of the humans inside. They plan for a Selection day, where the citizens would come to the castle under the belief that it was a celebration, only to be turned into Chimera Ants. 99% of the citizens would die, Gon, Killua, Knuckle, Shoot, Morel, and Knov head there, planning to work with Netero to take down the Ants. Gon gets his Nen back, and proceeds to show Morel the tremendous amount of power he has when angered. The six members would be divided into 3 teams of two on the day of the palace invasion, which was in 10 days since that was when the Selection was going to happen. Gon and Killua were assigned Pitou; Knuckle and Shoot, Youpi; and Knov and Morel, Pouf; and Netero would battle Meruem.

Meanwhile, the Phantom Troupe returns to their hometown, Meteor City. Feitan, Shalnark, Shizuku, Bonolenov, Phinks, and Zoldyck are going to take out the Zazan and her squadron. The squadron had reached Meteor City, and were turning the citizens into Ants with Zazan's Queen Shot. Whoever managed to kill Zazan would become the de facto leader. It turns out to be Feitan.

Gon and Killua sneak through the East Gorteau border. They enter a small village, only to find it empty. Seeing blood and shallow graves, Killua deduces that the Selection had already begun, and were using the pretense of a celebration to make it the mass disappearance of people unsurprising. Killua also explains that to Select as many as 5 million people, and not have so many Nen-capable Ants, means that they can control them. Killua plans to attack the ones being controlled, while Gon remains in hiding.

Story Impact

 * The species of the Chimera Ants is introduced.
 * Six professional Hunters play a consistent role in the events.
 * Killua Zoldyck removes the needle implanted by his brother Illumi Zoldyck that put him under a hypnotic spell.
 * The 12th Chairman of the Hunters Association Isaac Netero dies.
 * Kite dies and is reborn as a Chimera ant.
 * Gon Freecss is left in a comatose state after "using everything" against Neferpitou.

Trivia

 * There are many references to baseball in this arc: Cheetu and Morel Mackernasey often use figures of speech related to this sport, and the names of four characters (Knuckle Bine, Shoot McMahon, Palm Siberia, Gyro) are derived from types of pitch.