Broly’s Multiversal Foodie Adventure

"There are some fierce fish in the waters of the mangrove swamp. Some of them will spit water at creatures above the water, but as long as you're prepared and hold onto the vines tightly so you don't fall in, you'll be safe.

Above the mangroves, there are always some camouflaged creatures, like the deadwood snake. They pretend to be a dead branch, preying on small animals or insects that pass by, but they won't actively attack creatures larger than themselves..."

Rivalina explained the things to watch out for in the mangrove swamp, while Broly emerged from the water with fish hanging off him. He shook himself off on the shore, sending the fish tumbling into a basket woven from vines.

Although there were no dangerous beasts here, the fish underwater were even dumber. Broly just had to swim around, and the fish would swim right up to him, hooking themselves without him needing to do anything.

Broly flicked his tail, sending the fish that had bitten onto it into the vine basket.

"Of course, if everyone had a body as strong as Broly's, they could also dive into the water to catch fish like this. Otherwise, the usual way to catch fish is to slap the water's surface to attract them, then use a sharpened stick to spear them."

Rivalina demonstrated, using a sharpened stick to spear a fish as thick as her forearm and lifting it out of the water.

"Pfft pfft pfft!"

The fish struggled on the stick, spitting water at the girl three times.

"This is a spitting fish. The bigger the spitting fish, the stronger the water it spits."

Shaking the fish water off her face, Rivalina explained.

"Hey ha!"

The other children followed suit, using sharpened sticks to spear fish. Only a few succeeded, while most failed. One unlucky child even fell into the water, but Broly was nearby and quickly jumped in to pull them out.

"The actual distance of underwater creatures is deeper than what we see from the surface. If you want to spear a fish, aim a bit lower."

The children who had successfully speared fish shared their tips with the others. With this knowledge, the agile children quickly mastered the art of spearing fish.

"These branches are too wet to start a fire."

At lunchtime, the group was frustrated by their inability to start a fire in the damp environment. Along the way out of the Gifunora Sea Tree Forest, the children with survival experience had taught the others the importance of eating cooked food.

If they didn't want to get sick, both water and food needed to be cooked. Additionally, some plant-based ingredients contained toxins that could be removed by cooking.

"If we can't start a fire, we'll have to eat raw fish."

"Could there be parasites?"

"What are you talking about? Oh, by the way, the bugs on these fish taste pretty good."

Everyone turned to see Broly pulling a parasite off a fish and eating it.

The question was answered without words—yes, there were parasites on the fish. As for the taste, Broly even gave it a thumbs up.

"Don't worry, having parasites isn't a big deal. My tribe and I used to eat raw fish all the time.

After eating raw fish, we'd eat some water leaves to expel the parasites. They wouldn't stay in our stomachs for long before being expelled."

Rivalina wasn't too concerned about eating raw fish.

The children: "..."

Imagining the scene of expelling parasites.

"Sis, I don't want to expel parasites."

Kurome tugged at Akame's sleeve.

"Me neither, but if we don't want to go hungry, we have to eat something."

Akame was more accepting. Compared to expelling parasites, she found hunger to be far more terrifying.

"Let me try starting a fire again."

"It's no use. The branches here are too wet. They won't catch fire."

"We should have brought some dry branches."

"Broly, do you have any ideas?"

The children were out of options, but someone thought of him.

Broly thought for a moment, then pointed his hand at the fire-starting branches.

"Bang~"

In an instant, the branches were blown to bits.

"Looks like even Broly can't do it."

"Just like with the shoes, even Broly has his limits."

The others glanced at Broly's tumbleweed shoes and nodded in agreement with Natala's comment.

Seeing the disappointed looks around him, Broly thought again.

"Let me try something else."

He adjusted his energy output, gathering a small amount of ki at the tip of his finger.

Then, he pointed it at a nearby mangrove branch.

"Sizzle!"

The spot where Broly's finger touched the branch began to smoke.

"Huh?!"

The children watched intently, their expressions tense.

[Start a fire, please start a fire!]

As if hearing their thoughts, the branch Broly had touched quickly dried out.

Once the last bit of moisture evaporated, a small flame flickered to life.

"It's on fire!"

"Yay~"

"Broly, you're amazing!"

Seeing the flame, the children cheered. This meant they wouldn't have to eat raw fish or expel parasites.

Broly was also pleased. He had learned how to use ki to start a fire. But as his excitement grew, the ki at his fingertip surged, turning into an energy beam that pierced through the mangrove branch, reducing it to ash. The flame, with nothing left to burn, quickly died out.

Watching the flame extinguish, the children's cheers stopped abruptly, and they all turned to Broly with pleading eyes.

"Let me light another one."

Broly scratched his head, pulled down a new mangrove vine, and tried again.

This time, he kept his ki under control, and the flame successfully rose.

Fish roasted on mangrove branches had a unique flavor compared to the fish from the forest.

"It's a bit spicy."

"That's the taste of the mangrove."

"Is it poisonous?"

"Slightly. It's a toxin the mangrove secretes to protect itself from insects."

"Huh?"

"Don't worry, as long as you don't eat too much, it's fine."

Hearing this, everyone relaxed.

"Hey, why are you chewing on the branch?"

At that moment, Kurome's voice rang out.

"It tastes good, kind of numbing."

Everyone turned to see Broly chewing on a mangrove branch.

"Broly, that branch is poisonous."

They rushed over to warn him.

"Poisonous?"

Broly smacked his lips, then nodded at the concerned faces.

"The poison tastes good. Want to try some?"

Broly tossed the chewed-up branch behind him.

Everyone looked and saw a pile of chewed-up branches already there.

"Are you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

Broly picked up a skewer of roasted fish, ate the fish in one bite, and then started chewing on the skewer stick.

The worried children exchanged glances, ultimately deciding that Broly's constitution was just different from theirs, allowing him to eat things they couldn't.

The roasted mangrove branches tasted a bit like spicy cinnamon, which Broly found oddly addictive at first. But after chewing too much, he started to feel nauseous.

For the rest of the afternoon, Broly stuck out his tongue, feeling as if he had eaten the concentrated essence of Vampa spider fluid. His mouth was unbearably bitter, and no amount of rinsing helped.

The poison might not have been lethal, but it sure made him feel awful.

"Tastes terrible."

After the Vampa spider series and other foods, the mangrove branches became the second thing Broly disliked eating.

Notably, the boiled green peppers he had heard about from Rin Tohsaka in the previous world ranked third, even though Broly had never actually eaten boiled green peppers.

"Rivalina, are we close to your tribe yet?"

The swamp was vast. Even after walking south all day, the horizon was still filled with mangroves.

The mangroves formed patches of land in the swamp, and they had crossed over a hundred such patches today.

"Should be in this direction, but I don't see any markers from my tribe."

Standing on a tree, Rivalina looked around but found nothing.

"Could we have gone the wrong way?"

"Possibly."

"But if we're looking for a tribe where people live..."

Nahashu glanced at Broly, who was floating listlessly nearby.

"Broly, you can fly. Can you go up high and see if there's any sign of people?"

Broly, still feeling off, agreed and flew up into the sky.

From his vantage point, he quickly spotted a group of people moving about on a large mangrove patch about seven or eight kilometers to the right.

Broly descended and reported what he had seen. Rivalina immediately jumped on him, wrapping her arms around his neck, and begged him to take her up to see.

"That's my tribe!"

Though it was far away and the sun was setting, Rivalina recognized the shape of the mangrove patch where her tribe lived—it looked like a large leaf.

"Traveling at night isn't practical. We'll probably reach there by noon tomorrow."

After estimating the distance, Nahashu calculated the time it would take based on their travel speed through the swamp.

"Tomorrow?"

Rivalina was disappointed. She was eager to return home.

"Actually, we don't have to wait until tomorrow. I can fly you all there."

Broly suddenly said.

"Huh?"

The children were stunned.

"But Broly, can you really carry all of us that far?"

"Probably."

Broly wasn't sure. He had never tried flying with such a heavy load before.