Enjoying Gourmet Food and Building Poison Resistance

Seeing the Four Beasts turn into a mountain of bright red meat after dying, Setsuna was speechless.

They had clearly been dark green monsters before death, instinctively making people think of pollution and deadly poison. Yet after dying, they had suddenly become a mountain of bright red meat that was obviously top-tier ingredients. Was this truly the Gourmet World?

Meanwhile, the detoxifying medicinal meals jointly prepared by all the chefs were delivered to the poisoned masses.

Because poison experts had taught a special massage technique during the live broadcast, delaying the onset of the poison for three hours, and because the final investigation revealed that only 500 million of the 30 billion people had actually been poisoned.

Even so, producing 500 million servings of detoxifying cuisine within three hours was impossible, no matter how many chefs there were. That time also had to include gathering the chefs, teaching them the detoxifying medicinal meal recipe, transporting supplies, and distributing the meals to individuals.

Yet, driven by cries of, "If I can't even save humanity, what kind of chef am I?" the chefs miraculously completed the task.

Komatsu in particular simplified a detoxification recipe that even the Cooking King himself had been unable to simplify to the absolute limit in just five minutes, making the Cooking King question his entire life.

"Mm, this guy tastes really good." The great battle had just ended, and Zebra immediately sat beside the mountain of meat and began stuffing himself.

"Idiot! Top-tier ingredients should be cooked by top-tier chefs. Eating it like that is such a waste!" Sunny loudly rebuked him.

"What waste? There's so much meat that we can't possibly finish it all." Zebra waved a hand.

Setsuna also tore off a piece of meat and ate it raw. The instant it entered his mouth, the ultimate freshness and sweetness bloomed over his tongue. It was cool, smooth, and tender, melting in his mouth. First came the light, sweet savor of the meat, followed by the rich fragrance of its fat, as though he had swallowed a piece of the starry sky.

"Delicious!" Setsuna felt that even his vocabulary was inadequate. At the same time, he could not help marveling at how blissful the strong of the Gourmet World had it. As long as they enjoyed gourmet food, their bodies could evolve.

That made Setsuna look forward to the upcoming feast even more. Top-tier ingredients paired with top-tier cooking—merely imagining it made the Gourmet Cells within him churn madly.

Chefs were undoubtedly the most respected profession in the Gourmet World, and also the profession chosen by the greatest number of people. To stand out among so many chefs, the culinary skills of top chefs were naturally terrifyingly powerful.

Setsuno, ranked second on the chef rankings, used Four Beasts meat to make Shining Rice Bowl. Curry King, ranked fourth, served curry dishes. Master Sumire, ranked tenth, made hamburger sets...

"Ah, rice bowls truly are the crystallization of human civilization. It wouldn't be wrong to call them the ultimate expression of simplicity." Setsuna sampled the work of many top chefs, all of it exquisitely delicious. But only the Shining Rice Bowl made by Granny Setsuno gave him the feeling that his soul had been elevated.

The essence of gourmet food was sharing. Though he did not know how the chefs had done it, the Four Beasts' meat had somehow been turned into dishes sufficient for 30 billion people to share.

Setsuna moved among the various stalls, eating for an entire day and night before finally ending this gluttonous battle.

Before he had time to rest, Setsuna quickly sought out Coco again.

"Coco." Setsuna greeted him with easy familiarity and asked enthusiastically, "Can you teach me how to increase my resistance to poison?"

Coco had heard from Toriko that Setsuna had saved him. This time, Setsuna had also helped them defeat the Four Beasts. Coco was deeply grateful to him and naturally would not refuse his request.

Besides, increasing poison resistance happened to fall right within his field of expertise.

"As for improving poison resistance, I can currently think of roughly four methods."

"Four!" Setsuna exclaimed. As expected of a professional.

"First, evolve your Gourmet Cells. Consuming high-grade ingredients stimulates Gourmet Cell activation. Gourmet Cell evolution improves the body in every aspect, which naturally includes resistance to toxins."

Setsuna nodded. After enjoying the Four Beasts' meat this time, he had undergone a Gourmet Cell evolution, and his physical abilities had been enhanced across the board.

Of course, because it was his first evolution, the improvement had not been especially great.

"Second, conduct toxin adaptation training. Start by ingesting small doses of toxins, then gradually increase the concentration. This can improve the Gourmet Cells' immunity to various toxins."

Setsuna pondered it. It was probably similar to the principle of vaccines. "What about the third method?"

"Third, environmental adaptation evolution. For example, cultivating naked in the Poison Rain Forest to give the skin's keratin layer poison resistance, or diving into the Poison Tide Sea for breath-holding training to improve the blood's detoxification efficiency."

"Fourth, you can implant a mechanical anti-poison module into your body or receive hormone injections. But I personally do not recommend this method. The side effects are too severe."

After pondering for a moment, Setsuna asked, "If I want to conduct toxin adaptation training, what would you recommend?"

Coco said, "I recommend the poison sac of the Puffer Whale and Ghost Lantern Fruit. The former is a neurotoxin and can train resistance to nerve toxins, while the latter is a burning toxin that can strengthen mucosal tolerance. Before conducting anti-poison training, you must prepare detoxifying ingredients in advance, such as Detoxifying Dandelion or the liver of a Poison Lizard Dragon."

Two weeks later, inside a highly toxic restaurant that exuded an eerie atmosphere.

"This poison tastes a little too mild. Tell the chef to add more arsenic."

"Then how about trying this? It is brewed from seven highly poisonous species, including Zombie Taipan, Puffer Whale, Devil Serpent, Swinging Bee, Yamata Poison Scorpion, Desert Shark, and Escargot Snail, for eighty-one days. Colorless and tasteless, it kills without leaving a trace. It is a treasure of the poison world, and it tastes great too."

"Hiss, this seems a bit too intense. I need to eat an antidote quickly."

Setsuna and Coco exchanged their poison-tasting insights, making Setsuna sigh with emotion. As expected of the Gourmet World, there were even exotic-eating restaurants specifically for poison enthusiasts, though an interest in poison was eccentric even among exotic eaters.

"Next is the Toxic Jellyfish bath. Soak in this pool filled with venom, and the poison will enter your body through your pores. It can also clear out the germs in your body along the way." Coco then brought Setsuna to the restaurant's accompanying hot spring.

Before either of them could enter, a figure jumped in, splashing up huge waves like a deep-sea bomb.

"Hahaha, I finally found you two... Aahh..."

The figure laughed loudly, but the enraged Toxic Jellyfish released a large amount of poison, immediately making the newcomer's body convulse.

"Old man." Coco helplessly slapped his forehead, but he had no intention of rescuing him and instead jumped in after him.

Setsuna smiled and entered the pool as well.

"Sigh, how boring." Seeing that neither of them paid him any attention, the newcomer stopped his clumsy acting and said rather mournfully, "Kids are no fun once they grow up. I still remember when you cried because you thought I had been poisoned to death by your venom. That was so much fun."

Coco said irritably, "I didn't find it fun at all. Old man, can't you show the dignity expected of the IGO chairman?"

"Haha, I'm still quite imposing in front of outsiders." The elderly man with short yellow hair laughed heartily.

Coco gave a helpless smile and introduced him to Setsuna. "This is my teacher, IGO Chairman Ichiryu."

"Should I call you Martial Uncle?" Setsuna smiled as he studied this man who had once been the strongest man in the world.

In this era, where all the strong enjoyed the benefits brought by Gourmet Cell evolution, Ichiryu had gone against the current.

To fulfill his dream of ensuring that everyone could eat their fill, he had spent his entire life searching for ingredients capable of yielding the greatest output. Not only had he forgone enjoying gourmet food, he had not even eaten his fill once in over five hundred years. Even his Gourmet Cells had degenerated to the point of nearly withering away.

Even so, he still possessed terrifying power capable of destroying the world.