After being sent flying again and again, half a year passed.
In the clearing in front of the Sun family's house.
"Take this!!"
Little Wukong launched a full-force flying kick at Zhang Wutian's outstretched arm.
Zhang Wutian's upper body merely swayed. He wasn't knocked back by Little Wukong's blow; instead, he counterattacked.
"What can a short-armed, short-legged monkey girl do? Take a punch instead!!"
However, Zhang Wutian's fist struck nothing but air.
"A monkey girl can do this!!" Little Wukong said with a cheeky grin as she wrapped her tail around Zhang Wutian's punching fist. Not only did she use it to evade his attack, she also launched a deadly counter from below.
"Take a look at my Monkey Fist!!"
With the movements of a monkey, Little Wukong relentlessly clawed at Zhang Wutian's face.
"Damn it, I can't see a thing!!" With his face scratched all over, Zhang Wutian had no choice but to shut his eyes and cover his head.
Then Little Wukong tripped him, swept him to the ground, and pressed her fist against his chest.
"I won again, Zhang Wutian."
Looking down excitedly at Zhang Wutian lying on the ground, Little Wukong said, "You're getting so much better! Before long, I'll have to use my real strength to fight you."
"My real strength, huh..." Zhang Wutian lay on the ground, deep in thought. "I'm not so sure about that."
Over the past six months, Zhang Wutian had gained a better understanding of the ability he seemed to have acquired through his transmigration.
It seemed to be an ability that let him grow stronger after fighting someone stronger than himself, win or lose, as long as he survived.
Zhang Wutian's ability wasn't as simple as getting stronger after taking a beating. The proof was that he had once encountered a pack of wolves in the mountains. Each wolf was weaker than him, but there were many of them. He had been badly injured in the fight, yet afterward, he hadn't felt the same sensation of growing stronger that he did after fighting Little Wukong or the giant bear.
Fighting someone stronger than himself, win or lose, and growing stronger as long as he survived—this wasn't exactly a convenient ability. At least, in the technologically advanced world he used to live in, humans had their limits. If he couldn't find anyone stronger than himself, then no matter how powerful this ability was, Zhang Wutian couldn't use it to grow stronger without limit. But in this Dragon Ball world, his ability let him thrive.
The reason was simple: someone who complemented him perfectly was right by his side.
That someone was Son Wukong.
Everyone knew about Son Wukong's ability. Even though the one who'd appeared before Zhang Wutian wasn't the original little monkey, but this monkey girl, she had perfectly inherited the original Son Goku's traits.
In other words, when fighting someone evenly matched, this brave monkey girl would grow stronger as the battle went on, eventually breaking through her own limits.
And so, Zhang Wutian and Son Wukong's abilities formed a cycle.
First, Zhang Wutian fought Son Wukong, who was stronger than him, and grew stronger. As his fighting power gradually approached hers, their evenly matched battles pushed Son Wukong to break through her limits and grow stronger, leaving Zhang Wutian behind. Then, by challenging the stronger Son Wukong, Zhang Wutian grew stronger once more, and Son Wukong gained another boost in turn. And so the cycle continued without end...
Together, their abilities were practically a match made in heaven.
Without either of them realizing it, Little Wukong's fighting power had already begun to soar. But since Zhang Wutian was always her only opponent, and he was always the one playing catch-up, she hadn't noticed that she'd long since surpassed her former self and gained power even greater than what she'd once considered her true strength.
This was the theory Zhang Wutian had pieced together through half a year of experimenting. He couldn't be bothered to explain it to Little Wukong; it was too complicated, and the monkey girl couldn't even count to ten, so there was no way she'd understand the finer points. So Zhang Wutian simply kept quiet. Her increased fighting power was the real deal, and as long as they both kept growing stronger and Little Wukong benefited from it, that was enough.
But Zhang Wutian had always been worried about one thing.
Was it really a good thing to gain fighting power this easily, like some kind of cheat?
This wasn't some baseless, pointless worry. Zhang Wutian had real reason to be concerned.
He had never once beaten Little Wukong.
That might sound obvious. Son Wukong was a Saiyan, a warrior race with an innate instinct for battle. She had also trained in martial arts under her grandfather, the elderly Son Gohan, since she was little. How could someone like Zhang Wutian, who'd only been training for half a year without any proper instruction, possibly take her on?
But the truth was, several times over the past six months, Zhang Wutian had felt that his fighting power had nearly caught up to Little Wukong's. It seemed that all he lacked was combat experience and instinct. Surely he should have been able to put up at least a bit of a fight against her.
But that wasn't what happened. It wasn't just a gap in experience. Zhang Wutian felt that his fists were no match for Little Wukong's. His attacks couldn't break through her defenses, while hers easily left him unable to fight back.
When their fighting power was equal, this couldn't be explained by combat experience or instinct alone. Zhang Wutian felt that the fighting power he gained from challenging stronger opponents was like a castle built out of sand. It might look magnificent, but it was fragile to the core; the slightest rush of a wave would make it collapse.
In the end, his foundation was simply too weak.
Zhang Wutian had suddenly gained fighting power, but he couldn't use it properly. His body might have grown stronger without him realizing it, but his movements, habits, breathing, and even his way of thinking hadn't kept pace. All of them had stayed the same. Every untrained movement wasted the power he possessed and left his attacks full of openings. He had great fighting power, but couldn't bring it to bear. That was his current situation.
"So, the conclusion is that I need to do a lot of basic training to shore up this fake foundation, which is like loose sand. At the very least, I need to turn the sand into soil, then compact it further."
Building up one's fundamentals was mostly just a slogan in manga, but Zhang Wutian was now living in a world that was undeniably a manga. Using theories from the real world to interpret a manga world was downright foolish. So what was wrong with using a common manga trope as a guide for what to do?
Of course, there was no need to explain any of this to Little Wukong. She wouldn't understand even if he did.
He got to his feet, dusted himself off, and said, "It's your turn to go hunting today. I'll stay home and keep training. Next time, I'll definitely beat you."
"Hehe, you say that every time," Little Wukong said with a grin. "Even though you've never beaten me once."
"Quit talking and get going. We'll fight again when you get back."
"Oh, okay, I'm heading out." Little Wukong waved at Zhang Wutian and quickly left.
"Mm, be careful on the way."
When Little Wukong saw Zhang Wutian wave back at her, something from long ago suddenly came to mind. When her grandpa had still been alive, she used to say goodbye to him like this. Her grandpa, Son Gohan, would wave back just like that and tell her the same thing, reminding her to be careful on the way.
How long had it been since she last heard those words? Little Wukong had nearly forgotten. But ever since Zhang Wutian arrived, that little exchange had returned.
Leaping from branch to branch, Little Wukong soon reached a spot some distance away.
From here, she could just make out her house. Little Wukong stopped on a branch and looked back at the now-blurry house, and at Zhang Wutian training in front of it.
"Grandpa, is this the 'husband' you were talking about?"
"That's really nice. I like 'husband.'"
As she said this, a pure, innocent smile spread across Little Wukong's face.
Though she still didn't seem to understand what the word "husband" meant, she had clearly grown fond of the person it referred to.
Before you continue