After sending Toriko and the other two flying in an instant, Stajun shifted his gaze to Kael and the rest. In the next second, his body vanished from where he stood.
Rin and the others couldn't follow his movements clearly, but it was obvious—Stajun was coming straight for them.
"Watch out—move!"
Rin was just about to pull out her perfume to fight back, but Stajun was already in front of her. He intended to clear away this obstacle first. Rin had some combat ability, but she wasn't a real threat to him.
And right now, Stajun was controlling a GT Robot. Rin's perfume would have zero effect.
But just as his fist was about to land on Rin, a terrifying force slammed into him. In the next instant, Stajun's body was blasted away, and the overwhelming power completely shattered the GT Robot.
The core was destroyed immediately.
At the moment the connection was cut, Stajun vaguely caught sight of the one who had attacked—Setsuno's newly accepted disciple, Kael.
Ichiryu and the others had seen Kael before, so they knew exactly how strong he was. But Stajun and his side had never met him in person. All they knew was the latest intel: Kael was Setsuno's disciple.
In fact, Kael had already been on their capture list.
Don't let the rankings fool you. Even if Kael didn't appear among the top hundred chefs, anyone who became Setsuno's disciple carried serious weight.
The Gourmet Corp needed chefs. From beginning to end, they had been capturing talented ones. In the original story, Ootake barely squeezed into the top hundred using underhanded methods—and the moment he did, the Gourmet Corp locked onto him and took him away.
Kael was no exception.
Stajun's original plan had been to extract the location of Jewel Meat "030" from this group, then capture Kael while he was at it. As for Komatsu, his current reputation wasn't even worth the Gourmet Corp's attention.
What Stajun hadn't expected was this—
The strongest person here wasn't Toriko and the other Four Heavenly Kings.
It was Kael. A chef.
One move. One exchange.
He got instantly taken out.
If not for the final image captured by the core, Stajun wouldn't even have known who defeated him. Back at Gourmet Corp headquarters, the real Stajun stood frozen for several seconds.
"Stajun-sama? Are you alright?"
Seeing Stajun standing there blankly after the connection to the GT Robot was cut, Jojo asked in confusion. He played the role of the Gourmet Corp's butler—though at this point, he was already under Joie's control.
Right now, Jojo was genuinely puzzled.
He knew the GT Robot project inside and out—it was his responsibility. Stajun hadn't unlocked its limiter earlier.
Which meant that no matter what happened to the GT Robot, Stajun himself shouldn't have been affected at all.
And yet, someone as strong as Stajun had stood there in a daze.
That wasn't something Jojo had expected. He even wondered if the GT Robot had malfunctioned.
"It's nothing," Stajun said, shaking his head. "I just ran into someone who's… absurdly strong."
He knew very well—if Kael could casually one-shot that GT Robot, then Kael's strength was at least on par with his own. Possibly even higher.
Since Stajun hadn't personally felt the attack and only saw it through the GT Robot's sensors, he couldn't make a perfectly accurate judgment.
Still, he immediately had Jojo update Kael's information and send it to all branch leaders and vice head chefs.
Kael was already on the capture list.
If others didn't understand how strong Kael really was and rushed in recklessly, then using GT Robots would just mean losing a machine. But if someone went in person—
They might lose their life.
Once the update went out, Grinpatch, Tommyrod, and the others who were active outside received the message and saw Stajun's assessment.
"So that's Setsuno's disciple, huh?" Tommyrod said with a grin as he led his subordinates while capturing ingredients. "Strong enough to make even Stajun suffer. Interesting."
He didn't think Stajun was weak. Despite his arrogance, Tommyrod knew exactly how strong Stajun was.
Among the three vice head chefs, his strength was about the same as Grinpatch's—but Stajun was clearly a cut above them. His talent was simply terrifying.
Stajun could even learn an opponent's combat techniques mid-fight. If Tommyrod's specialty hadn't been insect incubation—something Stajun couldn't copy—he probably would've been beaten by his own best move.
That was why, despite his arrogance, Tommyrod was clear-headed. If Stajun believed Kael was at least his equal—or even far stronger—then Kael was not someone a vice head chef could handle.
"Looks like I'll be steering clear of that guy from now on," Grinpatch said.
As for the other branch leaders, they were strong, but unable to enter the Gourmet World. To them, Kael was extremely dangerous.
So on the capture list, Kael's priority shot straight to the top. Only those capable of entering the Gourmet World would be suitable to deal with him. The rest would continue focusing on other chefs on the list.
Putting Gourmet Corp aside for the moment—
After Kael one-shot Stajun's GT Robot, everyone on the scene fell into a stunned silence.
They knew Kael was strong.
But they never imagined he was this strong.
This GT Robot wasn't on the same level as the previous ones. Against those, the Four Heavenly Kings could still struggle and win if they pushed themselves.
But this one?
Even if all of them teamed up, they wouldn't stand a chance.
And yet Kael had destroyed it so effortlessly.
They hadn't even seen how he moved.
"How long are you three planning to lie there?" Kael said, glancing at the three who were still sprawled on the ground in shock.
"Sorry, sorry," Sunny said as he stood up. "That was just… too shocking. I didn't think a monster like that wouldn't even last a single hit against you."
"Yeah," Toriko nodded. "If his target hadn't been Jewel Meat, the three of us would probably be dead."
Stajun was just that strong. If he had aimed to kill them, none of them would've escaped.
"So you're Chef Kael, right?" Coco said, meeting Kael for the first time. "I'm Coco. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too," Kael replied.
"That scared the hell out of me," Rin said as she rushed over to Toriko and clung to him. "His punch was this close to hitting me. Toriko, aren't you going to comfort me?"
Honestly, Rin's love-brain was something else. After a moment like that, she wasn't just scared—she still had the presence of mind to go cling to Toriko.
Unfortunately, Toriko's head was full of muscles and food, so her flirting went completely over his head.
Truth be told, Rin wasn't unattractive, and her figure was great. Anyone with Gourmet Cells tended to have a good body. Sunny liked to complain about his sister's figure, but his standards were just absurdly high.
After that, everyone gathered together to talk while Coco recovered.
He had clashed with Stajun head-on at the start, so his consumption was the highest and his injuries the worst.
Stajun didn't care whether someone was a Four Heavenly King or not. Killing them wouldn't make him hesitate. IGO and Gourmet Corp were enemies to begin with.
In the original story, Stajun really had almost killed Toriko. If not for Rin stepping in, Toriko would've died—and Rin herself nearly died at Stajun's hands.
In fact, the ingredient most suited for Rin was Toriko himself.
Or rather, Toriko's love.
In the world of Toriko, most Gourmet Demons crave ingredients—but there are exceptions. Midora's full course menu, for example, was entirely related to Frohze.
Rin's full course menu was likely the same. Although the original story never stated it outright, her Gourmet Cells would definitely respond to Toriko. Her entire menu probably revolved around him.
Unfortunately, Toriko was just too dense. Even Kael couldn't be bothered to complain about it anymore.
Coco could treat his own injuries. He was a jack-of-all-trades—knew a bit of everything, just not to an extreme level.
Kael took out his cooking tools and made Coco a proper meal. For people with Gourmet Cells, while their regeneration wasn't as monstrous as it would be later on, eating good food still sped up recovery significantly.
"This ability is insanely convenient," Sunny said in amazement. "Ingredients, tools—you can just store everything and take it out whenever you want."
Kael's spatial ability made everyone jealous.
Aside from Terry, everyone present was either a Gourmet Hunter or a chef. Even Rin, as a Beast Tamer, fell into the food-related category.
Everyone had things they needed to store. In the wild, an ability like this was basically god-tier.
"Chef Kael, your cooking is unbelievable," Sunny said as he ate the meat. "Even Cliff Snake tastes this good. If I remember right, Cliff Snake meat isn't supposed to be edible."
He was genuinely shocked.
When Kael started cooking Cliff Snake meat, Sunny had been confused. Kael had caught a few Cliff Snakes while climbing the Regal Plateau earlier..
But Cliff Snake meat wasn't supposed to be edible.
And yet here it was—delicious.
Komatsu was even more confused. He had watched every step Kael took, but based on his understanding, that process shouldn't have produced anything this good.
He had never worked with Cliff Snake meat before, but after so many years as a chef, his grasp of ingredients was solid. The moment he touched the meat, he understood its nature.
And by all logic, it shouldn't have been edible.
Yet Kael had done it.
And the methods completely baffled him.
This wasn't because Komatsu was lacking. It was because Kael had used qi to alter the texture and flavor of the Cliff Snake meat.
That was why it tasted so good.
Any other chef would've been completely unable to cook it.
Komatsu could only chalk it up to Kael's absurd, near-unbelievable skill. Even if he didn't understand how Kael did it, he memorized some of the techniques he'd just seen.
They would be extremely useful to him later.
Right now, Komatsu was still just a head chef at a five-star hotel. In Kael's estimation, his skill level was around seven-star—equivalent to a Lin Chef in the Cooking Master Boy world, already stepping toward the Dragon Chef tier.
But reaching that level would still take time.
Kael estimated that before learning Food Honor, Komatsu could probably push his skills to nine-star. After that, using Food Honor, he might break through to ten-star.
But now, things were looking a bit uncertain.
In the original story, the biggest boost to Komatsu's growth was Century Soup.
The sheer number and variety of ingredients required forced him to refine his skills step by step, rapidly accelerating his progress.
Without that process, his cooking would likely cap at eight-star before learning Food Honor. Even after mastering it, he wouldn't be able to jump straight to ten-star.
Of course, that wasn't Kael's problem.
Komatsu was one of the world's protagonists. His Food Luck was incredible, and his growth rate would naturally be fast.
Especially after meeting Toriko—once his Gourmet Cells awakened, his improvement would only accelerate further.
Still, in the later stages, Komatsu relied more on Food Luck bringing him ingredients than on pure technique.
His cooking wasn't weak—but it probably never reached Setsuno's level.
Let alone surpassing Frohze.