The moment Toriko climbed onto the shore, he turned toward Komatsu, who had been waiting for them, and shouted excitedly.
"Komatsu, we did it! We caught the Puffer Whales!"
Toriko and Coco placed their captured fish on the picnic blanket Komatsu had spread across the sand.
Haruto intended to prepare his own Puffer Whales, but he had consumed too much stamina during the hunt.
For now, he sat nearby to recover while watching Coco and Komatsu work.
Although Haruto was reasonably confident in his own method, he had never actually prepared one before.
There was no harm in learning from someone with experience.
Komatsu stared at the ten plump Puffer Whales, unable to contain his excitement.
"Toriko-san, Coco-san, you two are amazing! You caught so many!"
Toriko did not seem particularly pleased by the praise.
"Two of the Four Heavenly Kings went down there and only managed to catch ten. It’s hardly something worth bragging about."
There had been plenty of Puffer Whales in the school. If Toriko and Coco had been at full strength, they could have captured far more.
Unfortunately, the battle with the Devil Serpent had drained too much of their stamina. Their bodies were still fatigued, which naturally affected their performance during the hunt.
Komatsu quickly looked up and answered earnestly.
"Capturing even one is already an incredible achievement! You both did amazingly well."
A single Puffer Whale was worth one hundred million yen.
Ten of them represented a full billion.
"Now comes the most important part."
Coco crouched beside the picnic blanket and studied the Puffer Whales with a serious expression.
"An ordinary Puffer Whale sells for roughly one hundred million yen. If its poison sac is successfully removed, its value rises to five hundred million."
"But a single mistake will poison the entire fish and reduce its value to nothing."
Removing the poison sac was far more difficult than capturing the Puffer Whale itself.
Even Coco could not guarantee success.
He drew a kitchen knife and took a deep breath beneath the watchful gazes of Toriko, Komatsu, and Haruto.
Coco first examined the fish carefully, confirming the position of its poison sac.
Only after a long moment did he slowly raise his knife and slice into the Puffer Whale’s abdomen.
Just as he finished the incision and began withdrawing the blade, his arm suddenly trembled beyond his control.
Blue-purple spots spread across the Puffer Whale’s body in an instant.
It had been completely poisoned.
The first attempt had failed.
Coco gave a helpless sigh before turning seriously toward Komatsu.
"Komatsu, could you make the cuts for me?"
Although Haruto had also introduced himself as a chef, Coco never considered asking him.
They barely knew each other, after all.
Komatsu stared at Coco, then pointed at himself in disbelief.
"What? Y-you want me to do it? But I’ve never prepared a Puffer Whale before!"
"I may be too tired. My hand isn’t responding properly."
Coco flexed his faintly trembling wrist, sounding somewhat frustrated.
The Devil Serpent’s venom had entered his body earlier.
Although Coco had rapidly produced antibodies against it, his muscles had still suffered temporary damage that could not be immediately reversed.
"Even a one-millimeter error will poison the fish. In my current condition, I can’t do it."
"But..."
Komatsu hesitated, anxiously rubbing his hands together as his heart pounded.
As a chef, he naturally dreamed of preparing a Puffer Whale himself.
"You’ll be fine, Komatsu," Coco said, looking at him with complete trust. "You’re a professional chef, aren’t you? I’ll tell you where to cut and in what order."
"Do you really think I can do it?"
Komatsu looked into Coco’s steady eyes, then down at the precious fish on the blanket.
His hesitation gradually gave way to excitement.
This was a chance to prepare a Puffer Whale.
His gaze hardened with determination, and the corners of his mouth lifted despite himself.
"Then I’ll give it a try!"
"This feels like a dream... I can’t believe I actually have the chance to prepare one with my own hands."
Komatsu still looked extremely nervous as he faced the Puffer Whale.
Even so, he picked up the kitchen knife and began following Coco’s instructions.
There was no questioning Komatsu’s culinary skill.
His first two cuts matched Coco’s directions perfectly, without the slightest deviation.
On the third, however, the blade strayed by a single millimeter.
The Puffer Whale’s glossy white body instantly turned a mottled gray-blue.
It had been poisoned.
His first attempt ended in failure.
But Komatsu did not lose heart.
He immediately moved on to another Puffer Whale.
Coco continued explaining the proper sequence of cuts, but the fish’s flesh was unusually dense.
Cutting with or against the grain produced completely different levels of resistance, and Komatsu lacked the experience needed to judge those changes perfectly.
The second fish was poisoned when his blade went too deep and touched the poison gland.
The third failed because the angle of a diagonal cut was slightly off.
On the fourth, he lost control of the pressure while cutting against the grain.
Failure after failure left Komatsu’s forehead covered in fine beads of sweat, and his expression grew increasingly serious.
Yet there was no fear or hesitation in his eyes.
After every mistake, he adjusted his breathing and carefully reflected on the subtle sensation of the blade passing through the flesh.
His patient determination and refusal to become discouraged drew a quiet trace of approval from Coco.
Not far away, Haruto watched in silence.
He memorized every instruction and every detail of the knife paths, repeatedly reconstructing the process in his mind.
Once his stamina had mostly recovered, Haruto moved a short distance away and closed his eyes.
He activated Ingredient Deconstruction on one of the Puffer Whales stored inside Gourmet Restaurant.
The fish’s muscles, blood vessels, and internal organs appeared clearly within his mind.
Before long, Haruto understood its entire internal structure.
The poison sac was hidden just behind and to the side of the gills.
The moment he located it precisely, the required sequence of cuts formed clearly in his thoughts.
Haruto opened his eyes and retrieved the Puffer Whale from Gourmet Restaurant, placing it in front of him.
He gripped the Melk Knife firmly in his right hand and positioned the blade at the base of the tail fin.
The knife entered exactly two centimeters before he angled it upward and cut a steady ten-centimeter line.
The Puffer Whale’s flesh was exceptionally dense. Even with a blade as sharp as the Melk Knife, Haruto could feel obvious resistance.
Fortunately, the first cut was flawless.
The fish showed no sign of poisoning.
Haruto drew a deep breath and steadied himself.
He turned the blade and slowly cut downward from the gills.
The knife passed through smoothly.
The second cut was also completed successfully.
Next, he followed the planned route upward from beneath the pelvic fin.
This cut went against the grain.
The resistance increased sharply, far beyond what he had felt during the first two cuts.
Haruto’s fingers stalled for the slightest instant.
His pressure slipped by a fraction, causing the blade to deviate almost imperceptibly.
The Puffer Whale before him immediately became poisoned.
"Haa..."
Haruto released a long breath, allowing his rigid shoulders to loosen.
Preparing a Puffer Whale demanded far more concentration than capturing one.
Every cut felt like walking along the edge of a blade, with no room for even the smallest mistake.
After taking a moment to relax, Haruto studied the failed Puffer Whale in front of him.
A sudden idea crossed his mind.
He considered it briefly and decided it should be possible.
Haruto turned toward Toriko, Coco, and Komatsu.
He believed his idea would work, but it would still be better to ask Komatsu first.
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