Beyond predicts that he’ll be released and the Zodiacs will go to the DC with him. Cheadle responds that he is delusional and he’ll be in prison for a long time for inciting a riot. Beyond says that is the “correct” answer, but that the real world works differently. He wants to tell them something before they hand him over to the V5. Cheadle’s confused by his motives and feels like Beyond is on the attack/has the upper edge. Beyond tells them to brace themselves for the truth behind V5’s official policy.
We cut to the glasses guy who giving his presentation on the DC to some V5 bigwigs. He points out that their world is located within the enormous lake Mobius at the center of the DC. According to their data, mankind has tried 149 times (on record) to go to the DC. Only 5 of those trips had survivors, with 28 survivors total. Of those 28, Beyond is the only one still alive. The 5 “successful” voyages were all unofficial and took place after the V5 formed the treaty. Some entity known as the “Guide” helped them with these voyages. Without the Guide’s help, they wouldn’t be able to cross the far ocean boundary in Mobius (the circle in the map at the bottom of page 4), so mankind has never been able to make a round-trip to the DC by themselves.
The 28 survivors were all physically fit and “blessed with luck”, but only three of them were able to pass various tests and return to a normal life after the voyage (a rate of .04%). Some guy in the audience asks the person next to him who the Guide is. The other guy answers that the Guide is the being summoned by the “Gatekeeper.” The Gatekeeper is the magical beast clan with the only “pipeline” to the DC. Travel to the DC would be difficult without the Gatekeepers help.
Some lady says that they know all of this already. Old guy says that any talk of risk will only serve to fuel the fire for adventurers and countries/businesses looking to profit from the DC. Another guy at the table says that the risks at best will only decrease the number of applicants; he wants to know the “official way” to stop Kakin. Glasses guy mentions some clause in the treaty that permits the use of force and military intervention. Some guy remarks that Kakin will never back down now that things have gotten so public. Glasses guy agrees and says that in order to quell the situation peacefully, they have to invite Kakin to join V5, reorganize as V6, and unofficially support Kakin’s expedition. They have to show Kakin that V5 was only waiting to add them as a representative to the 6 continents (until they were ready), not that they have to add them reluctantly. Kakin’s king will go down in history as a pioneer and, in return, the distribution of all rewards (from the DC) will be divided among the V6 equally.
Glasses guy points out that there are many uninhabited islands that could accept immigrants within the far ocean boundary. He suggests sending all the citizens who want to go to the DC to these islands instead and pretend it’s the DC (basically lie to the citizens in order to keep them safe). For the actual voyage to the DC, Kakin will have control over it as long as the participants are carefully screened. Guy at the table says that a chaperone is necessary for the voyage, and wonders if the Hunters Association is a good enough chaperone. Glasses guy tells him that they commissioned the Association to capture Beyond. Once they have him, he says, it will be up to them to convince him (to clarify, I think he means convince Beyond of having the journey be more controlled/chaperoned, versus the all-out open door policy Kakin is currently pursuing).
Glasses guy says the Association will have earned their keep if they can succeed in being both firm and flexible in regards to Beyond. Another guy asks what happens if the Association fails to convince Beyond. Glasses guy says they’ll then negotiate directly with Kakin’s leader and will “certainly” resolve the issue with the V6 offer. Someone remarks that if the Association fails they’ll have to send an unofficial team themselves, which will increase their budget by 25 times (don’t know if this is important or just an off-hand political thing Togashi decided to throw in there).
The V5 bigwigs seem to agree to Glasses guy’s plan (they nod their heads and stamp the document). Meanwhile, back with Beyond and the Zodiacs, Beyond makes it sound like he insisted on the open-door policy for the expedition to incite V5 to get off their asses, since if they followed protocol the plan would’ve failed from the beginning (I think what he’s trying to say is that if Kakin did a status-quo expedition like the ones in the past, it would have similarly failed. So Beyond/Kakin stirred up the V5 this time to ensure this expedition would be different). Cheadle and Beyond exchange some heated remarks about the safety of civilians and using that as an excuse (don’t think it’s important). Kanzai (tiger zodiac) is confused by what they’re saying and wants a translation. Saccho (horse zodiac) explains it, saying, “Beyond got a ticket to the DC in exchange for making Kakin’s king into a historic hero. But V5 doesn’t like to lose, so it wants to maintain dignity by making us babysit Beyond.”
Kanzai wonders if the current situation is good or bad for the Association. Geru (snake zodiac) says it’s high-risk, high-return. If they fail they’ll lose one of their most important customers (V5), but if they succeed they might be able to hunt in the DC and discover great benefits there for the Association and humanity at large. Beyond tells Cheadle to contact V5 and bets they’ll accept a supervised voyage with the Hunters Association as the chaperone (going back to what Glasses guy said in the meeting, Beyond basically predicted how V5 would react). He challenges Cheadle and the Hunters to follow him to the DC, calling it a “proving grounds.” She accepts his offer/challenge and agrees to go, but wants to confirm some things first. Beyond agrees to this, saying they can even take his blood to prove he’s the real Beyond. Cheadle now knows he’s the real deal, the Chairman’s son, and that he’s using the Association as a stepping stone to enter the DC. She tells Mizaistom (cow zodiac) to contact V5.
All of the zodiacs are talking about their new mission. They agree it was underhanded and they were forced into it, but that it was also the quickest way into the DC. Cheadle calls it a top-secret mission from the V5 and that it will require the entire Association’s help. Kanzai is still confused and Geru explains to him that they’re going to the DC with Beyond, but that he’ll try to escape them to do as he pleases there. So the mission will be trying to handle the calamities of the DC, while keeping Beyond on a leash and fighting off Beyond’s allies. Cheadle tells everyone to be prepared for the mysteries of the DC and tells Beyond to prepare for a long imprisonment. He thinks to himself that he’ll wait as long as it takes.
Back to the glasses dude and his boss (from last chapter) after his presentation. Glasses guy wonders if they’re contradicting their duty if they know about the risks but still concluded to go to the DC. Boss says their only duty was to inform them of the dangers and propose a safer route, and it’s not their problem anymore. Glasses dude wonders about how that
Journey to the New World book is deemed fiction, but is actually the “basis for the most important criteria for the world…” (don’t know if he was cut off there). Boss guy laughs and basically says a peaceful world is more important than an honest one.
It then switches to a news report talking about the ships being built for the expedition. First one is called Black Whale 1 and can carry 200k people. King declares they will build 20 of these ships in a year in order to send 100 million people within 5 years to the DC (or I guess if V5's plans work, they will be sent to those uninhabited islands, the fake “DC“
. Civilians who make the trip will be decided by lottery.
Then we go to some news show with a panel talking about the risks of the expedition. They talk about how the most deadly creatures on the "non-native species list" are rank-C creatures (bears, wasps, sharks, poisonous snakes). There are rumors that the DC has rank-B and even rank-A creatures, but one of the panelists says these are only rumors and legend. He goes onto say that the legendary calamities of the DC were most likely infections caused by viruses and microbes, and that modern medical science will prevent such infections nowadays. He then says that the flora and fauna of the DC could possibly be holding miraculous compounds that could help mankind advance by leaps and bounds. He predicts that the greatest gold rush in human history will take place in the next 10 as they journey to the DC.
Ging approaches Pariston and Beyond’s group and asks if he can join them to go to the DC. Pariston is relieved since he thought Ging came to stop them. But Ging says he does plan to stop them. Ging calls the whole situation Pariston’s specialty, a “forced choice.” He says that “depending on whether the Association responds to Beyond’s provocation, you (Pariston) would send in 5,000 Chimera Ant soldiers.” (I think this means that if the Association didn’t agree to Beyond’s chaperone plan, Pariston would’ve unleashed the Chimera Ants to pressure them into doing so? It’s kinda vague who he would “send” them to.) He tells Pariston that the Association isn’t his sandbox anymore and that if he wants to mess around with someone it should be him (Ging). He says he’ll “play” with Pariston until he begs him to stop. Pariston responds that Ging is finally going to pay attention to him ("so you're finally going to pay attention to me?"). Ging says, “we’ll see about that. I might just be doing it for my own fun.”