"If we were to rank culinary skills, Miss Erina, yours would undoubtedly be at the master level!" Saiga exclaimed sincerely from his seat at the table. "I've never tasted such exquisite dishes before! They completely shattered my expectations of what food could be!"
Listening to Saiga's praise, Hayashi nodded in agreement—truth be told, those who had never experienced cuisine from a gourmet anime couldn't possibly imagine just how delicious it was. It was fundamentally different from other food.
Just like how games with character customization and Steam Workshop support were fundamentally different from other games.
Those who knew, knew.
"Master... level?" Erina seemed intrigued by the ranking. She asked curiously, "What does 'master level' mean?"
"In their martial arts world, practitioners are ranked from lowest to highest as disciple-level, adept-level, and master-level," Hayashi explained after taking a sip of milk. "Master-level represents the pinnacle of martial arts."
"That's right, that's right!" Saiga nodded with a warm smile on his face. "In all my years, I've never tasted such delicious cuisine. Calling it master-level cooking is no exaggeration at all, hahaha!"
"Absolutely!" Hayashi nodded proudly upon hearing Saiga praise Erina's culinary skills. "My Erina's cooking is just that amazing! The best in the world, peerless, unrivaled under heaven—"
"Stop saying such embarrassing things!" Erina's face turned bright red as she covered Hayashi's mouth, whispering, "How could my skills compare to Master Abei's?"
Had she not witnessed Master Abei's godlike culinary prowess, Erina might have been a bit more boastful. But after realizing there were always greater masters beyond her knowledge, she had cultivated a humble heart.
Though occasionally puffing up a little in front of Hayashi wasn't so bad, hehe.
"Ah, Erina-chan is still young! You'll surpass Master Abei in no time!" Hayashi winked at her. "In my heart, your cooking is already the best in the world~"
"Idiot—" Erina muttered shyly.
Saiga and Shizuha exchanged glances, both unable to suppress knowing smiles—this couple was just too sweet! So sweet!
...
...
After eating their fill and chatting for a while, Saiga brought up the topic: "Mr. Hayashi, Shizuha mentioned you wanted to learn martial arts?"
"That's right. I hope Erina, Hisako, and I can gain some self-defense skills," Hayashi nodded. "To be honest, in my understanding, your world is the most suitable place to lay the foundation."
"My... my world?" Saiga blinked, then glanced at the Indeedee helping Hisako clear the dishes, his expression complicated. "So those strange creatures earlier were—"
"Yes, beings from another world," Hayashi confirmed with a smile. "Those two are Indeedee—the one with upward horns is male, and the one with downward horns is female. The male excels at assisting like a butler, while the female specializes in childcare."
Saiga rubbed his nose bridge in amazement. "Truly remarkable creatures..."
Shizuha chimed in, "Um, Mr. Hayashi, you just said 'in your understanding' of our world—does that mean you're very familiar with it?"
"Well, I have some knowledge," Hayashi blinked. This time, he avoided directly saying "you're comic characters" and opted for a more tactful explanation. "You know those travel brochures, right? The ones that list must-visit attractions in certain cities?"
Saiga and Shizuha exchanged confused glances before nodding hesitantly. "Uh, yes, we do."
"Exactly! So—you get what I mean, right?" Hayashi winked.
"Gah—"
Saiga vigorously rubbed his nose bridge again. "So, in an interworld travel brochure, our world's defining feature is... uh... martial arts?"
"That's about the gist of it," Hayashi said innocently, tapping his head. "So we're actually here because we've heard so much about this place."
'This guy is such a smooth talker—' Erina twitched the corner of her mouth. If she hadn't been in the know, she probably would've been completely taken in by his nonsense—what kind of "travel guide to other worlds" even exists?
Alright, even if such a thing existed, wouldn't you be the one who wrote it yourself?
Compared to the conflicted Saiga, the pure-hearted Shizuha was much more at ease—she looked at Hayashi with curiosity and asked, "From what you're saying, Mr. Hayashi, are there many other worlds out there?"
"Of course!" Hayashi nodded enthusiastically. "Some worlds are several times larger than Earth, covered in vast oceans, where the inhabitants live on scattered islands—"
"That's amazing!" Shizuha gasped in awe.
"And there's even more incredible stuff! In that world, there's a magical fruit called 'Devil Fruit.' Eating it grants you extraordinary powers—" Hayashi animatedly began explaining the lore of the One Piece world. "For example, you could turn into a leopard, or make your body into sticky rice, or even generate lightning!"
Mrs. Shizuha immediately murmured dreamily, "Turning into a leopard... generating lightning..."
Why did you skip over the sticky rice part? Is it because I, Kamizure... ahem, I mean, Kakarot... no, wait, Katakuri, don't deserve a mention?
"Besides Devil Fruits, the martial arts of that world are also fascinating. There's a combat style called 'Rokushiki' used by the military, along with Observation Haki and Armament Haki—" Hayashi briefly introduced the concepts of the Six Powers and the two types of Haki to the two of them.
"Stomping the ground dozens of times in 0.36 seconds to use the recoil for high-speed movement..." Saiga looked down at his own feet in disbelief. "Is something like that even possible?!"
To pull that off, you'd first need a body strong enough to withstand the recoil—otherwise, you'd be dead before you could even use "Soru."
"People from that world are basically superhumans—" Hayashi waved his hands dismissively. "Brother Saiga, you definitely shouldn't try to imitate them. Those guys can swim across the Pacific Ocean barehanded without breaking a sweat."
"Tch—" Saiga rubbed his head, muttering, "Swimming across the Pacific barehanded..."
As unbelievable as it sounded, Saiga couldn't help but think of his own superhuman father and wonder, "If it's him, maybe he really could do it."
"Besides the world I just mentioned, there are plenty of other interesting ones, like the Pokémon world—" Hayashi went on to describe the Pokémon world, casually summoning Sylveon, Arcanine, Corviknight, and Gengar to show Saiga and Shizuha.
"Wow—"
Shizuha burst into excited squeals. "So cute! They're absolutely adorable!"
It must be said that Pokémon—at least the earlier generations—are designed so adorably that they can make anyone's inner girl explode with delight. No wonder Shizuha was making that expression.
"Ya—ya—"
Little Miu in Shizuha's arms stretched out her tiny paws, her face full of longing as she tried to touch the Sylveon. However, our goddess merely glanced at the little munchkin before turning her head away with a haughty "hmph."
Only my master can touch me.
"Honestly, this is hitting me pretty hard," Saiga said, pressing his hands against his forehead. He had never imagined that one day he'd be discussing the specialties of another world as casually as talking about "that great baozi place on Sanyang Road," "the unbeatable hot dry noodles on Erqi Road," or "how you gotta go to Laotongcheng for the best doupi."
In a way, this was just too surreal.
But, but...
Saiga stole a glance at the Pokémon around Hayashi—creatures that were clearly not normal by any stretch. You could pass off Sylveon as a mutated fox, Corviknight as a large armored bird, and Arcanine as a special breed of dog, but there was no way to explain away something like Gengar.
You couldn't just blindly claim Gengar was some kind of "darkened Snow King," could you?
"Don't worry, I get it. Anyone would be overwhelmed," Hayashi said, unfazed. When he first learned he could travel between worlds, he had spent ages scheming, only to realize he was still a total noob.
Tch!
"But why didn't you go to that world you mentioned before, the one with those miraculous Devil Fruits?" Shizuha asked curiously. "From how you described it, that world sounds way stronger than ours, right?"
"Ah—"
Hayashi rubbed his nose. "Well, Shizuha-san, if a disciple-level martial artist suddenly barged into a master-level battlefield, what do you think would happen?"
"Ah—"
Shizuha's face lit up with understanding.
"Alright, I think I get your situation now," Saiga said, placing his hands together with a smile. "However, due to certain circumstances, Shizuha and I might not be able to personally train you. If you don't mind, I could entrust you to my father and have him teach you instead."
"Don't mind at all!" Hayashi shook his head vigorously. Was he kidding? Saiga's father was this world's undisputed pinnacle of strength—the undefeated superhuman, Hayato Fūrinji. Only an idiot would turn down his guidance. "As long as I can learn martial arts, that's more than enough!"
"Good." Saiga smiled faintly. "I'll contact my father right away. When the time comes, I'll entrust both you and Miu to him."
Hayashi wasn't surprised by Saiga and Shizuha's decision to leave Miu with Saiga's father. Even though his intervention had prevented Shizuha's death and spared Saiga from going into hiding to investigate her supposed demise, the couple still had a mountain of messes to clean up. They wouldn't have time to raise Miu properly for at least a few years.
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