Fairy Zixia

Her Violet-Azure Treasure Sword was humming inside its sheath.

"This aura..."

A flicker of surprise crossed Fairy Zixia's eyes. "This power doesn't belong in the mortal realm."

She tightened her grip on the hilt, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly.

"Interesting."

With that, she leaped into the air and shot westward in a streak of violet light.

The Axe Gang's stronghold stood on a mound of yellow earth. Calling it a stronghold was generous; it was really just a few ramshackle wooden huts arranged in a circle, with a bonfire burning in the middle.

Goten sat by the fire, holding a bowl of cloudy wine as he curiously surveyed his surroundings.

"Drink up! What are you just sitting there for?" Zhi Zun Bao sat across from him, taking a hearty swig. "This wine's from the best winery in town... cough, cough... I borrowed it!"

Goten cautiously took a sip, and his whole face scrunched up.

"It's so spicy!"

"Hahaha!" Zhi Zun Bao slapped his thigh and laughed until he was doubled over. "You can tell you're a rookie. Never even had a drink before!"

The bandits around them laughed too.

Goten felt a little indignant. He tilted his head back and took another big gulp, forcing himself not to grimace this time. "Who says? I've had wine before!"

Zhi Zun Bao's eyes lit up. "Oh? Not bad."

He set down his bowl and leaned forward slightly. "Come on, kid. Where are you from? The way you're dressed, and that move you pulled... You don't look like you're from around here."

Goten fell silent for a while.

He didn't know whether he should tell the truth. Should he say he came from another world? Who would believe that?

"I came from... a very faraway place," Goten said carefully. "Somewhere completely different from here."

"Oh?" Zhi Zun Bao raised an eyebrow. "How far away?"

"So far... I don't even know how to get back."

Zhi Zun Bao stared at him for a long moment, then suddenly smiled and waved a hand. "All right, all right. If you don't want to say, don't. Come on, have some meat!"

He tossed Goten a piece of charred scorpion meat.

Goten caught it and asked, "What about you? Who are you? And where is this?"

"Me?" Zhi Zun Bao grinned. "I'm Zhi Zun Bao, the boss of the Axe Gang. As for this place... We're in the Western Regions. Keep heading east and you'll reach the borders of Great Tang."

"Zhi Zun Bao..." Goten rolled the name around in his mouth. "Have you ever heard of someone called Sun Wukong?"

The moment he said the name, the atmosphere around them froze.

The smile on Zhi Zun Bao's face stiffened.

Every bandit stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at Goten, their eyes filled with horrified disbelief.

Their reaction startled Goten. "W-what's wrong?"

Zhi Zun Bao's expression grew exceedingly complicated. After a long silence, he asked in a strange tone, "Sun Wukong... Where did you hear that name?"

Goten's heart pounded.

Did this world... really have a Sun Wukong too?

"My... my dad talks about him a lot," Goten answered cautiously. "He says Sun Wukong is the strongest warrior in the universe... and my dad's friend."

"The strongest warrior in the universe?" Zhi Zun Bao furrowed his brow. "What does the Sun Wukong your dad talks about look like?"

Goten thought for a moment. "An orange martial arts uniform, spiky black hair, and a confident smile always on his face—"

"Wait," Zhi Zun Bao interrupted. "You said... black hair? Not golden fur?"

"Fur?"

Goten was stunned too.

His dad, Sun Wukong, did have spiky black hair. But from what Zhi Zun Bao was saying, was the "Sun Wukong" in this world not human?

"The Sun Wukong you're talking about..." Goten asked tentatively. "What does he look like?"

Zhi Zun Bao's gaze turned solemn.

"Great Sage Equal to Heaven Sun Wukong—covered from head to toe in golden fur, wearing a Purple Gold Crown and Chainmail Armor, and wielding the Ruyi Jingu Bang. He could somersault a hundred and eight thousand li in one leap..."

Goten's eyes widened.

A monkey?

Was the Sun Wukong in this world... a monkey?!

"He wreaked havoc in Heaven, stole the Peaches of Immortality and elixir, and turned the Heavenly Court upside down." Zhi Zun Bao's voice lowered. "In the end, Tathagata Buddha pinned him beneath Five Finger Mountain for five hundred years."

Goten's mouth fell open.

He didn't really understand what the Heavenly Court or Tathagata Buddha were, but from the sound of it, the Sun Wukong in this world seemed even more powerful than he'd imagined!

"Then... where is he now?"

Zhi Zun Bao's eyes flickered.

"I heard... he's already dead."

"Dead?!"

Goten shot to his feet.

Sun Wukong—the warrior who shared his dad's name—was already dead?

"I don't know exactly what happened," Zhi Zun Bao said, waving a hand. "It was five hundred years ago."

Goten clenched his fists.

A complicated feeling surged in his chest, one he couldn't put into words.

His dad, Sun Wukong—the strongest warrior in the universe, who had clawed his way back from the brink of death countless times and defeated Frieza, Cell, and Buu—had already died in this world?

No.

Goten suddenly realized something.

This world... might not have his dad at all. It only had a monkey named Sun Wukong, a being completely different from the one in the Dragon Ball World.

Just then—

ROAR!!!

A deafening roar came from deep in the desert, and the ground trembled!

Goten sprang to his feet. "What was that?!"

Zhi Zun Bao's expression changed too. He grabbed his sword and shouted, "Everyone, get ready!"

"B-Boss! The sound came from... from Black Wind Ridge!"

"Black Wind Ridge?"

"A Demon King lives there—Bull Demon King! He's cultivated for fifteen hundred years and doesn't even take the Heavenly Court seriously!"