Yamcha's Hollow Swagger and the Preliminary Rounds

"What are you two doing? Whenever something happens, you're nowhere to be found." The moment Bulma saw the Wuchen brothers, she let them have it.

As it turned out, after Goku and Wuchen had left West City last time, Bulma had worried that they might not know the World Martial Arts Tournament had been moved up, so she'd gone to Mount Paozu to tell them.

But neither of them was there. She'd waited five whole days without seeing them, and finally had no choice but to leave in a huff.

Goku and Wuchen exchanged awkward smiles. Well, what a coincidence.

They hadn't been away from Mount Paozu for long. Even that time at Kami's Lookout, though it had seemed like more than a year, had actually only been a month or two. And somehow, Bulma had managed to run into them every time.

When neither of them answered, Bulma grew even more annoyed and was about to say something else.

"Wait, Bulma, hold on." Yamcha interrupted her, his jaw dropping as he did. "Goku and Wuchen—look at their hair!"

That successfully drew Bulma's attention. "You two... just what kind of people have you been hanging around with lately...?"

"Oh no, oh no! The innocent little boys have turned into delinquents!" Oolong immediately joined in.

Bulma stepped forward and reached for Goku's hair, apparently intending to check what kind of dye they'd used.

But she didn't manage to pull out a single strand. Goku dodged on instinct.

Seeing that, Wuchen could only smile faintly. "It's not because of anything external. We just have unusual constitutions."

"Not that same old excuse again! You..." Before Bulma could blow up, Wuchen's gaze settled on Yamcha.

Sensing Yamcha's aura, Wuchen furrowed his brow. Yamcha wasn't in great shape. He seemed a little depleted, as if he'd been overexerting himself. Could it be...?

"Yamcha, let me see your hand."

"Huh?" Yamcha was taken aback, then hesitantly held it out. Wuchen took his hand and felt his pulse.

Hmm, his vital essence is leaking away. Just as I thought—he's been overindulging! Wuchen's thoughts stirred as he checked Yamcha's pulse.

He wanted to warn him, but this really wasn't the right moment. There were too many people around, with too many eyes and ears. And Bulma was there, too, so Wuchen immediately held his tongue.

He'd find a chance to talk to him in private. It wasn't really his place to meddle, though.

But overindulgence harmed the body, especially in the early stages of cultivation. Unless one practiced a special technique, the loss of yin and yang essence would leave little energy in the internal organs, making cultivation harder.

Yamcha didn't think much of it. He laughed and said, "I'm fine. It's all Bulma's fault. She's been working me to the bone for more than two years. If you ask me, you two brothers are to blame, too."

By the end, Yamcha was looking at Wuchen as if reproaching him.

Wuchen leaned back a little. He couldn't agree with that assessment.

It was true that Yamcha and Bulma had met because of the two brothers.

But that sort of thing was up to the individuals involved. No matter how much they enjoyed themselves, a little restraint was necessary.

Of course, Wuchen wasn't about to call him out in front of everyone. He just smiled faintly and said nothing.

The others didn't react much, except for Master Roshi, whose eyes gleamed with gossip as he pondered something.

Bulma merely shot Yamcha a glare and said nothing.

After that little commotion, the matter of Goku and Wuchen looking like delinquents was forgotten.

Then, thanks to Krillin, everyone received special arrangements from the tournament organizers. Even Bulma, Wuchen, and the others who weren't competing were given rooms.

There were three rooms of different sizes. Goku, Wuchen, Krillin, and Master Roshi shared one.

Yamcha, Oolong, and Puar shared another, while Bulma got a small room of her own.

The rooms were all close to one another, and before long, everyone had gone to sleep.

The night passed without incident, and morning came.

"Good luck, everyone!"

"Good luck, Master Yamcha!"

"Yeah, good luck, everyone. Let's make this clear: if anyone who's supposed to be competing with us shows up in the audience for the official matches this afternoon, they're treating all of us to a meal."

Thanks to Krillin's title as champion, everyone was allowed to stay in the tournament's rest area, but those who weren't competing still couldn't watch the preliminary rounds.

So the group split up for the time being.

Goku, Krillin, Master Roshi, Yamcha, and a few others went to compete in the preliminaries. Wuchen went sightseeing with Bulma and the others.

The preliminary rounds were held indoors, but the venue was still quite spacious.

It had room for eight rings, with plenty of space left over for nearly four hundred competitors, a host of staff, eight judges, and five reserve judges.

"Goku, why isn't your senior brother Wuchen competing?" Krillin couldn't help asking as they queued up to draw lots.

"Kami said someone might cause trouble at this World Martial Arts Tournament, so Big Brother decided to keep watch from the shadows. One of us will be in the open and the other in the dark."

"Kami? Trouble? What are you talking about?" Krillin looked completely baffled. Goku just scratched his head. "That's how it is."

"Come on, Krillin, don't give Goku a hard time. Wuchen told me more or less what's going on. We just need to focus on our matches." Master Roshi spoke up at the right moment, a worried look between his brows.

Wuchen had explained things to him yesterday, and what he'd heard had shocked him.

King Piccolo. He couldn't believe that monster was going to descend upon the world again.

Back then, his teacher, Mutaito, had sacrificed his life to seal that demon away.

With Master Roshi speaking up, Krillin stopped asking questions.

Soon, the draw was over.

Numbers one through 398 were distributed as evenly as possible among the eight groups, one for each ring. Each ring would produce one winner to compete in the official tournament.

Would you believe it? Goku, Krillin, Yamcha, and Master Roshi had all ended up in different rings.

Everyone felt a little relieved, especially Yamcha and Krillin, who were grinning from ear to ear.

With Goku and Master Roshi competing, the two of them naturally didn't expect to win the championship. But failing even to make it into the official tournament would be humiliating. Treating everyone to a meal was the least of their worries.

While they were privately congratulating themselves, someone in the distance watched them with the cold smile of a hawk.

"Go ahead and laugh, Turtle School fools."

"Only by defeating you in the official tournament, in front of everyone, will the world learn that the Crane School is the greatest martial arts school under heaven!"

Of course, Master Shen had been the one to arrange for Chiaotzu to do all this. He intended to crush the Turtle School before everyone's eyes!

The preliminary rounds were in full swing, while Wuchen followed Bulma to a stall beside the venue, where they ate ice cream and took shelter from the blazing sun.

"Smack!" Bulma slapped the table and sprang to her feet.

"I should've signed up, too! It wouldn't matter if I lost right away. If anyone seemed threatening, I could just forfeit. At least then I'd be allowed to stay inside and watch everyone else's matches."

That was right: Miss Bulma was getting a little bored and really wanted to see the fights.

As she spoke, Bulma started trying to figure out a way to get inside and watch.

Just then, Wuchen, who had barely spoken all this time, suddenly stood up.