When Setsuna returned after cleaning up the frog herd, he saw Jirou standing next to Toriko. He timely showed a look of both surprise and delight. "Are you the Knocking Master, Jirou-senpai?"
"That's right, it's me," Jirou confirmed with a nod.
"I beg you to accept me as your disciple," Setsuna said, immediately dropping to his knees and bowing deeply.
"Oh? Why do you want to become my disciple?" Jirou didn't refuse right away, but asked with narrowed eyes.
Setsuna looked up, speaking earnestly. "First, I want to become stronger. Second, I heard you possess a Knocking technique that can seal away 99% of your own power, and I want to learn that skill."
Jirou was a little surprised. "Why would you want to learn that?"
He had created that particular Knocking skill to seal his own brutality. Having been raised by Wolf King Guinness, one of the Eight Kings of the Gourmet World, his personality held a nearly savage beast nature.
Over five hundred years ago, his title wasn't Knocking Master Jirou, but "Brute Beast" Jirou.
If he didn't restrain himself, he might accidentally destroy the planet when fighting.
He created this technique to seal his own power through Knocking, specifically so he wouldn't accidentally destroy the world when he was drunk.
"Titan," Setsuna didn't answer Jirou's question, but loudly called the Queen Snake's name.
Hearing Setsuna's call, a hundred-meter-long serpent came rushing from a distance, tearing through everything in its path. Forests and creatures alike—anything that stood in Titan's way was directly crushed and destroyed.
Titan charged right up to Setsuna, roaring excitedly, and pounced on him like a playful puppy, instantly sending Setsuna flying backwards.
Fortunately, Setsuna was strong enough to stop himself with a backflip.
Seeing that Titan still wanted to continue showing affection, Setsuna quickly cut him off. "Titan, wait there. Don't come any closer."
"Wuwu." Titan whined sadly a few times like an abandoned dog, feeling unloved.
Toriko, watching from the side, was stunned. He exclaimed, "Incredible!"
Setsuna was deep in thought. It looked like Sani, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, hadn't yet captured his own Queen Snake.
Among the Queen Snake offspring, the one Sani captured was already in its young adult phase.
Setsuna turned to Jirou, spreading his hands. "Titan's body is far too huge, and he's still only in his infancy stage. When fully grown, his size will increase exponentially, making it very inconvenient to travel with me in the human world. That's why I want to learn your Knocking technique—to see if I can keep Titan at a smaller size most of the time."
Although this kind of shrinking ability seemed highly unscientific, compared to Jirou's ability to Knock and stop even time, simply shrinking a body was practically normal science.
As expected, Jirou wasn't very surprised by the request and nodded in agreement. "Excessive size can indeed be a problem."
After a moment of silence, Jirou asked, "How did you get this Queen Snake?"
Setsuna told him the truth. "It was the acknowledgment of Mother Snake, the Snake King and one of the Eight Kings of the Gourmet World, allowing Titan to become my partner."
"To gain the acknowledgment of the Snake King, you are indeed quite remarkable," Jirou nodded slightly, looking at Setsuna with increasing admiration.
He himself was raised by the Wolf King, so he felt a subtle sense of connection and identity with Setsuna for gaining the Snake King's approval.
Moreover, he did genuinely want to take on a disciple to pass down his Knocking techniques.
His grandson, Teppei, would have been a suitable candidate, but Teppei was more inclined to become a Regeneration Chef, and the Knocking skills he learned were only for the purpose of better regeneration.
After a brief consideration, Jirou said in a low voice, "Attack with everything you have. Don't hesitate. Let me see your limits."
"Yes!" Setsuna was excited. No refusal meant he had a chance.
"Hah!" Setsuna immediately flared his aura, pushing his strength and speed to the absolute limit, launching a rapid and all-out assault.
"So fast!" Toriko watched intently. Even with his strength, he could barely keep up with Setsuna's speed.
But what astonished him even more was Jirou. He swayed and staggered as if drunk, his movements seemingly slow, yet Setsuna's lightning-fast attacks couldn't even graze his clothing.
Setsuna was equally shocked. Jirou hadn't removed any of his self-imposed limitations yet; he was using less than one-thousandth or even one-ten-thousandth of his true power. Logically, his speed shouldn't have been faster than Setsuna's, yet no matter how he attacked, he couldn't touch his opponent.
"That doesn't make sense. No matter how powerful a realm you reach, it must be built on a physical foundation. Without strength and speed, a realm is just a castle in the air. So why can't I hit him?" Setsuna's eyes widened. This opponent was clearly a powerhouse beyond his imagination.
While Setsuna was still confused, Jirou suddenly stopped moving entirely.
Setsuna did not stop his attack. He was well aware of the gap between them, and his power couldn't possibly injure Jirou.
"Eight Trigrams Two Palms, Four Palms…"
Setsuna finished the Sixty-Four Palms assault. Suddenly, Jirou lightly tapped his left shoulder.
"Destruction Knocking."
"Mph." Setsuna groaned in pain, cold sweat pouring down his forehead. Dark arrows of blood shot out from several of his tenketsu (Chakra points).
"This is… my own striking damage, bounced back?" Setsuna forced himself to endure the pain, asking in shock.
"That's right. I sealed the damage you inflicted inside my body, and then used Knocking to reflect it back to you," Jirou said with a smile, taking a sip of his drink. "And I also took the liberty of venting the accumulated hidden injuries you had inside your body."
Setsuna was shaken. Isn't that the ability of the Paw-Paw Fruit to repel damage? Knocking can do that too?
Sure enough, after the dark blood arrows shot out, his body felt relieved, like he had just shed a heavy load.
"Thank you, Master," Setsuna bowed sincerely.
"Get up," Jirou said, smiling, clearly very pleased with Setsuna.
"Haha! By the relationship you just described, Uncle Jirou, then Setsuna and I are like martial brothers!" Toriko laughed heartily, genuinely happy for Setsuna.
"Then you'd better hurry up and improve, because Setsuna doesn't even have Gourmet Cells yet," Jirou teased, nudging Toriko.
Setsuna wasn't surprised that Jirou could see that.
"Huh? Setsuna doesn't have Gourmet Cells?" Toriko was shocked again. Could a person without Gourmet Cells be this strong?
"Heh, that's why I'm taking him to the Gourmet City of Healing first, to get him the Gourmet Cell transplant," Jirou said, shaking his sake bottle with a smile. He beckoned to Titan. "Come here, little fellow."
Titan slithered over, and Jirou gently patted him.
As if hit by a shrink ray, Titan's massive body shrank instantly until it was less than the width of a finger.
Titan noticed that Setsuna had become a giant and happily coiled himself around Setsuna's arm.
Jirou reminded him, "Even though his body has shrunk, his essence hasn't changed. If you feed him like a regular little snake, you'll starve him to death."
"I understand."