Chapter 26: Daigo: Kaiju!
"Mr. Coco, I’ll be counting on you!" Komatsu said with grave sincerity. It was his first ti handling a Puffer Whale, and he had no idea where to even begin.
"Alright, let give it a try," Coco replied. Feeling Komatsu’s hopeful gaze on him, he started to sweat. He wasn’t very confident himself; he wasn’t a chef. There were only about ten chefs in the world known to be able to perfectly remove a Puffer Whale’s poison sac.
Coco held the kitchen knife, his mind completely focused. He used his superhuman vision to carefully observe the fish.
Tina held her cara, its lens trained on the Puffer Whale. She held her breath, afraid of disturbing Coco.
anwhile, Kenji and Toriko were busy dismbering the Shell Shark, already enjoying so sashimi. The sweet and chewy sashimi was delicious even without any dipping sauce, and the two of them were eating with gusto. The best way to help Coco and Komatsu was to not bother them.
[Crash-Test Pilot]: "Mr. Kenji, is this what you ant by a kaiju?! (°A°) @Star Forger"
[Crash-Test Pilot]: GOLZA_IMAGE.jpg
The attached picture showed a giant monster several dozen ters tall. Its muscular body had a rock-like texture, exuding a sense of imnse power. Its head looked like it was wearing a stone helt, tapering to a point.
[Miss Pink Elf♪]: "That’s bigger than most Honkai Beasts. Daigo, your world looks very dangerous."
[Ghost of the Uchiha]: "In terms of size, it would rank among the largest of the nine Tailed Beasts."
The Nine-Tails was 70 ters tall, while Golza was 62 ters.
[Lady Justice]: "It could probably destroy a whole country, couldn’t it?"
Perhaps only the gods from the Archon War had that kind of size.
[Star Forger]: "That’s the Super-Ancient Monster, Golza, also known as the ’Monster That Shakes the Earth.’ Thirty million years ago, there were many of them, but now, there’s probably only this one left on Earth."
Golza, Kenji recalled. It appeared twice in the Ultraman Tiga series. After being defeated the second ti, Tiga threw it into a volcano. Later, during the Ultraman Dyna era, it reappeared and gave Dyna a thorough beating, nearly making him question his own existence. It was probably the sa one. A classic case of the older brother setting up the younger one for a fall.
Dyna ets Golza for the first ti...
Golza (cautiously): "Is that you, Tiga-san?"
After confirming it’s not his old foe, Golza lets out a sigh of relief.
Golza (arrogantly): "What’s this? You have the sa haircut as ?"
Golza (arrogantly): "What’s this? You’re rocking the sa color sche as my big bro?"
Golza (arrogantly): "Here, have a slap!"
He grabs Dyna by the neck.
Golza (smugly): "Didn’t expect that, did you? Tiga taught this move."
[Crash-Test Pilot]: "It’s from thirty million years ago? Can humanity’s current weapons even deal with this Golza?"
Daigo fell into deep thought. While he had managed to scare Golza away with a signal flare for now, he was sure it would reappear. A sixty-ter-tall monster was a behemoth to humans. Most weapons would probably just tickle it.
[Star Forger]: "A few select weapons can deal with kaiju. Has your GUTS team recently discovered a teorite from outer space?"
In the world of Tiga, most weapons were only effective for "scraping off so skin," but so could actually harm the monsters, like the weapons powered by the Maxima Overdrive system. In the early stages, the Ultras were the main fighting force. Humanity’s weapons only beca truly effective later on.
[Crash-Test Pilot]: "We did just find a teorite. The captain sent a ssage for us to assemble."
[Star Forger]: "The teorite’s outer shell contains a product from thirty million years ago. There’s useful information for you inside."
Kenji didn’t tell Daigo that he would beco Ultraman Tiga just yet. He didn’t want Daigo to get cocky and crash his plane before he could even transform. The power of an Ultra was heavily influenced by their spirit. If Daigo knew in advance, the change in his mindset might affect Tiga’s arrival.
[Crash-Test Pilot]: "I understand. Thank you."
Coco was completely focused on preparing the Puffer Whale.
The first one, as expected, beca poisoned. The slightest miscalculation in the knife’s placent would cause it to instantly turn toxic. Because it was so difficult to prepare, the Puffer Whale was classified as a Special Preparation Ingredient. The angle and depth of the cut both affected the final result.
Coco had just managed to expose the poison sac when a slight tremor in his hands caused the fish to turn toxic.
"Komatsu, you do it," Coco said, taking a deep breath. The intense concentration had left him ntally exhausted. His hands were starting to shake. If he continued, he would just waste more Puffer Whales.
"Huh? ?" Komatsu yelped, startled. He had never prepared a Puffer Whale before.
"Don’t worry, Komatsu. Compared to an amateur like , you’re a professional chef. Have so confidence. I’ll guide you. Believe in yourself," Coco encouraged with a smile.
Komatsu’s confidence swelled. He took out his kitchen knife. Coco couldn’t help but admire it. What a fine blade. You could tell the quality of a chef by their knife. The care and maintenance Komatsu put into his knife was a testant to his love for his profession.
"Mr. Coco, I’m ready," Komatsu said, taking a deep breath to steady himself. This was the most challenging ingredient he had ever faced as a chef.
"Good. Start the incision along the caudal fin..." Coco began to guide him.
Komatsu’s movents were so skilled that Coco couldn’t help but be impressed. This is what you call a professional.
Despite his excellent knife skills, however, Komatsu still made unavoidable mistakes, causing several Puffer Whales to turn toxic. It was like disarming a bomb; one slight misstep and all his efforts would be for naught.
"Is that the poison sac?"
On the tenth fish, it didn’t turn toxic. The body of the Puffer Whale split open, revealing a purplish-black poison sac. He was just one step away from success.
"Now, you have to use your hands. Don’t rupture the sac. Remove the surrounding mbrane, little by little."
Komatsu swallowed hard, not daring to relax for a second. He had already wasted so many.
Gently, slowly...
The mbrane around the poison sac was removed bit by bit. The sac rested in his palm.
The next mont, with a swift and precise motion, Komatsu cleanly separated it. Not a single drop of venom remained in the Puffer Whale’s body.
Woooow—a golden legendary!
With the poison sac removed, the Puffer Whale’s white flesh transford into a dazzling gold, shimring like a precious tal.
A golden Puffer Whale like this was worth 500 million yen on the market. Even a poisoned one could sell for 8 million on the black market, though their sale was prohibited, hence their circulation only in illicit channels. Because a properly prepared Puffer Whale was almost impossible to find, so people would risk death to eat the poisoned ones, tasting the delicious flavor for a mont before succumbing to the poison.
"Komatsu, well done," Coco praised. There were fewer than 10 chefs in the world who could prepare a Puffer Whale. Komatsu was now one of them.
"It was all thanks to your guidance, Mr. Coco."
Komatsu danced with excitent. He had just prepared a Puffer Whale! Even without eating it, the sense of accomplishnt was incredibly satisfying.
"This is so exciting! To be able to record the preparation of a Puffer Whale!" Tina said, her cara rolling. While Komatsu wasn’t the only one who could do it, she was probably the only one who had ever fild the process.
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