I Still Like Your Unruly Demeanor

The underground hangar beneath Capsule Corporation was thick with the smell of engine oil.

Looking across the entire planet, the only thing that could make the daughter of the richest man on Earth wear a tank top and wrestle with a mess of wiring beneath a control console was probably this silver-gray spaceship.

Bulma's ten fingers flew across the keyboard. Strings of spatial-jump parameters scrolled wildly across the screen before, with a sharp beep, a green PASS appeared.

"Done!" Bulma let out a long breath and casually wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, only to smear the black engine oil on her fingertips all over her fair face, turning herself into a little soot-covered cat.

She spun around excitedly in her chair and looked at Son Goku, who was sitting on a cargo container nearby. "Goku, I have to say, Dr. Gero really was a genius when it came to energy. The spaceship's all set now. As long as we input Planet Yardrat's coordinates, we can take off anytime!"

Son Goku had been chewing on beef jerky. Hearing that, he jumped down from the container, walked over to Bulma, pulled the towel from around his neck, and naturally began wiping the oil from her face.

"You've worked hard. Look at those dark circles under your eyes. Since the ship's basically ready, don't stay down here all night. Go upstairs and get some proper sleep." His movements were very gentle.

Bulma leaned against his sturdy forearm and rubbed against it like a cat before yawning. "I really am about to drop... What about you? Going to the gravity room again?"

"I'm resting tonight." Son Goku lightly flicked her forehead with a finger. "I've got something to take care of."

Only after Bulma entered the elevator and the floor indicator stopped at the residential level did the smile in Son Goku's eyes gradually fade.

By his calculations, the cooldown period for the Dragon Balls he had snatched after the Red Ribbon Army's destruction had ended.

Leaving the hangar, Son Goku didn't alert anyone.

Boom!

With a dull crack, two shallow pits appeared in the concrete beneath Son Goku's feet. He shot into the air, turning into a streak of white light that tore through the night sky.

Guided by the Dragon Radar, the Dragon Balls scattered across the deep sea, volcanic craters, and even primeval forests fell into his hands one after another with ease.

Five in the morning, in a desolate valley several hundred kilometers from West City.

Seven pristine spheres lay scattered across the grass. The red stars within them resonated, producing a low hum as their golden light grew brighter and brighter.

"Get out here and get to work, Shenron!"

Son Goku stood with his hands in his pockets, his tone as casual as if he were ordering around the owner of the convenience store downstairs.

Rumble!

The night sky, which had been full of stars just moments ago, was suddenly swallowed by thick black clouds. Lightning tore wildly through their depths, and the valley's gravitational field seemed to be thrown into chaos as fragments of rock floated in midair against all logic.

Amid a dragon's roar that shattered the heavens, a pillar of light surged from the Dragon Balls into the sky. It expanded in the air, transforming into an enormous Eastern dragon that blotted out the sky.

Shenron coiled amid the storm, its eyes like twin red lanterns as it looked down upon the ground. When it saw that the man standing below was the one who had once frightened it nearly out of its wits, its enormous vertical pupils abruptly contracted.

Yet only a few seconds later, the wariness on Shenron's face froze.

In its perception, Son Goku, standing on the grass at this moment, had not the slightest fluctuation of ki. Without the pressure that had once made its scales stand on end, he now looked like an utterly ordinary mortal.

Shenron's pinprick pupils slowly widened, and its taut whiskers began to drift leisurely through the air.

"So it's you..." Shenron's voice echoed through the valley. But this time, there was less reverence in its tone and more of the arrogance of one looking down upon an ant.

"Mortal, it seems you have lost the power you were once so proud of. No matter. The rules remain the same for one who has gathered all seven Dragon Balls. State your wish. Any wish..."

Shenron deliberately lowered its massive head until it was nearly level with the ground, opening its mouth and exhaling a scorching breath that reeked of sulfur. It clearly wanted to use this chance to regain the dignity it had lost last time and show this mortal what true divine majesty was.

The fierce wind whipped Son Goku's clothes loudly, but he did not even blink.

Looking at that haughty dragon face practically pressed against his own, Son Goku couldn't help but snort with laughter.

He rubbed his chin, a trace of amusement flashing in his eyes. "Shenron, do you think... you're tough again?"

"Hm? Could it be..." Shenron puffed out two clouds of white smoke in confusion.

Bzzzz!

Without warning, the pressure of Son Goku's three-million power level instantly locked down the entire valley's space.

Crack!

The floating rocks were crushed into powder. The rolling black clouds seemed to have been put on pause, frozen rigidly in the sky. Even bolts of lightning halfway through their descent solidified in midair.

"Gah—!"

Shenron's majestic, sacred voice sounded as though an invisible hand had seized it by the throat, cracking outright.

Its lantern-like eyes bulged wildly, and its once imposing body now shook like a quail in a winter wind, as though its spine had been ripped out.

Overwhelmed by terror, Shenron could no longer maintain any divine dignity. Its huge head slammed into the grass with a thud, its whiskers sprawled messily across the ground, and its entire body hunched into a green mountain of flesh in utter submission.

"S-Sorry! Great powerhouse! My brain malfunctioned just now! I spoke too loudly!"

Shenron's voice trembled with the edge of tears. It was the instinctive terror of facing an absolutely superior being. It felt that, if the man before it wished, he could erase both it and the Earth with a single finger.

Son Goku looked at the giant dragon, so cowardly it seemed ready to dig a hole and bury itself on the spot, and curled his lip in disdain. He stretched out a finger and tapped Shenron's cold nose.

"Don't be so nervous. Honestly, I kind of preferred that defiant look you had earlier. How about you go back to that?"

Shenron: "..."

Go back to that? It wouldn't dare even if it had ten thousand times the courage!

"Great powerhouse, please don't joke with this lowly god..." Shenron looked on the verge of tears as its massive head humbly rubbed against the ground.

"Please state your wish at once!"

"Alright, I'm done teasing you." The amusement in Son Goku's eyes faded, and his expression turned serious. "This wish is very simple."

He stepped forward, lowered his voice, and gave Shenron a request precise down to the millimeter.

Upon hearing the wish, Shenron visibly froze. It blinked its huge eyes in astonishment, seemingly unable to believe that this was all the other party wanted...

"What? Wasn't I clear enough?" Son Goku raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Clear! Extremely clear! This wish... is indeed very simple!" Shenron's scales bristled in fright as it hurriedly shut its eyes, crimson light bursting from them.

A moment later, the red light faded.

A dark-red velvet box without any markings floated into Son Goku's palm out of thin air.

He did not open it. Instead, he casually stuffed it into his pocket and nodded in satisfaction. "The service attitude was decent this time. Dismissed!"

Whoosh!

As if granted a pardon, Shenron did not even bother with any closing remarks. Its enormous body turned into golden light and fled back into the Dragon Balls like it was escaping a disaster.

The seven Dragon Balls became shooting stars, scattering across the world at an unprecedentedly frantic speed.

The dark clouds dispersed, and cold moonlight once more spilled over the barren valley.

Son Goku turned around. Air exploded beneath his feet, and he shot into the sky like a cannonball, racing straight toward West City.

The night wind rushing toward him tossed his black hair. Through the fabric, he patted the little box in his pocket, the smile on his face brighter than the stars filling the sky.

"Planet Yardrat... here I come!"