Only after flying onto Snake Way did Goku understand why it had taken four months to traverse in the original story. It was fucking long.
Like an old lady's foot bindings-stinky and long.
Even with his current Power Level of 5.23 million and his Ki flared to the limit, it took him nearly ten minutes.
When Goku reached the end of Snake Way, he looked down and saw a very small planet.
Goku gave a light jump and fell toward the planet's surface under the pull of gravity. He could feel that gravity was noticeably stronger than elsewhere, but that was a piece of cake for him now that he could withstand several hundred times normal gravity.
"Hello, King Kai. My name is Son Goku." Goku saw King Kai when he landed.
"Hello. What brings you here?" King Kai looked Goku up and down and asked, somewhat puzzled.
"I came to become your disciple. I heard that you have two particularly powerful martial arts, King Kai, so I wanted to learn them from you."
"Oh, so you've come to become my disciple. But there's one condition before I take you on: you have to make me laugh with a joke."
King Kai put his hands behind his back and slowly walked over to Goku.
Hearing this, Goku didn't know what kind of corny joke to tell. Although he knew King Kai was easy to amuse, he couldn't think of anything suitable on the spot.
"I carried a blanket on my back." After thinking for a second or two, Goku told a joke he thought was very dull.
"Hahahahaha..."
As soon as King Kai heard Goku's corny joke, he couldn't hold it in. He covered his mouth with both hands and burst out laughing, but his laughter still came through his palms.
After laughing for about a minute, King Kai stopped and turned to Goku.
"Good, good, good! That joke was hilarious. I'll start teaching you the Kaioken and the Spirit Bomb right away. Oh, right, those are the two particularly powerful martial arts."
"Thank you, King Kai."
"First, you have to catch Bubbles." King Kai pointed to an ape.
But as soon as King Kai finished speaking, Goku used instant transmission to appear beside Bubbles and reached out to grab him with one hand.
King Kai was startled. The Ki Goku had just unleashed probably put his Power Level above 100,000.
King Kai had originally planned to use his two pets to train Goku's fundamentals, but who would have thought Goku was so strong?
"All right, I didn't expect you to be so strong. Let's start teaching you the Kaioken and the Spirit Bomb now."
Half a day later, Goku finished training and discovered that King Kai had prepared a meal for him.
"Thank you, King Kai!"
"What's there to thank me for? As my disciple, of course I'll give you food and a place to stay." King Kai soon regretted saying those words. What had he done?
"King Kai, another bowl, please!"
Damn it, is he a reincarnated glutton? He eats so much! King Kai looked at the tall stack of rice bowls beside Goku and instantly turned to stone.
After eating, Goku tried setting his gravity bracelet to ten times, and a considerable pressure spread through his body.
Goku couldn't help smiling. He hadn't expected the effects to multiply. The gravity bracelet's maximum setting was 100 times, which could be combined with King Kai's Planet to reach 1,000 times gravity.
A thousand times gravity would be enough for him to use for a long time, probably even after he became a Super Saiyan-while in his normal state, of course.
Sorry, Bulma. Goku thought that if she couldn't make a 1,000-times-gravity chamber in the future, he would come to King Kai's place to train.
Half a year later
"Goodbye, King Kai!" Goku waved and flew off along Snake Way.
King Kai couldn't help breathing a sigh of relief as he watched Goku leave. He's finally gone. Goodbye? Better if I never see him again.
King Kai was sharp-tongued but softhearted, though. If Goku needed help, he would still help him. Of course, that was all a story for later.
As Goku flew along Snake Way, he was very satisfied with the results of his training over the past six months. His Power Level in his normal state alone had risen from over five million to nearly eight million.
His current panel looked like this.
Son Goku Race: Saiyan Power Level: 7.96 million Dimension: mortal Skills: Healing Technique, Final Kamehameha, Kamehameha, Kaioken (20 times maximum), Spirit Bomb...
That's right. In half a year, Goku had mastered the Kaioken up to twenty times. As for the Final Kamehameha Wave, it was an improvement he had made to the Kamehameha, with greater destructive power for the same amount of Ki.
(Let me formally explain here why the protagonist is so much stronger than he was at this point in the original. It's because he was formed from the fusion of two souls. A peculiar reaction occurred after they fused, greatly enhancing both his comprehension and his body's potential. Think of him as a fused person, though he still looks like Son Goku. Actually, I already hinted in the first chapter that the protagonist was different from the original Son Goku.)
"King Yemma, could you send me back to the mortal world?" Goku asked, looking at the towering King Yemma.
King Yemma jumped at the sudden voice, then looked down and saw that it was Son Goku.
"So it's you, little fellow. Have you finished learning from King Kai and come back?"
King Yemma found it a little hard to believe that Goku had finished learning everything in half a year.
"Yes, King Yemma."
"Good, good. You really are talented. I'll send you back now."
"Thank you, King Yemma!"
As soon as he returned to the mortal world, Goku flew toward Bulma's house.
Goku entered the house through his bedroom balcony. When he walked downstairs, he saw Bulma doing yoga.
He had to admit it: Bulma had a really nice figure. Goku couldn't resist sneaking a couple more glances. Damn these restless teenage hormones.
"Huh? Goku, when did you get back?" Bulma suddenly noticed Goku and felt a little shy.
She had seen Goku sneaking glances at her. While she was embarrassed, she was also a little happy. Goku, that blockhead, had finally caught on.
"Mm, I just got back."
After Bulma caught him, Goku awkwardly rubbed his nose.
Bulma stood up and walked over to Goku. She circled him once, then looked at Goku, who was more than half a head taller than her, and began to swoon over him again.
Goku really was tall and handsome now. She hadn't waited in vain all these years.
After half a year, Goku had reached 1.8 meters, a good four centimeters taller than his grown-up self in the original. But he figured he had probably stopped growing at this height.
"Bulma, why are you looking at me like that?" Goku asked awkwardly, feeling uncomfortable all over under her stare.
"It's nothing. I'm just looking at you. I feel like you've changed a lot in the six months we haven't seen each other."
"Of course. I know I've gotten more handsome," Goku said shamelessly.
"Look at you, shameless as ever." Bulma rolled her eyes at Goku.
"Have you had lunch?" Bulma asked as she walked with Goku.
"Haha, no. I was in a hurry to get back."
Goku wanted to make Bulma happy, but the trick didn't fool her, and his flattery backfired.
"Oh? How come I didn't know you could ever be in a hurry to come back?" Bulma said sarcastically.
"If I remember correctly, today is the 184th day since you left, isn't it? That's more than half a year-183 days-isn't it?"
Bulma looked at Goku with a cold smile, while one slender hand reached toward Son Goku's waist.
Goku grew a little nervous under Bulma's gaze and hurriedly begged for mercy.
"Sorry, sorry. I won't do it again. Please let me off this time."
"Hmph!"
Bulma snorted and withdrew the hand she had placed on Goku's waist. Then it occurred to her that this was a good chance to make a request, and she looked at Goku with a beaming smile, as if her face had transformed.
"How about this? Spend the afternoon shopping with me, and I'll forgive you."
"Huh? What?"
Before Goku could agree, Bulma took him by the hand and dragged him toward the shopping street outside the house.