Kami's Lookout
"Phew!!!" Son Gohan gasped for breath.
The golden aura around him flickered.
In just a few short minutes, he had reached his limit.
Attacking without holding anything back had drained his stamina even more.
The Super Saiyan transformation itself consumed a tremendous amount of stamina. The fiftyfold increase in his power also placed a huge burden on his body.
"Mr. Popo, I've only got one last attack left..." Son Gohan said, catching his breath.
"Mm!" Mr. Popo remained as unruffled as ever.
"Damn, he's a monster!" Gohan cursed inwardly.
He assumed the same stance he had used on the Three-Eyed Star, raising his right hand with two fingers extended while his left hand gripped his right wrist.
Energy began gathering at his fingertips!
"Star Piercer!!"
Whoosh!!!
Mr. Popo slowly raised his hand. A faint, indistinct black energy shimmered around his palm.
Then he pointed two fingers at the Star Piercer!
Pop!!!
The beam was like a soap bubble. The instant it touched Mr. Popo's fingers, it vanished without a trace.
The layer of black energy around his palm was like a terrifying black hole. No matter how much Gohan increased his output, he couldn't dispel even a trace of it!
With no other choice, Gohan stopped powering the attack. He returned to normal and sank weakly to the ground.
"Mr. Popo, I can't fight anymore. I'm out of energy!"
"Oh? I haven't even tried, and you've already collapsed?" Mr. Popo rarely teased Gohan, but this time he did.
"Yeah, yeah, you're amazing. I'm no match for you!" Gohan had to admit defeat.
"Hmph. Do you understand how unrealistic it is to use me as a sparring partner?" So that was what Mr. Popo had been waiting for.
"I still underestimated you, Mr. Popo. I was too arrogant!" Gohan had to concede.
"Good. Now wait here while I go find you a sparring partner!" Having gotten the answer he wanted, Mr. Popo left the room. Gohan had no idea what he went to do.
Gohan sat cross-legged. He didn't eat a Senzu Bean, instead savoring the feeling of weakness after exhausting his stamina and the numbness that followed the ache in his muscles.
Although Mr. Popo hadn't attacked him, the pressure he unconsciously exuded left Gohan mentally exhausted, too.
As his stamina returned, Gohan felt his battle power rise considerably—by a few hundred thousand or so.
All it took was the right method to draw out his potential.
The invisible pressure Mr. Popo had exuded earlier had also been an excellent way to bring it out.
Gohan sat quietly for a whole day. Eventually, hunger forced him to eat a Senzu Bean.
Creak!!
The door opened again. Behind Mr. Popo stood a puppet identical to Gohan.
It had two extra seams on its face, though, and its eyes were lifeless.
"A puppet?" Gohan asked.
"This puppet was made to match your battle power, but I've given it a great deal of combat experience. Its battle power is the same as yours, but its skill is far beyond yours. If you can defeat it, you'll undergo a tremendous transformation," Mr. Popo explained.
"Great! This is wonderful! Thank you, Mr. Popo!" Gohan's dormant fighting spirit surged back to life.
"You can fight to your heart's content in this space. You're not strong enough to damage it. You can leave once you defeat the puppet!" Before Gohan could respond, Mr. Popo shut the door.
No matter how hard Gohan tried, he couldn't open it!
"Whirr! Combat mode activated!"
As soon as the door shut, the puppet seemed to receive a command. A flash of sharpness appeared in its otherwise lifeless eyes.
It took up the same fighting stance as Gohan.
"Bring it on! I'm not afraid of you!" Gohan put on a brave face.
Gohan assumed the same stance.
The puppet copied the move he had used to attack Mr. Popo earlier.
It slid forward at high speed, raised an elbow, and struck at Gohan's chest!
The puppet's movements looked flawless!
"Damn, there really is a difference!" Gohan couldn't see a single opening, so he had no choice but to dodge.
But things rarely went as expected.
The instant the puppet missed, it spun around with an impossible twist and raised its leg!
Using the force of its rotation, it whipped a kick toward Gohan's waist!
Boom!!!
Gohan had committed to his move and couldn't dodge. The puppet's kick sent him flying!
"Ptooey! This is nothing like what I expected! Most of the puppets Dad faced as a kid focused on defense and dodging. Why is mine so strong?!" Gohan cursed.
Whoosh!!
Seeing him fall, the puppet didn't stop attacking. It charged at him again!
Moving at high speed, it also fired energy blasts at Gohan to disrupt his movements!
"Damn, it's alive!" Gohan slapped away the energy blasts one after another.
He slapped the last one apart, and the puppet's somewhat terrifying face was already right in front of him!
Bam!!! Clang!!
The puppet rammed him with its head!
Gohan was sent flying again!
"You bastard! That's too much!" Gohan flew into a rage.
He transformed into a Super Saiyan, and the terrifying shockwave instantly hurled the approaching puppet away!
The puppet wasn't the least bit startled.
"Beep-beep. Limit Break Mode activated!" The puppet's aura erupted, and it released a pressure comparable to Gohan's!
"Monster... You made such a terrifying puppet in just one day!" Gohan suddenly felt as if there was no hope left for him.
He didn't know what the point was of all his efforts.
Mr. Popo's strength was beyond anything he could have imagined.
He had tried everything to improve his strength and break through to Super Saiyan, yet against Mr. Popo he was less than an ant. Even the puppet he'd made was stronger than him!
A darkness had begun to take root in Gohan's heart!
Outside
"Oh no, I may have taken this too far. Is the boy going to be ruined?" Mr. Popo thought, uneasy.
He kept a close watch on everything happening inside.
The puppet kept chasing him as Gohan blocked and dodged without thinking.
Deep down, he began to agonize over what the point of getting stronger was.
A flicker of black flashed through his golden aura!
"Forget it. What's the use of getting stronger? This world is too terrifying. You can't possibly rule it!"
"Pull yourself together! You're only three years old. Does that mean you'll never be able to beat Mr. Popo? Have you forgotten your original goal? To stand at the top of the universe!"
Two voices argued endlessly in his mind.
Gohan's unfocused eyes gradually grew brighter!
"Right! Who cares about that? My life has only just begun. The point of getting stronger is to survive. Since I've ended up in this terrifying world, why not work hard and see what the view from the top looks like?!" Gohan came to understand himself.
His consciousness returned!
"Huh? I held out against it for that long?" Gohan wondered how he'd managed to withstand the puppet's attacks for so long without even being conscious.
He had no idea that a flicker of black had just flashed through his aura...
Outside
"Good job, kid. You came through that so quickly!" Mr. Popo nodded to himself, seeming quite pleased with Gohan.
Inside the room
"Come on! I'm not afraid of you!" Gohan regained his confidence and began studying the puppet's movements.
He also learned its fighting style, correcting his own weaknesses and adopting its strengths.
One day, two days, three days... seven days!
At first, he had been soundly defeated. By the seventh day, the two were evenly matched!
Now, he even had the upper hand!
"Thanks, even if you're just a puppet!" Gohan said gratefully.
The puppet continued attacking him without expression.
It punched toward Gohan's face!
Gohan tilted his head slightly, dodging before the punch could land!
The puppet swept its leg at him!
Gohan stepped back early, and the puppet's toes brushed past his pants.
The puppet kicked straight at him. Gohan turned sideways!
The puppet brought its leg down in a chop. Gohan stepped forward and thrust his shoulder up, knocking the puppet into the air!
The power of a downward leg strike was concentrated in the lower leg. By stepping forward, Gohan moved right next to the puppet's thigh, and that shoulder thrust used its own force against it, sending it flying!
"Give up! You can't hurt me anymore!" Gohan launched his final attack!
Simple and direct—he raised his hand, clenched his fist, and threw a straight punch!
He stripped away all complexity. With a simple, full-power punch, he pierced straight through the charging puppet...
Boom!!!
The puppet exploded from the punch, crumbling into dust and vanishing without a trace!
"So it really was made of dirt... Terrifying. What a monster!" Seeing this, Gohan cursed inwardly.
There was no need to say who he was cursing!
Gohan tried opening the door.
Creak!!! It opened...