The leopard-man's physical attributes far surpassed a human's. With enhancement from Aura and a single-minded focus on escape, he vanished from Law's sight within a few seconds.
Law slowly suppressed that difficult-to-acknowledge thought, withdrew his gaze, and walked towards the wooden box.
The sudden attack by the leopard-man gave him a new understanding of this sea of trees.
Compared to the various strange and bizarre plants and animals, perhaps the demi-human Magical Beast Race was the most threatening presence.
If that leopard-man had a settlement within the tree sea, there was no guarantee he wouldn't return with companions.
Given the current situation, this was a concern he couldn't guard against. He had to stay in the tree hole and wait for Biscuit and the others to wake up.
'The area near the tree hole was basically already investigated, and I had gathered information on some highly dangerous plants and animals. There was no need to explore deeper now.'
Picking up the wooden box, Law didn't hurry back. Instead, he slowed his pace, doing his best to eliminate traces on the return journey to reduce the chance of being tracked.
Returning to the tree hole, Kuro approached him expectantly, "Well? Did you find the vegetables and fruits you wanted?"
Law put down the wooden box, "Got everything."
Hearing this, Kuro's silver eyes sparkled, light flashing between his lips and teeth… that was drool.
Law glanced at the fire. Only embers remained, on the verge of dying out.
'This guy, couldn't he add firewood on his own?'
Law shook his head slightly. He initially thought about gouging wood from the tree wall but reconsidered, as doing that continuously wasn't a solution. He looked at Kuro and ordered, "Go outside and find some firewood. The more, the better."
"Isn't there some here?" Kuro pointed at the tree wall, looking reluctant.
"We might have to stay in this tree hole for a while," Law said, looking up at the ceiling. He started to explain but abruptly felt it unnecessary and changed his tone, "Less nonsense. Just go."
For the sake of that chicken, Kuro was rather straightforward. He turned into black smoke, drilled out through the ventilation hole, and headed outside, though he cursed Law incessantly in his heart.
Back when digging the tree hole, the situation was urgent, and Law had forced him to swallow the dug-out wood.
Now, short on firewood, he had to go outside to chop more.
Kuro cursed Law while chopping trees.
…
Inside the tree hole, Law took out the ingredients from the wooden box, then crushed the box and threw the pieces into the fire.
Soon, the flames grew again, dispersing the cold within the tree hole.
After leaving the underground world, he didn't know how the seasons changed on the Dark Continent. He only knew the daytime temperature wasn't high now, and it got particularly cold at night.
Law checked on Biscuit and the others' condition, then gave them some more water.
With the miraculous water algae, water wasn't a concern at all.
Over ten minutes later, Kuro returned to the tree hole empty-handed, as the chopped firewood was stored in his spatial ability.
"How much did you get? Take it all out," Law said.
Kuro readily took out all the firewood, which occupied over half of the tree hole's area.
Looking at the small mountain of firewood, Law rubbed his chin and started renovating the tree hole.
He first used his ability to extract moisture from the wood, then fashioned it into furniture like tables and chairs.
The experience gained from building the Slu Tribe's settlement came in handy. Renovating a tree hole was now easy. It didn't take much time to complete, and the tree hole looked completely renewed, with the atmosphere of a small living quarters.
The remaining firewood wasn't put back into Kuro's storage… it was piled in a corner, ready to be added to the fire anytime.
"When are you cooking that chicken?" Kuro asked.
Law glanced at him without a word and directly left the tree hole.
Kuro watched Law leave, swallowing back the drool gathered in his mouth with difficulty.
A while later, Law returned with a particularly clean gray stone.
He had specifically washed it before bringing it back.
Moving the stone next to the fire, Law focused his Aura, cut part of the stone into an oval shape, and stacked two layers around the fire.
Then, he created a large, simple and unadorned stone pot.
Seeing Law make a stone pot, Kuro's eyes lit up with anticipation, like dying embers rekindling.
As if knowing what Kuro wanted to say, Law touched the stone pot and said calmly, "I won't cook that chicken until Biscuit and the others wake up."
"Why?" Kuro was anxious.
"Haven't I said it many times? The true essence of good food lies in sharing," Law said, moving the stone pot aside.
"But you also said ingredients shouldn't be stored too long, or they'll lose some flavor," Kuro really didn't want to wait.
"Right. So before Biscuit and the others wake up, I'll use the method I learned from Linne to try and lock in the ingredients' flavor as much as possible," Law said, picking up the remaining stone and cutting it into thin, flat bricks to attach to the tree hole's walls and ceiling.
Kuro knew hoping to eat the chicken soon was hopeless and looked thoroughly depressed.
Law wasn't considerate enough to worry about Kuro's mood. After attaching the stone bricks, he brought the ingredients from Pearl Flower over and placed them on a wooden table.
The emerald green leaves carried the unique fresh scent of plants.
The translucent fruits were neither too big nor too small, their color somewhat similar to red grapefruit flesh, also emitting a pleasant fruity fragrance.
Finally, the rice grain-sized seeds. Law wasn't sure if they could replace 'rice', so he felt full of anticipation for the dish he would make later.
'Vegetables, fruit, rice, a whole chicken… the four key ingredients were all ready.'
'Spices were also available in abundance.'
Law suddenly looked at Kuro and said, "Take the chicken out."
Hearing this, Kuro took out the whole chicken.
Law took the chicken, placed it on another wooden table, checked the amounts of vegetables, fruit, and rice, and estimated silently.
'Aside from having some extra leaves, the other materials should be just about enough.'
For the next ten days, Law slept only two or three hours a day. When awake, he used the method taught by Linne, covering the ingredients with Nen to lock in their flavor. Kuro was responsible for vigilance.
Those ten days were uneventful. Most creatures here seemed to have a strong sense of territory. The large creatures active on the vast rocky ground mostly didn't come into the forest, and the forest creatures mostly didn't leave.
Therefore, located at the forest's edge was a relatively safe place compared to other locations.
Furthermore, the leopard-man didn't come to attack, which was also fortunate.
This period passed without incident, but Biscuit and the others hadn't woken up yet, demonstrating the terrifying aspect of the Mirage Ticks.
Even after perfect removal, there were still aftereffects.
Another two days passed, and Biscuit finally woke up. Law explained the whole story to her and gave her a small sachet containing the Mirage Tick powder to carry with her.
Realizing how close she had come to dying in her dream, Biscuit felt a lingering fear… truly a hair's breadth from death.
Five days after Biscuit woke up, Bruna and Tonpa also woke up, each looking bewildered.
With everyone awake, Law prepared to cook that chicken.
Having traveled with Law for so long, they had gained some experience in identifying ingredients.
Now, looking at the fruits and vegetables on the wooden table, just smelling their natural fragrance was refreshing and delightful.
'Vegetables, fruit, rice, chicken… what could be made from these?'