Toriko, Chapter 322: Seismic Tremors
Well, what a freaking bombshell of a chapter! After a bit more of the partying stuff going on, we see that the little Pairs hanging around the Birth Cry Tree, which look like planets and stuff, are all falling down. Apparently Bambina is filling the 'conditions' that a Kintamandrill can do as part of a courting ritual to cause the Pairs to become ripe -- to kiss someone of the opposite sex. In this case, Female!Zonge.
Livebearer and Match point out that while these aren't exactly the 'Real Pair', the 'Conventional Pair' are also super-special ingredients and whatnot and kissing seems to be too easy of a condition for them to be prepared, and Kaka confirms it -- for Kintamandrills of high capture levels like Bambina, all you have to do is to kiss. For other species, they have to eat each other. And they have to have the same level of Gourmet Cells and whatnot. Kaka then informs them that Acacia once met with the Blue Nitro regarding the cooking of Pair, and she's about to talk about the importance of the next dish in the full course, 'Another'.
Of course, this is a manga so we don't see the full explanation of this super-important and plot-relevant revelation, but rather we cut away to... Fake Kaka, who is still being blasted away by Bambina's monkey beam. He/She/It manages to deflect the beam into space, and meets up with this dark-furred Blue Nitro, who Fake Kaka calls Pair. Pair-the-Nitro notes how Bambino has changed his name and has grown a lot stronger since the two of them last fought. Fake Kaka gives some backstory -- apparently Bambina's ancestors drank the original source of Pair-the-soup until it ran dry, and starts calling Bambina and Heracles scum of the earth and whatnot. Really, Fake Kaka? You just got your ass handed to you by a goddamn monkey and he wasn't even trying.
Pair-the-Nitro and Fake Kaka talk about how the stronger the scum is, the greater the taste, and how Komatsu can hear voices from the back channel. They kind of decide to get back the recipes stolen by the three chefs (Real Kaka, Chichi and the unrevealed third one) and note that the next solar eclipse will be the last... and we get this unexpected ominous artwork of Acacia's scary face and Pair-the-Nitro notes how Acacia is tired of waiting for it as well.
Huh. So Acacia is evil? And in league with the Blue Nitro? That's weird.
We then cut away to... Sea Mountain! Where Buranchi (I know, I know, Brunch, but like Sani and Quinn, I'm more used to typing Buranchi) is delivering Air to Midora. This may or may not happen in the past or the present, the story doesn't really make it clear. Brunch demands answers, but we flashback to when Toriko first met up with Midora all the way back prior to the timeskip. Long story short, Toriko confronts Midora about Ichiryu, but Midora is mostly evasive about Ichiryu. He then tells Toriko about his goal, which is apparently in the past. He wants Acacia's full course, or at least the hors d'oeuvre. Toriko then offers to take care of Midora's future by delivering ever part of Acacia's full course to him. Which is kind of weird but we all know Toriko's a little bit weird. Not quite a big fan of this development, but, hey, Toriko's made an alliance out of Midora and Midora is the lesser of the evils at this point.
Buranchi demands to see the other chefs and kind of tells Midora that he doesn't trust him... and Starjun appears, informing Midora of Buranchi's identity. Midora mulls over how Toriko has only captured one ingredient, and how Area 6 is close to the Bishokukai base. He also mentions that a Bishokuya cannot do anything in Area 6... why, we don't know. But Midora is dispatching Starjun and Buranchi there to get Another.
I am... all for leaving the main cast behind and have a couple of chapters just starring Buranchi and Starjun, really.
Kaka then talks a bit about the Blue Nitro's goal, how with the next Solar Eclipse, 'it' will have undergone the last heating adjustment, 'it' will become ripe and 'it' will collapse. And then Kaka drops the bombshell that the Earth is being cooked.
Well, so Earth is a giant Pair, then? I mean, the Pairs all already look like little planets. And the Blue Nitros, these gourmet nobles and shit, they're basically Galactus? They turned the Earth into what it is now by injecting gourmet cells, and now they want to eat it? Is that why NEO wanted to escape Earth? So many questions. And that's not taking into account everything regarding the origin of the Eight Kings, Pair-the-Nitro, Acacia possibly being in league with the Blue Nitros, Acacia being alive at all, Starjun and Buranchi teaming up and Toriko's little alliance with Midora.
Man, we went from gender-bender comedy to this gigantic bombshell of a chapter. Toriko is such a freaking weird yet awesome manga.
No comments:
Post a Comment