Everything was so strange and absurd.
When Zhang Wutian came to his senses, he found himself in the middle of a remote mountain forest.
The quintessentially Chinese green mountains, along with a winding stream, made Zhang Wutian almost wonder if he was still dreaming.
He went to the stream nearby and washed his face. The cold water gradually cleared his head.
"How I got here doesn't matter. What matters is that I'm here now. How to survive—that's the biggest problem at the moment."
As a city kid, Zhang Wutian said that although his name sounded wild, he was actually so weak he couldn't even truss a chicken. In a real fight, he probably couldn't beat a goose. He reckoned his fighting strength was around 45 geese.
"I'll probably die in this forest, if it really is as remote as it looks."
When he said the first sentence, Zhang Wutian had been full of despair. But by the time he started the second, his whole demeanor had brightened.
Because he'd spotted a column of smoke.
Of course, as a child raised in the city, Zhang Wutian couldn't be sure whether that rising plume of smoke was really from a cooking fire. But that didn't stop him from imagining it was.
Even if it wasn't a cooking fire, but a wildfire that had started naturally, anything was better than his current situation. At least with fire, he could get a lot done. Zhang Wutian had already forgotten that even with a fire, he couldn't cook. He'd also forgotten that, with fighting strength lower than a goose's, there was no way he could hunt anything in a remote mountain forest like this.
People said moths flew into flames. When people were trapped in desperate straits, they likewise yearned for the fire that represented civilization. So Zhang Wutian stumbled toward the column of smoke, lurching along with one foot sinking deeper than the other.
At the source of the smoke, Zhang Wutian saw a fish roasting on a stick.
"This scene looks familiar. Where have I seen it before?"
A distant memory flickered at the edge of his mind. Besides, Zhang Wutian wasn't that hungry, and he didn't particularly like fish—let alone a rustic-looking roasted fish like the one before him. So he merely walked closer without touching it.
If there was a roasted fish here, then someone must have cooked it. If he asked that person for help, even if they were cold and unwilling to lend a hand—people like that were pretty common in the city where Zhang Wutian lived—he figured he could at least ask about the area and get directions out of there.
Zhang Wutian waited, hoping the person who'd roasted the fish would appear. It wasn't long before they did.
The moment the person appeared, Zhang Wutian recognized him.
"S-S-Son... Son Goku!!!"
Not the Monkey King from Flower Fruit Mountain, our beloved Great Sage, Equal to Heaven, Son Goku. This was the little monkey boy from the manga, the one with the blood of a warrior race, but who'd grown up on Earth with a gentle heart.
"You know my name? Who are you?" the boy asked curiously.
Zhang Wutian began to think.
The child standing before him was clearly Son Goku when he was little. At this point in his life, Goku was innocent and guileless. A few little lies would have been enough to lead him around by the nose. As someone raised in the city and hardened by years of phone scams, Zhang Wutian could easily have said a couple of things and gotten this little monkey to do his bidding, happily working like an ox and a horse for him.
But Zhang Wutian was deeply reluctant to deceive the boy. The reason was simple: he'd first encountered the Dragon Ball manga in first grade. This little monkey had grown up alongside Zhang Wutian, accompanying him from childhood through his youth, like an old friend who'd always been by his side. Even after the series ended, Zhang Wutian often reread the boy's adventures. It felt like meeting an old childhood friend again, and every reunion lifted his spirits.
Zhang Wutian knew everything about this little monkey. He knew the hardships the boy would face and the kind of person he'd become. Even if the friendship was one-sided, Zhang Wutian couldn't bring himself to deceive his old friend.
So he suppressed his excitement and answered honestly, "I think I'm lost. Can you help me?"
"Sure! Grandpa said to help people who get lost. Are you a person?"
"Of course I am. You said 'Grandpa'—where is your grandpa?"
"He died," Little Goku said with a cheerful smile.
So this was the point in time, Zhang Wutian thought. Little Goku seemed a little younger than he was in the manga, which meant this was sometime between when he'd transformed into a Great Ape and accidentally stomped Grandpa Son Gohan to death, and when Bulma arrived with the Dragon Radar.
At that thought, Zhang Wutian suddenly shuddered. Holy crap! I'd crossed over into the Dragon Ball World, and I hadn't been surprised at all. I never knew my nerves were so thick—they were practically as long as a Saiyan's tail after turning into a Great Ape.
Perhaps it was because the person before him was Son Goku. Seeing a familiar old friend had filled Zhang Wutian with such delight that it had suppressed his shock. Only now did he remember his own predicament.
Then Son Goku took Zhang Wutian back to his house.
As they crossed mountains along the way, with Goku's help—and sometimes with Zhang Wutian simply letting Goku carry him—Zhang Wutian asked, "Son Goku, aren't you afraid I'm a bad person?"
"I think you're a good person," Son Goku said with a smile as he carried Zhang Wutian on his small back. "You didn't steal my fish. Grandpa said people who don't steal are good people."
Zhang Wutian thought, That's because I'm not hungry yet, and I don't want your fish anyway. But he would never say that out loud. After a lot of jumping, Son Goku brought Zhang Wutian into his home.
"Grandpa, I'm back," Son Goku said, bringing his palms together before a ball. Zhang Wutian knew, of course, that it was the biggest cheat in Dragon Ball: the Four-Star Ball, one of the seven Dragon Balls.
"Hello, Grandpa. My name is Zhang Wutian. I'm a traveler who got lost in another world." Zhang Wutian bowed to the ball, too. After all, if this departed old man hadn't raised Son Goku to be a kind little monkey, Zhang Wutian wouldn't have been rescued.
"You can stay here tonight. Tomorrow, I'll take you out of the forest," Little Goku told Zhang Wutian.
Zhang Wutian took in the simple little house, then asked Son Goku, "Goku, do you know martial arts?"
"Martial arts? You mean fighting? Grandpa taught me before."
"Can you teach me? I think you're really strong. I want to be strong like you."
If he'd been talking to anyone else, Zhang Wutian would never have been so direct. He would at least have gone around in circles before getting to the point. But with Son Goku, it was completely different. There was no need for extra words with this simple little monkey. He could just say what he meant.
"Sure, I can teach you," Little Goku said cheerfully. Just as Zhang Wutian had expected.
Then the two of them went outside, and Little Goku stood opposite Zhang Wutian.
"You seem really weak, Zhang Wutian. Let me see how strong you are first," Little Goku said, raising his fist.
"Wait, Goku, be careful. I'm really weak compared to you."
"I understand. I'll just give you a light punch to see."
Even though the little guy was less than half his height, he'd said it, so Zhang Wutian could only cautiously cross his arms over his chest, ready to take Little Goku's supposedly light punch.
Just as Little Goku's light punch was about to land, a scene like a montage of memories flashed through Zhang Wutian's mind. He seemed to recall a scene from the Dragon Ball manga.
It had happened much later, when Trunks and Mr. Satan met at the World Martial Arts Tournament. Back then, Trunks had also thrown what he called a light punch.
"Wait, wait! No way! Little Goku, hold on a second!"
Then came a loud bang.
Zhang Wutian didn't even have time to scream before he went flying.
By then, Zhang Wutian was already out cold. Needless to say, he didn't see Little Goku frantically pick him up, chew on his lips, and give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
**********
This Dragon Ball fanfic was just an idea that came to me on a whim. I don't have any chapters saved up; I wrote this and uploaded it right away, so just have a casual read.
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