Menchi was young, but her movements were quite agile, and she was fairly quick. However, the man carrying the kitchen knife was much faster than her by no small margin. With just a flash of movement, he overtook her and caught her.
This man had an extremely ordinary appearance, and his presence was rather faint.
Law felt that he had seen him somewhere before, but he just couldn't remember where. The reason why Law paid attention to him was because this man is a Nen User.
Zizhu is the man's name. He is a professional Gourmet Hunter who had once cooked three dishes for Ellie and the others on an airship. At the time, Law had even verified the information of one of the dishes with him to confirm the accuracy of the white smoke text.
It was just that Zizhu's appearance was too plain, and his presence was too weak, so Law had long forgotten about him and only vaguely felt that he looked familiar.
"Let me go!" Menchi shouted angrily several times. Her collar was grabbed, and as she dangled in the air, her legs kept kicking at Zizhu.
Every kick was full of force, but Zizhu had no reaction at all. Under the protection of Aura, this level of attack was like being bitten by a mosquito.
Zizhu coldly stared at Menchi, then swung his arm, throwing her away.
Menchi flew through the air and with a dull thud, she landed heavily at the feet of the mustached man.
That merciless throw made Menchi cry out in pain. Her petite body curled up on the stage, unable to recover for a moment.
Below the stage, Law frowned slightly. He clearly saw that the man had applied a bit of Nen to increase the force of the throw. Otherwise, given Menchi's physical abilities, she wouldn't have been left breathless from just that.
The mustached man looked down at Menchi, who was curled up at his feet with a look of pain on her face, then looked up at Zizhu, who had an expressionless face. He really didn't know what to say.
'Should I thank him or condemn him?'
Even if a scale were placed here, it probably wouldn't measure which side to lean toward.
It seems that escaping from responsibility is something that Zizhu hates the most, which was why he had been so ruthless with Menchi.
"Damn it…"
Menchi's brows were tightly knit from the pain, but she had no intention of giving up on escaping. She was thinking about finding the right moment to run.
The mustached man didn't realize Menchi still hadn't given up on fleeing. He signaled to the two staff members on stage to take her away. Then, he looked at Zizhu and the other chef participant, and asked with a smile, "Which master would like to go next?"
"Him first." Zizhu glanced at the chef. He had been the third to sign up, so he should wait a little longer.
The chef nodded and walked towards the worktable.
At that moment, Menchi, who had been lying on the ground, suddenly sprang up like a fish leaping out of water. Enduring the pain, she dashed toward the left side of the auction stage. She'd rather face the two staff members head-on than go anywhere near Zizhu's direction.
The two staff members were caught off guard, so Menchi slipped right past them.
"Stop!"
The two staff members immediately turned and chased after her.
Seeing Menchi stubbornly trying to escape, a flash of anger passed through Zizhu's eyes.
He took a step forward and in just a few moments, he passed the two staff members and caught up with Menchi with absolute ease. He stretched out his hand once again and grabbed the back of Menchi's collar.
The moment she was grabbed, Menchi's heart skipped a beat. She thought, 'It's over.'
She knew she wouldn't be able to take another throw like that.
"I've said it before, people who evade responsibility are nothing but trash."
Zizhu said this coldly, then raised his hand again and threw Menchi backward. The landing spot was once again near the mustached man.
Menchi immediately closed her eyes, wailed in her heart, and kept cursing this meddlesome man.
Zizhu did not hold back when throwing the ball. He despised people who shirked responsibility more than anything, and this belief wasn't limited by age.
Seeing Menchi being thrown again, a few guests in the audience gasped, feeling it was too harsh, but most of the guests did not think it was a big deal.
Law couldn't bear it anymore, so he jumped onto the stage and caught Menchi. The moment he touched Menchi, he skillfully applied Aura around her body, not only dispersing the force but also protecting her.
Menchi had already braced herself for another painful impact, but the expected impact never came. Instead, she found herself in a warm embrace and did not feel any pain at all.
"That's a bit too much, don't you think?"
Holding Menchi, Law calmly looked at Zizhu, who had slowly lowered his hand.
What he meant by excessive was naturally the fact that Zizhu used his Aura for those throws. Although Menchi's physical fitness was stronger than those of her peers, it didn't change the fact that she was still just a child.
As fellow Nen Users, this implication should be clear.
When Zizhu heard it, he said coldly: "If she doesn't learn her lesson now, what will happen in the future?"
"You're quite the busybody." Law shook his head slightly. In his opinion, the organizer hadn't even made their stance clear yet, but Zizhu has obviously gone too far by throwing Menchi twice.
Zizhu looked at Law carefully, and after a moment, he said expressionlessly: "I recognize you, Barney's hired mercenary."
It was because Law had once actively brought up the question about the Rainbow Boat dish that left an impression on Zizhu.
At that time, he thought that while Law was young, he had quite the insight. He hadn't expected that after just a few years, while Law's appearance hadn't changed much, his height had grown significantly.
After hearing what Zizhu said, Law finally remembered that he was the Gourmet Hunter on the airship at that time.
After the Yorknew City incident, due to the matter of Spiny Sea Pork's liver and the Gourmet Competition, he had even heard Kenda mention him. If he recalled correctly, his name was Zizhu.
"So it's you. No wonder you looked familiar." Law said suddenly.
At this moment, Law noticed a gaze coming from his arms. arms. He looked down to see Menchi staring up at him with wide eyes.
"Are you okay?"
Law smiled and put Menchi, who was in a dazed state, down. Then, he crouched to her height and leaned close to her ear.
Seeing Law's movement and feeling the faint warmth near her ear, the usually bold and unrestrained Menchi unexpectedly blushed.
"If the poison sack fails to be removed, the Spiny Sea Pork will become completely toxic. But there's a way to neutralize the poison. Listen carefully." Law whispered into her ear.
Leaning in wasn't meant to tease her, but to tell her the solution.
Menchi had been the one at fault here, and 1.5 million wasn't much to Law, but he had no intention of paying for her.
While paying the money would easily solve the problem, that wasn't the point. He wouldn't cover her debt, but he could tell her a way to fix things herself, then she'd have to take responsibility for her mistake.
At first, Menchi thought that Law wanted to do something, but after hearing what he said, the shyness on her face slowly faded away, and was replaced by shock.
Law spoke very quickly and soon finished giving the solution. Then, he took a step back and looked at Menchi with a smile.
"You..." Menchi's face was full of disbelief.
"The rest is up to you."
With that, Law turned and walked off the stage, leaving Menchi to face the two staff members rushing toward her.
Menchi didn't have time to think about it. Looking at the two unhappy staff members, she seemed to forget the pain in her body for a moment, stretched out her hand and said loudly, "Wait! I can remove the poison from that Spiny Sea Pork."
In her urgency, she had said 'remove the poison' instead of 'neutralize the poison'.
After these words were spoken, the venue fell silent again.
If there is a way to remove the Spiny Sea Pork's poison, there would be no 'the one with highest skilled wins' in the first place, so no one is willing to believe Menchi's words, including the host, the mustached man.
He had noticed Law's little maneuver, but Law looked too young to be convincing.
Seeing that no one believed her, Menchi risked her life and said, "I can prove it right now!"