Kael lay in wait at Volcano Wul of the Fifth Mountain for more than a full day before a powerful presence finally entered his sensory range.
To Kael, it was nothing worth mentioning.
But in the Human World, that aura was absolutely top-tier. Excluding those monsters capable of entering the Gourmet World, this presence easily sat in the first echelon.
What caught Kael's attention even more was a familiar undertone to the aura—similar to Behemoth's. There was no doubt about it. The one approaching was Grinpatch, along with a Jack Elephant.
That was exactly why Kael had been camping here.
His presence was perfectly concealed, so there was no chance of Grinpatch noticing him. Judging by the direction of movement, Grinpatch's target was most likely BB Corn—more precisely, approaching from Mt. Wul.
Before long, Kael locked onto his target.
Grinpatch's appearance was bizarre. He had four arms, but two of them were clearly different in color from the others. It was obvious that those two arms had been transplanted—and not temporarily, but permanently fused to his body.
In the Healing Nation, there was actually a regenerator similar to Grinpatch: Puikin, the disciple of Mohyan Shaishai. Puikin also had four arms, but as Teppei once mentioned, two of Puikin's arms functioned like detachable prosthetics, installed purely to make regeneration techniques easier.
That was the key difference.
Grinpatch's extra arms were fully integrated into his flesh.
His Gourmet Demon seemed to be mosquito-type. Grinpatch himself gave off the impression of a gigantic mosquito—compound eyes, and a weapon crafted from the proboscis of a Devil Mosquito.
His body bore numerous traces of modification.
Kael could only shake his head at that.
To be honest, this kind of enhancement was completely missing the point.
Once someone acquired Gourmet Cells, they should focus on digging deeper into their potential—not butchering their own body for short-term combat power.
Once Kael confirmed the target's identity, he didn't hesitate.
A flying knife shot forward.
Grinpatch wasn't weak. The Jack Elephant alone was over level eighty. But Kael didn't care in the slightest.
The knife moved absurdly fast.
By the time Grinpatch noticed it, the blade was already right in front of him.
The sudden attack startled him, and in that instant, he realized—the power of this strike was far beyond anything he could handle head-on.
Instinct kicked in.
Two arms swung forward to intercept the blade. The other two yanked the mosquito-proboscis weapon from his waist, while his legs exploded with force as he tried to evade.
But Kael hadn't held back.
The moment Grinpatch's arms touched the flying knife, they were severed cleanly. The Jack Elephant beneath him fared no better.
Only the Devil Mosquito proboscis bought him a split second.
In the end, Kael's single throw killed the Jack Elephant, severed two of Grinpatch's arms, and took off part of his left leg.
"You actually dodged it," Kael remarked, glancing at the weapon in Grinpatch's hand. "Looks like that thing really is pretty decent."
Despite the comment, Kael was already moving.
He wasn't some villain who died from talking too much.
Combat in the Toriko world was fundamentally different from other worlds.
In some settings, fights dragged on endlessly—people getting beaten to hell and back, only to stand up again and again. Ultimate moves were somehow saved for the last second, after being pummeled to the brink.
It was infuriating.
In Toriko, especially at the high end, fights were simple: either you didn't act at all, or you went straight for the kill.
Jiro's battles with the Blue Nitro were like that. One move decided everything.
The same went for his fight with Acacia. If Jiro hadn't wanted answers, who knew how that battle would've ended? Acacia never held back—he blew Jiro's head off in their very first exchange. If Jiro hadn't obtained a Life Orb from killing a Blue Nitro earlier, he would've died right there.
That was how fights should be fought.
Go for the kill. Not some drawn-out slugfest that leads nowhere.
Since his first strike hadn't finished Grinpatch, Kael closed in immediately to finish the job.
By the time Grinpatch even saw Kael clearly, his life was already over.
He didn't even have time to process who had killed him.
He did know Kael—after all, Stajun had warned them before—but Kael's movements were too fast, too ruthless. Grinpatch's thoughts couldn't keep up.
And just like that, one of Gourmet Corp's vice sous chefs was gone.
The entire fight—from ambush, to desperate evasion, to the finishing blow—lasted only an instant.
Kael could've ended it even faster. The only reason Grinpatch survived the first strike was because Kael hadn't been sure about the durability of the Devil Mosquito proboscis.
But the result didn't change.
Grinpatch was dead by Kael's hand.
Afterward, Kael took Behemoth and headed into the Forest of Wul. He still wanted to gather more ingredients.
With Food Luck on his side, it only took a single day to harvest nearly all the valuable ingredients in the forest.
Along the way, he ran into Toriko and Komatsu, but didn't greet them.
There was no need.
Nothing here posed a threat to them. Toriko was strong enough to handle every beast in the area, and Komatsu was protected by Food Luck—he would leave safely no matter what.
Once Kael finished collecting ingredients, he returned to Gourmet City.
This time, he entered the kitchen through one of the ingredient delivery entrances. Behemoth was simply too large to fit through Setsuno's Dining Hall.
"This looks like a modified creature," Setsuno said, studying Behemoth with interest. "I think I've seen something similar under one of Gourmet Corp's juniors. Where did you get it?"
Kael explained calmly, "It was the pet of Grinpatch, one of Gourmet Corp's vice sous chefs. I ran into him in the Forest of Wul, things got a little tense, so I killed him and tamed the Jack Elephant."
"I see." Setsuno nodded. "This little guy isn't a Camping Beast, but using it as a mount in the Human World won't be a problem."
She clearly didn't care that Kael had killed a vice sous chef.
To her, Gourmet Corp had always been an eyesore. If not for Midora's sake, she would've wiped them out long ago.
Killing a vice sous chef wouldn't anger Midora in the slightest. They were just juniors—people who couldn't even enter the Gourmet World yet. Not worth his attention.
Kael understood that as well.
As long as he didn't kill Stajun, there wouldn't be any trouble.
If he did attack Stajun, Food Luck would probably drag Midora over immediately. Stajun carried massive Food Luck—he had once absorbed Toriko's, after all.
Not to mention, Stajun was Acacia and Frohze's biological son.
Under those circumstances, Food Luck would absolutely protect him. It just didn't guide him toward ingredients anymore because he had joined Gourmet Corp.
Food Luck in the Toriko world was strange.
Unless someone could actively use it, Food Luck naturally favored the good-hearted. Evil individuals could still possess Food Luck, but its guiding and protective effects were largely gone—unless they were like Joie, who could consciously manipulate it to avoid attacks.
Even then, doing so consumed Food Luck permanently.
"With Behemoth, moving around will be much easier," Kael said. "By the way, Master, you mentioned Camping Beasts earlier. Do you have any recommendations?"
He planned to enter the Gourmet World eventually. A Camping Beast would be incredibly useful—basically a mobile luxury villa.
"Camping Beasts are rare, and suitable ones even more so," Setsuno replied. "But I do know a few. Once you're stronger, I'll have Jiro take you to capture one."
"With your beast-taming ability, it shouldn't be a problem."
She nodded thoughtfully. Even though Kael had a special space of his own, it couldn't fully replace a Camping Beast.
Setsuno herself owned a jellyfish-type Camping Beast—amphibious, aerial, and compact. She preferred traveling in it whenever she went out.
Kael agreed. With Jiro's help, finding and subduing one wouldn't be difficult.
In fact, he already had his eye on a specific choice: a Gigant Shell hatchling.
A Gigant Shell could even travel through space—basically a living spaceship. Its defensive power was absurd. A perfect Camping Beast.
Other options, like the Watermelon Octopus, didn't interest him much. Its stealth only worked on beasts below a few hundred levels. Against anything stronger, it was useless—which was exactly why Toriko's group eventually replaced it.
On the Seventh Continent, the Sharkousine excelled at escaping. The Watermelon Octopus, on the other hand, would've been a disaster.
That continent was far more dangerous than the Eighth. If Toriko's group had used the Watermelon Octopus there, they wouldn't even need to worry about speed—it would've been annihilated the moment they ran into monkey swarms.
At least the Sharkousine could detach its cars and flee.
The difference was night and day.
This time, Kael left Behemoth behind. After bidding Setsuno farewell, he prepared to return to the World of Food Wars.
That had always been the plan—bringing these Gourmet World ingredients back for everyone to taste.
Longevity wasn't urgent yet. They were still young. What they needed now wasn't longer lifespans, but lasting beauty.
Once everything was ready, Kael left the Toriko world.
He would stay in the World of Food Wars for a while.
But things on this side were far from quiet.
Gourmet Corp had already received news of Grinpatch's death.
When Grinpatch went out, an internal meeting had been scheduled. In the original timeline, he returned late and brushed it off with the excuse of capturing BB Corn.
This time, he never showed up.
Head Chef Kuro Mad was furious. He had Jojo try to contact Grinpatch, but there was no response.
At first, Kuro Mad assumed Grinpatch was just ignoring them—typical Gourmet Corp behavior.
But after several days with no contact, something was clearly wrong.
Jojo was ordered to locate Grinpatch's last known position.
When they arrived, they found his mutilated corpse.
The body of the Jack Elephant was gone—Kael had already taken it. Not for food, but because this time he wanted Behemoth to step into the spotlight.
Grinpatch's death shocked Gourmet Corp.
After all, his strength was considered top-tier in the Human World…