Chapter 328

Haruto frowned at the two beasts, his patience clearly wearing thin.

"What a pain."

He reluctantly looked down at the Air Tree Fruit in his hands before storing it inside the Gourmet Restaurant.

Food deserved to be enjoyed properly. There was no point wolfing something down without savoring it.

And with two Gourmet World beasts glaring at him like they wanted to tear the fruit out of his hands, there was no way he could sit down and enjoy it in peace.

"You interrupted me right when I was about to eat."

Haruto swept his gaze across the King Gorilla and the Asura Tiger, a trace of killing intent entering his eyes.

"In that case, you can both become side dishes."

Before the words had fully left his mouth, Haruto vanished.

A moment later, he appeared directly in front of the injured King Gorilla.

He sprang upward, twisted halfway around in midair, and whipped his right leg into the side of the gorilla’s head like a steel lash.

BOOM—!!!

A dull, thunderous impact shook the clearing.

The King Gorilla’s skull visibly caved inward beneath the force of the kick, and its massive body was sent flying once again.

This time, it traveled even farther, smashing straight through three large trees before crashing heavily to the ground.

Haruto could tell, however, that the blow still had not killed it.

Rather than pursue, he used the recoil from his kick to twist smoothly in midair and launch himself toward the Asura Tiger nearby.

All three of the tiger’s faces twisted in shock.

It clearly had not expected Haruto to possess enough raw strength to send a King Gorilla flying.

But it also understood that trying to flee now would be pointless.

With a furious roar, all three mouths opened at once as its enormous claws slashed toward Haruto.

Against Haruto’s overwhelming speed and strength, however, its resistance accomplished nothing.

He slipped past the attack with ease and drove a kick into the beast, sending the Asura Tiger flying as well.

Haruto was just about to finish both creatures off when a dense chorus of croaking suddenly came from the surrounding forest.

"Croak! Croak! Croak—!"

Haruto turned toward the sound.

A strange creature more than a person tall hopped into view. Its body was covered in hard, dark-green armor, while an enormous birdlike beak dominated its face.

"Beak Frog?"

Haruto frowned.

A bad feeling immediately came over him.

Sure enough, another Beak Frog appeared.

Then another.

Within moments, they were hopping in from every direction.

Hundreds of them.

Haruto’s head began to ache.

There were simply too many.

And things were only getting worse.

His En soon picked up heavy footsteps and low growls coming from farther away.

More Gourmet World beasts had caught the scent of the Air Tree Fruit and were heading toward the clearing.

"Is an Air Tree Fruit seriously this irresistible?"

Haruto could not help complaining.

A moment later, however, he realized it made perfect sense.

Even the fruit of an ordinary mature Air Tree was valuable enough to attract the attention of the Horse King Heracles and had once caused the blue Gourmet Demon inside Toriko to manifest for several minutes.

Compared with the truly legendary AIR, this was merely an ordinary Air Tree Fruit, but on the outer edge of the Gourmet World, it was still unquestionably a top-class ingredient.

Of course it would draw in predators from all over the area.

’Good thing I’m still near the Human World.’

Haruto silently felt relieved.

This region belonged primarily to creatures like King Gorillas and Asura Tigers.

If he had ventured any deeper, the scent of a ripening Air Tree Fruit might have attracted hordes of much more dangerous beasts before it even finished maturing.

In that case, whether Haruto could have secured the fruit at all would have been uncertain.

Not that the current situation was particularly easy.

He looked at the swarm of Beak Frogs flooding toward him, then at the increasingly powerful beasts approaching from farther away.

Haruto immediately killed several of the Beak Frogs charging at the front, stored their bodies away, and turned to run.

There was no point being stubborn.

Even if he could kill all several hundred Beak Frogs, doing so would consume an enormous amount of time and energy.

And stronger beasts were already on their way.

Knowing when to retreat was part of surviving.

"Shave!"

Haruto accelerated to his limit, racing through the dense forest so quickly that blurred afterimages trailed behind him.

To his growing irritation, however, the Beak Frogs continued chasing him relentlessly.

He could not shake them.

Worse, additional beasts kept picking up his trail along the way and joining the pursuit.

Haruto continued sprinting without daring to stop.

Just as the situation was beginning to become genuinely troublesome, an enormous tree suddenly appeared ahead.

It was unusually tall, with a perfectly straight trunk and a vast canopy spreading overhead like a giant umbrella.

Nothing grew beneath it.

Haruto initially noticed nothing suspicious and ran straight beneath the canopy.

Then—

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Countless raindrops fell from above like artillery shells.

They descended at astonishing speed and struck with tremendous force.

More and more poured down every second until the rain became a thick curtain, almost like a waterfall.

"Damn it! A Waterfall Tree!"

Haruto cursed.

There was no time to dodge.

He immediately wrapped his body in Nen.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The dense barrage of water slammed into him with heavy impacts.

Each drop carried tremendous force, slowing Haruto considerably while rapidly draining his aura.

He did not dare remain beneath the tree.

Gritting his teeth, he pushed through the pounding rain until he finally escaped the canopy.

Only after breaking free did Haruto breathe a sigh of relief.

He was completely soaked.

Water streamed from his hair and clothes in steady rivulets.

There was no time to change.

Haruto kept moving.

Before long, however, he noticed something strange.

The footsteps and roars chasing him had diminished considerably.

He glanced back.

Many of the beasts that had been pursuing him so relentlessly had stopped.

Haruto froze for a second.

Then understanding dawned.

"So that’s what happened."

He shook his head.

"I can’t believe I forgot something that obvious."

The beasts had been tracking him because the overwhelmingly rich fragrance of the mature Air Tree Fruit had clung to his body.

To Gourmet World predators, that scent was like a blazing beacon in the darkness.

No matter how far Haruto ran, they could follow it.

Passing beneath the Waterfall Tree had been unpleasant, but the deluge had also washed most of the Air Tree Fruit’s aroma from his body.

Without that scent to follow, many of the beasts had lost track of him.

"I really don’t have enough experience out here yet."

Haruto gave a bitter smile.

This time, he had escaped without serious trouble.

But the encounter served as an important warning.

His strength might now be enough to survive on the outskirts of the Gourmet World, but his wilderness experience was still badly lacking.

Here, even a small oversight could have disastrous consequences.

Haruto had no intention of becoming someone else’s dinner simply because he had made a stupid mistake.

’I’ll have to be much more careful from now on.’

Those reflections could wait, though.

There was something far more urgent on Haruto’s mind.

The Air Tree Fruit.

After all that trouble, he desperately wanted to taste it.

Having learned his lesson, Haruto certainly was not going to take the fruit out in the open again.

Who knew what else its scent might attract?

After carefully checking his surroundings and confirming there was no immediate danger, Haruto entered the Gourmet Restaurant.

Inside, Kagura was holding Alolan Ninetales in her arms while eating slices of Surprise Apple.

Kanna sat quietly nearby, apparently lost in thought.

The moment Haruto appeared, both of them looked up.

"Haruto, why are you back already?"

Kagura asked curiously.

He had explained before entering the Gourmet World that he would probably be exploring for some time.

Judging from how little time had passed, he should barely have gotten started.

"Don’t ask."

Haruto shook his head with a wry smile.

"I got attacked by a Breath Brachiosaurus before I even touched the ground. Then the moment I entered the Gourmet World, my Food Luck kicked in and I found an Air Tree."

"That sounds good so far."

"It was, until I finished preparing the fruit and half the forest showed up trying to steal it."

Kagura stared at him.

Haruto waved a hand and brought out the Air Tree Fruit.

After expelling much of the air inside, it had shrunk to roughly the size of a basketball.

Even so, an extraordinarily refreshing fragrance still radiated from it.

The fruit felt surprisingly heavy in his hands, almost dense like gold.

"So this is the Air Tree Fruit you were talking about?"

Kagura’s eyes immediately brightened as she leaned closer to inspect it.

"It smells incredible!"

Traveling with Haruto had allowed her to taste plenty of extraordinary food.

Yet in terms of pure aroma, even Century Soup seemed slightly inferior to this fruit.

Kanna’s gaze also settled on it, a faint hint of curiosity appearing in her eyes.

"That’s right."

Haruto smiled and drew Myriad Worlds.

"This is an exceptionally rare Special Preparation Ingredient from the Gourmet World."

"Let’s try it together."

With a light turn of his wrist, the blade passed effortlessly through the fruit and divided it cleanly in half.

Haruto stored one half away.

From the remaining half, he cut several slices and distributed some to Kagura and Kanna.

"Let’s taste it raw first, without doing anything else to it."

Unable to wait any longer, Haruto picked up several slices and placed them into his mouth.

The instant his teeth bit down, he froze.

An indescribably pure freshness spread throughout his mouth.

A cool current of air flowed from his tongue into his throat, slid down his esophagus, and entered his stomach before spreading through every cell in his body.

Haruto felt almost weightless.

His lungs and internal organs seemed to have been completely washed clean, making every breath astonishingly smooth and refreshing.

Even his soul seemed to have been rinsed free of impurities, leaving him light and clear.

His Gourmet Cells rejoiced.

They became more active and noticeably stronger.

Haruto closed his eyes and silently savored the flavor.

Countless words flashed through his mind.

Refreshing.

Sweet.

Invigorating.

Pure.

Lingering.

Yet in the end, all of them condensed into a single thought.

"Delicious!"

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