Meanwhile, Cymbal finally caught up with Tien Shinhan and the others after more than three hours, while King Piccolo was growing impatient.
"The remaining two Dragon Balls clearly aren't far away, yet Cymbal has taken so long.
And Tambourine's ki has disappeared entirely. Has another freak appeared among the martial artists?"
King Piccolo thought impatiently aboard the Pilaf Gang's airship.
"Please calm down, Your Majesty. How could those martial artists possibly be a match for you?
I think they may have kept running away with the Dragon Balls, which is why Lord Cymbal has been gone a little longer.
For instance, I once encountered a young martial artist named Son Goku who was quite troublesome and good at running away!
But Lord Cymbal received a portion of your power, Your Majesty. Successfully retrieving the Dragon Balls is only a matter of time."
Pilaf had a blue-skinned face, and the words "fried rice" were written on his clothes.
Before King Piccolo hijacked his airship, he had still been King Pilaf of their trio!
Now, to avoid angering King Piccolo, he had to keep fawning over him.
"Hmm..."
Listening to Pilaf's flattery, King Piccolo nodded, somewhat pleased.
Seeing this, Pilaf, along with the Shiba Inu Shu and Mai beside him, breathed a sigh of relief.
"Hmm?"
But in the very next moment, King Piccolo's expression suddenly changed again, and he let out an angry grunt.
Seeing King Piccolo like this, none of the Pilaf Gang dared speak.
They feared that one careless word would turn them into expendable material for King Piccolo to vent his anger on.
"Cymbal's ki has disappeared too!
Useless trash. I can't wait any longer. Locate the remaining two Dragon Balls immediately.
It seems I must act personally to collect these last two Dragon Balls!"
As the Pilaf Gang trembled, King Piccolo revealed the reason for his sudden anger and ordered the trio to fly the airship to the remaining two Dragon Balls immediately.
King Piccolo truly had grown old. He could have gone to the trouble himself, yet even now, he still thought of using Pilaf's airship instead.
Tambourine and Cymbal had been killed one after another, making King Piccolo take the matter somewhat more seriously.
He should save what little stamina he had for battle as much as possible.
"Yes, Your Majesty. We'll begin scanning immediately."
Pilaf immediately activated the airship's Dragon Radar to scan for the Dragon Balls.
Before long, two clustered points of light appeared slightly east of the center of the airship's radar display.
"Reporting, Your Majesty. The remaining two Dragon Balls are together, and they're only about three kilometers from us."
Pilaf immediately reported the results.
"Three kilometers?"
King Piccolo was somewhat surprised. He had not expected the remaining two Dragon Balls to be so close.
And judging by their location, they were not far from where he had sensed Cymbal's ki disappear.
With such a short distance, he would not have to worry about using much stamina!
King Piccolo nodded. Without accounting for stamina consumption, the airship's speed naturally could not compare to his own flight.
Jumping straight out of the airship, King Piccolo flew directly toward Tien Shinhan and the others.
Meanwhile, after Tien Shinhan left with Goku, Bulma immediately took a small plane out of a Hoi-Poi Capsule and brought Master Roshi, Krillin, and the others along to search for Tien Shinhan and Goku.
Had Yamcha's leg not been broken, he could have contributed to their fighting strength too.
But now, Bulma could only hope Master Roshi and Krillin would be able to lend Tien Shinhan, Goku, and their third companion a hand at the crucial moment.
With Tien Shinhan having taken their Dragon Radar, Bulma and the others could only search aimlessly.
However, after Master Roshi's careful analysis, they ultimately set their sights on Korin Tower as well.
Although the small plane was a little slower, the three of them had not fought any battles along the way, so by now they had flown close to Korin Tower.
Even Yajirobe, whose One-Star Dragon Ball Tien Shinhan had snatched earlier, had turned around midway after some internal struggle, despite initially planning to make a quick escape in the opposite direction.
But while Tien Shinhan and the others flew, he could only race after them on the ground.
Even after running until he was panting, and with the time Tien Shinhan and the others had spent obtaining Senzu Beans and dealing with Cymbal, he had only just crossed the last hill before Korin Tower.
Standing atop the high hill, he could see Korin Tower soaring into the clouds in the distance, as well as the enormous airship hovering nearby and the small plane carrying Bulma and the others as it passed.
Before they knew it, Tien Shinhan and the others, King Piccolo, the Pilaf Gang, Bulma's group, and Yajirobe had all gathered around Korin Tower by their own different means.
For an ordinary elderly person who rarely exercised, three kilometers would probably be enough to leave them panting.
But King Piccolo, who was over three hundred years old, was no ordinary elderly man.
He was the terrifying demon king who had nearly ruled the entire world over three hundred years ago.
Even in his old age, he could fly a mere three kilometers in minutes.
In less than two minutes, King Piccolo spotted Tien Shinhan and Goku in a clearing near the base of Korin Tower.
The two were calmly waiting in peak condition, as though they had known he would arrive shortly.
Bora and his son Upa, who lived near the tower's base, had also retreated far away at Tien Shinhan's warning to avoid being caught up in the coming battle.
"Were you the ones who killed Cymbal?"
Sensing that their ki was not weak, King Piccolo had actually already identified his targets.
"Heh, you already know the answer. Cymbal isn't the only one who's going to die. You're next, King Piccolo!"
Tien Shinhan spoke bluntly to provoke King Piccolo.
Rage might temporarily make King Piccolo more aggressive, but his agitation would also make him lose control over his stamina expenditure.
Tien Shinhan's battle plan was clear. Knowing his power level was lower than his opponent's, wearing the old man down was the most effective tactic.
He would make his opponent rapidly burn through his stamina in a rage, then find an opening to counterattack.
Sure enough, hearing Tien Shinhan's contemptuous words, King Piccolo instantly flew into a towering rage.
"Fine, fine, fine. I thought that knowing my name meant you understood my terror.
Now I see I've been gone too long. So long that any brat dares spout nonsense in front of me!"
Enraged, King Piccolo abandoned his previously decided strategy of conserving stamina and immediately raised his ki to its maximum.
His power level reached 230, a full 50 points higher than either Tien Shinhan's or Goku's!
That gap in power level was nearly a third of Tien Shinhan's or Goku's individual strength.
For Master Roshi, Krillin, and the others, who had only just landed nearby, it was an overwhelming pressure that made even moving somewhat difficult.
With each of the Dragon Ball warriors having a power level below 200, a major villain had suddenly appeared with a power level 50 points higher than theirs.
That pressure was utterly terrifying.
One could say King Piccolo was the weakest villain in the Dragon Ball series in terms of power level.
But he was also the first villain to appear who plunged the Dragon Ball warriors into such despair!
Standing before King Piccolo, Tien Shinhan found even breathing somewhat difficult.
The obvious gap shocked him.
Fortunately, he had already anticipated the difference between their strength to some degree. Although it slightly exceeded his expectations, he quickly returned to normal.
Multi-Form Technique!
One became four as Tien Shinhan immediately split off three figures identical to himself.
At the same instant, the four figures attacked King Piccolo from four different directions: front, back, left, and right.
"Hmm? You can actually create physical duplicates to fight. Interesting.
But they're too weak..."
At present, the Multi-Form Technique was still at the stage where Tien Shinhan had only recently created it.
Although it could provide an advantage in numbers during battle, each figure split off took a portion of the original body's strength.
Overall, his strength did not change much, but each figure was weaker than the original body.
Against opponents weaker than himself or equally strong, this technique could often produce remarkable results by turning a one-on-one fight into a group beating.
But against an opponent already stronger than himself, it was more like feeding himself to the enemy.
With his wealth of combat experience, King Piccolo saw at a glance the drawback of Tien Shinhan's choice to use the Multi-Form Technique now, and unleashed merciless punches and kicks.
"A fine technique, but you chose the wrong opponent to use it against. Fool!"
In just a few punches and kicks, King Piccolo had knocked Tien Shinhan's original body back, while the three duplicates were either sent flying or kicked apart.
Fool?
King Piccolo had forgotten something.
Would Tien Shinhan, the martial artist who created the Multi-Form Technique, not understand a drawback that even he could see at a glance?
King Piccolo sneered contemptuously at Tien Shinhan's lack of combat experience, calling his choice of technique utterly foolish!
But he failed to notice that one of the duplicates he had sent flying had not been destroyed. Instead, it used the force of the blow to hide in a nearby bush, waiting for an opportunity to act.
Whoosh-
To keep King Piccolo from sparing any attention to sense the duplicate hidden in the bushes, Tien Shinhan's original body attacked again immediately after being knocked back.
Meanwhile, upon first seeing King Piccolo, Goku had inadvertently been cowed by his overwhelming pressure and failed to attack right away.
But after seeing Tien Shinhan already attack so bravely, he too broke free of King Piccolo's terrifying aura and launched his attack.