Meanwhile, Azuma has run off to Izu to find something for his Japan, and runs into a kind sushi chef who gives him some food. From this, Azuma gets the inspiration to use wasabe in his bread so that it doesn't mold. He goes to his grandfather's home in Izu (his other grandfather, not the one he lived with before) and creates a special board for later use, which he wraps up and takes with him, and returns to the SoPan store. Both he and Kawachi pass the preliminaties, and it's off to the competition!
The first battle is about to begin when some losers of the prelims show up, wanting another chance. Kuroyanagi doesn't want the scum in the competition, but Azuma sides with one (strangely enough since the poor boy looks like a pig Azuma had at home...), so Kuroyanagi lets the one back in. The first battle is a battle of knowledge, as several different butters are spread out and butter rolls as the theme. The competitors are to pick which butter to use, make a butter roll, and then they will be judged. Azuma mistakenly picks margarine instead of butter (which really pisses off Kuroyanagi), but passes anyway since, well, he's Azuma. At this point we meet Mizuno Azusagawa, Tsukino's little sister, and really a little brat. The battles from now on in the Newcomer's Battle will be one-on-one, and Azuma's going up against Mizuno in a melon-bread battle, her specialty. The kind sushi man shows up again, giving Azuma inspiration for a sushi-type melon bread that topples Mizuno's, so she says that her employee, "Koala" (a giant man with a Koala mask) will get revenge for her. Meanwhile, Suwabara (looking for revenge for the kurowasan battle) has been flying through his matches, and a newcomer named Kanmuri has been winning by default...
Now we meet an angry baseball fan, a foreigner who is fluent in Japanese... Spencer Henry Hoko, otherwise known as Shachihoko. He'll be Azuma's next rival in the new battle, a yakisoba battle! They don't get to make the bread, but rather the yakisoba that goes with it. So, the Manager takes Kawachi and Azuma to his friend, Ryuu-san, who is an ex-assassin and an expert yakisoba artisan... and he has to teach them well, since Shachihoko is a yakisoba champion! Kawachi is good with yakisoba, since he can cook outside of bread, but Azuma needs some encouragement... so, taking his hint from the Manager's tough love, Kawachi gives Azuma an idea for a okonomiyaki-style yakisoba on flattened bread. Lucky for Azuma, this skyrockets him to the win over Shachihoko's dirty little yakisoba reaction. Next Azuma will have to battle Koala... and Koala's identity is revealed! It's Mokoyama in disguise- after being fired from St. Pierre (for losing the tv battle), he went to Mizuno's store and she hired him. He'll be a formidable opponent in the battle that is animal bread! And this time, it's the finals... so they're bringing in more judges!
The new judge turns out to be Deebu, an old mangaka so fat, he has to be lifted in through the wall on a crane. Kawachi, this round, is going to face off against the small competitor whom Azuma stood up for in the beginning of the newcomer's tourney- a "boy" who turns out to be 32, married, and dirty. Kawachi puts his all into making an adorable, clever "crab" bread (where the legs move in a cute way when you push on the bread!), but the battle is really over before it even begins, since the "boy" is so dirty, Deebu loses his appetite and Kuroyanagi gets pissed, so Kawachi wins quickly. Meanwhile, Azuma has his hands full battling Koala/Mokoyama, and we're notified that the winners not only get prize money and bragging rights, but the first and second place winners get to go to France and study there abroad for a while and any place winners can opt to go to the main store as employees- something Kawachi's only been dreaming of. Azuma and Koala's battle is heated as Koala braids bread together to form dragon scales, but suddenly Azuma whips out Japan #8, a colored turtle bread that wows the judges. However, the battle ends in a tie, and Azuma only wins when Koala admits defeat, stating that he lost his will and passion as breadmaker, thanking Azuma, and going off to rediscover his passion for baking. Azuma moves up to battle Suwabara, and Kawachi gets to battle the new stranger who hasn't had to bake yet- Kanmuri Shigeru, who is working with the eldest and most evil Azusagawa sister, Yukino.
Here, we learn some information about Tsukino's mother.... she was the father's lover, and died from cancer. Yukino (being who she is), interrupted the funeral for Tsukino's mom and scattered the mother's ashes around on a tree. ;_; Cruel, cruel, cruel. We also find out that she's a backstabbing, sabotaging kind of gal, who is paying for Kanmuri's research in return for his winning the battles for her. End character development for the time being.
For these very elite last battles, the Meister and owner Azusagawa are brought in to be in attendance. The themes for the final battles are open-ended, choose-it-yourself battles. Since Kanmuri has a special kind of yeast, Kawachi gets ready with his own kind (meaning a yeast that the Manager developed years before). The battle begins, but something isn't right... Kawachi's bread won't form any sort of shape! The heat in the room keeps getting turned up at Kawachi's request, but nothing works, and Kawachi passes out from the temperature, losing the battle to Kanmuri. Later we find out that Yukino sabotaged the dough (through an SP guy), then threw said SP guy into a machine where he was ground up. o__O Yikes.
The Azuma vs. Suwabara battle, at last Suwabara can have a chance to get revenge! Nope, not if Azuma has anything to say about it, because he's bring out the board he made with his grandfather- a petalite board. Bread made on this board is so good, it sends people who eat it to heaven- and that's just where Kuroyanagi and Deebu go. They go and then come back, and immediately declare that Azuma is the winner- now the only battle left is the one between Azuma and Kanmuri. But when Azuma leaves his petalite board in the oven and Yukino finds it... all hopes of a repeat of his heaven-sending bread are shattered (literally).
Since Kawachi now gets to fight Suwabara for 3rd place, the Manager deicdes Kawachi needs something new.... so, he sends him to a strange church where Kawachi gets a fro and learns not to be a "WHAT?!" person. Kawachi returns as a new (and strange looking) man.
The final battle, and this time the Meister is the judge rather than Kuroyanagi. Azuma's intent on winning, and Kanmuri just wants to have a fair, one-on-one battle, with no interference from Yukino (however, since she wrecked the petalite board, that intention is kind of ruined). But it's a great fight, with Kanmuri using all of his knowledge and skill and Azuma coming up with the winning bread- bread with double gluten! (For more on the reaction, see the Japan dictionary). Azuma is declared the winner, and (since Kanmuri lost), Yukino blows up the labratory where all of Kanmuri's work was (so sad!). We move on to the Suwabara and Kawachi battle. In their battle, there's a lot of "WHAT?!" that goes on, but in the end Kawachi, through perseverance and hard work, topples Suwabara's "dancing french bread" with his own "singing french bread". In the end, Azuma is in 1st, Kanmuri in 2nd, and Kawachi in 3rd. Kanmuri opts to give the trip to study in France to Kawachi, asking if instead he can transfer to work at the Southern Pantasia store, since Kawachi has decided to work at the main store as part of his prize. All is well... until Kanmuri breaks some news to the crew- Yukino is plotting the downfall of Pantasia!
Kanmuri lets the SoPan workers in on his plan- when Azuma, Kawachi, and Suwabara (who also got a France trip) go to study, they will enter in the Monaco Cup, a notorious gambling competition for bakers under 22. Kanmuri doesn't tell anyone but Kawachi about the trick, however- to get the odds enough against them, Kawachi is going to have to be the "10 Billion Yen Clown", and disgrace Team Japan enough in the tournament that loads of people will bet against them. To get the money to enter them, however, Kanmuri is risking everything- including Tsukino's emergency money for the SoPan store. Tsukino is wary of this and wants time to think and Kawachi isn't sure about making an idiot of himself in front of tons of people... what will happen will be disclosed in the Monaco Cup Arc!