The announcement of the Gourmet Festival immediately drew massive interest from all across the Dimensional City.
For example, a certain eternally unemployed Hero of Justice, Shirou Emiya, decided to bring along his little sister and open a food stall of his own.
A huge number of powerful loli chefs who had way too much free time also decided to participate.
Meanwhile, Erina Nakiri began pulling more elite chefs from Tōtsuki Academy into her side.
She even sold additional shares of her restaurant to Nyaruko in exchange for a massive amount of points, which she immediately used to strengthen the newly recruited chefs.
Even graduates from Tōtsuki were summoned over.
On the other side, Liu Maoxing and his group were enthusiastically preparing as well, fully intending to make a fortune during the festival.
As for Portgas D. Ace, he had already brought Sanji over.
The moment Sanji learned what points could do, his fighting spirit burst into flames.
There were simply too many things in Izumi's world that he wanted.
He even dragged Nico Robin and Nami along to help.
For a while, the entire Dimensional City became incomparably lively.
Even those who weren't currently inside the city had heard about the upcoming event and planned to come join the fun.
After all—
Top chefs from countless different worlds gathering together?
This was bound to become an unprecedented culinary festival.
Inside Liu Maoxing's restaurant, Qin Shi Huang sat by the window while looking down at the bustling streets below.
Then he sighed.
"What a shame…"
"If possible, I'd also like to bring a few imperial chefs over to run a small business."
"But the culinary skills of my imperial chefs… seem rather lacking."
Disdain flashed across his eyes as he spoke.
After tasting the food here, returning to his own world and eating what his chefs made felt utterly unbearable.
Hearing this, Wang Jian immediately broke out into a cold sweat.
"Your Majesty…"
"Let us refrain from participating in such matters."
"The investment cost in points is simply too great."
Qin Shi Huang laughed.
"I was merely speaking casually."
"I naturally have no intention of participating."
Now that he had already obtained immortality, his current goal was conquering the rest of his world and accomplishing even greater things.
Every single point in his possession was precious.
Why would he waste them on chefs?
He still intended to surpass a certain someone who constantly showed off in front of him.
And the moment he thought about that person—
His face darkened.
Unfortunately for him, thinking about someone often summoned them immediately.
A particularly irritating voice suddenly echoed beside him.
"Oh my, what a coincidence."
"I heard that you—"
"Shut up!!"
Before the other party could even finish speaking, Qin Shi Huang directly roared back.
The surrounding customers burst into laughter upon seeing the scene.
Those two had started their love-hate rivalry again.
It really was entertaining.
Putting Qin Shi Huang's side aside for the moment—
Once all the chefs had completed their preparations, registration officially began.
One food stall after another appeared throughout the streets.
Countless people eagerly anticipated the start of the event.
However, while the entire city was busy preparing, Izumi unexpectedly welcomed yet another visitor from a gourmet-themed world.
Looking at the short young man standing before him, Izumi slowly curled his lips upward.
"Komatsu, huh?"
"You came at just the right time."
"Interested in participating in a gourmet festival?"
"How about opening a stall?"
The person before him was none other than Komatsu.
Hearing Izumi's words, Komatsu froze.
"Eh?"
"You know me, sir?"
He was genuinely shocked.
He had only just figured out where he had arrived, yet this mysterious man standing before him somehow already knew who he was.
That was definitely strange.
Izumi nodded calmly.
"I do know you."
"So?"
"Interested in joining the Gourmet Festival?"
"It's a great place to earn points."
"You could even bring ingredients from your own world over here to sell."
"And while you're at it, you can bring some people from your world too."
As he spoke, an amused smile appeared on Izumi's face.
Wasn't this basically increasing the difficulty for Erina and Maoxing?
If Komatsu joined and brought over the top gourmet chefs from the world of Toriko—
Along with those ridiculously overpowered ingredients—
Then they'd probably crush almost everyone else.
Just imagining it made Izumi excited.
At the same time, the Gourmet Cells from Komatsu's world were also incredibly interesting.
Maybe he could prepare something for his girls later.
Of course, that would have to wait until Komatsu brought over the proper ingredients.
Or perhaps until the IGO started selling Gourmet Cells within the Dimensional City, allowing Izumi to replicate them.
After hearing Izumi's explanation, Komatsu quickly understood the situation.
His eyes instantly lit up.
"I want to participate!"
"How do I sign up?"
If he could meet chefs from entirely different worlds—
Then for him, that would undoubtedly become an invaluable experience.
Izumi's smile widened.
Without hesitation, he explained the registration process and directly assigned Komatsu an enormous stall location.
Once Komatsu fully understood everything, he immediately returned to his own world.
Then he began contacting people and gathering ingredients, preparing to make a huge splash at the festival.
Neither Erina nor Liu Maoxing had any idea—
Izumi had just invited an absolute culinary final boss into the competition.
...
After returning home, Komatsu told the others about the Dimensional City.
The news immediately attracted the interest of many chefs.
Among them were legendary figures such as Setsuno, as well as members of the IGO.
Meanwhile, Erina was still treating Liu Maoxing as her greatest rival—
Completely unaware of the horrifying monsters she would soon face tomorrow.
Standing on the second floor of her restaurant, Erina looked down at the fully prepared stalls below.
A fierce fighting spirit burned in her eyes.
"If I work hard enough tomorrow…"
"I should be able to pay off my debt… right?"
Clinging to that hope, Erina grew increasingly excited.
Now that they had finally found people capable of wielding the Legendary Cooking Utensils, her confidence had greatly increased.
With that "Asura" around, things should be fine… probably.
After all, she had sold off part of the restaurant shares just to purchase Liu Maoxing's cooking knowledge and give a copy to him.
At this very moment, he was still training apprentices.
Even her mother had arrived.
So things should work out…
Right?
...
Meanwhile, Izumi was leisurely enjoying being fed by Asia Argento.
Asia looked down at the bustling scenery of the Dimensional City below and smiled softly.
"Izumi-sama…"
"The Dimensional City has truly become lively now."
"It's wonderful."
Hearing this, Izumi chuckled.
"Yeah."
"And it'll probably become even livelier before long."
"There are already many worlds beginning to draw closer to us."
"It won't be long before new worlds start merging into this place."
As he said this, the corners of Izumi's lips lifted upward.
Placing worlds here really had been the correct choice.
The surrounding worlds were already beginning to drift infinitely closer.
Some were practically on the verge of fusion already.
Izumi was genuinely satisfied with the current state of things.
After all—
Even mosquito legs were still meat.