Goku's Origins

Being praised so openly made Jiang Nan feel a little embarrassed, but he knew what sort of opponents he would face in the future, so he had little reason to feel proud.

So Jiang Nan said modestly, "Mr. Son, the world is vast. Perhaps there are enemies lurking in some unknown corner beyond anything you or I could imagine. While I'm still young, gaining more strength can only be a good thing. If another monster like King Piccolo appears on Earth, I'll be able to do my part to protect it."

"Good! Well said, young man!" Son Gohan gave him a thumbs-up. "I may not be as strong as you, but I've spent decades studying martial arts, and I've taken quite a few wrong turns along the way. Why don't you tell me the details of your training? I'll see if I can clear up a few things for you."

So Jiang Nan told Son Gohan about his training methods over the past year, even recounting his fights with Pei Hu and Mercenary Tao.

"Ah, I think I understand," Son Gohan said, stroking his chin. "There was nothing wrong with gradually increasing your training weights at the start, but you can't keep training that way forever."

"What do you mean?" Jiang Nan asked.

Son Gohan explained, "It's true that the Turtle School emphasizes foundational training, but our philosophy is to make training part of everyday life. Whether you're training, eating, or sleeping, you should remain in a state of training. As you said, you've increased your weights to 180 kilograms. That can certainly improve your strength in the short term, but when you notice your progress slowing down, you shouldn't stop this kind of training altogether."

"Besides, 180 kilograms is too heavy!" Son Gohan added.

"But it doesn't feel heavy to me!" Jiang Nan was puzzled. As he was now, he could lift not just 180 kilograms, but ten times that amount.

"You've met my master yourself. When you saw him, he was still carrying that turtle shell on his back, wasn't he?" Son Gohan asked with a smile.

"That's right!" Jiang Nan replied.

Son Gohan wouldn't be seeing Master Roshi anytime soon anyway, so Jiang Nan could make up whatever he liked.

"The turtle shell is my master's training weight. He has several of them, and even the heaviest weighs only 60 kilograms," Son Gohan said.

Jiang Nan already knew that, but he had assumed Master Roshi was simply too laid-back to carry anything heavier. From what Son Gohan was saying, there seemed to be another reason.

"The human body needs to adapt gradually to added weight. That doesn't just mean your strength. Your reflexes and speed should develop in balance with it, too. If you increase your strength in a short period, your speed will need time to adapt to that strength."

Son Gohan paused to look at Jiang Nan, then continued, "That's why my master believes that carrying no more than 60 kilograms in everyday life is enough. As long as you keep carrying weights within that limit at all times, your body will slowly and steadily grow stronger. Then, one day, when you suddenly take those weights off, you'll discover just how much you've improved."

Those words jolted Jiang Nan awake, and everything clicked into place. No wonder Vegeta, who had commissioned a 300-times-gravity chamber, always lagged behind Goku, who trained under lower gravity. Goku had understood the importance of balanced development all along.

Although Goku would do a brief stint of training under 100 times normal gravity aboard the spaceship bound for Planet Namek, he rarely trained under such extreme gravity after that.

Seeing Jiang Nan lost in thought, Son Gohan nodded with satisfaction. He knew Jiang Nan had gained an insight.

When Jiang Nan emerged from his thoughts, Son Gohan was still leisurely eating the meat from the fish head. Kid Goku had eaten his fill and gone inside to sleep.

Looking at Son Gohan's kindly face, Jiang Nan couldn't help thinking of his own late grandfather.

Son Gohan still looked tired, and Jiang Nan wasn't someone who accepted kindness without giving anything back. He said quietly, "Mr. Son, about Goku..."

Son Gohan chuckled. "You noticed too, didn't you? To tell you the truth, he isn't my biological grandson. I found him."

A thought stirred in Jiang Nan's mind. He wondered whether Goku's spaceship was still around. "Where did you find him?" he asked.

"Not far to the north. That day, I saw something round fall from the sky, rather like a small aircraft. I was worried it might damage Mount Paozu's ecosystem, so I went over to investigate and found him inside."

"What happened to the aircraft?" Jiang Nan asked.

"It was wrecked, smashed full of holes in the crash. Come to think of it, this child was incredibly lucky to survive something like that. I brought him home, but for a while afterward, I went back to check the wreckage every day. If his family came looking for him and couldn't find him, they would surely be frantic!" Son Gohan said, still shaken by the memory.

To the north? I'll take a look at the site when I leave.

Jiang Nan glanced at Kid Goku, who was sleeping soundly inside, and lowered his voice. "This child isn't from Earth. He's an alien who arrived in a spaceship."

Son Gohan sounded doubtful. "An alien? But he doesn't look much different from an Earthling. Oh, that's right, he has a tail. When you put it that way, it makes sense."

"Well, never mind. Earthling or alien, he's just a child to me," Son Gohan said with an easygoing smile. He didn't even ask how Jiang Nan knew where the child came from.

"Mr. Son," Jiang Nan warned him solemnly, "there's something unusual about this child. On nights with a full moon, if Goku looks at it, he'll turn into a mindless great ape, much like a werewolf turning into a giant wolf."

Son Gohan was such a kind old man that Jiang Nan truly couldn't bear to let him be trampled to death by the child he had adopted.

Son Gohan, however, was worried about something else. "A great ape! Can he turn back afterward? If he can't, I'd have to take a great ape grandson around with me every day. Wouldn't people laugh if they saw us?"

Jiang Nan nearly choked on his own saliva. Son Gohan really did have his head in the clouds. No wonder Goku would grow up with that sort of personality.

"He'll turn back once the full moon is over, but you still need to be careful. Try not to let him turn into a great ape. In that state, all he knows is destruction. It would be terrible if he accidentally trampled someone to death," Jiang Nan said.

Son Gohan nodded slightly. "There aren't many people here on Mount Paozu, but you have a point. Even if he doesn't trample anyone to death, it would be a real nuisance if he crushed the house. All right, I'll remember."

"Or you could simply cut off Goku's tail. Without it, you won't have to worry about him turning into a great ape. The tail will grow back after you cut it off, but that takes time. Until it grows back, you won't need to worry," Jiang Nan suggested.