"Cooking Another? Of course that won't be a problem. He's the most talented human I've ever seen. He's already handled two of the ingredients. Another might be difficult, but for him, it shouldn't be much of an issue."
After hearing Ichiryu's words, the Don Slime didn't argue.
In the original timeline, even after Ichiryu died, the Don Slime was still willing to help Toriko and the others. Now that Ichiryu was alive, he had even more reason to cooperate.
Besides, his priorities had already changed.
At first, everything he did was for the sake of revival. But now… he only wanted to stay by Ichiryu's side. After hundreds of years together, he'd been influenced by him more than he realized.
Of course, that only applied as long as Ichiryu was alive.
If Ichiryu died, the Don Slime would revert to being merciless. Back when he fought Acacia, he'd even considered dragging the entire planet down with him. That was why he unleashed a small-scale supernova explosion on Earth.
That attack had been powerful enough to destroy the planet.
It was only because Acacia used NEO's devouring ability to swallow the supernova that Earth survived. In truth, the Don Slime had simply been too weak at the time.
Asarudy's body couldn't withstand much of his power. After releasing that supernova, the Don Slime immediately revert to his weakest state.
He'd suspected NEO might survive the attack. His original plan had been to use his terrifying cells to destroy NEO directly.
Unfortunately for him, nothing NEO devoured ever actually reached a stomach.
NEO fed on emotions. As for everything else it swallowed, those things were transferred into a special space—a place where everything stood still, like time itself had been paused.
The Don Slime's cells had ended up there as well.
"Handle Blue Grill's side," Ichiryu said calmly. "When he heads to the Area 6, bring him to cook Another. We need Another to awaken certain memories."
He had only recently learned that Frohze and Acacia had two children.
Now that he knew, he had to find them.
After discussing the matter with the Don Slime, the purge within the Gourmet Corp was quickly completed. The entire organization had been thoroughly reshaped.
As for whether the disappearance of a rival organization would cause IGO to grow out of control—
There was no need to worry.
As long as Ichiryu and the others were alive, IGO would never spiral out of hand. The fact that Ichiryu had effortlessly kept IGO under control for centuries was proof enough.
With the Gourmet Corp matters settled, the Cooking Festival finally arrived.
Kael went together with Setsuno and the others. This time, neither Kael nor Nono participated. Setsuno, however, joined because Komatsu was competing.
"You're really not entering this year, Keal? I thought you were going to steal the spotlight at the Cooking Festival."
Nono looked at Kael in surprise.
She knew exactly how terrifying his culinary skills were. Compared to him, she didn't even belong in the same league. She'd assumed this festival would be Kael's personal stage.
Instead, he hadn't signed up at all.
"Aren't you skipping it too? Besides, aside from a handful of people, the overall standard here is far too low."
It wasn't that Kael looked down on them.
But with his current skills, entering the competition would just be bullying.
Why had Setsuno stopped competing later on? Because she'd grown tired of steamrolling everyone.
If not for Komatsu, she wouldn't have joined this time either.
Among the participants, the only ones remotely worth watching were Zaus and Yuda.
Kael simply had no interest.
"Master will need a partner in the later rounds," Nono said. "So I plan to act as her partner."
As the head of the Setsuno Group, Nono naturally had access to insider details. Besides, the event lineup wasn't exactly confidential.
"Chef Kael, Miss Nono, it's been a while!"
At that moment, Toriko and the others arrived with Komatsu in tow.
Among the Four Heavenly Kings, Kael had met three before. The only one he hadn't seen in person yet was Zebra.
"So you're that 'strong chef' they mentioned? You look pretty damn cocky."
Zebra's tone was sharp.
Kael knew exactly what kind of person he was. Zebra wasn't inherently bad. In fact, among the Four Heavenly Kings, he was probably the most concerned about war-torn regions.
He often traveled to those places, using his own strength to disrupt conflicts and give people caught in war a chance to survive.
That said, Zebra's methods were brutal.
His philosophy didn't quite align with Ichiryu's. On top of that, he had driven dozens of Dangerous Beast species to extinction, which ultimately led Teppei to step in and arrest him.
From Kael's perspective, Teppei had overstepped.
The species Zebra exterminated were dangerous creatures—beings that contributed nothing to the world and only caused harm.
In the wild, they disrupted ecosystems. On the human side, some countries even captured such creatures to turn them into biological weapons.
Eliminating them wasn't inherently wrong.
But Teppei cared more about maintaining balance. No matter what, he couldn't stand by and watch entire species be wiped out.
In the end, he captured Zebra.
Ichiryu's stance was more complicated. Zebra was still affiliated with IGO, so his actions inevitably affected the organization's reputation.
Unless Zebra publicly withdrew from IGO, completely severing ties, IGO would have to bear the consequences. After all, an organization that had grown this large needed to compromise on many fronts.
There was also the matter of Zebra's explosive growth in strength.
The other Four Heavenly Kings progressed steadily. Zebra, on the other hand, advanced in leaps.
If Ichiryu hadn't kept him in check, during the invasion of the Four Beasts, Zebra alone might have been enough to handle everything.
Of course, his ceiling still couldn't compare to Toriko's.
"I respect what you've done," Kael said evenly. "But don't throw a tantrum in front of me. I won't go easy on you."
He understood Zebra perfectly.
No matter what he thought deep down, his mouth was always sharp.
But Kael wasn't Komatsu.
If Zebra dared to push things further, there would only be one outcome.
Zebra wasn't weak.
But compared to Kael, the gap was enormous.
Zebra had only called him cocky, so Kael didn't bother using Intimidation to suppress him.
Still, that single sentence was enough to piss Zebra off.