Goku looked toward the Ki he had sensed, and a green-skinned man came into view. That was right, it was Piccolo.
Goku looked at Piccolo curiously. How had he dared to say something like that? As he wondered, he opened the panel.
He saw that Piccolo's Power Level was only 1,126, which made him even more puzzled.
That was three times higher than in the original story, but he had to consider what his own Power Level was now!
Actually, this was partly Goku's fault. When he fought King Piccolo, he had held back enormously to make him spit out an egg. As a result, King Piccolo had badly misjudged his strength, believing it was four or five hundred at most.
And now look: after training his Power Level to just over 1,000, Piccolo thought he was invincible.
It was true that he had been invincible before, but Goku was an opponent from the heavens!
Just as Goku spotted Piccolo, Piccolo spotted him too and gave a cold snort.
Hmph, Son Goku, just you wait, Piccolo muttered silently to himself.
From beginning to end, he had believed he was much stronger than Goku and that no one on Earth could match him.
King Piccolo really had led the kid astray! Piccolo was still only three years old, though that wouldn't stop him from being destined to become a babysitter.
As far as Goku was concerned, Piccolo could forget about ever escaping his fate as a babysitter.
Noticing that Piccolo had seen him, Goku turned away and chatted with Krillin and the others.
He wasn't in a hurry. The two of them would meet in the ring sooner or later.
This tournament was proceeding much faster than previous ones, mainly because of King Piccolo's arrival. Some martial artists who feared being killed had stayed away, leaving only half as many participants as in previous years.
But a few fairly strong martial artists who hadn't appeared in the original story seemed to have shown up too.
After everyone drew lots, they heard Yamcha let out a miserable cry.
"What?! I have to fight Goku in the first match? Just end me!"
Yamcha wanted to cry, but no tears came. Out of all those people, he just had to be matched against Goku. He looked at the others and saw that none of them had been matched against each other.
In the end, he was the only one with such rotten luck. Damn it, he was like Chen Rui grabbing a live wire-completely numbed by the loss!
"I'll make it quick for you, Yamcha."
Goku walked slowly over to Yamcha, patted him gently on the shoulder, and nodded as he spoke.
"Son Goku?" Just then, a woman's voice reached their ears.
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw a beautiful young woman wearing a qipao.
Krillin immediately gave Goku a mischievous look and nudged him with his shoulder, waggling his eyebrows.
"Goku, I didn't expect you to be this kind of guy. You really get around."
Goku could feel Bulma's death glare from the stands.
"How could that be? Am I that kind of person? Are you Chi-Chi?" Having read the original story, Goku recognized Chi-Chi at once.
"Yes, it's me."
Chi-Chi nodded. She had mainly come over to say hello. Since she and Goku hadn't had much interaction before, she wasn't clinging to him now.
"Okay, then let's catch up after our matches."
Goku didn't dare keep chatting with Chi-Chi. For no other reason than that the gaze behind him was still fixed on him, and he felt that if he kept talking, he'd be in trouble when he got home.
"Okay." Chi-Chi nodded and left.
After Son Goku and Yamcha entered the ring, the blond announcer looked at Goku and found him somewhat familiar.
"Are you contestant Son Goku?"
The announcer asked as he looked at Goku's distinctive crab-shaped hair.
"Yeah, that's me," Goku answered with a smile.
Goku's answer delighted the announcer. The champion from two tournaments ago was here; Earth had hope.
He remembered Goku very clearly. Back then, Goku had won his tournament with almost overwhelming dominance, and his powerful presence in the final had been unforgettable.
"That's wonderful, you're here! I didn't expect you to have grown so tall in just a few years."
"Haha, don't worry. Can the match start?" Goku tilted his head and asked in return.
"All right, all right, the match begins!"
As soon as the match officially began, Goku flashed over to Yamcha and patted him on the shoulder.
"Just walk down and concede. It'll be too embarrassing if I knock you out."
Yamcha agreed with Goku's idea, so he promptly walked out of the ring and conceded to Goku.
"Announcer, I concede."
Seeing Yamcha concede so naturally, Goku sighed and shook his head. Yamcha really had lost his drive to advance in martial arts. If he still had it, he wouldn't have stepped down so easily.
Before long, the tournament had reached the quarterfinals. Goku glanced at the draw and saw that he, Tien Shinhan, Krillin, Aku, and Piccolo...
Interesting. He hadn't expected Krillin and Aku to actually face each other.
Krillin naturally saw the matchups too. His heart panicked, and he looked at Aku with some fear.
"Aku, you wouldn't hold a grudge, would you?" Krillin scratched his bald head and asked awkwardly.
"Don't worry. I won't go out of my way to make things difficult for you."
Was Aku that kind of person? He might have been a little sly, but he certainly wasn't the sort to hold a grudge over something so trivial.
Hearing Aku say that, Krillin couldn't help breathing a sigh of relief. Still, his own run would end in the quarterfinals. Sigh! He'd do his best.
The first match was Goku against Tien Shinhan.
"Goku, show me your strength!" Tien Shinhan took his stance and looked at Goku solemnly.
He knew that if Goku went all out, he wouldn't last even one move. But so what? At least he would get to see the gap between himself and Goku.
"Okay!"
Goku looked at the solemn Tien Shinhan before him, nodded, and answered seriously.
The instant the match began, Goku flashed to Tien Shinhan's side. Before Tien Shinhan could react, Goku struck him on the neck with a knife-hand blow.
Tien Shinhan staggered forward and collapsed unconscious. Goku lowered his raised hand and turned to the announcer.
"Announce the result."
"Oh, right. Contestant Son Goku wins!"
The match had ended before the announcer could even react. He couldn't help marveling inwardly: as expected of contestant Son Goku.
Watching Tien Shinhan lose so decisively, the people below the ring found it both real and unreal.
Piccolo watched Goku slowly leave the ring with a grave expression, his face seeming to turn a few shades greener. He hadn't even been able to see Son Goku's strike clearly, which could only mean that Son Goku was far stronger than him.
While Piccolo was still deep in thought, the second match began.
Krillin gathered all his Ki and pushed off the ground, using the force to charge rapidly at Aku.
Aku easily dodged Krillin's punch, then slipped aside several more times, evading each of Krillin's swift punches.
Watching Aku dodge again and again, Krillin couldn't help breaking out in a cold sweat. The gap really was rather large!
"All right, Krillin, my turn." Aku had said he wouldn't deliberately target him, but that didn't mean he would only defend.
Aku quickly whipped a kick into Krillin. Of course, he couldn't use his full strength. If he had, that one kick would have blown Krillin apart.
"Aah!!"
The tremendous force sent the unprepared Krillin flying like an afterimage toward the wall beside the ring.
Boom!!!
A cloud of dust rose. Krillin fell to the ground, then climbed back up. Because Aku had controlled his strength, he wasn't badly hurt.
Krillin smiled helplessly. The gap was too great!
"Contestant Aku wins!"
Aku left the ring and went over to Krillin.
"Krillin, are you all right?"
"Haha, you didn't use your full strength. It's just a few scrapes." Krillin smiled.
Below the ring, Piccolo's face turned several shades greener yet again. Even though Aku had held back, Piccolo had only been able to see an afterimage.
Damn it! Another one stronger than me!
And thinking back on what he'd said earlier-heh, what a joke.
After the two entered the preparation room, Krillin asked Aku a question.
"By the way, do you know how strong Goku really is?"
Krillin's question brought back Aku's memories of Planet Beyond: the golden aura filling most of the sky, like a god.
Aku shook his head and said, "I don't know, but he's definitely not on the same level as us. There's a standard in the universe for measuring strength called Power Level. Mine is just over 10,000 now. On Earth, aside from that green-skinned freak, who has a Power Level of over 1,000, everyone else is only in the hundreds. As for big bro, his might be over a hundred million."
While they were talking, Piccolo knocked his own opponent out of the ring in a single move, and Krillin and the others noticed.
"That's King Piccolo, isn't it? He really is strong," Krillin couldn't help remarking.
Krillin felt that even if he were the one facing Piccolo, he might be knocked out of the ring in a single move too.
"He's all right, nothing special. His Power Level is only a little over 1,000," Aku said boastfully from the side.
Krillin rolled his eyes and looked at Aku speechlessly.
"Hey, hey, hey! Your Power Level is over 10,000, so of course you think he's nothing special. Mine is only a few hundred!"
Krillin felt that having a low Power Level was really exhausting. He was being mocked all the time. Even though Aku hadn't meant to, that unconscious air of showing off was really discouraging.
In the end, Chi-Chi's run ended in the quarterfinals, and soon the semifinal matchups were out.
Goku vs. Aku.
In the ring, Aku and Goku stood at opposite ends.
"Big bro, just how strong are you?" Aku asked, looking at Goku.
"You'll find out someday. Come on, attack me," Goku said to Aku without taking any defensive stance.
"All right, here I come!"
"Kamehameha, here it comes!"
Just as Goku thought Aku would charge at him, who could have expected Aku to fire an instant Kamehameha straight at him?
Goku quickly held out his right hand and caught the Kamehameha.
"Hey, Aku, you're not playing by the rules! Who opens with their ultimate move?"
Goku flicked his hand, and the blue energy remaining on it vanished in an arc of light through the air.
"Haha, big bro, if I played by the rules, how could I ever hit you?"
Aku's words immediately left Goku speechless. True enough, he had originally wanted to show off a little for Aku.
"Come on, let's not waste time. At worst, I'll go a little easier when I beat you up this time." Goku said the most terrifying thing in the blandest tone.
During those ten-plus days on the spaceship, when had Aku not ended up covered in injuries after Goku beat him?
"Damn it, I'm going all out!"
Aku threw a punch at Goku, but the next second, just as he was about to reach him, he suddenly moved behind Goku at tremendous speed.
But that tremendous speed looked very, very slow to Goku.
Goku reached back, grabbed Aku's head, crouched down, and slammed it hard into the ground.
Boom!!!
A huge crater appeared in the ring floor in an instant. Dust filled the air, and the announcer hurriedly covered his mouth and nose and narrowed his eyes to keep the dust out of his nose and mouth.
When the dust cleared, the announcer opened his eyes wide and looked into the crater in the ring. Seeing that Aku had already passed out, he immediately announced the result.
"Contestant Son Goku wins!"
Below the ring, Krillin looked at Aku's miserable state. He didn't know why, but he felt a certain delight in his misfortune. Fortunately, he had received special training and wouldn't laugh unless he absolutely had to.
"Hahaha!"
In the end, Krillin couldn't hold it in and burst out laughing.
"You're done for, Krillin. I'll tell Aku later, and we'll see whether he remembers this time," Yamcha said cheekily from the side.
"Ha, ha, huh? Cough, cough, cough..."
Yamcha's sudden remark nearly made the loudly laughing Krillin choke.
In the next match, Piccolo also won with great ease.
The final would see Goku and Piccolo face each other.
In the final, Piccolo looked at Goku standing before him, his expression very grave.
"Son Goku, I know you're strong, but I have to avenge the grudge between us!"
Hearing Piccolo say that, Goku sighed helplessly.
"Sigh, I can sense that you're different from King Piccolo. Do you know why I had to kill him?"
Piccolo shook his head. From birth until now, he had done nothing but train and had never paid any attention to that.
"Because he was pure evil. His goal was to enslave the whole Earth. Earth is beautiful, isn't it? The people who live on this planet are kind and good too. But if King Piccolo had enslaved this world, smiles would have disappeared from everyone's faces."
Goku quickly launched into a righteous talk-no-jutsu for Piccolo. For a protagonist, talk-no-jutsu was always useful.
"Smile?"
Piccolo wasn't really bad by nature. He had even helped quite a few people over the past three years; he was just always aloof and very tsundere.
Perhaps the only one more tsundere than him was our Prince Vegeta.
"And you!"
"Me?"
(This chapter was nearly 4,000 characters, so there's only one chapter today.)