The arena erupted into chaos. Spectators screamed and scrambled for exits as the ground continued to shake. The once-pristine shell buildings of Blue Grill cracked and crumbled, their ancient structures no match for the force emanating from the depths.
King stood calmly amidst the panic, his hand resting on Heracles's mane. The Horse King's ears were flat against its head, its body tense—not with fear, but with recognition.
"Moon," King murmured. "Something's got the old whale riled up."
Toriko grabbed Komatsu, pulling him away from the edge of the collapsing arena. "Everyone, get to higher ground! This isn't an earthquake—it's a battle!"
"A battle?" Rin's face was pale. "What could possibly fight Whale King Moon?"
As if in answer, a sound echoed across the sea—not a roar, not a scream, but something worse. A chew. A wet, grinding, hungry sound that made everyone's stomach turn.
Coco's eyes glowed as his future sight struggled to process what was happening. "Something... something is eating the Black Triangle. Not the creatures in it—the sea itself. The water, the pressure, the space."
Don Slime floated above the chaos, its form expanding to address the panicked crowd. "Citizens of Blue Grill, do not panic! The Shell King's barrier will protect the city. But I cannot guarantee how long it will hold."
It turned to Komatsu's team. "The Spirit Food Gate must be opened now. Whatever is attacking Moon is after the [ANOTHER]. If it reaches the Soul World before you..."
Komatsu didn't need to hear the rest. "Where's the gate?"
"Below." Don Slime pointed toward the center of the arena, where the Coffin Crab still sat, its carapace now cracked. "The Coffin Crab is the gatekeeper. It will take you to the threshold. But you must go now."
Toriko looked at his team—at Coco, Sunny, Zebra, at Komatsu and Rin, at King and Heracles. "We're not leaving anyone behind. We go together."
Kachinokishū stepped forward, her face streaked with tears but her eyes clear. "I'm coming too. I know the way. I've studied the Soul World's currents for centuries."
"Betrayer!" Magnesium Mei shrieked from the other side of the arena.
"I'm a chef," Kachinokishū replied calmly. "I follow the food. Right now, the food is with them."
Saitama, who had been watching the chaos with mild interest, raised his hand. "So we're going to the ghost place now? Is there food there?"
"Spirits don't eat," Garou said, though he looked uncertain.
"They eat memories," Kachinokishū said. "They eat feelings. They eat the essence of what makes food delicious. If you want to satisfy them, you must cook with your soul."
Saitama considered this. "Sounds complicated. But I'm in."
The ground shook again, harder this time. A massive crack split the arena floor, revealing the dark water below. The Coffin Crab, its carapace now fully open, revealed a swirling portal of deep purple light.
"The Spirit Food Gate," Don Slime announced. "Step through, and you will enter the Soul World. But know this: time moves differently there. What feels like hours could be years. What feels like years could be seconds. Your minds may not survive the journey."
Komatsu took a deep breath. "We'll survive."
He walked toward the portal, his Dragon Tooth knife gleaming. One by one, his companions followed—Toriko, Rin, Coco, Sunny, Zebra, Kachinokishū, Saitama, Garou.
King lingered at the edge, Heracles at his side. "You're not coming?" Toriko asked.
"I'll be there. Just... not the same way." King smiled. "I have a horse to look after. And someone needs to keep an eye on the whale."
Heracles snorted, as if to say I could take that whale if I wanted to.
"Sure you could, girl. But let's not start an interdimensional incident."
King stepped back, and the portal closed behind the group.
They were alone in the Soul World.
The first thing Komatsu noticed was the silence.
Not the silence of an empty room, but the silence of a void. No wind, no water, no heartbeat. Just... absence.
The second thing he noticed was the light.
It came from everywhere and nowhere—a soft, diffuse glow that illuminated nothing in particular. There were no shadows, no reflections, no edges. They floated in an endless expanse of pale gray, their bodies feeling simultaneously solid and insubstantial.
"Everyone here?" Toriko's voice sounded muffled, as if coming from far away.
"Here," Coco said.
"Here," Sunny echoed.
Zebra grunted. Rin nodded, her face pale.
Saitama looked around with mild interest. "This place is weird. It's like being inside a cloud, but the cloud is sad."
Garou crossed his arms. "How can a cloud be sad?"
"It just is. You can feel it."
Kachinokishū stepped forward, her movements graceful despite the lack of gravity. "We're at the edge of the Soul World. The deeper we go, the more... intense it becomes. Memories will surface—not just yours, but the memories of everyone who has ever lived here. Don't let them overwhelm you."
Komatsu nodded. "How do we find the [ANOTHER]?"
Kachinokishū pointed. In the distance, barely visible through the gray haze, was a faint golden glow. "That's the fish treasure's trail. It moves constantly, but its essence leaves a mark. Follow the light."
They began to float—or walk, or swim, or something in between—toward the glow. The Soul World had no directions, no up or down, but the light pulled them forward like a current.
As they traveled, Komatsu began to see things.
A flash of a kitchen he had never visited, where a woman with kind eyes was chopping vegetables.
A glimpse of a battlefield, where a young warrior fought not for glory but for survival.
A whisper of a lullaby, sung in a language he didn't recognize but somehow understood.
"The memories," Kachinokishū said softly. "They're everywhere. Don't hold on to them. Let them pass."
But one memory did not pass.
It clung to Komatsu like a burr, refusing to be shaken.
A man, old and tired, sitting alone at a table piled high with food. His hands trembled as he lifted a spoon to his lips. He chewed. He swallowed. And then he wept.
"Who is that?" Komatsu whispered.
Kachinokishū's face was grim. "That is Ichiryu. The former president of the IGO. He's been here for years, refusing to move on. Refusing to eat."
"Why?"
"Because he's waiting. For someone. Something. A meal worth having."
Komatsu stared at the memory, at the old man's tears. And he made a decision.
"After we find the [ANOTHER]," he said, "I'm going to cook for him."
Toriko raised an eyebrow. "You're going to cook for a ghost?"
"I'm going to cook for a man who's forgotten what it feels like to be full." Komatsu's voice was steady. "And I'm going to remind him."
The group continued their journey, the golden glow growing brighter with each passing moment.
But behind them, in the shadows of the Soul World, something else was moving. Something old. Something hungry.
Something that wore the face of a chef and carried the hunger of a god.
Another had arrived.
The deep sea trembled. Whale King Moon's massive form shifted, and the water pressure around Garou intensified—not as an attack, but as a test. The Abyssal Maw Whale beneath him whimpered, its ancient instincts screaming to flee.
Garou didn't flinch.
"So you can feel it too," he said, his voice carrying through the water despite the impossible pressure. "Good. I was worried you'd be boring."
Moon's eyes narrowed. The last time a human had dared to approach him was centuries ago, when the Blue Nitro had sent their best hunters to steal fragments of the [ANOTHER]. Those humans had come with weapons, with technology, with fear.
This one came with nothing but confidence.
And something else. Something that made Moon's ancient heart beat faster.
Hunger.
"You're not like the others," Moon's voice resonated not through sound, but through pressure waves that vibrated in Garou's bones. "You don't want the [ANOTHER]. You don't want to harvest me for ingredients. What do you want?"
Garou grinned, his teeth gleaming in the bioluminescent darkness. "I want a mount. The strongest mount. One that can match that golden horse King parades around."
Moon's form rippled with what might have been amusement. "You want to ride me? A human wants to ride an Eight King?"
"I want to tame you." Garou cracked his knuckles. "There's a difference."
The Abyssal Maw Whale finally broke, throwing Garou from its back and fleeing into the darkness. Garou didn't even look back. He simply floated there, arms crossed, waiting.
"You're arrogant," Moon observed.
"I'm right. There's also a difference."
The whale's massive tail began to rise, casting a shadow over miles of seabed. "Let's see if you can survive my first strike."
The tail came down.
It moved slower than it should have—not because Moon was slow, but because Garou's perception had been honed by battles with Saitama, with King, with monsters that defied physics. He saw the attack coming, calculated its trajectory, and moved.
Not away. Toward.
He landed on Moon's tail, his feet sinking into the meteorite shell like it was wet clay. "Is that all you've got? I've been hit harder by a bald man's sneeze."
Moon's eyes widened. This was not possible. His meteorite shell could withstand continent-shattering impacts. And this human was crushing it with his bare feet.
"Who are you?" Moon's voice had lost its amusement, replaced by something older. Something that might have been caution.
Garou's grin widened. "I'm the man who's going to make you bow."
He leaped from the tail, soaring through the water toward Moon's massive head. The whale King tried to twist away, but Garou was faster—impossibly faster. He landed on Moon's snout, directly between those thousand-meter eyes, and pushed.
The ocean screamed.
Pressure waves erupted in all directions, creating whirlpools that reached the surface thousands of meters above. Sea Kings for miles around fled in terror. Even the Coffin Crab, miles away in Blue Grill, shuddered.
Moon's head moved. Not much—barely a few meters. But for an Eight King, for a creature that had not been forced to shift position in millennia, it was unthinkable.
"Impossible," Moon breathed.
Garou stood on the whale's snout, his feet planted, his arms still crossed. "Nothing's impossible. You've just been at the top so long you forgot what struggle feels like."
He lifted one foot and stomped.
The meteorite shell cracked. Deep, jagged fissures spread across Moon's snout, and for the first time in millions of years, Whale King Moon felt pain.
"Submit," Garou said.
Moon's eyes blazed with ancient fury. "Never."
The whale's massive body began to glow—not with bioluminescence, but with gravity. The water around them warped, bending toward Moon's core. Garou felt the pull, felt his body being dragged toward the whale's massive mouth, where the Abyssal Maw led to a dimension of eternal hunger.
"So you can do more than float," Garou said, still grinning. "Good. I was worried this would be easy."
He planted his feet, digging into the cracked meteorite shell, and resisted. The gravity pulled, but he did not move. The water boiled around him, but he did not flinch.
"You cannot resist the Abyssal Maw," Moon growled. "It has swallowed stars."
"I'm not a star." Garou's eyes blazed with crimson light. "I'm absolute evil."
He pushed again.
This time, Moon's head snapped back. The whale's massive body actually rose in the water, lifted by the force of Garou's will. The gravity field shattered. The whirlpools dissipated. And Whale King Moon, one of the Eight Kings, the ancient guardian of the Black Triangle, looked at the tiny human standing on its snout and felt something it had not felt in a billion years.
Fear.
"Submit," Garou said again.
Moon's massive eyes closed. When they opened, the fury was gone, replaced by something that might have been respect.
"I will not submit," the whale said. "But I will... acknowledge you. No human has ever pushed me this far. Not in all my years."
Garou frowned. "That's not good enough."
"It will have to be." Moon's form began to shrink—not to human size, but to something smaller. Something that could fit in the arena where the cooking duel was taking place. "The [ANOTHER] is waking. The Soul World is stirring. If you want to tame me, you must first survive what is coming."
Garou stepped off the whale's snout as Moon continued to shrink. "What's coming?"
"The hunger." Moon's voice was grim. "The endless hunger that devoured the Blue Nitro's ancestors. That devoured stars. That devoured worlds." He looked toward the distant glow of Blue Grill. "It is here. And it is hungry."
In the arena, the ground shook.
And in the Soul World, Komatsu and his team pressed forward, unaware that the greatest challenge was yet to come.