The path Eizan Etsuya had walked since entering Totsuki had been smooth sailing most of the time. Occasional misfortunes were just small problems that he could solve.
But...
Ever since meeting Mutou Judai, his life had been like a sudden terminal illness!
In the past, when he had Shokugeki with people, either he bribed the judges, or he blocked their taste buds to make them rage helplessly, or even directly hired thugs to cripple his opponents so they couldn't have Shokugeki with him...
This was him, the notorious Shokugeki bully—
That Shokugeki where winning brought no gain but losing meant paying money—he agreed to it and lost!
Then, already quite unfortunate, he was forced under Toyo Electric's pressure to continue causing trouble for Mutou Judai...
Even in such a desperate situation, Eizan Etsuya had thought of a solution.
—Go find the Wu Clan as external support!
No need to contact Mutou Judai while still completing the task assigned by Toyo Electric.
Two such good things combined should have resulted in the smooth sailing he had before meeting Mutou Judai.
But...
Eizan Etsuya was now bound, gagged, and kneeling on the ground.
In front of him were the Demon King of Food, Totsuki's Commander Nakiri Senzaemon, and his old friend, Wu Clan patriarch Wu Erioh.
And behind him...
Walking in with the sound of the door opening were Mutou Judai and Erina, led by Hisako.
If Eizan Etsuya couldn't understand what the Wu Clan was trying to do when they demanded payment upfront and then knocked him unconscious on the spot after he paid, now he understood everything.
Wu Clan, Totsuki, Mutou Judai...
—They were all in cahoots!
The clown was me all along!
Then he thought about how he had explained the task in great detail under the guidance of the Wu Clan's receptionist... He no longer had any thought of resistance, only feeling brain-dead, completely adopting a "lie flat and wait for death" mentality.
But Mutou Judai and Erina still couldn't understand.
"This is... Eizan Etsuya?"
Mutou Judai glanced at Eizan, then looked somewhat puzzled at Nakiri Senzaemon and Wu Erioh in front of him.
"You both called me and Erina here, and also captured Eizan... What happened?"
Hearing Mutou Judai's inquiry, Nakiri Senzaemon looked at his old friend beside him.
Wu Erioh was now wearing a kind and amiable smile, like a harmless old man, very friendly as he shook his head at Mutou Judai.
"It's not a big problem—this guy seems to have connections with Toyo Electric, and commissioned us to capture you and little Erina beside you, so we conveniently caught him... Oh, and the reason our Wu Clan people approached you before was also because of a commission from Toyo Electric. After all, we have to feed a large family, so we planned to send two members to teach you a small lesson... We really caused you trouble."
Huh!?
Wu Erioh and Nakiri Senzaemon were old friends.
After Totsuki's previous fighter, Ukyu Hajimi, switched sides, Totsuki had also sought help from the Wu Clan for that Kengan match.
So Nakiri Senzaemon and Erina actually knew what kind of people the Wu Clan were, and this wasn't their first time meeting Wu Erioh.
This made them both widen their eyes in surprise after seeing Wu Erioh like this.
—That old man who was like a demon actually had such a side!?
However, Mutou Judai didn't know Wu Erioh, so he just waved his hand.
"It doesn't matter... I could feel those two didn't really have killing intent toward me, and I already taught them a lesson. Compared to last time's matter, let's talk about Eizan and Toyo Electric..."
Seeing Wu Erioh, the Wu Clan patriarch, directly apologize to him, Mutou Judai, who wasn't planning to dwell too much on the previous incident, went along with his words.
And compared to the previous matter...
—He was more interested in Eizan's plan involving Erina...
He faced Wu Erioh, so his mouth was smiling—but anyone could see his gaze was on Eizan Etsuya... that look was as cold as looking at a corpse.
Mutou Judai also felt ashamed of his immaturity in not completely eliminating the threat last time, and was already thinking about where to scatter Eizan's ashes.
Didn't eliminate him last time, but this time he would definitely uproot him!
"The main commission to us was kidnapping, and it was also a task assigned to him by Toyo Electric—and he's a spy that Toyo Electric planted in Totsuki... For specifics, just look at this."
Wu Erioh directly took out several documents, handing them separately to Nakiri Senzaemon, Mutou Judai, and Erina.
While the three in front of him browsed the materials, his eyes swept over Mutou Judai and Erina.
—Their relationship seems quite good.
Thinking this, Wu Erioh's expression showed no change.
After all...
—Did you think the Wu Clan had spent these 1300 years doing nothing!
Their targets having someone they liked, even being married—the Wu Clan had encountered such situations 1100 years ago!
The problem was solved then, and in the following 1100 years, the Wu Clan had encountered various situations and solved most of them.
In this regard, just like how the Wu Clan claimed there were no known fighting techniques that Wu Clan techniques couldn't break, Wu Erioh didn't believe any target the Wu Clan wanted to pursue could resist their offensive!
While he thought this, Nakiri Senzaemon snorted coldly.
He had roughly finished reading.
Learning that Eizan Etsuya was Toyo Electric's inside agent, and that Toyo Electric decided to capture Erina first before the upcoming Kengan match to gain the upper hand, planning to use this advantage to demand Totsuki not hire the Wu Clan as external support, Nakiri Senzaemon was truly furious!
Wu Erioh had anticipated this and took the opportunity to say:
"It seems Toyo Electric has set their sights on little Erina... Well, to make up for last time, how about I send Feng Shui and Karura as little Erina's guards? They're both girls of similar age, so they can get along better while ensuring little Erina's safety without making her feel restricted."
Wu Erioh revealed his true intentions!
In the Wu Clan's 1300-year history, for those who became uninterested in women after finding someone they liked, or those who were very devoted to their beloved, direct contact usually didn't work particularly well.
At such times, it was better to contact the person their target liked, especially sending someone of the same gender to contact their beloved. After establishing communication, they could make further decisions—this was the most stable approach.
Nakiri Senzaemon didn't think too much about it and directly nodded.
Erina had also finished reading at this time.
She pondered briefly, then when she turned to look at Mutou Judai, she found him staring blankly at Toyo Electric's recent planning arrangements.
Toyo Electric's moves against Totsuki and Korakuen were all advance preparations for the upcoming Kengan Annihilation Tournament that would decide the Kengan Association chairman.
Among Toyo Electric's preparations for the Kengan Annihilation Tournament that Eizan knew about, there were three.
First was Totsuki, then Korakuen—and finally, a plan targeting a group of fishermen by the sea.
Because among those fishermen was someone with fighter potential who wasn't weak.
Now Mutou Judai was looking at that fisherman's photo.
—Karo Yoshinari.
The moment he saw the photo, Mutou Judai could recall images of him carrying boxes of seafood to Mutou Orphanage and laughing heartily while holding his childhood self.
This man who could strangle great white sharks in the sea was now forced to this extent...
Sigh.
Now that the old man wasn't here, this side...
Thinking this, Mutou Judai looked up and slowly smiled.
"It would be great if your Wu Clan could send people to protect Erina..."
Saying this, he turned to look at Erina.
Just as he was about to say something more, Erina spoke first.
"Go ahead, don't worry about my side."
Hearing Erina say this and meeting her gentle gaze, Mutou Judai ultimately said nothing, just nodded.
"Mm... be careful."
...