Age 753, May 6th.
Papaya Island.
It was the last day of registration for the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament. Tomorrow, the competition will officially begin.
Talot and his group had arrived early, treating it like a family vacation.
In truth, they were just here to join in on the fun. After all, even if it was Earth's greatest event, the martial artists on Earth were still far too weak.
Of course, Talot was here to witness the unfolding of the story as he cared greatly about the growth of Krillin, Yamcha, and Tien Shinhan.
It should be remembered that he had once given guidance to Krillin and Yamcha, and even exerted pressure on Tien Shinhan.
As for Great Demon King Piccolo, Talot had already sensed his aura appear two days ago. Just like the original work where he was prematurely released by Pilaf and his gang.
Though quite weak, he was still overwhelmingly strong compared to Earthlings, so his aura wasn't hard to find, especially since it shared the same origin as Kami.
Raditz and Salari weren't aware of this. Otherwise, they too could have detected it.
It's worth noting that Vegeta and Nappa had not yet arrived, at least not in time to disrupt the tournament.
Judging by the aura's trajectory, Talot estimated that they would arrive in three days.
Perfectly missing the critical point in the storyline, which meant things wouldn't deviate too far from the originally fixed course.
Once these few days passed, Vegeta and Nappa's arrival might even let Earth step directly into the next era ahead of time.
...
Outside the venue.
After Goku finished registering, Talot's group soon saw the arrival of Master Roshi, Yamcha, Krillin, and blue-haired Launch.
It seemed that even after separating from her blonde counterpart, blue-haired Launch had returned to Kame House, just like in the original work's early days.
Everyone had some kind of relationship with Talot. Especially since Talot had once gained training insights from Master Roshi, and Yamcha and Krillin in turn had received Talot's guidance.
A mutual growth of sorts.
What surprised Talot, however, was that Master Roshi's power level had risen to 400 over the past three years. He remembered it being only about 195 three years ago.
Which proved that if Master Roshi ever truly trained seriously, others wouldn't stand a chance.
Great Demon King Piccolo? He'd be nothing but an insect.
Even more surprising were Krillin and Yamcha's power level, reaching 330 and 300 respectively.
If they hadn't brought back Goku early to teach him, he himself at best would only reach around 400, not much different from Master Roshi.
Talot had essentially pushed this world's Earth straight into the opening era of Z.
With this level of strength, Talot almost felt worried for Great Demon King Piccolo.
After greetings were exchanged, Talot and Master Roshi shared a glance, and of course, Talot once again helped cover up Roshi's plan to disguise himself as Jackie Chun.
That said, Roshi had probably already seen Goku's current strength, so whether he participated or not no longer mattered much.
Still, knowing Roshi's personality, he'd probably still want to test his disciple's strength firsthand.
It must be said that, as a master of martial arts, he's always carried himself with the demeanor of a grandmaster.
Talot wouldn't interfere. He actually wanted to see how things would unfold.
Finally, Talot also saw the arrival of Tien Shinhan, Chiaotzu, and their master, the Crane Hermit.
Crane Hermit's power level was 120. In the past, that would have been enough to dominate an area of Earth and be considered as a master of martial arts.
But now, he was simply too weak.
Chiaotzu's power level had already reached as high as 150.
Compared to the original work, he was clearly much stronger.
As for Tien Shinhan, it wasn't for nothing that Talot had once toyed with him. His strength had skyrocketed over the past two years, enough to rival Yamcha and Krillin who had received Talot's guidance.
However, he was still slightly behind, with only 280.
It wasn't certain whether he could even defeat Yamcha, whose power level had already reached 300.
In the original work, Yamcha was defeated by Tien Shinhan, even breaking a leg.
If he remembered correctly, the original work's Tien Shinhan had a power level of 180.
By relying on himself to train hard, he had practically defied fate. If not for the protagonist group's "cheat" advantages, Tien Shinhan could have been the true chosen one.
When the two fellow students met, Master Roshi and the Crane Hermit still carried irreconcilable grudges.
This naturally caused their disciples to be as incompatible as fire and water.
Only Talot and his group remained uninvolved, completely unaffected by the disturbance.
During this, Tien Shinhan's gaze briefly fell upon Talot, but after just one glance, both sides dispersed.
Taking the opportunity, Talot suddenly remembered something, and explained to Raditz and Salari that Tien Shinhan was not an Earthling, but a Triclops alien.
Upon hearing this, everyone was stunned.
Of course, after all these years, Master Roshi had long since realized that Talot and his group were aliens, but Krillin and Yamcha had no idea, nor did blue-haired Launch.
Shock was inevitable.
Luckily, Tien Shinhan hadn't heard this. Otherwise, he might have started doubting his very existence.
But before long, Tien Shinhan would inevitably discover the truth about his origins.
Master Roshi, just like in the original work, would surely recognize his talent, even going so far as to throw his own match in order to guide him back onto the right path.
...
In the blink of an eye, the next day arrived.
Because the preliminaries were closed to the public, only contestants and staff could witness the matches. Outsiders had almost no chance to see the battles inside.
A total of 182 contestants entered, split across several arenas, from which the top eight would be decided!
It was essentially a knockout round designed to eliminate the weaker contestants and save time in the tournament.
Certainly, it was a bit unfair to ordinary contestants, but the World Martial Arts Tournament had always been a contest of the strong.
By the end of the morning, the preliminaries were finished.
Out of 182, only eight remained. Just like in the original work: Yamcha, Tien Shinhan, Master Roshi, Man-Wolf, Krillin, Chiaotzu, Pamput, and Goku.
Among them, Man-Wolf at least had some skill, enough to be considered a martial artist.
But Pamput was purely lucky to advance. In the original work, he was knocked out cold by Goku in just three moves—a true weakling.
Still, for someone like him, reaching the top eight was enough fame that can benefit him for a lifetime.
In fact, if not for the name Pamput, Talot might have wondered if he had some connection to Mr. Satan.
When the preliminaries ended, the quarterfinal matchups were announced after the lunch break.
However, an unexpected turn of events surprised Talot.
The storyline that should not have changed had somehow veered off course.
Originally, it should have been Yamcha vs. Tien Shinhan.
But instead, it became Tien Shinhan vs. Master Roshi, and right in the very first match!
Yamcha was paired with Pamput, Krillin against Man-Wolf, and finally Chiaotzu versus Goku.
If he hadn't already anticipated that the plot could change at any moment, he truly wouldn't have been able to accept it.
If, as a transmigrator, he were at this level of strength and also participating in the tournament, this change would undoubtedly be like facing someone starting with a royal flush!!
Since his very first match was against Master Roshi, the master of martial arts, Tien Shinhan, who already knew his opponent's identity, opened the fight going nearly all-out.
The battle began much like in the original work, but this time, Roshi was clearly far stronger. Even though Tien Shinhan had reached a level comparable to his original work's self three years later, he still had no chance against Roshi's 400 power level.
Holding back his full power, Master Roshi fought while guiding him.
To Roshi, Tien Shinhan was much like Goku, an alien visitor who grew up on Earth. From him, Roshi sensed the potential for Earth's martial arts to continue into the future, and so he held back, refusing to crush him outright.
Because of this, it looked on the surface like Tien Shinhan was gradually gaining the upper hand, but in his heart, he knew the gap between them.
In truth, his goals in entering the World Martial Arts Tournament were threefold: to make a name for himself, to avenge his master's younger brother Mercenary Tao, and to face the master of the Turtle School.
But after this fight with Roshi, Tien Shinhan suddenly realized just how weak he still was, and from Roshi's words, he understood how naïve he had been.
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