Chapter 298

Haruto spent a long while turning the kitchen knife over in his hands, studying and admiring it from every angle before he finally tore his gaze away and turned toward Tōtōsai.

"Thank you, Tōtōsai. I’m extremely satisfied with this knife."

Tōtōsai, who was resting on a stool, stroked his beard with obvious pride.

"As long as you’re satisfied. Just look who forged it."

Then his expression turned serious, and he leaned forward slightly.

"But don’t think changing shape according to your thoughts is all this knife can do."

"It can directly bring out an ingredient’s optimal flavor. Whether you’re dealing with difficult fresh ingredients or something that normally requires aging, this blade can take it straight to its ideal state."

Haruto’s eyes brightened as his fingers once again brushed across the blade.

"Beyond that, it also possesses the ability to replicate."

Tōtōsai gestured toward the purple crystal set into the handle.

"As long as you feed it enough energy, it can create a duplicate identical to the original."

That part did not surprise Haruto very much.

The Spiegel embedded in the handle was hardly there just for decoration.

Tōtōsai paused before continuing.

"You can also control the temperature of the blade with your thoughts. If you want heat, it can rise to temperatures high enough to melt metal. If you want cold, it can become cold enough to freeze water on contact."

His voice grew increasingly animated.

Tōtōsai stood and paced around Haruto twice, staring proudly at the knife in his hands.

"But the most valuable thing about this blade is its potential."

"When you use it to process ingredients that contain energy, the knife can absorb whatever energy escapes during preparation and use it to temper itself."

"And if the ingredient possesses some unique innate ability, there’s even a chance the knife can seize that ability and make it its own."

"As long as you keep using it to cook extraordinary ingredients, its sharpness, hardness, and toughness will continue to grow."

"In terms of sheer growth potential, even Tessaiga falls a little short of this knife."

Haruto’s grip tightened around the handle.

His satisfaction was almost impossible to contain.

He had already known the knife would be extraordinary, but he had never expected Tōtōsai to give him such a remarkable surprise.

Tōtōsai sat back down, took a drink of water, and finally explained the reason.

"Truthfully, I was only able to forge something like this because of two particular materials you brought."

"That meteorite ore from beyond the heavens is the strangest ore I’ve ever seen. The blade’s ability to draw out an ingredient’s flavor comes entirely from that meteorite."

"And I’m certain it still has properties I haven’t figured out. You’ll have to discover those yourself."

"As for your tooth... that’s the core of the knife’s ability to grow."

Tōtōsai narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.

"I’ve never seen a human tooth with such powerful vitality before. More importantly, it carries a strange quality that can infiltrate and assimilate other things."

"That’s what gave this knife something resembling ’life.’"

Listening to Tōtōsai’s explanation, Haruto looked down at the blade again.

The more he examined it, the more perfectly it seemed to suit him, and the smile on his face only grew.

Then Tōtōsai abruptly changed the subject.

He leaned forward eagerly.

"By the way, a peerless blade like this deserves a proper name. I was thinking maybe—"

"Myriad Worlds."

Before Tōtōsai could reveal whatever name he had come up with, Haruto calmly spoke his own.

He raised the knife horizontally in front of him, letting the edge catch the daylight spilling through the opening in the workshop.

"This knife will be called Myriad Worlds."

"It will travel with me through countless worlds and prepare every rare ingredient I encounter."

"One blade, carrying the flavors of a myriad worlds."

"That’s why its name is Myriad Worlds."

Tōtōsai silently swallowed the name he had been about to suggest.

He had originally been thinking of something along the lines of Food Fang or Flavor-Cutting Fang, following the naming style of Tessaiga and Tenseiga.

But after quietly repeating "Myriad Worlds" to himself a few times, even he had to nod.

It certainly sounded far more impressive.

The name suited the scope of the blade, and it suited Haruto’s ambition to travel across countless worlds.

The moment Haruto named the knife, Myriad Worlds gave a faint vibration in his hand, almost as if acknowledging it.

"Looks like you’re eager too."

Haruto smiled down at the blade.

Now that it had a name, he decided to properly test what it could do.

He brought out several Golden Salmon he had purchased in the One Piece world.

Their bodies gleamed with a rich golden sheen, their scales packed closely together like layers of gold leaf.

Because they had been stored inside the Gourmet Restaurant, they remained as fresh as though they had just been pulled from the sea, and the flesh beneath their skin was so rich with fat that it almost seemed ready to overflow.

Haruto placed a cutting board in front of him and laid one whole Golden Salmon across it.

Holding Myriad Worlds, he turned his wrist slightly and let the edge glide into the fish.

The instant he made the first cut, Haruto understood just how extraordinary the knife truly was.

There was no resistance whatsoever.

The blade passed through the fish as smoothly as though it had merged with water itself, following the grain of the flesh without damaging a single fiber.

Not even the rich fat within the meat was squeezed out.

The blade flashed up and down.

In the blink of an eye, the entire salmon had been transformed into perfectly even slices, each one as thin as a cicada’s wing.

Held up to the light, the slices were almost translucent enough to see through.

Every line of the flesh remained perfectly intact, without the slightest tearing or deformation.

Even more remarkable was what happened afterward.

An extraordinarily pure fragrance rose from the freshly sliced fish.

There was the oceanic sweetness unique to salmon, blended with the mellow richness of its abundant fat, yet without the slightest trace of fishiness.

The aroma alone was enough to awaken the appetite.

Haruto set the knife down, picked up several slices with his chopsticks, and placed them into his mouth.

The fish seemed to melt the instant it touched his tongue.

Its soft texture retained just the right amount of spring, while the abundant fat slowly spread through his mouth without becoming greasy, leaving behind only a deep, mellow richness.

At the same time, the salmon’s natural sweetness had been amplified several times over, reaching a perfect intensity that lingered in his memory.

The texture.

The flavor.

It was almost identical to Golden Salmon that Haruto had previously dry-aged at low temperature for seven full days.

If anything, the layers of flavor were even better.

Tōtōsai had also been captivated by the rich, fresh aroma.

As soon as Haruto finished tasting it, the old swordsmith hurriedly reached over, pinched several slices between his fingers, and stuffed them into his mouth.

His eyes immediately widened.

It took him several seconds to swallow before he smacked his lips and exclaimed in delight,

"Now that’s good! I’ve never tasted raw fish this fresh before!"

Haruto smiled and took out another whole Golden Salmon.

With a thought, Myriad Worlds immediately responded.

The broad blade visibly contracted and extended, transforming within moments into a slender, elegant yanagiba.

The blade became narrow and thin, its edge fine enough to resemble a thread.

Then its temperature suddenly plunged.

Tiny frost crystals condensed in the surrounding air, and the temperature around Haruto dropped noticeably.

A pale layer of frost even formed along the blade’s edge.

"Arhat Crystal Slash!"

Haruto gave a low shout and snapped his wrist.

A silver flash swept through the air so quickly that its path was almost impossible to follow.

Only a cold afterimage remained, and even the sound of the blade cutting was barely audible.

A single breath later, the flashing blade came to a stop.

The Golden Salmon on the cutting board had already become a neat stack of crystal-clear slices.

They were even thinner than the sashimi Haruto had cut moments earlier, each piece glossy and translucent like flawless crystal.

Haruto picked up several pieces and tasted them.

The cold blade had locked every trace of sweetness and moisture inside the fish.

The moment the slices entered his mouth, the previous richness of the fat was gone.

In its place came an almost impossibly clean freshness.

The fish was crisp, tender, and lightly springy, like chilled mountain spring water flowing across his tongue.

Its flavor was pure and refreshing, leaving behind only the faint fragrance of the sea and a delicate sweetness that seemed to linger even in his breath.

No matter how much of it someone ate, Haruto could hardly imagine ever becoming tired of the taste.