Felipe1402XZA: (Translated from Spanish)
I must say I liked this chapter, congratulations on having a watcher, I liked that
there is something of Toriko and Jojo, I didn't expect his days to be numbered, I can't wait for Toriko to have an adventure and know how dangerous nature is.

Re: Yeah, I'm happy to have a "Watching" series too~
On a more-serious note, I've been sneaking bits and pieces of Toriko in here for a while now, but even if this isn't the first of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure I've snuck in here, it's definitely the most overt~ Mixing the two together, given the sometimes absurdly-restorative properties of food in Toriko (CENTER for example, was able to completely resuscitate the Wolf King Guinness after literally having his head bitten off by NEO, an Appetite Demon with Anti-Regenerative abilities), simply made the most sense. That's part of what I love about Multi-Crossovers; blending multiple IPs together instead of "straight A-to-B" crossovers.
Sneaking in Shokugeki no Souma, was also a lot of fun, and it just felt really natural calling the Nakiri bloodline's ability to make clothing come off a "Hereditary Semblance", like the Schnee's [Glyphs] to further link it to the World of Remnant/RWBY~

Wacko12: You should do a scene from Amphibia

Re: Not acquainted with that series, unfortunately…

LoamyCoffee: Holy hell.
I wondered when someone would begin a watching of one of your stories. Still, one of my fav chefs, Tonio is here! I certainly didn't expect that diagnosis from the title but this epic quest is indeed fitting for it. Vincent's hangover is an odd feel but it's funny that Blair is passing off her talking as results of his hangover~ Pervy little cat.

Re: Jack's "Restorative Life-Saving Full Course" has been in planning for a good while (well before Volume 2 came out), and now that I've completed re-reading all 43 Volumes of Toriko, I'm more than ready to give this flavorful over-arc the love it deserves~ While Chopper has told Jack flat-up that he's slowly killing himself, this is the first mention of any concrete "deadline", which adds a bit of narrative tension to the mix.
Blair screwing with Vincent was also lots of fun to put in, because it makes for a great compromise between not "breaking character" as the adorable stray he took in and pampers, and letting her be chatty and generally quite fun to write for~ I'll need to re-read Soul Eater now that I'm done with Toriko~

TM11: O-O!
Just what kind of mega research did you have to make for this one!? I didn't know that food could do that stuff!

Re: The majority of it was from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable Chapters 303-306 "Let's Go Eat Some Italian Food", which as far as story arc names go, is pretty on-the-nose. Whether Tonio Trussardi's power comes from a Stand or a Semblance in this universe… I'll leave that in the air~
The anime is really faithful to the source material, but the manga was just easier to work with when it came to the dialogue and mechanics of (augmented) medicinal cooking.

*NEW WORLD*

"Uuugh… I feel so bloated…" Ruby groaned as they left the Cooking Course's building.

"Well, what do you expect after eating so much Italian food?" Weiss inquired rhetorically, remembering that the little red-head never complained after stuffing herself stupid with cookies.

Sure, she too felt a little bloated on the best 'commoner's fare' she'd ever eaten, but at least she had the composure not to whine about something so inconsequential.

There was something to be said for the difference between eating a fancy gourmet meal in a big empty mansion with a cold family who barely even talked, next to an intimate get-together with emotionally-chaotic strangers.

After all, friends were the family you chose, while family were the strangers with whom you lived.

"Kill me…" Blake groaned, still mortified at what she'd said right to Vincent's face.

"You can stop being embarrassed now; Vincent isn't even here," Yang hummed.

"He… He isn't?" Blake asked, realizing the boy in question had slipped away completely unnoticed.

Something she considered an affront to her own ability to slip away from people unnoticed…

"Yeah. Something about a Science Club or something needing an extra pair of hands across campus," Yang shrugged. Before she could say more, her Scroll started chiming in her pocket, diverting her attention while Nora belched loudly.

"Man! What, a, meal~!" the Team's ginger grinned.

"Though I could've done without the fire," Ren hummed checking his eyebrows.

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha whimpered. "But Jaune, I'm glad to see you're coming into your own. I guess we won't have to worry about good food in the future, huh?"

"Not as long as you can help make the fire. Just don't cause an entire forest to go up~"

"Uuuuuuuh…!"

"To soon man! Too soon!" Nora chastised.

Meanwhile off to the side…

"Jack?"

"Blake?"

"Just… Hold out a little longer, okay?" she pleaded. "This time… This time, we'll save you."

" . . . Alright," he nodded, drawing his surrogate sister in for a one-armed hug; one which Ruby was quick to squeeze into, preening happily as he mussed her hair affectionately with his free hand.

*NEW WORLD*

At Nora's insistence that they all "work off" their bloated bellies after so-much Italian cuisine, Teams RWBBY and JNPR had been summarily frog-marched to Beacon's Rec Center. All of them were now clad in color-coordinated workout clothes, Jack's in particular drawing the eye to the scars criss-crossing his arms and legs, a few peeking out of the "collar" on his tank top.

"I'm sorry… What was the name of this club again?" Weiss asked approaching a pair of double doors, aforementioned doors flanked by life-sized silver statues of incredibly-muscular men doing the Double Cobra.

"The Muscle Appreciation Club!" Nora grinned as she flexed her arms, Ren waving a flag of a really buff man doing the same pose as the nearby statues, a distressed look that said 'please help me'.

"Sponsored by Silverman Gym…" Ruby read of the placard off to the side. "Hey Yang, isn't that the gym you begged dad to let you become a member of?"

"Yeah, but the airfare from Patch to Vale was too expensive…" Yang nodded. "Still, how-cool is it that Beacon students get in for free?"

"Never been much of a gym rat myself. All my training came from real-world fighting," Jack hummed.

"And yet, in actuality you're built like that," Weiss said brusquely jabbing a thumb at one of the "silver men".

"You mean when he uses his Semblance, right?" Jaune asked. Weiss in turn shared a significant look with Jack, before the heiress replied-

"Only some of the time."

"And isn't that infuriatingly cryptic," Ren said non-plussed as they entered.

When Nora had said they were going to the "Muscle Appreciation Club", some had thought maybe it was more of a fitness club; the sort of place where good-looking-but-still-athletically-mindful people would frolic happily, casually bettering themselves as part of a healthy lifestyle choice. What they actually received however, was…

"NU… NUUOOOOHHHH!"

"LAST ONE!"

"I'M GONNA GIVE IT MY ALL FOR THIS LAST!"

All around the gym were huge, sweaty buff men and women with muscular physiques, motivating themselves and one another to succeed while howling like animals. The place didn't stink of sweat too-badly, but for someone like Jaune who'd neglected even the bare minimum of physical conditioning necessary to become an HIT before coming to Beacon… "Intimidating" didn't even come close to describing what sort of front this place gave off…

"Yo! Machio!" Nora called out. "I brought some friends by! Hope you don't mind!"

"Not at all. The Silverman Gym is always open to those wanting to better themselves," a tall Mistrali man with a fair complexion, messy short black hair, blue eyes, and a very handsome profile said in greeting. Clad in a blue and white tracksuit, his frame was slender and quite average to be frank, a stark contrast to the muscle-heads around them.

"Great to hear, 'cause we just got through eating a bunch of food, and we really need to work it off!" the ginger grinned with a belly pat.

"Yes, exercise after a meal is a must… Must… Mus…" the man said as his tone took on a sudden shift.

"Uh, what's with him-?"

"MUSCULAR!" Machio suddenly screamed at the top of his lungs, his blue tracksuit exploding off of his body revealing a couple hundred pounds of muscle that most-definitely weren't there a moment before. Tracksuit now scattered to the four winds, all he was now clad in was a black speedo cradling masculine anatomy completely un-tainted by performance-enhancing drugs. His body was covered neck to ankle in muscles like tectonic plates, skin shining under the artificial lighting like the plating on a man battle tank. His once-ordinary-looking frame completely vacated, as he was now, the fitness instructor easily rivaled Jack at his "Full Power".

Oh, but his baby face remained completely unchanged from its place atop a photoshopped gorilla body…

"Oh god! My eyes!" Jaune cried as a piece of crotch fabric struck him in the face.

"Hey, a lot of thirsty ladies would pay big money to have happen to them what happened to you," Nora pouted as Jaune had a freak-out.

"I'd be more-shocked if I hadn't seen something like this before," Weiss hummed while everyone else sans Nora and Ren gawped openly.

"Though bodybuilding isn't my scene, I'll admit, that body is quite… impressive…" Pyrrha conceded as she took the man's form in. 'Baby face' notwithstanding, Machio's body resembled the ancient Grecian masterpieces carved from blocks of solid marble that portrayed the heroes of yore. A work of art in its own right, due to the staggering amount of hard work and dedication it took to mold the Human form into something so-impressive.

"Finally, someone who enjoys a hard day's work!" Jack grinned. He didn't like Humans by-and-large, always bitching and whining even as others fought and died for their indolent lifestyles, but Machio had already made an excellent first impression on the jaded Faunus.

"Jack, don't you dare…!" Weiss chastised, sensing what was coming by the glint of his eye.

"Relax, I won't be fighting. Just working out~" the Faunus grinned as he stooped forward, knuckles pressed together as he began to flex his muscles. "Seimei Kikan: Kaijo!"

Though Jack's transformation wasn't nearly as bombastic as Machio's, with the power of Life Return, he too rose to meet the fitness-minded Human on equal grounds. At first, Yang and Weiss were worried that Jack's gym clothes would shear themselves from his body exposing his dark secret for all to see, but amazingly, the dark-green tank top his upper body was clad in held firm, looking more like something painted than worn.

Like two looming mountains, the two stood across from one another in all their vascular glory. Then, in greeting, Machio performed a variant of the Most Muscular pose where the backs of his hands were pressed together. Jack returned the motion in kind, his own variant of the Most Muscular pose where the heels of his clenched fists were pressed together pointing down.

After several tense moments where sharp eyes leered into one another, muscles bulging and veins throbbing powerfully, the two disengaged and stepped forward, their right hands meeting in the middle in a-

"Damn~ That's one manly handshake~!" Nora grinned, Machio's eyes actually growing moist as the Human and Faunus gained a profound respect and appreciation for one another's hard work.

"I know~ Isn't it great~?" a tall, slender Mistrali girl with fair skin, long glossy black hair reaching past her waist and light blue serene almond-shaped eyes replied. Clad in navy shorts, a blue sleeveless top, and pink sneakers matching Nora's over a womanly frame that most models would kill for, the young woman panted heavily with throbbing hearts in her eyes as a large, vascular body was reflected in each of her lovely eyes. "So much eye candy, I might come…~" she swooned, one of her shoulder straps drooping as her eyes fogged over.

"Hey, Akemi, calm the fuck down," Nora chastised.

"Wow, someone needs a tall glass of water," Yang gulped as a bit of drool dribbled down the quite-lovely young lady's chin. Though admittedly, she too couldn't tear her eyes away from Jack's muscular body, a hungrier part of her mind wondering what it would be like to "fight" him in that state as his large, muscular... body pressed against her own.

Pyrrha for her part, couldn't help but compare the two vascular bodies before her.

Aesthetically, Machio's body was the more-pleasing to the eye with pectorals fit to burst, trapezius like mountains, and quadriceps like armor. Jack's on the other hand were the muscles of a fighting man; like the slave gladiators of old. Each was impressive for their own reasons, so it was hard for the Mistrali Champion to decide which was her favorite of the two.

"Is it normal to feel so-intimidated? Because I feel really intimidated…" Jaune muttered as he flexed his bicep, only able to feel a sense of inadequacy.

"Honestly, I'm just happy Jack has another friend," Weiss said thoughtfully, considering how-much the Faunus' attitude has ostracized him from the majority of campus.

As for Ruby…

"Jaaaaack! Stop being gross!" the littlest member of Team RWBBY cried as the two men flexed and made their pectorals dance encoded messages to one another.

"Don't bother. Once Machio gets like this, there's no stopping him." Ruby, looking over her shoulder, saw that the one who had spoken was a tan-skinned girl of average height with brown hair styled in a bun and eyes to match. She was slim, small-breasted, her short blue tank top and matching blue shorts exposing highly toned abdominal muscles. She looked to be around Yang's age, give or take. "I'm guessing you're a friend of Nora's?"

"Oh, yes, nice to meet you…"

"Ayaka," the bun-haired girl replied. "Honestly, I'm surprised to see other HITs in the gym. Most of you guys just use your 'invisible magic' for anything and everything; exceptions notwithstanding," she said eyeing Jack as he and Machio continued to flex at one another.

"SIDE CHEST!"

"DOUBLE STRAIGHT ARM!"

"SIDE TRICEPS!"

"DOUBLE COBRA!"

"Hey, Ayaka! Where's Hibiki?" Nora asked.

"Over there playing arm sumo with Cardin," she replied pointing off to the side of the gym.

Standing at a specially-designed arm wrestling table with handholds for the participants' off-hands as well as additional padding, the two locked in a fierce battle, were Cardin in gym clothes and a young woman around his own age. Tan-skinned and average height with lovely green eyes with pink highlights, "Hibiki" had long blond hair styled in two twin ponytails, her outfit consisting of a black tank top and red short shorts with white trim. Her build was a little thicker than the average, but that she was holding her own against Cardin, who actually looked more buff without his plate mail, was impressive in its own right.

Also, were her twin-tails floating…?

"Well, it's nice to see you've made new friends," Pyrrha said Nora's way, only a tiny bit bitter that in her own club, she'd become known as 'The Invincible Fire Hazard' and that since joining, everyone had started carrying personal fire extinguishers on their personages at all times…

"There's a little bit of everything for everyone, so if you want to work some of that food off, there's some spaces open," Ren said gesturing to the other machines.

"If nobody minds, I think I'll just use a treadmill…" Blake said, head still bowed in the 'walk of shame'.

"Hey Ruby, you might wanna hit the gym too. You're kinda getting a little fat," Yang said to her sister, the little red-head gasping as the blond pinched at some belly fat above her waistband.

"Hmmmmm… She looks depressed…" Nora hummed looking the ravenette's way.

"Nora, don't-"

"Imma grab her crush so she'll feel better!" the busty Valkyrie whooped as she ran off.

*NEW WORLD*

Elsewhere, in one of the club rooms on campus…

"Hello…? Anybody here?" Vincent called out, some of the hangover gone, but there still being an annoying twinge.

"Hey! It's the new guy!"

Looking up, Vincent saw a pair of young men in unflattering attire walking towards him. Both were tall and on the skinny side, one slightly taller than the other, both clad in plaid-patterned shirts beneath their Beacon blazers, their pants hiked up, pocket protectors on their breasts, thick glasses on their noses, and their hair styled like something a mother would do because stylists were "too expensive".

In other words, the two of them were-

"NERRRRRRRRDS!"

"Who said that?" Vincent blinked as a voice leered at them through the wall.

"Oh, that's just the sports club next door. They shout at us through the walls sometimes," the shorter of the two replied. "Hi. I'm Lewis. This is Gilbert."

"Hello, Lewis. Hello, Gilbert," the RA returned in greeting. "Sooo… What did you need me for?"

"Oh, it's very exciting stuff," Lewis said holding up a blue plastic remote the size of a pocket calculator. "See, I'm developing a passive exercise device so that we can study and tone our bodies at the same time!"

"Which I still think would imply having a muscle, wouldn't it?" Gilbert hummed.

"No way," Lewis argued. "See, this remote control creates a biofeedback forcefield which stimulates body parts into involuntary reflexive action. It just sort of… jerks you into good shape~" he said with a grin.

"Aaand… you want to use it on… me…?" the RA blinked.

"No. We want you to use it on Puffy," he said gesticulating toward the ordinary-looking hamster cage in the center of the room, a round ball of fluff minding his own business. "Here, watch, watch," he said pointing the remote toward aforementioned hamster.

A button being depressed, with a trilling- *Bee-dee-beep*Bee-dee-beep*Bee-dee-beep* -, the hamster began to bob on his hind legs inside his cage.

"And you need me for this… why exactly…?"

"Well, we need a witness who isn't a member of our club."

" . . . Seems legit. Give it here," he said holding up his palm, Lewis placing the remote in the RA's hand while Gilbert ran off to the side and manned an old video camera, Lewis moving off to the side to take notes. "So I just… press the button a bunch?"

"Yeah. No! Wait!" Gilbert said fiddling with the camera, a red diode coming on a couple moments later. "Okay, now!"

Vincent looking at the hamster and then to the remote in his hands, the RA gulped before he aimed the implement at the hamster and pressed the button. The slightly-irritating- *Bee-dee-beep*Bee-dee-beep*Bee-dee-beep* -sounding through the room, Lewis taking notes while Gilbert cried- "Go, Puffy, go!" -, after several moments of low-voltage experiments, a loud *POP!* heralded the hamster bursting through the bars of his cage, sailing across the room in an arc before impacting the wall with a muted *thump*

Vincent, completely aghast, as were the two-

"NERRRRRRRRDS!"

-, quickly rushed over to the spot by the door where aforementioned hamster had lodged himself into the drywall head-first, but standing at a respectable distance.

"Um… Is this normal?" Vincent asked before the door suddenly came open, Nora in her gym clothes striding boldly into the room, Lewis and Gilbert blushing up a storm at the sight of her muscular legs from her pink work-out shorts and her full bosom in her white pink-sleeved Tee.

"Whoa! Dead hamster wallpaper!" Nora gawped doing a double-take. "Oh. I like it~"

Hanging her pink headband upon the dead hamster's protruding posterior, she then walked into the room before linking arms with Vincent's own and dragging him off.

"Come on! We need to get our 'swole' on~"

"Just one minute," he said before turning back to the nerds. "Are you sure you should be doing electroshock experiments on hamsters?" he said as a third nerd with long hair and a gaudy tie-dye button-up came in with a fresh cage, and a fresh hamster.

"Well, I mean, we could never get away with this on rabbits," Lewis replied.

"Nerd-talk later! Workout time now!" Nora whooped dragging him out, the RA managing to snag Nora's headband at the last moment.

*NEW WORLD*

By the time Nora had dragged Vincent back to the Rec Center gym, her HIT friends and MAC friends had hit it off with one another.

Yang and Ayaka were duking it out in the ring, and though Akaka wasn't nearly as muscular or busty as her opponent, by merit of sheer technique alone, she'd given Yang more than a few lumps. After Hibiki had stopped doing arm sumo with Cardin, she and Ruby had hit it off when it came to wanting to lose weight for the sake of their love-lives; though by the look on her face, Hibiki was clearly despairing at how the younger girl had already roped herself an adorable, smart, and culinarily-gifted boyfriend who made the best cookies in town. Weiss and Pyrrha both had become acquainted with Gina Boyd, a fellow transfer student, from Atlas, the three bonding over their respective prodigal status; Weiss the prodigal singer and Pyrrha the prodigal tournament champion, Gina was closer to Pyrrha but as an unarmed combatant, which societally was seen as less-impressive than those with "force of arms". Still hanging out together were Jack and Machio, the two comparing diets and routines while chugging protein shakes, the latter taking time to motivate Jaune in his own quest for physical excellence while Akemi… still thirstily ogled the two mountains of muscle like a bitch in heat and making Jaune feel really uncomfortable by proximity…

"Holy crap! Was Jack always that buff?" the RA asked.

"Yeah, it weirded me out too," Nora nodded sagely. "Anywho! Blake's kinda depressed without you here-"

"Not why she's depressed," Ren commented to no avail.

"-so I brought you back to make her feel better!"

"Him being here won't help," the pretty boy continued.

" . . . Which is it? Will me being here make her feel better, or won't it?" the RA asked confusedly.

As the "not together-together" couple continued to good-naturedly butt heads over the whole thing, Yang and Jack respectively registered the odd-eyed teen's presence, breaking off from their new friends to convene with one another in hushed tones. Right as Blake took notice of Vincent's presence, before she could attempt to mend her earlier faux paux-

"Hey guys! Who's up for a day trip to town?" Yang called out.

*NEW WORLD*

While the offer in of itself had been tempting, Machio, Akemi, Hibiki, Ayaka, and Gina had abstained; Machio because he was still on the clock at Beacon, while Akemi, Hibiki, Ayaka, and Gina still had homework to do for their own coursework. Everyone did however swap phone numbers for future use, and the only real altercation in their parting was Hibiki wanting to use Arthur for "practice dates"; something Ruby took great exception to.

After getting swapped back into their street clothes, Teams RWBBY, JNPR, and Vincent all boarded the next airship to Vale with only moments to spare.

"So… Remind me again why we're bringing him with us?" Yang whispered while Vincent looked out of the window, child-like awe in his eyes.

"Because the thing with the booze was a complete bust, so the way I see it… 'People lie; stuff doesn't'."

" . . . Okay now you've lost me…"

"Basically, now that the Valian Fleet has finished returning all of the stolen material goods those raiders had accumulated, you and I have first pickings of any leftover loot before the rest gets 'donated' to the state," Jack said making air quotes. "The really successful bandits and raiders always have the best loot, so now… we're going to put him in front of it under the pretense of 'paying him back' for all the random crap you girls are asking him to stow in his room, see what he grabs first."

" . . . Oh I get it…! Even if he's still hiding something, the 'what' of what he chooses to take, won't~"

"Exactly~"

"I still can't believe that outlandish story of yours actually happened," Weiss hummed as she stepped up to them.

"What, you thought it wasn't?"

"Well excuse me if I thought the whole thing sounded a little fantastical…" the heiress hummed.

"Then where the hell'd you think I got the teeth from?" Jack asked.

"Bar fight," she replied without missing a beat.

"Admittedly, that is a fair assessment and alternative~" Nora grinned as she held up a thin chain hanging around her wrist, golden teeth mounted to it with cradles of wire. "Who knew Jack was so artsy?"

"I can't believe you actually wear that thing," Jaune shuddered, feeling his lunch coming up.

"It makes a great conversation starter~"

"What's worse is it's completely true," Ren hummed idly.

"Wait. Question."

"Yes, Yang?" Jack returned.

"Why did I get this message instead of you? Didn't you do the heavy lifting fighting those sky pirates?"

"I had the notification get forward to you because not only are you a citizen of this Kingdom, you're also a Human, which would pre-empt any 'reaming' of aforementioned loot i.e. 'misplacement of paperwork'."

" . . . Okay, that makes sense," she admitted.

"It kinda sucks that that's completely accurate…" Ruby hummed, the fact that the police were singled out by a plague of Vermin Grimm still in her thoughts. "It also kinda sucks we don't get to keep the darn thing… I mean, having an airship to ourselves would've made it way easier to get to and from places for work. Hell, we could house our whole Team and then some after we graduate," she said with an excited gleam in her eye.

"Ruby, airships are very cost and labor intensive; they aren't a one-time investment like everyone thinks they are," Weiss stated. "You have to keep the bladders filled, engines maintained, pay for parking in drydock, not to mention that simply owning one draws you into a higher tax bracket and-"

"Okay, okay, we get it," Yang said pinching the heiress' lips. "Geez, leave it up to the resident snob to make pirate booty sound boring."

*NEW WORLD*

The rest of the trip into Vale was largely uneventful.

Following the email to one of the hangars in the heart of the city where Vale kept its fleet in drydock, to Yang's surprise, all of the extraneous armor plating had been removed, as well as the skull imagery, revealing an ordinary-looking trade vessel with a reinforced balloon. If one hadn't seen the 'before', they wouldn't believe the 'after' was one in the same.

"And you guys stole this?" Jaune awed.

"Well, it was more impressive when it had a giant skull on the front," Yang hummed, looking at its loss like a missed opportunity.

"To be fair, if they kept the skull imagery, it'd get shot down at its first port of call," Jack replied.

"Holy crap! Look at all that loot!" Nora gawped pointing off to the side.

Looking more like a flea market more than anything else, large tarps were laid out and covered in the various goods that the seizing party had to choose from as their own 'spoils of war'. Material treasure of gold and platinum and jewels glittered, piled high either by themselves or in stereotypical treasure chests of varying make. Off on a table was an armory's-worth of projectile and melee weapons that glinted ominously, their various acoutrements off too the side. Another table premiered various forms of Dust in crystalline, powdered, and even a few in their raw forms, re-sealed and re-packaged for easier handling. The largest quantity of loot and the farthest back was reserved for the ship's furnishings. Some of them were crude, looking like they'd been cobbled together with spare boards, while others were the sort of finery Weiss herself expected to find in her own estate. In a smaller pile off to the side were miscellaneous items such as paintings, furnishings, and other less-valuable items that nonetheless needed to be set aside for the seizing party.

"So just so we're clear… you don't get all of that…?" Nora inquired.

"Ah, well, you technically could… but unofficially, that would be in bad form," the Valian Fleet representative overseeing the transfer of material goods spoke up. "When it comes to seized goods of this nature, it's usually a balance between Payment, Salvage, and Reputation. The less Payment you accept, the more Salvage you'll be allowed to take with you, and vice-versa," he explained holding up his Scroll, a pair of sliders on horizontal bars denoting the above as the moved the Payment cursor to the left causing the Salvage cursor to move too the right, and vice-versa. "On the other hand, if you take lower amounts of Payment and Salvage, your Reputation within the industry will go up. And arguably, the value of your Reputation in the long-term is more-valuable than cold hard cash in the short-term."

"I see. I see. So are we talking volume, or what?" Yang asked turning her eyes to the piles of loot.

"The value of all unclaimed items has been appraised professionally, so a cap on the Salvage will be placed after you dictate the amount of Payment you choose to receive."

" . . . What do you think, Yang? Do you want money, loot, or street cred?" Jack inquired.

"Hrmmmmmmmm… Well, I don't want to have to drag too much random crap home with us," Yang said looking at the tablet. "How about slightly more money and slightly less loot than the middle ground?"

"Sounds fine to me. We'll split the cash between ourselves and Lena when we get back," Jack hummed. "That way, she won't think we're a couple of ungrateful trouble magnets."

"Ah, one more thing," the representative said as Yang finalized the terms of the transaction. "Though you don't claim ownership, you are allowed to rechristen it as the seizing party," he said holding up a bottle of champagne. "If you need some time to think about it-"

"Sunny Badger!" the blond whooped causing Weiss to sputter.

"Isn't that a little on-the-nose?" Blake hummed.

"You don't even want to chew on that a little bit more…?" Jack asked with a raised brow.

"Don't need to. Now…! What part of the boat do I gotta smack with this thing to make it official?" she asked snatching the bottle from his hand.

*NEW WORLD*

The rechristening ceremony too going off without a hitch, Ruby taking a commemorative photo of her two older siblings with their arms around the others waist and a peace sign on their free hand, it finally came time to pick the loot, of which the lot of them would be allowed to pick a little something for themselves. "Share the wealth" and all that.

At least after Vincent got first pickings for him letting Team RWBY store all of their haunted crap in his room without notifying aforementioned haunted status.…

"So, what do you think he'll pick?" Yang asked as the RA walked over to the 'flea market'.

"Not sure, but what he goes for first will be very telli-"

"Whoa! Look at that!" Vincent whooped as he dashed forward, completely ignoring the treasure and the high-end weaponry in favor of digging through the 'miscellaneous' pile. "Check out what I found! An oil lamp!" he said holding up aforementioned item from what was functionally 'the junk pile'.

The thing was completely bronze with a long spout and an ornamentally-curved handle, resembling something from Arabian folklore and absolutely… ordinary.

"Man, this'll go great with the décor in my room!"

"But guuuuns…!" Ruby wailed, her mind unable to grasp how anyone could pass up on a free, sexy, firearm.

"Nah, this is fine~" the RA grinned cradling his 'prize'.

" . . . You know…" Jack hummed. "I'm both disappointed and impressed by this outcome. Disappointed that I didn't get to see the 'true colors' I was looking for… but also impressed that this was his real show of character."

"Yeah, but still, why'd he go for the oil lamp? Looked like such a beat-up, worthless piece of junk to me…" Yang hummed idly.

"Beauty's in the eye of the beholder; maybe he saw something we didn't?" the Faunus shrugged.

"Well… all things considered, I guess I'm kind of glad that's the guy my partner fell for," Yang admitted as the raven-haired girl commented how-handsome it would look on the RA's nightstand. "And hey, at least he didn't grab the gaudiest-looking thing he could find," she said turning her eyes back to the pirates' booty. "I mean, seriously, just look at this stuff!"

"Hey guys! Thanks for the lamp, but I gotta cut things short," he said holding up his Scroll. "Duty calls!"

"Right, you… have a safe trip back," Yang hummed as the odd-eyed teen ran off, lamp tucked under his arm like a football. "Alright, gang! Who's ready to pick out some loot!"

"BANZAI!" Ruby, Blake, Jaune, Nora, and Pyrrha whooped.

"Banzai," Weiss and Ren hummed a little more plainly.

*NEW WORLD*

Cue Battle Chasers: Nightwar OST - Smugglers & Thieves

"Oooooh! Look at all those weapons!" Ruby squealed happily as she and the others were allowed near all the loot. "An M-99 Saber! An M-300 Claymore! An M-13 Raptor! An M-12 Locust! An M-77 Paladin~!" she squealed giddily. "It's… It's so beautiful…~" she said wiping a nerdy tear from her eye.

"Where would you even sell something like this?" Jaune asked eyeing a literal treasure chest overflowing with gold and jewels, like something from a pirate movie, or an RPG.

"Antique dealer, most-likely," Weiss asked eyeing one of the gold coins with a critical eye, before putting it back and turning her attention toward the unclaimed artwork before stopping short. "Ruby, I already bought you a gun! You don't need any more!"

"But Weiiiiiss! You can't ever have 'too many guns'!" the red-head moaned from where she was hugging aforementioned guns, the heiress dragging her away by the scruff of her neck much to her adorable protests.

"What do you think, Jaune? Does anything catch your eye?" Pyrrha inquired.

"Well, it does, but… It kinda feels like being the one guy who didn't do anything against the Raid Boss but still got to grab some loot," Jaune answered. "It feels kind of… unearned…"

"Maybe… But it'd be bad form to turn down their generosity," Pyrrha said patting his shoulder, realizing just how-much wealth Jack and Yang had agreed to share. "Go on, pick something nice. Maybe a nice SMG to go with your sword and shield?"

"Mmmmmaybe…" Jaune admitted. Sure, his parents never let him learn how to use a firearm… But then again he didn't even know how to use a sword and he still got into Beacon somehow…

"Nora, put that down."

"But Reeeeennnnn…!" Nora whined as she held up the absolute beast of an M-300 Claymore in both arms, knees buckling under the weight of a weapon that had more business being vehicle-mounted instead of held by infantry.

"Nora, you can barely even walk with that thing."

"Can soooo…!" Nora protested. "WWWWWWWone…! TWWWWWoo…!" she panted managing two steps as sweat poured down her face. " . . . Okay fine. But I'm putting it down because I want to! Not because you told me to!"

"Of course you are," Ren hummed, Nora letting out a- "HRRRRRRRGH!" -as she struggled to put the M-300 back down without denting the floor.

"Geez, you'd have to be a freaking giant to wield something that big…" Yang hummed as she eyed the bulky, boxy-as-hell weapon.

"Trust me, it has a niche userbase. And even if you could lift the damn thing, you hold that thing wrong and it'll shatter every bone in your arm. If you're lucky," Jack waved off, a flashback to the poor sot who'd braced one such gun against his torso and got all the kick of a high-speed vehicle collision for his troubles, before turning his attention back to the treasure.

"Are you hoping to find more… you-know-whats in there?"

Jack for his part only gave a shrug, delving into an open-lidded jewelry box filled with numerous trinkets, many of them gleaming silver.

"Oh my god! She's got a knife!" Ruby cried dramatically.

"Ruby, could you please show a little decorum?" Weiss demanded, Jack looking over his shoulder before his eyes went wide, the heiress waving the implement about.

"WEISS! DROP IT! DROP IT RIGHT NOW!"

"H-Hwaaugh!?" Weiss yelped as his crimson eyes and the order behind them washed over her, the heiress stepping back as the knife slipped through her fingers.

*Shink~*

"What the…?" Ruby blinked as the knife handle protruded from the floor, the blade nowhere in sight. "You break it, you buy it."

"No. That's not it," Jack said fast-walking over to the knife handle. Waving everyone away, he took a knee before grasping the handle with all the care of one defusing a bomb. Slowly lift it up, the rasping sound of metal on concrete sounded through the hushed warehouse as Jack withdrew a gleaming chef's knife, its edge marked with the Hamon usually found in hand-forged katana.

"Whoaaaaa…! That thing cut through a stone floor like it was butter…!" Ruby gasped only for Jack to shush her. Looking over at the representative who was eyeing the antiques and leaving them completely to their own devices, Jack turned his attention back to Weiss before plucking the knife sheath from her hand and stowing the blade.

"What… What was that thing…?" Weiss gulped.

If she'd dropped that thing on her foot, she could've lost it, since a blade capable of cutting concrete just by falling on it had to be insanely sharp…!

"Jack, can I see that?" Ren asked, Jack handing it over for the other teen to unsheathe it, everyone else backing away from the edge of the blade. "Hm. I thought so. This is a Sentoku Knife."

"A what knife?" Jaune blinked, Ren pointing to an inscription on the flat of the blade.

"This is one of Melk the Cutler's knives, made from the tooth of a Warner Shark and capable of handling 'thousands' of different Ingredients."

"That came from a tooth?" Nora blinked. "Daaaaaamn. That must've been one big fish."

"With a Capture Level of 50, it'd have to be," Jack hummed.

"Who's Melk the Cutler?" Ruby blinked.

"Melk the Cutler is the greatest knife-maker in the world," Weiss answered. "Though admittedly… that's as far as my knowledge on the subject extends," she finished, only knowing that that the finest chefs of her house would receive them as gifts from her father, yet another symbol of his wealth.

"Melk the Cutler resides atop Melk Mountain, located in one of Mistral's most-dangerous mountain ranges," Ren started. "His meticulously-crafted knives are the most-coveted amongst chefs the world over, as an imperfection 1/1000th of a millimeter can drastically alter the taste of Ingredients requiring Special Preparation," Ren explained. "The man never appears in public, so very few even know what he looks like."

"Hasn't anyone ever climbed Melk Mountain to meet him in person?" Pyrrha asked.

"Under ordinary circumstances, the 4,000-meter climb would be possible, especially since he carved the 'Melk Staircase' himself-"

"Man, the guy really like naming stuff after himself huh?" Nora asked only for Ren to shush her.

"The problem of course is that each of the steps is a little over a meter tall, and the mountain range is crawling with monsters whose Capture Level averages around 20. For that reason, all of the requests come in through letter or email."

"Geez, can you imagine the hazard pay for that snail mail?" Yang hummed.

"They even say the steps are littered with the bones of those who tried to mount them, which isn't helped by the fact that some people are so-desperate for a Melk Knife of their own, they actually believe the rumors that Melk will be more-likely to take your commission if you climb the Melk Staircase yourself," Ren continued to explain. "Some of his knives are so-sharp they actually require a special license to use, and there are plenty of stories of clumsy amateurs with too much money on their hands seriously mutilating themselves."

At this, Weiss gulped nervously and rubbed at her leg.

"How much to Melk Knives go for?" Jaune questioned.

"Around 5,000,000 yen," Ren answered, the blond sputtering. "If you wanna go for cheap at least."

At this, Weiss sputtered.

"What's something that-expensive doing in the junk pile?" Ruby asked. "Shouldn't something that-sharp be with the weapons?" she asked looking at the slit in the floor.

"Other than being mis-diagnosed as ordinary cutlery… the biggest no-no when wielding a Melk Knife is that if you use it for anything other than food, the blade itself will turn on its wielder. That's how-terrifying of a blacksmith that Melk really is," Jack answered. "Not to mention that if anyone does go on a killing spree with one of these things, some say that Melk himself will descend from Melk Mountain, and use you to sharpen one of his other knives."

"That sounds like a ghost story," Yang hummed.

"It really isn't," Ren stated. "They say that Melk the Cutler is one of the strongest men in the entire world, as he sources his own materials and whetstones, some of which are very well-guarded."

"How well-guarded?" Pyrrha asked.

"'Very' well-guarded," he replied cryptically.

"I mean… How-big is a Warner Shark exactly?" Jaune asked.

"About 22 meters weighing in at 90 tons," Jack answered, the blond letting out a horrified squeal like a hamster being stepped on.

Or maybe being subjected to low-voltage experiments…

"Wow… That's… one big fish…" Yang blinked.

" . . . I'm keeping this," Jack nodded. "This might come in handy down the road if we meet something extra-tasty."

"Jack, that thing can cut through concrete! Do you know how many Grimm that thing could kill?" Ruby demanded.

"And Melk can peel all the muscle and sinew out of my body like a cheese stick. This thing's only going to be turned on food and that's final. And if I hear any more about this, I'll send you home without treats, young lady!" he chastised.

"I still don't get it…" Weiss said looking down at the incision in the floor. "If Melk can make knives this-powerful… why not swords? Or even bayonets? Ruby might say a lot of stupid things, but she wasn't wrong about how-powerful those knives are."

"Well for one, Melk's strong-enough that the last time Mistral sicced an armada on him to force the issue, he sharpened his knives on all but one of them. Allegedly," Ren stated. "If Melk wants to make cutlery, that's his choice, he's a 'hermit artisan'. Besides, it's better that knives like that aren't turned on people, otherwise the oceans would run red with blood. That, and the spirits of the knives themselves wouldn't stand for such misuse."

" . . . It still seems like a waste… but I suppose I can understand Melk's integrity as a craftsman," Weiss admitted after a moment, happy to know that the knife that could've taken her foot, or even her entire leg off, was at-the-least in the hands of someone who could give it the respect it deserved. " . . . RUBY! What did I say about no guns!"

"But Weiiiissssss!"

*NEW WORLD*

By the end of things, not only were Jack and Yang a great deal richer, one tackily-rechristened airship notwithstanding, but they also got some great 'loot' under their belts as well.

Ruby, after a great deal of whining, was finally allowed to swipe an M-77 Paladin from the loot pile under the pretense that she needed some form of "holdout weapon" for places too-cramped for her sniper/scythe. Weiss picked out some choice Dust, as well as an expensive-looking painting by some artist whose name no-one else could pronounce. Blake happened upon a collection of out-of-print books, some of them seditious in nature, and it was amazing they'd survived initial screening. Yang happened upon an AT-12 Raider shotgun for when she didn't want to get too-close to a Grimm, some borderline-illegal custom-tooled ammo, and a skateboard of all things.

Jaune to round himself out and also not be the only one in their circle of friends without a firearm, picked out the M-12 Locust and the accompanying gun kit. Nora had to be talked out of taking the M-300 Claymore shotgun, but instead grabbed herself a crateful of grenades, as well as a high-end frying pan for which Ren could make her delicious pancakes and also smack people around with thusly when not being used to make aforementioned pancakes. Pyrrha picked out some nice jewelry that she thought would look good on herself and the other girls in her circle of friends, as well as some handsome-looking cufflinks for the boys. Ren came out of the entire thing with a gorgeous straight sword with a uniquely-shaped hilt comprised of purple floral patterns on a black and gold grip, lacking a guard unlike most western swords.

Jack, who helped make this "Epic Loot Party" as Nora called it possible, left with a quote/unquote "ordinary if not decorative kitchen knife", some "silver jewelry" that everyone suspected but refused to say was outright magical, and a heavy-duty semi-automatic assault rifle under the designation "M-99 Saber", which of course, Ruby proceeded to drool over with its various after-market upgrades.

"Hm… Looks like you fall just under the pre-designated limit…" the representative said taking stock of everything the gaggle of teens were leaving with. "Still, gunning for raiders at your age? You Beacon students get more-frightening every year."

"Well, you know, shit happens," Jack shrugged, 'The Big Iron' cradled in his arms like a child, Ruby fuming in adorable jealousy. "I trust the money has been transmitted to our accounts?"

"Yes. Here's your receipt," the man replied, handing Yang a sheet of paper with lots of numbers on it.

" . . . I wonder what Vincent is up to right now…" Blake hummed as she cradled her seditious books.

*NEW WORLD*

Meanwhile, back on campus…

"And you're sure this'll make my hangover go away?" Vincent inquired as he stared at a suspicious blue liquid being presented to him by Dr. Magdanus. "Permanently?"

"As sure as science can be…" she replied, conspicuously refusing to meet his eye.

Well, "conspicuous" for anyone less-trusting than Vincent, at least.

"So… I just drink it?"

"That is typically what you do with beverages," Veronica said adjusting her glasses. "When you're done, tell me how you're feeling."

" . . . Did you have to put it in a beer stein?"

"Think of it like 'reverse psychology'."

That, and, she'd fallen behind on making sure all her beakers were clean…

"Alright then. Down the hatch!"

Pinching his nose, he downed the suspicious-looking concoction with a loud *Gulp… Gulp… Gulp…!*, his Adam's apple bobbing until there was nothing left in the stein.

"Well… How are you feeling?" Veronica asked, clipboard in hand.

"Hum… Huh, that actually tastes pretty good and-" *Growrrrrrrrr!* "-Oh? OHHHHH! What's happening to me?! Something's wrong! Too much beer! I'm! Gonna…! Ex…! PloOOOooOOOooOOO-"

A deafening- *UUUUuuUUUUuuUUUUuuUUUUURP!* -like the business end of an avalanche issuing from the young man's gullet, as the pitch oscillated up and down, beakers and test tubes rattled from their places on the shelves and fell to the floor. Veronica shielding her eyes with her clipboard, a deafening*KRA-KROOOOOOM!* sounded through the skylight, the lightning strike to follow almost blinding her with a loud *CRAAAAAASH!*

A few moments later, Veronica waving some of the dust from her face with her clipboard, saw that in Vincent's place there was now a scorch mark on the floor. Ears ringing, it took her a few moments to notice the sudden draft in the room. The doctor turning her attention, noticed a new addition to the wall in front of her in the form of a seven-foot tall muscular silhouette of negative space; like when a cartoon character couldn't be troubled to crash through a door or window like a normal cartoon character.

" . . . Semblance Shift clinical trial experimental log thirteen…" Veronica spoke into a digital recorder she drew from her pocket. "Medicinal Compound L.T.P., combined with Esoteric Ingredient M.G.A.G., and Ordinary Ingredient B… has induced a pronounced physical metamorphosis within the subject that has exceeded mine and Doctor Franken Stein's expectations. While Subjects One through Twelve have lapsed into deep unconsciousness after mind-shredding hallucinations, Subject Thirteen, however, remains at large…" she said drawing a tranquilizer gun from her pocket, striding toward the hole like she weren't about to hunt another human being down for sport.

*NEW WORLD*

AN:
It's always been my plan to have Nora cross over with the cast of Dumbbell Nan-Kilo Moteru; it just took me a while to get to a point I could introduce them organically~ Jack at "Full Power" is similar in size to Machio Naruzo, though with differing proportions as Machio is gearted towards aesthetic excellency, while Jack's is more towards raw physical power.

And admittedly, the rest of the younger cast of Dumbbell Nan-Kilo Moteru meshing so well with the primary cast of RWBY was a pleasant surprise as well~

Anywho, tell me what you think, and I'll see you next time on Vigorous Vitality!