TM11: Hey, I'm intrigued. Who would do something that hardcore to Rushia? And why? There has to be some deep reasoning behind such an extreme action.
Re: Do Rapists need a "deep, philosophical reason" for doing what they do? No; in many cases they don't. Some people just want to watch the world burn, and in trash, we get to see the worst of the worst getting murdered Snuff Film-style.
Rushia even gets back at the people who literally fucked her, so that was cathartic in its own way.
And sure, manga like Rosario+Vampire, Toriko, and Negima! are all well and good, but I do have an appreciation for manga that touch up on controversial topics and tackle the subject matter head-on.
GreedEman: Good chapter, though i do prefer your more 'light-hearted' chapters and stories compared to the grim reminders that reality sucks.
Alsocatch 21 catch 22
Re: Different people like different things, and in my long-form storytelling, I like variety as well as nuance.
Also, in-universe "Spruce Willis" = Bruce Willis (this one's Canon btw), so "Catch 21" = Catch 22. Just like how I have "Grimm Souls", "Fatal Kombatants", "Killing Intuition", and so-on as other little references to help the world feel lived-in, I always like it when fanfic writers go that extra mile. Makes it feel like there's a world outside the "spotlight" shining on the main cast.
As for Raidentensho's comment, it is possible to learn [Food Honor] and [Food Immersion] outside the Shokurin (or "Chowlin") Temple. Coco, Sunny, and Zebra learned [Food Honor] and [Food Immersion] concurrently to Toriko & Komatsu, but the method was never shown.
The key to [Food Honor] is close to Religion, but with results you can actually see; the problem is, until they (the RWBY cast) met Jack, they've had their food "handed to them" and never learned to be "grateful" to the Food itself. [Food Immersion] is the Secret Technique of [Food Honor], and requires more-rigorous training that they can't actively pursue while still attending Beacon. Toriko & Komatsu learned at a breakneck pace (compared to those who spend their entire lives in the attempt), but that's because they've been immersed in "Food Culture" their entire lives and had been eating Willy Wonka-style foods for their individual careers prior to that fateful meet-up. The RWBY cast has been largely "obsessed" with Aura and Fighting Monsters, knowing next to nothing about the larger world outside their Walled Cities (think "The Frog in the Well"), so [Food Honor] would be a foreign concept for them. They had a hard time believing that the Four Kingdoms weren't "the entire world", after all. Jack for his part has already become versed in One Piece-style [Senjutsu], which has applications close to [Food Immersion], but if "body modification" techniques like that are a pyramid, Jack is facing "a different side" than the Four Heavenly Kings in Toriko are.
For Vincent, it's the opposite case, as Old Man Wok, who is "more than meets the eye", was able to pass his [Food Honor] and [Food Immersion] down onto him, but in the case of the latter, it's a matter of not having the occasion to use it. We already saw traces of what [Food Honor] did for him in his lightning-fast preparation when he made noodles for Blake, and in the context of Toriko, "economy of movement" that borders on the superhuman is perfectly normal. And if we treat Qrow and Winter's feats as "upper tier", then Huntsmen at their peak can move at "faster than sight" (with an S, not an L) speeds similar to Dragonball.
As for superpierce's comment about why Jack hasn't used Haki yet… [Intimidation] from Toriko is similar to [Color of the Conqueror], but more on a primal level and isn't price-locked behind a "Fate Wall". For [Color of Armament] and [Color of Perception], the prior is based on "Willpower", and his attention is split in multiple directions, so he can't "dedicate" himself as much as someone like Luffy would. As for the latter, his own senses are borderline superhuman, and [Aura Sense] like out of Pokémon is a near-equivalent ability but without any sort of [Foresight].
Fact of the matter is, in RWBY the protagonists are on the Defensive because Ozma has stolen "Knowledge" and "Choice" from Humanity, whereas in One Piece, they're constantly moving toward something, "on the offensive", never staying in one place for too long and trusting that other people will be able to handle themselves once the Straw Hats have left.
*NEW WORLD*
"Sweet ride," Rushia hummed from the back of Jack's aircar as they left Beacon, Marin sitting in the front as she fiddled with the forward console.
"Won it in a raffle, if you can believe it."
"Oh, I believe you," Rushia shrugged, spreading out and making herself comfortable.
"That reminds me for whatever reason, what'd you do to mind-fuck with my teammates?"
"Oh, just a bit of story time," the titular 'Bullet' hummed with a shrug.
"Well, you wouldn't be the first to show them something horrifying in the shower and then tear their idea of reality a superfluous new one," Jack shrugged. "So this kid you want me to hide. Where'd you leave him?"
"With a good friend of yours," Rushia grinned.
"Oh sweet salty Etro…"
*NEW WORLD*
"You're such a little cutie~!" Miltia cooed in one of the Vault of Glass' back rooms, playfully tickling a small child clad in tiny sneakers and a T-shirt that went down to his knees.
Or at least this is the sight that Jack walked in on after Melanie waved them through.
Apart from being cute as a button and having an exaggerated cowlick atop his head, he was completely ordinary. Black hair, black eyes, Japanese ancestry. He was less than five years old with an innocent twinkle in his eye and rosy cheeks that'd make a nun blush scarlet. He didn't have an activated Aura, nor did his Gourmet Cells seem like they were active. And yet for whatever reason, Rushia and Marin wanted him relocated a continent away in the place he trusted his own most-precious person to.
"So, you're Hiroshi?"
"Mhm!" the small child nodded, looking up at Jack with large innocent eyes after bowing deeply to him. "Are you Rushia's special friend?"
"You could say something like that," Jack replied. "Miltia, you having a good time?"
" . . . I want one."
"Miltia, no. That's just the cuteness overload talking," Melanie chastised, lightly bopping her twin on the head.
"You'd have to be made of stone not to be affected!" the red-clad girl argued as she hugged Hiroshi to her chest.
"Honestly, I don't know why Junior asked us to babysit this little twerp for a couple of strangers," Melanie huffed.
"Maybe because they're 'Bullet & Francesca'?" Jack groused, Melanie's face growing paler and paler still as her head mechanically turned to regard the two women that'd left Hiroshi in their care.
"I'm… going to go get a bagel…" Melanie said with a strained expression as she turned away and walked carefully out of the room.
"What's with her?" Marin blinked.
"I guess our reputation precedes us~" Rushia grinned as she ruffled the cat-girl's hair. "Come on, Hiroshi. Time to go."
"Kay!" the toddler beamed. "Bye-bye, Milly!"
"Bye, Hiroshi! Come back soon! You too, Jack!"
"Man, you've got that girl wrapped around your little finger, don't you?" Marin whispered.
"Bet that isn't all she's wrapped around~"
"Rushia, behave..."
*NEW WORLD*
"So where are we going?" Hiroshi asked cutely from the back seat as they left Vale proper.
Jack chose not to question why Junior just had a booster seat lying around…
"A special clinic to help you with your… condition," Rushia answered. "That, and to see your new sister."
"I'm getting a sister? Really?!" the little boy asked excitedly.
"Really, really," Rushia said ruffling his hair, a rare glimpse at her motherly side showing.
"Hey Jack," Marin hummed. "What's that you've been clutching at so-desperately?" she inclined her head at the cloth-wrapped bundle held in the Faunus' free hand.
"A gift for my sister," he hummed before looking over his shoulder. "I think the two of you would get along pretty well. She's been sick for a long time too."
"I'm not sick. I just get a fever whenever I don't take my special medicine every few days," Hiroshi pouted.
"That's the textbook definition of sick…"
*NEW WORLD*
The trip to St. Dolittle Memorial Hospital in of itself was uneventful. Their arrival in of itself was equally uneventful apart from the suspicious looks the two Humans in Jack's entourage briefly received upon arrival.
After departing the elevator and arriving at the ICU ward, it was only Hiroshi's cry of- "Reindeer!" -that broke the stoic silence.
"Jack. You really have a thing for strays, don't you?" Chopper inquired, ignoring the incredulous looks Rushia and Marin were sending his way.
"Is Jill awake?"
"She is. She just got off a session of T.O.M.E., so she's kind of hungry."
"Well, it's a good thing I have this then," Jack said letting some of the cloth bundle come lose, Chopper's nose perking before drool ran from the corner of his mouth.
"What, um… what Ingredient did you manage to bring back this time?"
"It won't really matter if it doesn't work, but I have a good feeling about this one."
"You said the same thing the last thousand times."
"And I only need a single victory to save her," Jack replied as he stepped into the room. "Jill, how have you been?"
"Jack!" the wolf-eared girl perked up before drawing up short. "...He doesn't look like yours," she hummed a moment after Hiroshi came into the room alongside Rushia and Marin.
"Really? I come in here with a pretty girl and a small child and you immediately think they're mine?"
"Have you slept with one of them?"
"Well, technically yes, but-"
"Then you can understand why I'd think that," the purple-haired girl pouted. "So what's your name, little guy?"
"I'm Hiroshi! Your new brother!" the tiny Human beamed happily.
" . . . You really have a thing for strays, don't you?"
"You and Chopper both…" Jack sighed. "Jill, I brought you something special today."
"A golden apple?" the Wolf Faunus girl blinked.
"A very special golden apple," Jack hummed as he went to the cabinet.
"Hey look! Little golden bunnies!" Hiroshi awed with innocent eyes as Jack transformed mundane apple slices into works of art with practiced strokes. In contrast to the golden skin, the flesh of the apple itself was a pure white like fresh snowfall, and they almost seemed to be glowing.
"And just how much did this cost you?" Jill asked as Jack placed the saucer in her hands.
"Just my pride."
"Jack, I know you think triggering my Gourmet Cells will save me, but it's still a one-in-a-million chance."
Cue Toriko OST – Daichi no Megumi
"And one in-a-million is still better than zero," Jack replied, Jill looking down at the apple-bunnies before pressing her hands together in an expression of gratitude.
"I give thanks for the world's bounty."
*Crunch*
'This texture… The skin is like gold foil to the touch, but as soon as I bite into it, it breaks against my teeth like a fine pastry…' Jill reflected as she ate, eyes closed as she inhaled the scent.
*Chew*Chew*Chew*
'This apple's flesh… It's cool against my teeth, but as soon as I begin to chew, I can feel a spreading warmth through my body… Like a shady picnic on a warm summer day…' she mused to herself as she chewed.
*Gulp*
'Even when I've swallowed it, I can still feel this tenderness, filling me up inside…' she thought as tears came to her eyes, the phantom limbs of her deceased parents enveloping her alongside the calloused hands of her adoptive brother. They were large and powerful compared to her own, but infinitely caring and tender; a side of himself he rarely showed because the world preyed on such weakness.
Jill, lost in her own world as she ate the gold-skinned apple slices, was unaware of the goings-on around her.
"What the…? What the hell is going on…?!" Rushia gawped as a verdant forest grew around them.
"What the hell was in that apple!? Is this a contact high?!" Marin cried as she held Hiroshi close, his large innocent eyes staring upward with awe.
"This scent…!" Chopper gasped, his hooves going up to his nose as he fought off the hallucination washing over them.
"Phytoncide…!" Jack blinked, covering his own nose from the toxic scent that trees used to protect themselves from insects, germs, and other threats.
Of course, counterintuitively, the same scent that was toxic to insects, was actually the opposite for Humans and Faunus. The sense of "refreshment" one feels when walking through the woods, was due to Phytoncide, an essential oil used in aromatherapy.
For the Faunus in the room, it wasn't that the scent was noxious, but only that it was so bracing compared to the antiseptics they'd been breathing in moments prior, that they'd instinctively covered their noses.
"There's only one explanation…!" Chopper said blinking the tears from her eyes. "Her Gourmet Cells… they've been activated!"
"I'll still want to see the bloodwork to be sure, but… yeah. Yeah, I think we did it," Jack nodded as tears came to his eyes, a sense of nostalgia washing over him as he was reminded of his home, and of his mother.
Back from before everything went so wrong.
*NEW WORLD*
Cue Toriko OST – Daichi no Koudou
"This… This is amazing…! I feel…!"
"Amazing?" Marin suggested.
"Yeah!" Jill beamed prettily.
"She's a real looker. Just like your other kid sister~" Rushia chuckled.
"Purely coincidence," Jack sighed as he sat back, an exhaustion he'd long held at bay washing over him as he looked upon his sister, practically reborn once the Gourmet Cells in their body optimized their host, the Golden Apple especially compatible with her.
Though her meal had only consisted of a single apple, the Gourmet Cell Activation it had triggered was so-powerful, her body had filled out as though she'd never been sick a day in her life. Her ears and tail, once drooping and limp, were perked up and energetic, her dark hair, previously tipped with purple, was now a royal shade of violet from tip to root and brimming with life. She still looked eerily similar to Ruby Rose, the deciding factor when it came to why he'd accepted her helping hand those scant few months ago. But whereas Ruby was fit to run and to fight with what most would consider a ridiculously oversized weapon, Jill had a little extra padding in comparison to her "twin", but was nonetheless beautiful.
Bereft of any traces of her once-ill self, she'd be beating off suitors with a ten-foot pole before too long.
"Jack… Thank you…" Jill said as she stepped out of her ICU bed, likely for the final time, and embraced him. "I… I know I told you to give up on me so-many times before… but now that I'm all better… Is it hypocritical that I'm glad you didn't give up on me…?"
"Jill… Even if we aren't blood, you and I are family. There's nothing to be ashamed of about the way you feel," Jack said as he held her, the fluff he felt around her once-sickly frame filling him with a relief he'd scant felt before.
"I just wish… I just wish I wasn't the only survivor…" Jill said as she held him. " . . . Jack?"
"Yes?"
"You're free now. Free to live your life," she said firmly with a determined look that wouldn't have been out of place on Ruby's own visage. "Leave Hiroshi and the other kids at St. Dolittle's to me. You go on out there… and you become the most kickass Huntsman the world's ever seen, you hear?"
"Jill…" Jack said somberly as his kid sister continued to look up at him with that determined expression, wondering if this is what a parent felt when their offspring was ready to leave the nest. "I-"
*Lub-Dub*
"Urgh!"
"Jack, aren't you playing the 'cuteness overload' thing a little bit?" Rushia asked as the Faunus fell to his knees, clutching his chest.
"Marin, I don't think he's joking!" Marin said worriedly as the color drained from his face, she and Jill holding on to steady him.
"Jack! Jack, what's wrong?" Jill cried as something deep inside told her something was wrong. Hiroshi worriedly stepping forward only for Rushia to hold him back, Marin and Chopper's hair stood on end as Jack shuddered uncontrollably.
"Stress…" Chopper vomited out. "Stress inhibits digestion… but now that Jill's finally better… now that he's finally found the light at the end of this tunnel… his body's suddenly starving for nutrients!"
"What?! How the fuck does that make any sense!?" Rushia demanded as Jack was lifted up into Jill's bed, horrified cries leaving the girl's lips as he began to waste away before their very eyes.
"Jack! Jack, hang on!" Jill said as she raided the nearby pantry and started shoving tasteless, nutrient-rich bars into his gullet.
"Quick! Someone call a doctor!" Chopper cried.
"You're a doctor!"
"Oh, right!"
"I can help him!" Hiroshi said suddenly pulling himself from Rushia's grasp and drawing an adorable pink pocketknife from the short pants he wore under his over-sized T-shirt.
"Hiroshi, what the heck are you doing?!" Jill demanded as the adorable blush-marked boy sliced the palm of his hand open without any explanation. Doubly-so when he pressed his tiny bleeding hand onto Jack's forearm.
Before she or Chopper could pull the bleeding tot away, Jack's back suddenly arched and his bones retreated back beneath skin and muscle, his emaciated weight suddenly doubled as though he'd eaten an entire buffet line by himself. The blood from the adorable child's hand sinking into Jack's skin like ointment, after several long moments the boy nodded his head surely, cowlick bobbing cutely as he pulled his palm away. Hiroshi's hand healing, Jack blinked his eyes incredulously as he sat up in bed, feeling completely fine from how he'd felt before.
"Rushia… Marin… What exactly did you say this child's affliction was?" Chopper asked, the two mercenaries whistling some nameless tune as they refused to meet his eye.
*NEW WORLD*
" . . . They've been like this since Jack left with his friends," Ruby hummed back in her room as she and Blake watched their respective partners lie on their bunks. Faces devoid of emotion as they stared at the bunks overhead, they hadn't even bothered to take their shoes off.
"Yeah… You think they learned something unpleasant?"
"I don't know. Let me check. Weiiiss? Yaaaaang? How are you doing?" Ruby groused.
"Oh. You know. Just…"
"Thinking. Contemplating," the two said one after the other.
"Ah. I see…" Ruby hummed. "Well… you keep on doing that… So um… Bye."
*Tap*Tap*Tap*Tap*
"They said they're thinking."
"Yeah, I noticed…" Blake deadpanned before her Scroll started buzzing. The ebony-haired beauty taking it up in her hand before realizing it was Jack on the other line, the FaceLink icon illuminated, she excused herself from the room and made for the roof, if only to have a little privacy to herself.
"Jack, did something happen?" Blake asked as she pressed the button, finding Jack's face in miniature waiting for her, the older Faunus wiping tears from his eyes.
"Yeah… Something happened. Something wonderful," Jack answered with a chuckle. "Blake, meet Jill."
"Hi, Blake!"
"J-Jill?! What happened to you!?" Blake gawped, barely recognizing the Ruby-like girl from the sickly little thing she'd encountered before.
"I'm all better now!" Jill grinned prettily in a way that filled Blake's chest with warmth.
"Really? That's wonderful~" Blake smiled.
"I'll be back later this evening, so don't wait up for me," Jack waved off. "There's still some daylight out, so I want to take Jill on her first hunting trip."
"A hunting trip?! But she's just recovered!"
"Yeah, and now that I'm not going to lay about in the ICU all day, I need to pull my weight around here," Jill nodded enthusiastically in a way that would've been at home had Ruby done it. "It's still too dangerous for me to leave, so I may as well help all the other little boys and girls that need a good meal around here. Not like there's any shortage of game this far away from Vale."
"Well… if you think you're up to it…" Blake said as she held back tears, happy that Jack's… that their sister, could finally go out into the world and find a place for herself.
"Oh trust me! I'm rarin' to go!" Jill nodded with an enthused grin. "See you later!"
"Yeah, see you later," Blake nodded. "Jack, is she really cured?"
"100%. That Golden Apple was just the thing that Jill needed to trigger her Gourmet Cells, and Chopper's bloodwork says all traces of the Genophage are 100% gone."
"I take it Gourmet Cells don't like sharing host bodies?"
"Not in the slightest," he said shaking his head. "And who knows. Maybe someday she'll be a better Gourmet Hunter than I am."
"Yeah, that's right… You became a Bishokuya so you could find something that'd trigger her, but now that you have…"
"Now that I have, maybe I can worry about myself for a change. Just because Jill's off the count-down timer doesn't mean I am."
"Right… Right… Wasn't there some sort of IGO package coming in tomorrow?"
"Or the day after. And who knows, maybe I'll be back to 100% myself by the time the Vytal Festival happens."
"I don't think anyone from the other schools could handle you at half of that 100," Blake chuckled.
"Maybe, but I still wanna give it my all anyway," Jack shrugged. "If anyone from Team Ruby makes it into the 1v1 bracket, even if we lose during the first round, we'll still have dealer's choice when it comes to clients in the future."
"I'm still not sure how I feel about using the other teams up like rungs on a ladder…"
"Blake, as soon as we graduate, we're going to push others out of work. It's just the way the world works," Jack shrugged. "Hamlets, towns, and cities will only hire people that are strong. Sure, there's people out there that're going to cheap out, but if you're a high-roller, you won't have to worry about grunt work, and you can choose whatever jobs you want even if you're working at a loss."
"Well… when you're right, you're right," Blake shrugged. "Good luck on your hunting trip. See you tonight?"
"Sure. I'll see you later this evening. Give Ruby and the others my love."
"I'll try to convey that message," Blake chuckled, happy to see Jack so relieved, so free now that the Knife of Damocles was no longer hanging over his sister's head.
One trip down some stairs later…
"Soooo…" Ruby hummed after Blake had returned. "What happened?"
"Something… Something wonderful," Blake sighed, drawing a confused look from the girl. "Jack will be back after dinner. He sends his love."
"Dawwwwww~" Ruby cooed as Blake ruffled her hair like Yang and Jack tended to.
"What's he doing that's lasting so long?" Weiss asked bitterly.
Blake recognized the tone, and easily sorted out what Weiss thought was occupying his time. However, she couldn't in clear conscience let her go on thinking what she thought the heiress was thinking, so she decided to speak up.
"If you must know, he's hanging out with his kid sister."
Now that Jill was all better, capable of defending herself in the future, she could afford to let loose with the secret.
"But Ruby's right there," Yang blinked confusedly.
"Wait, you mean he has another one?!" Ruby gasped.
"Yeah, and she's a real looker, too~" Blake said affectionately as she pinched Ruby's cheek.
She wouldn't of course divulge the nature of Jack's relationship to St. Dolittle Memorial Hospital, but since she and Ruby were already his "kid sisters", another on the pile couldn't hurt too much. And it wasn't like the others wouldn't notice Jack's elated state upon his return either. Explanations would have to be given, and at least this way some of the pressure came off.
"Well… as long as he isn't out having sex…" Weiss said brusquely as she rolled out of bed, flattening the creases on her skirt. "Come on. Let's go heat up some leftovers."
"There aren't any. We and Tonio's students ate it all," Yang replied.
"Oh, right…" Weiss said with a flush, realizing how worked-up she'd gotten over fried chicken and waffles.
"I'm sure if you bat your eyelashes at him he'll make that chicken again~" Yang cooed playfully as she exaggerated batted her eyelashes.
"What, and watch you explode out of your clothes again?" the heiress scoffed.
"Hey, that only happened the one time and you know it!" Yang yelped back.
The swelling had as a matter of fact, gone down. The issue was, even though she looked completely normal, she'd wound up crushing the doorknob by mistake, showing that she'd somehow become even more superhuman.
A terrifying thought, given how-strong she had been before that flavor bomb went off in her stomach.
"Er, maybe a little something to carry us over until morning," Ruby conceded.
*NEW WORLD*
"Soooo… Jack, what'd Rushia and Marin need your help with?" Yang inquired that evening once he returned.
The food from the mess hall was good… but obviously the tender love and care that went into Jack's cooking was far better.
It was probably around this point that Team RWBY realized just how spoiled they were, and how much they'd miss not having Jack around when he went off to lead Team JNPR through a few missions. Really get their feet wet in the industry since they hadn't left Vale proper yet for missions.
"Oh, you know. Moving a witness."
"It's kind of telling that we don't know if you're joking or not," Ruby hummed idly.
"Jack, are you… Are you smiling?" Weiss inquired.
"Don't I always?"
"No. Usually you have the magnificent 'resting bitch face' mastered only by Atlesian high command," the heiress returned, a tiny thread of warmth going through her as she beheld the Faunus' uplifted expression.
"Oh, well, maybe it's because something really wonderful happened today," Jack sighed wistfully, the Faunus seeming to stand up a bit straighter, a bit taller.
"With your kid sister, you mean?" the heiress asked, Jack's eyes snapping up at her. "Blake told us."
"Only a little," she said holding her fingers apart. "The others were bound to notice when your 'magnificent resting bitch face' finally broke."
" . . . Yeah, I guess you're right. You wanna see some pictures?"
"Do we?!" Ruby grinned eagerly as she guided him over to his bed. "Come on, show us, show us!" she said eagerly bouncing on his mattress.
"Settle down, settle down. You're wearing out my bedsprings," Jack said good-naturedly as he put a hand on Ruby's shoulder to steady her, his other hand going through his Scoll as the rest of Team RWBBY gathered around him. "Here's what she looked like when I found her."
"Ah!" Yang cried upon seeing the girl's emaciated form.
"Poor dear…!" Weiss sobbed, heartstrings sufficiently pulled.
"And this is what she looks like now," Jack said showing off a more recent image.
"Is… Is she using a sleeper hold…"
"-on a grown bear?!" Yang and then Weiss asked incredulously as they beheld the after-shot.
"Yeah~ I don't know where she gets it from~" Jack said in an all-too-proud tone.
"Man, the Gourmet Cells from that apple must be powerful stuff."
"Ruby?" Yang blinked.
"I mean, Vincent brought back a golden apple, and then Jack took it with him. It isn't all that hard to figure out where it went," the little red-head shrugged.
" . . . You're going to make an amazing Huntress, someday," Weiss said affectionately stroking the girl's hair.
"Hee hee hee~" Ruby giggled cutely, her heart as full of love as her stomach was with cookies.
*NEW WORLD*
The following morning…
"Jack… What the hell am I looking at?" Weiss inquired.
"Obviously, you're watching a trio of guys fighting one another in sumo suits," Jack said as, off to the side from their breakfast commute, were three Beacon Students doing exactly… "that".
"Perhaps I should re-iterate; why are they doing that?"
"I don't know. Let me check," he shrugged. "Hey! What's with the fat-suits!" he shouted causing the heiress to sputter.
"We are fighting… for girl honor!" one of the quote/unquote "fighters" answered.
"Okay, just checking!" Jack nodded. "Does that answer your question?"
"It really doesn't…" Weiss deadpanned.
"I think it's because his fight with Beacon's 'Azure Flame' re-popularized the concept of fighting for 'a maiden's honor'," Blake hummed looking up from her book. "Some of the details might've gotten lost in transmission, but apparently that's the latest craze."
"Getting into formally recognized fights over a girl?" Jaune gawped as off to the other side, one guy slapped another guy in the face with a white glove, and then that guy slapped the other guy with his own white glove.
"Where do these guys keep getting all of their white gloves?" Nora blinked.
"That's your takeaway?" Pyrrha blinked as, off to the side, another pair of students were angrily juggling flaming torches, an embarrassed-looking girl standing off to the side, but at rapt attention.
"Well, I'm sure whoever's selling them is making a killing," Ruby hummed as another couple, this time a pair of young women, exchanged silken hands at one another, a flustered boy standing off to the side.
"I mean… at least the latest fad doesn't discriminate by gender," Pyrrha offered, trying to be helpful.
"When did our life get so strange?" Ren inquired aloud.
"When weren't our lives strange?" Nora inquired in turn.
"Point."
*NEW WORLD*
*Bang-Bang!*
*Bang-Bang-Bang-Bang!*
In any other school, the aforementioned sounds would elicit a far more-panicked response.
Here at Beacon however, the sound of gunfire only warranted a-
"Hey, who gave you permission to discharge your weapons?" Roland demanded.
"It wasn't any of us. It came from campus," Ruby squeaked.
"Roland, I'm going to have to step out for a minute," Jack said as he left the firing range, grabbing his shotgun/axe on the way out.
"Jack, where are you going?" Weiss and Yang called out, the two looking at one another before running off after him as well.
"The rest of you, stay here," Roland said grabbing an assault rifle and running after the three of them.
*NEW WORLD*
Beacon's main plaza, at that very moment, looked like it had been on the receiving end of a live weapons testing for the latest Atlesian munitions.
And why did it look like this? Bombs? A tactical missile strike? An explosive Semblance?
None of those things. Only raw, unadulterated power.
An unadulterated power that had swept Beacon's own defenders to the side like chaff as well as those that had business there.
"Just hand over the Sunshine Fruit. You'll be better off if you did," the primary instigator of this carnage growled.
He was a massive man, seven and a half feet tall and rippling with muscle that glistened like they were oiled. His mustache and beard were shaggy and black, a pair of large tusks protruding upward from his bottom lip and reaching up to eye level. Atop his head was a cube-like helmet that shadowed his eyes, nine spikes like a meat tenderizer pointing from the forward face. The rest of his attire, if one could even call it that, was a black speedo, matching shoes, and thick gray band-like armor wrapping his waist, forearms, and shins, while wrapped around each of his shoulders were a length of thick black chains crossing at his back.
At this very moment, he loomed over the only conscious person left in the plaza; a young woman in a black business suit and sunglasses, the golden star and tableware of the IGO on her lapel. Handcuffed to one wrist and held protectively to her chest was an attaché case, pock-marked with shrapnel but otherwise unharmed.
"N-N-No! No, I won't!" the unassuming woman chattered as the hulking giant, Barrygamon, strode over the mangled bodies of her peers.
"I don't need you alive to get at the Sunshine Fruit. Meat Tenderizer Head!"
Bringing his tenderizer-like helmet down in a powerful forehead smash, what remained of the fountain exploded into a million pieces, a cloud of dust kicked up that obscured everything from sight, water running freely and lifting blood from cobblestones.
"Oh? Did I miss a spot?" Barrygamon hummed, not even concussed in the slightest, as he looked over his shoulder to see a young man with white hair dressed like a cafeteria worker cradling the IGO member holding his quarry.
"What's in that case… It's for Jack Braxton, isn't it?" Vincent asked, the young woman nodding her head. "Make sure it gets where it needs to go. I'll hold this lummox off," he said as he sat her down and threw off his hairnet. Rolling up his sleeve, the seams of his arm glowed orange, shiny chromed skin beginning to granulate.
"You mean we'll hold him off," Jack said as he strode forward, casting his jacket aside and extending his finger before steadying it with his other hand.
"I as well," Weiss said as she brandished her Beretta.
"Is this a private fight or can anyone join in?" Yang grinned unfurling her Ember Celica.
"Weiss, Yang, stay back. This guy's out of your league," Roland said brandishing a Dahl assault rifle, changing the 3 to A before letting loose with a hail of Red, Yellow, and White Dust rounds.
"Oil Shock," the giant of a man grunted as a thickened sheen of oil squirted from his pores and coated his body. Roland's bullets as soon as they struck him actually deflected from his glistening hide, fire, explosive, and concussive shots peppering the ground behind him.
"What?!" Roland gasped, Weiss and Yang feeling less-confident with their choice of arms.
"Spirit Gun!" Jack shouted, firing his Aura from his fingertip and spattering oil as Barrygamon took a step back; but only one.
"Get out of the way, pup!" Barrygamon growled as he jogged forward.
"Spirit Shotgun!" he shouted firing off a barrage of energy bullets from his extended fist.
"You're hitting above your weight class, brat!" Barrygamon growled as he stormed through the Aura projectiles like they were raindrops. "Mince Lariat!"
"You're hitting above your weight class, brat!" Vincent growled as he rushed in in turn, his Mirror Neurons devouring every detail of the impending attack, metal arm polymorphing a copy of Barrygamon's gauntlet with a cry of- "Mince Lariat!"
The two like-type arm protectors colliding with a loud *DIIIIIIIIING!*, after a moment's clash the two were sent back from one another, gauntlets humming.
"What the- That move was just like mine!" Barrygamon gawped.
"What the- That move was just like mine!" Vincent said in turn before he shook his head.
"Great ass-pull, Vee!" Jack said as he vaulted the whitette's shoulder and drew back his leg. "Storm Leg!'
Barrygamon snapping his head back from the ensuing air blade, a few hairs from his mustache were sent fluttering into the wind as he dodged.
"Jack Braxton… You were a fool having that Sunshine Fruit brought here…" Barrygamon said running a finger along his altered stache.
"Jack, you know who this guy is?" Roland asked as he swapped mags.
"Only by reputation. He's the Chief of Gourmet Corp.'s 4th Branch, the Cookware Supply Team," Jack answered as he landed on his feet and flexed his claws.
"If you know who I am, then you know it'll take a lot more than you sorry lot to stop me," Barrygamon growled.
"I don't know what the Gourmet Corp. wants at my school, but if you don't have a visitor's pass, I'll have to insist that you leave," Ozpin said as he strode forward, borrowing a katana from one of the fallen Hunters he'd passed and taking up an Iai stance. "Exhaustion…"
"As if I'll let you charge up!" the hulking man roared as he rounded on his heel and rushed the Beacon Headmaster.
"Dragon King: Cut in Two with One Stroke!"
"Shell Shield!"
Ozpin's full-powered slash intercepted by the Gourmet Corp. member bringing his armored limbs together, a powerful shockwave exploded off the two as the topless man was sent flying through Beacon grounds, the man threading the needle between multiple buildings before finally sailing through Beacon's defending wall. However, the man was only sent flying so-far out of Beacon's grounds before his massive fingers clawed at the ground and he came to a rapid stop.
"Wh… What the…? His Gourmet Cells aren't even activated…! How is an over-glorified babysitter… so powerful…?!" the hulking brute asked as he shook off the hit.
"I'm simply a man who's learned from the many mistakes he's made," Ozpin said as he closed the gap between them in an instant and stepped through the ruined wall, Glynda coming in behind him with a perturbed look on her face as she righted the structure with her Semblance. "Jack," the headmaster said into his Scroll. "Get that Sunshine Fruit to Mr. Trussardi. The Groumet Corp. won't be able to get to it once it's already in your stomach."
"Alright. I'll leave this to you."
"Honestly, Ozpin. Sometimes you spoil that boy," Glynda sighed as she took a stance, nose crinkling at the oil-soaked giant before her.
"Such is the benefit of age, Glynda," Ozpin hummed as he took his own fighting stance. One he'd mastered many lifetimes ago.
"You won't live a day longer after I'm through with you!" Barrygamon roared as he rushed the Headmaster and 'Deputy Headmistress' of Beacon, his stomach calling out in hunger.
*NEW WORLD*
"So, you know what else that arm can do?" Jack asked as he carried the attaché case and the woman attached to it toward the culinary wing.
"Not really," Vincent said rubbing at his eyes, the once-humming gauntlet granulating before slithering back into his arm.
"Jack, who the hell was that guy?!" Yang asked as she followed.
"You said he was from the 'Gourmet Corp.'?" Weiss inquired, clouds of dust and the odd tree flying up from behind Beacon's protective wall. "I take it they're different from the IGO?"
"The Gourmet Corp. is a criminal organization bent on stealing and poaching rare Ingredients for their own benefit, their ultimate end goal to control all of the world's Ingredients and establish a 'Gourmet Empire', with GOD as their key Ingredient," Jack answered. "Or at least that's what I've heard. Many of the Gourmet Corp.'s members are enhanced with Gourmet Cells, powered by stolen Ingredients, meaning the organization's ranks include some of the strongest fighters in the world."
"So what, they're some kind of 'Food Criminals'?" Yang groused.
"Surprisingly enough, yes," Vincent nodded. "The IGO has strict laws to ensure that the misuse of Ingredients is not perpetrated, because even the little stuff can have devastating consequences."
" . . . You're yankin' my chain here, right?" Yang asked. "I mean... 'Food Crimes'? You're joking, right?"
"For Want of a Nail…" Weiss muttered, garnering a confused look from the blond. "For want of a nail, the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe, the horse was lost. For want of a horse, the rider was lost. For want of a rider, the message was lost. For want of a message, the battle was lost. For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost."
"All for the want of a horseshoe nail," Jack concluded.
"Okay, I've heard of domino effects, but that's just ridiculous."
"How is it ridiculous?" Vincent blinked. "Kingdoms have literally winked out of existence for that very reason. As in, that exacting reason once archaeologists back-tracked the sequence of events far enough."
"Yes, Yang, don't you remember Dr. Oobleck's lecture on the subject?" Weiss scoffed.
"I thought that was all a metaphor! I didn't think that actually happened!"
"Hey, can we talk proverbs later? My team's sacrifice will all be for nothing if this Sunshine Fruit doesn't get into the right stomach," the IGO member said clutching the attaché case protectively.
"Don't worry, we're almost there," Jack said as they approached the culinary arts building, Tonio Trussardi rushing out to meet them.
"Is that-"
"Yes, it is," the IGO member nodded, patting herself down for a key and failing to find it before giving up and biting through the chain herself, spitting out a reinforced link much to Vincent, Yang, and Weiss' awe.
"Tonio, are you ready to carry out the Special Preparation?" Jack asked warily.
"Yes, I am," Tonio said leading them inside before suddenly pulling the fire alarm, the building suddenly rife with activity as people began to pour out of classrooms and kitchens.
"Mr. Trussardi, what on Remnant are you doing?!" Weiss asked incredulously.
"When the rind of the Sunshine Fruit is improperly breached, it releases a tremendous amount of heat, hence the name," Tonio said running up to the topmost floor where his personal kitchen was located. "Even at my current level, there's still only a 80/20 chance I'll be able to prepare it into its final form without incident."
"Wait, and you want to feed something like that to Jack?!" Weiss asked incredulously.
"Oh, don't worry. Once it's fully prepared, the Sunshine Fruit is perfectly harmless," Tonio waved off as he threw the doors to his personal kitchen open, the tools he needed for the fruit and what he intended to do with it already set aside. "Now, you all need to leave. Things could get really messy," he said opening up the case, everyone apart from Vincent recoiling as a sudden backdraft threw them back, the air spilling out of the opened case rippling like a mirage.
"Wh-What the hell is with that fruit?!" Yang cried as she eyed it; the thing was a round yellow sphere composed of many flame-shaped components with swirl patterns on each one, with a weirdly axe-shaped stem protruding from the top. It was roughly the size of a basketball, and- "That's thing's only a Level 15?!"
"This specimen was preserved at peak ripeness, so it's probably closer to Capture Level 20," the IGO member said as she threw open all of the windows. "Mr. Trussardi… Good luck."
"Luck? Where I'm going I don't need, 'luck'," Tonio said as he brandished a carving fork in one hand, a fancy-looking kitchen knife in the other. " . . . Though I should probably change out of my fancy clothes."
Famous last words. Probably.
*NEW WORLD*
"Hey, where did Roland go?" Yang asked once they'd vacated the premises, the IGO woman slapping a notice on the door before anyone could call it a false alarm and file back in.
"I think he went to support Ozpin and Glynda," Vincent said as he looked off in the direction Barrygamon had been flung, the sound of combat going off in a steady rhythm.
"I mean… This Barry guy can't be that strong, can he?" Yang blinked.
"Yang, what makes Gourmet Cells powerful isn't that they give their host superhuman strength, regeneration, and savoryness. It's that they grant their host Adaptive Evolution; as-in, they can adapt to any environmental hazard they face if it gets in the way of feeding their appetites in mere minutes, as opposed to the generations it takes for animals to adapt the old-fashioned way."
"Which means what exactly?"
"Yang, you have Gourmet Cells coursing through your veins, you should already know this…" Weiss deadpanned as another explosion went off in the background; this one from Tonio's kitchen as flames belched out the open windows. "Oh what fresh-"
*NEW WORLD*
Cue Toriko OST – Zettai Zetsumei Dai
"-HELL IS THIS?!" Barrygamon roared Glynda held their opponent in the air with her [Telekinesis], Ozpin falling exhausted to one knee once his age caught up to him.
"This is why you don't screw with Hunters," Glynda chuffed, hair disheveled despite her best efforts to the contrary. Hers and Ozpin's attire both were torn in places, and Ozpin's borrowed weapon had broken in half just minutes ago.
"Hunters… Don't make me laugh," Barrygamon chuckled dryly even as Glynda held him hostage from the ground. "You're just babysitters, getting in the way of the natural order. If people are killed by the Grimm, it's because nature selected them for extinction."
"It's the responsibility of the strong to defend the weak," Ozpin said as he got to his feet, propping himself up on his cane.
"Just like it's the right of the strong… to take from the weak WHAT THEY WANT!" Barrygamon roared as his stomach howled for the Sunshine Fruit, his Gourmet Cells adapting to the negative gravity from Glynda's Semblance and triggering an adaptive countermeasure.
As opposed to Toriko of the Four Heavenly Kings who adapted to the high-gravity environment of Heavy Hole by making his cells vibrate against one another to produce a powerful charge of static electricity capable of repelling the area's unique electromagnetic field, Barrygamon's cells generated an inversely-powerful electromagnetic field that increased his personal gravity. Glynda fought the sudden change, spirit straining under the load until blood poured from her nose, sweat pouring down her face as the Gourmet Corp. member suddenly attained the weight of a large building.
"Glynda, what-"
*BOOM!*
The next moment Barrygamon crashed to the ground in a three-point landing that left deep indentations in the ground. Before Glynda could compose herself, Barrygamon plucked the helmet from his head and chucked it at the woman with all his might. Ozpin leapt to intercept, but was a hair too slow, the spiked helmet crashing into Glynda with the force of a runaway train.
"GLYNDA!" he cried as she was smashed against Beacon's protective wall with a deafening *THUD!*
"YOU'RE NEXT!" the Gourmet Corp. member roared as he rushed to squash Ozpin like a bug, only for a hail of gunfire to intercept him.
"Ozpin! Tend to her injuries! We'll hold him back!" Roland said as he and some of the older students slated to become wall guards unleashed a steady stream of gunfire into Barrygamon, the poacher shielding his face and renewing his Oil Shock to deflect the assault.
*NEW WORLD*
"Um… Is this normal?" Weiss asked once the initial heat explosion died down, the upper floor of the building only suffering some small measure of carbon scorching.
"The Sunshine Fruit works very hard to protect its juicy center," Jack said as he continued to stare into the smoldering window frames, his senses picking up the sound of Tonio hard at work. "TONIO! HOW LONG UNTIL YOU'RE DONE?!"
"FINIRÒ QUANDRO AVRÒ FINITO!" the man shouted back heatedly in Italian.
"He says he'll finish when he's finished," Jack hummed aloud.
"So um… Is Roland's class just canceled or what…?" Jaune asked as he and the others reconvened with the majority of Team RWBBY.
"Hey, if there's any extra from that Sunshine Fruit, can we have some?" Nora asked eagerly. "I want mondo-muscles too!"
"Unlikely," the IGO woman interceded. "Many high-end Ingredients may look quite large, but in actuality, they have a very small amount of edible portion available. Meteor Garlic for example starts out as a bulb five meters in height and one and a half tons, but after shaving away all the inedible layers, you're only really left with an edible clove capable of feeding maybe five or so people if you give them single servings."
"And there's no telling what Tonio will make the edible portion of the Sunshine Fruit into," Vincent hummed aloud.
A short while later, a man stepped out of the building's front doors. He was clad in a silver flame-resistant thermal radiation suit, carrying a bowl of… something in his hands that expelled a column of cool mist around the edges.
"Um… Hello again?" Pyrrha blinked awkwardly.
"Jack, hurry up and eat. The sooner you do, the sooner the Gourmet Corp. won't have any reason to stay here," the man in the suit said in a muffled voice before ripping off his visored hood, revealing a sweat-smothered Tonio Trussardi that looked like he'd lost ten pounds of water weight.
Removing the dome-shaped cover revealed a small ceramic bowl with a matching spoon. Cradled within was a large scoop of what appeared to be gelato, covered in swirling patterns with part of the rind acting as a decorative garnish. The gelato itself diametrically shone like firelight, while at the same time a cold mist spilled up from the frosty yellow core like a bucket of dry ice.
"So this is it? This'll really help my Gourmet Cells break through to the next level?" Jack asked accepting the completed product.
"You tell me. You're already salivating just looking at my Sunshine Gelato," Tonio said pointing to Jack's chin, a veritable river of saliva running down his chest, as he took off his boot and poured out a literal quart of sweat.
"Ew ew ew ew ew!" Ruby winced as Jack hurriedly wiped his chin.
"That's what's grossing you out?!" Weiss gawped incredulously as she danced away from the 8-star chef's boots.
Jack, looking down at the golden globe, thought back to the miracle bestowed upon him and Jill by the Golden Apple. That his sister had finally become Beloved by Food, only served to deepen his own gratitude for the world's bounty. Thus, his Gourmet Cells would be able to draw the full potential from the Sunshine Fruit, surpassing even Tonio Trussardi's wildest expectations.
"I give thanks for the world's bounty," he said bowing his head before he began to eat.
Instead of brain freeze, a feeling of warmth like laying on a sunny beach on a cloudless day washed over him. The single scoop that so many had sacrificed to ensure had gotten into his stomach swiftly vanishing, without an ounce of shame Jack dipped his face into the bowl and lapped at the remains.
"J-Jack! Mind your manners!" Weiss cried.
"That must be some good gelato," Nora hummed.
The next moment the bowl and spoon fell from his hands with a clatter, the Faunus going deathly still.
"Um… Jack?" Yang asked worriedly reaching out to him, only to hiss in pain as she drew her hand from his shoulder. "Ah! What the hell?! He's hot! Like, really really hot!"
"Yes, we get it. You have a thing for him," Jaune deadpanned.
"No, I mean he's literally hot…!" Yang said as the air around him rippled like a heat haze, the veins in the Faunus' body beginning to radiate like molten gold flowed through them.
"Uh… Is this normal?" Ruby asked worriedly as everyone stepped away from him.
"Well, at least his clothes aren't exploding," Yang said as a bead of sweat ran down her temple, Tonio putting back his flame-resistant hood before making a show of backing away.
*NEW WORLD*
Elsewhile back atop Beacon's wall, Roland and his peers had exhausted the last of their ammunition, not even a tenth of their rounds managing to penetrate to Barrygamon's flesh. And the paltry few that did penetrate only caused superficial damage at best; such was how-dense the muscle fibers of his body were.
"Heh! Is that the best you got?!" Barrygamon laughed, Glynda coughing blood onto Ozma's suit as the hulking man began to step forward.
Cue Overwatch OST – …And Overwatch For All
The next moment the sound of a rocket engine met their ears. A portion of Beacon's wall opening with the same Foldable Frame technology normally reserved for weapons, out of the yawning maw a massive shiny shell, humanoid in shape and wielding a massive rocket-powered hammer, rushed out.
"HAAAAAA!" the mad cackle from inside the hulking Crusader Armor bellowed, the gleaming silver shoulder charge actually catching Barrygamon and forcing him back until the rocket thruster on the armored giant's back died down. "Don't worry, friends! I will protect you!"
"Reinhardt…?" Glynda blinked.
"I'm happy to see you here, old friend," Ozpin nodded.
"What's this, Ozpin? You getting old?" the now-identified Crusader said as he and Barrygamon separated.
"Old and weak, same as you, Crusader!" Barrygamon snarled, tired of all these interruptions.
"Reinhardt, we just need to hold out until Mr. Trussardi is all finished on his end. Once he is, this man will have no reason to stick around," Ozpin said as medics swooped in and carried Glynda away, in spite of her protests.
"Holding the line? HA! I can do that in my sleep!" the Crusader grinned inside his helmet as he brandished his massive rocket-powered hammer. "HAMMMER DOWN!"
His massive hammer coming down in front of him, a fan-shaped splay of molten fissures shot out from the head, catching Barrygamon in the middle. To the shock of those watching however, a move that could've flipped over a Behemoth barely brought Barrygamon to one knee.
"Is that it?" the Gourmet Corp. member asked with a sneer.
"HAH! Not even close!" Reinhardt whooped as he raked the end of his hammer across the ground and swung upward, a flaming projectile catching Barrygamon in the chest and causing him to howl in pain as the oil coating his body combusted. "You smell that? Making bacon!"
"Don't get a big head! It can barely fit in that bucket of yours as it is!" Torbjorn from the Iron Clad Guild chastised as he mounted the wall and deployed a turret with a few practiced swings of his hammer, a staccato of automatic rounds striking at Barrygamon now that his Oil Shock had been neutralized.
"Is this a private fight or can anyone join in?" Brick whooped as he came in and caught Barrygamon in the ribs with his engine-block-on-a-stick.
"Hey! That one was mine!" Reinhardt called out.
"Same here! MINCE CRUSH!" Barrygamon roared as he struck Reinhardt full-on in the chest with a devastating punch, the Crusader howling as he was bodily flung through the air, the armor of his Crusader armor bearing a fist-shaped indent. "MINCE LARIAT!" he howled catching Brick in the chest with a massive forearm strike and sending him flying- "MINCE PELLETS!" -followed by reaching into the ground and crushing a large rock.
"My turret!" Torbjorn cried as his mounted turret was perforated like buckshot.
Barrygamon thundering toward the slowly-closing maw of Beacon's protective wall, a mere moment after he'd crossed the threshold something had sent him flying back out with all the force of a runaway train. Barrygamon rolling with the blow and taking out several trees like they were made of wet cardboard, those that had been left battered and bruised turned toward the wall as the transforming section closed back up, admitting one last individual through.
Cue The Seven Deadly Sins OST – Perfect Time
"Jack? What is that on your face?" Ozpin blinked as his 'problem child', as Glynda often called him, stepped into the light, a wavering heat haze rolling off of him and veins glowing like molten gold shining through his skin.
"I. Have. A. Beard," Jack replied succinctly, sounding a little too proud of the fact as he sported an impressive monochrome-colored bush of facial hair and a thick stache to match.
"I can see that..." Ozpin deadpanned slightly, the scent of a sunny day rolling off the Faunus as sandal-clad feet crossed packed dirt and ruined grass, Barrygamon storming back into the clearing a moment after.
"Sorry, Barry, but you're too little too late," Jack tauntingly dabbed at the corners of his mouth with a cloth napkin before dramatically casting it aside, the hulking man's stomach matching the furious growl coming from his lips.
"The Sunshine Fruit… You've already eaten it?!"
"Yup, and she sure was tasty~" Jack grinned as heat continued to roll off of him. "Now… Get the fuck away from my school!" he growled as Brigitte and Cardin leapt down from the wall overhead, the latter taking a defensive stance while the prior tended to her wounded uncle's armor breach.
"Hrmph. There's still time. I'll just rip the Sunshine Fruit… OUT OF YOUR STOMACH! MINCE TACKLE!"
"You have got to get some new material!" Jack groaned as he ran sidelong. The deafening *THUD!* of him hitting the wall could be felt on the other side of campus, but Barrygamon's ire was sufficiently drawn away from the others, pausing only to recover his helmet.
"I've got your 'new material' right here! MINCE CYCLONE!"
Holding out his armor-clad arms and performing a spinning tornado double lariat, the man generated a whirlwind around himself that actually threatened to suck Jack in.
"Get your own sunshine!" Jack growled digging in his heels. "SUNSET OVERDRIVE!"
The Faunus drawing in air like the bellows to a furnace, arteries and capillaries widened as the Sunshine Fruit he'd eaten with such depths of gratitude poured all of its energy into the body that'd assimilated it. The heat haze surrounding him intensifying, the hair on his head and face suddenly shone like a filament, burning a brilliant gold in a way that'd have left Yang swooning as he leaned forward and into his opponent's attack.
"SUNSHINE SPLASH!"
Flying toward Barrygamon in a body splash, the discharge of energy when the two attacks collided caught all the fine particulates surrounding the Gourmet Corp. member, blinding him and anyone else looking directly into it.
"ARRRRRRRRGH!" Barrygamon swore as he tripped on his own ankle and spun out, taking out a line of trees in the process as he held his eyes.
"Barry you bitch! Because of you I had to eat the Sunshine Fruit in a hurry!" Jack growled as he strode toward his adversary, shining like a descended sun.
"PFEH! RUB IT IN WHY DON'T YA!" Barrygamon growled as he ran at the intense heat source before him. "MINCE GRAPPLE!"
"Life Return: Sun Gauntlets!"
His now-golden mane of hair wearing itself around his forearms and forming gauntlets, the brilliantly burning badger rushed into Barrygamon's embrace, diving ahead of his massive meat-hooks and getting right in the man's tusked grill.
"SUNLIGHT YELLOW OVERDRIVE!"
The energy radiating from his filament-like hairs intensifying, Jack unleashed a barrage of solar-powered blows upon the hulking Gourmet Corp. member's body. Barrygamon swinging wildly at the Faunus through squinted eyes, his opponent was too swift for him, every failed strike heralding dozens of burn marks received in turn. While Barrygamon might've had more raw power, Jack was like a multi-tool chipping away at a sledgehammer, steadily wearing him down and weaving around his clumsier blows.
"Stun Grenade!"
Thrusting his palms into Barrygamon's face, the vessels in his hands dilated, the Gourmet Corp. member letting out a yowl of agony as his retinas were horribly burned.
"And now the finisher! BIG BANG OVERDRIVE!"
Pounding both his sun-gilded fists into Barrygamon's midsection, the next moment he unleashed all of the excess energy the Sunshine Fruit gave him through a powerful twin one-inch punch. With a flash of light comparable to the launching of a rocket, Barrygamon was sent yowling through the forest away from Beacon, cutting a swath on the way out until he vanished from sight.
"Yeah, you'd better run!" Jack whooped, biting out a grunt of pain as the heat haze around him evaporated. Before he could fall back onto the ground, a flurry of rose petals heralded the arrival of the red-clad Ruby, the excitable girl holding him up as the others leapt down from the wall now that the fighting had ended.
"Jackohmygoshthatwassocoolcanyouteachmecanyoucanyoucanyou?!" Ruby chattered eagerly.
"Heh. Nice beard," Blake chuckled.
"Thanks. I might just keep it," he said reaching up his hand.
"We hate it. Take it off," Weiss and Yang chimed in mid-stroke, the two looking to one another before each let out an amused snort.
"Hey uh... That guy isn't going to come back, is he?" Jaune asked worriedly.
"Nah, looks like he's wandering off," Ruby said peering through her Crescent Rose's scope. "Should I give him one for the road?"
"Ruby, that's so mean!" Yang gasped in shock before grinning cattily. "I'm so proud~"
"No, but seriously, can you teach me to do what you just did?" Ruby asked in all seriousness.
"Hey, if he's going to teach anyone that, it's going to be me."
"Yang, you can already light yourself on fire."
"Uh, yeah, except I have to let myself get hit first."
"So..." Weiss hummed as Ruby and Yang stepped off to the side to bicker. "How did that ultra-expensive Ingredient taste?"
"Like liquid sunshine pooling into my stomach," Jack said letting out a pleased sigh. "I can still taste it on my tongue."
*Chuuuuuu~*
"Hm. I'd have to agree," Weiss said with a satisfied smile of her as she stole a deep kiss.
"Hey, I was going to do that!" Yang cried in faux outrage.
"You snooze, you lose~" the heiress taunted as she licked her lips.
"OH! Someone get this girl some ointment, 'cause she just got burned!" Nora cackled merrily.
"Jack, I take it you won."
"Ohmygosh, Ozpin! You're hurt!" Ruby cried as the Headmaster hobbled over on his cane.
"Admittedly, I am getting on in years," Ozpin chuckled self-deprecatingly, waving off her concerned look as he stood tall and proud. "Jack, I assume the Sunshine Fruit was a good match?"
"It sure was," Jack nodded as Blake helped him to his feet. "Sorry I brought my bullshit to your doorstep."
"Better here than the middle of Vale," Ozpin admitted. "What's important is we chased him off. I doubt any of his ilk will darken our doors at least until the Vytal Festival."
"Hey, speaking of which..." Weiss hummed. "What was this 'GOD' thing you mentioned that the Gourmet Corp. were after? I feel like you didn't mean it in the religious sense."
"GOD was the name of the legendary Ingredient that the 'Gourmet God' Acacia used to end the Hundred Year War more than five centuries ago," Jack and Ozpin said simultaneously, the two waffling for a moment before the Headmaster gave the floor back to his student. "When Acacia offered it to all of the kings and prime ministers, its flavor was so enlightening that it opened the eyes and hearts of all the world leaders and armies, allowing them to realize the foolishness of their violent and greed-filled actions. Because of their wish to see a tomorrow where everyone could eat such a wonderful meal again, the madnesss that had filled the world soon disappeared, and true peace was made between the warring nations."
"I don't remember this lecture..." Pyrrha hummed thoughtfully.
"No one really likes talking about how mankind almost drove itself to extinction bickering over food," Jack deadpanned. "Right now, humanity has reached a sort of 'equilibrium' between ourselves, the Grimm, and the world in general, so we're in a 'Gourmet Age' of sorts, now that we have the latitude to really enjoy it."
"Soooooo... this 'GOD' thing is a McGuffin basically," Nora summarized aloud.
"Don't let anyone who worships Acacia hear you say that, otherwise they'll chop you up and feed you to the pigs," Jack deadpanned.
"I'm not sure I'd call it 'equilibrium'," Blake hummed sourly.
"In the grand scheme of things, the Faunus Rights Revolution was only a skirmish, not even reaching the middle point of a full decade before the fighting tapered off," Ren chimed in. "But yes, while people are no longer killing one another over food, there's always going to be something to fight over."
"Still, I can't believe someone would come into the heart of Beacon and spill so much blood over... fruit," Pyrrha said somberly.
"Actually, it was less blood spilled than you would think."
"Professor Peach?" Pyrrha blinked.
"Thanks to the Gourmet Revivers that have been earning their credentials at Beacon, we were able to prevent any actual casualties," the diminutive professor stated as he eyed the damage to the nearby woods. "They're still in critical condition, but only one or two of them actually died."
"Well, that's great to hear, but... It was a piece of fruit!" the red head said exasperatedly.
"A piece of fruit that gave Jack superpowers," Ruby hummed looking at the semi-scorched trail Barrygamon left in his wake. "And don't forget, that magic chicken we ate gave Yang shoulders as big as watermelons and ruined a perfectly good doorknob."
"Pyrrha, people fight over stupid bullshit all the time. If you weep for the stupid, you'll be crying all day," Jack huffed.
"I think what the takeaway from all this is, is that it's a 'never-ending battle'," Jaune said wanting to contribute.
" . . . I suppose you're right," Pyrrha conceded. "That chicken of yours really was quite good."
"I am a doctor, after all~" Jack grinned proudly.
"Indeed. But in all seriousness, take it off or I'm never kissing you again," Weiss said with a deadpan as she shot a look at the Faunus' new facial hair.
"Yes, dear," he capitulated.
"Hah. Whipped," Nora chuckled saying what was probably on Jaune's mind but he had the good sense not to say aloud.
"Says the girl with no significant other at all," Jack quipped in turn.
"Well, he's got you there."
"Renny..." Nora groaned as her friend ribbed her.
Ozpin for his part could only let out a chuckle and be relieved that, despite the turn the day took, his young charges were still able to laugh like this.
*NEW WORLD*
Ozpin, after letting Team RWBY see to Jack's health, chased them off to their next class for the day before making his way to the on-campus hospital.
Therein he found Glynda Goodwitch, nursing her wounds in a bed with a giant bag of ice over her midsection, and another atop her head. While Barrygamon's "projectile attack" had hit her with the force of a large vehicular impact, by some miracle he hadn't caught her with the pointed face of his helmet, so her Aura hadn't been so-much breached as it had been overwhelmed. Even though the first hit had knocked her off her feet, she'd still endured, at least until she hit the wall and her Aura failed her completely.
Suffice it to say, it was the hardest she'd gotten hit since becoming a teacher. In any other circumstance, her "zoning" allowed her to control the battlefield far better.
"I'm not sure how I feel about this. About that Gourmet Corp. member getting away, I mean."
"Well, it isn't like we have the facilities to house someone on Barrygamons' level," Ozpin conceded. "Even a suit of Crusader Armor couldn't match the power granted to him by Gourmet Cells for very long."
"It's a shame we can't bring more of their kind into our ranks. Though I suppose a full belly is just-as-important being protected from monsters."
"Hm. Indeed."
"Is something troubling you?" Glynda asked as the older man stared out the window contemplatively.
"Oh, just wondering..."
"Wondering what?" she sighed exasperatedly.
"Whether or not Team Ruby saving Jack, will ultimately be what pushes him away."
"Well, even if he isn't a part of their lives anymore, it's still better than letting him die."
"Is it, though?" Ozpin asked aloud as he peered across campus, spying Team RWBBY and JNPR chatting amiably as they made their way to their next class.
*NEW WORLD*
AN:
Been a while since I wrote an extra-length chapter like this for Giant-Slayer; normally I'd have ended it right after Jill recovered and Jack said he'd be back after dinner. However, since this and the latter half of the chapter felt interlinked, I decided to make this a two-fer instead of letting the "Tastes Like Chicken" arc go on for four chapters instead of three.
I also had a ton of fun including the proverb "For Want of a Nail"; that it has the stanza- "For want of a battle the kingdom was lost." -in it, made it seem doubly-fitting for a world like RWBY where entire Kingdoms (read: nations) can vanish overnight.
As for the disparity in Power Scaling between RWBY and Toriko, I certainly plan to elaborate on that more-directly in the "Juniper Arc" coming up. Especially since the Planet Earth in Toriko is closer to Jupiter in size than Earth, meaning Planet Busters are way more-powerful. And, you know, blending the topography of RWBY, One Piece, and Toriko together means "Remnant-GS" is far bigger than the Canon.
Anywho, I'll see you all next time on Vigorous Vitality!