Kaizen couldn't find much information online.
After a moment of hesitation, he decided to call Menchi.
She didn't answer right away—clearly busy—but returned the call a short while later.
"Kaizen, what's going on?"
Kaizen gave her a quick rundown of what had happened.
"Love sardines..." Menchi mused. "Well, the gourmet world is kind of its own circle, separate from the rest of society. You can find common ingredients through normal networks... but anything rare or extraordinary usually stays within our inner circle."
She paused, then added,
"I'll send you a website. If you run into ingredients you don't recognize, you can try searching for them there. Most rare items should show up."
"And if they don't, well... then it probably doesn't exist."
"Love sardines are a decent ingredient," she added. "But I haven't heard anything about them in years. If they were showing up again, I would've heard something by now."
"Sounds like it might be a hoax."
Then she hung up.
...
Kaizen turned his eyes back toward the middle-aged man.
When it comes to gathering intel, I'm still lacking...
If I had a member from the Phantom Troupe—or someone like Pakunoda—or even a teammate with that kind of skill...
Then I'd be able to confirm whether this guy's story is real or not.
Nina can gather info too, but her ability isn't direct. There are limits.
Kaizen entered the website Menchi had sent him.
The page loaded.
A plain interface. Just a search bar. No navigation, no menus, nothing else.
Kaizen typed in: love sardines
He hit enter.
The site jumped to a details page, and suddenly, all the data on love sardines appeared in front of him.
"A migratory type of sardine."
"Occasionally mixed in among ordinary sardine."
"Easily identified by the red line on its belly."
"Highly flavorful."
"Excellent when the roe is used in soups."
"Capture Level: 3."
A photo of the fish was displayed alongside the description.
"Capture Level...?" Kaizen frowned.
This was the first time he'd encountered that term in this world.
In the Gourmet Hunter world, "Capture Level" is used to quantify how difficult it is to obtain an ingredient. It takes into account the rarity, value, and the level of danger involved in securing it. The higher the level, the more coveted the item.
So they use that system here too...
I wonder what the highest recorded capture level on this site is...
But the site was completely locked down.
Just a search bar. No tags, no categories. Not even a list of top-ranked ingredients.
And worse, it only supported exact matches—no fuzzy search, no tolerance for typos or missing characters.
If you don't already know the name, you can't even begin to search.
Kaizen's eyes narrowed slightly.
In a closed network like this, it's no wonder regular sources have so little information on rare ingredients.
He could get deeper data—if he really wanted to.
Altan's technology was far ahead of its time. Hacking the backend of a site like this would be easy.
But Kaizen didn't act immediately.
Menchi just handed me this link. If I breach it now and someone finds out, it'll put both of us in a tight spot.
So he decided to wait a bit before asking Altan to access it.
There wasn't any urgency.
Those ingredients would matter later—after Kaizen absorbed the essence of Gourmet Paradise and created a new Nen beast.
Most likely a culinary type.
Only then would collecting ingredients be worthwhile. Otherwise, it'd be a waste.
...
The middle-aged man had been trying to recruit gourmet hunters.
Some—like Kaizen—turned him down.
But others took the job.
Two days later, those hired hunters made their move.
By the third day, Kaizen spotted the man again.
Only now, he looked completely different.
At first glance, he seemed like a totally new person.
But Kaizen could still recognize him.
What caught his attention wasn't the new clothes or demeanor—but the aura.
He wasn't a Nen user before... but now...
Now he is. And he doesn't seem weak either.
Kaizen narrowed his eyes slightly.
How did he do it?
...
The man entered the food market.
In Gourmet Paradise, there were two types of food markets—one for professional chefs, and one for tourists.
The chef-only markets didn't need much explanation.
The tourist markets were more like regular shops. Visitors could browse, buy ingredients, and take them to a nearby restaurant. Some restaurants even offered to prepare the ingredients for a small fee.
The business model split profits between seller and preparer. The risk was shared, too.
And for tourists, it created a hands-on experience—choosing their own ingredients, being part of the process.
Kaizen disguised himself.
It was a subtle transformation—similar to how Illumi once disguised himself as Gittarackur. Nothing too exaggerated, just enough to avoid being recognized.
In the original story, Illumi used that trick to impersonate Hisoka and temporarily free him from the Phantom Troupe.
Kaizen approached the middle-aged man's stall.
Spread across the stand were large, gleaming shells.
A nearby sign read:
SILVER COIN SHELLS
Another ingredient Kaizen had never encountered before.
The middle-aged man noticed Kaizen's interest and smiled.
"These shells sometimes contain silver coins—kinda like pearls. If you find a coin inside, it's considered good luck," he explained.
"But even without the coin, the shell itself is a great ingredient."
"Boiled, spicy, grilled—works well with anything."
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Fanfic is completed on patreon.com/FanficsHub (1047 chapters in total)