After a full day of travel, they arrived at a beach and stood before the vast ocean, letting the sea breeze wash over them.
"Wow, Sea Turtle, you live in such a huge place!" Faced with the boundless ocean, Goku was deeply awed. It was water, just like rivers and lakes, yet somehow completely different.
"Thank you so much. You saved my life." Back in the sea, Sea Turtle replenished the life force he had exhausted and was overjoyed. "Could you wait here for a while? I'd like to give you a gift."
"I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere." After those final words, Sea Turtle swam farther and farther away until he vanished from sight.
"A gift? Hey, do you think it could be a Dragon Ball? There's one somewhere in this sea!" Bulma pulled out the Dragon Radar and saw that the Dragon Ball was in the direction Sea Turtle had gone.
"I don't know, but even if it isn't, we can ask Sea Turtle to help us find the Dragon Ball. The ocean is his home, isn't it? He'll definitely be able to find it." As he spoke, Goku quickly took off his shoes and began playing in the shallows, chasing crabs.
"Little brat, you don't know anything. This is the ocean! Do you know how big it is? Do you know what lives in it? There are great white sharks and octopuses bigger than houses. There might even be some undiscovered monster out there. That little Sea Turtle wouldn't even make a snack for them..." Bulma was utterly speechless. The brat made it sound so easy.
Wuchen remained silent, his curiosity growing by the minute. Apart from the talking Sea Turtle, they'd also encountered a knife-wielding Bear Beast along the way. It could talk, wore a set of battle armor, and looked almost human. But its fighting ability was pitiful; Goku had barely lifted a finger before it was down.
It seemed that talking beasts were commonplace in this world. But after living on Mount Paozu for so many years, why had the brothers never encountered one?
Wuchen naturally couldn't make sense of it. He wasn't the only one; many fans couldn't either. In the Dragon Ball world, even the king was a dog, yet the streets were full of pet dogs and strays. Dogs and dogs seemed to belong to two entirely different species. There was even Oolong, who looked like a pig and often ate roast suckling pig.
"Someone's coming." Before Wuchen could think it through, a figure on the sea caught his eye. The person was riding on Sea Turtle's back.
"Sea Turtle's back, and he's brought someone with him." Goku looked over too.
"What are your eyes made of? How can you see that far?" Bulma was the only one who couldn't see a thing.
"Sorry to keep you waiting." Before long, Sea Turtle's voice reached them. He came ashore and stopped, and the person on his back hopped down.
"Good afternoon, everyone." The newcomer was, of course, Master Roshi. "Were you the ones who saved Sea Turtle?"
"Who are you, old man?" Goku and Bulma were full of curiosity. Sea Turtle had said he was bringing them a gift, so why had he brought a person? Wuchen's pupils contracted slightly. The newcomer wore a turtle shell on his back and seemed to radiate a powerful presence. Could he be a Turtle Beast who had taken human form?
"I'm Master Roshi." After introducing himself, Master Roshi turned to Sea Turtle and asked, "Who saved you?"
Master Roshi? He must be a Turtle Beast who took human form. Wuchen looked enlightened. In his mind, he silently assigned Master Roshi the identity of a "turtle spirit." At the same time, he wondered how anything could become a spirit without spiritual energy.
"Those two boys." Perhaps because Bulma had earlier refused to give him a ride, Sea Turtle didn't mention her at all when credit was being handed out.
"Thank you for your efforts, boys. I'll give each of you something nice as a gift." Master Roshi spoke to Goku and Wuchen. Without waiting for them to answer, he turned to the sky and shouted, "Come out, Immortal Bird!"
"Immortal Bird? A bird that can never die?" Everyone was amazed, but nothing happened in the sky.
Only Sea Turtle spoke up timidly. "Master, that Immortal Bird fellow died of food poisoning two years ago."
"..." Everyone was left sweating. This fashionable old man didn't seem very reliable. Master Roshi, however, remained composed. "I named him Immortal Bird because I hoped he'd live forever. I didn't think he'd die anyway. In that case..."
"Come out, Flying Nimbus!" Master Roshi shouted at the sky again. This time, something appeared. A golden object shot through the air, leaving a streak of gold across the blue sky before stopping abruptly in front of them. It was unmistakably a golden cloud!
Looking at Goku, Master Roshi said, "I'll give you this Flying Nimbus."
"A cloud! It really is a cloud!" Bulma exclaimed in shock.
"So... how do you eat it?" Goku was Goku, after all. Everything came back to food.
This turtle really is extraordinary. Wuchen was slightly astonished.
"This cloud isn't for eating. Ride on it, and you can fly wherever you want through the sky. But only those with pure hearts can ride the Flying Nimbus. Simply put, only good kids can get on it. Watch, I'll demonstrate." Master Roshi adjusted his sunglasses and jumped onto the Flying Nimbus.
"Thud!" Just as expected, he hit the ground hard. What a lecherous old geezer.
"I want to try too!" Goku's interest was piqued, and he jumped up. Unlike Master Roshi, he landed firmly on the Flying Nimbus. "Yahoo! I'm riding it!" Goku shouted happily, arousing Wuchen's curiosity. He immediately tried a gentle hop of his own. His feet touched the Flying Nimbus, but he didn't feel as if he'd landed on anything.
Just as he began to doubt himself, his feet found solid ground again. He sank in deeper than Goku, though. His heart was pure, but apparently not quite pure enough.
"I can't believe two people who can ride the Flying Nimbus showed up on the same day." Master Roshi was filled with emotion. Even a proper martial arts master like him couldn't ride the Flying Nimbus, so its requirements must be incredibly strict. These two children were truly remarkable.
"Flying Nimbus! Take off!" At Goku's shout, the Flying Nimbus carried the brothers into the sky. They soared through the blue heavens, then sped over the sea, kicking up wings of spray. Bulma was green with envy.
"What about me, old man? Can you give me a Flying Nimbus too?"
"Did she save you?" Master Roshi asked Sea Turtle. Sea Turtle answered honestly, "Not at all." Bulma instantly blew her top. "What? I gave you a whole bucket of salt water!"
"Well, that's a shame. There's only one Flying Nimbus. I can give you something else instead, but... you have to let me see your panties first." As befitted a martial arts master, Master Roshi quickly came up with a compromise: he'd still give her something, but he wanted some compensation.
At that, Sea Turtle was the first to lose his composure. "You're a master! How could you... how could you make a request like that? Now I know why you can't ride the Flying Nimbus, you lecherous old man!"
Bulma, however, began weighing her options. If the old man had a Flying Nimbus, he must have other good stuff too. It was only a look. It wouldn't hurt, and she could pretend she was just swimming at the beach.
"Just a look, okay?" Bulma immediately lifted her skirt, revealing a tantalizing glimpse! Vegeta's future greening had begun, and it was a good thing Wuchen made Goku get up early every day to practice with a staff. There'd been no panty-inspection episode, so Vegeta's greening wasn't too severe.
Even so, Master Roshi's nose bled wildly, and he reveled in it.
"Master, that's enough, right? Now you can give me my gift." Bulma blushed and hurried to claim her prize. He'd had his look; now it was time to pay up.
"Ah, yes, yes. Let me think, let me think. What should I give you?" The top supporter fell into deep thought. The heroine was... Bulma, however, had already fixed her gaze on the ornament around his neck. "Is that... a Dragon Ball?"
"I want that. I want the orb around your neck."
"This? What do you think? Pretty, isn't it? I found it on the seabed a hundred years ago." As he spoke, Master Roshi took the orb from his neck and handed it to Bulma.
"Wonderful, it really is a Dragon Ball! Thank you, Master." Bulma was overjoyed. With this one, they had four Dragon Balls in total. They were getting closer to collecting all seven.
"Wait, I never said I'd give it to you." Seeing this, Master Roshi tried to drive up the price.
"Don't be so stingy. Look, look." Bulma immediately lifted her skirt again and again. Vegeta: greenness +1, +2, +3...
"All right, all right, it's yours, it's yours." After several nosebleeds, Master Roshi cried uncle.
"Goku, Wuchen, come back! We found the fourth Dragon Ball!" Excited, Bulma called to them. This time, both she and Master Roshi felt they'd come out ahead.
As for Goku and Wuchen, they weren't paying Bulma any attention at the moment.
On the Flying Nimbus, Wuchen kept quiet, careful not to disturb him. Goku sat cross-legged with his eyes tightly shut.
Just moments ago, while soaring above the ocean, Goku had felt a sudden insight.
Waves rose and fell: water. The sky was still and the sea calm: water. The ocean was boundless: water. A stream murmured: water...
Formless water took countless shapes: rain and dew, rivers, lakes, oceans... Boundless water held all things: sand, stones, fish, shrimp, Sea Turtles, crabs...
That was right. After grasping the momentum of fire, Goku had now gained insight into the momentum of water.
Before you continue