"Ah-woo! Ah-woo!…" The young, lean, and skillful swordsman with flowing black hair held a large bag of steaming hot buns, munching one in his left cheek and another in his right, puffing his cheeks out. His narrow, slit-like eyes were completely squinted in satisfaction.
Seeing someone blocking his way ahead, Yajirobe quickly freed one hand and tapped the hilt of his sword at his waist. With a clever wrist movement, he slid one of his twin iron blades from his belt—but the sword didn't fall out. Instead, it seemed stuck to his hand, flipping and swirling as if glued, the sheath barely moving an inch.
Swish, swish, swish—while one hand continued to stuff hot buns into his mouth, the other performed several flashy sword flourishes, then lightly rested the blade on the shoulder of the person in front.
"Move aside! Ah-woo…" he mumbled unclearly.
The crowd, seeing Yajirobe's imposing aura, quickly parted to either side. But the times had changed. Martial artists had come out from the shadows into the open, yet they were now restrained by the Martial Arts Association and the cultural norms established over a century. Nowadays, every person on Earth was, in a sense, a watchdog over martial artists' behavior.
So, while people respected martial artists, they were not afraid of them.
Yajirobe raised his sword to clear a path. People stepped aside but showed no fear. No one believed Yajirobe would dare cause trouble in broad daylight, especially right at the entrance to the World's Strongest Martial Arts Tournament finals.
"Hey, isn't that Yajirobe?" Someone took a closer look and recognized the one-handed sword wielder munching buns as this year's South City regional champion.
Yajirobe ignored them. Seeing the crowd had split, he bit into another bun, squinted his eyes, retracted his sword with a "snap," resting it on his shoulder, and began strolling away from the tournament grounds in a leisurely fashion.
"Hey, Yajirobe, you're going the wrong way! The arena's over there!" a kindly voice shouted from the crowd.
Yajirobe glanced sideways at the voice, chewing the warm bun, mumbling, "No blades allowed… no point competing then!"
After swallowing the hot bun, he felt those four years had been completely wasted.
"Wait, that's weird—you used wooden swords in previous matches, right? Why not compete here then?" someone asked in puzzlement.
"Yeah, yeah, maybe he's scared?"
"I saw Krillin and Tien earlier; maybe Yajirobe got cold feet when he saw them?"
Yajirobe didn't get angry. Squinting, he grabbed another big bun, stuffing it into his mouth with an "ah-woo." He said, "Scared? Heh… whatever, if I am, so what!"
Few people could make out what he said, but someone laughed and said, "If you're not scared, then go join the 'Muten Tournament.' No restrictions there! Whether it's a golden blade, iron blade, divine blade, or sage blade—you can bring any sword you can wield!"
"Yeah, I heard of that too—the 'Muten Tournament' is a big event in the Virtual Earth Network, right?"
Yajirobe walked quickly without stopping but could faintly hear the murmurs behind him. His cheeks puffed as he chewed the delicious mix of bun skin, meat juice, and filling, squinting sideways to glance at the other sword hanging at his waist.
The Muten Blade… can it be used too…?
He thought for a moment, deciding to check out this "Muten Tournament" in the Virtual Earth Network later—maybe joining wouldn't be so bad. Aside from dealing with beasts, he'd never truly dueled with his Muten Blade before, and the idea intrigued him.
---
"The tournament's started. Aren't you going to watch?" In West City, at Bulma's home.
Hathaway went to the large backyard looking for her husband and found him sitting cross-legged in midair, eyes closed, deep in meditation.
The surrounding trees and plants rhythmically swayed as if breathing, forming a protective sanctuary around him, like a pilgrimage. From time to time, colorful birds flew in and perched on branches, chirping and pecking each other softly. Suddenly, a fiery red bird soared up from somewhere, and the rest of the birds cried out in welcome as if greeting the phoenix.
She glanced up at the proud phoenix amidst the colorful flock, smiled, and walked toward Taro, asking, Taro was floating three feet off the ground, still with eyes closed. He said, "Jarvis told me the Virtual Earth Network is about to hold a martial arts tournament in the virtual world…" Opening his eyes as Hathaway approached, he added, "From this edition onward, the authority of the World's Strongest Martial Arts Tournament might decline."
"Yeah, the World's Number One Martial Arts Tournament has too many limitations."
Hathaway nodded, leaning sideways against Taro's crossed legs as he floated. She somehow pulled out an orange, her slender fingers peeling off the skin and then tearing away half of the white pith before breaking apart the segments and offering one.
"The competitions in the Virtual Earth Network don't have to worry about the force of attacks or causing permanent injury. Compared to the World's Number One Martial Arts Tournament, where you can't fight to the death or intentionally maim your opponent, these matches can really determine who's stronger—they're closer to real combat. Just like that Yajirobe guy—he can use his own sword there."
Taro hovered three feet above the ground without moving a muscle. He lowered his head, popped an orange segment into his mouth, and nodded. "When the 'Guidance Space' was opened in the Virtual Earth Network, it was only a matter of time before this kind of virtual competition developed..."
"You created the World's Number One Martial Arts Tournament, but from the start, you also set it up to eventually end!" Hathaway rolled her eyes at him.
"It's not exactly an ending," Taro shook his head. "Virtual Earth Network battles have their advantages, but they're not yet a complete replacement for the World's Number One Martial Arts Tournament. Actually, martial artists already had methods for meditative combat—these virtual matches just completely removed the threshold for that form of fighting."
Hathaway smiled. "Oh, I see... First, you built a platform for everyone to learn martial arts. Now, competitions and exchanges are more convenient. What's next? Are you going to get Jarvis to gradually release 'deep sleep mode'? Hmm... If so, combined with unlimited fighting in the Virtual Earth Network, you could rapidly produce experienced martial artists in a very short time, right?"
Taro looked at her thoughtfully. "If I remember correctly, Jarvis said that under deep sleep mode, because the brain experiences time differently, the memories upon waking are somewhat vague... This technology isn't quite ready yet for martial arts training."
"No, it still helps. What you experience is what you experience. The 'dreams' in deep sleep mode linger in the martial artist's subconscious... Over time, with hard training in reality, it will gradually come together," Hathaway shook her head.
Taro clapped his hands, dropped his legs to the ground, and smiled. "If that's true, then that's great."
"That covers the 'experience' part... The rest is obviously the 'body' part. Yeah, I'll keep an eye on Fabeli. Once the gene optimization serum yields results and can be distributed worldwide—whether sold or given for free—then the combat ability level of martial artists on Earth should rise dramatically, right?"
"If that's true, then that's great," Taro repeated the phrase again.
"Yeah, if that's the case, even if some cosmic villain comes to Earth someday, even if Earth leaves you behind, it won't be defenseless... Also, from what you said before, Frieza's army averages around 'level 1,000,' and 'level 10,000' or '100,000' warriors are very rare... Earthlings using Muken can resist that level... If the base combat power as a whole rises... Heh, that's the martial arts golden age your master hoped to see, isn't it?"
Hathaway looked up at the blue sky, chatting casually with a relaxed tone.
"If that's true, then that's great!"
Taro repeated once more.
"That's all you know how to say!" Hathaway tilted her head back and couldn't help but laugh.
Taro laughed too, pulling her close. After a moment, he asked, "So, how was the first day of the finals yesterday?"
"I thought you didn't care at all!" Hathaway teased, then started talking about the first day of the finals. "Yesterday..."