I Also Want Weighted Clothing

Inside the Capsule Corporation camper traveling from Kapok City to West City, the atmosphere was unnaturally quiet.

The scenery outside sped backward, blurring into strips of green. Krillin and Yamcha leaned against the back seats, each clutching a swollen ankle or wrist as they quietly hissed through their teeth. The bruises caused by the aftermath of Chen He's punch yesterday still made every joint in their bodies ache as though pricked by needles.

With one hand on the steering wheel, Bulma kept stealing glances at the rearview mirror every few seconds.

In the mirror, Goku sat motionless, cross-legged in the open space at the back of the camper. His orange martial arts gi had been torn to shreds by the wind pressure yesterday, so today he wore a faded old undershirt instead. Under normal circumstances, this wild kid from Mount Paozu would have been clamoring for meat already, or hanging half his body out the window to catch birds by the roadside.

But since getting into the vehicle that morning, he had remained in that posture without moving. He had not even blinked once.

"Goku... are you okay?" Bulma finally could not hold it in any longer. Letting go of the steering wheel with one hand, she turned around and asked worriedly, "If you're still hurting, I've got the latest pain-relief patches from West City in my bag."

"I'm fine, Bulma. It doesn't hurt at all. In fact, I... feel better than ever."

Goku opened his eyes and lowered his head to look at his palm.

He was not lying. When Krillin had carried him back to the hotel yesterday, he had not even been able to lift a finger. The blood congestion in his chest from Chen He's punch had made every breath taste of blood. Fortunately, Chen He had given him that Senzu Bean.

The moment he ate the Senzu Bean last night, his injuries had healed. At first, he had not felt any different, but during the later dinner, he had clearly sensed the change in his ki. It had risen by far more than just a little.

After just one night, his previously modest ki had doubled outright, cleanly breaking through to the threshold of 400 power level.

Even Goku himself was bewildered by this inexplicable surge, but driven by the instinct of a Saiyan recovering from near death, he felt no relief. Instead, his longing to fight Chen He and his battle intent burned even hotter.

"Bulma." Goku suddenly stood and walked behind the driver's seat, gripping the backrest with both hands. His clear eyes fixed on Bulma's profile. "When we get to West City, could you... make me clothes like the ones Chen He wears?"

"Huh?" Goku startled Bulma so badly that the steering wheel nearly slipped. "Are you crazy? Didn't you see yesterday how that outfit weighed him down so badly he could barely walk? Why would you want to copy that monster?"

"No. I have to."

Goku pressed his lips together. The seriousness in his eyes made both Krillin and Yamcha straighten up in their seats.

Goku took a deep breath and turned toward the blue sky outside the window. His mind was filled with that blue beam of light yesterday, shattered inch by inch by a single punch. "Chen He was right. The Red Ribbon Army may be gone, but there must still be lots of powerful people in this world we've never even heard of. Carrying all that weight yesterday, he was racing against people like that. I may have gotten a little stronger now... but if I just keep punching on the mountain step by step, I'll never even see his back for the rest of my life."

Krillin looked at Goku's faintly trembling fists. His lips moved, but in the end, he lowered his head in discouragement. He had thought the gap between himself and Goku was only a few hundred push-ups. But now, even Goku had been driven by Chen He to the point of gambling with his life. The difference between ordinary people and monsters weighed heavily on Krillin's heart.

Yamcha merely gave a self-mocking laugh and patted Krillin on the shoulder. He had completely accepted it by now. This chase between "monsters" had long since left no room for him or Krillin to interfere.

Bulma had wanted to refuse, but when she met Goku's pure, pleading eyes, she could not bring herself to say the rebuke already on her lips. She sighed and irritably scratched at her tied-up hair. "I really lose to you martial artists... You can't think about anything but fighting. But let me make this clear first: my dad's lab does have theories similar to that gravity technology, but I've never actually built one before. I can't guarantee what it'll turn out like!"

"Thanks, Bulma!" At last, Goku broke into his trademark carefree grin.

After the Capsule Corporation camper stopped at Capsule Corporation headquarters in West City, Bulma did not even have time to unpack before Goku, chattering nonstop, ushered her all the way into the private underground laboratory packed with precision instruments and blueprints.

For the next three days, the lights in the laboratory barely went out.

Bulma wore oversized work pants stained with motor oil, an unlit cigarette dangling from her mouth as she used a welding torch to constantly adjust the miniature matrix of the particle gravity generator on an alloy steel plate. As a world-famous genius beauty, the competitive pride buried deep in her bones had been completely ignited.

"If that cold-hearted Chen He can use weighted gear, then what I make will definitely be more advanced than his!" Bulma muttered fiercely as she wiped sweat from her forehead and hammered at the keyboard.

Yet turning theory into reality was far more difficult than she had imagined. Without the absurd black technology of a system shop, and relying solely on Earth's current technology and Capsule Corporation's gravity components, compressing a gravity field into a piece of clothing that could be worn close to the body placed almost terrifying demands on the material's pressure resistance.

By the evening of the third day.

"It's done!"

Looking somewhat drained, Bulma slumped into her swivel chair. With enormous dark circles under her eyes, she proudly pointed at a special silver-gray vest on the workbench.

The vest looked much thicker and heavier than Chen He's, its surface covered in densely packed miniature cooling vents and metal circuitry.

"Goku, this is the limit of what this genius girl of Earth can do." Rubbing her aching neck, Bulma warned him seriously, "The gravity adjustment valve can only go up to forty times gravity. Any higher, and the core components inside will melt from overload. And... I have to remind you, I don't know what fifty times gravity meant when Chen He used it onstage, but this forty times gravity can really kill you."

Goku did not even wait for Bulma to finish. His eyes lit up as he grabbed the heavy silver-gray vest and pulled it straight on.

Click.

The instant his finger pressed the red activation button on his chest.

BOOM!!

A faint, translucent ripple formed by the sudden compression of air instantly spread out from beneath Goku's feet.

"Urgh...!!"

Goku's face turned deathly pale in an instant. Without warning, his knees buckled violently, and he nearly crashed face-first onto the laboratory floor. Ten times Earth's gravity was like countless invisible blocks of lead, brutally dragging his skin, muscles, and even every organ in his body toward the ground.

His breathing abruptly stopped. Even with the foundation of 400 power level, under this unbuffered tenfold pressure, he still felt as though a massive iron hammer were pinned against his chest. Even expanding his lungs to draw a breath took every ounce of his strength.

"Goku! Turn it off, now!" Bulma leaped from her chair in fright and reached for the switch.

"Don't... don't touch it, Bulma..."

Goku gritted his teeth so hard that veins stood out across his neck, and even the blood vessels in his temples throbbed violently. The instant the sweat dripping from his forehead struck the floor, gravity accelerated it into a sharp smack.

Slowly, with extreme difficulty, he straightened his bent knees bit by bit. Every bone in his body groaned with unbearable strain, but a twisted smile, mixed with pain and exhilaration, gradually spread across Goku's sweat-soaked face.

"This is it... haha... this feeling!"

Goku panted heavily and raised his right arm, which felt as heavy as a mountain range, then threw an incredibly slow, short punch into the air without even a whisper of wind.

In that cold laboratory, in West City hundreds of kilometers away from Kapok City, Son Goku finally found the staircase that would let him truly sprint toward Chen He at full speed, climbing over blood and sweat.

Meanwhile, deep in the distant northwestern wilderness.

Chen He sat beside a dry, rocky riverbed. On the Dragon Radar before him, a green dot flashed wildly inside a hidden cave less than a hundred meters away. He brushed the dust from his black pant legs and stood up, his steps remaining steady amid the rocks despite the burden of twenty times gravity.

Looking at the cave concealed in the shadows ahead, Chen He's gaze remained completely calm.

"The first one is mine."

Two entirely different kinds of ki, each equally frantically pushing the limits of the body, began a new round of training at opposite ends of the Earth.