#but to be fair..... the toriko timeline gives us the strangest and most seemingly irrelevant pieces of information ever

[incorrect-toriko-quotes]

Do you have any ideas/headcannons on what age the kings and Rin were when Ichiryuu adopted them? I'm trying to figure it out, but having a hard time. The one panel I remember from the anime/manga of the kings as kids shows them to be young, and if Coco was labeled a dangerous beast at 11/12, they must've been brought in before that. But then, there is a seven year age gap between Coco and RIn, so was she taken in really young? Thoughts?

Actually, I do have some headcanons on this!

After checking the Official Timeline, I realized Shimabukuro never gave us a canon year (I guess that'd make it too easy, lol) anyone was adopted on. (I've also seen headcanons that everyone was taken in at different times, but I'll get back to that later).

(Yet another essay-long theory under the cut!)

(Image taken from Volume 29 "The World's Greatest Bishokuya!!" -- I don't remember which chapter specifically, but it was the cover page for a chapter)

So, let's take a look (briefly) at the timeline of events here

473 GA — Coco is born (2 years older than Toriko)

475 GA — Zebra is born (3 months older than Toriko)

475 GA — Toriko is born

476 GA — Sunny is born (1 year younger than Toriko)

480 GA — Rin is born (5 years younger than Toriko)

485 GA — Coco is classified as a Dangerous Beast (aged 11/12 ... more on that here)

500 GA — Series events begin

I used the same logic Anon did! That is, narrowing it down to a window of "when are the earliest and latest points possible?" and working from there.

First, let's look at the earliest possible date...

As Anon said, Rin would've had to have been born by then. She was born in 480 GA. We know she was adopted with the Kings, so the absolute earliest they could've been adopted was 480 GA.

Now, as some Toriko fans might already know, Rin was born on December 20th. That leaves 11 days left in the year. As I've brought up in previous Coco theories, this seems to indicate that the odds of them being adopted in 480 are pretty slim.

But! There's one notable difference here!

Unlike with Coco being classified as a "Dangerous Beast", we actually have a date (though not a year) that everyone was adopted on. As you might recall, Mansam said that they were adopted during one of the IGO's humanitarian Christmas missions. The fact that they used a pre-existing holiday instead of making one up for the Toriko World seems like it's pretty safe to say that, in the Toriko World, Christmas still falls on December 25th.

Therefore, we can't dismiss 480 GA as being too unlikely, as Rin was born before Christmas Day.

Now, let's look at the latest possible date...

The earliest interaction between the kids and the IGO (AFAIK) is, as Anon said, when Coco was classified as a "Dangerous Beast". This was in the year 485. However, as I've previously said, it seems that this decision wouldn't have been made on a whim — we've all seen the things that the IGO deals with regularly. However, as I've mentioned we also don't know when in the year this took place.

Though it's possible that the IGO declared him a "Dangerous Beast" at the end of the year, that still only leaves them 6 days at the most to make that declaration.

Remember that Coco was declared "Dangerous" after extensive experimentation made it clear that he was, in fact, dangerous. (At least, in the eyes of the IGO — who are canonically established to be quite thorough in terms of their R&D.) Also recall that Coco gained his poison abilities through mithridatism. That is, low-dose exposure over long periods of time.

I think it's clear where I'm going with this. The odds of this occurring in 485 GA are slim to none.

Now, how can we narrow it down?

I think I've made it clear, it's decently safe to rule out the year 485. Though it's not impossible, it's certainly implausible.

I also don't find it all too likely that Rin would've been 5 days old when she was adopted. She would've been less than a week old, which raises the question of where her biological parents were. Considering the state of the country Sunny and she lived in, it seems unlikely she would've survived had she been born to a single mother who died in childbirth (after all, newborn babies are notoriously helpless and need constant tending to, which I find unlikely an also-starving 4-year-old Sunny would be able to provide). And going off the theory that the kids were abandoned due to their Gourmet Cells and never-ending hunger (which is actually a theory I personally find very, very plausible), there would've been no way of telling if Rin had the cells at that age, as she didn't have any physical markings (ex. Sunny's hair, Toriko's scars) that are present at birth. However, it's worth noting that if we go off the idea that Sunny and Rin are full siblings (not half-siblings, as many theorize), then it's also possible that their parents realized that she, too, had the cells, and abandoned the two of them together.

However, we also find that the likelihood might also decrease the older everyone gets.

Going back to the point about Coco, we know that the IGO puts a great deal of time, effort, and money into R&D (this might warrant a later analysis). We also know that the IGO (to the surprise of precisely nobody) has a great love of bureaucracy. The need for thoroughness in research, when paired with the infamous slowness of large organizations' bureaucracy, seems to indicate that there might have been several years that passed before Coco was deemed "Dangerous".

In conclusion?

Technically speaking, we can narrow the year range down to 480⁠–485. This is the widest possible range.

However! We have one key detail to help narrow this down: Everyone was adopted on Christmas Day.

To make a long story short, there's basically no way they were adopted in the year 485.

Additionally, the odds seem to increase as you approach the middle of the range.

Therefore, I'd say the most likely years that the kids were adopted are the years 482 and 483. Firmly in the middle, as seems the most likely.

(And, to answer Anon's other question: Yes. Rin was taken in really young. Between 5 days old to 5 years old 4 years old. It's unlikely she remembers like prior to being adopted by the IGO)

However, this is just based off of what I came up with. There might be more information I've missed/forgotten/skipped over. Additionally, some of the points I brought up to narrow down the range are completely debatable (and potentially debunk-able). As I've said, this is just my theory.

As always, I'd love to hear everyone else's thoughts, opinions, and theories! Remember: I am in no way, shape, or form the authority on anything here. I'm just a normal fan like the rest of you! (Just... maybe one with a bit too much time on my hands)