Everyone Is Involuted

The next day, at noon.

"It's finished!"

Bulma rushed out of the laboratory, holding a modified scouter in her hand, and said excitedly to Son Goku, "I ripped out the monitoring system and replaced it with an energy amplification circuit of my own design. It's just limited by the manufacturing materials, so its current measurement ceiling is... five million!"

"Five million?!" Son Goku's eyes lit up as he took the scouter. "Bulma, you're amazing!"

"Well, of course!" Bulma lifted her chin proudly, then her face flushed red. "You... you just need to reward me properly tonight..."

Son Goku was stunned for a moment, then nodded earnestly. "Alright! I'll give you a massage tonight!"

Bulma: "...Who wants a massage!"

Son Goku laughed and walked toward the backyard with the scouter. "I'm going to test it out!"

He arrived at a wide, empty wilderness and took a deep breath.

"Let me see... just how strong I am now."

He raised the scouter, aimed it at himself, and then—

Slowly released his ki.

"Hum—"

A white aura surged around his body, and the numbers on the scouter jumped wildly—

1,000... 10,000...

50,000... 500,000...

1,000,000... 5,000,000!

"Beep—"

The scouter emitted a crisp prompt sound, and the numbers locked in at:

5,000,000

Son Goku looked at the number, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth as he muttered to himself.

"Five million... about what I estimated. Now I'll know the exact power level of everyone."

What he didn't know was that the moment he released his ki—

Across the entire Earth, every martial artist capable of sensing "ki" looked up at the same time.

Kami's Lookout.

Mr. Popo stood on the plaza, his white eyes gazing into the distance, a trace of surprise appearing on his usually calm and ripple-free face. "This ki... Goku?"

Heavenly Realm, Kami's Lookout.

The teacup in Kami's hand clattered to the ground, his green face filled with shock. "This... this is Son Goku?! This growth rate is just too fast!!!"

Top of Korin Tower.

Master Korin jolted awake from his slumber, his bell ringing frantically. "Meow?! This... this ki... it's ten thousand times stronger than King Piccolo was back then! That kid... just what level has his training reached?!"

Kame House.

Master Roshi took off his sunglasses and looked toward the west, his white beard fluttering in the wind. "Goku... have you already reached this stage..."

Fire Mountain.

The Ox-King wiped the sweat from his forehead, looking at the golden pillar of light on the distant horizon, and grinned. "My son-in-law... he really is a monster..."

Piccolo watched Son Goku not far away, forced to one knee by the pressure of his ki, his green face filled with horror as cold sweat poured down like rain!

"Son Goku?!"

He widened his eyes, feeling the oppressive force that made his very soul tremble. In the face of this ki, his prideful power level of over one thousand felt as insignificant as dust!

"Impossible... impossible..." Piccolo's voice trembled. "How... how could he possibly be this strong?!"

That ki lasted only a few seconds before it was retracted without a trace.

"Damn it..."

"This gap..."

Piccolo gritted his teeth, his green knuckles turning white. But the next second, he stood up abruptly, a flash of determination in his eyes!

"I can't keep using these safe, steady methods of improvement... I have to take some risks... otherwise, I'll never catch up to him!"

After everyone learned the news that Vegeta, with a power level as high as 18,000, would arrive on Earth in one year, they consciously gathered at the Large Gravity Chamber in Bulma's Estate in West City.

Furthermore, everyone learned from Raditz that Vegeta and his cohorts possessed consumables called Saibamen, which had a power level of 1,200.

After testing, it turned out that none of them had reached 1,200, meaning that apart from Son Goku, the others couldn't even defeat the consumables Vegeta would bring in a year.

This severely stimulated the warriors.

Consequently, inside the Large Gravity Chamber, everyone began another round of hellish training.

"Fourteen times gravity... adaptation complete!"

Krillin shouted, his short frame darting and weaving through the red light. He had just dodged an automatically fired rubber projectile, and with a backhand motion, he unleashed a Destructo Disc that sliced another one in two.

"Fifteen times!"

Tien Shinhan's three eyes were tightly shut as he hovered cross-legged in mid-air. He was maintaining his meditation under fifteen times gravity, while the afterimages of his Multi-Form Technique performed different physical training routines in the corners simultaneously.

"Tien Shinhan is so amazing..." Chiaotzu floated nearby, his small face flushed bright red. He was already at his limit under eight times gravity, yet he was still struggling to maintain his levitation.

"Chiaotzu, don't push yourself." Tien Shinhan opened his eyes, a hint of gentleness flashing through his three eyes. "Your psychic powers are your trump card; physical training should be done gradually."

"Mm!"

Piccolo was in the deepest section. The gravity indicator light there flashed a blinding red—thirty times.

His green skin oozed blood under the immense pressure. With every punch he threw, tiny beads of blood sprayed from his pores, tracing scarlet arcs through the gravity field before slamming heavily onto the floor.

"Son Goku..."

He punched the specially crafted alloy sandbag. The surface dented, and the buffer fluid inside emitted an overwhelmed, gurgling sound.

"I will never... lose to you..."

"Special Beam Cannon—!"

He pressed two fingers together, and a green, spiraling aura condensed at his fingertips. Under thirty times gravity, this beam, which could normally pierce a planet, was only the thickness of an arm and trembling violently. Yet, it roared as it fired, leaving a deep, charred scar on the alloy wall.

"Haa... haa..."

Piccolo collapsed to his knees, bracing himself with his hands as green blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.

"Still not enough... sleeping only four hours a day... is still far from enough..."

In another corner, the twelve-times gravity zone.

Raditz lay on the floor, performing push-ups. His long hair was soaked with sweat, sticking to his cheeks. With every push, his arms trembled violently.

"Nine hundred ninety-eight..."

"Nine hundred ninety-nine..."

"One thousand...!"

He pushed up with a surge of strength, then collapsed onto the floor, his chest heaving rhythmically.

"Kakarot..."

He gasped for air, his expression complex.

"I... I won't let you look down on me again..."

[I was once... an elite of the Saiyans... a high-class warrior...]

[Yet I couldn't even beat you... couldn't even beat you, my younger brother, a low-class warrior...]

[No... it's not that I couldn't beat you...]

[It's that I... never truly understood the meaning of "strength."]

He rolled over and lay flat on the cold alloy floor, staring at the stark white ceiling of the gravity chamber.

[In this home... on this Earth...]

[I have learned shame... and I have learned dignity.]

He sat up abruptly and dropped into a horse stance once more.

"One thousand more!"

"Uncle Raditz," Wuqi's little head suddenly poked through the observation window, his eyes fixed on him. "You're so amazing! You're working even harder than Dad!"

Raditz's movements stiffened.

"...Kid," he turned his head away, his voice muffled. "Your father works harder. This of mine... is nothing."

"But Uncle Raditz is sweating so much!" Wuhao's little head squeezed in as well. "Mom says people who sweat are the coolest!"

"..." The tips of Raditz's ears turned suspiciously red.

"You two!" Chi-Chi's voice drifted from afar. "Don't disturb your uncles while they're training!"

"We know—!"

The two little ones scampered off.

Raditz watched their retreating figures, the corner of his mouth twitching involuntarily.

...Good grief.

This feeling of being expected to do something...

It isn't half bad.

He lowered his body once again.

"One thousand and one..."

Outside the Large Gravity Chamber, Bulma held a cup of coffee, watching the frantic figures on the monitor, and sighed helplessly.

"These guys... they're really throwing their lives away."

After Piccolo slightly adjusted to the thirty-fold gravity, a look of determination flashed in his eyes as he reached out to operate the controller.

"Forty times—activate!"

"BOOM!"

An even greater pressure descended. Piccolo's bones let out a heart-wrenching groan, but he did not collapse.

Son Goku...!

You just wait...!

I will never... be left behind by you!!

Krillin saw the gravity reading on Piccolo's display and exclaimed:

"Hey, hey, hey! Piccolo! Have you lost your mind?!"

"Stop yapping, baldy!" Piccolo's voice came from deep within, laced with grit and determination. "Either keep up... or get left behind!"

Krillin froze for a second, then grinned, the veins on his bald head bulging.

"Ha! Who's afraid of who!"

"Sixteen times! Activate!"

Yamcha wailed, "You bunch of monsters—!"

Tien Shinhan opened his eyes, a hint of a smile flashing across his three eyes.

"...Interesting."

"Seventeen times! Multi-Form Technique—full power!"

Chiaotzu's face turned red as he strained, "I... I'm coming too! Nine times!"

Raditz, inside the twelve-fold gravity, listened to the rising roars and explosions in the distance, a fighting spirit igniting within him.

"Hmph..."

"Twelve times... adaptation complete."

"Fourteen times—"

"Activate!"

Inside the Large Gravity Chamber, the sounds of roars, energy blasts, and groaning bones intertwined, weaving together the most primal war song belonging to the Z Fighters.

In the Exclusive Training Room, Son Goku sensed the collective surge of energy from afar and began to smile brilliantly.

Everyone... is working so hard...

That's how it should be... while increasing gravity training one level at a time is steady and safe, everything has two sides. The safer it is, the slower it goes!

For them right now, increasing their combat power is more important!

It seems I should work harder too!