Hunter X Hunter: Gourmet Age

There is a large storm brewing in the darkening evening sky, with thunderous roars.

Lightning would beat the tiny island with resounding noise, and there were its sparks.

The heavy waves crash on the sandy beach as the wind blows with strength in the dark evening.

"Kara! Come over here!" A man called out to his wife.

"It's a boy!" The woman lifts the boy who has fainted on the sandy beach with her thick arms containing strength.

The young boy was lying face-first on the sandy beach. When she picked him up, she could feel the coldness like ice on his skin.

Touching her forehead, she could feel the heat from there like a fever, "Minato, he seems to have a fever. Let's get him inside quick."

From her touch on his body, she could still feel that the boy was alive, and there was a vital strength inside him. A power that is keeping him alive still despite the fever.

Soon the couple brought the child back to their own home and placed him on the sofa with a warm towel on his head.

The wooden home by the beach has warmth as the fire cracks with a soft sound by the fireplace.

They are overlaid with wooden flooring and picture frames on the wall. And other objects carved out of wood were set on the table.

Cough Cough

The boy coughs for a bit as the fever declines, and his complexion regains more color.

"Water," he called out with his soft voice as he was still sleeping, finding his body relaxed in the warmth of the home.

A girl with short black hair around the same age as the boy rushed to the kitchen a short distance away. She was bringing a warm cup of water to his mother and father.

Her eyes looked at him with a hint of warmth and worried inside as she stood close to watch as her father held the cup.

The boy opens his eyes and looks cautiously as he sees the strangers around him.

"Where am I?" He asked as he saw the family looking at each other with a smile seeing that the boy had woken up.

There was a tired tone to his voice as the fever had not subsided yet. But in his heart, he could feel like he could trust these strangers. And that they mean him no harm.

"You're at Gourmet Island," the father said with a gentle smile as he took the warm towel. He was wiping away the tiny beads of sweat on the young boy's forehead.

"Luckily, Marina found you outside by the sea," Kara said to him. Koji guessed that Marina was the young girl's name by his side, looking at him with concern.

His eyes looked at the family of three with gratitude, "Thank you for rescuing me."

"It's nothing," Minato said, "Where's your family? I should notify them that you are safe. They must be looking for you everywhere right now."

Upon hearing the word 'family', they could see his face contain an expression of sadness and grief.

"My family? I don't have a family anymore," Koji said, looking at the white blanket with black stripes. "My mother died when I was three, and I never knew who my father was."

The father and mother looked at the downcasted face of the young boy with the same hint of grief.

Five years ago, he was reborn into this world from a woman's womb. That time with her wasn't exactly a happy memory. His mother had to raise him in the slum of the world.

They didn't have a home to sleep in, and they would only find a place in the city's dark corners.

He would watch as these wealthy and influential people walked with confidence. And while he was wearing ragged clothes that his mother got from the garbage piles on the outskirt of the city.

Poverty is hard to endure; he couldn't even beg for money at a young age. And the other beggars would cause trouble and steal away the money he begged for.

Shortly after coming into the world, he discovered that this was the world from Hunter X Hunter. The more he eats and the more powerful the ingredient, the stronger he grows.

The System gave him a newbie gift of power like gourmet cells upon his birth.

After that day, he never heard from the System again, no matter what method he tried.

Upon his third birthday, his mother brought him bread to celebrate. Seeing that poverty-stricken body and those tired eyes, he felt heartbroken. Wanting to share the food with her, but she was stubborn and told him that she wasn't hungry.

The following day he found his mother's body lifeless and no longer breathing. He learned from the gossip of the other beggars that his mother stole them from the market. That explains why he noticed the scars on her dead body.

Burying her body in the soil, Koji cried with sadness and left behind all the tears.

He felt sad that he could not have done anything for his only family member.

At the same time, despite the power to grow stronger upon eating, he couldn't use it at all.

He couldn't find enough food to eat, and sometimes, he would starve at night. The only food was the leftovers from the garbage at the restaurants. But how could his mother ever win in a battle for food against the others in poverty?

The people who live in the slum of this world are so poor and hungry that some go crazy and even eat their siblings.

The margin of life difference between the standard class and the poor is vast. And the living condition is like comparing heaven to hell. That's the only way to explain it. It was no life at all.

"I'm sorry about that," the mother said, then looked at her husband. And the two seem to be speaking to each other through their eyes in an understanding way of what the other is thinking.