Yamcha froze at her words, then actually began giving the matter serious thought.
"All right, I want an electric one!"
After a moment of careful consideration, Yamcha made his choice.
After all, an electric one would be more convenient than a manual one.
While Yamcha and Bulma discussed trading his crutches for a wheelchair, Tambourine plummeted from the sky, both wings torn off.
Seeing this, Tien Shinhan casually tossed the two wings aside like garbage and immediately raised his right index finger, aiming at Tambourine.
"Slaughtering martial artists, murdering innocents-die!"
Tambourine had only just stood up when he turned to see a dazzling, concentrated beam of light hurtling toward him.
Dodon Ray!
Tien Shinhan held nothing back. After a brief charge, a Dodon Ray beam pierced straight through the monster's body.
Tambourine was dead!
The ordinary people and martial artists who had fled in panic during Tambourine's slaughter felt a newfound gratitude toward Tien Shinhan when they saw this.
But Tambourine's earlier terror still haunted them. Even though he had been killed, the survivors nearby still dared not approach carelessly.
"Where did this monster come from? Why did he suddenly start killing martial artists and ordinary people at random?"
Goku, who had landed not long ago, had still wanted to join the fight. He had not expected Tien Shinhan to finish Tambourine off in the blink of an eye.
Running up to Tambourine's corpse, Goku gave it a couple of curious kicks.
"This kind of green monster feels familiar somehow. Have I seen one somewhere before?"
Master Roshi stared blankly at Tambourine's corpse. He had a vague sense of familiarity, but could not remember why just then.
Krillin took the opportunity to turn Tambourine's body over and retrieve Goku's bundle from his back.
"Here, Goku. Your Dragon Ball and Power Pole are both in the bundle."
As Krillin handed the bundle back, a slip of paper fell from Tambourine's body.
Seeing the slip at his feet, Krillin was about to give it to Master Roshi to see whether it might help him remember any clues.
"No need to think about it. He was one of King Piccolo's men!"
Tien Shinhan did not want to waste time waiting for Master Roshi to remember, so he stated Tambourine's origins outright.
"What? King Piccolo?!"
Master Roshi was so frightened that even his beard went white. Beads of sweat the size of soybeans seeped from his shiny forehead, as though he had heard something utterly terrifying.
Seeing this, Goku, Krillin, and the others looked at Master Roshi with grave curiosity, wanting to hear just who this King Piccolo was.
Tien Shinhan, however, had already begun to act.
According to the plan he had drawn up to grow stronger, Tien Shinhan hoped to wound King Piccolo before he could successfully wish for his youth back.
His current power level was 180, while the aged King Piccolo's power level was only around 230.
Taking into account King Piccolo's tendency to underestimate young martial artists like him, along with certain specific weaknesses, Tien Shinhan felt he still had a chance of completing this first step of his plan.
"Bulma, sorry for the trouble, but could you lend me the Dragon Radar?"
While Master Roshi was still setting the mood to recount the past, Tien Shinhan had already approached Bulma to ask for the Dragon Radar.
"Huh? Oh, sure. Here!"
Given Bulma's personality, she normally would have asked why.
But sensing how serious Tien Shinhan was, she merely felt a little curious and took out the Dragon Radar without further ado.
"Thanks!"
Tien Shinhan took the Dragon Radar, said a few words to the others, and immediately flew toward the large restaurant from earlier.
"Master Shen told me about King Piccolo. His goal this time should be the Dragon Balls. I'm going back to the restaurant to get something first. I'll come back for you in a bit!"
By the time his words drifted back to them, Tien Shinhan had already flown several hundred meters away.
Watching Tien Shinhan fly off, Chiaotzu vaguely sensed his urgency and could not help worrying.
But since Tien Shinhan had told him to wait here with the others, he stayed and listened as Master Roshi recounted the past concerning King Piccolo.
"That Master Shen actually told Tien Shinhan about King Piccolo too?"
Master Roshi was somewhat surprised to hear this. He had not expected a scoundrel like Master Shen to tell his disciple stories from his youth.
Still, he did not suspect it was a lie. After all, other than hearing it from Master Shen, he did not think someone Tien Shinhan's age had any other way of learning the tales of King Piccolo.
"Long, long ago, a terrifying demon king appeared on Earth. He was King Piccolo. He had enormous ambitions and wanted to rule the Earth, and he killed a great many humans, until Master Shen's teacher and mine-Master Mutaito-appeared..."
Goku and the others listened in amazement to King Piccolo's story. Meanwhile, Tien Shinhan had already returned to the large restaurant where they had just eaten.
"Sir, did you leave something here?
You can tell us. We'll help you look for it!"
The servers vividly remembered this three-eyed customer who had brought them so much business.
The moment Tien Shinhan returned, they all recognized him and volunteered to help.
Tien Shinhan shook his head and headed straight for the restaurant's kitchen.
"I didn't leave anything behind, but I'd like to buy something from your kitchen."
"Oh? What would that be, sir?"
The servers were baffled.
Buy something, and from the kitchen at that?
"A rice cooker!"
As he spoke, Tien Shinhan had already entered the kitchen and picked up an electric rice cooker.
Passing through the kitchen doorway, he also took a slip of paper off the door.
Before the kitchen staff chasing after him could stop him, Tien Shinhan pulled out the few banknotes he had left and slapped them down in front of the bunny girl at the front desk.
"Keep the change!"
With that, Tien Shinhan strode out of the restaurant in a few long steps and took to the air.
"Whoa-he comes in a rush and leaves in a rush. What a man of the wind!"
The servers stared fixedly at Tien Shinhan's retreating figure as it shrank in the sky, each of them marveling.
Only when more customers came in to eat did they turn back to work.
"Well? Finished the story?"
On his way back using the Flight Technique, Tien Shinhan had already stored the rice cooker in a Hoi-Poi Capsule.
It was not that he needed to keep the rice cooker a secret from Goku, Krillin, and the others.
It was just that if they saw it now, they would spend quite a while asking all sorts of questions.
To kill King Piccolo before he regained his youth, every second counted.
Tien Shinhan did not want to waste time explaining things to everyone, so he simply put the rice cooker away in advance.
"Yes. Tien Shinhan, did you get what you needed?"
Goku, Krillin, and the others asked with some curiosity.
"Yes. Since the story's over, let's set off. We have to defeat King Piccolo as soon as possible!"
Tien Shinhan nodded, then turned his gaze to Goku.
"Goku, can your Flying Nimbus keep up with my Flight Technique?"
When Tien Shinhan spoke of setting off together, he was mainly addressing Chiaotzu and Goku.
Like him, Chiaotzu had mastered the Flight Technique, making travel convenient.
Goku had the Flying Nimbus, and his fighting strength was on par with Tien Shinhan's. He would be an important fighting force in helping him kill King Piccolo as soon as possible!
"It should be able to. Flying Nimbus, come here!"
Goku nodded. Hearing that Tien Shinhan was setting off to defeat King Piccolo immediately ignited his fighting spirit.
After all, he had personally witnessed Tambourine slaughtering ordinary people and martial artists.
Together with Master Roshi's account of King Piccolo's countless atrocities, it made him realize all the more that this enemy had to be defeated!
"Good. Chiaotzu, come here. Let's go!"
Seeing Goku act so decisively too, Tien Shinhan nodded in satisfaction, called Chiaotzu over, and immediately rose into the air.
"Huh? You're going to fight King Piccolo right now? Children, wait! King Piccolo isn't someone you can defeat so easily..."
Only after Tien Shinhan, Chiaotzu, and Goku had flown a hundred meters or so did Master Roshi snap out of his lingering fear.
In recounting King Piccolo's story, Master Roshi himself had ended up the most frightened of all.
That was hardly surprising. After all, he had personally experienced King Piccolo's power.
But now, when he wanted to warn Tien Shinhan, Goku, and the others against acting rashly, it was clearly already too late.
"Grandpa Roshi, they've already flown away!"
Watching Tien Shinhan and the others almost shrink into tiny dots in the sky, Krillin reminded Master Roshi somewhat helplessly.
If you wanted to stop them, you should have spoken up sooner!
Only saying it after they'd flown far away was far too late.