A bag of Senzu Beans and a pack of smokes, and Demon King Piccolo would be calling him daddy!
"How is that possible? Isn't Mutaito already dead?"
Trapped by the Evil Containment Wave for over three hundred years, King Piccolo had developed a deep psychological fear of this ultimate sealing technique.
Besides collecting the Dragon Balls, Tambourine, whom he had sent to the World Martial Arts Tournament earlier, had another mission: slaughter Earth's martial artists for him first.
That way, someone who knew the Evil Containment Wave wouldn't suddenly pop up and seal him away again.
He had suffered inside the Evil Containment Wave for over three hundred years and had only just managed to escape. He had no desire to be sealed away again just like that.
If he spent another three hundred years or more inside the Evil Containment Wave, he would probably die of old age right inside the rice cooker!
Thus, the mere appearance of a rice cooker gave the supremely arrogant King Piccolo a tremendous fright.
Even his hands couldn't help trembling slightly.
King Piccolo wasn't the only one surprised. Master Roshi, who also knew the Evil Containment Wave, couldn't help rubbing his eyes.
After seeing King Piccolo repel Tien Shinhan and Goku's combined attack, he had been preparing to stake his own life on this technique and take King Piccolo down with him.
He hadn't expected Tien Shinhan to bring out a rice cooker before he had even finished warming up.
"Could Master Shen have taught Tien Shinhan this technique? But does Master Shen even know it?
He's not someone who would willingly learn a technique that sacrifices himself to seal away a demon."
Master Roshi wondered how Tien Shinhan had learned the technique.
After all, aside from their teacher Mutaito, he should have been the only person on Earth who knew the Evil Containment Wave.
But soon, he spotted a clue on the rice cooker Tien Shinhan had brought out.
The problem wasn't the rice cooker, but the sealing strip stuck to its side.
The sealing strip on the side of the rice cooker didn't bear the special runes used to perform the Evil Containment Wave. Instead, it had eight Chinese characters printed on it.
"Kitchen area. Authorized personnel only!"
This...
Master Roshi realized something and immediately shifted his gaze toward Tien Shinhan's original body on the other side.
Tien Shinhan's original body had actually taken advantage of King Piccolo's distraction to fly into the air.
In midair, Tien Shinhan had already formed a triangle with his hands, silently aiming at King Piccolo, who was still stunned below.
It was the Tri-Beam!
The instant Master Roshi saw what Tien Shinhan's original body was doing, he finally understood his plan.
The so-called Evil Containment Wave was merely a feint.
Its purpose was to distract King Piccolo through shock and psychological fear, giving Tien Shinhan the chance to use the Tri-Beam as his killing move!
"Hmm? This sealing strip..."
Meanwhile, King Piccolo, whom the rice cooker had frightened into a cold sweat, also noticed something strange about the sealing strip.
"You little brat! You dare trick me!"
Having seen through the Evil Containment Wave deception, King Piccolo immediately sensed a powerful energy gathering in midair.
Not good!
Realizing the situation was bad, King Piccolo immediately tried to dodge.
Unfortunately, Tien Shinhan's timing was extremely precise.
He knew the fake Evil Containment Wave wouldn't fool King Piccolo for long, so he had begun charging his attack the moment King Piccolo turned to look at his clone.
By the time King Piccolo reacted, Tien Shinhan had just finished charging the Tri-Beam.
He had concentrated most of his stamina into this single Tri-Beam, while of course reserving enough to maintain his Flight Technique.
Fighting Kid Goku in the ring, he might have held back a little to avoid blasting Goku to death.
Against King Piccolo, however, he had no such concerns.
"Hah!"
The triangular space between Tien Shinhan's hands came with its own eight-times scope, and King Piccolo was already fully locked in his sights.
With an angry shout, the Tri-Beam's tremendous energy erupted.
Boom!
Unable to dodge in time, King Piccolo could only take it head-on.
Although their power levels differed by 50 points, the Tri-Beam, as a charged attack, could briefly boost its destructive power to several times, or even dozens of times, the user's own power level.
The improved Neo Tri-Beam had even allowed Tien Shinhan in the Dragon Ball storyline, despite his power level having fallen behind, to keep second-form Cell pinned down and unable to climb out of the massive pit blasted open by the Neo Tri-Beam!
Although the Tri-Beam had yet to be improved, its power was still considerable.
A mere 50-point difference in power level was no great problem in the face of the Tri-Beam's charged attack.
What's more, King Piccolo had been forced to respond hastily.
A perfectly square, deep pit appeared in the ground under the Tri-Beam's bombardment.
The powerful surge of energy sent fierce winds sweeping through the surroundings.
Master Roshi and Krillin were all right, but Bulma, whose power level was below 5, couldn't even stay on her feet in the gale.
Fortunately, she crawled into the small aircraft nearby in time and wasn't blown away outright.
Looking at the thick smoke hanging over the pit below, Tien Shinhan frowned. Without waiting to see what was inside, he immediately took a Senzu Bean from his Hoi-Poi Capsule and swallowed it.
His stamina instantly restored to full, Tien Shinhan began charging again.
The thick smoke cleared, revealing a bedraggled King Piccolo at the bottom of the pit, covered in purple blood and drenched in sweat.
Although he still looked intact, he had clearly used his regeneration ability again, consuming another large amount of stamina.
"Damn it!"
King Piccolo had only just been rejoicing that Tien Shinhan's Evil Containment Wave was fake, only to encounter such a powerful ultimate technique a moment later.
In his view, however, an ultimate technique that allowed a martial artist to briefly surpass the limits of his own power level necessarily came at a tremendous cost and couldn't easily be used repeatedly.
Under normal circumstances, if Tien Shinhan forced himself to fire a second Tri-Beam, he would no longer be consuming stamina, but directly shortening his lifespan.
But King Piccolo didn't know that Tien Shinhan had already prepared for this in advance.
A bag of Senzu Beans and a pack of smokes, and second-form Cell stayed pinned all day!
As a true man of Dragon Ball, with Senzu Beans prepared in advance, how could Tien Shinhan fail to handle a mere King Piccolo?
"Hah!"
The instant King Piccolo prepared to counterattack, Tien Shinhan, who had already eaten a Senzu Bean and recovered his stamina, immediately unleashed his second Tri-Beam.
Bang!
King Piccolo had only just leaped up from the bottom of the pit when the Tri-Beam struck him again.
This time, no thick smoke drifted above the pit.
Tien Shinhan once again ate a Senzu Bean, recovered his stamina, and began charging a third Tri-Beam.
This time, however, only half of King Piccolo's body remained at the bottom of the pit.
His face had also visibly aged countless times over compared to moments earlier.
Clearly, he no longer had enough stamina to use his regeneration ability again.
Tch!
I thought he could take three Tri-Beams. He fizzled out after just two.
Seeing King Piccolo's condition, Tien Shinhan changed his mind about firing a third Tri-Beam.
It wasn't mercy. Rather, King Piccolo wasn't strong enough to deserve a third Tri-Beam!
"I can't accept this! I can't accept it! To think that I, King Piccolo, would fall to a young brat like you!"
King Piccolo roared in defiance.
He felt that his defeat hadn't been due to a lack of strength.
Rather, it was because this youngster, Tien Shinhan, had no martial honor!
He had actually used something like the Evil Containment Wave to deceive and ambush an old demon king over three hundred years old!
In a head-on fight, he believed that even with a killing move like the Tri-Beam, Tien Shinhan would never have had the time or opportunity to use it.
Unfortunately, his defeat was now certain, and there was no chance for regrets.