Éclair was still unconscious, but she could hear muffled words around her. ~Mostly the voice of Toriko. The woman tasted something delicious touch her lips. It was other worldly like something she couldn't comprehend. It was then that she started to feel like herself again. It felt like she was actually in her own body, but at the same time not. She could feel her hands subconsciously guiding Toriko's to find her heart. She could feel herself smiling at the man, "Don't let go of me, okay? ~Never." She was coming back, and blood was racing through her veins.
The woman's body lifted a bit and she inadvertently inhaled. Her profound blue eyes opened and looked around. Before she could do so much as crack a smile, she felt the cool air touch her bare skin. Éclair covered herself, "Don't look at me! I'm not decent!" An interesting set of first words she chose. Once she looked around she just didn't care anymore. Hell, it was the same as being in a swimsuit anyway. "Guys!" She wrapped her arms around each and every one of them until she reached her partner.
"Toriko!" She'd give him a long embrace and he'd reciprocate. "Éclair! I thought you were dead!" She'd pull away and look at him seriously, "Make no mistake Toriko. I did die. It's weird though. Something else was destroyed instead of me." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a shattered jewel type thing. "I don't know what it is, but it saved me. Someone put it in my pocket or something." The bluenette took a closer look, "Mhmm. It's the charm Mappy gave me. I left it with you, and I didn't really know what it did."
Coco looked at the woman "Earlier, your electromagnetic waves disappeared." Toriko's eyes amplified a bit, "You~ your words from earlier. They were genuine; when you were saying goodbye." The blond's face turned a bit red, "Oh no! W-what did I say!? I got real sentimental huh?" She pinched her partners cheeks and mocked her own voice, "Eww, was it something like oh Toriko I love you so much and I'm gonna miss the times you'd tell me bed time stories when I couldn't sleep in the Gourmet World?" He'd ruffle her hair, "It was something like that."
Éclair rubbed her chin for a moment, "But I do remember grabbing your hand. I remember saying that I never wanted you to let go." She'd wipe away the bluenette's tears, "Let's stop crying now okay? All of you, even you Zebra. Just because you're quiet doesn't mean I don't see you crying." The large king scoffed, "I ain't crying, it's from that damned plant! It's the pollen from the Sandoriko plant. Their pollen makes you cry non stop, and your nose run."
The blond woman took a peek at the plant. "Mmm, now it all makes sense. I thought I heard a very low melody. ~That plant's an ingredient. I'm pretty sure if you eat it the effects will reverse." The kings looked over at the plant and immediately began to chow down. Sunny smiled, "It's so good! Leave it to Muffin to figure something like that out!" Toriko gave the girl a half squeeze, "Looks like your ability to hear ingredients has grown sharper. "She'd nod, "I heard many different melodies, but the one that was most clear is Pair. I'm sure of it. It saved my life."
Coco agreed, "Yes, it saved all of us. The Sandoriko plant has a 100% fatality rate. Though we hadn't tasted Pair yet, it kept us hydrated through sound, smell, and touch." Toriko looked back at the woman, "It was also thanks to Pair that we weren't killed by the Monkey King. ~We were saved by the ingredient once again." The black haired king pondered, "But why did it fall from the Monkey King's crotch?"
Before he could ponder it too long, the ground beneath them began to shake. "Whoa!" The woman shouted. Sunny stood up quickly, "Leave Pair to me!" Toriko nodded and pointed, "Alright! Poof, protect Éclair!" The woman's eyes lit up, "My baby!" It was then that she found out the true ability of the Wall Penguin. It was a camping monster. She smiled, "I'm so proud of you Poof Ball! Now let's get out of here!" Before the penguin did anything, she listened to the words of the kings. This place seemed to be the tomb of the Monkey King's lover. Now wasn't the time for questions. Though Éclair was completely lost, she couldn't question it. It seemed as though they came to a revelation on their own terms.
They made all of a few steps down 100g before they came upon a hurting Den Shark. It was all thanks to him that they made it safely to their destination in the first place. Leaving him there was not an option. Wielding her Melk blade, Éclair stepped out of the safe zone. "That's a nasty little wound now isn't it? Sunny, all I need is a drop of Pair please." With it she was able to use the Dark Technique and get the camping monster in tip top shape again.
The woman backed off a little, "Haha! Den Shark you're so ugly when you smile like that!" Sunny ran beside the girl, "Whoa! Muffin! When did you learn to do that, and why haven't you given yourself a new hand yet!?" She'd shrug, "I learned it at the Cooking Fest. I needed to help Toriko, and so I kinda just~ ya know~ did it. As for my hand." She'd press the center button and release the glove from her hand, "It's been regrown for quite some time now, actually. Still, it's much weaker than my left hand. Even if it wasn't weak I'd just wear this thing because it was a present from Ichiryuu. It holds significant importance to me." She'd allow the glove to slip back on and attach to her once more.
Coco nodded, "Yes, and your knife is also made from the tooth of the Dragon King Derous. It has healing properties." She'd look back at her partner as he hugged the Den Shark. "My best work with the technique was when I healed Toriko though. It's probably the reason why my hand is still so weak. Den Shark feels all well and good thanks to Pair, not necessarily me." Sunny looked at the camping monster, "My question is, who carried him and his other parts up here?" The blue haired man replied, "It was Terry and the others. I can smell their scent on it. Looks like this is where we part ways. Seems like they didn't plan to leave the mountain with us."
After a long while of being silent, Zebra spoke, "Doesn't matter. Let's just get off this mountain so we can drink Pair." Toriko peered back at the shark, "Looks like we're going to have to get down using our own power. Den Shark only JUST got healed, and Poof is too small for us to all fit inside." Sunny began to freak out a bit, "What!? That will take days! What if we run out of Air!? We'll die!"
Unexpectedly they heard the sounds of the monkeys from this land behind them. Éclair gave a loud shriek and ran behind Toriko. She didn't care who they were, she just wanted to be out of their eye line. The man frowned a bit, "Wait a second, how the hell are we gonna get them down too!?" Sunny pointed, "We don't have a camping monster that can carry you all!"
Their attention was diverted by a large cloud being overcast. The gorillas began to get a bit rowdy and excited. Coco narrowed his eyes, "I see, it's the camping monster that the monkeys of this continent rode in on." Toriko pointed over, "Grab the tray Éclair, let's get a reading on this thing, Riddle Chapter." The woman's face turned in a bit of disgust, "Whelp, apparently it's a Kintounko. To put it bluntly, it's cloud of poop. ~Poop cloud. ~Yep, a big ol' poop cloud."
Coco began to walk toward it, "We can use this to get back to the ground level. Everyone get on." The blond was not happy as she ran onto the poop. "Eww, it smells! I remember what it felt like to be a smelly character, don't you Toriko!? This stench better not hold!" She scrunched her nose, "Should I be worried that these monkeys are following us?" The blunette shook his head, "No! Allow me to introduce you. Éclair, these are monkeys." Her eye lids lowed, "Really now Toriko? I couldn't tell at all from their chimp like exterior. Nice to meet you Ukikiiii, and Oh oh oh, and Ukiiiiiih." He'd give the woman a light noogie, "Don't make fun. ~They saved us. If it weren't for them, we wouldn't have been able to learn Enbu. ~Alright now everyone! Hold on tight! We're heading right for the Birth Cry Tree at the Zero Mountain Range!"
The freckle faced woman held on tightly to the waist of Toriko. It was then that she noticed, "What happened to your arm!? Oh my goodness! Has it always been like that!? Was I just oblivious this whole time!?" Sunny shook his head appallingly, "You just barely noticed that right now? Your timing is awful Muffin." Toriko agreed, "How did you not see this Éclair? The monkey king ripped it off. What else, did you not notice the large scar on your chest either?" She looked down and gasped, "What the hell is this shi~ No I'm kidding of course I noticed this hideous scar on my chest."
She didn't want to be so vain and bring all the attention to her scar. She hated it, but there were way bigger things happening right now. Toriko was missing an arm, and they were getting ready to share Pair with everyone. Toriko smiled brilliantly, "It's the Birth Cry Tree! All of the monkeys of this continent are waiting for us! Let's try this soup together!"
Sunny looked over at the bluenette, "Oh right, catch Toriko. Satan Vomit." Sunny tossed Toriko's arm, and it seemed as though it was all ready to attach back to him. Putting his arm back in its place was simple. His cells were urging to reattach. Éclair immediately swung her knife at the seal, "This might hurt a little sweetheart! Dark Technique!" Thanks to the forbidden technique and Toriko's strong cells, he was patched up in little to no time at all.
The blue haired man yelled "Yeah! It's all fixed! Thank's Éclair! Now let's go see the progress of Pair!" They walked over to the surface where Pair was being extracted, and to their dismay, it was none at all. The Kings began to freak out as it seemed that no one would taste any of Pair at this rate. Sunny clenched his fists, "There are billions of monkeys from this continent that gathered here just to taste this soup! But who knows how long this will take!?"
"I can answer that question." Kaka came from behind the group "It takes approximately 2 hours for Pair to produce enough for one person. For 5 billion people however, it will take 1,141,552 years. But considering the various sizes of the monkeys, it will take over 200 million years." Everyone turned around to see the hermit, and immediately Zebra took a guarded stance.
As he walked over to her, Éclair yelled to the man, "Whoa! Don't do anything unforgiving now! That Taste Hermit saved my life. I met Kaka in the Soul World, and that's where I learned to prepare Pair." Kaka continued forward, "Yes, and now I will tell you how to cook Pair. ~But before that, there are many things I need to tell you." Toriko smiled nervously, "Well for now can you please just tell us how to cook Pair?"
The taste hermit nodded, "Sure. In order to extract Pair, you must prepare a large bowl where you stir it for 5 hours. Immediately from there you dry it in the sun for 10 hours, and then pound continuously for 25 hours. After that you stare at it for a full day without blinking. Boil it for a week, and then dry it again." Toriko began to pull his hair, "Pound it for 25 hours and stare at it for over a day!? There's seriously this many things!?" Kaka nodded, "Yes, and I'm still not done."
Éclair squinted her eyes as she took a closer look at Pair. She didn't mean to ignore Kaka or anything, but she definitely heard something coming from this ingredient. "Hmm. What is this hole?" She held her knife to the spot, "Maybe if I give it a good~ cut?" As soon as her tongue finished the T sound, Pair came flooding out." The Kings as well as the monkeys of the continent rejoiced in the delicious flood that was Pair.
Toriko grabbed himself a bowl and turned to the dumbfounded Kaka, "That's the power of Éclair. Now let's start eating this soup. You all ready!?" Everyone sat before their bowl, and the blond girl smiled. "I give thanks for the vast bounty this food treasure provides. Itadakimasu!" She's put her lips to the bowl and took a drink of the soup. This was no normal soup. This was the soup of all soups. There was a reason Acacia found this fit to be on his Full Course Menu. Tears welled up in her eyes. There was no describing the taste, or the feeling for that matter.
She looked over at Toriko who didn't quite have the reaction she thought he would. He leaned over to her "Éclair! What the hell happened to you!? You've got a boy chest!" She rolled her eyes, "Oh goody! Just when people stopped thinking I was a boy for 2 seconds I can count on my partner to remind me that my boobs aren't that big!" He pointed, "No, I mean you literally have a boy chest, look!" She set down Pair and grabbed her bra covered chest, "My livelihood! I know they weren't huge, but I liked them just they way they were, and now they're gone!"
The small woman pointed at her partner, "Look who's talking big boobies boy!" She looked around and everyone happened to have changed sex. Kaka looked at the group, "Don't worry, if you eat another mouthful you'll go back to as you were. More importantly, two sides of the same coin doesn't just mean male and female. It means life and death. You should all see the World of Souls. This is the Back Channel. All of the people from the past civilization have gathered here."
The freckle faced girl widened her eyes, "Whoa! I guess being a man really has its perks." The woman's back straightened a bit as she heard the sound of people talking. "Clair!" She heard her name being called, and there was only one person who would ever call her that. Her eyes amplified as she waited to see the face of her sister and the Chef's of Human World!