(Yamcha P.O.V.)
I slept really well last night.
After leaving Gyumao's castle, Chi-Chi, Goku, and I crossed the Devil's Desert, helping a few villages along the way until we reached East City. The journey took three months. We walked, got lost more times than I care to admit, and at one point had my sense of geography seriously questioned by Chi-Chi, a ten-year-old girl. We finally arrived a week ago and are now staying at a hotel we found at the last minute.
The rooms were cheap, so the place was obviously not great. Just looking at the ceiling, you could see mold and cracks. The walls had faded paint, the bed was uncomfortable, and there was no hot water in the bathroom.
Thinking about it now, the place was awful. Still, compared to sleeping in the jungle or on hard ground, it didn't seem that bad.
After taking care of my morning routine, brushing my teeth and taking a shower, I left my room to wake up Chi-Chi and Goku, who were staying in the rooms across the hall.
Chi-Chi usually woke up early, so all I had to do was knock on her door for her to join me and our other travel companion. Waking Goku, on the other hand, was much harder. I only managed to get him up after telling him someone was stealing our food. I'd been waking him up that way for two months now, and it was starting to annoy him that I kept using the same excuse every day.
With both ten-year-olds ready, we headed toward the hotel exit. We needed to decide what to do about breakfast. The hotel wasn't going to provide food. Sure, we had enough money for something light at a bakery, but knowing Goku's appetite, there was no way our money would last.
"Should we go hunting for something?" I suggested. "We could run to a nearby forest and get some meat or fish."
Chi-Chi, who had been half-asleep just moments ago, now fully awake, looked at me in surprise.
"Run to a forest?" she muttered. "The nearest forest is way too far to go and come back quickly!" she said, incredulous.
"If we take off our heavy shells, we can get there really fast!" Goku said confidently.
"Yeah!" I agreed with my alien friend.
"But…" Chi-Chi began.
Before the girl had a chance to finish, a strong energy started approaching the city. At first, I was surprised that someone so powerful was nearby, but it didn't take long for me to recognize that ki.
"It's Master!" I exclaimed.
"What is Grandpa doing here?" Goku asked.
"I think he's here by coincidence…" I said.
It would be strange for Master Gohan to come all this way just to see us. He was probably in East City to take care of something and ended up sensing our ki.
"Can we go see him?" Goku asked.
"I think so. Let's get going, then!" I said. "The sooner we leave, the faster we can meet the Master!"
Both of them agreed, and we left the rundown hotel where we were staying. As we walked through the city, just as we were getting close to a bakery, Gohan's energy, which had just arrived in the city, suddenly vanished.
Goku, who was walking beside Chi-Chi, frowned at the sudden change in his grandfather's energy.
"Grandpa is hiding his own ki," Goku said.
Chi-Chi looked at the young Saiyan, confused.
"How can he hide his own ki?" she asked. "Even if he lowered his energy, it should still be possible to feel where he is…"
"It's Grandpa. It's not strange that he can do that," Goku replied.
"Well, the Master must have his reasons," I said. "Now we need to get breakfast!"
We had breakfast without much conversation. After paying the bill, we left the place and split up to look for information about dojos. We agreed to meet in front of the hotel in two hours to share what we found.
After half an hour of walking around and talking to random strangers on the street, some of them extremely suspicious-looking, like that fat bald guy who pointed me toward an alley. He followed me for a few minutes until I started running. This only made my situation worse. I muttered to myself.,
"I should go after the people with the strongest ki in the city…"
After a few months of training, I wanted to believe I was getting pretty good at sensing other people's ki. Strong energies were like beacons, easy to notice, a sharp contrast to the faint presence of an ordinary civilian.
I decided to climb onto one of the buildings so I could focus better on sensing the energies in the city. What had once been imperceptible, almost a whisper, became clear to me once I focused entirely on my search.
"Hm… a slightly stronger energy…" I said to myself, an excited smile forming on my face.
Driven by curiosity and a desire for a challenge, I flew toward the source of that energy. I arrived quickly and found myself in front of a rather modern-looking establishment, far from the traditional martial arts school I had imagined. Glass doors, a neutral-colored exterior, and a few posters stuck to the inside of the windows advertising local tournament fights. My attention, however, went straight to the sign above the door.
"Self-Defense School," I read out loud. "We teach Boxing, Karate, and Judo," I continued.
Karate was one of the martial arts styles the Master had told me about. I had learned boxing as a foundation at first, but after a few years I felt that pugilism wasn't really for me. After fighting Goku, Master Gohan, and, more recently, Chi-Chi several times, I began developing a more natural and comfortable fighting style of my own. I was inspired by the wolves I had seen during my time in the Devil's Desert and in the forests near Mount Paozu.
Without hesitating, I entered the school. The door had a bell that announced a visitor, and luckily there was a man working at the front desk.
"Good morning! How can I help you today, kid?" the man asked with a smile.
"Good morning. If possible, I'd like to fight your students," I said.
The man looked surprised by my request. I hoped I had done it the right way. Master Gohan always said that showing proper manners when challenging someone was the first step to becoming a good martial artist.
"Listen, kid, shouldn't you be playing around somewhere instead of challenging boxing gyms?" the receptionist said, clearly thrown off by my request. "There's a playground two blocks from here. You should go there instead of getting a black eye in this place!" he added with a grin.
"Well, I don't need to worry about getting a black eye here. The students here don't even look like they know how to throw a real punch," I said, smiling with fake arrogance.
"It's not like I should expect much from a bunch of chickens anyway," I added.
The receptionist stood there with his mouth open. He probably didn't expect a thirteen-year-old to answer like that. I didn't really care, though. My attention was on the heavy footsteps of two people approaching the front desk. One of them was clearly angry.
"Who are you calling a chicken, you little runt?" a man growled as he stepped forward.
The guy I had managed to piss off had an Afro hairstyle, something like a Black Power look. He also had a mustache and neatly trimmed sideburns. His body was muscular, and he looked like he was in his thirties.
"Easy there, old man," I said. "You might have a heart attack. I'm pretty sure I can hear your blood pressure going up…"
I really shouldn't have been adding fuel to the fire, but the bigger the chance of getting a fight, the better, right?
"O-old man…?" the afro-haired guy repeated.
"Calm down, Mark. He's just a kid," the receptionist whispered.
"What do you mean, calm down, you idiot?! I'm only nineteen years old, and this excuse for a human being is calling me old!" Mark snarled, even more irritated.
"Relax, Mark. I'll handle the kid," said the second man who had followed him.
He was tall and muscular, with blond hair, blue eyes, a square jaw, a short beard, and his most striking feature: he had no eyebrows at all.
"David…" Mark said. "Stay out of this. I'll deal with this runt myself," he growled again.
Apparently, David and Mark had some kind of rivalry going on. I couldn't care less about their relationship. My fight was taking too long to happen, and there was only one thing I could do in that situation.
"I can take both of you at the same time, if that's how you want it," I said with an innocent smile.
This time, I didn't wait for an answer. I walked past the front desk and the three men, who were still stunned by my exemplary behavior. I set aside the heavy shell I had been wearing up until then and stepped into the ring in the middle of the gym, ignoring the stares from the other students.
Likewise, I waited, sitting on a small bench in one of the corners of the ring, enjoying the relief of finally taking off all that weight. As I rested, I started thinking about how I should fight. I was in a boxing ring, so the choice seemed pretty obvious.
Well, I'd see when my first opponent showed up.
"Come on, kid. I'm going to give you the beating your father never gave you at home!" Mark said.
I looked at him with a sly smile. He hadn't even realized that I had provoked them on purpose.
I didn't say anything else and took a basic boxing stance. Using my original style right now would be overkill. I'd save that for when someone more skilled showed up.
Noticing my silence, Mark smirked mockingly as he also assumed a standard boxing guard and moved toward the center of the ring.
"Already scared, brat?" Mark asked with a sarcastic grin.
"Nah. I'm just wondering if I should speed up your chiropractor appointment… you look a bit crooked," I replied as I stepped toward the center as well.
I was only a few meters away from Mark. He had the reach advantage here, so the best option for me was to stay close and make it harder for him to use his size effectively.
Clearly irritated, mostly because of my comments, Mark lunged forward and threw a straight punch with his left hand.
I calmly watched the fist coming toward me and quickly slipped to the side, moving away from his guard. Surprise flashed across Mark's face as he realized he had missed.
I didn't let the opening go to waste. As soon as I planted my feet, I countered with a left hook to his exposed torso. He lost his balance, and I followed up with a right hook straight to the chin.
The hit landed cleanly. Mark's head snapped upward before his body gave out. I stepped back, creating distance, and watched as the nineteen-year-old collapsed unconscious onto the ring floor.
He looked strong and his ki was slightly above average. I couldn't understand why he had gone down so fast.
"Holy shit, he took Mark down!" one of the students watching said, shocked.
I didn't pay much attention to the comments that started spreading and focused instead on the unconscious man in front of me. Apparently, I'd have to hold back even more if I wanted a fair fight…
I was pulled out of my thoughts by Mark's blond rival stepping into the ring.
"Impressive…" David said. "I didn't expect Mark to go down that fast. I guess that's what he gets for skipping training," he continued.
David bent down, picked up Mark's limp body, and handed him to two other students standing outside the ring. I watched them lay him down on a bench so he'd have at least some comfort until he woke up. Then I turned my attention back to David, who waited patiently.
"Your boxing is excellent, but it's not your main style, is it?" he asked.
I was a little surprised.
"How did you notice?" I asked, genuinely curious.
I watched David smile slightly. It made me a bit uncomfortable. The lack of eyebrows gave him an unsettling, almost eerie look. He was about to answer, but someone else spoke up instead.
"Even though you're skilled at boxing, your body still shows the mannerisms you developed from your other martial art," a man said.
I turned toward the new figure.
He was a middle-aged man, with a few wrinkles on his face, a slightly long beard, and a well-defined jaw. Tall, around six feet, he wore a white shirt, sweatpants, and running shoes.
I watched the reactions of the other students and of David himself. There was clear recognition in their faces. From the way he moved and from his ki, which was slightly higher than David's, I could tell he was the one whose energy had drawn me here.
"I didn't realize I had those mannerisms," I said.
"I'm already impressed that you managed to knock out one of my best fighters so quickly," the middle-aged man replied.
"Kai-sensei, Mark just underestimated the kid. If he had taken this seriously, the fight would've been different," David argued.
"He executed an excellent counter on Mark, and he struck without even trying," Kai said. "The boy is obviously strong, David. You're already making the same mistake."
Kai really had a good eye. He noticed I hadn't put in any real effort. David, on the other hand, looked skeptical, even with his teacher openly pointing out that he was repeating Mark's error.
"Come on, kid. I'll show you what real boxing looks like," David said.
I couldn't tell if he was angry. The lack of eyebrows made it hard to read his expression.
"Alright, let's do it," I said with a smile.
"You'd better come at me with everything you've got," David said, his voice deeper now.
"Make me," I replied, provoking him as I raised my guard.
Ah. I could actually see him frown.
It was really strange to see that on a face with no eyebrows.
I was pulled out of my thoughts when I saw David launch himself toward me.
He started in a southpaw stance, favoring a left-handed posture and baiting me into thinking his right hand would be the main threat. When I saw the movement of his fist, I shifted to evade.
That's when I realized it.
David switched from southpaw to an orthodox stance after feinting with his right, taking advantage of my moment of surprise to attack with a left hook.
Unlucky for him, I was faster.
I took a step back, slipping cleanly out of the punch, and while his arm was still raised, I used my agility advantage to land a strike to the side of his body.
I expected him to lose balance like Mark had, but he surprised me again by only staggering slightly and enduring the blow.
He retreated right after, breathing more heavily. I saw sweat starting to form on his forehead.
"You hit like a heavyweight…" David said, his guard still up.
I smiled at my opponent. He was clearly a smarter fighter compared to Mark.
"My master taught me well," I said with a grin. "You're not bad yourself."
David snorted at my last comment.
"I guess I'll take you a little more seriously now," I teased, smiling.
I took a deep breath and assessed the distance between David and me. He was about two meters away. I tensed my legs, and this time I took the initiative. In a burst of speed, I closed the gap between us in just a few seconds.
David barely had time to react when I suddenly appeared right in front of him. My feet were set shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent. Taking advantage of David's brief moment of surprise and that split-second opening, I smoothly rotated my torso to the right and threw an uppercut, chaining the movement as the power generated from my legs transferred into my fist. This traveled upward to meet my opponent's chin.
David's body lifted off the ground. From the corner of my eye, I saw Kai, the instructor of the gym, stunned that what was likely his best student had been knocked out in just a few seconds.
A dull, heavy sound echoed through the place as David's body hit the ring. Everyone else was silent. The gym might as well have been empty, given the complete absence of sound.
Kai snapped out of his shock and went to check on his unconscious fighter. After confirming that he was fine, he turned toward me and looked at me with a slightly suspicious expression.
"Are you sure you're a child?" Kai asked.
"I'm thirteen," I said with a good-humored smile. "Unlike Mark, I actually look young."
Kai snorted at my comment, but his eyes never left me.
"You said you have a master, right?" he asked cautiously.
"Yes," I answered, unconcerned.
"I've never seen anyone your age fight at this level. Even those who cheat with steroids can't pull off something like this…" Kai said. "Who trained you?"
I looked at him for a moment. My master had never told me to keep his identity a secret or anything like that. He didn't seem to care much about that sort of thing, so I figured there was no problem being honest.
"My master is Son Gohan," I said casually, without worrying about Kai's reaction.
"S-Son Gohan?" Kai stammered. "The same Son Gohan who won the Budokai Tenkaichi a long time ago? The same Son Gohan who trained under the great Master Kame?"
"Now that strength makes sense…" Kai murmured, almost in a whisper.
As Kai spoke, I realized two things. First, my old master was famous, really famous in the martial arts world. Second, Kai clearly admired Gohan for his performance in the Tenkaichi Budokai.
"How did you manage to train under him? He should be ninety-six years old by now. It would be very difficult to take on a new student at that age…" Kai asked, his voice gradually trailing off into an almost inaudible murmur.
I was starting to regret answering his question. I never imagined I'd run into a martial arts fanatic.
"The master really is ninety-six," I replied in a flat tone, remembering my training days. "But he's doing just fine. He's beaten me up plenty of times during training."
"Even now, he still makes me train in some pretty absurd ways…" I murmured.
As I talked with Kai, I could say we grew a bit more friendly with each other, and I took the opportunity to ask about other fighting schools in East City.
"Further south in the city there should be some kung fu, judo, and karate dojos. They're not very well known, but I fought their instructors when I took part in the 19th Tenkaichi Budokai a few years ago," Kai said with a smile.
During our conversation, Mark and David woke up and ignored me for a few minutes. I figured it was best to leave soon so I could meet up with my companions, and I didn't want to leave any bad feelings behind.
After apologizing for my behavior to a still-angry Mark, a discouraged David, and a receptionist who was still in disbelief, I picked up my heavy shell near the ring and left the school. I was satisfied with the fight and didn't even need to challenge Kai. As I was getting ready to head back to the shabby hotel where the others and I were staying, I was stopped by a subtle ki signature very close by.
I decided to move toward that energy, which happened to be on the roof of a tall building a little distance away from where I was.
I ran through the streets and, as I got closer, slipped into an alley and took off into the sky. As the rooftop came into view, I could make out the silhouette of someone standing at the edge. Up close, the energy was unmistakable.
I landed behind him. I already knew who it was, even from the back, and when he turned around, it only confirmed what I knew.
"You've improved a bit, Yamcha," the man said.
"Master Gohan!" I said with a smile.
I didn't want to admit it, but I had missed him during the months Goku and I had spent traveling.
"We should go to the hotel. Goku would love to see you again, and I think it'd be nice for Chi-Chi to see you too," I said, excited.
Gohan looked at me with a gentle smile.
"I won't be seeing Goku right now," Gohan said calmly.
"Huh? Why?" I voiced my confusion.
"I spoke to him earlier, while you were out wandering around," Gohan explained with an awkward smile.
"Oh…" was all I managed to say.
"He's upset that you challenged a school without him," Gohan continued. "He'll probably greet you at the hotel with a punch or a kick. Honestly, I'm leaning toward a kick…"
"Oh…" I said again, my disappointment growing.
Master Gohan looked at me with a crooked smile, clearly amused by my situation.
"But I didn't come here just to warn you about the beating my grandson might give you," Gohan said, sitting down on the edge of the building.
That caught me off guard, and my curiosity immediately kicked in.
"Then why are you here?" I asked.
"Next year, on Papaya Island, the Twentieth Tenkaichi Budokai will be held. You're going to participate," Gohan said, without looking at me.
I was confused. I knew it was a major tournament, but I didn't understand why I had to take part in it.
"I want you to gain experience by fighting many kinds of fighters. Challenging dojos is good, but they don't always have opponents strong enough to truly push you to improve," Gohan explained, as if he could sense my doubts.
Well, that made sense.
"Is Goku going to participate too?" I asked.
If Goku were competing, I'd have an opponent I could have a reasonably even fight with in the end. And it would also be nice to have someone I knew taking part.
"No. Goku won't be participating in this edition of the tournament. I'll let him enter the Twenty-First," Gohan replied.
Having gotten my answer, I decided not to press the issue further. Noticing my silence, the master turned toward me, stepping away from the edge of the building.
"I've been thinking about this for a while, and I'm changing the kind of weights you'll be using from now on. Wearing a shell would be inconvenient for fighting in the tournament," Gohan said, raising one of his hands.
Before I could ask what he meant, a white aura pulsed from his hand and spread over my body. Everything began to glow. I closed my eyes and felt the weight of the shell disappear for a brief moment, until a new weight settled onto me.
I quickly realized that the weight was no longer concentrated in a rigid shell on my back, but distributed across my own body. Likewise, I opened my eyes and saw that I was now wearing a sleeveless white karate gi, with a black shirt underneath. There were wristbands, seemingly made of cotton, around my wrists.
Normally, I'd be happy to get new clothes. The problem was that the combined weight of the shirt and wristbands was the same as the shell.
I looked at Master Gohan, who had lowered his hand and was now studying me in silence.
"Master… what did you do?" I asked.
"It was a kind of magic I learned from Master Karin. I used a form of transmutation on the shell. Now it's much better for movement," Gohan explained.
"Magic?" I murmured, uncertain.
"Yes, magic. There's a more advanced form where you can create clothes out of nothing, but I haven't learned how to do that yet, so I improvised with something more basic," Gohan clarified.
Magic is real…
I mean, I learned how to fly using my own life energy. Magic isn't that strange when you think about it…
"Are you going to do the same with the other shells I have?" I asked.
I was already getting used to the weight I was wearing. Not only that, but I was just coming out of the first shell, which weighed a hundred kilos, and I still had others stored away that went up to two hundred.
"Actually, I prepared a few sets for you before coming here," Gohan said.
He then reached into the pocket of his qipao and pulled out a capsule. Unlike the ones Goku and I had received before, this one was new and looked like a more recent model.
"There are two cases in here. One for you and one for Goku," Gohan said as he handed me the capsule.
I slipped the capsule into my pocket and asked Gohan about his plans next. He told me he was heading west to meet a certain Fortuneteller Baba in order to continue studying magic. He said he'd show up on Papaya Island to watch me compete in the tournament, then flew off, leaving me alone on the rooftop. I stood there, looking toward the horizon.
"Well, looks like I'll have to train harder than ever…" I murmured as I took off toward the hotel.