Slowly opening his eyes, and as expected, Gaw had once again arrived on that strange island.
He had a body as muscular as a small mountain, with steel-like, bulging muscles that almost tore his long-sleeved shirt apart—though it wasn't tight-fitting, he had deliberately chosen a loose one, but it was still stretched into something resembling a tight outfit. Even ordinary people standing before him would feel an immense pressure.
For example, this guy who arrived around the same time as Gaw. He seemed to be a werewolf?
If someone were to be scrutinized by Gaw's eyes, which were like those of a crocodile, they would falter in just a few seconds. Weak-willed individuals would feel their legs turn to jelly, as though they might be devoured by this beastly, savage creature... The werewolf, currently in his wolf form, was stared at for a while by Gaw's cold, indifferent gaze and, sweating nervously, quickly walked away.
Gaw paid no attention to this reaction; he wasn't interested in making friends. With a bottle of strong liquor that he brought from home, he took a deep swig.
In fact, Gaw had long been considered a monster.
His father was a regular human, while his mother was of the crocodile-type among the beast-humans. However, he himself was neither normal nor beast-human. His appearance was almost identical to a regular human, but his skin had faint scale-like tattoos, and he had sharp, beastly fangs. When he was young, the neighbors would mock his father behind his back, saying he had peculiar fetishes. Gaw, when he was little, found this especially confusing. When he voiced his doubts to others, they would mock him, telling him that he was also some kind of creature, a monster whose tastes were just as strange, and that it wasn't surprising if he found a crocodile-faced woman attractive.
Gaw beat that person half to death. After coming out of prison, Gaw never wore short sleeves again. Eventually, he joined the underground fighting circuit...
Being able to enter this strange island was already something that happened a year ago.
It was after he retained his championship title at the Fighting League's tournament, when Gaw, drunk and alone in his mansion, woke up to find himself on a strange island.
Just like when he first arrived a year ago, Gaw carried his liquor, slowly walking out of the forest at the edge of the island, heading toward the central, flat area.
The vast open space was almost circular, a natural arena, or rather, a ring.
The werewolf ran out of the woods and onto this natural fighting ground.
In the center of the arena, two flags stood on either side, gently swaying in the even breeze of this world, each inscribed with four Chinese characters: "Free Sparring", "Willing to Teach".
Between the flags stood a young man with short black hair.
Yellow skin, black eyes, a tall, lean yet undeniably strong build, with explosive power and speed.
Clearly, the young man was the one who set up the "Free Sparring" and "Willing to Teach" flags. From what Gaw had seen over the past year, it was evident that this young man's martial arts were not in vain, as he would engage challengers and spar as much as possible. Even if Gaw could tell the young man could defeat his challengers in a single blow, he would still take time to spar. From Gaw's perspective, the phrase "Willing to Teach" on the flag should have been changed to "Willing to Instruct".
If this young man participated in the Fighting League, he would definitely be a formidable opponent...
Gaw stood at the edge of the arena, drinking without a care.
The werewolf was engaged in a match with the "Willing to Teach" young man. There were other martial artists watching as well, many of whom Gaw couldn't recognize by name. It was said they came from the martial arts circles, the ones not registered with the Fighting League. The Fighting League had an unspoken rule: it only accepted regular humans. Beast-humans like the werewolf couldn't enter the Fighting League. Over the past year, many challengers, some with wolf heads, dog heads, or bear heads, had come here to spar with the young man.
Other professional fighters, including some who, like Gaw, had been here, found it uninteresting and mocked the so-called wild martial artists before never returning.
Gaw guessed they probably looked down on the training conditions and the lack of regulation here, but he didn't mind. As a regular human with some animal features, he was already viewed with special attention in the Fighting League. Even though he stood at the top, Gaw sometimes felt like an outsider in that world...
"Bang!"
The werewolf was kicked away by the young man, who seized the opportunity.
The werewolf's large body flew towards Gaw, who furrowed his brows and casually caught him with one hand, like grabbing a small chick, before tossing him aside.
The onlooking martial artists cheered, amazed at the young man's skills.
The werewolf got up, panting, unwillingly muttering, "Damn it! I've practiced my boxing to the two hundredth level... and yet I'm still this weak? Damn it! Damn it!"
"Two hundred levels of boxing?" Gaw glanced at the werewolf and sneered, "Which wild boxing institution rated you at that level? Two hundred levels... hmph…"
The werewolf shuddered under Gaw's gaze, and realizing he couldn't win, he darkly returned to the young man in the center.
"Yamiru, let's call it a day," the werewolf said. "You're too strong. I really can't catch up to you."
This island was, of course, the Spiritual Realm, and the young man was Yamiru.
Yamiru's breathing was steady, and he nodded at the werewolf.
Has it really been a year since the Spiritual Realm was realized by the Dragon God? Time flies, Yamiru thought. Over the past year, he and Tights had been traveling across Earth, mostly wandering without a destination, following their instincts. However, Yamiru spent a lot of time in the Spiritual Realm's Earth island, sparring with the various martial artists who had come to the realm.
In the very beginning, Yamiru had wanted a platform like the Spiritual Realm, largely because he wanted to practice and live without interruption. Having read Dragon Ball comics, he liked to think ahead. To train, Yamiru had also separated from Tights several times, returning to Mount Paozu, sometimes not meeting her for an entire year...
"How about you?" Yamiru looked around at the others, who, like the werewolf, appeared somewhat tired. "Do you still have the energy for another round?"
At first, not everyone was willing to fight with strangers in an unfamiliar place. Not all martial artists are naturally combative. However, after a year, everyone had gotten used to each other.
When they heard that Yamiru, the "monster", still wanted to fight, everyone waved their hands and refused, saying, "Can't do it today... Master Bakuryu and Master Yixin didn't come, so there's no way we'll be able to force out your true skills, Yamiru!" someone sighed.
Yamiru didn't force anyone to fight. In fact, whether or not they entered the Spiritual Realm was entirely their own choice, and the same went for fighting.
Fighting with someone like Yamiru, a master, was a rare opportunity on Earth. It wasn't just about the distance or space; even if you met such a master, they might not be willing to engage.
Although those with a battle power of over 100 were already considered powerful in the eyes of ordinary humans, in Yamiru's view, most of them barely exceeded 100. Compared to the first time he took Son Goku to find the Dragon Balls, they were weaker.
It seemed that, just like the 200 or 300 battle power threshold Yamiru had in mind, 100 battle power was also a clear dividing line. Above 100, every single point increase represented significant progress.
Son Gohan had once discussed this when Bardock and the others were revived. He believed that at lower levels, there was a significant gap between "energy index" and "actual combat ability". For instance, between two martial artists with battle powers of 100 and 101, the one with 101 had only a one-point advantage in energy, but that one point could give a substantial edge in performance, far more than just a one-point difference in physical abilities.
Yamiru estimated that the differences between these people would only be noticeably distinct at the two-decimal level.
Compared to today's Yamiru, however, their gap was enormous.
In the past year, only two people had fought Yamiru on equal terms. One was a former monk from Orin Temple, now a wandering ascetic named Master Yixin. Such a person, if it weren't for the Spiritual Realm, would have little chance of being encountered on Earth. Even if they did, they wouldn't care much. Most of the time, he still lived on Earth as an ascetic monk.
The other was a grandmaster from the Bakuryu school, a hot-headed person. However, being such a prominent figure, he was often too busy with his family's affairs and disciples to visit the Spiritual Realm regularly, though whenever he did, he would have a good fight with Yamiru and end up losing spectacularly.
"I think he can," the werewolf's voice brought Yamiru's thoughts back. He pointed at the other end of the field, where Gaw was drinking and watching coldly. "This guy has been the champion of the Fighting League for four consecutive years. He's an incredibly powerful master! He was here before I arrived. His skills should be better than ours, right?"
The others nodded. Indeed, this Fighting League superstar seemed to have entered the Spiritual Realm earlier than they did, which suggested that his skills were stronger.
Yamiru then looked toward Gaw.
Gaw squinted his eyes as he held the bottle of alcohol, his cold, reptilian gaze locking onto Yamiru. Yet, Yamiru remained unmoved by the oppressive stare that combined a master's presence with the cold-bloodedness of an animal. He casually asked, "What do you think? Want to give it a try?"
"I'm not interested," Gaw replied, taking a drink. "I charge for a fight."
Yamiru didn't mind. The werewolf and the others had their opinions about Gaw's antisocial nature, but Yamiru figured they were just jealous of his celebrity status... Yamiru wasn't exactly a local, so he didn't have much of a connection to the world of wild martial artists and professional fighters. However, he did remember hearing from a delivery dog when he was in the South City that professional fighting leagues didn't accept animal-humans.
After a while, the werewolf and the others took their leave—it was time for lunch.
As Gaw was about to leave, he noticed that Yamiru hadn't gone anywhere. Beside him, a tall, beautiful blonde woman appeared silently. Gaw recognized her as Yamiru's girlfriend. The two of them had been living together on Earth for a while. Also appearing at the Spiritual Realm were three other people—a bald old man carrying a turtle shell, a large white cat with a wooden cane, and a short, stout man with black hair and a sword.
"Swordsman?" Gaw shook his head. "If you need a weapon, why not just use a gun?"
With that, Gaw logged off and left the Spiritual Realm, returning to Earth.
"That guy is still so antisocial?" Tights glanced curiously at the disappearing Gaw.
She skillfully took out the capsule house and invited everyone inside for a meal. That's right, she was there to deliver food... it wasn't that Yamiru insisted on Tights bringing it, but rather that Korin had developed a taste for earthly delicacies... and since the Spiritual Realm was so convenient, Korin often came to mooch meals.
Tights, hoping to bribe Korin into giving Yamiru more lessons, brought various kinds of delicious food to the Spiritual Realm almost every day.
If she was too lazy to cook, she would just buy ready-made meals and bring them in.
Clearly, Master Roshi had the same intention...
Tien Shinhan and the two others who were cooking made some truly unappetizing food, but Master Roshi, being someone who truly appreciated the joys of life, was naturally more inclined to go to the Spiritual Realm for a good meal.
As for Yajirobe? If there was good food, who needed to ask?
"That guy seems like a big celebrity," Yajirobe mumbled through a mouthful of roasted pig, "A fighting champion, right?"
The fat guy had quite an appetite. The roast pig he was devouring had actually been caught by him in the Forest beneath the Korin Tower and then transported through the Spiritual Realm back home with Yamiru. Tights had specifically prepared two chef robots to help out. She was willing to cook for Yamiru, but had no interest in serving this freeloading little fatty.
"Oh!" Master Roshi exclaimed, "I have some impression of him, he's quite a skilled fighter."
Korin was engrossed in various fish dishes, still unsatisfied after a year of tasting human cooking. Despite the passage of time, human culinary skills were still developing, and it wouldn't be long before Tights would bring out a delicious fish dish that Korin had never tasted before...
After finishing the meal, Yamiru, Master Roshi, Korin, and Yajirobe chatted.
However, Yajirobe, being the rough type, showed no interest in martial arts and, after patting his belly, left.
Tights directed the robot chefs to clear the dishes.
"It's been a year," Yamiru said with a slight sigh outside, "I feel like my progress is slowing down more and more."
Master Roshi replied, "I'm slower than you! Your abilities have already far surpassed someone like me."
"Maybe I've hit my limit," Korin said nonchalantly, licking his paw, "The difference in talent between people is exactly shown here. Martial grandmasters, top martial artists, and you, Yamiru, when you reach your limits, your power isn't the same. This is what we call the difference in natural talent."
"Maybe," Master Roshi chuckled, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, "But I feel that once Yamiru completes his cultivation of 'Nothing', and understands the realm of Ki, there might still be room for improvement."
Korin shook his head. "There are plenty of people who keep increasing their strength without comprehending Ki. The fact is, whether you understand Ki or not isn't a condition for improvement. Even if Yamiru finishes his training, I still have doubts whether he can continue to progress..."
"Geez!" Tights came out of the capsule house, looking at Korin in annoyance, "I've fed you fish for a year, and you can't say anything nice?"
Korin laughed mischievously. "But does Yamiru need to hear nice things?"
"I do," Yamiru said, "I quite like Tights's sweet words." This made Tights reward him with a playful glare. Yamiru smiled faintly and asked, "Did something happen? I think I just heard the phone ring..."
Tights was surprised. "Your hearing is really sharp."
Master Roshi looked puzzled. "Can we really receive phone calls here?"
Yamiru said, "The Earth Island in the Spiritual Realm is just a mirror reflection of the real Earth. It's not impossible to receive a phone call here..."
Master Roshi reluctantly accepted this explanation.
"Whatever, the phone rang anyway," Tights said, "As for what happened... It was Bulma calling," she looked at Yamiru and continued, "She said... it seems an alien spaceship has entered Earth, so she's asking if we're interested."
——————
Yamiru: 160