~Recap~

Toriko and Komatsu went out in a search for the rare Puffer Whale that appears once every ten years, along the way they met with a familiar face, Ao the Gourmet Queen and Coco on of the Four Heavenly Kings.

Together they ventured into the Cavern Labyrinth and began the dangerous decent into the darkness which few ever return from.

Suddenly Komatsu had vanished without a trace and then they were attacked by the Devil Snake.

~End of Recap~

Toriko and Coco started at the humongous Devil Snake in awe, while Ao was less then impressed by it.

"You call this a garden verity snake?!" Coco asked turning to Ao, amazed at the sheer size of the Devil Snake.

"No, i'd hesitate to call this one even that, this one is more like a juvenile garden verity snake" Ao said.

"Ao! You go find Komatsu, we can handle this" Toriko told her with a smirk on his face.

Ao looked between him, Coco and the Devil Snake and concluded that even amateurs like them should be able to at least take on this juvenile garden verity snake.

"Alright, i'll leave it to you!" Ao told them before running off in search of Komatsu.

Just then the Devil Snake let out a screech that reverberated through the entire cave and with a giant rumble the mouth of the cave collapsed into a heap of rumble.

~~~~~

Ao began to see the light from Komatsu's helmet so she figured she must be getting closer to the little man so she decided to pick up her pace a little.

Then just as she found Komatsu the little man was facing a Demon Devil Snake, the true ruler of this cave.

Komatsu used the noise bomb Toriko had given him earlier but as he had fumbled in getting the ear plugs in he actually died from the resulting shock.

The noise bomb had no effect on the beast however, and so as it went to attack Komatsu, Ao stepped in between but before she could make a move she heard a hiccup.

"That sure was noisy, what was that sound? People are enjoying Puffer Fin Sake over here" A voice familiar to her said.

Ao glanced over her shoulder to see the Knocking Master Jirou, or as she liked to call him uncle Jirou.

"I got this uncle Jirou, you just watch" she told him with a confident smirk turning her attention back on the Demon Devil Snake.

"Alright but i'll be right here just incase" Jirou said sitting down on the ground and drinking his sake.

Ao drew her long shiny silver sword from it's decorative scabbard and held it in her free hand as the Demon Devil screeched at her in an attempt to intimidate the young woman.

The blue swordswoman merely smirked "How cute" she remarked and tightened her hand around the handle of her sword and glared at the snake, an effeminate blue demon looking creature with no features other its cold glowing empty eyes manifested behind her.

Ao's appetite demon.

The Demon Devil Snake was not deterred or rather it chose to fight over flight and attacked Ao.

Ao jumped high up dodging out of the way of the attack and with one graceful yet mighty swing of her sword she lopped off the snakes head killing it instantly.

"My my Ao-chan, that was spectacular, how you've grown since we last met, you're really making me feel my age here" Jirou said as he walked over to Komatsu to revive the young man.

"Don't say that uncle Jirou, you're still young at heart" Ao smiled at him as she cut up the snake into manageable chunks to be stored and sold away at the market for later.

Jirou used a small shocker to restart Komatsu's heart and fixed his eardrums before waking him up.

"You should savor this second chance at life" he told the young man.

"Erm, who are you?" Komatsu asked, looking around for the Demon Devil Snake and spotting it right away next to Ao, dead and being chopped to pieces.

"Doesn't matter, i'm the one who saved your life" Jirou told him.

"You wouldn't have a body to save if not for me" Ao chimed in.

"Nah uh i arrived just in time to stop the snake before you did, i could have knocked it out" Jirou argued.

Ao narrowed her eyes and for a moment the two had a stare down but Ao backed down before their demons would pop out and scare Komatsu, although that would have been hilarious.

"Uhm" Komatsu said bringing the attention back to him "Thank you both" he said and bowed in gratitude.

"Okie dokey, be careful okay?" Jirou said as began to leave but came to a stop as if remembering something.

"Oh right, there's something strange headed towards the sandy beach in the cave, so you might wanna head out as soon as you catch your Puffer Whales" he said waving over his shoulder as he disappeared further into the cave.

~~~~~

"Komatsu!" Coco called as he and Toriko came running over.

Komatsu was just sitting on the ground, not a scratch on him while Ao was still cutting away at the Demon Devil Snake.

"Toriko-san, Coco-san!" Komatsu greeted, his eyes growing teary before he burst into a crying fit and clung onto Toriko.

"I was so scared!" Komatsu cried.

"I'm glad you're okay" Toriko said a smile on his face.

"Well, actually i was dead for a minute" Komatsu corrected.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Toriko asked.

"I was saved by Ao and an old man" Komatsu said.

Toriko and Coco turned to Ao as she was busily cutting up the snake still "It's true" she simply said and Komatsu told them what happened after they separated.

"Whatever that thing he warned about is, we'll see for ourselves when we get to the lagoon" Ao said deciding she had enough snake meat to make a decent profit and stepped away from the corpse and cleaning her sword.

"Whoa Ao, just what did you do during these years?" Toriko asked looking at the Demon Devil Snake corpse in awe.

"I trained" Ao simply replied sheathing her sword away.

"That was undoubtedly the Knocking Master Jirou" Coco said.

"Wh-who is that?" Komatsu asked, Ao suddenly looked at him as if he had two heads.

"A legendary Bishokuya, the Knocking Master Jirou, his Lifetime Full Course Menu is made from phantasmal ingredients that few people in the world have ever tasted, their capture level are immeasurable" Coco said and went onto list the full menu.

Which Ao tuned out as she knew it by heart and had eaten it in full.

"I thought i smelled something familiar, he's that old man from the train who wanted sake" Toriko said.

"But i heard he retired years ago" Coco said.

"He did but that doesn't stop him from going out to hunt for a drink whenever he feels like it" Ao told him.

"That's true, he is known as a heavy drinker, he probably couldn't resist the Puffer Fin Sake you can only get once every ten years, how about we get some too! Let's get going!"Toriko excitedly announced with a grin.

"Right!" Komatsu said and thus they continued to move on as a group.

But not before Komatsu went back for his helmet.