Gourmet Hunter (HxH Fanfic)

At the entrance, there was a beautiful waitress dressed in a server's uniform. When she saw Law enter the restaurant, she began to observe the examinees inside. But she did not make a sound to disturb Law, and only waited quietly by the side.

After Law retracted his gaze, she politely said to Law, "Hello, please present your coin."

Upon hearing this, Law took out the coin from his pocket and handed it over.

The girl accepted the coin, carefully examined it for a few seconds, and after verifying the code on it, she stored the coin away and handed Law a folded piece of paper.

"This is…?" Law took the paper. This year's test was a bit of a headache. Before arriving at the first stage's location, all information was being relayed through paper.

The girl smiled without answering, making it clear that no matter what he asked, she wouldn't respond.

Law shrugged, deciding not to press further. Holding the folded paper, he walked into the restaurant. As for the seat, he definitely didn't need to choose one specifically, as he could just head straight to his 'old acquaintance'.

As Law stepped into the main dining area, he immediately noticed that his old acquaintance was missing. Upon scanning the surrounding, he found that the old acquaintance had hidden himself in a corner, covering his face with a bulging, old-fashioned satchel, perfectly imitating an ostrich.

That old acquaintance was none other than the infamous [Rookie Crusher], the Great Master Tonpa.

Ignoring the scrutinizing gazes from the surrounding examinees, Law walked straight to the corner and took a seat opposite Tonpa.

The last time in the Amaromi Forest, Law had used his God Hand to inject an excessive dose of powerful laxative directly into Tonpa's body, so Tonpa's name was recorded in his book.

Despite being in such a dangerous environment, Tonpa had somehow survived after ingesting several times the normal dose of the laxative. This shows that Tonpa had some decent life-preserving skills.

Law was not surprised to see Tonpa here.

If Tonpa had died, Law would have known immediately. However, the page with Tonpa's name in his book remained intact, meaning that Tonpa was still alive. And since he was still alive, he'd definitely show up for the Hunter Exam again.

"Do you have any drinks? Give me one."

Law sprawled casually in his seat, leaning back against the soft chair, and rapped his knuckles on the table.

Tonpa slowly lowered the satchel covering his face and gave Law a smile uglier than crying, and stammered, "Y-You… why are you here?"

"To take the Hunter Exam, isn't that already obvious?" Law asked in confusion.

'Of course, I know that!'

Tonpa cried out in despair in his heart, 'The real question is, with your level of strength, how could you have possibly failed last time?!'

When he took the Hunter Exam last year, he hadn't seen Law. Combined with the fact that he'd watched Law's matches at Heavens Arena, where Law had performed frighteningly well, he'd assumed Law had already obtained his Hunter License.

But his assumption was wrong. The truth was that Law hadn't passed the exam, which was why he was now appearing at the first stage's location of this year's Hunter Exam.

No matter how hard Tonpa racked his brains, he couldn't figure it out. He could only swallow his doubts silently, then took out a can of juice from his satchel with a dazed expression, and handed it over.

Law was about to take the juice when he saw Tonpa suddenly retract his hand and said hurriedly: "No, this juice is..."

Before he could finish the word 'expired', Law cut him off nonchalantly, "I know you injected a powerful laxative into it. It's fine, just give it to me."

With that, he reached out toward Tonpa again.

When the surrounding examinees around heard Law's words, they all looked towards Tonpa.

There were forty-seven examinees who had arrived early at the Santa Maria Restaurant. Perhaps because this year's examinees were of higher quality, about 90% of them were new faces who hadn't yet heard of Tonpa's reputation.

Not long ago, Dongba had approached them with a friendly demeanor, striking up conversations and even offering them. But it turned out that the drinks were injected with a powerful laxative!

Instantly, the gazes falling on Tonpa became gloomy.

The examinees who had managed to find the Santa Maria Restaurant so quickly based on the clues were all capable individuals with at least a basic sense of vigilance. So naturally, none of them had accepted Tonpa's drink.

Feeling the heavy, hostile gazes of the other examinees, Tonpa felt like crying. From the perspective of their positions, he was the egg, and Law was the rock.

Whether he tried to smash Law or Law smashed him, the result would always be the egg breaking.

In short, Law had him completely cornered. Now that Law had set him up, not only could Tonpa not complain, but he also couldn't even think about retaliating.

Tonpa kept his head lowered as much as possible, trying to reduce his presence, and reluctantly handed the drink to Law.

After Law took the drink, Tonpa raised his head slightly and stared at Law closely, wanting to see if Law would do anything before drinking it.

Law activated his Nen, using God Hand separate the laxative from the juice and stick it to his palm. Then, he opened the can and took several large gulps.

'He didn't do anything.'

Tonpa reached this conclusion, but he wondered why wasn't Law affected at all.

Law finished the drink in one go and put the empty can aside. Then, he took out the paper he had just exchanged for the coin and unfolded it. It was a list of food, with a line of instructions at the bottom:

[One spoon of mint sweet sauce]

[One spoon of Yuri caviar]

[Two salt-baked crab claws]

[One slice of Caracol melon]

[One Egg Benedict]

[Please gather all the listed foods from the buffet area after the first stage officially begins and finish eating them within ten minutes.]

[Important Note: Carefully consider the portion sizes and the order in which you consume them.]

This was the content on the paper.

Apparently, it was also the method for the first stage of the exam.

Law memorized the contents on the paper, then folded the paper and put it away, glancing toward the so-called 'buffet area'. It was located in the center of the restaurant, but at the moment, there was nothing there except empty tableware.

As time passed, more and more candidates came to Santa Maria Restaurant, making the restaurant, which was deserted not long ago, become lively.

One hundred, two hundred, three hundred...

Between 3:00 PM and 4:00 PM, there seemed to be a sudden surge, with hundreds of examinees pouring in at once.

When the clock struck exactly 4:00 PM, waitress at the entrance closed the restaurant doors, which meant that the time was up and no new examinees would be accepted.

Six hundred and twenty-one.

This was the number of examinees in the restaurant, which is far fewer than the previous year.

From start to finish, Tonpa had remained quietly seated in his chair. Because Law was present, he didn't dare go around distributing his drinks.

As a result, not a single one of the drinks he had prepared for this year had been given out… well, except for the one Law had taken from him.

'Please, just get your license this year and get the hell out!' Tonpa cautiously peeked at Law, who was deep in thought, and prayed in his heart. If not for Law, he would've already started handing out his 'special' drinks by now.

If Tonpa knew that Law planned to show up every year just for fun, he'd probably collapse on the spot.

Ding-ding.

A chime, like that of a doorbell, rang out from somewhere in the restaurant.

The 621 examinees looked in the direction of the sound and saw a middle-aged man in chef's uniform coming out from the back kitchen where food was served.

The middle-aged man was tall, and his height was estimated to be nearly two meters. He had thick eyebrows, large eyes, and a strong, square nose. His sturdy facial features gave off an imposing presence, even when his expression was neutral.

As the middle-aged man walked out, a team of waiters carrying dishes came out from the kitchen and went to the buffet area. With practiced efficiency, they arranged the dishes into their respective serving containers. Their coordination was flawless.

The middle-aged man just stood aside, letting the waiters busy themselves while looking at the packed restaurant.

"My name is Adini, I am the owner of Santa Maria Restaurant, and also your examiner for the first stage."

The examiner, who called himself Adini, looked around at the candidates and said, "Each of you has a list obtained in exchange for a coin. The test is very simple. You just need to eat all the food on the list within ten minutes."