Ao was riding on Shiro as the juvenile dragon flew them over to their intended target, a cave where the illusive Puffer Whale is returning after a ten year migration.

As they flew Ao happened to notice an empty town in the horizon where a train had just arrived, and out of that train walked out a blue dot, there was only one other person Ao knew that had blue hair and so she directed Shiro to fly in closer.

~~~~~

"Toriko!" the man looked around hearing his name be called, eventually he spotted a white blob approaching closer and closer, and as it grew closer he saw it more clearly.

That it was Ao landing in on a White Dragon.

"Ao! What on earth is that? And is it tasty?!" Toriko asked a bit of drool coming out of the corner of his mouth as the large beast landed and Ao jumped off it's back.

"He is Shiro, a White Dragon i found as an egg in the cave under my house when i first moved there, and honestly i don't know what he tastes like, like i'd give you the chance to try though" Ao told him.

"What's a White Dragon?" Komatsu asked tilting his head.

"A winged dragon beast native to the Gourmet World" Ao said explaining him the simple version before turning back to Toriko.

"Any idea what's going on here? The whole town is empty" she said pointing to the deserted town.

"A certain fortuneteller had predicted that the city would be overrun with wild beast" Toriko said.

"I see" Ao said and then they heard footsteps approaching from the distance and out stepped a Kuendon, a pterosaur beast, capture level 10 roaring at them.

Shiro growled preparing to fight the beast but Ao held him back as a lone figure approached them walking down the street.

The Kuendon went to attack the man wearing all black with a green headdress and a green cape but something made it stop and walk away.

"I guess my prediction was right, i'll be visited by a pain in the neck but i didn't predict you'd drop by Ao" the man said smiling at the girl.

"Been a while Coco" Ao said smiling back at him.

"I'm glad we ran into you here, nothing less could be expected form the gentleman of the Four Heavenly Kings, Coco" Toriko said.

Coco chuckled a bit "The Heavenly Gluttonous King, Toriko! And of course our lovely Gourmet Queen Ao" he said bowing to the latter, Ao just smiled again in return.

"It's been a long time" Coco said, it had already been a week since they last saw each other when Ichiryu called them in on that meeting.

"Is this the person you wanted to meet, Toriko-san? The Heavenly King, Bishokuya Coco?!" Komatsu freaked out.

~~~~~

"We're just about to reach my home" Coco said as he lead the group up some steep hills, by now they were far away from the small town at the foothills.

"But why are you living in the town of divination, telling gourmet food fortunes?" Komatsu asked.

"Well i'm a fortuneteller by trade" Coco simply replied.

"A Heavenly King, is a fortuneteller?" Komatsu asked.

"Yeah, by the way how is Zebra doing?" Toriko asked turning to Ao, since he knew she'd probably know the best.

"He's doing great, considering he's still unfairly locked up in prison" Ao told him.

"So the black sheep finally got penned in" Toriko said as they came to a stop at the edge of a cliff.

"That sure brings back memories, training together in the garden, the five of us enveloped in a deadly struggle" he said a nostalgic look in his eye, the same with Coco and Ao as the remised on the good old days.

"Stories of days gone by ..." Coco trailed off.

"Yeah" Toriko nodded.

Then a massive shadow passed over head  " A giant crow?!" Komatsu asked as the crow circled them.

"So you came to greet us did you Kiss?" Coco asked the crow as it continued to circle them.

Shiro huffed, at Ao side, watching the crow and growled at the chance of a new challenge, however Ao placated him by simply petting his nose.

"Oh it's the ruler of the skies, the Emperor Crow, i thought it was extinct" Toriko said watching the avian beast as it came in for a landing, touching down next to Coco.

"His name is Kiss and he's a part of my family can you carry four people?" Coco asked and Kiss crowed in response but Shiro let out a small roar stepping infront of Ao.

The two beast stared each other down, as they were the same size this was a game of wills.

Ao just sighed "Sorry, he's just a bit protective" she said and again placated her animal companion.

They resolved the matter so that Ao would fly on Shiro while Toriko and Komatsu shared a ride with Coco on Kiss.

~~~~~

The group arrived at a lone house on an out cropping of rock, Coco's house and went inside to catch up and discuss life time menus while Shiro and Kiss resolved their stare down outside.

"Your decision to end the meal with Rainbow Fruit is quite fitting and just as i foretold" Coco said as the blue haired man filled up on food.

"And you Ao, how is your menu coming along?" Coco asked, even though both he and Ao knew he could see that, she still apprechiated that he asked.

"Well i have my drink and dessert picked, but there's still a lot to go, i have something in mind for the fish dish but i wanted to try the Puffer Whale first just to be sure" Ao said.

"That's right, you're a chef too so it must be extra hard for you to pick your menu" Coco said and Ao nodded in agreement sipping on tea.

Komatsu turned to Ao in wonder, he would have never guessed she was a chef.

"Yeah your meals are the best Ao!" Toriko grinned and patter her back.

Ao smirked a bit "You haven't tasted anything yet, i've gotten way better since those days as kids when we trained together" she said.

Toriko grinned as Coco smiled " Can't wait" they both said, Komatsu was curious too about Ao's cooking.

"What about you Coco? How's your course coming along?" Ao asked.

"Ah, my menu, The soup is made from tears of a Lee Dragon, the there's the Breo Swordfish Stake and so on, i want to put together a menu with a fine balance of nutrition, i've yet to decided upon the hors d'oeuvre, the main course or the drinks" Coco told them.

"Every ingredient has a high capture level, you can't even put a price on them" Komatsu muttered in awe.

"But that's not what you came here to discuss with me is it? Actually, you came here with a request for me to help you capture the Puffer Whale, right?" Coco asked.

"Well i at least didn't come here specifically for that, all this happened cause i coincidentally spotted Toriko leaving the train while i was on my way to capture the Puffer Whale" Ao said.

"It's a good thing you did, now you both can help me out" Toriko grinned.

"It's quite a difficult task, the Puffer Whale's poison is so deadly that if you took in as little as .2 milligrams, you would still die" Coco said.

"Yes, if you puncture a poisonous gland the meat will be exposed to the toxins and you won't be able to eat any of it, that's why it's so difficult to prepare" Komatsu said.

To which Ao discreetly rolled her eyes at, these amateurs didn't know the ways of Gourmet Luck, not yet anyway.

"The meat has become poisoned and oftentimes in the past and been sold in the black market" the tiny chef said.

"Anyway, the fact that people eat it despite knowing that it might kill them means that it must be good" Toriko argued a valid point.

"My chances of successfully capturing one and then being able to remove the poison glands are only 10% basically a 1 in 10 chance" Coco said trying to talk Toriko out of it.

"Those odds are good enough for me! Besides we have Ao with us too and what are the chances her odds are worse then yours?" Toriko asked as he continued eating.

Ao just sipped tea not giving away anything that would indicate that she knew a foolproof method for a 100% success rate, these two didn't need to know about the actual training or the countless near death experiences she had during said training.

"And there's some more bad news, the Puffer Whale lays its eggs at a depth of 800 meters , they are concealed deep within a labyrinthine, beast filled cave but the most dangerous beast is that demonic beast straight out of hell, the Devil Snake" Coco told them.

Ao nearly laughed, for Coco to be worried about a tiny devil snake, truly these amateurs still had a long way to go.

"A Devil Snake?!" Komatsu freaked.

"Yes, the Battle Wolf praised as the strongest creature since ancient times is on par with its ferocity" Coco explained.

This time Ao did burst into laughter, her whole body shook as she laughed more then she had in the past few years, eventually she calmed down.

"Oh gosh, sorry just" she snickered "It's just how you have the massive balls to say something like that when i know you have grapes" she laughed a bit more "To compare a minor reptilian beast like the Devil Snake to a Battle Wolf" she launched into another fit of laughter.

Again she eventually calmed down until her fit of laughter was just the occasional snicker.

"You don't think the Devil Snake is dangerous?" Coco asked.

"Please if that garden verity newt was ever dangerous then i'm a monkey's uncle, and i'm female! I mean do you even see the shadow of death on us?" Ao asked.

Coco took a minute to look at them before he smirked "How long has it been since i've done the work of a Bishokuya? I guess i'll join you" he said.

"I expected no less Coco!" Toriko cheered.

"We did it Toriko-san!" Komatsu also cheered.

As the chated Coco stood up, getting ready to leave and Ao noticed him take a closer look at Komatsu 'So the little man in on the chopping block it seems'  she figured from Coco's intense look, yet despite that they decided to forge ahead.