A Single Word Reveals Heavenly Secrets, Oolong's Five-Minute Limit

The entire scene fell silent.

One second, Ox-King had still been a ferocious demon.

The next, he had become a pig-man rolling around on the ground, squealing.

The change had come too fast, too suddenly.

Everyone's brains briefly shut down.

The villagers peeking through the cracks in their doors stood with their mouths wide open and eyes bulging.

They simply could not understand what they were seeing.

Bulma still had a hand over her mouth.

Her beautiful blue eyes were filled with disbelief.

She had watched with her own eyes as that three-meter-tall giant was punched back into his original form by Son Goku.

If the marks left by the giant axe had not still remained on the ground, she would have thought everything just now had been a nightmare.

"Th-this is over?"

She muttered to herself, feeling her common sense being trampled over and over.

Son Goku scratched his head. Looking at the squealing little pig on the ground, he was somewhat stunned as well.

"Huh? Why did he get smaller? He couldn't even take one hit."

His face was full of disappointment.

Like a child eagerly opening a toy, only to find an empty box inside.

Oolong—the little pig—was nearly scared pissless.

It was over!

He had run into someone seriously tough!

That long-tailed brat could actually see through his transformation technique.

His stomach still burned from where that punch had landed.

His eyes darted around. Seeing that everyone was still stunned, he scrambled to his feet.

Run!

He had to run!

"Trying to run? Not so easy!"

Son Goku reacted instantly and lunged forward to grab him.

But at that moment, Oolong's figure suddenly blurred.

With a poof of white smoke, the little pig vanished from where he stood.

In his place was a rocket shooting skyward with a howl.

Long flames blasted from its tail as it shot into the sky at astonishing speed.

In the blink of an eye, it was about to vanish into the night.

"Wow! He can fly!"

Son Goku cried out. Without a second thought, he immediately called for the Flying Nimbus.

The golden cloud appeared beneath his feet in an instant.

It carried him soaring into the sky as he chased after the rocket.

"Don't run!"

Only an anxious Bulma and a group of villagers staring at each other remained in the village square.

"Hey! Goku! Catch him!"

Bulma jumped up and down in panic.

A comical chase began in the sky.

The rocket flew incredibly fast and was about to shake Son Goku off.

But then, with another poof of white smoke, it transformed into a huge bat.

With one flap of its wings, it dove toward the dense forest below at a bizarre angle.

Son Goku followed closely atop the Flying Nimbus.

He traced a graceful arc through the air.

"You can't get away!"

The bat weaved through the forest, darting left and right with astonishing agility.

But the Flying Nimbus was faster, and it was about to catch up.

The bat turned into a puff of white smoke again, becoming a long, slender venomous snake that slid down the tree trunk and vanished into the thick grass.

Son Goku jumped off the Flying Nimbus and searched wildly through the grass.

But the guy was as slippery as an eel.

One moment, he turned into a rabbit and slipped past Goku's feet.

The next, he became a handsome young man and tried to wink flirtatiously at Bulma, only to get smashed in the face with the butt of her gun.

Then he turned into a huge iron ball and rolled down the hillside, nearly crushing several villagers.

The scene descended into complete chaos.

Though Son Goku was powerful, he had no answer to such shameless tactics for the moment.

He was run ragged.

"Damn it! Stop right there!"

Son Goku shouted furiously.

Bulma watched from the side, frantic with worry.

"Goku, you idiot! Just blast him down with a Kamehameha!"

"I can't! What if I kill him? Grandpa's pearl is still on him!"

Goku shouted as he gave chase.

Bulma realized he was right and grew even more anxious.

Before their eyes, that Oolong turned into a fly again, buzzing as it circled through the air.

He was waiting for a chance to slip away, and the situation had reached a complete stalemate.

Just when everyone was at their wits' end, the man who had seemed like an outsider from beginning to end finally spoke again.

"Goku, there's no need to chase him to death."

Lin Xuan's voice remained as calm and detached as ever.

As though the chaos before him had nothing to do with him.

"Just play with him for a while."

"Huh?"

Son Goku stopped and looked at Lin Xuan in confusion.

"But he's about to get away!"

Bulma was furious as well.

"Lin Xuan! At a time like this, you're still making sarcastic remarks? Hurry up and think of a way to catch him!"

Lin Xuan ignored Bulma's outburst.

He merely raised his head and looked at the buzzing fly in the sky, a teasing smile curling at the corner of his lips.

"All techniques have their limits."

He started in again with his mystical theories.

"This kind of ability to defy nature and alter one's form may seem miraculous, but it consumes immense mental energy. It goes against one's 'true self'; like a tree without roots or water without a source, it cannot possibly last."

He paused and turned his gaze toward Son Goku.

There was a faint hint of instruction in his eyes.

"You do not need to defeat him. You only need to stall. Once his mind is exhausted and his strength spent, his true form will reveal itself."

The villagers were completely lost in a fog after hearing that.

But to Bulma, it was no less than a bolt from the blue.

Again!

Again with this "prophecy" that made it seem as though everything was under his control.

From meeting Son Goku, to sending the old turtle back to the sea, to seeing through Oolong's disguise.

And now, he had made another prediction about Oolong's ability.

Could it be... that this unbelievable transformation technique really had a time limit?

Bulma looked at Lin Xuan's calm profile, her heart pounding uncontrollably.

She decided to trust him one more time!

To see whether he would be right again.

Meanwhile, although Son Goku did not really understand what "going against one's true self" meant, he understood the last few words.

All he had to do was stall for time!

Brother Lin Xuan said so, so it had to be right!

Once he understood that, the impatience on Son Goku's face vanished instantly.

It was replaced by a relaxed, teasing expression.

He stopped chasing after Oolong in a huff.

Instead, he calmly crossed his arms and called out to the fly in the sky:

"Hey! Is that all you can do? Turn into something stronger and let me see!"

The fly Oolong had turned into froze in midair.

Why had this guy stopped chasing him?

A sense of foreboding rose in his heart.

But escaping was more important. With a buzz, he flew toward the outskirts of the village.

Son Goku wasn't in a hurry either. Riding the Flying Nimbus, he followed along at an unhurried pace.

He always kept a distance of more than ten meters.

Seeing that he couldn't shake him off, Oolong steeled himself and turned into white smoke again.

This time, he transformed into a fire-breathing dragon.

Baring its fangs and claws, it pounced at Son Goku.

"Roar!"

Faced with the blazing flames, Son Goku merely laughed and easily dodged aside on the Flying Nimbus.

"This is fun! Do another one!"

Oolong froze, then transformed into a huge combat robot.

Its arms turned into Gatling guns, firing wildly at Son Goku.

"Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!"

Son Goku darted through the dense hail of "bullets" with ease, completely unharmed.

"Too slow! Too slow!"

Oolong was completely panicked.

He used every ounce of his strength, constantly changing forms.

At times, he became a giant with immense strength.

At times, he became a lightning-fast cheetah.

He even turned into Bulma, trying to confuse Son Goku.

But Son Goku remembered Lin Xuan's words and only dodged without attacking.

He treated Oolong like a moving target and had the time of his life.

Second by second, time passed.

Below, Bulma clutched her watch, her heart in her throat.

One minute.

Two minutes.

Oolong's transformations had visibly slowed, and his forms were beginning to become unstable.

He tried to turn into an eagle, but only managed to become a fat chicken flapping its tiny wings.

Three minutes.

Four minutes.

Oolong panted heavily, his entire body trembling.

Every transformation felt like it was taking his life.

Finally.

Bang!

Oolong, who had just turned into a bat and hadn't managed to fly far yet, was engulfed in a puff of weak white smoke and completely reverted to that little pink pig.

Like a kite with its string cut, he screamed as he fell from midair.

"Got him."

Son Goku grinned, dove down on the Flying Nimbus, and grabbed Oolong by the scruff of his neck before he hit the ground.

The crisis was over.

Thunderous cheers erupted from the plaza.

"We won! We won!"

"Heroes! You're our heroes!"

The villagers swarmed out and surrounded the three of them.

The girls who had previously been kidnapped—who were actually quite carefree and stylish—were also "safely" rescued from Oolong's lair.

One after another, they thanked them profusely.

Bulma looked at Oolong, who was dangling from Son Goku's hand, unable to move.

Then she looked at Lin Xuan's calm face in the distance.

The last of her scientific defenses completely crumbled.

This man could predict everything. If he wasn't a god, then what was he?

The way Bulma looked at Lin Xuan could no longer be described as admiration.

It was reverence, as though she were looking upon a deity.

In Lin Xuan's mind, text appeared beside the merit section at the bottom of the panel once more.

[Set things right, shattered delusions, relieved the people's plight. Merit +1.2]

His merit value steadily jumped from 1.6 to 2.8.

Lin Xuan nodded to himself in satisfaction.

Another profit. Once he had some free time, he could indulge himself again.

Under the villagers' enthusiastic hospitality, the three of them enjoyed a hearty meal.

As for Oolong, who had been tightly bound, he now faced judgment.

Son Goku had originally intended to beat him up and let him go, but Bulma stopped him.

Her eyes shifted as she walked up to the trembling Oolong.

"Hey, where did you learn your transformation technique?"

"I... I learned it at Southern Transformation Kindergarten..."

Oolong confessed honestly.

"And I can only stay transformed for five minutes."

"Mm... and after each transformation, I have to rest for one minute before I can transform again..."

So there was a cooldown, too.

Bulma stroked her chin and revealed a smile that sent chills down Oolong's spine.

She leaned close to Lin Xuan and Goku and whispered:

"His transformation technique may have flaws, but it could come in handy at a critical moment! How about... we make him join the team too?"

Son Goku nodded indifferently.

The moment Oolong heard that, his pig bristles stood on end, and he shook his head frantically.

"No! I don't want to stay with this violent maniac!"

Bulma planted a foot on his face and said viciously:

"Either you come with us, or... we let Goku use you as a punching bag for another round! Your choice!"

Seeing the eager look in Son Goku's eyes, Oolong weighed his options for one-tenth of a second before decisively choosing the former.

And so, under Bulma's "coercion" and Lin Xuan's tacit approval, the Dragon Ball team happily gained a new member.

Early the next morning, after bidding farewell to the endlessly grateful villagers, the group set out once more.

The pink car drove across the wasteland, and an endless expanse of yellow appeared ahead.

It was a vast desert.

Heat waves rolled across the land, warping the air like a forbidden zone devoid of life.

Bulma took out the Dragon Ball radar and glanced at it, her expression turning somewhat solemn.

"The next Dragon Ball... is right in the middle of this land of death."