"Tien Shinhan, where should we go to find King Piccolo?"
His blood surging, Goku had flown some distance on the Flying Nimbus alongside Tien Shinhan before suddenly remembering that he had no idea how to find King Piccolo.
Even if he desperately wanted to defeat King Piccolo, he had to find him first, right?
"King Piccolo's goal is to collect the seven Dragon Balls, summon Shenron, and wish to have his youth restored.
"You're carrying the Four-Star Dragon Ball now. Even if we don't go looking for King Piccolo, he or his underlings will come looking for us soon.
"But King Piccolo is powerful. Before we fight him, we need to make as many preparations as possible.
"Just follow me, Goku. When the fighting really starts, your strength will be essential!"
Tien Shinhan didn't beat around the bush and laid out King Piccolo's goal directly.
Kid Goku was simple-minded anyway and wouldn't wonder why Tien Shinhan knew so much.
Goku reacted just as Tien Shinhan had expected.
After hearing that explanation, he asked no further questions. Instead, his fighting spirit rose even higher.
"Hehe, don't worry, Tien Shinhan. I'll definitely give it everything I've got when the time comes.
"After all, Grandpa Roshi said King Piccolo is a big villain who commits every kind of evil."
From atop the Flying Nimbus, Kid Goku made an OK gesture at Tien Shinhan as he flew.
Seeing this, Tien Shinhan responded with a faint smile and a nod, then shifted his gaze back to the screen of the Dragon Radar in his hand.
Several Dragon Ball signals were clustered along the edge of the screen, indicating that those Dragon Balls were very far away.
At this particular time, a cluster of several Dragon Ball signals could only mean King Piccolo's location. It hardly took any thought to guess.
The only isolated Dragon Ball signal blinked just to the right of the screen's center.
Judging by the distance, it should have been about five kilometers east of his current position.
For an ordinary person, covering five kilometers would take about twenty minutes even at a full run.
Not to mention that traveling on the ground also meant accounting for slopes and detours around obstacles.
Flying was a different matter.
Just two minutes later, Tien Shinhan arrived at the isolated Dragon Ball's location with Chiaotzu and Goku.
Looking down from above, Tien Shinhan spotted a fat man with a katana at his waist.
"Yajirobe?"
Seeing how closely the fat man resembled the image in his memory, Tien Shinhan immediately recognized him.
At the same time, Tien Shinhan spotted the Dragon Ball hanging around his neck.
"Goku, let's collect this guy's Dragon Ball first.
"That way, we'll each keep one. Even if King Piccolo tries some trick, he won't be able to suddenly gather all the Dragon Balls!"
Tien Shinhan had planned this even before asking Bulma for the Dragon Radar.
With Goku keeping one Dragon Ball and him keeping the one he took from Yajirobe, that double safeguard would be more secure.
Tien Shinhan didn't want his plan to grow stronger to suffer a mishap right at the start.
"Sure! I'll go ask him to give us the Dragon Ball!"
As they spoke, Tien Shinhan, Chiaotzu, and Goku had already landed on the ground.
Seeing the three descend from the sky, Yajirobe immediately hopped back two steps warily, one hand already resting on the katana at his waist.
Although he had yet to fully master using and sensing ki, at this close range, Tien Shinhan could still feel that the fellow before him was no weakling.
He was fat, yet surprisingly nimble.
He looked timid and inept, but the moment his hand settled on his sword hilt, he gave off a faint sense of threat.
"Hello, little fatty. Could you give us the Dragon Ball around your neck?"
The simple-minded Kid Goku spoke directly, asking Yajirobe for his Dragon Ball without hesitation.
Hearing that Tien Shinhan's group had come for a Dragon Ball, Yajirobe looked puzzled. After glancing around, he thought of the pendant around his neck.
"Dragon Ball? Oh, you mean this glass ball? I thought it looked unusual, and it was pretty, so I picked it up and hung it around my neck.
"Now you've come looking for me specifically because of it. That means it's just what I guessed-a good find!
"Just give it to you? Don't even think about it!
"And you actually called me little fatty? You think this is fat? I'm obviously sturdy, okay?
"My name isn't little fatty. It's Yajirobe (Yajirobe)!"
Yajirobe flatly refused Goku's request and instead guarded the Dragon Ball at his chest even more possessively.
Knew that would happen!
Tien Shinhan wasn't surprised, but he didn't want to waste much time here.
"Chiaotzu!"
"What is it, Brother Tien?"
Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu could communicate secretly through the Crane School's telepathy.
The instant Yajirobe refused outright, Tien Shinhan secretly contacted Chiaotzu nearby.
After a covert exchange about their battle plan, Chiaotzu nodded.
"Hmph! Keeping certain things around will only bring disaster down on you!
"King Piccolo is collecting those Dragon Balls. With your strength, keeping that one will only get you killed by King Piccolo!"
Tien Shinhan gave a brief explanation.
He remembered that Yajirobe had heard of King Piccolo, so he wanted to see whether he could scare him into handing over the troublesome One-Star Dragon Ball around his neck.
Of course, even if he couldn't frighten Yajirobe into changing his mind, distracting him to give the inconspicuous Chiaotzu some time to sneak closer would work too.
Just as Tien Shinhan knew, Yajirobe had long since heard people speak of King Piccolo's terror.
When he heard that the glass ball around his neck was actually something King Piccolo wanted to collect, he immediately felt that his treasure had become a hot potato.
If Tien Shinhan was telling the truth, he really couldn't keep this Dragon Ball.
But he wasn't willing to simply hand it over and completely believe Tien Shinhan's words.
What if this handsome, three-eyed bald guy was lying to him?
Yajirobe hesitated.
Now!
While he was hesitating, Chiaotzu had quietly moved to within ten meters of his side.
Psychic powers, activate!
At this distance, Chiaotzu's psychic powers could exert a stronger restraining force.
Yajirobe's sword-drawing technique was quite powerful. Tien Shinhan felt that although his current strength would allow him to win, it would cost considerable time and stamina.
So he chose to outwit him instead.
"What-my body?"
Yajirobe suddenly felt the force restraining his body and immediately turned toward Chiaotzu.
But before he could fully break free of that restraint, Tien Shinhan had already rushed in front of him.
"Forgive me!"
Whoosh-
With a hand movement so swift it left no trace, Tien Shinhan knocked Yajirobe's katana flying.
Without his katana, Yajirobe could only watch helplessly as Tien Shinhan reached out again and snatched the One-Star Dragon Ball from around his neck, even though he had now broken free.
"Got it! Chiaotzu, Goku, let's head to Korin Tower!"
Having succeeded with ease, Tien Shinhan called to Goku and Chiaotzu to resume their journey immediately.
Before flying far, however, Tien Shinhan turned back and offered a reminder.
"As a goodwill gesture, I suggest you leave here as soon as possible. Otherwise, King Piccolo's underlings might soon come looking here based on the Dragon Ball's previous location."
Yajirobe had still been seething over the group's banditry.
But when he heard that King Piccolo's underlings might be coming, the thought of King Piccolo's terror immediately let fear gain the upper hand.
Watching Goku and the others shrink to tiny dots in the sky, he wrestled with himself before finally deciding to trust Tien Shinhan this once and get away from this spot as quickly as possible.
Not long after Tien Shinhan's group and Yajirobe left one after the other, a green-skinned monster with wings on his back and a dinosaur-like face landed at that very spot.
"Huh? According to the Dragon Radar back on the airship, there should have been a Dragon Ball here. How did it suddenly disappear?"
The green-skinned monster Cymbal, who had tracked it here, was baffled, unable to understand why he had come up empty.
But he soon noticed a firepit that was still giving off a little smoke.
A simple grilling rack stood over the firepit, and even now, a little warmth remained.
"Looks like someone really was here. They shouldn't have left very long ago!"
With that thought, Cymbal immediately flapped his wings and took off, searching the surroundings from the air while using the ki-sensing ability inherited from King Piccolo to help track them.
Of course, because he wasn't particularly powerful, the range of his ki sensing couldn't cover the entire planet.
Even so, he detected fairly strong ki in two locations.
"There's only one person's ki in one direction, but three people's ki in the other.
"Which direction should I chase?"