Scarab is the name of the town where the World Tree is located. As one of the famous tourist attractions, it has many local specialties, and delicious food is one of them.
Setting aside the infamous brick pastry Law was holding in his hand, many of the town's delicacies have distinct flavors and aromas.
Ging subtly glanced at Law's clothes and saw at least four visible food stains on them, which meant that Law had visited at least four different shops in town. The lingering scents clinging to him were even more telling, revealing traces of five distinct dishes.
The pungent smell of sage, the walnut-like smokiness of lándié charcoal, the strong and obvious fragrance of thyme, the mouth-exploding spiciness of red pepper tips, and the unique sweet-and-sour tang of pickled tumbler fruit.
From these scents, Ging could identify five specialty foods sold in shops scattered across three different directions in Scarb Town. Adding the brick pastry, that made four separate directions.
In other words, for Law to have tasted all five dishes, he would've had to make a full loop around Scarb Town. This meant Law had arrived in Scarb well before the agreed-upon time but had gotten distracted by the local food, leading to his one-hour delay.
'Was it his gluttonous nature causing an unintentional delay, or did he simply not consider this meeting important enough, prioritizing other things instead?'
Ging didn't call out Law's obvious excuse for being late. Instead, he grabbed the still-warm brick roast, took a big bite, and said through a mouthful of food, "Sit down and talk."
He plopped down first, facing the ocean.
There is a huge bird's nest on the top of the World Tree. Law remembered from the original work that there were several equally enormous hatchlings, but now, there was no sign of them, not even an egg.
Sitting beside Ging, Law pulled out another brick pastry from the takeout bag. Although he was already full, he hadn't tried this uniquely shaped dish yet, so he figured he might as well take a bite.
Whoosh!
At this moment, Ging snatched the brick pastry and the entire takeout bag from Law's hands and said seriously, "This was packed for me, right?"
Law turned his head and saw Ging placing the bag beside him, using his body as a natural barrier to prevent Law from reaching it.
"Right?"
Ging pressed the question with exaggerated seriousness. In the few seconds since he'd grabbed it, the brick pastry in his hand was already two-thirds gone.
"Fine, it's all yours." Law rolled his eyes.
"Good. We'll talk business after I finish eating." Ging nodded, stared at the blue ocean below, and ate the brick leisurely.
Law took advantage of this moment to look at Ging, who noticed but didn't seem to mind.
Ging's head was wrapped in a white cloth, with a few strands of hair sticking out. He was wearing a white robe with a scarf-like shape wrapped around his neck. His facial features bore a seventy to eighty percent resemblance to Gon's, and to Law, he looked like an eighteen-year-old Gon.
'Judging by appearance alone, Ging still looked very young. I wonder if he had already secured a spot among the world's top five Nen Users.'
After observing for a while, Law withdrew his gaze and looked at the sparkling blue ocean.
'Come to think of it, were Killua and Gon the same age? If so, since Killua had already been born, Gon should be around too, right?'
Thinking of this, Law suddenly asked, "Ging, do you have a baby?"
"Cough."
The unexpected question nearly made Ging choke, and he struggled to swallow the brick.
Under normal circumstances, such a question wouldn't have gotten such a reaction out of him, but right now, he is in the position of being a semi-father.
"Your reaction tells me you probably do." Law looked at Ging and thought, 'Has Gon been born?'
Ging pretended not to understand and focused on eating the remaining brick pastries very seriously. After five or six seconds, he suddenly turned his head to look at Law and asked in confusion, "Did you say something just now?"
Facing Ging's exaggerated and awkward performance, Law's eyelids drooped and he said helplessly, "No one said anything, it must be your imagination."
"Oh."
Ging nodded calmly, then sped up his eating. In no time, he finished the rest of the brick pastries.
"You have the power to set the price, but I want all the information on Demon Island."
After swallowing the last bite of the brick pastry, Ging was like an office worker whose life was at an explosive pace. He went straight to the point without beating around the bush.
Perhaps he was afraid that Law would continue to talk about baby.
Law looked at him and said, "I don't need money. If you want information on Demon Island, you can exchange it for information of equal value."
Ging's eyes gleamed, intrigued by Law's proposal.
The nonsensical question just now and the fact that Law now seemed to believe that Ging had useful information, suggested that Law had done his homework on him.
However, Ging doubted Law's information-gathering methods were advanced enough to uncover anything substantial about him. Even if he could find anything, it'd likely be useless trivia.
The most interesting thing is that intelligence varies from person to person, and it only held worth if there was demand for it. So, he wondered what kind of information did Law, who emphasized 'equal value', want from him?
'Greed Island?'
In that brief moment of thought, the only thing Ging could come up with was Greed Island, the game released in recent years.
"What kind of information do you want from me?" Ging set aside his speculation for now.
If what Law wanted was information about Greed Island, that would be a big problem. After all, Greed Island wasn't his personal property and it couldn't be used as a bargaining chip.
"Information about the Dark Continent." Law said seriously.
When Ging heard this, he was immediately surprised. He did not expect that the information Law wanted was related to the Dark Continent, not the Greed Island.
'How did he know I have information on the Dark Continent? Did Netero tell him?'
The question flashed through Ging's mind, but he kept his emotions in check and did not ask the doubts in his heart. Instead, he calmly replied: "Okay, but you have to agree to one condition."
At this point, Ging raised his hand, spread his five fingers, and said, "I'll only give you fifty percent of what I know. This is the limit, and it matches the value of the intel you're offering."
"You're making that judgment awfully fast. Aren't you afraid of missing out on something more important?" Law countered.
Ging lowered his hand and said, "I am. But given the high likelihood of overlapping information, I doubt what you have is worth more than mine. To be honest, half of what I know was obtained from Netero… under certain conditions."
Law didn't respond. Instead, he raised his own hand, fingers spread, and coated his palm with Aura. Then, shaped his Aura into an image, which turned into another picture after a few seconds.
Without Law's reminder, Ging gathered his Aura in his eyes and used Gyo. Then, he saw the picture created by Law with his Aura, and his expression changed slightly.
After looking at about five or six pictures, Ging said bluntly: "Forget everything I just said. That was nonsense, so don't take it seriously. In fact, I don't want to trade with you anymore."
His golden eyes sparkled as he said seriously, "Let's just share everything."