The sky was pitch-black by now, and Piccolo was still flying high above the ground with Gohan in his arms.
"Uncle Piccolo, where are we going this late? I'm so hungry. Can we eat first?"
Gohan turned his head and looked pitifully at Piccolo as he asked.
Piccolo looked down at the adorable Gohan in his arms and couldn't help feeling reluctant.
No, Old Son entrusted Gohan to me. I can't let him down. Piccolo shook his head, casting his reluctance aside.
Sorry, Gohan!
"I'm taking you to the first step of your training!"
With that, Piccolo descended into a stretch of wilderness with Gohan in his arms.
After setting Gohan down, Piccolo spoke to him with a serious expression.
"Your first lesson starts now. Spend tonight on your own."
"Uncle Piccolo..."
Gohan was terrified as he looked at the darkness around him. He tried to call out to Piccolo, only to find that he had already vanished.
The darkness all around was like countless ferocious, man-eating beasts. Suddenly, a bird cried out.
"Ah!"
"Dad, Mom, I miss you so much! Boo-hoo... Where are you?"
Terrified, Gohan hurried onto a huge boulder and crouched there with his hands over his head, tears streaming from the corners of his eyes.
Yes, he had a Power Level of thirty thousand now, but Goku and Bulma had protected him well ever since he was little.
For Gohan to grow up, he had to break his habit of relying on Goku and Bulma.
That was also why Goku had asked Piccolo to train him.
He was afraid he wouldn't be able to hold himself back!
And so Gohan cried and cried, his sobs gradually growing quieter.
Piccolo, who was hiding in the shadows, grew curious. Concealing his Ki, he rose into the sky and looked down.
"You little brat, you actually fell asleep!"
Piccolo wanted to laugh, but he also felt somewhat helpless.
He picked a few fruits from the nearby woods and placed them beside Gohan. He remembered Gohan telling him he was hungry.
Of course, this was the last time he would help Gohan. He wouldn't help him again after this!
The next morning, Gohan gradually woke to the clear sound of birdsong.
Gohan rubbed his sleepy eyes with both little hands, yawned, and stood up.
"Grrr..."
A fierce pang of hunger came from his stomach.
"I'm so hungry (¯﹃¯ԅ)!"
Gohan rubbed his stomach. Just then, he spotted the fruits beside him.
Without a second thought, he hurriedly picked up one in each hand and stuffed them into his mouth.
The fruits were quite big, almost as large as his head, but even after eating them all, he was still hungry!
Gohan raised his arm and wiped his mouth with his hand.
Uncle Piccolo must have given me these, Gohan thought, considering the fruits that had suddenly appeared beside him. Who else could it have been?
"Thank you, Uncle Piccolo!"
Gohan shouted loudly at the sky.
But no answer came from Piccolo. In a distant forest, a flock of birds took to the sky in alarm.
Piccolo, hidden among the clouds, naturally heard him too. His green face couldn't help turning red.
"Tch, that little brat."
Gohan waited a long time without hearing Piccolo's voice, and he couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.
"What should I do now? I'm still so hungry. I'd better find something to eat first!"
Gohan rubbed his belly. He felt like he was starving.
Acting at once, he channeled all the Ki in his body and flew into the sky, searching the area for something to eat.
Although Goku hadn't taught Gohan any advanced uses of Ki, he had taught him some basics, such as the Flight Technique.
If he hadn't taught him the basics, what then? The Earth might have been destroyed one day without warning.
A long time passed, and Gohan flew through the air like a headless fly, yet failed to find a single scrap of food.
Gohan then descended from the sky and lay motionless on the ground.
"I'm so tired! Why isn't there any food? I'm so hungry!" Gohan stared blankly at the sky.
He had already learned to give up at such a young age.
Watching from the clouds, Piccolo couldn't help twitching at the corner of his mouth.
It seemed Goku really had barely taught Gohan anything. He didn't even know how to sense Ki; it seemed he'd only been taught some of the most basic things.
Helpless, Piccolo flew over to a dinosaur, restrained it with Ki, and brought it to a spot not far from Gohan.
Boom!!
The dinosaur's enormous body hit the ground with a resounding crash.
"Huh? What's going on?"
Gohan, who had just been lying there doing nothing, suddenly heard the crash. He scrambled to his feet in alarm and looked toward the source of the sound.
The next second, he saw a dinosaur.
The dinosaur spotted Gohan too. It was already furious after being seized and thrown to the ground for no reason. Anyone would have been angry.
Upon spotting Gohan, the dinosaur immediately charged at him with its enormous body.
Gohan was still standing there in a daze when, the next second, the dinosaur opened its bloody maw and lunged at him.
"Ah!"
Gohan squeezed his eyes shut in fright and charged straight at the dinosaur, turning into an afterimage as he slammed into its belly.
The dinosaur successfully got to experience another flight, but it wasn't so lucky this time.
It traced a graceful arc through the air, reaching a height of over a hundred meters and flying more than a thousand meters before landing on the ground, dead as could be.
This dinosaur is really done for this time!
After a few seconds, Gohan cautiously opened his eyes. The dinosaur was nowhere in front of him.
It had already collapsed more than a thousand meters away and lay motionless, seemingly dead.
Gohan flew over to the dinosaur's body and cautiously poked it with a finger. Once he found that it really was dead, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Sorry, Mr. Dinosaur, I didn't mean to!" Kid Gohan put his palms together and bowed several times.
Just then, Gohan's stomach growled again. His little eyes darted toward the huge dinosaur in front of him, and he couldn't help swallowing.
"Haha, Mr. Dinosaur, please be a good guy to the end. You did give me a fright, after all, so let's call it an apology. Thank you!"
Half an hour later, the aroma of roasted dinosaur meat wafted from atop a huge rock.
And so, after several days, Kid Gohan grew accustomed to living alone in the wild.
On this day, Piccolo, who had been gone for several days, appeared before Gohan.
"Oh, Uncle Piccolo!"
Gohan was delighted to see Piccolo suddenly appear in front of him.
"Mm, your first training lesson is over. From now on, train with me. I'll teach you how to use Ki."
Piccolo folded his arms and spoke to Gohan with a stern expression.
"Okay!"
Gohan was overjoyed and nodded vigorously. Although he had grown used to the past few days, he'd certainly had enough of them.
"Mm, fly behind me."
With that, Piccolo floated into the air and flew into the distance. Gohan hurried after him.
"Thank you, Uncle Piccolo!"
Gohan spoke softly as he followed Piccolo.
"Hm? What did you say?"
"N-nothing," Gohan said, a little flustered.
But with Piccolo's hearing, how could he not have heard? A faint smile curved his lips as he pretended to speak sternly to Gohan.
"Hmph! If you didn't say anything, then be quiet."
"Y-yes!"
Unfortunately, Gohan was behind Piccolo and couldn't see his face clearly.