Bulma jumped up in excitement when she saw Son Mirai, but that drew a hail of fire from the helicopters.
"Biu! Biu! Biu..."
Sparks burst from the rocks as the gunfire swept toward Bulma, visible to the naked eye.
"Get down!" the blonde girl beside her shouted.
But before Bulma could duck, Son Mirai had already flashed in front of her.
Facing the hail of bullets, Son Mirai rapidly swept both hands through the air, leaving afterimages of his martial arts movements.
Not a single bullet struck the rocks and sparked against them.
"W-What...?"
The two pilots in the helicopters gaped, their eyes nearly popping out of their heads.
"What kind of monster is that? He's not afraid of bullets..."
The two children beside Bulma stared wide-eyed at the sight, too.
"Is he catching bullets with his bare hands...?"
It was completely beyond anything an ordinary person could comprehend.
Son Mirai looked up and shot the two helicopters a cold glance.
Then, with a forceful flick of his hands, he hurled the bullets he had caught toward them.
"Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!..."
"Boom!"
"Ka-boom!"
The hail of bullets engulfed the helicopters, and less than a second later, both exploded.
In moments, the helicopters and their two pilots had been reduced to wreckage, tumbling into the sea amid flames and black smoke.
Son Mirai turned to Bulma and asked, "Are you all right?"
Only then did Bulma snap out of it. She jumped up excitedly and hugged Son Mirai tightly.
"Thank goodness, Son Mirai! You got here just in time. I almost got shot dead!"
Son Mirai replied with a hint of reproach, "Finding the Dragon Balls is Goku's business. He still has to train along the way. Why did you tag along?"
A little sheepishly, Bulma said, "I was bored, that's all.
"You promised you'd come find me, but you went to Korin Tower and didn't come back for ages..."
"Sorry, I was wrong. Let's go back to West City together now.
"Besides, Goku doesn't need to collect all the Dragon Balls. He's mainly training as he travels.
"You won't be much help tagging along with Goku. You'll only hold him back..."
Bulma sighed. "I hate to admit it, but you're absolutely right!
"When the Dragon Radar broke before, Goku and Krillin came to West City to ask me to fix it. They actually walked all that way,
"and when I flew them there, they didn't even appreciate it..."
Son Mirai knew that if Goku had chosen to walk instead of using the Flying Nimbus to search for the Dragon Balls, he would probably already have reached the Red Ribbon Army's headquarters.
Master Roshi had told him to walk, which was why Goku's search for the Dragon Balls had been so slow.
"Then shall we head back?" Son Mirai asked.
Bulma nodded. "Mm!"
She turned to the two children and said gratefully, "Thank you so much for saving me just now!"
The Black-Haired Boy finally recovered from his shock. He looked at Son Mirai, awe at his strength flickering in his eyes.
"It—it was nothing. You don't have to thank me..." the boy replied awkwardly.
The blonde girl, however, was still staring blankly at Son Mirai.
When Son Mirai gave them a friendly look, she couldn't help asking curiously, "I didn't imagine it, did I? You really caught those bullets with your hands?"
Son Mirai nodded. "I did. But catching bullets with your bare hands isn't anything special. Anyone can do it if they train hard enough."
"If you train hard enough, you really won't have to fear bullets?"
The two children were skeptical.
Bulma immediately smiled. "My boyfriend's right. He got stronger one step at a time, too.
"You two were pretty impressive when you fought those bad guys just now.
"I believe in you. If you train hard, then when you grow up, you'll be just as amazing as my boyfriend. Keep at it..."
The two children exchanged an excited glance and nodded together.
The boy said, "Got it. We'll work hard at training!"
"Goodbye, then!"
"Goodbye!"
After saying farewell to the two children, they went to the beach where Goku had gone underwater earlier. Two Turtle School Martial Arts Gis were still lying there.
One belonged to Goku, and the other to Krillin.
After waiting a while, Krillin and Goku came ashore.
Seeing Son Mirai, Goku exclaimed excitedly, "Son Mirai, what are you doing here?"
"Of course I came to find Bulma..."
Goku gave Bulma a dismissive look. "You came to find Bulma? That's great!
"Take her away already. She's such a nuisance when she tags along with us..."
Bulma's veins bulged in an instant as she shouted, "Son Goku, you ungrateful jerk!
"The Dragon Radar broke, and you begged me to fix it. Now you're saying I'm holding you back..."
Son Mirai ignored Bulma and Goku's argument and looked at Krillin.
"Looks like you didn't find the Dragon Ball?"
As he got dressed, Krillin replied, "Yeah. The sea's too deep, and neither Goku nor I can hold our breath that long.
"I think we'll need a submarine to find the Dragon Ball."
Goku had finished getting dressed. "Oh, right! We can ask Master Roshi. He should have a submarine."
Son Mirai took out the Hoi-Poi Capsule case Dr. Brief had given him. "A submarine? I brought one..."
Bulma stared in surprise.
"Hey, isn't that the Hoi-Poi Capsule I packed...?"
Son Mirai nodded. "Yeah. Your dad said you took the wrong Capsule, so he asked me to bring this to you."
Bulma exclaimed excitedly, "Great! Now we can find the Dragon Ball under the sea."
Son Mirai couldn't help asking, "Weren't you planning to go back?
"Let Krillin have the submarine. He knows how to pilot one!"
Krillin said, "Son Mirai, you give me too much credit. I don't actually know how to pilot a submarine. I can only just about manage Master Roshi's..."
Bulma shrugged and grinned. "See? I knew you couldn't manage without me!"
She hooked her arm around Son Mirai's and said smugly, "Since I'm already here, I might as well come along.
"With you by my side, I've got nothing to fear."
No doubt, this would delay Son Mirai's training again.
There was nothing he could do, so he could only nod. "All right. Let's find this Dragon Ball together, then we'll leave."
Krillin said excitedly, "It's great to have you helping us.
"Bulma, bring out the submarine!"
"Okay!" Bulma opened the Hoi-Poi Capsule and released the submarine.
A short while later, the four of them climbed aboard, and Bulma piloted the submarine underwater.
Krillin held the Dragon Radar and gave directions.
"A little farther to the left, then straight ahead for a bit. Now lower down a little..."
"Look, there's a cave over there. It's a little narrow. Can our submarine fit through?"
Bulma smiled smugly. "Of course! My piloting skills are good enough for a professional competition..."
At that moment, several torpedoes shot toward them, but none hit.
They struck the rocks instead. After the powerful explosions, the surrounding water turned murky.
Bulma blinked in surprise. "What happened? What was that?"
Son Mirai said, "It's obvious. Someone's attacking us."
Bulma asked in alarm, "What's going on? Why would anyone attack us for no reason?"
Goku complained, "It's those guys from the Red Ribbon Army again. They just won't leave us alone..."
Bulma was startled.
"W-Wait, Goku. What did you say they were?"
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