Cat Teacher

Zhang Wutian slept straight through until the following night. He raised his head, looked at the stars filling the sky beyond the tower, then calmly closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

Another day passed. By the time the sun was high in the sky, Zhang Wutian was so hungry that he finally woke up properly.

"Here, have one of these. You won't need to eat for ten days."

Master Korin presented him with a Senzu Bean at just the right moment. Zhang Wutian examined this Dragon Ball World cheat item, which was every bit as valuable as the Dragon Balls, with great interest. He held it up to his nose, sniffed it, then brazenly slipped it into his pocket.

Under Master Korin's somewhat displeased gaze, Zhang Wutian took several Hoi-Poi Capsules out of his other pocket and popped them open with a poof.

Clouds of smoke billowed up, revealing pots and pans, kitchen utensils, and a large assortment of fresh fish.

"Today, we're having a fish feast!"

Master Korin, who had lived atop Korin Tower for who knew how many years and hadn't tasted fresh fish in ages, immediately felt his spirits lift.

"Little fellow, you're pretty good at cooking! Excellent, excellent. From now on, you're in charge of making all three meals for your master."

At the end of the day, Master Korin was still a cat. Even becoming an immortal couldn't change the instincts he'd inherited through his bloodline. And cats always needed someone to feed them—a servant, really.

With his promise to Zhang Wutian on one hand and the bribe of a fish feast on the other, Master Korin naturally didn't take his teaching lightly. In the original story, the immortal's training of Little Goku had been more like a game. But when it came to instructing Zhang Wutian, Master Korin was exceptionally serious.

Of course, that was also because Zhang Wutian's fundamentals were so shaky.

Little Goku's grandfather and Master Roshi had worked hard together to build his foundation. But Zhang Wutian was a half-baked novice who had never received guidance from any expert. He'd gained his fighting power through his abilities, while his fundamentals came entirely from imitating Little Wukong's movements. At this point, Little Wukong's own foundation wasn't exactly solid after being left to fend for herself when her grandfather died. It was easy to imagine what Master Korin thought of the movements Zhang Wutian had copied from her.

During a sparring session with Master Korin, Zhang Wutian threw a punch at him.

"Wrong!"

Before Zhang Wutian could even react, Master Korin's staff struck his arm, chest, back, waist, and legs, all but simultaneously.

"Your attack is a complete mess! Your breathing isn't coordinated with your movements at all, and your footwork is so unsteady you look like you're skating. You say you learned on your own, but I don't think you've even found the road yet!"

"Wrong! Look at your movements! You're like a pile of scrap metal about to fall apart. You put your full strength into a punch and somehow only get a tenth of it out. Is that what you call holding back?"

"Wrong!! Your punches are full of openings! I've never seen such a perfect example of how not to fight. Just do the opposite of what you're doing, and you'll throw the strongest punch in the world!"

"Wrong!"

"Wrong again!!"

"Do it over!"

The God of Martial Arts, Master Korin, who always wore a smile in front of everyone, was furious.

To him, Zhang Wutian's very existence was an insult to martial arts.

He possessed an unbelievable amount of strength, yet his grasp of martial arts was so poor it was hard to believe. Such a contradictory person shouldn't have existed, and yet Zhang Wutian had appeared right in front of Master Korin. Seeing someone squander his own talent like that made Master Korin furious.

Only the daily fish feasts could soothe Master Korin's wounded heart.

"With skills like yours, it's a wonder you managed to get your hands on such incredible strength. You're a real anomaly." Master Korin picked his teeth as he spoke.

"I know I have a problem in that area. That's why I'm trying to shore up my weaknesses." Zhang Wutian tidied up as he spoke. "I've gotten at least a little stronger these past few days, haven't I?"

"You've still got a long way to go!" Master Korin bluntly put him down. "Your strength and speed have inexplicably improved quite a bit, but your movements are still a complete mess. Strength you can't control will only become a burden in the end."

As for Zhang Wutian's growing fighting power, Master Korin figured the boy might simply be going through a growth spurt. Of course, only Zhang Wutian knew that his ability was at work again. He'd spent the past few days sparring with Master Korin, who was stronger than him, so naturally his strength had increased once more.

But Zhang Wutian hadn't come here to gain strength. His goal was to shore up his fundamentals once and for all. He'd have plenty of chances to pursue sheer power later; getting his priorities backward would be foolish.

While they were talking, Master Korin suddenly fell silent and stared into the distance.

"What's wrong, Cat Teacher?"

"Someone's summoned Shenron. Wait, what did you call me? Cat Teacher?"

"I think becoming your student is a serious matter, so I couldn't just decide on a whim. But since I'm learning martial arts under you, I should address you respectfully. So I've decided to call you Cat Teacher."

"What kind of respectful title is that? Just call me Master Korin."

"No, no. Anyone can call you Master Korin, so how could that show how much I respect you? Besides, don't you think 'Cat Teacher' sounds dignified?"

"Not in the slightest. If you really respect me, show it by calling me 'sir.'"

"How could I? Calling you 'sir' would be too formal."

"Then be formal with me! I'm an immortal. You should respect me."

"That's why I call you Cat Teacher."

"Is that respect? All I can sense in that name is your overwhelming love of mischief!!"

"Haha, how could that be? You must be mistaken, Cat Teacher." Zhang Wutian laughed it off, then took a Hoi-Poi Capsule from his pocket. A ball of yarn appeared in a puff of smoke.

Zhang Wutian tossed the ball of yarn toward Master Korin. It rolled and rolled and rolled, until it finally fell off the edge of the tower and dropped from the top.

Master Korin squinted at Zhang Wutian. (Of course, he always squinted.)

"You knew who I was from the very beginning, didn't you? Is that why you prepared so many countermeasures?"

"If I was going to ask you to teach me, I had to do my research first and then appeal to your interests." Zhang Wutian answered as if it were nothing.

"Then was that little farce just now meant to hide how much you wanted the Dragon Balls?"

Before Zhang Wutian could answer, Master Korin's good-natured catlike smile faltered again. Gritting his teeth, he said, "So in the end, you were just messing with me? You disrespectful brat! Show an immortal some proper respect!!"

At first, Master Korin had sensed that Zhang Wutian was trying to cover up his greed for the Dragon Balls and Shenron by cracking jokes. Then he realized that even that greed was a smokescreen. In truth, Zhang Wutian had only wanted to tease Master Korin's mind-reading ability, because peeking into other people's thoughts was unethical.

But was that really the truth? Perhaps that was just another disguise, while what looked like a disguise was actually what Zhang Wutian was thinking. With truths and lies tangled together until even mind-reading was useless, Master Korin's response was: "Get back to training! You're not allowed to stop until you've trained yourself to the point of internal injuries. Even if you wreck yourself, we've still got Senzu Beans to save your life!"

"Yes, Cat Teacher." Zhang Wutian saluted Master Korin, then threw himself into his training, punching and kicking with gusto.

Shenron's appeared. Does that mean Little Wukong is about to transform?

I'm a little worried about that girl monkey. The thought of her turning into a Great Ape and being seen naked by the likes of Yamcha really does bother me. Is this... fatherly love as strong as a mountain?

Unwilling to let Master Korin read his thoughts, Zhang Wutian did his utmost to act cute, hoping to conceal them. But the worry in his heart only grew stronger...