'Your subordinate's fighting style... hmm... is quite unique.' Naruto's voice echoed in Piccolo's ear. 'Did you teach him that? I don't remember teaching you anything like that.'
"Bullshit. He figured that out on his own." Piccolo's green face flushed. After answering Naruto, he connected mentally to his fighter. 'Wu. Finish the opponent. Quickly.'
"As you wish, My King!" Spurred by Piccolo's command, Wu let out a wild laugh. His entire demeanor sharpened. He fired a denser, faster barrage of bullets and rushed at Krillin at full speed.
'One punch. I only need one punch to put you down.'
Wu studied Krillin's sorry state. Confidence swelled in his chest. His fist surged forward, drilling straight into Krillin's body... and met nothing.
*Sssss.*
Wu's fist punched straight through Krillin. The body he struck began to flicker, then dissolve.
The Afterimage Technique!
'I got played?!' The instant his fist passed through empty air, Wu knew something was wrong.
"Behind!"
He spun around. What he saw wasn't Krillin's bald head. It was a plump rear end.
*Pfft.* A muffled boom detonated directly in Wu's face. A visible cloud of yellow smoke engulfed his head.
'Return the courtesy.' If Wu wanted to attack with a biological machine gun, Krillin would retaliate with a Silent Fart Bomb.
There is an old saying: Silent farts stink, loud farts don't. Krillin's fart clearly defied that principle. It was both earsplitting and eye-watering.
Then again, a fart potent enough to drop a barbarian was never going to be ordinary. Especially since Krillin had stuffed himself with broad beans and chili peppers the night before.
The spicy blast nearly sent Wu to the afterlife on the spot.
"Blegh!" Wu dry-heaved violently. A small mercy he hadn't eaten breakfast, or it would have sprayed everywhere. That would have been a match with genuine flavor.
Wu lived up to his rank. Even now, he clamped down on the churning rebellion in his stomach with blistering speed and forced himself to recover, fully intending to strike back.
Too late. Krillin was already airborne, one leg snapping forward to hammer his foot directly into Wu's face.
"I'm not a baldy," Krillin shouted. "I used to shave my head. I was a monk."
The momentum-packed kick launched Wu. His body hurtled toward the audience seats, on a trajectory clean out of bounds.
Wu swung his arm forward with savage force. A high-powered ki blast answered the motion, slamming into the ground and blowing a massive crater. The impact altered his flight path. Instead of sailing out of the ring, his body curved in midair and slammed through the arena wall. Half the structure collapsed instantly.
"What a shame." Krillin kept his voice low, watching Wu lying in the wreckage. He knew that attack had dealt a minor graze at best.
He should have followed it up with a Kamehameha. That chance was gone now.
"Bastard." Wu hauled himself up from the rubble. The energy radiating off him surged a notch, thick with killing intent aimed directly at Krillin.
"Baldy, you've got a death wish."
Wu's bloodlust was genuine, but the scene was deeply comedic.
His nose was busted. Two red trails ran down to his chin. A crisp shoe print was stamped across his face, you could even make out the logo pattern from the sole.
Krillin had to fight the urge to laugh.
Standing atop the tournament roof, Piccolo had been watching the match. Without a word, he turned his back, looking away entirely.
'Embarrassing.'
"My King?!" Wu sensed it. His eyes found Piccolo, back turned. A chill of desolation rose from the pit of his stomach. A moment later, that chill was consumed by incandescent rage.
"You damn baldy. You made me look like a fool in front of my King."
As he spoke, Wu's body began to warp. His build shifted. His face twisted with it.
His human-like features morphed into something else entirely, jutting cheekbones, thick lips, dagger-sharp fangs, swollen muscles, and serpentine pupils.
From a half-Demon physique, he transformed into a pure-blooded Demon.
Wu bared his fangs, his entire body radiating malevolent energy. He pointed down at Krillin.
"I've decided. I'm going to kill you in the cruelest way I can devise."
"What kind of technique is that?!"
The Z Fighters stared in shock as Wu's entire image and aura underwent a drastic transformation.
"Such powerful ki."
"Not just powerful. Have you noticed? This guy's ki feels just like the aura from Demon King Piccolo's subordinates three years ago."
"That's a transformation." The only one present who wasn't surprised was Naruto. His words served as an explanation. "There are plenty of races in the universe with the ability to transform. Some use it to disguise their true appearance, some use it to hide their power, and some use it to suppress their power because they can't control their immense strength."
"After completing a transformation, they can greatly increase their combat power. Some can even multiply it many times over."
"If you ever get the chance to travel the universe, you must be wary of people like this."
The Z Fighters listened to Naruto's explanation, watching the arena with grim expressions.
Bulma pulled out a scouter she believed she had finished repairing and aimed it at Wu.
"Combat power... it's reached a full nine hundred."
Wu's power was real, and it was overwhelming.
"Krillin, if you can't beat him, just forfeit."
Krillin stood in the arena, showing no fear. In fact, he was almost excited.
'Think of it as a warm-up before fighting Goku,' he told himself.
'Die!' Wu appeared before Krillin in an instant, swinging a hand-chop at his opponent's head. His claws were like a razor-sharp cleaver.
'Strong Chop.'
The speed was blistering. Even Krillin, fully prepared, barely managed to react in time, narrowly dodging Wu's attack.
'His power exceeds mine. Absolutely no direct head-on clashes.'
Krillin kept that thought to himself, instantly firing a ki blast to force Wu back.
In the next second, countless copies of Krillin filled the arena, each one striking a different pose and expression.
'Multiple Afterimage Technique!'
It was a move designed to confuse opponents.
"A meaningless technique." Wu flashed a mocking grin. "Your heavy breathing and heartbeat, I can hear them perfectly clearly, even with my ears plugged."
Wu lunged at one of the afterimages, his hand-chop swinging once more.
"So it's right here!"
*Shhk.* Krillin's body split in two and faded into the air.
Wu's attack struck empty space. He had not found Krillin's real body.
Shock rippled through Wu.
No, actually, he had found it, but not entirely.
Before Wu could recover, the afterimage positioned directly above the one he had just struck suddenly moved. Both fists clasped together like a hammer, slamming a heavy blow right onto Wu's head.
The Double Afterimage Technique embedded within the Multiple Afterimage Technique!
Struck hard, Wu clutched the impact site with one hand and immediately counterattacked with the other.
His strike missed yet again. The Krillin he hit dissolved into another afterimage.
Then the adjacent afterimage moved. This time, the attack targeted Wu's lower body.
The Triple Afterimage Technique!
"Did you not teach Wu how to sense ki?" Standing beside Piccolo and watching Wu get toyed with, Devilman couldn't help but ask.
Piccolo turned to face Devilman, his expression blank. He said nothing, making the pressure on Devilman skyrocket instantly.
An invisible force swept over him, beginning at his legs and rising steadily, settling on his chest like an unseen hand closing off his air. He only became aware of the pressure when it reached its peak. Devilman stood gasping, on the verge of collapse.
It was then that Piccolo finally spoke.
"Recently, he became a full Demon," Piccolo said. "Before that, he was only a half-Demon. Those not of the Demon Clan are unqualified to learn its techniques. No matter how strong he is. Understood?"
As Piccolo spoke, the crushing pressure lifted like a death sentence being torn from his neck.
"Understood, understood. I overstepped," Devilman gasped, his voice trembling. He didn't dare ask another question.
He possessed the infamous Devilmite Beam, meant to destroy any opponent with even a trace of evil in their heart. But before Piccolo, it meant nothing. The Great Demon King's son was the strongest warrior on Earth, true and undisputed.
"Solar Flare!"
The match shifted in an instant. A blinding flash erupted from Krillin's gleaming bald head, forcing everyone's eyes shut.
Krillin and Tien were masters of the Solar Flare.
A shout of "Kamehameha!" rang out. Wu hit the ground hard, half his body buried in the dirt.
"The winner... Krillin!"
With that, the match came to an end.
Contrary to most expectations, Krillin won through clever tactics.
"Finally, victory."
The moment the announcer declared the result, Krillin dropped straight to the ground. The fight with Wu had drained his stamina and ki, he was basically running on empty.
Raw strength was only a tool. Strategy, intellect, and technique were the true keys to victory.
Nothing in this world was absolute. Combat power was just a reference number. The weak overcoming the strong was quite possible.
That didn't apply to those muscle-headed, brainless aliens from beyond Earth, where combat power data was the only law that mattered.
"Get lost. I didn't lose." Wu pulled himself out of the dirt. "I just got careless. This one doesn't count."
Ignoring the announcer's protests, he moved to climb back onto the arena.
"A loss is a loss. You look pathetic, Wu. Don't embarrass yourself further."
Piccolo's cold voice rang out, freezing Wu in place.
"My King..." Wu turned, stiff as a board.
"Get back here."
The loser offered no further argument. He slunk back to Piccolo's side, his head bowed in silence. But his trembling body betrayed his true state of mind.
Piccolo did not tolerate failure.
Even Devilman felt a chill. As Piccolo's right-hand man, Devilman knew exactly how terrifying he was.
"Learn from this." To everyone's surprise, Piccolo did not punish Wu. "I don't want to see a repeat. Do you understand?"
A Demon King could not rule by cruelty alone. Occasionally, he could tolerate a mistake from a subordinate he valued.
Piccolo remembered a story Naruto once told him, a story about the Great Demon King Bowser. That demon king often forgave his subordinates constant failures.
But Piccolo had principles. He was not Bowser. He would tolerate failure only once.
If Wu failed again... then...
"I understand! I understand!" Wu nodded so fast his head blurred. He planted himself obediently on Piccolo's other side, a stark contrast to the arrogance he'd shown against Krillin.
*Phew.* Devilman and the Mummy both exhaled in relief. The punishment wasn't aimed at them, but they'd been terrified all the same.
'If only Shura were here. He always knows how to calm King down when he's angry.'
===============
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