Moonlight Box

"What's your name?" Zixia asked.

"Sun Goten."

"Sun Goten..." Zixia murmured the name, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly. "Interesting."

She put away the Violet-Azure Treasure Sword and smiled faintly at Goten. "What was that move you just used called?"

"Kamehameha. My dad taught it to me."

"Your dad?"

"His name is Sun Wukong."

Zixia's expression changed.

So did the Bull Demon King's.

Zhi Zun Bao's expression was even more remarkable—he had already run to the edge of the battlefield and had heard those words just in time.

"Sun... Wu... kong..."

Zixia repeated the name one syllable at a time. The look in her eyes as she gazed at Goten grew even more complicated.

"You're his son?"

Goten scratched his head. "The Sun Wukong in this world... I'm not sure if he's my dad. My dad isn't a monkey. He's human."

Zixia fell silent for a moment, then suddenly laughed. "That's true. How could the monkey's son possibly be a human boy?"

Goten didn't know what to say.

Just then—

Rumble...

A deep peal of thunder came from the sky.

Goten looked up and saw a mass of dark clouds gathering on the horizon. Golden lightning flickered faintly within them.

A vast, majestic presence descended from the sky, pressing down on them until they could barely breathe.

Zixia's expression turned grave at once.

"Uh-oh."

"What's wrong?" Goten asked.

"The Heavenly Court." Zixia tightened her grip on the hilt. "Your energy just now—that power that doesn't belong to this world—caught the Heavenly Court's attention."

"The Heavenly Court?"

"Of the Three Realms, the Heavenly Court holds the highest authority." Zixia watched the dark clouds drawing nearer. "They'll never allow an outsider from another world to disrupt the order of the Three Realms."

Goten frowned. "What will they do?"

Zixia turned and looked deeply at him.

"They—"

"They'll come for you."

The atmosphere in the stronghold was unusually tense.

The Bull Demon King had been trapped in a barrier by Zixia's Immortal Art and couldn't move for the time being—but that wouldn't last. Zixia said her Seal could hold for three days at most.

Goten sat beside the bonfire, with Zhi Zun Bao and Zixia seated on either side of him. Each wore a different expression.

Goten was excited. The Heavenly Court, the Three Realms, Demon Kings, immortals—he'd never heard of any of these things in the Dragon Ball World. They were even more interesting than video games!

Zhi Zun Bao looked worried. He was just the leader of a bandit gang, but today he'd not only angered the Bull Demon King, he'd also run into an immortal. And now people from the Heavenly Court were coming? How was he supposed to live like this?

Zixia, meanwhile, seemed lost in thought. Her gaze kept drifting to Goten, full of curiosity and... some kind of indescribable feeling.

"So," Zhi Zun Bao finally said, breaking the silence, "where exactly did you come from, Brother Goten?"

Goten thought it over and decided to stop hiding the truth.

"I came from another world."

"Another world?" Zhi Zun Bao frowned. "What do you mean, another world?"

"It's... a world completely different from this one." Goten tried to explain. "Where I come from, there are universes, planets, and aliens... Our world is called Earth, but it's not quite the same as the 'world' you're talking about."

Zhi Zun Bao was utterly confused.

But Zixia asked, "This other world you speak of—is it beyond the Three Realms, or within them?"

Goten scratched his head. "What are the Three Realms?"

"Heavenly Realm, Human Realm, and the Underworld," Zixia patiently explained. "All things have their place within the Three Realms. Every living being is part of their cycle of reincarnation."

"Then I probably don't come from within the Three Realms." Goten thought for a moment. "Where I come from, there's no Heavenly Court, no Underworld, no monsters, and no immortals. We have Saiyans, Namekians, Supreme Kais—"

"Supreme Kais?" Zixia's eyes lit up. "You mean there are beings even higher than the Divine Realm?"

"Probably." Goten shrugged. "My dad knows someone called a Supreme Kai, but I don't really know what he's in charge of."

Zixia fell silent for a long while, then took something from inside her robes.

It was an old-fashioned box, about the size of her palm, its surface glowing with a faint purple light. Intricate markings were carved into it, resembling an ancient script or perhaps some kind of star chart.

"What's that...?"

"The Moonlight Box."

Goten stared at the box and suddenly felt something strange stir inside him.

His Saiyan bloodline was resonating with it.

"It... it's glowing," Goten said.

Zixia looked down—and sure enough, a faint glow had appeared on the surface of the Moonlight Box. It brightened and dimmed in time with Goten's breathing, like a heartbeat.

Her pupils contracted slightly.

"As I thought..."

"As you thought what?"

Zixia lifted her head, her expression growing deeply conflicted.

"The Moonlight Box is an ancient divine artifact. It can travel through time and open a passage between the Three Realms and the heavens and earth. But the power that activates it isn't immortal power, demonic power, or devil power—"

She paused.

"It's the kind of power you have."

Goten frowned. "You mean... Saiyan power?"

"I don't know what you call it," Zixia said slowly. "But legend has it that the Moonlight Box came from an even older era—one known as Primordial Chaos. Back then, the Three Realms hadn't yet formed, and there was only one kind of power between heaven and earth—"

"Primordial Qi."

Goten only half understood.