A New Teacher Has Appeared-How Could He Possibly Stop Moving Forward?

With Titan's intimidation, Setsuna encountered no obstacles along the way and reached the edge of the Fourth Continent in just over ten days.

"Titan really saved me a lot of trouble." Setsuna sighed.

Along the way, he had seen far too many powerful creatures. Without Titan's deterrence, he figured he would have been devoured by some other creature the moment he left the central region where the Snake King resided.

"Though the beginning of the journey was rather winding, the future is bright. The Gourmet World's system suits me very well." Setsuna pondered. Training "qi" required relentless exercise, exercise consumed energy, and energy had to be replenished through eating.

Therefore, both the quantity of food consumed and the efficiency of consumption were especially important.

Previously, the ability he had considered for improving food conversion efficiency was Life Return from the pirate world. But compared to Gourmet Cells, Life Return could simply be discarded.

"After returning to the Human World, my first priority will be transplanting Gourmet Cells." Setsuna considered this seriously. The Gourmet World's power system revolved around gourmet food: the more one ate, and the more delicious the food one ate, the more power one could uncover.

But the prerequisite was that Gourmet Cells had to be implanted first.

For most people in this world, Gourmet Cells were not something they were born with. They had been discovered by Acacia, the God of Gourmet, inside a deep-sea jellyfish known as the Phantom Jellyfish.

Once Gourmet Cells were implanted into a human body, humans could evolve after enjoying delicious food and surpass the limits of the human body.

Naturally, cell transplantation carried risks. At worst, one could die; at best, one could turn into a monster of the Gourmet Demon World.

Fortunately, after several centuries of development, Gourmet Cell transplantation technology had become quite mature. Once he returned to the Human World, Setsuna would naturally be able to find an institution willing to transplant Gourmet Cells into him.

Moreover, this was also an opportunity to learn, allowing him to compare it with the transplantation techniques he had learned from Orochimaru.

Of course, completely replicating it was impossible. The cells being transplanted were different, and so were the difficulties involved. They could not be lumped together.

As Setsuna pondered this, he suddenly heard human voices coming from ahead.

"Nail Punch!"

"Nail Punch? Isn't that one of Toriko's techniques, one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Gourmet?" Setsuna raised an eyebrow. Had the plot already progressed to the Gourmet World? Or was this Toriko's first exploration of the Gourmet World?

Setsuna hoped it was the latter. If it was the former, it meant the era would soon begin spiraling out of control, just like the later stages of Hokage, with all kinds of sages and gods fighting. With his strength, he could only struggle to survive and might even die in the aftermath of a battle.

"15-Shot Nail Punch!"

"Only 15 shots? Then it's fine." Setsuna let out a sigh of relief inwardly, then jogged toward the source of the sound while ordering Titan to stay where it was.

After arriving at the scene, Setsuna indeed found a tall man fighting an enormous tiger with three heads.

"It's an Ashura Tiger." Setsuna recognized the savage beast that had been mentioned in the story.

At that moment, Toriko was being brutally beaten by the Ashura Tiger and could barely fight back.

"If I remember correctly, Toriko's reckless journey into the Gourmet World ended with him being saved by Jiro, the Master of Anesthesia." Setsuna's eyes lit up, and his desire to take a master stirred within him.

Jiro was one of humanity's strongest figures. He was in no way inferior to the Snake King Setsuna had encountered before, perhaps even stronger. With a single strike, he could stop a planet's rotation while simultaneously using Acupoint Striking on every living creature on it. He was the pinnacle of both power and skill.

"In that case, I'll use Acupoint Striking against this tiger." Seeing Toriko in grave danger, Setsuna acted decisively. With an effortless leap, he landed atop the Ashura Tiger's head, pressed his index and middle fingers together, and tapped its forehead.

The enormous Ashura Tiger, as massive as a tank, collapsed at once, foam spilling from its mouth.

Under Toriko's stunned gaze, Setsuna jumped down and greeted him. "Friend, are you all right?"

After getting a clear look at his savior, Toriko was deeply shocked.

He was one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Gourmet. Aside from a handful of powerful elders, among the younger generation, only Zebra—also one of the Four Heavenly Kings—was clearly stronger than him. Yet Setsuna looked so young and inexperienced, while his strength far surpassed Toriko's.

But his shock lasted only a moment. Toriko had always been warm and optimistic, and he quickly greeted him cheerfully. "Thank you so much! I'm Toriko."

"Oh, so you're Toriko of the Four Heavenly Kings of Gourmet. I'm Chiaki Setsuna." Setsuna replied with a smile, then suddenly looked into the distance and warned him, "Careful. Something troublesome is coming again."

At that moment, numerous frog-like monsters suddenly burst from a nearby waterfall. They were huge, with beak-like mouths full of sharp teeth.

"They're Mamyu," Setsuna explained.

"Mamyu? Another kind of monster with a Capture Level above 100, and they've appeared in a group!" Toriko could not help drawing in a cold breath.

Any one of these frogs would be a boss-level threat in the Human World, requiring a large number of powerful fighters to eliminate. Yet they had encountered so many monsters already, merely at the edge of the Gourmet World.

"This place is too dangerous. We—" Before Toriko could finish, Setsuna charged toward the frog army.

"Wolf Fang Whirlwind Eight Trigrams Palm!" Setsuna leaped through the frogs like an agile Battle Wolf, his movements swift as he continuously struck their bodies.

It was as if there were buttons on the frogs' bodies. With only a light tap from Setsuna, frog after frog collapsed with a thunderous crash, as though they had crashed.

"Do these frogs have acupoints too?" Toriko stared in utter astonishment. It was not as though he had never seen Acupoint Striking before. His friend Teppei, for instance, had displayed extremely refined anesthetic techniques, using Acupoint Striking to anesthetize patients.

But compared to Setsuna, Teppei's anesthetic techniques lacked a certain grandeur and the beauty of combat.

"Of course they do. Everything in the world has its acupoints—or you could call them pathways." An old man carrying a wine bottle staggered out of the forest.

"You're Senior Jiro, the one who saved Komatsu last time!" Toriko was overjoyed.

"To be precise, I'm Uncle Jiro." Jiro corrected him. Then, with a smiling gaze, he secretly looked at Setsuna. "The wildness of a Battle Wolf, Acupoint Striking that flows like drifting clouds and running water—he truly is a fine prospect."

"What? Uncle?" Toriko was stunned.

"What? Didn't Ichiryu tell you about how we trained under Acacia in the past?" Jiro asked with a smile.

"Acacia, the God of Gourmet? Wasn't he someone from over five hundred years ago?" Toriko was shocked again. He truly could not tell that the old man had lived for more than five centuries.

"Haha, it seems Ichiryu really hasn't told you anything." A nostalgic expression appeared in Jiro's eyes. Seeing that Toriko still wanted to ask more, he said with a smile, "Ask Ichiryu yourself once you return."