Goku, Piccolo

Three thousand kilometers west of West City, a primeval jungle was being pounded by a rare, torrential downpour.

Rain lashed down like countless silver whips, savagely thrashing the ancient forest.

Towering trees groaned in the gale, while muddy floodwaters, choked with broken timber and silt, roared and surged through the river channels.

Boom...!

A violet bolt of lightning ripped the sky apart, briefly illuminating a giant banyan tree on the riverbank.

Hanging upside down from its canopy was a figure.

A young man, bare-chested, wearing only a pair of black trousers.

He had a thick, wild mop of black hair, exploding outward like a sea urchin.

At that moment, he was dangling by one foot hooked around a branch, swinging like a pendulum in the storm, one hand gripping a thick vine whose other end vanished into the raging river below.

Gurgle...

His stomach let out a protest louder than the thunder.

"Man, I'm starving... Why won't this fish bite?"

Goku blinked his overly clear, wide eyes and wiped the rain from his face.

He showed none of the misery of a drowned rat; instead, he stared at the water with eager anticipation.

Then the surface exploded.

A prehistoric crocodile over fifteen meters long—or rather, a freakish fish with a crocodile's snout—burst from the water.

Its crimson eyes gleamed with greed, clearly mistaking the swinging human for a dessert delivered by the storm.

Its jaws gaped wide, rows of serrated teeth capable of shredding tank armor in an instant.

"Whoa! That's a big one!"

Goku's eyes lit up like lightbulbs, and drool even trickled from the corner of his mouth.

Facing the monstrous beast that could swallow him whole, he didn't dodge.

Instead, he engaged his core, curling his body in midair in a move that defied physics.

"Dinner's served!"

He grinned, flicking his wrist.

The seemingly ordinary vine snapped taut with a sharp crack.

Then a surge of raw, brutal force traveled up the vine and into the monster's mouth.

Before it could even close its jaws, the sheer power whipped it through a half-circle in the air.

"Go on!"

Goku let go of the branch, using the spin's momentum to launch himself like a cannonball, catching up to the dazed fish mid-flight.

A single, straightforward punch.

Thud!

The dull impact of flesh was swallowed by the rain.

The monster's huge eyes nearly popped out, and its massive body went limp.

It crashed onto the rocky bank like a sack of mud, shaking the ground three times.

Goku landed lightly, clapped his hands, and circled the catch with a satisfied grin.

"Perfect, this fish has firm meat—best grilled."

Ignoring the downpour, he expertly dragged the multi-ton prey with one hand and found a cave for shelter.

He rubbed his fingers together, and a small Kamehameha flared into flame, stubbornly igniting the damp wood.

Firelight flickered, casting shadows on his face—no longer boyish, now sharp and angular.

For three years, he'd roamed every corner of the world.

No Kami's guidance, no Gravity Room—just raw combat instinct and battles against nature itself.

Tearing into the half-cooked fish with bulging cheeks, Goku suddenly paused.

He lifted his head, his gaze seeming to pierce through thick rock and endless rain, toward the distant east.

"This feeling..."

He swallowed the meat, frowning slightly, then relaxing.

"Is that Krillin's ki?"

"No... it feels like I can't sense Krillin's ki anymore... Did he learn to hide it too?"

Thinking of that bald friend, the corners of Goku's mouth curled up involuntarily.

"I wonder if everyone's gotten stronger."

"If Krillin saw how tall I've gotten now, he'd definitely be shocked! Heh, I bet I'd only come up to my waist now."

Goku polished off the whole fish in a few bites, crunching through even the bones and swallowing them down.

He stood up and stretched, his joints popping like a string of firecrackers.

"Full! Time to go!"

"Flying Nimbus...!"

The golden cloud appeared in an instant.

But Goku hesitated, then smacked his forehead.

"Ah, there's still three days. Running there should be fine, and... I want to test my own legs."

So he took a deep breath, bending his knees slightly.

The next second, the ground shattered.

The cave floor caved into a massive crater, and Goku's figure had already vanished from the spot.

In the pouring rain, only a vacuum tunnel torn by his high-speed movement remained, the rainwater taking several seconds to rush back in.

Destination: Papaya Island!

Higher up in the same sky, above the stratosphere.

No rain here—only blinding sunlight and air so thin it was suffocating.

A green figure sat cross-legged, floating above the sea of clouds.

Piccolo—or rather, Demon Jr.—wore a heavy white weighted cloak, a massive white turban covering most of his face, leaving only a pair of sinister, sharp eyes exposed.