Dark Continent Expedition arc

The Dark Continent Expedition arc (暗黒大陸編, Ankoku tairiku-hen) is the eighth story arc of the series, and currently spans from Chapter 340 of the manga. The arc was released well after the end of the original anime series and has not been animated in either adaptation. After the first chapter, Hunter × Hunter was put on a hiatus on March 14, 2012, in which the mangaka used to fix some of the illustrations for the tankōbon for the release of volume 31 and 32 release. All the current chapters were adapted into tankōbon format including chapter 340. On April 18, 2016 the manga returned, and then relapsed to hiatus up to June 26, 2017.

The Special Assignment: Stop the Dark Continent Expedition
Beans comes inside a room shouting about a big emergency. Saiyu guesses Cheadle wants to resign her seat. However, she assures him that she won't, and lets Beans talk. He shows a video in which Kakin's King, Nasubi Hui Guo Rou declares his country's intention to travel to the Dark Continent.

The Zodiacs are surprised, except Kanzai, who is clueless about the Dark Continent and Kakin's King. Gel explains that the Dark Continent is a place outside the world map. It is also where magical beasts are believed to originate from. Mizaistom adds that every time humanity had tried to venture there in the past, a disaster was brought back. 200 years ago, the continental V5 forum made an agreement not to go there. Cheadle explains that Kakin could techincally be considered a new nation after their transition to a parlimentary democracy 30 years ago so they may have neglected to renew the treaty. Beans interrupts them with a more serious problem. The video shows King Hui Guo Rou as he introduces the person who will lead their expedition, Beyond Netero, the son of Isaac Netero.

The Zodiacs are once again surprised, not knowing that Netero had a son. Gel suggests they need a confirmation. However after Beyond starts his speech, Saiyu questions if there is any need to confirm him being Netero's son, as they notice their similar attributes. Beyond promises that he will take care of everything, and that all will have an equal opportunity to join his team as he encourages everyone to come to Kakin. Everyone in the room is shaking as the video ends. Beans lets them know that there is a second DVD that the chairman had left with him; only allowed to show it to all members of the Zodiacs if someone claimed to be his child. Since Ging and Pariston are currently there; Cheadle makes an announcement.

Meanwhile, people from all around the world are ready to follow Beyond, who decides to ignore the prohibitions of V5 about exploring the Dark Continent and makes a speech to his expedition team (Pariston is seen there) saying that he is willing to go where no one has gone before. Cheadle tells the Zodiacs they do not need to wait for Ging and Pariston to see the DVD, as she approved both of their requests to leave the Zodiacs. She then announces the special assignment given directly from V5: Hunt down Beyond Netero.

The Zodiacs are shown a video of Isaac Netero discussing the V5's plan to explore the Dark Continent, and requests that his son be not elected as the head of this expedition. The Zodiacs debate on this assignment to hunt Beyond, and even mention Ging's possibility of joining. Beans then comes in, having received a call from Beyond himself and orders the Zodiacs to tell the V5 that they have already captured Beyond. Cheadle interviews Beyond, who is locked in a prison cell, and Beyond declares that the Zodiacs will release him. Cheadle dismisses this as absurd, and continues the interview. Saccho interprets the interview for Kanzai, explaining that the King of Kakin has allowed for Beyond to go to the Dark Continent provided he makes the king famous. Beyond declares war against the Zodiacs, which Cheadle accepts. Mizaistom later informs Cheadle that the V5 has authorized the voyage to the Dark Continent, and the Zodiacs will accompany Beyond even against their will.

Cheadle contacts Leorio and offers him to be a Zodiac, as he was now a popular figure in the Hunter community. At first, he declines, but then asks if there's another spot in the Zodiacs. He recommends Kurapika, who is then scouted by Mizaistom. Mizaistom deals with guards, and is approached by Kurapika himself. Mizaistom uses the Scarlet Eyes owned by the Fourth Prince of Kakin as a motive for Kurapika to join. Kurapika accepts. While traveling by car, Kurapika communicates with Leorio for the first time in a while. He inquires about Gon's condition, and Leorio inquires about Kurapika's email address. Kurapika refuses to share this information. Kurapika thanks Mizaistom for the connection to Prince Tserriednich, and assures him that he can deal with the prince's dark side. They reach the Hunter Association building, where Leorio reunites with Kurapika briefly, before they are taken to the meeting. At the meeting, Cheadle informs the Zodiacs that the V5 has been changed to the V6, as Kakin is now a member. She reveals the reason for the failures of previous Dark Continent expeditions: the 5 Great Calamities. The danger of these calamities were level A, one rank higher than the Chimera Ants (B). Cheadle reveals their objective: to capture at least one of the Calamities and bring it back safely, as well as deal with Beyond. Kurapika asks the other Zodiacs if they have identified a member of Beyond's team in the Association, stating that Beyond must have planned this all for when his father died. He confirms that Pariston and some Kyousen Hunters are allies of Beyond. Mizaistom leads Kurapika out and advises him to not inquire about a mole, because the mole would be on alert. When they return, all the Zodiacs explain their roles on the voyage.

Kurapika oversees the Hunter Exam, where one stage is to answer a questionnaire concerning their knowledge of Kakin's imperialistic ambitions. Kurapika uses his dowsing to see who is lying, and therefore working for Beyond. Mizaistom praises his ability, but Kurapika asserts that it isn't all the powerful, and that someone with a similar ability could counter this one. Mizaistom explains that there probably is not a person within the Zodiacs like that. The reason being that the normally politically-divided Zodiacs were working with each other to help with the mission, showing their co-operation and innocence. Since there was probably no risk of it failing, Mizaistom asks Kurapika to listen to the others as they state their abilities, and find the liar. It turns out to be Saiyu.

Meanwhile, Ging confronts Pariston in Beyond's lair. He explains that if the government does not answer to Beyond, Pariston would send in 5000 Chimera Ants. He refuses to allow Pariston to have his way, and reveals that he merely wants to "play by himself." Pariston states that the Hunter exams were about to begin, and that he knows of Ging's knowledge on the Ants. Ging suggests that Cheadle will separate the Hunter Exam from the association, which Pariston denies. Ging assumes that the purpose of the Ants were to have them scattered worldwide. He also says that Pariston's underlings may pass the exam easily. A member challenges Ging to a fight; Ging accepts and easily claims victory. The members show reluctance in having Ging be second-in-command. Ging promises to double Beyond's pay to them. Pariston shows no objection. Ging educates them on the Five Calamities, and how their threat level surpassed that of the Chimera Ants since there was no countermeasure for them. A member asks Ging how he knows so much, and Ging explains that the Dark Continent was being recorded by Don Freecss.

Gon attempts to use his Nen, but is unsuccessful. Ging explains that it was there, he just couldn't see it. He tells Gon that it could have been much worse, and advises him to go looking for 'something'. Gon heeds Ging's advice and returns to Whale Island and Mito. When asked by Mito if he was disappointed that he couldn't go, Gon says that he would be a burden due to his lack of Nen, and that his goal was to find Ging, not meet him.

A month later, Ging continues to display his prowess in skill and knowledge with the Expedition team, gaining their respect. Pariston suddenly shows up and divulges the failure of the assassins sent to the Hunter Exam. He acknowledges the ability of his successor, Kurapika. One of the assassins, Muherr, claims that Kurapika can read minds. He orders Ging to leave, believing him to be an agent of the Hunter's Association. However, Ging assures him that his goal is to support Beyond, but stop Pariston. Usamen supports this claim, advising Muherr to wait a few days to see really why Ging should be Number 2. Just then, the other Kyousen Hunters arrive, and reveal that Number 2 would not be in the chain of command. They force either Ging or Pariston to leave. Ging comes with with a third option: the assassins leave, whereas Pariston decided that the assassins should be killed. Muherr gets his assassins to shoot at Ging and Pariston, so they flee. Ging uses Leorio's warping punch technique to attack their assailants. He also uses his aura to produce an ultrasound which can be used to detect enemies. He uses this to find the other two henchmen and knock them out, such that there are no enemies. Pariston reasons that they must have fled, but Ging corrects him by saying that their mission was complete. The entire scenario was set up by Pariston himself. He learned this when one of the Kyousen Hunters did not bring up both Ging and Pariston leaving as an option. Muherr wonders how they figured out his plan. Ging is more concerned about his men, stating that they are too weak for the Dark Continent. Muherr reveals that they are simply back up; shooting would be taken care of by Golem. Ging is impressed by Golem's capabilities, but Golem refuses to give any more details about their true identity. Ging asks that the soldiers take his money, but Muherr assures that the soldiers can't be bought with money. He questions Ging's motives for sponsoring the soldiers, and Ging says that he did not know the main reason, though there were a number of possible causes. He reveals that he simply wants to support Beyond but thwart Pariston, and the money would act as a gift and a convenience. Muherr finally agrees to talk to the soldiers. Ging declares himself as number 2, but asks him to lead, curious to see what he would do. Ging replies that he wouldn't hold back.

In Kakin, Prince Benjamin Hui Guo Rou contacts his younger brother Prince Tserriednich to inform him that their father has accepted their offer that he who could survive the Dark Continent would be King. Overjoyed by the news, Prince Tserriednich declares that victory would be his, while taunting his older brothers intelligence. His subordinates who have entered the Hunter Exam reveal their success in becoming Hunters. His Father's Personal Butler explains that the succession war would begin once the voyage began, but if any of the participants (the King's legal children) died before, the war would be cancelled. Tserriednich then participates to a Kakin rite, receiving, unbeknownst to him, an "egg" from which his guardian Nen beast will hatch.

In the meanwhile, Kurapika and Mizaistom watch a recording in which the Ox interrogates Beyond on the identity of the spy in the Zodiacs, stating he will let him participate to the sailing ceremony that will take place on the eve of departure, in 34 days. Beyond declares he does not know anything, and does not care about the ceremony; rather, the V5 will most likely pressure the Zodiacs into letting him go. Using his ability, Kurapika confirms he is not lying.

Battle to the Death


At Heaven's Arena, Hisoka challenges Chrollo, who has become a Floor Master to a duel. Chrollo decides to have a fight to the death, to which Hisoka consents. The battle begins with Chrollo using Black Voice, which he apparently stole from Shalnark, to manipulate the judge. Hisoka realizes that Chrollo was using the time he spent fleeing from him to steal more abilities. After having the judge manipulated, Chrollo uses him to pin down Hisoka so he can stab him with his second antennae. Hisoka deflects, but Chrollo uses this opportunity to launch a series of stomps. Amazed by Chrollo's resolve, Hisoka figures out the purpose of controlling the judge is to tire him out and strike while he's still weak. Hisoka attempts to slash the judge, but instead, the judge detonates. Chrollo reveals his ability: The Sun and Moon, which allow him to imprint seals with either plus or minus on a target, and when the opposite seals meet, an explosion takes place. Chrollo also demonstrates his other ability: Double Face, which allows him to use a bookmark on a page to maintain this page's ability. With this, he no longer has to hold the book open to use that ability, though he can use two abilities by having the book open to another page. However, this brought out new limitations to Skill Hunter. Chrollo says that he will show Hisoka three more abilities, thus setting a new record for the most abilities it has taken him to kill someone.



After a small talk, Chrollo explains the rest of his abilities; Order Stamp, which allows him to control any inanimate object provided that its head is still connected to the torso. But since the former owner didn't consider a real corpse to be an inanimate object, Chrollo makes use of Kortopi's ability, Gallery Fake, and make a copy of the judge's corpse. After that he uses Order Stamp to command the copy to kill Hisoka, albeit unsuccessfully. He then reveals his final ability; Convert Hands, which allows him to switch appearances with a person he touches. He reveals that one of his abilities belonged to a now-deceased person. Hisoka realizes that it remained after death because of that person's Nen becoming stronger postmortem. The ability is The Sun and Moon, which belonged to a Meteor City elder that once turned his brethren into bombs in order to purge an outside threat. The seals from the Hatsu cannot be removed. Chrollo declares that he will win, but Hisoka is insistent on continuing the fight. Chrollo jumps into the audience and uses Black Voice to control a large spectator. Chrollo hides behind him and manipulates another. By the time Hisoka deals with the two, Chrollo is gone from his sight. He realizes that Chrollo originally bookmarked Black Voice to control the spectators, activated and changed his appearance with Convert Hands, and then shifted the bookmark to that page so he could retain it and hide.



A panicked audience begins to flee the arena despite being told not to rush the exists all at once by the commentator. Several audience members notice that they have been duplicated, which alerts Hisoka to the fact that Chrollo is using Gallery Fake. Shortly, many of them begin rushing towards Hisoka who realizes that Chrollo is currently using Order Stamp to command the copies to kill him. He uses Bungee Gum to propel himself towards the ceiling, away from the puppets. However, this is proven futile as his pursuers are capable of reaching him. Hisoka blocks their attacks, but leaves himself open from behind; an opening Chrollo exploits to land a hit on him. Despite being pummeled, Hisoka is enjoying the fight by continuing to decapitate the puppets, while Chrollo uses openings to land guaranteed hits. Chrollo tries to attack from above, but Hisoka anticipates this and attaches Bungee Gum to a decapitated head, flinging it at Chrollo who dodges it easily, having expected it, and proceeds to stomp his opponent. Hisoka, however, knew this and has swung his foot with a head attached to it, hitting Chrollo while he is laying injured on the ground.

Chrollo manages to recover from Hisoka's sneak attack. Hisoka uses the severed heads to smash the still attached heads of the remaining puppets, thus incapacitating them. He launches an attack on Chrollo who retreats again into the audience. Hisoka restrains one puppet to see through Chrollo's next actions:
 * 1) Keep the bookmark on Gallery Fake. Open Order Stamp. Command the waiting puppets to kill Hisoka.
 * 2) Keep the bookmark on Gallery Fake. Use both hands to create more copies. After that he would either:
 * A) Open Order Stamp. Command the puppets to kill Hisoka.
 * B) Open Convert Hands. Change his appearance with his left hand.

The stamp vanishes from the puppet Hisoka is restraining, which leads Hisoka to believe Chrollo chose the second option. Hisoka realizes the audience should panic on the sight of Chrollo if he plans to copy them, so he's wary that Chrollo would opt for Option B to avoid the risk. Hisoka understand that Chrollo might go where his copies are already on standby in order to both create more copies and stamp the previous ones. Using this logic, he spots Chrollo, pursues him into the stands, and goes on an all-out offensive to pressure him. He begins to consider a third possibility:
 * C) Open Black Voice. Conceal the cell phone and antennae in his left hand.



Hisoka makes sure to keep his distance, then flings several audience members, to whom he attached Bungee Gum, towards Chrollo who dodges them. However, Hisoka managed to attach Bungee Gum to Chrollo's leg. He drags him, and launches several strikes, apparently killing him. He finds out that it was simply a right-handed copy of Chrollo, meaning the bookmark is on Convert Hands. Hisoka is confused why the severed head he was carrying from the start is still existing after Chrollo had removed the bookmark from Gallery Fake. He quickly realizes that it was a fake out, and that the puppets that have been afflicted by The Sun and Moon won't vanish.

Hisoka comes to the conclusion that Gallery Fake, a double handed ability, can still be used in conjunction with another ability. Chrollo may imprint the plus mark with his left while he's opening the book on The Sun and Moon, and keeping Gallery Fake bookmarked. He comes to the final conclusion that instead of following Option 2B exactly, Chrollo added another step:
 * D) Open The Sun and Moon. Imprint the plus mark with his left hand. Deactivate either or both. Open Order Stamp. Command the puppets to kill Hisoka.

Hisoka decides to go on the defensive to prevent a puppets from detonating near him. Chrollo steals the microphone from the commentator to issue a "break Hisoka" command. From there, hundreds of audience members begin rushing towards Hisoka, which excites him. He uses Bungee Gum to swing the copies and smash the rest. However, the bodies cannot handle constant collision, and the controlled puppets continue to pour in. All of a sudden, Chrollo has the head Hisoka is using detonate when he is holding it in his hand.



After one of the bodies explodes, blowing off his left hand, Hisoka tries to assess the situation. He soon comes to the conclusion that Chrollo figured out which body he decapitated, imprinted a left-handed plus mark on the body with his book open, before imprinting another minus mark on a different individual, then manipulating that individual using Black Voice, making them touch the body's plus mark, and creating a maximum-power bomb. Hisoka realizes the dangerous situation he is in and chooses to "go all in", decapitating several puppets and climbing up the Heaven's Arena walls using Bungee Gum in order to find Chrollo on the second floor. With the puppets in pursuit, Hisoka is faced with even more directly ahead of him, which have been ordered to self destruct after spotting Hisoka. Due to this, a large explosion comes from the second floor, sending Hisoka flying towards more puppets on the arena floor and blowing off his left leg. Before he is able to use Bungee Gum on his remaining leg to escape to the ceiling, a puppet from the second floor flies into his chest due to Chrollo's intervention. Hitting the floor, Hisoka is surrounded by a crowd of puppets before a large explosion engulfs them.



Later, a news reporter at the scene of Heaven's Arena confirms the end of the deathmatch which resulted in several audience casualties. Hisoka's dead body is seen before Shalnark, Kortopi and Machi in another room. Shalnark explains that the large crowd of puppets had a cushioning effect which protected him from the bulk of the explosion, however Hisoka ended up dying from lack of oxygen due to the blast and the mass of flesh. Kortopi and Shalnark then leave after Machi says she'll stitch him up. Before she can do so, aura begins to re-emerge from his corpse and Hisoka comes back to life; it is later revealed that he placed Bungee Gum on his heart and lungs in order to restart them after his demise. After a brief conversation in which Hisoka admits he bit off more than he could chew, he says that it will be his enemies which won't have a choice in where and who they face. He then proceeds to restrain Machi using Bungee Gum before she leaves, saying that he won't stop until he's killed the all of the Spiders. He then leaves Machi, who continues to threaten him.



Shalnark talks on the phone with Chrollo, who are planning to board the Black Whale of the Kakin Royal family in order to steal their valuables. After he hangs up, Shalnark wonders why Kortopi is taking so long in the toilet. As he receives another call, Hisoka exits from the toilet with Kortopi's severed head in his hands. He throws it at Shalnark causing him to scream out and become distracted, Hisoka dashes forwards and delivers an extremely powerful strike to his head, killing him. Shalnark's mangled corpse is then seen tied to a swing, with Kortopi's severed head placed in front of him.

Major Battles

 * Ging Freecss & Pariston Hill vs Muherr's soldiers
 * Hisoka Morow vs Chrollo Lucilfer
 * Kurapika vs Sayird
 * Kurapika & Bill vs Vincent

Story Impact

 * In the Dark Continent Arc it is revealed that 200 years ago, 5 Kingdoms blocked off the Dark Continent, and that it is the place of origin for the Chimera Ants.
 * It is Ging's ultimate goal to travel to the Dark Continent.
 * Ging and Pariston leave the Zodiacs.
 * Leorio and Kurapika join the Zodiacs.
 * Gon realizes he can no longer use Nen and decides to go back to Whale Island.
 * Chrollo has apparently removed the Judgement Chain and battles with Hisoka.
 * Hisoka dies after fighting Chrollo, but revives himself, and goes on a killing rampage against the Phantom Troupe. So far he's managed to kill Shalnark and Kortopi.
 * Kurapika goes on the Dark Continent voyage in order to confront Prince Tserriednich Hui Guo Rou.
 * Chrollo is on the Black Whale.

Arc Navigation
新世界篇