'As expected of the world of Toriko, everything ultimately comes down to food,' Setsuna sighed inwardly and began taking stock of his Senzu Bean supply.
'Twenty-two Senzu Beans left. Not a big problem.' Setsuna breathed a sigh of relief. He had originally brought 30 Senzu Beans from the Dragon Ball World. Using only eight to save his life was already a great deal.
'Poor Orochimaru. He'll have to choose a new summoning creature now. I hope he doesn't only realize Manda is missing when he needs him in battle.'
Despite saying this, Setsuna felt no guilt whatsoever. His relationship with Orochimaru was purely one of mutual use. Whether Orochimaru got screwed over didn't bother him in the slightest.
Just then, a thunderous sound echoed from the sky: "Little one, what was the food that satisfied my appetite just now?"
"This item is called the Senzu Bean." Setsuna raised the cloth bag to indicate it, somewhat surprised. "You can speak?"
He didn't remember much about [Toriko], but he didn't recall any scenes of the Eight Kings speaking.
"It's merely the vibration of sound. For beings like us, it's not difficult," The Snake King's head descended from the clouds, hovering in the air like a meteor. This extreme enormity made Setsuna's body instinctively tense up.
"Senzu Bean? Is this the latest research product of you humans?" The Snake King's voice was like thunder, making Setsuna's ears ache slightly.
As for the method Setsuna used to summon that snake from a distance earlier, it didn't intend to ask.
Spatial abilities, while relatively rare, were far from extraordinary. For example, the Sky Deer, another of the Gourmet World's Eight Kings, could even create inner worlds with ten-thousand-fold time flow.
What truly piqued its curiosity was the Senzu Bean. Something so small could make it feel full. It was miraculous.
"Correct. To be precise, it is my research product," Setsuna shamelessly bestowed upon himself the title of researcher.
In the Toriko World, chefs were the top-tier profession. Various forces would compete for chefs, even to the point of triggering a world war.
As for agricultural scientists, while not as important as chefs, they were still respected.
"You are quite impressive," The Snake King didn't doubt him.
Although it was one of the Gourmet World's Eight Kings, it wasn't completely unaware of the human world.
At the very least, it had never heard of a food like the Senzu Bean, where just a few could make a being of its size feel full. It completely defied the laws of physics.
"However, the taste of your Senzu Bean is too plain. It only provides satiety, lacking the true essence of gourmet food," the Snake King commented, hoping to taste Senzu Beans with various flavors in the future.
"Yes, that is the direction of my future research," Setsuna readily agreed. In the world of Toriko, deliciousness was indeed the most important thing.
After a moment of silence, the Snake King said, "I 'accidentally' ate your friend earlier. As compensation, I will give you one of my descendants to be your partner."
After speaking, a circular 'mountain' several hundred meters tall fell from the sky and landed in front of Setsuna.
The mountain cracked open, and a snake baby, several times larger than Manda, hatched from it. It looked at the Snake King and chirped affectionately a few times.
"Follow your master and leave this continent," The Snake King said with some emotion. The food on this continent was just enough for its own survival and absolutely couldn't support two fully grown Mother Snakes.
Since Setsuna had demonstrated the 'Senzu Bean', having the little snake follow Setsuna was a viable path.
Setsuna was somewhat dumbfounded. Trading Orochimaru's Manda for his own Queen Snake was undoubtedly a huge profit.
But given the Queen Snake's size, if he brought it back to the Naruto World, once it grew up, the entire planet's biology probably wouldn't be enough to feed it.
After a moment's thought, Setsuna quickly agreed.
He would worry about future problems later. The key issue now was that if he didn't take this snake baby with him, he couldn't even leave this continent.
His strength was only enough to show off at the edges of the Gourmet World. In this central area, any random beast could kill him.
But with the Mother Snake baby, it was completely different. The Snake King was the absolute ruler of Gourmet World's Area 4. Which beast would dare provoke a descendant of the Mother Snake?
Seeing Setsuna agree, the Snake King nodded. "I will give you one more gift."
As it spoke, the Snake King opened its massive mouth. The next moment, a fruit resembling a globe flew out and landed before Setsuna, emitting an indescribably sweet aroma.
Setsuna wasn't particularly fond of sweets, but the sweet scent emanating from this fruit made him salivate uncontrollably. Just the aroma was intoxicating.
"What is this?" Setsuna had a vague guess but asked, restraining himself with great willpower.
Seeing that Setsuna wasn't lost in the sweet aroma, the Snake King's evaluation of him rose even higher. "In your human legends, there is the Full Course Menu of the Gourmet God Acacia. This is the dessert from that menu: [EARTH]."
"So it really is EARTH!" Setsuna's breathing became rapid. The gourmet food in this world was already far superior to any other world, and [EARTH] was the ultimate dessert among all delicacies in this world. Even he was incredibly excited about this food.
The Snake King continued, "But this [EARTH] is not fully ripe yet."
Setsuna asked, "Then how can it ripen?"
The Snake King said, "Our species naturally possesses inner dimensional spaces. The Gourmet Garden, known as the Floating Garden, is within my body. My descendants are the same. This fruit can be planted inside it until it ripens."
Setsuna was both amused and exasperated, 'So, after all that, the Snake King was still worried I might abandon the 'little snake' midway. This EARTH was essentially child support from the Snake King.'
"I understand." Setsuna flew in front of the snake baby and gently soothed it, "Come on, open your mouth."
After the snake baby ate the fruit, Setsuna gently stroked its scales and said, "I'll call you Titan from now on."
"Woo woo." Titan seemed quite pleased with the name, affectionately rubbing against Setsuna's hand, accidentally sending him flying.
'Truly a monster,' Setsuna couldn't help but sigh. Once Titan grew a bit more, if he dropped it into any village he didn't like, the destruction would probably be greater than the Nine-Tails'.
Thinking of this, Setsuna took out a scroll and tricked Titan into signing a Blood Contract.
Unlike the scrolls used for Ryuchi Cave, which had been used for many generations, this was a brand-new scroll.
If Titan signed it, it would be the First Holder. He had originally thought that if he traveled to the Dragon Ball World again, he might use a wish to contract Shenron.
As for responding to the Summoning Technique... Titan was a mature baby now. It should learn Chakra on its own and share its master's burdens.
"So this is the spatial ability you used to summon that foolish snake from a distance? Quite interesting," The Snake King observed with interest but didn't stop it. It sensed the power on the scroll was quite intriguing.
"Yes. Would you like to try it, Great Snake King?" Setsuna's eyes were sincere. If he could summon the Snake King, he could speedrun the God Tree arc.
"Hah, are you sure the spatial channel can accommodate my body?"
"Oh, it seems it cannot," Setsuna sighed.