Meanwhile, on Korin Tower, directly beneath Kami's Lookout,
Turles appeared right in front of Korin.
"Master Korin, I've come to borrow some Senzu Beans."
Master Korin and Yajirobe, who was beside him, had yet to process what had happened
when Turles noticed the little bean in Yajirobe's hand.
A jar sat in front of him.
It was filled with Senzu Beans.
But it was already close to empty.
Turles's gaze sharpened, and he quickly knocked the bean from Yajirobe's hand.
The jar caught it.
"I'll borrow the Senzu Beans for now. Sorry for being rude, Master Korin, but I'm in a hurry. Please don't mind."
"And you, fatty, if I catch you wasting Senzu Beans again, you'd better pray for yourself!"
Before he had even finished speaking, Turles vanished again in a hurry.
Master Korin had just been about to say something, but Turles was already gone.
All he could do was wave his raised paw at the air.
"It's all right. I don't mind..."
Yajirobe, on the other hand, was completely dumbfounded.
He had vaguely seen what looked like Son Goku take his Senzu Beans and then call him fat.
And warn him not to waste Senzu Beans?
What was going on?
Yajirobe looked at Master Korin.
The latter shook his head.
"That wasn't Goku..."
Turles and Kami had entered the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.
The moment they stepped inside, the world was stripped of all color.
As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but boundless white.
There was no horizon, no point of reference. It was as though they were in a dimension completely stripped of concepts.
"This place..."
Leaning on his staff, Kami sounded somewhat hollow amid the absolute silence.
He continued his explanation.
"...is the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Time flows differently here than it does outside. A year spent in here is equivalent to just one day outside."
He paused, then added gravely, "But the environment here is extremely harsh. The air is thin, and the temperature fluctuates violently between fifty degrees and minus forty degrees."
"Most importantly, this endless solitude will devour a person's mind."
"Also, each person can only stay here for two years in their lifetime. Once that time is exceeded, the exit will automatically disappear... and they can never get out again."
"Though, Mr. Turles, you should already know something about that..."
The jar of Senzu Beans sat on the ground as Turles and Kami sat cross-legged, facing each other.
From a distance, they looked like tiny dots on a sheet of white paper.
Insignificant.
At Kami's Lookout.
Not much time had passed outside since Turles and Kami had gone in.
Mr. Popo was about to explain the Hyperbolic Time Chamber to Tights.
But before he could speak, a streak of golden light tore through the sea of clouds, shooting out at a speed the naked eye could barely follow.
The Flying Nimbus performed a graceful roll and came to a steady hover.
Son Goku looked anxious.
After sensing that unfamiliar, powerful presence reach Kami's Lookout, he had immediately turned around and headed this way.
But on the way, he had suddenly lost the ability to sense Kami's ki.
That other powerful ki had vanished too.
He scanned the area below and, sure enough, saw no sign of Kami at the lookout.
But there were two unfamiliar faces.
Son Goku looked puzzled.
At the same time, Tights's attention was drawn to Son Goku's sudden appearance.
Looking up was one thing.
But what she saw when she opened her eyes was another matter entirely.
Son Goku's face was even more shocking to Tights than Turles's had been to Kami and the others.
"Turles?"
"You're not... Turles, are you?" After studying Son Goku closely, Tights arrived at a conclusion she wasn't quite sure of.
Son Goku jumped steadily down from the Flying Nimbus.
"Turles?"
"What are you talking about?"
But Son Goku had no time to dwell on anything else. He passed Tights with a puzzled look and rushed straight over to Mr. Popo.
"Mr. Popo! Where's Kami? His ki disappeared. What happened?"
"Kami went into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber."
Mr. Popo then gave him a brief explanation of what had just happened.
"So Kami got locked up in some kind of spirit room by that really strong guy?"
Mr. Popo thought for a moment, then nodded. "For now, you can think of it that way..."
"Wait..." Tights squeezed between the two of them.
She couldn't help interrupting.
"Don't get the wrong idea. Turles probably doesn't mean any harm. He wouldn't do anything to that, uh... that Kami."
"Turles? You mean that ridiculously strong guy? Is that his name?" Son Goku asked, puzzled.
"Ah, mm! Yes, his name is Turles."
"Oh, right, who are you?" Son Goku finally asked the question he had been meaning to ask.
He pointed at Tights and Cacao.
"Hello, my name is Tights. I'm Turles's captive... Ah, no, I'm his friend!"
Son Goku hurriedly gave his own name. "H-hello, my name is Son Goku."
"As for him, I think his name is Cacao... Is that right?" Tights turned to Cacao for confirmation.
He nodded mechanically.
"Cacao is one of Turles's subordinates."
"Subordinate?" Son Goku looked at Cacao.
He tried to sense something.
But he got nothing.
"Strange, I can't sense any ki at all, but he doesn't look like..." Son Goku murmured as he studied Cacao.
Meanwhile, as he looked Cacao over, Tights was studying him closely too.
It was only when Tights leaned closer and closer that Son Goku began to feel uncomfortable.
"Huh? What are you doing?"
Ignoring Son Goku, Tights went on circling and examining him, looking him over carefully from every angle.
Son Goku could only scratch his head awkwardly where he stood.
He didn't know what to do.
"Ah! Really, apart from the scar on his face... you look exactly alike!" Tights exclaimed.
She stopped in front of Son Goku.
"So... you're Turles's younger brother?" Tights seemed to have discovered something very interesting.
"What? Turles's younger brother? You mean me?" Son Goku first looked around, then, realizing Tights really did seem to be talking to him, pointed an index finger at himself uncertainly.
"That's right, it has to be you!" Tights nodded repeatedly.
But immediately afterward, she seemed to feel that something wasn't quite right.
"B-but I'm not anyone's younger brother..."
Before Son Goku could finish, Tights suddenly interrupted him with another exclamation.
"That's it! Something is wrong. You don't seem to have a tail..."
"A tail?" This time, it was Son Goku's turn to be surprised.
He looked at Mr. Popo, whose expression was much like his own.
"How did you know I used to have a tail?"
Mr. Popo also explained to Tights, "Goku's tail was pulled off when he was little. Later, Kami used a spell to stop it from growing back."
"Is that so? Then there's no mistake!"
"You're a Saiyan! You're Turles's younger brother!"