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VonBilly is the slash ship between Von Lycaon and Billy Kid from the Zenless Zone Zero fandom.

Canon[]

Billy Kid is from the Gentle House, also known as the Cunning Hares faction, while Von Lycaon is from the faction Victoria Housekeeping Co. The two can be seen as opposites, with Billy having a carefree, child-like personality, as well as being an expressive individual. On the other hand, Lycaon is considered to be very serious, calm and collected, his elegance a contradiction to the other's energy. Although the two are vastly different from one another, they do share a few similarities. Both of them have white hair and metallic features, with Billy being an android and Lycaon having mechanical legs respectively. Additionally, they are both companions to the Proxy.

Chapter 3: The Midnight Pursuit[]

Lycaon and Billy's first and as of current most noteable interaction is during Chapter 3 of Phaethon's Story, The Midnight Pursuit. After taking out the Ethereals in the Ballet Twins with Nekomata and Anby, Billy asks the latter if what she felt earlier before the battle was the Ethereals, to which she replies that she was not sure that it was. Shortly after, the Cunning Hares group hear footsteps approaching them after Nekomata was nearly hit with one of Ellen Joe's scissors, with Billy cowering behind Anby as they meet Lycaon. The latter compliments the group on their skills before telling them to not advance any further in their journey, informing that the building is closed to visitors and proceeding to give them thirty seconds to explain themselves. After a series of interruptions, such as Corin Wickes' saw blade rolling across the floor and Ellen's unprofessionalism, Lycaon formally introduces himself and his coworkers as the members of Victoria Housekeeping.

Later, the Proxy's sibling informs them that Nicole called to let them know that she didn't realize until she got to the landing pad that all the members of the Cunning Hares were registered to take the stand. Therefore, Billy and his teammates are required to attend by the court. Billy questions about leaving the mission of saving Rain behind, before Lycaon joins in the conversation and apologizes for eavesdropping, then suggests a proposition to let the Proxy work with Victoria Housekeeping and the Cunning Hares. He explains that they are looking for someone, and with the obsolete Hollow data hindering their work, he believes that it will be to the two factions' mutual benefit to work together. He then tells the Proxy to get their friends, referring to the Cunning Hares, out of the Hollows first before continuing with the mission.

During the climax of the story, when Corin, Lycaon, and the Proxy are investigating documents left behind by the enemies prior, the Proxy gets a call from Billy. Billy informs them that there is trouble on the airship: 10 minutes ago, when Perlman went to check his suitcase, smoke exploded everywhere and knocked everyone on the airship out, save for Billy due to his air intake's malfunction. He reports to them that the airship is on autopilot mode, but its schedule route has been changed to fly straight towards the Hollow where the Ballet Twins are located. He reckons that it won't be long until the airship crashes. Lycaon concludes that the airship route was changed a while ago, but nobody seemed to have noticed it based on Billy's words. The Proxy figures that the action was Rain's handiwork. Billy confusedly asks about the situation before Lycaon explains it to him, leading him to realize that the New Eridu Public Security would not be able to deal with the matter and panic. Lycaon then reassures him that the airship's final destination may still be able to be changed if they save the hacker in time.

After the Proxy and Victoria Housekeeping manage to successfully save Rain, they arrive outside the Ballet Twins, seeing the airship approaching closely. Billy is outside of it, frantically waving to the group from the railings as he tries to get their attention. Fairy warns that the airship will reach its target location in 20 seconds, prompting Lycaon to act fast. He proceeds to jump and dash on one of the buildings as quickly as possible to reach the airship on time. Just moments before the time is up, Billy manages to successfully catch him from barely missing his jump, pulling him up and helping him get on the airship before it lands.

Fanon[]

VonBilly was a relatively known ship during the early days of Zenless Zone Zero. The ship first gained attention during July and August of 2024, notably later around the time the game first released for the former month. Interestingly, art related to the two have dated back to as early as May of the same year and even 2022. The cutscene of Billy helping Lycaon get up on the airship is a significant moment for the pairing, as it marks the start of it. Fanworks of the ship, particularly artwork, are often portrayed in a platonic way with Lycaon and Billy simply being next to one another, though there are instances of romantic works. These works often depict Lycaon, Billy or both of them getting flustered by the other: For Billy, he outwardly shows his emotions through blushing, for Lycaon, he blushes, but keeps his expression calm and may have his tail wag in joy. The ship is often compared to Poolverine due to its similarities with one another, such as Billy's carefree personality and demeanor being comparable to that of Deadpool's witty behavior, while Lycaon is a serious, no-nonsense person much like Wolverine. Comments on fan content for the ship often mention how the two are Zenless Zone Zero's "Deadpool and Wolverine".

Due to Lycaon and Billy's limited interactions and a general lack of onscreen time together in-game from Chapter 3 onwards, the ship is a rarepair and thus not very well known, having little attention drawn to it. Additionally, it is considered to be a crackship of sorts because of the aforementioned reasons. It is often overshadowed by more popular ships such as LycaWise, WiseBilly or Lightlly, the latter two are also some of its primary rival ships on Billy's side. However, the ship has a considerably bigger following in the Japanese fandom, with fanworks on Pixiv as well as X (Twitter), and more results of it when searched in its Japanese name. Even then, the ship has since declined in popularity, resulting in it becoming an obscure ship to most.

There are currently over 5 works of this pairing on AO3. It is Lycaon's eighth most popular ship, but does not crack Billy's top ten.

Fandom[]

FAN FICTION
Von Lycaon/Billy Kid tag on AO3
Von Lycaon & Billy Kid tag on AO3
FAN ART
ライビリ tag on Pixiv
TWITTER
ライビリ posts on Twitter
TIKTOK
VonBilly tag on TikTok

Trivia[]

  • Lycaon and Billy have a height difference of 10 cms, with the former's height being 198 cms and the latter's being 188 cms.
  • The emoji combo 🐺🔫 is used to refer to the ship in the Japanese fandom.
  • In Japanese, VonBilly's name can be mistaken as referring to Lightlly, due to Lycaon and Lighter's Japanese names starting with the same Katakana characters (ライ). However, ライビリ is still generally used to refer to this ship, while Lightlly is referred to as イトビリ.
  • The feature film Deadpool & Wolverine may have had a significant impact on the ship's popularity, given how fan content of it first rose in July, also the month of the film's release date.
    • Furthermore, there is fanart depicting the two in Deadpool and Wolverine's outfits.
  • Hoyoverse has sponsored two videos on Zenless Zone Zero featuring the two as the focus.
  • Lycaon and Billy's pasts are direct contraries of their current selves. Lycaon was a thief with a more casual way of speech, as opposed to his formality as a butler in the present, while Billy was a feared champion when he was still the "Red Scarf" of Calydon, conflicting his current childish personality and infatuation with Starlight Knight.
    • Their current relationships with their previous acquaintances are different. Billy maintains a positive relationship with the Sons of Calydon even when he has parted ways with them, whereas Lycaon's friend has turned into a bitter enemy of his'.

Gallery[]

Chapter 3: The Midnight Pursuit[]

Navigation[]

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