Bulma Tramples the Prince?

Little Bulma wore her hair in two small braids and a one-piece dress. She held a toy gun in her hand. When she saw Rhode, her bright eyes fixed on him, but she said nothing.

Seeing such an adorable Bulma, Rhode smiled and could not resist walking over, crouching down, and pinching her little cheeks.

"Ugh! Don't pinch me!"

Faced with Rhode's child-spoiling behavior, Little Bulma immediately grew impatient. After stubbornly shaking herself free, she aimed her toy gun at him, bared her little fangs, and threatened, "Pinch my face again, and I'll shoot you!"

"Haha!"

Looking at the innocent Little Bulma, Rhode laughed happily and pointed at the toy gun in her hand. "That thing is fake. It can't hurt anyone at all!"

As he spoke, Rhode stepped forward, ignoring the little girl's anger. Not only did he pinch her cheeks, he also thoroughly ruffled her hair.

Just as the little girl was about to bristle, he suddenly pointed at the sky and mysteriously asked Little Bulma, "Bulma, do you want to fly into the sky?"

"Fly into the sky?"

Hearing Rhode's words, Little Bulma's eyes immediately lit up. She instantly tossed her anger aside, flapped her arms like a bird's wings, and looked at Rhode with eager anticipation. "Like a bird?"

"Of course!"

Seeing the expectation on Little Bulma's adorable face, Rhode nodded with a smile, then grabbed her. "Come on, get ready. We're flying!"

As he spoke, Rhode took Little Bulma into the sky and performed all sorts of difficult maneuvers, making the little girl cheer and jump with delight.

The sounds Rhode made while playing with Little Bulma immediately caught Aila's attention.

Watching Rhode fly through the sky with Little Bulma, apparently in quite a good mood, Aila could not understand it. What was there to be happy about with an Earthling whose Power Level was not even five?

Though she did not understand Rhode's thoughts, given that his strength had always improved faster than hers, Aila felt there might be some special reasoning behind his actions.

Aila silently kept Little Bulma in mind. When Rhode was not around, she would give it a try too.

With that thought in mind, she observed Rhode's every move. Before long, Rhode set Little Bulma down and flew off into the sky. After pondering for a moment, Aila went to find Little Bulma as well.

"Huh? Sister Aila, you're here!"

After playing wildly with Rhode, Little Bulma's bright eyes flashed with surprise when she saw Aila. After all, Sister Aila was rarely seen.

Seeing Little Bulma's innocent and lively appearance, Aila's stern face softened slightly. She walked over, crouched down like Rhode had, and reached out to stroke Little Bulma's face.

Mm, very smooth. It felt nice!

As Aila marveled inwardly, Little Bulma froze in place with an expression as though she had seen a ghost. She stared at Aila in stunned disbelief. "Huh? Sister Aila, what are you doing?"

"Huh?"

Asked that by Little Bulma, Aila was taken aback and asked in confusion, "Didn't Rhode do this earlier too?"

"When did he? That guy Rhode was clearly treating me like a child, so he pinched my cheeks!"

At the mention of Rhode, Little Bulma immediately forgot who had just played with her so happily and grumbled angrily.

However, when she looked at Aila again, she became a little bashful and stammered, "But... it feels really nice when Sister Aila touches my face!"

Hm?

Seeing Little Bulma's expression, Aila frowned. Was my technique wrong?

With that thought, Aila reached out again and gave Little Bulma's cheeks another hard pinch.

"Ow! It hurts, it hurts! Sister Aila, you're hurting me!"

Aila's pinch made Little Bulma bare her teeth in pain. Realizing this, Aila hurriedly let go, but then instinctively began rubbing Little Bulma's cheeks.

As she rubbed Bulma's little face, Aila felt something strange. It was a kind of stirring she did not quite understand.

If Rhode had been here, he would definitely have understood what Aila was feeling. It was an emotion that most Saiyans simply did not possess: concern.

Of course, if Rhode had witnessed the entire interaction between Aila and Little Bulma, he would also have been greatly shocked.

He would have been shocked not only by Aila's actions, but even more so by Little Bulma's precociousness. At merely four or five years old, that little head of hers had already begun thinking about all sorts of strange things.

Seeing that Little Bulma had stopped crying out, Aila immediately stopped rubbing her cheeks. She looked at her, said nothing, then stood and left.

However, after she had taken only a few steps, Little Bulma called out to her. Her large eyes sparkled with expectation as she looked at Aila. "Sister Aila, can you play with me? The flying kind?"

"This..."

Faced with Little Bulma's request, Aila could not help frowning. She still needed to continue training.

But as she looked at the unbearably adorable little girl, Aila nodded as if possessed.

Yet the instant she nodded, she realized something was wrong with herself. Play? How could something like that be more important than training?

With that thought, Aila's expression turned cold, and she turned to leave.

But then she suddenly felt a weight on her leg. At some point, Little Bulma had run over and hugged it. She clung tightly to Aila's leg and coquettishly pleaded, "Sister Aila~"

Fine, then. She would only play with this little girl for a while, just a little while!

Looking at Little Bulma, whose eyes were brimming with tears, the cold and proud Aila ultimately bowed her head.

In truth, although Aila looked cold and wanted to refuse, her body was not nearly so resolute. Otherwise, with her strength, there was no way a four- or five-year-old Earthling girl like Little Bulma could have hugged her leg.

Could this be the reason Rhode increased his strength so quickly? Aila was skeptical.

As she played with Little Bulma and watched the little girl frolic to her heart's content, Aila pondered this inwardly.

"Bulma, how about I teach you martial arts?"

Seeing that playing around with Bulma was simply delaying her own training, and feeling it would not be right to leave directly, Aila pondered for a moment. Then her eyes lit up as she came up with a solution that served both purposes.

If she taught someone else how to train, she should gain something from it too, right?

"Martial arts?"

Hearing Aila's suggestion, Little Bulma tilted her head, not understanding.

"Yes, martial arts. That way, you can fly freely like a bird!"

Thinking of how Bulma had clung to her earlier and begged her to fly, Aila explained.

The moment she heard that learning martial arts would let her fly, Little Bulma immediately jumped with joy. "I want to learn! I want to learn!"

And so, the two began training with great enthusiasm.

Who knew whether Bulma would be led astray because of this, causing Earth to lose a genius scientist.

When Rhode returned and saw the scene, he was somewhat surprised and taken aback, but he did not interfere.

If Bulma became skilled in martial arts and could trounce Vegeta someday, just imagining that scene made him feel thrilled.

But with the prince's proud Self-Esteem, if he were really beaten up by Bulma, who knew whether he would Explode on the Spot.

For a moment, Rhode found himself looking forward to it.

Time passed, and several days went by. Dr. Brief had finished modifying the spaceship. It was time to set off for Planet Namek.