"What does it mean to hear the name of the Zanpakuto?"
Seeing Rukia's embarrassed look, Mirajane directly changed the subject with a question.
"Yes, didn't you name the Zanpakuto yourself?"
Erina and Hisako were also very confused. It was strange that the names of their weapons were not given by themselves.
"No, the Zanpakuto has its own name since its birth. If you want to master the Shikai, you must learn the other party's name from the Zanpakuto."
Rukia shook her head.
"Shikai requires asking the name, so what about Bankai?"Everyone asked again.
"I heard the captain say that Zanpakuto actually has two names, one is Shikai and the other is Bankai. If you want Zanpakuto to successfully perform Bankai, you need to get full approval from Zanpakuto. Once Bankai is successful, the spiritual pressure will surge five to ten times."
"However, there are very few Shinigami who can perform Bankai. In the entire Soul Society, only the captains of the 13th Division can use Bankai."
Rukia said that Bankai is what all Shinigami have always pursued, but it is too difficult to achieve.
"Everyone, get ready. We are going to capture food next."
After everyone chatted for a while, Zed also got to the point. After all, he came to the old 1st Biotope this time to improve his Gourmet Cells level.
Although there were unexpected gains, the main purpose couldn't be forgotten.
"Mr. Zed, don't you want to invite Kuchiki-san to be a temporary partner?"
Mirajane asked with a smile.
"This has to wait until she knows what a partner is. To be honest, I'm not sure if Kuchiki-san can get Gourmet Cells. After all, you have all seen her situation."
Zed explained.
Although Rukia 's body was a new flesh and blood body constructed by spirit particles, it was still a little different from a normal flesh and blood body. So Zed wasn't sure if she could gain Gourmet Cells.
"What are you talking about?"
Rukia looked at everyone in confusion.
Hisako stepped forward and explained to her about the partners and how Zed used Food Luck to help them gain Gourmet Cells.
"That's it. We are all flesh and blood, so we can get Gourmet Cells, but Kuchiki-san is a soul body. It's uncertain whether she can receive them."
After Hisako finished, Rukia fell into deep thought.
She had seen the power of Gourmet Cells. The Gourmet Demon that Zed summoned in her consciousness space was extremely powerful, and she also wanted that kind of strength.
But her soul body was now a problem.
"Maybe I can try it."
Rukia said, although she didn't know if it would work, she thought it was right to at least try.
"Kuchiki-san , don't you care about the partner thing?"
Erina asked.
"Partner thing? Why should I care? Mr. Zed is willing to help me, and there is no rule that partners must be husband and wife. And just call me Rukia"
Rukia shook her head. It was just a title. Zed was willing to help—why would she refuse unless something was wrong with her?
Everyone felt her words made sense. Compared to surviving in this world and finding a way back, the idea of a "partner" didn't seem so important anymore.
And to be honest, they felt there was nothing wrong with being Zed's partner.
Just like that, Rukia became Zed's new partner, and Zed also received a reward from the system.
"Enbu? They actually rewarded me with this!"
This time, the system reward was called the Enbu, and Zed was familiar with it. In the Gourmet World, Enbu allowed full unification of the body's cells, unlocking much greater power.
If Food Honor helped one adapt to gravity, then Enbu could remove gravity completely. That's right—Enbu could cancel gravity to a certain extent, as if gravity didn't exist.
Enbu's power control was superior to Food Honor. Toriko and the others had studied Enbu after entering the Seventh Continent.
But Enbu also had limits. It was like a pyramid. Even if someone mastered it completely, they couldn't reach the level of the Monkey King, who created Enbu to dance with his wife.
Now, the Enbu given by the system wasn't the dance, but a technique similar to it—one with even more potential. It was a foundation. After mastering it, Zed could build it into his own moves, unlike Enbu, which had a set form.
Think of Enbu as a finished artifact. The artifact was raw material with infinite possibilities. How strong it became depended on the user.
The best part? It didn't require weird dancing like Enbu. Honestly, Zed thought doing those moves would be more embarrassing than drinking Century Soup with a twisted expression.
This reward was very valuable. After one's Gourmet Cells reached level 100, Food Honor was still useful, but the Enbu clearly allowed stronger combat ability.
However, this technique required a solid foundation, similar to Food Honor. Before learning Food Honor, one had to master their power—at least be able to use Life Erase.
Besides requiring excellent power control, the Enbu also demanded a high Gourmet Cell level.
After receiving this reward, Zed didn't rush to study it. His Gourmet Cells weren't high enough yet. Right now, he needed to capture ingredients to boost them above 100.
Zed's first goal was BB Corn. This was a Gourmet World ingredient that needed large amounts of nutrients.
The Wul Jungle was a good example—BB Corn drew nutrients from the whole jungle to grow.
But the land here was even richer in nutrients. That's why the fruit trees earlier could continuously bear fruit. The soil here lacked nothing.
"What a huge corn—at least a hundred meters tall!"
When they reached the place where the BB Corn grew, everyone was amazed.
The BB Corn here was much larger than those in Wul Jungle. The largest there was only a few dozen meters, but these reached over a hundred due to the better nutrients.
"BB Corn, a Gourmet World ingredient, is perfect for making popcorn. Normally, one grain of corn can make enough popcorn for hundreds of people. But that's based on Wul Jungle. This one is much larger."
Zed gave a quick explanation.
"One grain for hundreds of people?!"
Rukia widened her eyes. She had just come to this world and didn't know much about these ingredients.
Erina and the others were also surprised, but they had seen plenty of strange foods, so they didn't react as strongly.
"Yes, but it's not easy to capture. You can try."
Zed said, and everyone stepped forward to try.
"It's so hard! My punch didn't do anything!"
Mirajane was surprised. Her Gourmet Cells weren't low.
In Wul Jungle, her strength could have broken a BB Corn stalk.
But here, the corn grew so strong that her punch did nothing.
So Mirajane activated her Take Over power and slashed with her claw. This time, the rhizome tore open.
As for Erina and the others, it was easier—they had Melk Knives made from Dragon King's Tooth Fossils. These powerful knives made it easy to cut through the corn's tough skin.
"Even the outer skin and the corn silk inside are extremely hard!"
After a while, they peeled back the layers and finally saw the kernels.
Each kernel was almost as big as a person!
"It's too much! Even if my spiritual pressure returned, I couldn't cut through this!"
Rukia felt weak. Her Kidō and Zanpakuto weren't enough to break through such tough defense.
Compared to Mirajane's strength and the sharp Melk Knives, she was far behind.
"If you can fuse with Gourmet Cells, you'll grow stronger like they did."
Zed said. Rukia got even more excited.
As they worked, they removed several kernels, only to find that there were multiple layers. The corn seemed huge, but the cob was small, with three total layers of kernels.
This odd growth surprised everyone.
"Now that we have the corn, how do we cook it?"
Mirajane asked.
The corn was too hard to eat raw. It had to be cooked.
"BB Corn needs to be heated gradually. Erina, Hisako—it's your turn!"
Zed brought out the cooking tools.
"Where did you get these?"
Rukia was stunned.
"My Gourmet Demon has storage space. I store ingredients and tools there."
Zed replied while putting the BB Corn into the space.
This time, he didn't take out his house. It was now more luxurious than Gourmet Castle, but the huge amount of popcorn wasn't suitable for indoor cooking.
"Leave it to us!"
Erina and Hisako were excited. They had learned from Setsuno, and this was their specialty.
They began cooking. Under their precise control, the heat gradually rose.
The equipment was developed by the IGO, so it could reach high temperatures. Otherwise, there was no way to cook this BB Corn.
As the heat increased, the kernels started to move.
It was strange watching person-sized kernels jumping around.
Boom! Boom!
Two kernels flew up over 100 meters, followed by loud bangs. Countless golden popcorns, as big as people, fell from the sky.
"It's BB Corn, so even the popcorn is huge!"
Zed said and caught the popcorn with a giant spoon.
He didn't want them falling to the ground—this was precious food.
After collecting them, Zed dispersed the spoon and brought out a popcorn kernel. The golden popcorn looked fluffy, almost like cotton candy.
"It's too big. I'll cut it into smaller pieces."
Erina raised her knife. After a few movements, clean slices appeared, and the popcorn was cut down to palm-sized pieces.