The First Cry Tree trembled with a rhythm that was unmistakably... enthusiastic.
King raised an eyebrow. "Well. Someone's having a good time."
Horse King Heracles snorted again, louder this time, rolling his magnificent eyes in a gesture that was pure exasperation. If horses could sigh dramatically, he would have.
Kaka, still basking in the afterglow of culinary revelation, glanced toward the tree and quickly looked away, her pale cheeks flushing. "The Monkey King and... and Setsuno seem to be... very energetically... consummating their union."
"Consummating," King repeated, amused. "That's one word for it."
From within the tree, a muffled shriek could be heard—Setsuno's voice, now distinctly feminine, expressing what sounded like either extreme distress or... something else. It was hard to tell.
Zebra, mid-gulp of [PAIR] soup, paused. "Is that... is that Setsuno screaming?"
"Screaming, yes," Sunny said delicately, his newly female form somehow managing to look elegant despite the circumstances. "Whether it's in pain or pleasure, I leave to your imagination."
"I don't want that imagination!"
Coco, ever analytical, noted: "The vibrations are rhythmic and sustained. If this continues, the First Cry Tree may actually bear fruit from the... fertilization process."
Everyone stared at him.
"What? It's a valid biological observation."
Toriko, currently in his third gender swap of the afternoon, shook his head. "Let's... let's just focus on the soup."
Rin, who had discovered that her male form was surprisingly handsome, was busy admiring herself in a polished piece of bone. "You know, Toriko, if you looked like this permanently, I might actually—"
"NO."
The feast continued, the gender-swapping continued, and the First Cry Tree continued its rhythmic trembling.
Saitama, now female for the fourth time, had given up on caring. He simply held out his bowl for more soup, his impressive chest heaving with each breath. "This is really good. I could get used to this."
Garou, who had sworn off more soup, watched him with a mixture of horror and fascination. "You've swapped genders four times. FOUR. And you're just... okay with it?"
Saitama shrugged. "I'm still me. Still hungry. Still invincible. The packaging doesn't matter."
Komatsu, currently female and somehow even more adorable, beamed. "That's a very enlightened perspective, Mr. Saitama!"
"It's a hungry perspective. There's a difference."
King chuckled, watching the chaos with genuine enjoyment. The [PAIR] had done exactly what it was supposed to—brought people together, created joy, and reminded everyone that the best meals were shared.
Even if those meals occasionally came with unexpected side effects.
He glanced at the trembling tree again. "I wonder if Setsuno will ever forgive me."
Horse King Heracles snorted, clearly indicating that he, for one, found the entire situation hilarious.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. You're not the one who got turned into monkey bride."
The Horse King's snort somehow conveyed smug satisfaction.
The sun began to set, painting the sky in shades of gold and purple. The [PAIR] continued to flow. The laughter continued to ring out. And somewhere in the First Cry Tree, Setsuno continued to... well.
Some mysteries were better left unsolved.
King raised his bowl in a toast—to the feast, to the chaos, to the unexpected joys of gourmet adventure.
And somewhere in the distance, the Gourmet Eclipse waited.
But that was a problem for another day.
The sky literally rained gold.
Millions of [PAIR] stars descended from the canopy of the First Cry Tree, each one a perfect, glowing fruit that contained the essence of life and resurrection. They fell like tears of joy from a god who had finally found happiness after millennia of loneliness.
The camp fell into absolute silence.
Then chaos erupted.
"THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!" Zebra roared, already scrambling to catch as many as possible.
Sunny's hair, regardless of his current gender, shot out in all directions, plucking glowing fruits from the air. "So many! So BEAUTIFUL!"
Coco's analytical mind was short-circuiting. "The statistical probability of this event is... it's effectively zero. This shouldn't be possible. This defies every recorded law of gourmet—"
"Stop calculating and START CATCHING!" Toriko yelled, already leaping into the air with Rin (currently male) right behind him.
Saitama, currently female, looked up at the golden rain with philosophical calm. "Huh. So that's what happens when you make a monkey really, really happy."
Garou, who had sworn off more [PAIR] but couldn't resist the falling treasures, was already filling his arms. "Shut up and grab them!"
Komatsu, in his female form, was weeping tears of joy. "They're beautiful! They're all so beautiful! And they smell INCREDIBLE!"
Kaka stood frozen, her ancient mind struggling to process what she was witnessing. "In all my years... in all my MILLIONS of years... I have never seen anything like this. The Monkey King's joy... it's literally creating miracles."
She turned to look at King, who stood calmly beneath his dark golden energy barrier, effortlessly drawing half the falling stars into his dimensional storage. His expression was serene, satisfied—like a chef who had just watched a recipe execute perfectly.
"You knew," Kaka breathed. "You knew this would happen. When you sent Setsuno to the Monkey King, you knew."
King glanced at her, a small smile playing at his lips. "I had a pretty good idea, yeah. The manga was pretty clear on how much the Monkey King loved his wife. Give him back his beloved, and he'd be... grateful." He caught a falling star casually, examining it. "Grateful enough to share."
Horse King Heracles snorted, but there was respect in the sound. Even he hadn't anticipated the scale of this.
The other half of the [PAIR] stars continued to fall, burying themselves in the earth around the First Cry Tree. Where they landed, new life sprouted instantly—plants that had been extinct for millennia, ingredients that existed only in legend, entire ecosystems being reborn in moments.
"The continent," Kaka whispered. "The Seventh Continent is being... restored. The damage from millennia of conflict, from the Blue Nitro's experiments, from the very cooking of the Earth—it's healing."
King nodded. "That's the thing about real love. It doesn't just make you happy. It makes everything around you better."
In the distance, the First Cry Tree trembled with renewed vigor, its leaves rustling in patterns that spelled out joy. And somewhere in its highest branches, Setsuno's screams had finally shifted to... different sounds.
Sounds that suggested the "consummation" was going well.
Very well.
Toriko landed beside King, his arms full of glowing fruits. "King! This is... this is incredible! There must be thousands of them!"
"Millions," King corrected. "And they're all yours to use. The famine in the Human World? Solved. The dead who can be brought back? Brought back. The future of gourmet?" He smiled. "Bright."
Rin, still male, landed beside Toriko with his own armful. "This changes everything. EVERYTHING."
Komatsu, tears streaming, approached King with a single glowing star held reverently in his hands. "Mr. King... thank you. For everything. For bringing us here. For protecting us. For..." He looked at the fruit. "For this miracle."
King placed a hand on Komatsu's shoulder. "You earned it, chef. Every bite. Every risk. Every moment of faith." He looked out at the golden rain, at his friends scrambling to catch it, at a world being healed by the joy of a lonely god. "Now let's make sure none of it goes to waste."
The feast continued through the night.
And somewhere above, the Monkey King held his beloved close, watching the fruits of his joy rain down upon the world.
For the first time in a thousand years, he was complete.
And the Earth was better for it.