Secret Training

"Gohan! Get up and study!"

The sharp female voice rang out right on schedule, and Gohan groggily sat up. A four-year-old body was naturally sleepy; back in his old life, he could pull an all-nighter binge-watching shows and still be full of energy the next day. But the moment he remembered the terrifying potential inside him from yesterday, he snapped awake.

After quickly getting dressed and finishing breakfast, Gohan sat at his desk pretending to practice Chinese characters, while frantically plotting how to sneak out. Chi-Chi sat beside him knitting, like a prison guard, not even giving him a chance to slack off by looking up.

He finally endured until ten in the morning, when Chi-Chi stood up at last.

"Gohan, Mommy's going into town to buy groceries. Stay home and practice your writing properly. If you dare slack off..." Chi-Chi narrowed her eyes and gave him a "kind" smile.

"Don't worry, Mom! I'll definitely study properly!" Gohan sat ramrod straight, looking as earnest as possible.

The moment he heard the courtyard gate close, Gohan threw down his pencil and shot outside.

The back mountain of Mount Paozu was thick with trees and rarely visited, making it perfect for secret training. Gohan found an open clearing, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and sensed the ki within his body.

That warm current still lingered in his lower abdomen, curled up in his dantian like a lazy kitten. Gohan tried to guide it toward his hand.

"Buzz."

A faint white glow appeared around his right hand.

"I'm way more familiar with it than yesterday." Gohan opened his eyes and looked proudly at his little hand. He aimed at a waist-high boulder nearby and threw a punch.

"Boom!!"

Stone fragments flew everywhere as the boulder was blasted straight into powder.

Gohan froze in his punching stance.

"...Holy crap?"

He stared at his fist, then at the crater on the ground, utterly dumbfounded. He had really just thrown a casual punch! He probably hadn't even used a tenth of his strength, right? Wasn't that way too destructive?

"Calm down, calm down." Gohan patted his chest. "Having huge potential is a good thing. The main problem now is... control."

He decided to start with fine control. Stretching out one index finger, he concentrated and slowly guided his ki into it.

"Crackle."

A ki blast suddenly shot from his fingertip, punching straight through the large tree in front of him.

Gohan: "..."

Why was this thing like a power leak? It just fired whenever it wanted? Couldn't he control the output a little?

Over the next half hour, Gohan tried again and again. Either the ki refused to gather for ages, or it went out of control the instant it appeared. Sometimes he blew up rocks, sometimes trees, but not once did he succeed. Looking at the wrecked "crime scene" around him, Gohan's mouth twitched.

If he kept training, he would flatten this entire forest.

"What the heck," Gohan muttered, squatting on the ground and drawing circles. "What's the point of having all this power if I can't use it? How am I any different from a walking bomb? When Raditz comes, am I supposed to self-destruct and take him down with me?"

"Crack."

The sound of a branch snapping suddenly came from behind him.

Gohan's entire body stiffened. No way—had Chi-Chi come back already? No, a trip to town should take at least an hour...

He slowly turned around and saw a figure in an orange martial arts gi standing some distance away. He held a fat rabbit in one hand and stared at Gohan with wide eyes, his mouth open wide enough to fit a fist inside.

It really was Goku.

Father and son stared at each other, and the atmosphere turned awkward for a moment.

"D-Dad..." Gohan spoke first, his voice a little weak. "What are you doing here?"

Goku blinked, looked at the shattered rocks and the tree with a hole punched through it, then turned his gaze back to Gohan. He looked like he had seen a ghost.

"Gohan, did you... do all this?"

Gohan fell silent for two seconds, then decided to play dumb.

"Huh? What are you talking about, Dad? I have no idea." He hid his little hands behind his back and looked up at the sky. "The weather's really nice today, hahaha..."

Goku: "..."

He walked over and crouched down, staring into Gohan's eyes with an unusually serious expression. Gohan felt a chill crawl up his spine under that gaze. This idiot isn't going to realize I transmigrated here, is he?

"Gohan," Goku finally said gravely, "were you... using ki just now?"

It was over. He had been caught red-handed. If Chi-Chi found out, she would skin him alive. Wait—Goku was a martial arts fanatic. If he found out Gohan could use ki, maybe he would not only keep quiet, but Gohan might even be able to latch onto him?

Gohan's eyes shifted as he immediately changed tactics. He lowered his head, tugged at the corner of his clothes with his little hands, and put on a pitiful expression.

"Dad, I just thought it looked fun, so I tried it a little... You won't tell Mom, right? Mom doesn't let me practice martial arts..."

Goku stared at him for a long while. Just as Gohan's heart began to pound with uncertainty, Goku suddenly pulled him into a hug.

"That's amazing!!"

Gohan was squeezed so hard he could barely breathe.

"Gohan, you're amazing!" Goku's face flushed with excitement as he lifted him up and spun him around several times. "You can use ki when you're this little! You're way more amazing than Dad was back then!"

Oh, right. This guy was a battle maniac.

"Dad, you really won't tell Mom?" Gohan pressed while the iron was hot.

At the mention of Chi-Chi, most of Goku's excitement faded. He scratched his head, looking troubled.

"This... if your mom found out, she'd definitely get mad..."

"Dad, I really want to learn martial arts!" Gohan tilted up his little face, his eyes full of anticipation. "Can't you teach me in secret? We won't tell Mom! Once I get stronger, I can spar with you, Dad!"

That last sentence struck right at the heart.

Goku's eyes instantly lit up.

"Spar together?!"

"Yeah!" Gohan nodded vigorously.

Goku wrestled with it for a long while before finally gritting his teeth. "Alright! Then we'll train in secret! We won't tell your mom!"

Success! He had secured himself a powerful backer!

"But your control is still way too poor. That won't do." Goku put on the air of a teacher. "Come on, Dad will teach you how to control your ki properly. Ki isn't something you force out with brute strength—you have to feel it. Take a deep breath and imagine your body is an empty bottle. Ki is water, and you slowly fill the bottle with it..."

Gohan put away his playful thoughts and followed along seriously. Sure enough, a professional was different. Following Goku's method, he sensed the energy drifting through the air and slowly drew it into his body. The flow of his ki indeed became much smoother and steadier.

Fifteen minutes later.

Gohan opened his eyes and raised his right hand. A thin layer of pearly white light covered his palm, steady as a membrane.

"I did it!"

"Wow! Gohan, you're amazing!" Goku's eyes widened, his face full of disbelief. "It took me several months of training to reach this level back then! You did it in such a short time?"

Gohan felt smug inside, but kept his words modest. "It's mainly because Dad taught me so well."

Goku beamed at that and reached out to ruffle his hair. "Hahaha! My son really is a genius!"

Next, Goku taught him some basic ki-control techniques. From lifting pebbles to moving leaves, from concentration to release, Goku taught carefully, and Gohan learned quickly. With an adult's ability to comprehend things combined with Gohan's terrifying talent, how could his progress possibly be slow?

An hour later.

"Dad, look!"

Gohan held out a finger. A small pebble floated above his fingertip, bobbing up and down with rock-solid stability.

"Not bad, not bad!" Goku clapped and cheered. "Gohan, you learn so fast! You're way better than Dad was back then!"

"Oh, right, Dad." Gohan suddenly remembered something. "Can we train every day? Mom keeps a really close eye on me. I can only sneak out when she leaves the house."

Goku rubbed his chin and thought for a moment. "How about this? Every afternoon from now on, Dad will say he's taking you to the back mountain to pick fruit and play. Then we can secretly train in martial arts. Your mom loves you most, so she definitely won't refuse!"

Gohan's eyes lit up. With Goku covering for him, Chi-Chi would definitely be no problem.

"It's a deal!" Gohan held out his little hand. "Pinky swear!"

Goku smiled and held out his pinky, linking it with Gohan's.

"Pinky swear, pinky swear, no changing your mind for a hundred years!"

Just like that, the father and son formed their secret alliance.

Just then, Chi-Chi's shout came from the distance.

"Goku... Gohan... where are you?"

Gohan's expression changed. Oh no, how had Chi-Chi found them here?

"Not good! Your mom's here!" Goku panicked too, quickly kicking broken stones and snapped branches into the grass. "Hurry and hide the evidence! We can't let your mom find out!"

The father and son hurriedly cleaned up the "crime scene," looking exactly like two little thieves caught red-handed.

"We're here, we're here!" Goku cleared his throat and called back loudly. Then he scooped Gohan into his arms and lowered his voice. "Remember, we came here to pick fruit!"

Gohan immediately nodded, plucking a wild fruit from a nearby tree and clutching it in his hand.

Chi-Chi quickly found them, standing on the hillside with her hands on her hips. "What are you two doing all the way out here? I've been calling for ages, and neither of you answered!"

"We were picking fruit!" Gohan held up the wild fruit, smiling with perfect innocence. "Dad said the fruit on the back mountain is sweet!"

"Yeah, yeah." Goku nodded along. "Gohan wanted some fruit, so I brought him here."

Chi-Chi eyed them suspiciously, then swept her gaze over the surroundings. Luckily, the father and son had cleaned up quickly, leaving behind no obvious traces.

"Alright, alright, hurry home and eat." Chi-Chi found no flaws, and her tone softened. "Gohan, did you finish writing your characters this morning?"

"I did, I did!" Gohan nodded hurriedly.

"I'll check when we get back. Keep up!" Chi-Chi turned and started walking home.

The father and son exchanged a glance, both breathing a sigh of relief before quickly following her.

On the way home, Gohan lay over Goku's shoulder, unable to stop the corners of his mouth from rising.

His first day of training had been a tremendous success. Not only had he gained Goku as a powerful supporter, but he had also formed a secret special-training alliance. At this rate, how strong would he be by the time Raditz arrived in a little over a month?

Raditz, was it? A power level of fifteen hundred, was it?

Just wait. I'll give you a surprise.

The setting sun stretched the father and son's shadows long, and everything on Mount Paozu seemed peaceful and serene. But no one knew that a secret special training session capable of changing the entire Dragon Ball storyline had quietly begun.