After he finished speaking, Zebro took off his coat. On the surface, he looked like a harmless old man, but the instant he removed his coat, Gon and the others could clearly see the solid muscles covering his body.
Zebro raised his hand and pressed it against the door. In the next moment, he channeled all his strength into his arm.
Crack!
The door opened a crack, and then the gap widened. Zebro withdrew his hand, and the door closed on its own.
"That's how it is. The Testing Gate isn't locked. As long as you're strong enough to push it open, you can go inside. And anyone who enters through the Testing Gate with their own strength won't be attacked like those people earlier."
Leorio glanced at Gon. "Gon, did you just try pushing it?"
Gon nodded. "Yeah."
"Did it budge at all?"
"No."
"Then let me have a shot."
Leorio went up and gave it everything he had. The outcome was the same—no matter how hard he pushed, the door didn't move an inch. If Zebro hadn't already opened it, Leorio would've thought it was impossible to push open at all.
"What's going on? How strong do you have to be to open this thing?" he muttered.
Kurapika turned to Zebro. "I'd like to ask something: has he ever pushed this gate open?"
"You mean Young Master Killua?"
"That's right."
"If I recall correctly, Young Master Killua can already open the third door."
"The third door?" Kurapika repeated.
Pointing at the Testing Gate, Zebro explained, "From its structure, you can see it's not just a single door; it's made up of multiple doors. The stronger you are, the more of them you can push open. They're labeled Gate One, GateTwo, and so on, all the way to Gate Seven. Gate One alone weighs two tons on each side, Gate Two weighs four tons on each side, and so on."
Leorio's eyes widened. "That's two tons on each side? No wonder it doesn't move no matter how hard we push. This isn't something normal people can handle."
Kurapika's expression turned serious. "If Killua can open the third Gate, then each side weighs eight tons. He's that strong? Then Ron, who's stronger than Killua, and Illumi…just how powerful are they? And what about Hisoka…?"
His gaze flickered uncertainly.
Gon moved toward the Testing Gate again. Zebro noticed how shocked they all were and remembered a few days earlier: when Killua returned to the Zoldyck Estate, he also came in by pushing the Testing Gate. Afterward, he had asked about how many Gate Ron was able to open. Zebro had answered:
"Young Master Ron opened the seventh door some time ago."
Killua sighed when he heard this, then muttered:
"So everyone already knew about Cousin Ron, huh? Looks like I was the last to find out. Back at Heaven's Arena, I met Cousin Ron, but he never told me who he was—I thought he was from some other assassin family."
Shaking his head, Killua went inside the estate.
Gon tried again, still with no result. "Hey, mister, can I ask how many doors Ron can open?"
"He can open the seventh door."
Kurapika's eyes narrowed. "The seventh door…that would be 128 tons on each side? What kind of strength is that? Could Hisoka do it too? What about the Phantom Troupe members?"
Kurapika thought it over and realized he was nowhere near that power—he was still too weak to challenge the Troupe. He had no idea how to reach that level, but without it, he couldn't even talk about vengeance.
"How could they manage something like that? And how am I supposed to do it?" He frowned.
As night fell, Gon remembered something. "Mister, this gate is called the Testing Gate, right?"
"Yes."
"So its main purpose is to test people, right?"
"That's one way to look at it."
"Then I don't get it," Gon said, frowning. "Killua is my friend. I came here just to see him. If we're friends, why do we need to pass a test?"
"It's just how things work," Zebro answered. "And it's not just Young Master Killua in there. When Young Master Ron's friends came before, they also went inside by pushing open the Testing Gate."
"Ron's friends?" Kurapika echoed.
Zebro glanced at him. "That was a long time ago. At the time, Young Master Ron was even younger than Killua is now, and his friends were about his age too."
Leorio blurted out, "Do you mind if I ask how many doors Ron's friend could open back then?"
"She opened the fourth Gate."
Once again, the three of them were startled. They had just passed the Hunter Exam, so they thought they were doing pretty well. But this Testing Gate showed them otherwise.
They already knew Ron was much stronger, but not to this extreme. During the exam, they knew he was sixteen, and he was taller than Kurapika, who was the same age. Still, discovering Killua could open the third door, Ron the seventh, and that Ron's friend had already opened the fourth years ago drove home how big the gap truly was.
Even so, Gon felt uneasy about the idea of being tested just to see a friend. But Ron's friend had done it, so it seemed to be standard practice here.
"Mister, is there anywhere around here where we can rest or eat? We aren't strong enough to open the Testing Gate yet, but we don't want to give up."
Zebro hesitated. "I'll need to check with the butler's office first." He turned and headed for his guard station.
..........
..
.
Meanwhile, at a hotel elsewhere, Ron had just finished explaining the technique of Ten to Ruco and Ponzu. "So, do you understand? Either you get it, or you don't—there's no in-between. Opening your aura nodes will make you a Nen user, but it's dangerous too."