Sorry, Can Eating Really Do Whatever You Want

The enormous serpent had been roughly divided into three sections: one was flame-grilled, one was cooked with broth poured over it, and one was chilled on ice.

For the grilling section, they had chosen the Lord of the Coast's fattest cuts. Though the Lord of the Coast was as athletic as a black panther, living in the frigid deep sea required substantial fat reserves. Once grilled, this meat released an irresistible fragrance.

For the chilled section, they had selected the smoothest muscle cuts from the Lord of the Coast. Combined with the Baratie chefs' exquisite knife work, the ingredients' most natural, most primitive freshness was perfectly displayed.

For the broth section, they had chosen the strongest, firmest muscles. Delicious broth at an extremely high temperature was constantly poured over them, instantly cooking the paper-thin slices of meat. It had something in common with hot pot.

The flavor and texture of each section changed with the height, creating a marvelous experience. Coming here felt like stepping into a hall of cuisine, where one could taste every delicacy in the world.

Now, all three sections had been picked clean, and Gato had contributed greatly to that outcome.

At first, everyone had remained fairly rational, mindful of the dignity expected of important figures. But after Gato joined in, they all realized that if they still cared about manners, the food would be gone before it reached them. So they went wild as well.

Fortunately, Zeff had anticipated Gato's presence and greatly reduced the number of invitations issued.

Yet that only made the chance to attend even more precious, and the banquet became even more sought after. That was something he had not expected.

The once-terrifying Lord of the Coast was now reduced to nothing but a head. Every other part had become a snow-white skeleton.

The head was edible too, but none of the guests dared look directly at it. Though the king of beasts was dead, its lingering might remained. If they had been the red-eyed people from the beginning of the feast, they might not have cared, but once they had eaten their fill and calmed down, none dared set their sights on its head.

The banquet was declared over, and the guests left the Baratie in complete satisfaction.

Though they still wondered afterward, somewhat angrily, who had been competing with them for food, that only proved from another angle just how successful the banquet had been and how delicious the food was.

Before long, the Lord of the Coast's head had not gone to waste either. The chefs ate all of it; after spending all their time serving the guests, they were starving.

After all, this giant creature had been prepared by their own hands, so naturally they had nothing to fear.

Seeing how enthusiastically they ate, Gato, who had already been full, somehow found another burst of fighting spirit and joined another war...

At last, the banquet truly came to an end, and the hardworking chefs returned to their cabins to rest.

Only Gato, who had done almost nothing and could not offer much help with the cooking, was still full of energy.

Since he had no desire to sleep, Gato decided to continue training.

Becoming strong was not something one could accomplish with words alone. To him, training was an enjoyable thing.

For Gato, who had never possessed extraordinary power before, feeling his body grow stronger was addictive.

At today's banquet, Gato had eaten at least forty percent of the Lord of the Coast's meat. What he felt now was not merely fullness, but a sensation of energy overflowing throughout his entire body. Training now would definitely be more effective.

He felt that today, he could bring his Lightning Living Body Technique into a new stage.

The Lord of the Coast had provided far too much energy. Ordinary people could only have a taste; they could not make use of that energy at all, and it would all be lost through excretion. Otherwise, ordinary people would not have been fortunate enough to enjoy the Lord of the Coast's meat.

That was why, in the world of pirates, it was not without reason that the more someone could eat, the stronger they were. The energy consumed by a strong person's body was countless times greater than that of an ordinary person.

"Burp, hahaha! That felt amazing!"

After a spasm, Gato's training came to an end. Training the Lightning Living Body Technique was actually very painful; controlling lightning-nature chakra as it traveled through his body felt much like being electrocuted.

Gato savored it willingly, not because he was a masochist, but because he knew that the greater the pain during training, the better the results. If one wanted power, how could one avoid paying a price?

"With my current strength, if I hunted that Lord of the Coast again, I wouldn't need to put in nearly as much effort as before."

Gato's strength and speed had risen to another level, far surpassing his former self. He was almost as strong as he had been when he previously activated Lightning Enhancement.

If he activated Lightning Enhancement again with his current body, he could probably punch straight through the Lord of the Coast's scales.

"In terms of frontal combat ability, if I don't count techniques like Divine Void Strike, which leave me at others' mercy after using them once or twice, I'm probably comparable to those supernovas who have just reached the Sabaody Archipelago."

Gato's methods were currently very limited. In his normal state, he fought entirely with his body and rudimentary chakra usage. His burst technique was Lightning Enhancement, while Divine Void Strike was a move for risking his life.

But simplicity had its advantages. People like Garp and Kaido did not bother with flashy tricks, yet there was simply nothing anyone could do to them. When a fist came down, no ultimate move or technique could help.

Gato was now faintly showing signs of developing along this simple, brutal path, but that was only temporary. As his cultivation continued to improve and he mastered chakra of other attributes, he would eventually gain a wide variety of methods.

Speaking of strength and technique, Gato remembered a low-level but highly practical technique that Kaguya had not taught him: the Three Body Techniques.

The Three Body Techniques were the Substitution Technique, Clone Technique, and Transformation Technique.

There was no need to elaborate on their effects here; their general uses could be inferred from their names alone.

These Three Body Techniques were the most basic ninjutsu. Any child from a ninja academy in the Shinobi World could use them.

But experts could turn the mundane into the miraculous. No matter how strong one became, properly using the Three Body Techniques could still provide assistance that could not be overlooked.

Kaguya had not taught Gato the Three Body Techniques not because she did not know them, but because she disdained them. To her, such low-level techniques were practically an insult to her intelligence.

The Three Body Techniques would definitely be extremely useful in the world of pirates. People here had basically never seen methods like these, so using them at a critical moment could certainly determine the outcome of a battle.

"I'll leave that aside for now. Strengthening my raw power is more important."

If Gato had enough time, he would certainly be able to deduce how to use the Three Body Techniques. But in the perilous world of pirates, doing so would be very unwise.

No matter how useful the Three Body Techniques were, they could only add to one's chances of victory when the gap in strength was not too great. But if one was crushed in raw power, then the Three Body Techniques would truly be nothing but flashy tricks.

So Kaguya could not be blamed either. Accustomed to crushing others with overwhelming raw power, how could she possibly think highly of such insignificant techniques?