Gentle Guidance

"Big brother, why are you hitting him? Is he a bad guy?" Kakarot, the first to ruin the mood, made his bid for the spotlight.

"You... are you stupid?" Oolong's pig eyes widened. He'd gotten a good idea of what this guy was like along the way, but his stupidity still exceeded all expectations. The other guy had practically spelled it out: he was a thief!

"Is he an idiot...?" Even Yamcha, who was on the opposing side, was dumbfounded. His anger ebbed away. An idiot, a madman, and a pervert—why was he even getting worked up over these three?

"Goku, he's a bandit. He steals things. You can go ahead and hit him as hard as you like." Wuchen rubbed his forehead and spoke up.

"I understand." Goku nodded. So it was just like Oolong before: beat him up until he stopped doing bad things. "Your name's Yamcha, right? If I beat you, will you stop doing bad things like Oolong? All right, let's go!"

"Damn you! You arrogant brat!" Yamcha had repeatedly told himself not to argue with an idiot, but Goku's words still got under his skin. He drew his sword and rushed forward, slashing backhanded with enough force to split Goku in two!

Goku neither dodged nor retreated. He drew the Power Pole and blocked the blow, easily absorbing the full force of Yamcha's attack and deflecting its follow-through. But he didn't counterattack. Instead, he waited expectantly for Yamcha's next move. Humiliated and furious, Yamcha quickly jumped back, no longer daring to underestimate his opponent.

Like a vicious wolf, Yamcha darted from side to side before closing in again. His blade swept out mercilessly, attacking Goku in a raging storm. Goku swung the Power Pole as well, retreating as he fought, as if he were being driven back step by step. In truth, Yamcha was the one suffering. Every slash was blocked, every move restricted. It felt as though all his strength was hitting a turtle shell—an utterly unbreakable one.

Wuchen sighed at the sight. Just as he'd expected, Goku was playing around again, only defending and never attacking, as if he were testing Yamcha's skill while giving him pointers.

This time, though Wuchen didn't approve of Goku's approach, he was glad to see it. With Yamcha pressing him at every turn, Goku was getting more familiar with the Power Pole's techniques and learning to use them more flexibly in actual combat. Goku's talent for fighting was astonishing. He seemed born for battle.

As for Yamcha, he was under tremendous pressure! This monkey-like kid wielded his staff with flawless technique, leaving Yamcha no way to attack and unable to land a single hit! The brat didn't even seem that strong, yet Yamcha was being stifled at every turn. It was maddening! So Yamcha began searching his memory for the names of famous staff-wielding experts, hoping to figure out the kid's origins.

"Wait!" A sudden flash of inspiration struck, and Yamcha leaped back to put some distance between them, calling a halt to the fight.

"Are you giving up? You should be able to keep going a little longer," Goku said, disappointed. He wasn't done yet.

"Hah... Hoo..." Yamcha took a deep breath to calm himself, then asked, "What's your relationship to Son Gohan?" After thinking it over, Yamcha had come up with only one name: Son Gohan. They said he had a Power Pole, so he must have been a master with a staff! Maybe the kid in front of him had some connection to him!

"You know my grandpa?" Goku sounded delighted. Could Yamcha be one of his grandpa's friends? Wuchen was curious too, though he doubted a thief like Yamcha was his grandpa's friend. His grandpa must have been quite renowned when he was young, though Wuchen couldn't figure out why he'd chosen to live in seclusion on Mount Paozu.

"Son Gohan is your grandpa? Then... is the staff in your hand the Power Pole?" Yamcha was stunned. Son Gohan was a renowned martial arts master. It wasn't just Yamcha—even Oolong stared in shock. "N-No wonder! No wonder the two brothers are so ridiculously strong. They're Son Gohan's grandsons!"

"How did you know?" Goku asked, raising the Power Pole in his hand.

The Power Pole... Power... Could it be that the legendary staff that stretches and shrinks at will can also block enemy attacks at the wielder's command? Is that why it's called the Power Pole? Though intimidated by Son Gohan's reputation, Yamcha wasn't about to let it scare him off. Instead, he put his mind to work.

"Hey, kid, I don't think you're anything special. You're just relying on the Power Pole. Have you got the guts to fight me hand-to-hand?" Yamcha's clever plan was to provoke him, and it worked on Goku. Goku immediately set the Power Pole aside and eagerly said, "I don't mind. Fight however you like, as long as you don't give up too quickly."

"Arrogant!" Yamcha thrust his sword into the sand and unleashed his ultimate move. "Wolf Fang Fist!"

Even faster than before, Yamcha lunged at Goku. His claws cut through the air, and every strike was fierce, every attack angle tricky! Yamcha was much more skilled at hand-to-hand combat than he was with a sword!

Goku was overjoyed and charged to meet him. Their fists and claws clashed, flesh against flesh, and the fight set Goku's blood racing even more! Wuchen hadn't taught Goku any fist, palm, finger, or claw techniques, so most of what Goku used now came from the moves Son Gohan had taught the brothers when he was alive. Yamcha's techniques had similar roots—they'd both originated in the same world, at least. For a while, the two fought evenly.

He's stronger than I expected, and his energy feels strange. Just like Master Roshi's a few days ago, his aura is unusually violent compared with an ordinary cultivator's! Grandpa's is like that too. Yamcha's sudden burst of strength made Wuchen reflect. Perhaps this world really does have no spiritual energy, but that doesn't mean it lacks a path of cultivation. I was too quick to assume cultivation had to be tied to spiritual energy.

Still, this proves one thing. This place is probably none of the Ten Great Realms, nor one of their subsidiary realms! If so, then in my previous life, I only seemed to stand at the peak. In truth, I was just a frog in a well—at best, a bigger frog. There are always greater worlds beyond the one we know!

Back to Goku and Yamcha's fight: they were evenly matched at first, but gradually Yamcha fell behind. Goku had been stronger from the start and had never shown his true ability. As he fought Yamcha, Goku's combat experience rapidly grew. Even while using only the same level of strength he'd used to keep the fight even earlier, he began to gain the advantage.

When Goku punched Yamcha into the air and sent him crashing into the hemispherical house where Bulma was staying, the fight finally came to an end. Goku had won decisively.

"Haah..." Bulma woke up with a long stretch, still half-asleep, only to find her home reduced to rubble. "Was that an earthquake?!"

But Bulma's cry startled Yamcha beneath the wreckage. Yamcha hadn't yet become the womanizer he would later be. He still had an inexplicable fear of girls his own age—the kind that left him weak and foaming at the mouth.

Puar stepped forward to help. Using a Hoi-Poi Capsule, he brought out a hover scooter, loaded Yamcha onto it, and sped away, leaving a trail of dust in the desert until they disappeared from sight.

"Goku! Don't chase a cornered foe!" Wuchen called out, stopping Goku from calling the Flying Nimbus to continue the pursuit. He decided it was time to have a serious talk with his younger brother. "Goku, why didn't you fight with all your strength? Why didn't you capitalize on your advantage?" He walked over slowly and handed Goku the Power Pole. Once Goku took it, Wuchen continued, "Why abandon your strength for weakness? Why let yourself be provoked before a fight and underestimate your opponent in the middle of it? Those are all ways to get yourself killed!"

Goku stammered for a long time, unable to form a complete sentence.

"I know you gained a lot from this fight, but honing your skills in the middle of battle is a terrible idea—especially when lives are at stake. A thousand years of painstaking cultivation can come down to a single moment between life and death. You haven't finished your training, yet you're already being so careless. What will you do when you face a formidable opponent? Even that thief might have had another trick up his sleeve. What if he'd caught you off guard? And what if he'd taken Bulma hostage while you were distracted?"

"Hey, wait a second. Were you two whispering about me just now?" Bulma had caught the name "Bulma," though Wuchen had only rendered it phonetically.

"What happened? Could someone explain?"

"And who was that handsome guy just now? Why did he run away?"