Parting

The sun slowly rose, dispelling the darkness and shining over the land. Its rays woke the sleeping Goku. He rolled over, slowly opened his eyes, rubbed them, and yawned before noticing the others watching him.

Oolong said to Goku, "Good morning."

"Hi!" Goku replied with a goofy grin, then stood up and said, "Huh? Why am I not wearing any clothes?"

Yamcha asked, "You really can't remember anything?"

Goku looked baffled. "What?"

Leaning against the stalk of a mushroom nearby, Bulma said, "Oolong, give Goku that pair of pants you're wearing."

Unable to protest, Oolong handed his outer pants to Goku. After putting them on, Goku suddenly lost his balance and fell to the ground. "Why do I feel like I can't stand steadily?"

Yamcha answered from the side, "Maybe it's because your tail was cut off and you lost your sense of balance."

Goku looked confused. "What? My tail was cut off?"

Then he felt around behind himself and said anxiously, "It's gone! It's gone! My tail is gone! Where did my tail go?"

"It's gone! It's gone! I don't have a tail anymore! What do I do?"

Just as no one knew how to answer him, Goku suddenly said, "Forget it, forget it."

Ye Bai had seen this scene when he watched the anime as a child in his previous life, but seeing it in person still left him thoroughly stunned.

Everyone watched Goku stumble every few steps as he ran into the distant ruins, found his Power Pole, and returned. Then they discussed where they should go.

Goku answered, "I'm going to Master Roshi's place. I want to train some more and become stronger."

Bulma then looked at Ye Bai and asked, "Little Bai, are you going to train with Master Roshi too?"

After thinking for a moment, Ye Bai said, "I don't know anyone in the city, and I have nowhere to stay, so I guess I'll go with Goku and train with Grandpa Master Roshi."

Bulma hurriedly said, "You can stay at my house! My family's house is huge."

This was exactly what Ye Bai had been waiting to hear. With his current battle power, training with Master Roshi would not be particularly effective. He had his own ideas and plans.

"Wouldn't that be too much trouble?"

"Not at all. My parents are very hospitable."

"Alright, then I'll shamelessly follow you back to East City."

"Huh? Little Bai, you're not coming with me to learn martial arts from Grandpa Master Roshi?" Goku asked in confusion.

"No, Goku. I'm already very strong. Training with Master Roshi wouldn't help me improve much. You need to train hard with Grandpa Master Roshi. That way, when we meet again, we can spar properly."

"Is that so? By the way, when did you get so strong, Little Bai? How come I didn't know?"

"Hahaha, Goku, don't worry about that. You'll find out next time we meet. I'm very strong, and I'll become even stronger."

After everyone decided where they were going, they said their goodbyes and parted ways. Since Goku wanted to find his grandfather's Four-Star Dragon Ball, they gave him the Dragon Radar. Goku headed toward Bun Mountain, saying he needed to go back and pack his things. Ye Bai, meanwhile, set off toward East City with Bulma and the others after they transformed into an airplane.

After much hardship along the way, Ye Bai, Bulma, and the others returned to East City. Because of Ye Bai's interference, Bulma and Yamcha had not developed the same relationship they had in the original story, so they were not together. After parting with Yamcha and Puar, Bulma brought Ye Bai and Oolong to her home.

"This is my home. Mom, I'm back!" Bulma called out as she greeted the house.

Looking at the large estate before him, Ye Bai sighed. As expected of the world's richest family—the surroundings were really nice.

At that moment, Bulma's mother, Mrs. Brief, came outside.

"Oh, Bulma's back. Is this your little boyfriend? He's so handsome."

After saying that, Mrs. Brief looked at Oolong beside her.

"Bulma, why did you bring ingredients home with you?"

Oolong's face turned red as he shouted, "Ma'am, my name is Oolong! I'm an animal-type Earthling, not an ingredient!"

Mrs. Brief covered her mouth and said, "Hohoho, sorry, Oolong. I was just joking."

Ye Bai quickly stepped forward to greet her.

"Hello, ma'am! My name is Ye Bai. I'm Bulma's friend. You can just call me Little Bai."

Watching her mother act so scatterbrained, Bulma held her forehead and apologized to Ye Bai and Oolong. "Sorry, my mom's just like that. She likes joking around."

"Mom, Little Bai and Oolong will be staying at our house for a while."

Mrs. Brief looked at Ye Bai and Oolong.

"Of course. We have plenty of empty rooms. By the way, Little Bai, are you really not Bulma's boyfriend?"

Seeing Mrs. Brief start acting scatterbrained again, Bulma hurriedly cried, "Mom!"

After exchanging pleasantries, everyone entered the house. Once rooms had been assigned to Ye Bai and Oolong, Ye Bai went to the room Bulma had arranged for him, took a hot shower, changed into clean clothes, and then went out to find Bulma.

"Bulma, does your house have a training room? Also, Bulma, can I ask you for a favor?"

"No, no one in my family practices martial arts, so there's nowhere to train. You can cultivate in the backyard for now. Later, I'll have someone renovate a training room. What did you want to ask me to do?" Bulma sat leisurely at the bar by the courtyard in the living room, sipping coffee.

"Alright. I'd like to ask you to make a gravity device for me. I want to cultivate under increased gravity—the higher the adjustable gravity multiplier, the better."

"A gravity adjustment device? I don't know how to make one yet. I'll ask my dad. He should be able to make it," Bulma replied after thinking for a moment.

"I see. Wouldn't that be too much trouble for your father?" Ye Bai said awkwardly, scratching his head.

Bulma waved it off as if it were nothing. "It's fine. He has plenty of free time. Whenever he has nothing to do, he loves tinkering with all sorts of random stuff."

Only then did Ye Bai feel at ease after hearing her say that.

"Then I'll be counting on you, Bulma. I'm going to cultivate in the backyard."

Seeing this, Bulma quickly stood up. "Bai, I just did you a favor. Shouldn't you thank me?"

Ye Bai said hesitantly, "How should I thank you? I don't have anything I can give you right now."

Bulma hurriedly waved her hands. "No, I don't need you to give me anything. I just need you to go shopping with me later."

Hearing that, Ye Bai answered without hesitation, "Shopping? No problem. Not just once—you can go as many times as you want."

Bulma's eyes immediately lit up. "Really? Bai, you'll go as many times as I want?"

Ye Bai had a bad feeling about this.

Five hours later, inside an enormous mall, Ye Bai wished he could slap himself once, twice, three, four, five, six times—but his hands were completely occupied.

"Oh my god, why did I have to say she could go as many times as she wanted? After one day of this, I feel like I'm about to collapse." Ye Bai looked at Bulma, still excitedly trying on clothes in a clothing store whose brand he didn't recognize, then looked down at the shopping bags hanging all over his body. His face was utterly lifeless.