"If you want to fight, then let's fight. It's written all over both your faces!"
Although neither Goku nor Krillin had directly said that they wanted to spar with him as he was now.
Even Kami, standing off to the side, could tell at a glance, so naturally, Tien Shinhan could read it from their expressions too.
"Haha, you caught us after all, Tien Shinhan. Goku and I really are curious about how strong you are now.
"But you only just got back from your trip. Don't you need to rest a little longer?"
Krillin rubbed the back of his smooth head and chuckled. With Tien Shinhan seeing through their little intentions at a glance, he explained somewhat bashfully.
He clearly wanted to spar, yet he was still considering whether Tien Shinhan needed to rest.
With Krillin's thoughtfulness and ability to put himself in others' shoes, who else could be a winner in life in the Dragon Ball world if not him?
He had the strongest brother in the world, was the strongest Earthling himself, and had a wife who was both beautiful and powerful. In the end, he even grew a thick head of hair and had a well-behaved daughter.
Tien Shinhan had originally thought all that good fortune was what Krillin had earned by repeatedly becoming a sacrificial offering.
Now it seemed that, aside from good fortune, Krillin's character and personality had also played a crucial role.
"Don't worry, Krillin. Coming back didn't take much out of me. I don't need to make a point of recovering.
"Besides, you aren't the only ones interested in how strong I am now. I'm very curious about how strong you are too."
Tien Shinhan signaled for Krillin to relax and not overthink it. Starting the fight right away would be absolutely fair to both sides.
"I see. That's a relief, then. Goku, let's get ready!"
After receiving Tien Shinhan's assurance, Krillin turned to Goku, who was having trouble holding himself back.
Hearing that they could finally start sparring, Goku's fighting spirit grew even stronger on his face.
Tien Shinhan sensed the strength of their Ki.
When fourth-tier fighters actually fought, the final outcome could not be determined entirely by comparing the strength of their Ki.
But the strength of their Ki did allow for a direct estimate of their power levels.
From Tien Shinhan's assessment, Goku's current power level was already close to 3,000, while Krillin's had only just broken through 200.
Those power levels represented considerable progress for both of them.
But there was still a sizable gap between them and Tien Shinhan now.
So, while the two were getting ready, Tien Shinhan turned to look at Chiaotzu behind him.
"Chiaotzu, join Goku and Krillin's side too. I want to see how strong all three of you have become at once!"
One against three!
Had anyone else said that, Krillin and the others might have considered him somewhat arrogant.
But every martial artist present could sense Tien Shinhan's powerful Ki, so none of them thought there was anything inappropriate about his words.
"All right, Tien Shinhan. I'll join them in challenging you for now, then."
Chiaotzu nodded obediently.
Even back when the gap between their strengths had not been so great, Chiaotzu had essentially done whatever Tien Shinhan said.
Now that Tien Shinhan had pulled far ahead of Chiaotzu once again, Chiaotzu naturally admired him wholeheartedly and obeyed his every word even more.
Watching Goku, Krillin, and Chiaotzu get ready, Tien Shinhan thought for a moment, but still felt that the difference in strength between the two sides was a little too great.
So he turned toward Kami and Mr. Popo beside him.
"Lord Kami, Mr. Popo, I hope you'll join the fight too. I want to fight all five!"
The moment Tien Shinhan's gaze shifted toward him, Kami had a vague feeling that something was wrong.
Now that Tien Shinhan had said it, he inwardly cried, Holy shit!
Wait!
I'm Kami!
I was just going to quietly watch the show from the sidelines. How did I get dragged into this too?
This brat is showing less and less regard for me, the Kami of Earth!
And dragging me into it is one thing, but why does Mr. Popo have to join too?
For a moment, Kami was so angry that his face turned green, and he kept inwardly criticizing Tien Shinhan's disrespectful behavior.
But hearing Tien Shinhan's serious tone and seeing his solemn expression, Kami was certain that he was not joking. He meant it!
Sigh, fine!
I'm planning to pass the position of Kami on to him anyway. What does it matter if I serve as his sparring partner once before stepping down to make way for him?
Faced with Tien Shinhan, who truly meant it, Kami did not intend to refuse, so he could only console himself inwardly.
"All right, I agree!"
After a moment of shock and consideration, though Kami was utterly speechless, he ultimately agreed to Tien Shinhan's request.
"Huh? Me too?"
Before Mr. Popo could voice any refusal, Kami had already agreed to Tien Shinhan's request on his behalf as well, leaving him looking bewildered.
"Yes, with a lineup like this, plus the difference in numbers, it should be about right."
Tien Shinhan looked at the five of them, now ready, and nodded slightly.
But even with all five together, their power levels were still rather far from Tien Shinhan's.
So Tien Shinhan did not intend to use every means at his disposal and fight them at full strength.
He wanted to take this opportunity to test a special move he had perfected inside the Eight Trigrams Furnace.
Whoosh-
The battle erupted in an instant. Goku took the lead, sweeping a kick straight at Tien Shinhan's lower leg at top speed.
Krillin seized the moment, skillfully coordinating with Goku's attack as he followed close behind with a kick at the back of Tien Shinhan's knee.
Their coordinated offensive displayed the ferocity of their joint assault on his lower body.
"Not bad speed, but you're still a little slow. Back you go!"
Both of them attacked very quickly, and their strikes carried considerable force.
But that was only by an ordinary martial artist's standards. Before Tien Shinhan, not only were they nowhere near too fast to see, they looked as though they were moving in slow motion.
With just a casual reach, Tien Shinhan demonstrated speed, precision, and ruthlessness to their fullest.
Tien Shinhan caught both Goku's and Krillin's attacking legs with perfect accuracy, then swung them around a hundred and eighty degrees like flatbreads and flung them away.
Under the tremendous force of the throw, despite the spaciousness of the plaza at Kami's Lookout, the two were nearly hurled straight beyond its boundaries.
For the two of them, who had yet to master the Flight Technique, beyond the plaza of Kami's Lookout lay a drop of nearly ten thousand meters.
Even if they would not fall straight to their deaths, just seeing how far below the ground lay was enough to give them a fright.
From Goku and Krillin's coordinated surprise attack to the moment they were nearly thrown off the plaza at Kami's Lookout.
The whole process seemed complicated, but in reality, less than five seconds had passed.
While Goku and Krillin were attacking, Chiaotzu had also used his psychic powers on Tien Shinhan.
"Freeze!"
Chiaotzu wanted to immobilize Tien Shinhan with his psychic powers, or at least hinder his movements for a moment.
Naturally, Tien Shinhan broke through them with ease.
It was not that Tien Shinhan had become some kind of psychic-power nullifier, but rather that the gap between their power levels was simply too great.
With Tien Shinhan's current power level of 8,000, Chiaotzu would struggle to restrain him with psychic powers for even a single second.
So, when Tien Shinhan felt Chiaotzu's psychic powers suddenly descend upon him, he merely stirred his powerful Ki slightly.
Crack!
An unseen, intangible layer of restraint, yet one seemingly made of glass, shattered and vanished from Tien Shinhan's body.
Tien Shinhan himself could feel that Chiaotzu's psychic powers had restrained him for less than a second.
But to everyone else, Chiaotzu had merely spread his hands and used his psychic powers on Tien Shinhan, only for them to have no effect whatsoever.
This was the crushing effect brought about by a plain, simple difference in power levels.
"Interesting. He's already driven all three back so quickly. Mr. Popo, it looks like we'll have to put a little more effort into this fight."
Mr. Popo nodded.
The next moment, Kami and Mr. Popo also launched a coordinated attack on Tien Shinhan.