Episode 137

Charmy's Century of Hunger, Gordon's Millennium of Loneliness (チャーミー百年の食欲とゴードン千年の孤独) is the 137th Page of Yūki Tabata's Black Clover.

Summary
While the rest of the Black Bulls have been training to improve their combat abilities, Charmy Pappitson has been working to improve her cooking and its ability to enhance her friends' mana. She creates a magnificent feast for her squadmates, and it does indeed massively boost Magna Swing's, Luck Voltia's, and Noelle Silva's magic power. However, they lose control of themselves and start wrecking the base, despite Asta trying to stop them. Charmy is not satisfied with the results and wants her food to do more, so she goes to the Royal Capital and visits Jamo. She begs him to train her, and he agrees after seeing her determination. Jamo asks Charmy what her end goal is, and she explains that her magic allows her to make food that can restore and enhance the eater's mana, and that she wants to make food that can put her friends' magic in overdrive.

Jamo has Charmy undergo intense physical training, believing that she will not be able to improve her culinary skills by training her magic alone. Afterward, he sends sends on a quest to find three very rare ingredients: to the desert highlands for the bulb of a Mentanpin Mandoradora, to the middle of the sea for the Noonesheardofthis Coelacanth, and to the snowy mountains for the hide of a Surprise Yeti's rump. To Jamo's shock, Charmy returns to the capital with all three ingredients in tow. Although she collapses into Jamo's arms out of exhaustion, she still intends to use the special ingredients to make the ultimate meal for her squadmates that night.

In the Black Bull base, Charmy presents her dishes, which all look absolutely disgusting. As such, the Black Bulls all try to come up with excuses for why they cannot eat it. Asta acknowledges Charmy's effort and is willing to eat the dishes, despite how unappetizing they appear. Jamo begs the Black Bulls to eat, knowing what Charmy went through to make the dishes. Before anyone can eat, however, the three dishes come to life and join to become a giant food monster. Finral Roulacase manages to get everyone outside the building before the meal monster can hurt anyone. Jamo refers to the monster as "Demon Food", a phenomenon that occurs when a massive amount of mana combines with the love of a devoted friend.

Yami Sukehiro arrives and tells his subordinates to destroy the monster, but the monster starts absorbing everyone's mana. Yami tells Asta to handle the situation, since he does not have any mana to absorb and because he has an Anti Magic Sword. Asta is hesitant, knowing how hard Charmy must have worked on those dishes. Yami decides to handle it himself, but Asta stops him. Asta charges toward the monster and starts eating it. The part that Asta bit into starts leaking mana back into the air and into the other mages. Charmy joins in the eating as well, not wanting Asta to be the only one who gets to enjoy the food.

The other Black Bulls, now rejuvenated, help eat the monster as well, but they all end up fat and tired afterwards. Asta tells Charmy that this food was different from what she normally prepares; normally he can taste the love that she puts into her cooking, but he did not taste it this time. As Asta apologizes for sounding rude, Charmy and Jamo realize they forgot the most important thing about food preparation: making the eater happy with the meal.

Some other time, Gordon Agrippa tries training with Asta. Although Gordon goes all out, he is easily defeated, which causes him to believe that he is not strong enough to fight alongside his squadmates. He remembers that before making friends with the Black Bulls, being alone helped him to be strong and stay sharp, so he decides to isolate himself. He leaves his collection of Black Bull dolls behind with a note that reads, "Please don't try to find me." As he heads out, he remembers that Mereoleona Vermillion conquered the Grand Magic Zone when she was younger and that helped her to become as strong as she is today. Gordon thinks that a Grand Magic Zone might be too much for him, so instead, he goes to the Forest of Poisonous Magical Beasts.

At first, all is going well, until a couple of monkey-like creatures steal his backpack full of provisions. Three days later, Gordon realizes that he is at his limit and decides it is time to return to the base, but he is lost. He makes a campfire and carves new Black Bull dolls out of wood. He starts talking for them and fears that he is going insane. A large purple wolf appears from the shadows. Gordon tries to attack the beast, but his poison does not even bother it. He then gathers up his dolls and runs away.

Gordon manages to find a lake full of clean water and refreshes himself while wondering about how his friends might be missing him at that moment and about the good times they shared. When he hears a noise coming from the bushes, he thinks his friends have come for him. Instead, the wolf from earlier appears with another wolf many times larger that the first, and Gordon quickly realizes that the bigger wolf is the mother. Back at the Black Bulls base, Yami holds up a piece of paper and tells his subordinates that they have to go before it is too late.

Gordon tries attacking the wolves, but his magic still has no effect. The fear of the mother wolf killing him makes him realize that being alone does not make him strong; working with and protecting his friends are the sources of his strength. With this clarity came a second realization: the wolves are actually tame and are just retaliating against his own attacks. He apologizes to them, acknowledging that they are as much citizens of the Clover Kingdom as he is and that attacking them was the worst thing he could do as a Magic Knight. The wolves guide Gordon out of the forest, and Gordon finally realizes that he could not beat them with his magic because they are immune to poison.

Leaving his wood carvings with the wolves, Gordon returns to the Black Bulls base only to find it empty. Gordon assumes that everyone has gone looking for him and flies out on a broomstick to search for them, intent on rescuing them if need be. However, the Black Bulls are eating at a restaurant that is having a 90% off sale to push excess ingredients. As it turns out, the Black Bulls never saw Gordon's note, or even noticed that he was missing.