"The Seven-colored Fish is a specialty of the Eighth Continent. You won't find it anywhere else, and even here, its numbers are extremely limited."
Brunch's voice carried a trace of reverence as he explained. "These fish don't have any combat ability, but nearby creatures won't attack them. That's why the Seven-colored Fish is also known as the Amulet of the Gourmet World. Carrying one doesn't mean you can strut around unharmed, but most predators will instinctively avoid you."
"I've never seen one with my own eyes until now," he added. "But I've heard stories from the elders in the Hex Food World. In our entire recorded history, we've only encountered Seven-colored Fish three times. Thirteen fish total."
"Can't they be bred?" Hisako asked, puzzled. "If they're so valuable, why not raise them?"
"They can't," Brunch shook his head. "They're food luck creatures. Their birth is purely random — a manifestation of intense ambient food luck attaching itself to a regular fish, turning it into a Seven-colored Fish. They don't reproduce. Once they die, that luck vanishes and the fish reverts to a normal one. Intervention doesn't help. Nature decides when and where they appear."
"So… it's fine if we take them all?" Zed asked casually, already understanding the implication. These creatures were meant to be found and carried.
"Exactly. In the past, whenever we in the Hex Food World discovered one, we'd take it. Explorers would then carry them into dangerous areas — to map them, to discover ingredients, to survive encounters."
"Even though the Hex Food World has been on the Eighth Continent for a long time," Brunch continued, "we still only have rough regional maps. The specifics of each region remain largely unknown. The ecosystem is just too dangerous."
"Only two or three individuals across the whole continent have combat levels exceeding a thousand," he said gravely. "In a land where beasts can reach into the thousands themselves, carrying a Seven-colored Fish isn't a luxury — it's a necessity."
"In that case, I'll give a few of these to you guys," Zed said, brushing it off. "I don't need them myself, but the others do. And it's always good to prepare for possible new members."
Brunch stared at him, stunned. "You're really giving them to us?"
Zed nodded. "This operation used IGO connections, sure, but I've never had much of a relationship with the Hex Food World. These fish should change that, don't you think?"
"Thank you," Brunch said with genuine gratitude. "Old Man Daruma and the others will be thrilled. You've done us a great favor. This… this makes you an honored guest among us."
Zed smiled. Without further ceremony, he used a spoon to scoop up the Seven-colored Fish. They weren't huge — the largest was around 20 meters — and they were easily stored inside the Camping Monster. For now, he avoided using Receiving Magic in Brunch's presence. That could wait until they were within Hex Food World territory.
After securing the Seven-colored Fish and gathering several ingredients, the group followed Brunch back toward the settlement.
Zed's mind, however, was on something else — the Golden Swamp.
He had a gut feeling: when they reached it, the Iron Step was likely to appear. His food luck was potent, and when it lacked a target, it tended to randomly summon valuable ingredients. The chances of Iron Step emerging were high.
Before long, they arrived at the legendary Golden Swamp — a place known both for its beauty and deadly danger. Shimmering golden light radiated from the swamp's surface, reflected by the cloud cover blanketing the Eighth Continent.
"It's beautiful," someone murmured.
"If it weren't so dangerous," another added, "this place would be a tourist spot."
"It's true," Brunch admitted. "People from the Hex Food World visit occasionally — but it's extremely dangerous. There's a massive labyrinth beneath the swamp. No one who's gone deep has ever returned. Even with marks left along the walls, explorers have gotten lost and forced to retreat. The inner structure is just too complicated for humans."
"There are beasts, whirlpools, traps… and worst of all, the Steel Clouds overhead," he added. "Every few centuries, they accumulate enough weight and descend, merging with the swamp. When that happens, anyone caught above is doomed."
Brunch's voice grew stern. "We were taught this as children. No one takes the swamp lightly. In our world, ignorance means death."
But just as he spoke, Zed called everyone back into the Camping Monster. He was preparing to descend into the swamp — directly into the labyrinth.
"What are you doing?!" Brunch cried in shock. "That's suicide!"
Zed gestured upward. "Look for yourself. The Steel Cloud is descending."
Brunch whipped his head up. Sure enough, the oppressive black mass above was drifting downward.
"Impossible… it's… it's falling already?!"
"Can't we just wait for it to disperse?" Mirajane asked.
"No," Brunch replied grimly. "It'll take years to lift again. Even I can't afford that delay."
"But why now?" he asked aloud. "Why is the timing so perfect?"
"Food Luck," Zed answered simply. "It's guiding us. That cloud dropped the moment we arrived. That's not coincidence. Something valuable is inside the maze — something Food Luck wants me to find."
Zed could've used space magic to bypass the swamp entirely. But he didn't. He wanted what was inside — especially the Ougai. It was an ingredient tied to Toriko in the original timeline, but he had arrived first. There was no reason to give it up.
As for getting out?
His soul perception had already mapped the entire labyrinth. He could navigate it or teleport everyone out when needed. But for now, using space magic too much might cause him to miss some of the maze's treasures.
"If you can't make it out with that kind of food luck — you and those Seven-colored Fish combined — then no one can," Brunch said, a strange mixture of dread and excitement in his voice.
Zed smiled. "Exactly."
He gave the Camping Monster no direct orders. It would move on its own — guided subtly by the flow of food luck. Zed didn't intend to rush to the exit. There were many other high-grade ingredients inside. Not as valuable as the Ougai, but worth collecting.
And if he needed to retrieve any of the loot?
He had space magic. Unlike in the original world, where brute strength or specialized tools were needed to crack the golden can containing the Ougai, he had alternatives.
The can itself was made of Golden Metal — one of the hardest materials known. To brute-force it open, one needed a strength exceeding even the Seven Beasts — at least level 4,000. But Zed didn't need that. He could bypass it with spatial manipulation.
The maze opened before them. The Camping Monster proceeded carefully, undetected by most predators. Whenever ingredients appeared, the team simply retrieved them.
"Why are so many ingredients packed in treasure chests?" Erina asked, puzzled. "It feels like a game dungeon."
"Because this maze was made by someone — or some civilization," Brunch said gravely. "It wasn't natural."
"You've heard of the Nitro, haven't you?"
Everyone turned serious. Even in the human world, the name Nitro inspired unease.
"They still appear occasionally in the Gourmet World," Brunch continued. "We've never met one directly, but our records are full of them. They've lost their speech, and now they only devour. Like they want to consume the world itself."
"If I'm right," Zed said, "this maze was constructed by them."
"They had a habit — an obsession — with mazes. You've heard of the Food Pyramid, right? One of the Seven Gourmet Wonders? That was their home. But even their home was a labyrinth filled with Gourmet Beasts and Mechanical Traps."
"Why?" Rukia asked flatly. "What kind of species spends eternity building mazes?"
"They had to do something with their endless lifespans," Zed chuckled. "The Nitros were different from humans. Their starting point was higher, but their ceiling was sealed."
"They're a form of Appetite Demon — and like other pure Appetites, they can't be parasitized by Gourmet Demons. But once they mature, they stop evolving. The blue Nitros are the clearest proof."
"They're powerful," Zed admitted. "Second only to the Eight Kings. But they'll never reach that peak. In a one-on-one battle against an Eight King, they'd lose."
Everyone fell silent.
The swamp maze stretched before them — dark, mysterious, and glittering with buried treasure. And something… waited within.