Anniversary of the Co-Prosperity Conference

As the first anniversary of the Co-Prosperity Conference's closing approached, Bulma sent out a group message. Its title read, "First Anniversary Celebration Preparations Draft (Do Not Delete, Do Not Spam)," and the body listed more than a dozen agenda items in exhaustive detail, from the speaking order for the opening remarks to the menu for the closing banquet. Every item was marked with a person in charge and a deadline. Krillin replied in the group chat: "Received." Vegeta did not respond, but Ji Ming knew he would come. Piccolo, as usual, gave no reply either, but on the very night he received the notice, he cleared out Kami's Lookout's schedule.

Preparations proceeded simultaneously at Mount Paozu, Kami's Lookout, and West City. Chi-Chi oversaw all catering arrangements. She moved the old blackboard that had been used in the kitchen for years out into the yard and drew a massive menu matrix on it in chalk, with the dietary restrictions of each universe's delegation on the horizontal axis and ingredient supply cycles on the vertical axis. Caulifla arrived a week early, claiming she had come to help, though in reality she spent most of her time in the kitchen stealing Chi-Chi's trial batches of crab roe soup dumplings. Kale followed behind her, learning from Chi-Chi how to pinch eighteen folds into a steamed bun. She could already handle the entire process alone, from kneading the dough to placing the buns in the steamer, and her folds were even neater than Chi-Chi's. Champa sent an official letter demanding a separate judges' table for Universe 6's delegation. Beerus replied from afar with three words. Chi-Chi stuck a note onto the communication log between the two Gods of Destruction: Kitchen area. No arguing allowed.

On the day of the celebration, the joint training grounds in the World of Void had been temporarily transformed into an enormous festival plaza. Twelve floating grandstands surrounded it, each redecorated with features unique to its own universe. Universe 7's grandstand was covered in the national flags of Earth, the Saiyan royal banner of New Vegeta City, and the totems of Namek's temple. Krillin joked that it looked as though half of Mount Paozu had been moved into the sky. Universe 1's grandstand remained minimalist and pure white, while Universe 3's had been turned into a vast matrix of holographic data streams. Its cybernetic engineers displayed real-time postwar infrastructure growth curves from every universe across the matrix.

Before the event began, Chi-Chi found Ji Ming backstage. She pulled him into a corner and stuffed a cloth-wrapped lunchbox into his hands. The lunchbox was new, but the cloth bag was old—Ji Ming recognized it. It was the bag Chi-Chi had sewn for him when he first went to Namek. Its corners had frayed, and the patched buttonholes were mismatched in color. He did not open it. He merely tucked the lunchbox into his clothes and reached out to touch the back of Chi-Chi's hand. She wanted to curl her fingers around his, but he had already turned and headed toward the center of the plaza.

Jiren was the first to arrive. He wore the black combat uniform of the Pride Troopers and came alone through a wormhole from Universe 11, without any teammates. Ji Ming was in the middle of the plaza checking the placement of the holographic projection equipment. When he saw Jiren, he nodded but said nothing more. Toppo emerged after Jiren, carrying two boxes of new Pride Trooper recruit training manuals. The moment he saw Ji Ming, he broke into a broad grin and said they were exchange materials for Universe 7's Saiyan recruit camp. After the last joint exercise, Jiren had personally revised them into a third edition. As he spoke, Toppo casually pulled a round portable energy meter from his pocket and handed it to Ji Ming. He said it was a laboratory sample gifted by friends from Universe 3, lighter and more compact than the old model.

The trainees from Universe 3 entered carrying a complete set of demonstration equipment, and the cybernetic engineer leading them waved at Son Gohan from afar. Son Gohan wore a newly designed lecturer's outfit over his white lab coat and was helping the Askali people of Universe 8 prepare a brief live healing demonstration. The Askali were semi-energy lifeforms. They normally could not communicate through language and could only use energy fields to resonate emotionally with others. At that moment, they floated quietly nearby, occasionally shifting colors as though curious about the lively scene around them.

Krillin said the celebration's full name ought to be the "What Family Doesn't Have a Guardian?" Conference. He laughed first after saying it, and Android 18 gave him a look. He said it was humor.

Goten and Trunks were setting up the registration desk at the edge of the plaza. Halfway through, they nearly came to blows over the font color on the sign-in sheets. Vegeta happened to pass by and glanced at the two boys. They immediately stopped arguing and swiftly standardized the sheets to white lettering on a blue background. Nappa walked past carrying half a freshly butchered wild boar leg over his shoulder and, without even looking up, said that the pens were in the third box on the left. The food safety certificate he had obtained for New Vegeta City's barbecue district hung neatly from his apron pocket.

Whis and Vados jointly hosted the opening remarks. The two angels stood on opposite sides of the plaza and raised their staffs at the same time. The instant the crystals atop them lit up, all twelve floating grandstands were bathed in a gentle golden radiance. A ring-shaped curtain of light opened across the sky above the World of Void, projecting the totems of every universe in dynamic holographic form into the center of the plaza. Zeno sat on the highest crystal throne, swinging his legs back and forth while holding a box of freshly fried tempura from Chi-Chi. He ate with intense focus. The other Zeno beside him was carefully picking up a crab roe soup dumpling with chopsticks, the tips clicking crisply against the rim of his bowl.

"Everyone—is here!" Zeno announced after swallowing his tempura and rising to his feet. "No fighting today. Today is a food meeting!"

Whis added with a smile that the celebration would last three days. The first day would feature exhibitions of each universe's reconstruction achievements, the second day cultural exchanges and academic discussions, and the third day the closing banquet and food awards. If any universe wanted to fight, they could spar freely on designated arenas, but the use of destruction energy was forbidden.

At the reconstruction achievements exhibition, Universe 2 presented a holographic model of its postwar ecological restoration project. Universe 4 displayed a new energy barrier technology developed from the handover data of the Primordial Corridor seal. The Supreme Kai in charge of the presentation stood in front of the display boards for a long time, explaining to every passing representative how the technology could continue advancing multiversal joint defense even after the Tournament of Power. At Universe 6's booth, Caulifla stood with her hands on her hips amid piles of agricultural products. Several large baskets of blueberries, bags of organic flour, and a huge jar of homemade jam sat before her, while Champa guarded a platter of freshly roasted whole lamb.

The Pride Troopers' reconstruction training center from Universe 11 was the highlight of the second day. Jiren personally explained its reconstruction philosophy. Since the Tournament of Power, they had stopped pursuing simple power overwhelming everything else, turning instead to studying how to achieve precise, efficient coordinated combat under restrictions on destruction energy. The question-and-answer session after his presentation lasted several hours. Even Vegeta broke precedent and asked about the loss of Zero Style's precision under such limitations. Jiren's response was highly technical, involving pulse-width modulation of destruction energy and energy-diversion paths for coordinated blocking. Beside him, Toppo discussed new parameters for nonlinear attenuation models with Universe 3's engineers. Halfway through the discussion, Champa called him away to serve as a barbecue judge, yet he was still writing two lines of formulas on his wrist device as he left. Universe 3 then invited Universe 11 to jointly develop a new generation of cross-universe safety thresholds for destruction energy, and Jiren nodded on the spot.

During the cultural exchange segment on the second day, Son Gohan led a healing arts and cross-universe medical forum at Kami's Lookout. The academic connections he had built with the universes after his lecture tour were all reactivated. The Askali people of Universe 8 demonstrated their new state after receiving variant healing treatments through a pulsing pale-gold mist of light. Son Gohan used a portable monitor to translate the energy changes into numerical curves and projected them onto the main screen in the plaza at Kami's Lookout. Below the stage, Universe 2's chief expert in biological structures and Universe 6's Saiyan military doctor argued for nearly two hours over whether the restorative feedback of semi-energy lifeforms could be generalized. In the end, Chi-Chi forcibly called a truce during the tea break with a plate of osmanthus cakes.

At the closing banquet on the final day, the food awards once again became an arena for the two Gods of Destruction. Beerus and Champa refused to give an inch at the judges' table, arguing over the rankings of garlic ribs and grilled lamb chops. Their dispute escalated from the relative merits of chopstick materials all the way to the brewing techniques of soy sauce on Earth and in Universe 6. Zeno ultimately ruled that the two Gods of Destruction would share the Best Judge Award. Beerus and Champa's protests were dismissed by Zeno with a single imitation crab stick.

Chi-Chi did not enter any of the competitions. She stood in a corner of the Mount Paozu exhibition area, flour and soy sauce stains on her apron, watching Caulifla run back from the judges' table with a plate of the crab roe soup dumplings Chi-Chi had taught her to make. Caulifla's face bore a smile brighter than if she had won a hard-fought battle. Afternoon sunlight poured down from overhead, making the edges of Chi-Chi's blue apron glow faintly white. Ji Ming walked to her side and took out the lunchbox from his clothes—the lunchbox was already empty. At lunchtime, he had sat alone in a corner of the plaza and eaten every last thing inside. Chi-Chi accepted the empty lunchbox, lowered her eyes to look at it, then wiped the droplets from its lid with the edge of her apron and smiled.

The bells marking the end of the celebration rang in the evening. Zeno announced that Universe 12 would host the next Co-Prosperity Conference, and Lord Giin immediately declared that Universe 12 would give it everything it had. Beerus yawned and said he was going back to sleep. Whis added that Lord Beerus actually wanted to stop by Universe 6 on the way home to try the conveyor-belt sushi at the new restaurant near Champa's base.

Ji Ming stood at the edge of the plaza, watching the floating grandstands descend one by one as the delegations from each universe returned through their wormholes. Son Gohan was still discussing follow-up treatment plans with the Askali healers. Vegeta and Jiren stood beside an arena for the celebration's final friendly spar—no destruction energy, only pure exchanges of fists and feet. Krillin's family had already returned to Earth. The message they left him read: "The light tube in the Kame House bathroom is broken. Pick up a new one on your way back." Ji Ming looked down at the message on his wrist device, finished his cold sencha, and set the cup atop the packed food basket. The wind from Mount Paozu blew in from afar, carrying the scents of pine resin and dinner. He gave the gradually quieting plaza one last look, then turned and headed for the wormhole station. Tomorrow, the panels in the Gravity Chamber would light up again. But tonight, the lights at Mount Paozu were still on, and the soup in the pot was still warm.