Tenfold Increase in Combat Power Within Five Years!

At that moment, Bulma looked up at Barros, her eyes shimmering, her fingertips tingling, her cheeks burning hot, even her breathing growing faintly tight—admiration and affection had intertwined, quietly kindling a flame within her.

Seeing its attack miss, the Great Ape grew even more enraged. It opened its huge mouth again, firing another sickly-white ki blast that rode a howling gale straight at Barros!

To Yamcha and the others, this pure-energy assault was like a dragon bursting from the abyss, capable of shattering mountains and splitting stone.

But in Barros's eyes, it was nothing more than crude brute force without the slightest finesse, not even worth another half-second of his attention.

The repeated pestering had long since exhausted the last of his patience for toying with it.

His figure flickered, and Barros, with Bulma in his arms, teleported directly before the Great Ape!

As the saying went, when enemies met, their eyes turned red with hatred.

The instant Barros appeared, the Great Ape wasted no words. Its bowl-sized fist, wrapped in a violent gale, came crashing down at his head!

The force of the punch sent the loose strands over Bulma's forehead flying wildly. Terrified, she buried herself in Barros's chest and curled into a ball.

Barros merely gave a disdainful laugh. Just as the Great Ape's fist came within half a foot of his nose, he flicked his index finger. With a crisp "ding"—

The Great Ape flew sideways as though struck by a massive hammer, crashing with a boom into the ruins of Pilaf Castle!

The tower, which had already been sliced in half by the ki blast, completely collapsed into dust after that impact. Broken walls and rubble piled into a chaotic wasteland!

The air rippled faintly, and Barros vanished once more. The next instant, he stood before the Great Ape, which was struggling to rise.

He looked down at it quietly and gave a slight nod. "Your strength has increased tenfold, and your battle power has broken past 180... It seems that encounter with Bardock and Gine back then truly made you much stronger than your original path. Unfortunately—you're still far too weak."

Before his words had faded, his figure flashed again. He was already right before the Great Ape, his index finger calmly pressing against the center of its forehead.

"Boom!"

The elbow supporting its body suddenly gave way. The Great Ape rolled its eyes back and crashed to the ground, no longer moving.

Bulma stared at the "mountain" that had come crashing down and sucked in a cold breath, her voice trembling. "Y-you killed Goku?!"

Barros shot her a sideways glance, then looked at Goku, whose Great Ape form was slowly fading as he lay unconscious on the ground. His tone was as calm as still water. "This Emperor didn't kill him. I merely knocked him out."

To return a Great Ape Saiyan to normal, the usual methods were cutting off the tail or destroying the moon.

But for Barros, whose control over his power was precise to the smallest degree, simply knocking him out was the easiest solution.

Hearing that Goku was all right, Bulma's shoulders visibly relaxed. The stone weighing on her heart finally fell away.

During their journey to find the Dragon Balls, they had laughed, cried, fought, and made up. She and that little boy who was always grinning foolishly had truly built a deep bond.

Then inspiration suddenly struck her. She jerked her head up and stared at Barros in shock. "This Emperor? You call yourself 'This Emperor'... Are you the emperor of some planet?"

"More or less." Barros could not be bothered to explain.

Yet that careless, dismissive answer stirred even greater waves in Bulma's heart—

"More or less"? What did that mean? Could it be...

She gazed at his sharply defined profile, and a thought quietly rose in her mind: Could this handsome young man be more than the emperor of just one planet?

Then she recalled Shenron's almost reverent obedience toward Barros, as well as the meaningful conversation between them.

The faint suspicion in Bulma's heart immediately became even more certain.

Then, without warning, an image burst into her mind—

Upon a vast, boundless planet, she wore magnificent star-woven robes and stood beside Barros in a holy palace above the clouds. Beneath them, countless alien beings from innumerable star systems bowed their heads in unison, shouting blessings of eternal life and cheering in celebration of their unprecedented wedding!

At the mere thought of it, Bulma, still in the first bloom of youth, felt her cheeks instantly burn, her eyes turning dreamy and unfocused.

Heroes could not escape the snares of beauty, but what beauty did not yearn for a true peerless hero?

What was more, the young man gently holding her in his arms was not merely the prince who had saved her life. He was a supreme being who made Shenron bow his head, whose presence seemed to suppress the heavens themselves.

Bulma did not know Barros's true origins, but she had long heard the title "Emperor."

Looking through all of Earth's historical records, any who could be called emperor had been unparalleled overlords who shattered mountains and rivers, suppressed all directions, and stood supreme above all others.

Though he came from another world, that only made Bulma more convinced—he most likely ruled a vast star domain stretching across billions of light-years!

Barros had no idea of the turmoil raging through Bulma's heart. He lowered his eyes toward the still-sleeping Goku, one brow lifting as a playful smile curled at his lips. A rather interesting idea quietly surfaced in his mind.

"Eek—!!"

Only seconds after Goku reverted from his Great Ape form, his eyelids flew open.

As soon as he woke, his gaze shifted to Barros and Bulma floating in midair. He froze in surprise. "Bulma? Why are you being held by this big brother? Huh—!"

He cried out and sprang to his feet like a fish flipping from water. His eyes fell upon Barros's waist as Barros slowly descended, and he pointed at the furry tail there. "Big brother, you have a tail too? Didn't Bulma say I was the only one in the whole world?"

Barros paused slightly. "Big brother"?

Then he chuckled, his tone unhurried. "Saiyans are born with tails. You have one, and so do I—having a tail is perfectly natural."

Saiyan!

Bulma, Yamcha, Oolong, and Puar instantly stiffened, engraving that name deeply into their minds.

Only Goku wore a bewildered expression, utterly unfamiliar with the word "Saiyan."

But he understood the important part—this man was the same kind of person as him.

Looking into those innocent, clear eyes, Barros gently shook his head. His gaze lowered to Bulma, who was still enclosed in his arms, and an indescribable glimmer passed through the depths of his eyes.

In the next instant, while Bulma stood stunned and everyone else gaped in disbelief, Barros bent down and, without warning, kissed her on the lips.

"Mm..." Startled, Bulma instinctively tried to struggle, but beneath his blazing, irresistible gaze, her entire body went limp.

A moment later, Barros released her. Her cheeks were flushed crimson, her breathing slightly unsteady, and a fine sheen of sweat had formed on her forehead.

With a turn of his palm, a small device with a cold metallic gleam silently appeared.

Before Bulma could react, it had already adhered firmly to her smooth forehead.

In an instant, two cultivation arts poured into her mind like clear spring water, imprinting themselves distinctly upon her consciousness.

Bulma stared up blankly, her voice faint. "Th-This is?"

"Created by me personally—the Divine Martial Battle Star's clan-defining secret arts, never passed to outsiders." Barros's expression was stern. Then he handed her a Hoi-Poi Capsule. "Inside is a Neural Tree Fruit. Once you have cultivated these two arts to the minor mastery stage, consume it. It won't let you reach the summit in a single step, but it will be enough to elevate you into one of the strongest people on this planet."

Before his words had even faded, his gaze suddenly sharpened and locked onto Bulma's eyes. His voice rang like steel. "The woman I have chosen—even if she does not follow me in shattering the heavens and sweeping through all realms—must not be so weak that she cannot even protect herself. Do you understand?"

His words were domineering and fierce, yet Bulma heard the meaning clearly—this was not an order, but protectiveness; an unquestionable, preferential affection.

"Mm..." The words of refusal lodged in her throat. She merely lowered her eyes and answered softly, her cheeks growing hotter as she unconsciously tightened her grip around the tiny capsule, as though clutching the heavy, quiet warmth fate had placed in her hand.

Divine Martial Battle Art, Divine Martial Bone-Forging Art.

And a Neural Tree Fruit, a treasure almost impossible to obtain.

Barros was completely confident that it would not be long before Bulma caught up to—or even surpassed—the current strongest fighter on Earth: Master Roshi.

Speaking of Master Roshi—

Perhaps the Divine Martial Battle Art Barros had deliberately left behind had taken effect, or perhaps that old remark—"An old man who refuses to act his age only wastes his years"—had truly struck a nerve.

This old man, now utterly devoted to martial arts, had increased his strength so rapidly that even Barros could not help giving him a second look.

Five years ago, Master Roshi's battle power had remained stagnant for years, utterly unmoving.

Five years later, it had soared by 1,769 points. Combined with his consummate combat experience, even Raditz from the early days of Dragon Ball Z, without transforming into a Great Ape, likely would not last five moves against Master Roshi before being defeated and dying on the spot.

Of course, what truly caught Barros's attention was not merely the rise in numbers.

After all, the Divine Martial Battle Art was a peerless technique tailored specifically for Saiyans, one that used battle to nourish battle—every time its practitioner was gravely wounded and near death, or pushed through extreme training, the body would automatically circulate the art, devouring the world's vital energy and tempering itself. That was its most terrifying aspect.

But Master Roshi...

He was ultimately old and frail, living on an Earth without any real threats—he could neither easily encounter powerful enemies and be injured nor endure the world-destroying pressure of Saiyan-style training.

Yet it was precisely this "impossibility" that he had forcibly turned into a miracle: in five years, his battle power had increased by more than tenfold!

As the creator of the technique, Barros knew better than anyone where the limits of the Divine Martial Battle Art lay—

On the Divine Martial Battle Star, multiplying one's battle power tenfold in five years was nothing unusual. There had even been examples of top Saiyans increasing theirs thirtyfold with Senzu Bean healing devices, gravity chambers, and abundant vital energy.

But every one of those prerequisites was indispensable: a Saiyan body, a gravity chamber, Senzu Beans, endless battles, and plentiful vital energy.

Earth had none of them.

Yet Master Roshi had done it.

That was what truly moved Barros.

Still, that only made things more interesting.

Master Roshi had already become this powerful. That Demon King Piccolo probably could not even withstand a single move from him before being reduced to ashes.

With a little planning, would this world not become even more fascinating?

The corners of Barros's lips rose slightly, his cold smile like frost, as though he had already glimpsed the future—powerful enemies surging like tides, upheavals rising one after another, never to cease.

The farce at Pilaf Castle finally came to an end, and everyone went their separate ways.

Following Barros's advice, Goku set out to find Master Roshi and seek the path to the peak.

Yamcha, Puar, and Oolong temporarily returned to the vast desert.

Before parting, Yamcha quietly pulled Goku aside and whispered a few words to him. As for what they said, Barros had no interest in finding out.

With an arm around Bulma, he rode the wind westward, heading straight for West City.

When Barros and Bulma arrived in West City, he happened to have nothing pressing to do. At Dr. Buluf and Bulma's mother's warm insistence, he temporarily stayed at Bulma's home.

With rare leisure on his hands, aside from guiding Bulma's cultivation each day, he often spent his free time discussing strange tales of the starry sea with Dr. Buluf.

What left Barros most torn between laughter and tears was Bulma's mother, who would tease and joke with him from time to time, her every word full of playful ribbing.

Time flew by, and more than a month passed in the blink of an eye.

Under the combined effects of the Divine Martial Battle Art and Divine Martial Bone-Forging Art, along with Barros's personal guidance, Bulma effortlessly crossed the threshold Earthlings found hardest to overcome—sensing the qi within her body for the first time.

Only from that moment onward could her cultivation truly be considered begun.

In just thirty days, she had leaped from an ordinary girl who struggled even to carry water into one of the few strongest people in the world.