Son Wukong!

When Zhang Wutian came to, still groggy, he found that he was soaked.

The last thing he remembered was Little Goku's fist hitting him. Then, sluggishly, he became aware that every part of his body hurt, as if all his bones had been broken.

He managed to look around and realized he was no longer outside Little Goku's house. He was lying beside a stream.

"You're awake."

Zhang Wutian saw Little Goku, who seemed to have just climbed out of the water. She was drenched from head to toe.

"Zhang Wutian, you're so weak. I punched you and sent you flying, and then you passed out."

As she spoke, Little Goku took off her shirt and tried to wring the water out of it.

"That's why I told you to wait," Zhang Wutian said through gritted teeth.

After wringing out her shirt, Little Goku took off her pants and wrung them out too.

It was then that Zhang Wutian witnessed a shocking sight.

There wasn't much to see on a ten-year-old's body; it was just a little chubby. But when Little Goku took off her pants, Zhang Wutian reacted as if he'd seen something unbelievable.

Ignoring the pain in his body, he sat up and pointed at Little Goku with a trembling finger. Stammering, he said, "G-Goku... what happened to your little... thing?!"

"My little thing?" Little Goku blinked, then replied, "Grandpa said only boys have those. I'm a girl, of course I don't have one."

Zhang Wutian went completely blank, as if the whole world had turned upside down. Little Goku didn't have one? She had to be kidding! He'd seen it in the manga several times. So much for friendship—apparently, the rules of this world made no sense!

"How... how can you be a girl?"

"But Grandpa told me I am one."

"Th-then didn't your grandpa ever tell you not to take your clothes off in front of a man?"

"Zhang Wutian, you really are a man." Little Goku—female Little Goku—laughed without a care in the world. "I just saved you the way Grandpa taught me. I kissed you on the mouth a few times. Grandpa said girls can only kiss their husbands, so from now on, you're my husband, Zhang Wutian. Grandpa also said it's okay to take all your clothes off in front of your husband."

Old Mr. Son Gohan, wherever you were in the afterlife, what on earth had you taught your grandchild... your granddaughter, I mean?!

Faced with such airtight logic, Zhang Wutian felt like his whole world had gone haywire.

"By the way, Zhang Wutian, what is a husband? Is it tasty?"

"Are you going to eat me?" Zhang Wutian asked with a helpless laugh. He felt he had thoroughly lost to the little monkey in front of him. At the same time, he thought Son Goku was still Son Goku. Apart from knowing a few basic things about being a girl, she hadn't changed much at all.

As he got to his feet, Zhang Wutian suddenly noticed that his injuries... seemed less serious than they should have been.

According to Little Goku—no, Little Wukong—Zhang Wutian asked her again and learned that he'd made a lot of assumptions, including getting her name wrong. According to Son Wukong, Zhang Wutian had been sent flying through the air. He should have been much more seriously hurt. A broken bone or internal bleeding wouldn't have been surprising.

Yet all Zhang Wutian felt now was pain. He didn't feel that he'd suffered any worse internal injuries, and he had no trouble moving. At the same time, though it might have been his imagination, he felt... as if he had gotten a little stronger.

Zhang Wutian tried picking up a pebble from the streambank and throwing it into the distance.

With a whoosh, the pebble shot all the way to a distant cliff on the opposite bank, then bounced back.

"That went far! Could I have thrown a rock that far before?"

Zhang Wutian stared at his palm and murmured, "I think... I've gotten stronger?"

Then he looked at Son Wukong, who had started a fire and was roasting fish and drying their clothes. "Wukong, try hitting me gently with the same strength you used before."

"You're too weak, Zhang Wutian. I'll knock you out again."

"It's fine. I'll be ready this time. I won't pass out again."

"Really?" Little Wukong looked Zhang Wutian up and down, then reluctantly agreed. "All right, I'll hit you once more. Be careful."

Zhang Wutian took up a defensive stance, ready for Little Wukong's gentle punch.

The next instant, that fist struck Zhang Wutian again.

He felt an enormous, almost irresistible force slam into him from the front. But this time, he wasn't sent flying. He managed to keep himself pressed against the ground.

Though the blow drove him back a long way, leaving a furrow in the ground, this time Zhang Wutian was neither sent flying nor knocked unconscious. He'd successfully taken one of Little Wukong's gentle punches.

"You really blocked it. That's strange, Zhang Wutian. Don't you seem a little stronger?"

"I feel that way too. Weird. Could I have awakened some incredible constitution? The more I'm beaten up, the stronger I get? What kind of masochistic constitution is that?"

Realizing that his body seemed to have changed, Zhang Wutian began to feel a little hopeful.

In this Dragon Ball world, Earth's humans were completely outclassed in terms of fighting power and potential. Zhang Wutian knew his own limits: the world he'd come from was just as ordinary, driven by technology, and a person's fighting power was about five geese. Coming from a world like that, he'd never expected to have any fighting potential. But perhaps his body had undergone some unknown change during his journey between worlds. Maybe now he could afford to hope for a little growth?

At the thought, Zhang Wutian could hardly contain his excitement. He said to Son Wukong, "Wukong, fight me using as little strength as you can!"

"No, I want to eat." Son Wukong rejected his request outright. She wasn't always so easy to persuade.

"...All right, then fight me after you finish eating."

"Sure, but I think it'll be really easy to beat you."

"You really don't hold back, do you?"

"What's holding back? Is it tasty?"

After an exchange like that, Little Wukong finished eating the fish she'd just caught, then took up a stance by the stream and faced Zhang Wutian.

"Here I come. Don't pass out right away this time."

"I'll do my best," Zhang Wutian said.

The fight began. Little Wukong ran straight at Zhang Wutian, then leaped into a kick aimed at his body.

"I said to hit me gently!" Zhang Wutian twisted his stiff, untrained body and barely managed to dodge Little Wukong's attack. But as soon as she landed, she launched a second attack. She jumped back and struck at him with her elbow.

"Are you trying to kill me?!" Seeing Little Wukong attack with such a dangerous move, Zhang Wutian frantically raised his arms to block. Then he felt a tremendous force knock his arms aside.

Zhang Wutian's guard was down, and Little Wukong's fist had already landed on his chest.

Just as expected, Zhang Wutian went flying again, straight into the water.

As his stomach filled with water, Zhang Wutian silently swore to himself:

"Once I've learned martial arts and had all the opportunities the story has in store for me, I'll beat you at least once!"

That was the rest of the sentence Zhang Wutian swallowed before he could say it aloud. Thinking that way was just too spineless—at least until she turned into a blond delinquent.