Age 753!
"The champion of the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament is-Tien Shinhan!"
At the edge of the arena, which the Tri-Beam had blasted into a square crater, the blond announcer in sunglasses excitedly announced the tournament's final result.
In the earlier battle, Tien Shinhan and Son Goku, whose power levels had both reached 180, had fought neck and neck.
In the end, as they fell from the sky, Tien Shinhan had won this tournament by landing a fraction later.
Tien Shinhan, who had briefly lost consciousness after Son Goku's headbutt, woke up.
Listening to the announcer proclaim his victory and scanning the familiar faces around him, his gaze held a hint of bewilderment.
Son Goku, Chiaotzu, Master Roshi, Krillin, Bulma, Launch, and Yamcha, standing on crutches with an injured leg...
Did I transmigrate... into the world of Dragon Ball?
Shi Chen's memories rapidly merged with Tien Shinhan's.
Moments later, their memories had completely fused. Shi Chen was Tien Shinhan, and Tien Shinhan was Shi Chen.
So I'm Tien Shinhan now? And I'm still at my moment in the spotlight, not long after my first appearance in the Dragon Ball story!
Come to think of it, Yamcha's on crutches because I broke his leg during the tournament, isn't he?
In his fierce battle against Dragon Ball's protagonist, Son Goku, Tien Shinhan had ultimately won the tournament through his formidable strength and a measure of luck.
This was the pinnacle of his life!
But his debut was his peak, followed by one downhill stretch after another.
King Piccolo's arrival, the Saiyan invasion, the Cell Games, Majin Buu's revival...
He, a martial artist who had once been able to match Son Goku and ultimately even edge out a victory over him,
would gradually be sidelined, eventually reduced to a weakling who could only provide support, and would struggle even to participate in a supporting role!
Despite gradually falling behind in strength, Tien Shinhan's pursuit of ever higher and stronger realms of martial arts had never changed!
Now that Tien Shinhan's memories had merged with Shi Chen's, giving him advance knowledge of the rest of Dragon Ball's story, how could he sit back and let it all happen again?
Change!
Things have to change!
This time, I, Tien Shinhan, absolutely refuse to become a weakling again!
The pinnacle of martial arts!
I'll climb one step, one step, one step at a time, all the way to the top, to the very summit!
At the very least, I'll first catch up to a Super Saiyan's battle power!
Determined to become strong, Tien Shinhan set himself a small goal on his martial arts path.
With a goal in place, what he needed was no longer idle dreaming, but a practical plan to carry out.
With his memories of the story, Tien Shinhan followed the blond announcer in sunglasses to collect the tournament's championship prize money, surrounded by everyone's congratulations.
At the same time, he began drawing up his plan to become a powerful martial artist.
Knowing Dragon Ball's story, Tien Shinhan analyzed the situation.
The reason he would gradually fall behind Son Goku in the story, until he dropped out of the Dragon Ball warriors' top tier of combat strength,
was partly because the human body had limits and differed from a Saiyan's physique.
But Son Goku's ability to become so strong wasn't entirely due to his Saiyan physique.
It owed even more to the combination of that physique and his martial artist's heart, which constantly sought to break through his limits!
After all, other Saiyans had that same physique, but there was only one Son Goku.
The other reason was that Tien Shinhan would make his first wrong choice in the coming battle against King Piccolo.
While preparing to face King Piccolo, he chose to spend his time practicing the Evil Containment Wave, only to fail to seal him in the end.
That choice cost Tien Shinhan valuable combat experience in the first major battle against a Dragon Ball villain, marking the beginning of his gradual decline.
One wrong step led to another!
And this time, with advance knowledge of Dragon Ball's story, Tien Shinhan would not make the wrong choice again!
"Come on, everyone. Dinner's on me, courtesy of the tournament prize money!"
Having figured that out, Tien Shinhan had barely collected his prize money before calling Goku, Krillin, and the others to go eat together.
They not only needed to eat, but to fill their bellies quickly!
Because Tien Shinhan clearly remembered that Tambourine, King Piccolo's first henchman, would soon arrive at the tournament grounds.
And in the story, Goku had lost his first fight against Tambourine.
Not because he lacked battle power, but entirely because he had just fought a major battle at the tournament, was starving, and hadn't had time to replenish his strength!
That was true for Son Goku, and naturally it was also true for Tien Shinhan, whose strength was currently on par with his.
So replenishing his strength was the most urgent task!
Ding-dong!
The elevator carrying the group reached the restaurant's second floor.
The elevator doors opened with a mechanical chime. Tien Shinhan was momentarily dazed, thinking some system had suddenly arrived, but it was only the sound of the elevator reaching its floor.
Still, the world of Dragon Ball already held all sorts of fortuitous encounters.
For Tien Shinhan, who knew the story, there was nothing to fear even without a system!
With his memories of the story and his steadfast, passionate pursuit of martial arts, he could seize the various fortuitous encounters in the Dragon Ball world, and his future would be just as limitless!
This wasn't blind optimism or confidence.
Rather, having completed the merging of his memories, he was now a true martial artist!
Once everyone was seated at the table, Tien Shinhan wasted no time on pleasantries. He picked up the menu and started ordering.
"Thirty buckets of steamed rice!"
"Ten servings of braised pig's trotters!"
"Five whole roast sheep!"
"Thirty jin of soy-braised beef!"
"Twenty white-cut chickens!"
"Oh, and bring plenty of soy sauce and vinegar!"
Tien Shinhan merely glanced at the menu, deciding on everything he wanted within a minute, and urged the restaurant to serve it as quickly as possible.
Other than the staple rice, every dish Tien Shinhan ordered was meat, excellent for replenishing his strength!
"Wow, Tien Shinhan, it sounds like you ordered all my favorites!"
Just listening to Tien Shinhan call out each dish, Son Goku could barely keep himself from drooling.
Grrrr~
His stomach embarrassingly began to rumble like thunder.
Rather than a varied mix of meat and vegetables, the starving Goku only wanted to shovel down rice and feast on meat right now!
Although Master Roshi, Krillin, and the others found such an all-meat spread a little monotonous but still acceptable, the beauty-conscious Bulma found it rather hard to bear.
"Tien Shinhan, how about ordering some vegetables too? There's a beautiful young girl here who's trying to lose weight, you know."
But since Tien Shinhan was treating them, Bulma tried to make her protest somewhat tactful, even though she couldn't stand having nothing but meat dishes.
To lend her protest more weight, she even roped in Blonde Launch, who was sitting beside her.
"Don't you agree, Launch? We beautiful girls ought to have a few vegetable dishes on our table, right?"
To her disappointment, however, Launch was gazing bashfully across the table at Tien Shinhan, who had just put down the menu, utterly lovestruck.
Not only was he so strong and commanding in the tournament ring, he's even so manly when he orders food!
I wonder if he'd be interested in collecting protection money with me after dinner?
Launch murmured, staring at Tien Shinhan with an infatuated expression.
Seeing Launch so lovestruck, Bulma couldn't help putting a hand to her forehead.
Sure, Tien Shinhan really did look very manly when he was being serious, but was that any reason to be so obsessed?
This woman is hopeless!
Bulma watched helplessly as Launch put romance before friendship, only to hear Goku suddenly speak as if something had just dawned on him.
"Uh, I left my Dragon Ball and Power Pole in the tournament lounge. I'll go get them!"
As he spoke, Goku stood up, ready to head to the lounge for his Dragon Ball and Power Pole.
"Goku, you just finished your match. Rest a while. I'll get them for you."
Hearing this, Goku's best buddy Krillin immediately stood up and volunteered to run the errand for him.
"Wait, Krillin, the food will be here any second. It won't taste good if it gets cold!
"Let's finish eating first, then all go back together to get them. They're in the lounge anyway, so the time it takes to eat won't make any difference."
Seeing Krillin smiling and about to run the errand, Tien Shinhan immediately stopped him.
You absolutely can't go on this errand!
If you go, it'll mark the beginning of your role as a sacrifice for someone else's power-up, Krillin!
As long as they ate their fill, wouldn't defeating Tambourine be a piece of cake?
Tien Shinhan had no intention of watching Krillin go to his death just to keep the story on track.
After all, Krillin was standing right in front of him, alive and breathing. That feeling was completely different from seeing him through a screen and across dimensions!
Anyway, no matter how the story changed, those fortuitous encounters in Dragon Ball would still be there, unaffected.
A true martial artist was not only powerful, but understood the value of protecting others.
The sacrifice of family?
Offering up friends as sacrifices?
None of it was necessary!
A truly strong person had to be strong enough to leave no regrets. That was Tien Shinhan's martial path!