Master Roshi: Earth Has Been Without a God for Too Long, So I Agreed

"Did you sense it?" Master Roshi asked.

"No." Chen Mo said, "I couldn't sense anything. Master, how did you..."

Master Roshi took a sip of tea.

"In the third month after you left, Mr. Popo came to see me."

Chen Mo glanced at Mr. Popo, who was watering flowers in the distance.

Mr. Popo had no expression at all and continued watering the flowers as usual.

"He told me something." Master Roshi's tone became very calm. "Earth no longer had a Guardian. Piccolo died. He died together with Kami after merging with him. Kami's Lookout remained, and Popo remained, but the position of Guardian was vacant."

A thought flashed through Chen Mo's mind.

"It had already been vacant for over four years." Master Roshi continued. "For over four years, there had been no Guardian, no one managing the order of the lower world. The Dragon Balls had turned to stone, the entrance to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber had begun to destabilize, and Kami's Lookout's barrier had been gradually weakening. Popo couldn't hold it up alone."

"So..."

"So he came to ask me," Master Roshi said. "Whether I was willing to take it."

Chen Mo opened his mouth.

"I considered it for three days." Master Roshi's tone remained even. "On the fourth day, I agreed."

Trunks was completely stunned beside them.

Master Roshi. The Martial Arts Master.

That lecherous old man who spent all day reading dirty magazines and hid on a remote island pretending to be dead.

Had become Earth's Guardian.

"Popo took me through the Guardian's succession ritual." Master Roshi set his empty teacup on the ledge of the veranda pillar. "The entire process lasted fourteen days. It was painful. Over three hundred years of accumulated martial arts cultivation had to be completely shattered and rebuilt, then synchronized with the divine power core of Kami's Lookout."

He looked at Chen Mo.

"After the ritual was complete, my ki changed. It was no longer martial artists' ki, but divine ki. If you tried to sense it using ordinary ki perception, of course you wouldn't detect anything. They belonged to two different dimensions."

Chen Mo took a few seconds to process that.

He turned and looked at Mr. Popo.

Mr. Popo finally set down his watering can and walked over.

"Master Roshi is the most suitable successor Popo has ever seen," Mr. Popo said. "His martial arts cultivation is deep enough, his temperament is steadfast enough, and his feelings for Earth have lasted longer than anyone's."

"More than three hundred years." Master Roshi gave a self-deprecating laugh. "I've lived too long. Watching the people on this planet die generation after generation, be born generation after generation. Watching my disciples grow up, become stronger, then leave before me one after another."

He lowered his head and looked at his hands. They were thin and wrinkled, yet utterly steady.

"Earth needs a Guardian. Popo needs a master. In these years, the people still alive need someone watching over them from above."

"So you agreed," Chen Mo said.

"Ants have their way of living." Master Roshi raised his eyes and looked at him. "This old man has his way of living too."

Chen Mo froze for a moment.

He had said those words to Yajirobe before they parted. He hadn't expected them to reach Master Roshi's ears.

"Master." Chen Mo took a deep breath. "How much do you know about the situation on Namek?"

"Popo told me some of it. You took that android and Trunks to look for the Dragon Balls. I don't know the details."

Chen Mo nodded.

Then he recounted everything that had happened on Namek from beginning to end.

Elder Moori's condition. Shigula taking six Dragon Balls. His Eternal Darkness ability. His power level of five hundred million. How he had used the Frieza Force as a weapon. And how the last Dragon Ball had been brought back to Earth.

Master Roshi said nothing after hearing it.

"Master, I can't beat Shigula for now," Chen Mo said. "But we can't give up on Namek's Dragon Balls. Elder Moori doesn't have much time left. Once he dies, the Dragon Balls will turn to stone. Then it'll all be over."

"That Shigula you mentioned," Master Roshi finally said. "He can reach five hundred million in the darkness?"

"Yes. And he's constantly assimilating other Namekians. Every one he absorbs makes him stronger."

Master Roshi fell silent for a moment.

"What if he comes to Earth?"

Chen Mo was taken aback. "Comes to Earth?"

"He wants the last Dragon Ball. The Dragon Ball is on Earth. Sooner or later, he'll come after it."

There was nothing wrong with that logic. Chen Mo had considered the possibility before as well, but Shigula was currently dealing with the Frieza Force's harassment. He probably wouldn't have time to come anytime soon.

"If he comes." Master Roshi picked up his teacup, found it empty, then set it back down. "I have a way."

Chen Mo looked at him.

"You said earlier that his ability is to create darkness, block out the sun, and double his strength in the dark."

"That's right."

"Earth's Guardian," Master Roshi said, "is in charge of the sky."

"He darkens the skies. I clear them." Master Roshi's tone remained calm, but it carried the confidence of three hundred years of accumulation. "One of a Kami's divine power's core functions is climate control. To put it plainly, how many clouds there are on this planet, whether it rains, whether the sun comes out—Piccolo used to have the final say. Now I do."

Chen Mo understood.

Shigula's eternal darkness was essentially an enormous energy-based concealment field.

On Planet Namek, Grand Elder Moori had been unable to break it.

Because Moori was not a Kami.

But if the battlefield shifted to Earth—

Earth now had a Kami.

And that Kami happened to be Master Roshi.

"If he darkens the skies, then you'll tear them open," Chen Mo said.

"Exactly. On Earth, his darkness won't be sustainable," Master Roshi said. "Without the darkness boost, his strength will fall back to its base level."

Base level: 120 million.

A 120-million-power Shigula was still formidable, but no longer invincible.

Trunks alone could go toe-to-toe with him.

Add Chen Mo's 60 million under the Thirtyfold King Kai Fist, and their odds were excellent.

"But..." Master Roshi abruptly changed course. "A Kami's divine power is different from martial artists' ki. It requires energy to sustain. What the ritual passed on to me was only the framework and authority. I have to accumulate the fuel myself. At present, my divine power reserves can support at most three large-scale climate manipulations. Once it's used up, I'll have to build it back up again. Very slowly."

"Is there anything that can speed up the accumulation?"

"There is." Master Roshi glanced at him. "But not on Earth."

Something stirred in Chen Mo's heart.

He thought of the eight capsules in his pouch.

"Master." Chen Mo took out a universal capsule case from his inner pocket. "Do you know about something called the Tree of Might?"

Master Roshi narrowed his eyes.

"When I accepted the Kami's inheritance, Bobo showed me an ancient record. The Tree of Might is an exceedingly rare divine plant in the universe. It takes root on a planet, drains the life force of the entire world, and bears fruit. Its fruit contains the condensed life energy of a planet."

Master Roshi paused.

"That record stated it clearly. The Fruit of the Tree of Might is essentially something gods use to replenish their divine power. Ordinary people can only absorb a small portion of it; most of the energy will dissipate. Only beings possessing divinity can absorb it completely."

Chen Mo's breathing stopped for half a beat.

He took out the capsule case, opened the lid, removed a capsule, and pressed the release button.

Pop.

A golden gleam lit up across the white stone slabs.

A Fruit of the Tree of Might, as large as two fists, appeared. The patterns on its surface slowly flowed beneath the light of Kami's Lookout, as though something alive were breathing under its skin.

Master Roshi lowered his head and stared at the fruit.

He remained silent for a long time.

"Where did you get this?" he asked.

"Picked it up on the road," Chen Mo said. "A Saiyan planted a Tree of Might on a barren planet. I made a deal with him. There were nine in total. I ate one myself, and my base power went from 500,000 to 2 million."

"From 500,000 to 2 million," Master Roshi repeated. "You're an ordinary person. You could only absorb less than half its energy. The rest was wasted."

"What if it was a Kami?"

Master Roshi did not answer immediately.

He bent down, picked up the fruit, and held it in his palm.

"If it were a Kami..." Master Roshi's voice grew low. "In theory, it could be absorbed completely. Not a single bit wasted. All of it converted into divine power."

"So, will you eat it?"

Master Roshi looked up at Chen Mo.

The old man's expression was complicated.

"This is very precious. You're just giving it to me?"

"You're my master," Chen Mo said. "And you're Earth's Kami now. If you become stronger, Earth will be safer. No matter how you calculate it, this deal isn't a loss."

Master Roshi fell silent for a few more seconds.

Then he smiled.

It was a simple smile.

The expression an old man wore only when he was trusted by his student.

"Alright."

Master Roshi opened his mouth and took a bite.

The peel cracked. Golden juice ran down the corner of his mouth. He chewed twice, then swallowed.

Then—

Kami's Lookout trembled.

A resonance surged from within, as though the entire palace were responding to an infusion of power.

A faint golden glow emerged around Master Roshi's body.

But it was different from when Chen Mo ate the fruit.

The gold around him did not shine through from beneath his skin. It descended from above his head, draping over him like an extremely thin veil of light.

Fine patterns appeared across the white tiles of Kami's Lookout.

They were ancient divine runes.

Mr. Popo took two steps back, a glimmer unlike any he had ever shown flashing through his eyes.

Master Roshi stood where he was. The golden light grew brighter and brighter, then withdrew, shrinking back into his body.

The entire process took less than a minute.

Master Roshi opened his eyes.

"Good stuff," he said. "The life of an entire planet is in this one bite."

Chen Mo noticed that the air around Master Roshi had changed.

It was not a fluctuation of ki, but something more fundamental.

The few thin clouds drifting above Kami's Lookout all scattered the instant Master Roshi opened his eyes.

Sunlight shone straight down, reflecting brightly off the old man's bald head.

"How is it?" Chen Mo asked.

Master Roshi rolled his neck, making it crack.

"Before, my divine power reserves would be drained after three large-scale weather manipulations." He raised a hand and looked at it. "Now, conservatively speaking, more than thirty. And my recovery speed has increased by at least tenfold."

Tenfold.

Thirty weather manipulations.

In other words, even if Shigula came to Earth and repeatedly unleashed Eternal Darkness, Master Roshi could repeatedly tear it open for him. More than thirty times.

Shigula would run out first.

"That's not all." Master Roshi walked to the edge of Kami's Lookout and looked down. "A Kami's duties aren't just about controlling the weather. There's also one more thing—"

He raised his right hand.

His palm faced downward.

A gentle white glow spread from his palm.

It was not a ki blast. It had no destructive power.

Instead, it was an exceedingly mild energy that spread downward along the edge of Kami's Lookout, passing through the clouds and descending toward the earth.

Chen Mo walked to the edge of the palace and looked down.

Far below, an area that had once been nothing but ruins was changing.

Shattered fragments of buildings began to move slowly. They did not rise into the air, but seemed to reverse through time.

Rubble returned to the walls. Broken steel bars bent back into place. Shattered glass reassembled in window frames. Collapsed roofs were lifted by invisible forces and set back where they belonged.

Cracks in the ground healed. Uprooted roads were laid flat again. Fallen utility poles straightened, and even severed wires reconnected.

Trunks rushed to the edge of the palace. Looking at the scene below, he froze completely.

He had lived among ruins since childhood. In his memories, cities had always looked this desolate.

The androids had destroyed everything. No one could repair it, and no one had the spare strength to even think about repairing it.

But now—

Those ruins were being rebuilt.

Not by human effort. Not by machinery. By the power of a Kami.

"This is..." Trunks's voice trembled slightly.

"Kami magic." Master Roshi withdrew his hand. "One of the Earth Kami's core duties. Restoration. Maintenance. Order. Before, I didn't have enough divine power. I could only keep Kami's Lookout from collapsing. But now..."

He glanced at his palm, where white light still lingered around his fingertips.

"It's enough."

Chen Mo watched the distant city district gradually return to its original state, an indescribable feeling rising in his heart.

He had been in this world for over a year. All he had seen were ruins. Dead cities.

Survivors hid in basements, chewing on canned food. The sky was always gray, and everywhere bore the marks of destruction left behind by the androids.

This was the first time he had seen restoration.

Repairs were moving in a positive direction.

"Don't celebrate too soon." Master Roshi seemed to have seen through his thoughts. "Only a small area can be repaired at a time. About one city block. And only the buildings and basic infrastructure. The dead can't be brought back to life. Underground pipelines, power systems, and things like that are outside the scope of Kami's magic."

"It's enough," Chen Mo said. "As long as there's somewhere to live. The survivors won't have to crowd into basements anymore."

Master Roshi nodded.

"I'll repair it slowly. One section a day, starting with the areas around the densely populated camps. I'll try to restore the residential areas of the major cities to a usable state within half a year."

Mr. Popo walked over with another fresh cup of tea and handed it to Master Roshi.

"Master Roshi," Mr. Popo said, "your divine power has now surpassed that of the previous Kami."

Master Roshi took the tea and sipped it. Then he suddenly froze and turned to look at Chen Mo.

"How many do you have left?"

"Eight."

"Keep them all. Don't eat them carelessly." Master Roshi's tone turned serious. "You have the constitution of an ordinary human. You can't digest even half of the god-level energy in the Fruit of the Tree of Might. The rest will remain in your body. If you eat too many, you'll run into problems."

"I know. I plan to eat them slowly in batches. One at a time. I'll eat the next one after I've fully digested the previous one."

"The rest..." Chen Mo glanced at Master Roshi. "How many more can you eat?"

Master Roshi thought for a moment. "Kami's constitution has no upper limit. In theory, I could eat them all. But I need time to digest them. The effects of one fruit last about a month. I can only eat the next one after a month."

"Master," Chen Mo said. "Six of Planet Namek's Dragon Balls are still in Shigula's hands. Once Android 18 and I are ready, we'll have to go back and retrieve them. The Grand Elder won't hold on much longer."

"I know." Master Roshi nodded. "Go do what you need to do. Leave Earth to me."

Holding his teacup, he walked back beneath the corridor pillars and became that lazy old man again.

But as Chen Mo watched his back, he felt that something was different.

That back seemed much broader than it had been a year ago.