Although the light arrow Vaccine Man fired before his death had created a hole in Gustave's body, fortunately it hadn't struck his heart. It had also directly cauterized the flesh at the wound site, which conveniently stopped Gustave's bleeding.
After bringing Gustave to the beach and letting him lean against a coconut tree, Saitama looked at Gustave's half-dead appearance and asked with genuine concern:
"Gustave, can you really recover just by eating something?"
"Don't worry. Would I lie to you?"
Gustave forced a smile, but because he'd coughed up blood earlier, his face looked deathly pale.
"Then wait here. I'll go get you some food right away."
After speaking, Saitama dove directly into the ocean, creating an enormous splash, then vanished beneath the waves.
"That was close."
Looking at the hole in his chest and the charred black flesh inside, Gustave felt fortunate he hadn't been hit in the head and his heart remained undamaged. Otherwise, he would have died this time. Gustave hadn't yet cultivated to the level of regenerating severed limbs or resurrecting from a single drop of blood.
Watching seabirds flying freely overhead, Gustave leaned against the coconut tree, closed his eyes, and enjoyed the sun's warmth, which seemed to somewhat reduce the pain from his wound.
Gustave didn't know how long he'd been resting with his eyes closed. When he finally opened them again, it was because Saitama had woken him.
When Saitama brought a massive tuna roughly ten meters long ashore, he saw Gustave leaning against the coconut tree with his eyes closed and a faint smile on his face. He looked like he'd passed away peacefully.
This terrified Saitama so much that he immediately dropped the tuna and ran to Gustave, shaking him frantically:
"Hey, Gustave! Are you okay?! Are you still alive?!"
"Cough! Cough!"
Gustave coughed up two more mouthfuls of blood, then slowly opened his eyes and said very weakly:
"Stop shaking... I'm still alive. If you keep shaking me, I really will die."
"Oh! Oh!"
After hearing Gustave's words, Saitama immediately stopped shaking and quickly let go, terrified he might actually kill Gustave.
"Saitama, did you find anything to eat?"
Gustave felt his vision blurring. If he didn't replenish his energy soon, he might genuinely die.
"Found it! I searched the ocean for quite a while before I found this tuna."
As he spoke, Saitama dragged the tuna he'd caught in front of Gustave. This guy was actually quite thoughtful—when fishing in the ocean, he only caught species that tasted good.
"Good..."
Saitama only heard Gustave say "good," then suddenly Gustave lunged forward and grabbed the tuna directly. With a single bite, a massive chunk disappeared. Within just a few minutes, this ten-meter-long tuna had been completely devoured, leaving only bones.
Saitama's eyes widened as he murmured:
"Amazing... absolutely amazing!"
Saitama deeply envied Gustave's eating speed. He'd only seen such speed on television cooking shows before, but he'd never expected Gustave to perform it live.
After consuming this ten-meter-long tuna, Gustave recovered some of his strength. He activated his Life Return technique, making the granulation tissue at his right chest wound grow at a visible rate. However, after filling about one-third of the fist-sized hole, the growth stopped.
Saitama witnessed this miraculous scene firsthand, and only now did he truly understand that such fatal injuries could be repaired simply by eating.
"This tuna doesn't provide enough energy," Gustave sighed, seeing that two-thirds of the wound remained unhealed.
"I'll catch more for you right now!" Saitama volunteered immediately.
"Thank you for your help, but you don't need to specifically catch tuna. Anything edible will work."
"No problem!"
Saitama dove into the ocean again. This time, he was underwater for barely a minute before Gustave saw a massive shadow approaching the surface. Then Saitama burst ashore carrying a strange fish over sixty meters long.
This bizarre fish had razor-sharp teeth and a ferocious appearance. Gustave had never seen this species before. He suspected it must be unique to the One Punch Man world.
However, Gustave didn't care about such details. The most important thing right now was recovering his strength and repairing his wounds. This unlucky monster fish met a tragic end in Gustave's ravenous jaws.
Although this fish looked strange and tasted far worse than tuna, the energy it provided was three or four times greater per unit of mass.
After devouring this strange fish, Gustave continued using Life Return. The fist-sized hole in his chest returned to normal. If the skin at the wound site weren't so pale and tender—different in color from the surrounding area—it would be impossible to tell Gustave had been injured at all.
"Finally recovered!"
Gustave flexed his right arm and breathed a sigh of relief after confirming his body functions had returned to normal.
However, when Gustave activated his Devil Fruit ability and prepared to transform into lightning, he discovered some obstruction. The energy flow felt sluggish as it passed through the newly regenerated flesh.
"Gustave, what's wrong?" Saitama noticed something was off.
"Oh, it's nothing. The new flesh just needs to be retrained through exercise."
Gustave identified the problem after two experimental attempts. The issue was primarily that the newly grown flesh hadn't been properly conditioned and couldn't conduct energy flow efficiently yet.
The newly regenerated flesh wasn't only different in color from other parts—it was also weaker in durability. It would take some time and training to properly strengthen.
"That's good then," Saitama said with his characteristic simple expression.
Gustave looked at Saitama's face and expression, remembering how he'd become the way he was:
Initially, Saitama had been just an ordinary unemployed person. But one day, after rescuing a kid with a cleft chin from a crab monster, Saitama's ordinary life trajectory changed dramatically.
He insisted on running ten kilometers every day, doing one hundred push-ups, one hundred sit-ups, and one hundred squats. This seemingly ordinary training regimen had actually allowed him to break his limiter.
Beyond becoming stronger and bald, another major change in Saitama was that his emotions had weakened, nearly disappearing entirely. No matter what happened, seemingly nothing could cause his emotions to fluctuate—except for supermarket discount sales.
Of course, this emotional numbness only lasted temporarily. Later, when Saitama's lifelong rival King appeared, every time Saitama lost a video game to King, he would experience tremendous emotional fluctuations.
And now, although he hadn't met King yet, the food Gustave prepared could still trigger Saitama's emotional responses.
"Gustave, since you've recovered, shall we head back?"
"Wait a moment. We're already at the beach—why not take this opportunity to catch some seafood? Not only can we save money, but I can also prepare a proper meal tonight."
"No problem!"
Under the dual stimulation of saving money and Gustave's cooking, Saitama's eyes flashed with genuine excitement.