With the Titan's intimidation, Setsuna's journey was unobstructed. It only took him a little over ten days to reach the edge of the Area 4.
"I really owe it all to the Titan," Setsuna sighed.
Along the way, he had seen too many powerful creatures. Without the Titan's intimidation, he estimated he would have been devoured by other beings just after leaving the central area where the Snake King resided.
'Although the beginning of the journey was somewhat twisted, the future is bright. The Gourmet World's system suits me very well,' Setsuna pondered internally. The growth of Ki requires relentless training, and training consumes energy, which is replenished through eating.
Therefore, the quantity and efficiency of food intake are particularly important.
The ability he had previously thought of to improve food conversion efficiency was Life Return from the One Piece World, but compared to Gourmet Cells, Life Return could be discarded.
'After returning to the Human World, the primary task is to transplant Gourmet Cells,' Setsuna thought seriously. The power system of the Gourmet World is centered around food. The more food one eats, and the more delicious the food, the more power one can unlock.
But the prerequisite is that one must first implant Gourmet Cells.
For most people in this world, Gourmet Cells are not innate. They were discovered by the God of Food, Acacia, in a type of jellyfish in the deep sea… the Phantom Jellyfish.
By implanting Gourmet Cells into the human body, humans can achieve life evolution after enjoying food, surpassing human limits.
Cell transplantation, of course, carries risks, ranging from death to turning into a monster like those in the Gourmet World.
Fortunately, after centuries of development, Gourmet Cell transplantation technology has become quite mature.
As long as he returns to the Human World, Setsuna can naturally find an institution to perform the Gourmet Cell transplantation for him.
Moreover, this is also a learning opportunity, allowing him to compare it with the transplantation techniques he learned from Orochimaru.
Of course, complete replication is impossible. The cells being transplanted are different, and the difficulties of transplantation vary, and they cannot be generalized.
As Setsuna was thinking this, he suddenly heard human voices ahead.
"Nail Punch!"
'Nail Punch? Isn't that one of the Four Heavenly Kings, Toriko's, techniques?' Setsuna raised an eyebrow, 'Had the plot already progressed to the Gourmet World? Or was this Toriko's initial exploration of the Gourmet World?'
Setsuna hoped it was the latter. If it was the former, it meant the era was about to start going berserk, just like in the later parts of Naruto, with various Sages and gods fighting.
With his current strength, he could only struggle to survive, and might even die in the aftermath of the battles.
"15-Consecutive Nail Punch!"
'Only 15 consecutive? That's fine then.' Setsuna felt relieved internally and jogged towards the source of the voice, simultaneously ordering the Titan to stay put and not move.
When Setsuna reached the destination, he indeed found a tall man fighting a giant three-headed tiger.
"It's an Asura Tiger," Setsuna recognized this ferocious beast mentioned in the plot.
At this moment, Toriko was being brutally beaten by the Asura Tiger, almost unable to fight back.
'If I remember correctly, this rash exploration of the Gourmet World by Toriko ended with him being saved by the Knocking Master, Jiro,' Setsuna's eyes lit up, his desire to find a master stirring.
Jiro is a top-tier powerhouse among humans, not inferior to the Snake King he had seen before, and could even be said to be superior.
A single strike from him could halt a planet's rotation, while simultaneously performing Knocking on all living beings on the planet. He represents the pinnacle of power and skill.
'In that case, I'll use Tenketsu Strikes to deal with this tiger.' Seeing Toriko in imminent danger, Setsuna decisively took action, leaping effortlessly onto the head of the Asura Tiger, bringing his index and middle fingers together, and tapping the Asura Tiger on the forehead.
The massive Asura Tiger, like a tank, fell to the ground with a thud, foaming at the mouth.
Under Toriko's astonished gaze, Setsuna jumped down and greeted him: "Friend, are you okay?"
Toriko was very shocked when he saw his savior clearly.
He was one of the Four Heavenly Kings. Aside from a few older generation powerhouses, among the younger generation, only Zebra, also one of the Four Heavenly Kings, was clearly stronger than him. But Setsuna looked very young and inexperienced, yet his strength was so much greater than his own.
But the shock lasted only a moment. He was always enthusiastic and optimistic, and soon greeted happily: "Thank you so much! My name is Toriko."
"Oh, so you are Toriko of the Four Heavenly Kings. I am Chiaki Setsuna," Setsuna smiled in response, then suddenly looked into the distance and warned, "Be careful, more troublesome things are coming."
At that moment, many frog-like monsters, huge in size with beaks full of sharp teeth, surged out from a waterfall nearby.
"They are Mamew," Setsuna introduced.
"Mamew? Another type of monster with a Capture Level above 100, and they appear in groups!" Toriko couldn't help but gasp in shock.
Any one of these frogs would be a boss-level threat in the Human World, requiring the mobilization of numerous powerful individuals to eliminate. And here, just on the edge of the Gourmet World, so many monsters had already appeared.
"This place is too dangerous, we..." Before Toriko could finish, Setsuna charged towards the army of frogs.
"Raging Wolf Wind: Eight Trigrams Palm!" Setsuna leaped among the group of frogs like an agile Battle Wolf, his movements nimble as he continuously slapped the frogs.
It was as if these frogs had buttons on them. With just a light slap from Setsuna, each frog would shut down like a machine and crash to the ground.
"Do these frogs also have pressure points?" Toriko watched, dumbfounded. (T/N: Since it's Toriko World, I'll be using pressure points instead of Tenketsu.)
He wasn't unfamiliar with pressure point strikes. For example, his friend Teppei had once demonstrated extremely refined Knocking Techniques, anesthetizing patients through Knocking.
But compared to Setsuna, Teppei's anesthesia lacked a certain grandeur, missing the beauty of combat.
"Of course they do. Everything has its pressure points, or you could say its meridians," An old man holding a liquor bottle wobbled out from the forest.
"You are Jiro-senpai, the one who saved Komatsu last time!" Toriko was pleasantly surprised.
"To be precise, it's Master Jiro," Jiro corrected, then looked at Setsuna with a hidden smile in his eyes. "The wildness of a Battle Wolf, smooth and flowing Knocking. Indeed, a promising seedling."
"What? Master?" Toriko was stunned.
"What? Didn't Ichiryu tell you about our past training under Acacia?" Jiro asked with a smile.
"The God of Food, Acasia? Wasn't he a figure from over five hundred years ago?" Toriko was shocked again. He couldn't tell at all that the old man was over five hundred years old!
"Haha, it seems that Ichiryu really didn't tell you anything," A look of reminiscence appeared in Jiro's eyes. Seeing that Toriko still wanted to ask more, he smiled and said, "When you go back, ask Ichiryu yourself."