Hunter x Hunter Succession War Recap — What to Remember Before Chapter 421

Spoiler warning: full spoilers through Chapter 420, the most recent published chapter. Nothing here reflects chapters Togashi has written but Shueisha hasn’t published yet.

Chapter 420 closed out a ten-chapter run and Hunter x Hunter is back on an undated hiatus — our release-date tracker covers exactly what that does and doesn’t mean. This isn’t that article. This is the reset point: what’s actually happening in the Succession Contest right now, so whenever Chapter 421 does land, you’re not starting cold.

The Succession Contest, in Short

King Nasubi of the Kakin Empire launched a two-month voyage aboard the Black Whale, a vessel built to carry 200,000 people, publicly framed as an expedition to the Dark Continent. It’s cover for something else: a secret succession battle. Using a relic called the Seed Urn, Nasubi secretly granted Nen abilities to his 14 legitimate children — referred to as “princes” regardless of gender, ranked by birth order — and each one manifested a personalized Guardian Spirit Beast, a Nen construct shaped by that prince’s own personality. The rule structure keeps the Nen beasts from directly harming another prince themselves, which is exactly why so much of the actual killing on the ship happens through bodyguards, mercenaries and mafia proxies instead.

It is, functionally, a battle to the death between siblings, most of whom have never met each other before this trip.

Where Kurapika Stands

Kurapika is aboard as bodyguard to Woble, the 14th and youngest prince — an infant, which makes Kurapika’s protection role fairly literal. His real goal is separate: Prince Tserriednich possesses a collection of the Kurta clan’s Scarlet Eyes, and Kurapika wants them back.

To get there, Kurapika has been playing a longer game than simple protection. He revealed the existence of Nen to several princes and their bodyguards and personally taught Nen basics at a seminar — a calculated move to level the playing field rather than pure altruism, since it also buys goodwill and access. That strategy has paid off in alliances: Kurapika has aligned with Zhang Lei, the 3rd prince (a diplomat whose Nen ability involves granting coins), and more recently strengthened his position further by allying with Tubeppa, the 5th prince, a scientifically-minded strategist with a strong bodyguard team of his own. Underneath all of it, Kurapika is still quietly reporting back to the Hunter Association.

The Princes Still Central to the Story

Fourteen princes started this contest. Several have already been eliminated, but the story has deliberately kept the exact tally murky — off-page deaths and unconfirmed rumors are part of how Togashi is playing the political side of this arc, so treat any claim of a precise current head count as speculation rather than settled fact.

What is clear is which princes still matter to the plot:

• Benjamin, the 1st prince, who controls ship security and declared Special Martial Law in Chapter 415, ordering all surviving princes to gather in Room 1001 — the move that set up much of what follows, including Hisoka’s rampage during the lockdown.
• Tserriednich, the 4th prince, widely regarded as the contest’s most dangerous player. His Nen ability, Laplace Devil, is tied to foresight, and Chapter 420 tests its limits directly.
• Zhang Lei, the 3rd prince, and Tubeppa, the 5th prince, both now allied with Kurapika.
• Woble, the 14th prince, still under Kurapika’s direct protection.

Phantom Troupe / Hisoka: An Old Grudge, Still Unresolved

Hisoka and the Phantom Troupe have unfinished business dating back to their Heaven’s Arena confrontation, and that grudge is still driving events on the Black Whale. Troupe leader Chrollo has been pursuing Kakin’s National Treasures specifically to power himself up enough to beat Hisoka decisively — this isn’t a side quest, it’s framed as Chrollo’s actual plan to end the rivalry for good.

Hisoka, for his part, isn’t waiting quietly. During Benjamin’s Special Martial Law lockdown, Hisoka is shown loose in a Tier-1 casino, having killed a floor’s worth of security guards with what’s described as extreme speed and precision. That’s where he runs into Tserriednich directly — the collision that defines Chapter 420.

Heil-Ly: The Mafia Conflict Running Underneath Everything

A separate but connected thread involves Kakin’s mafia families jockeying for Dark Continent influence: Heil-Ly, Cha-R and Xi-Yu. Heil-Ly is led by Morena Prudo — revealed to be King Nasubi’s illegitimate daughter and an extremist cult leader whose actual goals go well beyond ordinary mafia turf war. Heil-Ly’s escalating aggression has pushed Cha-R and Xi-Yu into working together against it, with Phantom Troupe members Feitan and Phinks getting directly involved in hunting down Heil-Ly’s hideout (Nobunaga, previously part of that same group, has since split off on his own path).

Where Chapter 420 Actually Leaves Things

The chapter’s climax is the Tserriednich/Hisoka encounter. Hisoka, mid-rampage through the casino, corners Tserriednich — and the exchange exposes real weaknesses in how Tserriednich has been using Laplace Devil, forcing the prince to fall back on Zetsu (Nen concealment) just to get out alive. Rather than killing him, Hisoka walks away — read by most coverage as Hisoka being either uninterested or, more likely, treating Tserriednich as a threat worth letting develop rather than eliminating outright. It’s consistent with how Hisoka has operated toward promising fighters throughout the series.

That’s the note the current run ends on: Tserriednich forced to reckon with the limits of his own power, Hisoka still loose and unaccounted for, the Heil-Ly conflict still unresolved, and Kurapika’s alliance-building still in progress with Tserriednich’s Scarlet Eyes still out of reach.

What’s Unresolved Going Into Chapter 421

Nothing here is closed. Hisoka’s location and next move are unknown. Chrollo’s National Treasure hunt hasn’t paid off yet. The exact current prince body count is still deliberately unclear. And Kurapika still hasn’t gotten anywhere near Tserriednich himself, let alone the Scarlet Eyes. Whenever Chapter 421 actually arrives — and it doesn’t have a date yet — these are the threads it has to pick back up.