"Ha!" Goku pushed off with his right leg and charged at his opponent first.
The instant he drew near, he lowered his head as if he'd seen it coming, dodging Son Gohan's sharp hand strike aimed straight at him.
Goku pressed his advantage, throwing a punch at his opponent's face. Son Gohan easily slipped aside, and fist met palm as the two began a contest of strength.
Raditz could barely keep up from below the ring.
The two clashed on the stage, strength against strength, movements interweaving—it was like watching a dazzling performance.
But this was no performance. It was a real fight, with every punch landing hard.
"When will I be able to move like that?" Raditz exclaimed. His previous fights now seemed like street thugs brawling, with no beauty to them at all.
"You want to learn? I'll teach you," Master Roshi suddenly said, pushing up his reflective sunglasses.
"Uh..." Raditz hadn't expected him to say that and froze for a moment.
"Do you want to take me on as your student?"
"I can teach you some basics," Master Roshi replied, ignoring the question of taking him on as a student.
"Then I'll be in your care, Master Mutten." Raditz lowered his head respectfully.
Master Roshi might have looked like a lecher, but he was known far and wide by the title God of Martial Arts.
Master Roshi said nothing and continued watching the fight on the ring.
The fight between Goku and his grandfather had reached a fever pitch. They chased and traded blows, exchanging dozens of moves, but neither had gained the upper hand.
Suddenly, Goku stood his ground, his whole body tensed. He took the full force of Son Gohan's flying kick without budging an inch.
"Looks like I'll have to try something different." Son Gohan looked at Goku, who had taken his kick head-on. He was impressed by Goku's progress in martial arts, but he had no intention of holding back.
"Ka...me...ha...me...ha!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, a blazing energy wave shot from Son Gohan's hands toward Goku.
At the last moment, Goku's figure flickered, and the energy wave passed right through him.
"Afterimage Technique?"
"Ha!" Goku appeared in the air, then swooped down and answered with the same move.
"Time to decide the winner." Raditz leaned forward excitedly, oblivious to the sharp gaze silently fixed on him from behind.
The blazing energy wave exploded against the ground. The ring was instantly blasted apart, sending rocks flying, and Son Gohan was knocked off his feet.
Goku pressed his advantage, driving his knee into Son Gohan as he lay on the ground.
"Give up, or we keep fighting."
Goku declared victory, and his friends cheered. It seemed the outcome was already decided.
Unfortunately, everything took a sudden turn.
Son Gohan, still on the ground, reached out and grabbed Goku's tail by surprise.
With his weakness in his grasp, Goku immediately lost the ability to fight, and Son Gohan regained control.
The story hadn't changed much, despite Raditz's presence.
After a few twists and turns, Goku's tail was still torn off. Then Son Gohan surrendered, revealed who he was, and reunited with his grandson.
As he watched the heartwarming scene on the stage, Raditz turned his attention to the tail tossed outside the ring and quietly made his way over.
"Finally got it..." Raditz fought back his excitement and reached for the tail.
Suddenly, a wrinkled hand reached out and grabbed it first.
"Is this what you were after, Raditz?" Raditz froze, staring at Master Roshi.
"Master Mutten, what do you mean? I just wanted to hold on to it for Goku. After all, it's..." Raditz forced himself to stay calm.
"You don't need to make excuses. I'll hold on to this for now. Come find me when everything here is over." Master Roshi gave Raditz no chance to explain, turning and walking toward Goku and the others.
Raditz stared after him, bewildered. He couldn't figure out what had gone wrong.
Maybe he'd let his feelings show a little, but how could that connect him to the tail?
"Unless he never believed me in the first place." Raditz gave a bitter smile.
"Raditz, come over here! Didn't you have something to ask Fortune Teller Baba?" Bulma called.
After composing himself, Raditz walked over.
"Goku found out where the seventh Dragon Ball was and has already gone to get it. None of us have any questions, so it's your turn." Krillin patted Raditz on the shoulder.
Raditz glanced at Master Roshi. He didn't seem to have told Bulma and the others anything; everyone was acting as usual.
"Fortune Teller Baba, I want to know where my home is."
Since coming to this world, Raditz hadn't looked into the past of the body he now inhabited. This was a good chance to find out.
Fortune Teller Baba worked in front of the crystal ball for a while, and an image appeared inside it.
A dilapidated building came into view. Cracks covered the walls, most of the round roof had collapsed, and weeds of some kind grew from inside. The place had clearly been abandoned long ago.
Raditz was speechless. Could he have been an orphan?
"Raditz, it looks like your family moved away," Bulma said innocently, not thinking much of it.
"Yeah. Let's wait for Goku to come back."
Raditz didn't plan to spend much time on it. He got an address from Fortune Teller Baba and said no more.
Before long, Goku returned on the Flying Nimbus.
"I got the Dragon Ball! Upa, let's go revive your father. And everyone, wait for me to come back!"
As soon as he landed, Goku pulled Upa along and flew toward Korin Tower.
"Goku's always so full of energy."
Yamcha watched him disappear into the distance, then walked over to Master Roshi and bowed deeply.
"Master Mutten, please teach me how to train!"
He knew that Master Roshi had played a major role in helping Goku become as skilled as he was.
If he could get Master Roshi's guidance, he might not surpass Goku by much, but at least he could keep up.
Master Roshi didn't make things difficult for him and agreed at once.
"Raditz, you come along too," Master Roshi added.
"Yamcha and Krillin need to strengthen their fundamentals, so they'll have to train harder. You, Raditz... need to start from scratch."
"Yes, Master Mutten."
Raditz hadn't expected Master Roshi to mean what he'd said earlier, and readily agreed.
"Looks like Master Roshi doesn't mean me any harm. He's waiting for an explanation."
Suddenly, all went silent. Thunder seemed to split the open sky, and the clear blue heavens darkened as if a vast black curtain had been drawn across them.
"Are they summoning Shenron?"
Everyone looked toward the distance, in the direction of Korin Tower.
"Shenron... I've always longed to see him. I wonder if he can deal with the hidden problem inside my body. If I can get the tail from Master Roshi, I should be able to gather the Dragon Balls myself someday." Raditz pondered.
The strange phenomenon came and went quickly. In the blink of an eye, the dark sky returned to its original color.
After waiting a little longer, Goku came flying in from the distance.
"Well? Was that child's father revived?" Bulma asked Goku as he landed.
"Haha, he was! And I got the Four-Star Ball back, too." Goku held up a gray-white stone ball.
"Now we don't have to go looking for the Dragon Balls."
"I'm planning to enter the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament."
"Really, Goku? Then you'll have some competition this time," Yamcha said confidently, stepping forward.
"While you were gone, I got Master Roshi's permission to train under him."
"Oh... Raditz is doing the same."
"That's right. I'll be training under Master Roshi too," Raditz told Goku.
"Then we can all train together!" Goku said happily.
But Master Roshi quickly dashed his hopes.
Goku had to set out on his own to train. Master Roshi had nothing left to teach him, and it would be better for him to broaden his horizons in the wider world.
The innocent, carefree Goku set out on his own at once to become stronger.
Raditz and the others went with Master Roshi to Kame House.
Before they left, Raditz went to see Master Roshi alone.
Looking at the slightly gaunt old man leaning on his cane, Raditz felt momentarily dazed. It was as if he were seeing the lecherous old pervert from the anime in his previous life, a man who never changed his ways and had no respect for his age.
The scene shifted, and he seemed to see the grandmaster who had cherished the younger generation and fearlessly faced death when confronting King Piccolo.
The two conflicting images intertwined, then gradually merged with the man before him.
"Master Mutten, do you think I was sent by Dr. Gero to deliberately get close to Goku?"
After thinking over his earlier actions, Raditz could only find one flaw.
How had someone who couldn't fight at all escaped from Dr. Gero?
Setting aside the unusual possibilities, there was only one answer: he had been deliberately released to accomplish some purpose.
Raditz had considered that possibility himself. But he thought that while he'd been deliberately released, Master Roshi would assume he was following someone's orders.
"If you were following his orders, you wouldn't have told us anything about him, would you?"
Master Mutten went straight to the heart of the matter and took the tail out from inside his clothes.
"Tell me, why did you want this?"
"I'm sorry, but I can't say. I can only tell you that it's because of something personal, not Dr. Gero." Raditz answered without hesitation. "But I can tell you that Goku isn't the only one with a tail."
The system's abilities were his greatest asset, and he had to keep them secret. But once he got the tail and completed the mission, who knew—perhaps he would grow one himself.
Master Roshi fell silent for a moment. He looked at Raditz's determined face, wondering what other secrets the boy was hiding.
"Goku, Bulma, and the others are still just kids at heart. They didn't see that you deliberately got close to them."
"But they've already come to think of you as a friend. I hope you'll treat that seriously."
Raditz knew Goku was sincere. After all, even when dealing with his enemies, Goku gave them a chance to turn over a new leaf.
"I promise you, we'll only ever be friends, never enemies."
Seeing that Raditz meant it, Master Roshi said no more. He tossed the tail to Raditz, then walked away on his own.
[Gene sample detected. Saiyan Orphan mission objective achieved.]
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