And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

Seriously. NEED A BETTER TITLE. HELP. *cries*

Title: Little Pines (working title, looking for a better one!) Part 2a
Fandom: Toriko
Rating: PG-13 because Zebra has a potty mouth.
Summary: As a landlocked chef, Komatsu has never really fit in the world of the Gourmet Empire. Can an encounter with a mysterious stranger, an accidental abduction, and a whole new world of adventure help him find his place?
Warning: Toriko Pirate AU. Do I really have to say anything else? *facepalm*

Part  1A: For Goodness Steak!

Part 1B: Pasta la Vista, Baby!

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The floor woke him. Actually, if Komatsu wanted to be specific — it was the motion of the floor (instead of the floor itself) that woke him.

Floors, after all, normally didn’t normally move up and down. Swallowing, Komatsu winced at the soreness of his throat. What’s going on? Why is the floor moving? What happened?!

Last thing that he remembered was ….

Komatsu felt every last one of his muscles cramp as the events from last night came flooding back. The stranger. His restaurant. The fire!

“ACK!” he yelped as he tried to sit up. Unfortunately, due to the movement of the floor and his own, already abused body, he could barely mange to flop over on his other side. For a long moment, Komatsu lay there, staring at the beams of the ceiling above him. Outside, he could hear the distinct slosh of water and the creak of settling architecture. He could smell the tang of the salt water … and something else.

Wait a moment, Komatsu’s brow furrowed in puzzlement. Are those mint tulips I smell? And that definitely sounds like the buzzing of grapebees. Are there high class ingredients around?

Sliding his gaze to the right, he could just make out the shadowy shapes of an innumerable amount of boxes, barrels, and crates — all of which bore the imperial mark as well as a Class 10 ingredient insignia.

Wait, Komatsu’s chef’s instincts immediately roared to the fore. Class 10 ingredients?! THOSE ARE RARE INGREDIENTS!

This time, he was successful in rolling upwards into a sitting position. Wide (and possibly a little starry) eyed, Komatsu took in the sights and ingredients around him. He seemed to be in a floating warehouse of some sort. If he had to guess …

I’m in an imperial ingredients delivery ship! he felt his mouth drop open. That mysterious stranger must’ve stuffed me in here. AAACK! WHY would he do that? If I’m discovered here by the sailors …

Komatsu’s face paled. If the Empire thinks I’m trying to steal high class ingredients, they’ll send me to Honey Prison!

The very thought made his knees wobble. Komatsu had to stuff a fist in his mouth to keep in his horrified screech.  It took another few minutes of panicked shaking and mumbling before he finally got his nerves back under control enough to check out his surroundings.

Maybe if I explained I didn’t sneak on here but was put here by a mysterious cloaked stranger who wanted to use my knives and burned down my kitchen after tasting my sauce …

Komatsu winced. Okay, maaaaaaaybe I need to work on that explanation. Slowly, carefully, he pushed one of the crates towards the porthole he could see just above him. Climbing on, he peered out.

An endless expanse of waves greeted his sight. There was no sign of Haute Harbor. There was no sign of any land at all.

What am I going to do now?! he thought frantically as he climbed back down. Even if I can hide away until we get to a port, and sneak off the ship …

Komatsu blinked, hands fisting at his sides. Then what?!

He could not go back to Haute Harbor — his restaurant was no longer there and everyone probably thought he had died in the fire. And something … somebody … doesn’t want me to cook there anyway. They could have killed me last night! But they didn’t, because they wanted to test my knives or something.

I’m so confused.

 Komatsu sat down, pulled his knees to his chest, and buried his head in his arms. I’m stuck. I can’t go forward, but I can’t go back.

All his life, he had known what he wanted to do, where he wanted to be, how he was going to get there. But now …

At least can’t possibly get any —

“PIRATES OFF THE STARBOARD BOW!!!” came the bellow from the megaphone stationed above him.

— worse. Oh crap, it just got worse! Flinching, Komatsu curled tighter into a ball as the wooden beams above his head began to creak and vibrate as hundreds of imperial gourmet sailors began to race to their posts.

“IT’S THE BON APPETIT! MEN! TO YOUR BATTLE STATIONS! SHOW NO MERCY!”

Ohcrapitycrapcrapcrapitgot… wors-er! Komatsu smacked both of his hands against his face and forced himself to his feet. 

Not only am I stuck onboard an imperial delivery ship, I am stuck on board an imperial delivery ship about to be raided by the FOUR KINGS OF HELL!

But … aren’t all high class imperial ships escorted by at least four Imperial Marine warships?! Maybe that’ll make a difference —

“WATCH OUT! THEY’VE JUST SUNK OUR FOUR IMPERIAL MARINE WAR SHIPS!”

Waaaaaaah! Ohcrapitjustgottheworst-est! Komatsu looked around frantically. The ship began to rock chaotically as the Imperial sailors fired their cannons, but he had a feeling that it was going to be of little use against pirates who had managed to sink four warships in a matter of minutes.

WhatamIgoingtodowhatamIgonnado?! If the Imperial sailors find me, I’m going to be sent to Honey Prison! If the Four Kings find me …

His stomach roiled at the very thought. Komatsu could barely keep his footing as the ship rolled and banked, trying to evade being captured by the pirates.

I gotta hide!

Clapping his hands over his ears to drown out the sound of weapons fire and the cursing screams of the sailors, Komatsu forced himself to concentrate. His eyes scanned the boxes, barrels and crates, quickly considering and discarding possibilities.

 No, not the tiger-foxes; even if they’ve been knocked, they’ll rip me apart. Gaah, is a Troll kong really in that box?! I definitely do not want to hide with those sizzle lizards; I’ve had enough of being tossed in a fire!

Suddenly, his gaze landed on a small sized box located near him. It didn’t have a label nor did it have a imperial seal designating its ingredient class. But something deep within him tugged him towards the box, almost as if the ingredient was calling him.

“WE’RE BEING BOARDED! ALL HANDS ON DECK!”

There was no time left. As best he could, Komatsu stumbled over to the small crate, unlatched its top, and crammed himself in. He had a brief impression of two wide, bead-black eyes above a thin, pointed beak before he closed the lid.   

Please be knocked! Please don’t eat me! He thought frantically as he again curled into a small ball next to whatever was in the crate.

“Yun?!” something poked him in the back. Komatsu froze for a moment, but whatever it was didn’t seem to want to really hurt him. Seemingly unafraid of Komatsu, the creature gave him another tentative poke, lighter this time. “Yuuuuuun!”

“Shhh!” he shushed it frantically. “There’s a battle going on above, and you don’t want the Kings finding you or they’ll eat you!”

Actually, now that I think about it … maybe hiding in a box with a rare ingredient wasn’t the best idea — Komatsu didn’t have time to reconsider, because at that moment, he heard the distinct sound of the door to the storeroom being blasted open. The force made his ears ring. Komatsu curled into an even tighter ball.

“Hah! I knew I smelled the ingredients being stored here! Sunny, pick it all up!”

“Shut up, ya oaf, an’ quit orderin’ me ’round!”  

“Ooooooh, mint tulips, grapebees and sizzlelizards! But leave the troll kong … we can’t eat that!”

“I wouldn’ pick it up even if we could. Who’d want a disgustin’ troll kon’ anyway —”

“Ehhh, that’s odd.”

“What now?!”

“I smell a baby wall penguin in that box. But there’s something else  …”

“Well, you can’t eat a baby wall peng’n!”

“I know! But grab that box anyway. Better hurry … Zebra’s probably bored already and you know how he gets.”

“I swear, that brute has no sense of refinem’nt!”

Komatsu had to bite his sleeve to stop from screaming as the box he was in was suddenly lifted upwards. The motion, however, was gentle and smooth, almost as if the box was floating. Around him, he could hear the sound of wood shifting and creaking, as if the other ingredient containers were being lifted.  Then came the sensation of horizontal movement. The box (with him … and apparently a baby wall penguin) was being carried out.

 Am I being … I am being abducted! SOMEHOW! ACCIDENTALLY!  Komatsu bit down even harder on his sleeve in terror. The sounds of battle suddenly became louder — maybe the box was being carried above deck?! The chaos passed quickly though; there was a sudden stomach dropping sensation of falling, but instead of an expected splash of the box hitting the ocean, the smooth horizontal motion continued.

What’s going on? Komatsu wondered as the baby wall penguin snuggled into his back, letting out an occasional happy sounding “yun!” Unlike him, it did not even make a single squeak when the box was set down with a loud thunk. The sound was echoed by several other loud thunks as well. Did someone just carry all the stock away from the delivery ship … onto a new ship?! But how?

“Why did you bring that particular box, Sunny?” he heard another voice ask. It was a rather pleasant sounding voice, smooth and cultured. Still, it did nothing to soothe Komatsu’s rapidly escalating fear.

“Ask Toriko. He’s the one who wanted it. Says there’s a baby wall peng’n in it.”

“It’s not the wall penguin I’m curious about,” said the other man.

“Eh?”

“Nevermind. I assume that now you’re here with the ingredients — as well as the extra load, Toriko and Zebra should be finishing with that imperial ship?”

“Yes — you know how that disgustin’ ape of a man gets when he’s bored. You don’t ev’n need your predictin’ powers. ”

“Hmm,” was all the other voice said. “Speaking of which … in 3-2-1 …”

Komatsu nearly bit through his sleeve when a loud BOOM!  reverberated across the waves. A few seconds later, the deck swayed wildly as the shockwave hit.

By the time his ears cleared, he could hear the slapping sound of wet footsteps on the deck. Apparently, Toriko and Zebra (Komatsu cringed at the very thought of those names) had finished with whatever made the explosion and had now arrived back at the ship. And now, if his hearing was right, they were approaching the very box he was cowering in. Maybe they won’t notice me?! he hoped.

“Hey, why the fuck did you bring that box over there, pretty boy?!” came a loud, grating voice. “It’s just a shitty wall penguin and … seriously, what the fuck?!”

Oh no oh no oh no ….

“Hmph! I don’t have to answer uncultur’d brutes!”

“You want to fight?!”

Oh no. Oh NO! Komatsu panicked as loud footfalls thundered slowly toward him. Reflexively, he clutched the penguin and curled tightly around it with his body. It cooed in delight. Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasedon’tletthemfindme.

However, whatever was controlling his luck for the past forty eight hours didn’t seem inclined to listen to his pleas. Without warning, the lid to the box was flipped back. And even though he had to throw up an arm to block out the sudden influx of bright sunlight, there was no blocking out the ring of rather infamous faces who were now peering down at him. He had seen their pictures often enough on wanted posters and in the headlines.

In the span of a single day and night, he had lost his restaurant, become an inadvertent stowaway on an Imperial Delivery Ship, and now he had been accidentally abducted.

By the Four Kings of Hell.

The stranger had told him that he was extremely lucky. Komatsu couldn’t help but feel all the luck he had was probably bad.

—————

Part 2B: Fires and Frying Pans

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Yup. Hear that sound? The sound much like a tiny little brain breaking? Yep, that’s the sound of Komatsu meeting his destiny. XD Finally! I wanted to get to the part with the four kings, at the very least.

I’m thinking about releasing the next small part either today or tomorrow, before I have to go back to work, but we’ll see. It was about this part that the story picked up and got really fun (and fast) to write.

Also, I am writing this on Wordperfect and it’s been doing some CRAZY things with autocorrect. I promise I usually don’t substitute words like “snack” for “snicker” and such … if there’s some bizarre word replacements, please let me know.

This chapter also has WAY too many italics, which I had to redo by hand. Maybe that’s a sign for me NOT to rely so much on that crutch. *Groan*

Well, let me know what you think, or if you’re reading (please be reading. Someone. Somewhere). If you can help me think of a good title, I’ll erm … offer you chocolate, cookies, and perhaps an extra side fic? XD

Thank you for reading anyway. :)