Night falls on Hungry Island as the group finishes off their feast. However, they are not alone...
Terry begins to growl, and the others realise that both Nami and Komatsu have disappeared. The ground by Komatsu's knapsack is covered with footprints, and Toriko identifies them as belonging to a pack of level 3 creatures called Cocoalas. They're inedible, but cocoa beans grow out of their backs. He continues to explain that they take their prey back to their nests, which are located in Multitude Fruit trees, fruits which apparently taste like melons, watermelons, mangoes, and apples all at once. He quickly identifies two giant Multitude Fruit trees growing on top of a mountain in the distance, and the group heads out.
After facing natural obstacles such as a geyser of hot chocolate and a whipped cream river, the group is attacked by a pack of Caste Leos which use their manes as speakers to amplify their roars. Toriko defeats one of them with his San Ren Kugi Punch (Triple-Nail Punch), but a group of larger lions emerge from the forest. This time, they are saved by allies and fellow Gourmet Hunters of Toriko, Sunny, a man with rainbow-colored hair, the turbaned Coco, and a gushy woman named Rin. After explaining that they came looking for Toriko after hearing that he was going after the Hungrida Bird, they offer to stay behind to fight off the Caste Leos so that the others can rescue their friends. Or friend, since Toriko is more focused on the Multitude Fruit than Komatsu.
The Straw Hats and Toriko reach the base of the Multitude Fruit tree to find a whole pack of Cocoalas waiting for them in addition to a much larger, more monstrous level 5 Knock-Out Koala holding Nami and Komatsu hostage. The Knock-Out Koala proves to be more than a match for Luffy and Toriko thanks to its size. However, using the tree and Luffy's rubber body as a makeshift slingshot, Toriko is able to eventually bring the beast down with one Kugi Punch (Nail Punch).
The trees begin to wobble dangerously, and as the other Gourmet Hunters arrive, Toriko yells for everyone to get down the mountain.
Eyecatches: Luffy (twice)
Once they get a safe distance away the mountain erupts like a volcano, but spews caramel instead of lava. Coco begins to explain the island's secret; due to a typo made by the transcribers of the legend, the secret incredient on the island wasn't the Hungrida Bird, but actually the island itself, for its true form is that of a massive pudding a la mode dessert, with the Multitude Fruits being the literal cherries on top.
So naturally it isn't long before the entire mountain is eaten to the ground.
And the remaining Straw Hats on the Sunny and Toriko's Gourmet Hunter friends are left wondering who the other group is.
I'll admit right now, the second half of this apecial did little to change my previous opinion. Once it became clear in the very beginning of the second half that this was going to become a "save the damsel(s)" routine I couldn't help but feel just a little cheated. For a story like this, did it really need to be an hour long? They had roughly an hour to work with. The early One Piece movies managed to come up with more intricate plots than this with roughly the same amount of time. And what was the point of introducing the other Gourmet Hunters if they weren't going to do anything important? It didn't help that the art quality took a noticeable dive and became very rough. But I will admit that I got a kick out of Sunny having the same voice as Ivankov (Mitsuo Iwata, incase anyone's forgotten).
In the end, this experiment could've been so much more than it turned out to be. It's a real shame, but outside of the literal X Meets Y, there's not much here of substance. Watching One Piece or Toriko seperately is a better usage of time.
