…
On the flat road, the hover car sped along.
Tights sat in the passenger seat, arms outstretched, eyes closed, golden hair fluttering in the wind, enjoying the leisurely moment.
"By the way, what did you mean when you said, 'If we encounter a golden refrigerator monster and can't handle it, we should call Arale to deal with it'?"
Yamiru drove with one hand, the other arm resting on the open window, answering casually, "Just in case. It's the worst-case scenario."
The golden refrigerator monster referred to Freeza, of course.
Ever since the "golden Freeza" arc in Dragon Ball Super, where Freeza pushed himself to rival Super Saiyan Blue in just two months, Freeza had become an unpredictable ticking time bomb in Yamiru's eyes. You never knew which version of him you'd face. Was it the leak-prone muscle-bound Freeza with 120 million battle power? Or the rich, game-breaking golden version who could destroy everything in just two months?
Yamiru had previously thought that even if he had Super Saiyan-level power now, he wouldn't want to provoke Freeza.
That guy had practically become the Schrödinger's fridge—only fighting him would reveal the answer.
But that was the problem. If Freeza wasn't defeated, or worse, if someone used an unknown method to revive him, and he came back as golden Freeza, it would be like awakening the very monster himself. Forget about the imaginary "Super Saiyan-level Yamiru," even if Son Goku and his sons went Super Saiyan right then, they wouldn't stand a chance against golden Freeza.
When Yamiru decided to revive Bardock and Gine, he had already considered all kinds of bad outcomes. His initial backup plan was to "manufacture" a low-tier Super Saiyan God as quickly as possible. That's why, after reviving Bardock and Gine, he encouraged them to get a check-up at Bulma's house.
In the worst-case scenario, they could use Bardock's family's DNA to clone a decent Saiyan. In fact, considering the way even the unborn Pan in the movie Gods of the Universe could provide energy for Goku to transform into Super Saiyan God, the embryos of Saiyans—who were neither good nor evil—could be better used as "batteries" for powering up a Super Saiyan God.
However, this contingency plan was mostly put aside after meeting Arale.
According to the Dragon God, Arale was originally just the mechanical dragon he had crafted. Her potential was essentially limitless.
How much fighting power Arale could unleash depended mainly on how much punishment the target could take.
Of course, the Dragon God had also mentioned that Arale's power wouldn't bring about destruction and death. That was probably why Arale could punch the Earth apart, but it would immediately heal itself—after all, for a "Dragon," restoring a planet was nothing more than a matter of moments.
The destructive power Arale caused seemed to be repaired by her subconscious, which still carried the essence of the Dragon.
In other words, if the situation got out of control and golden Freeza was summoned, Arale could be brought in to deal with him. Yamiru believed that Arale, the little robot girl, wouldn't refuse to "play" with an alien who looked so ridiculous. Even if Arale couldn't actually defeat golden Freeza, she could easily go toe-to-toe with him, endlessly annoying him until he gave up.
"Arale's appearance... Could it have been planned by the Dragon God?"
Yamiru suddenly thought this. It was hard to guess whether a god-level being like the Dragon God could foresee the future, or perhaps peer into the infinite possibilities of the future and arrange things in advance.
"But even without me, Arale would have appeared in Dragon Ball… Which means, even if I hadn't 'scared' the Dragon God at the time, he would still have thrown that part to Earth. Was Arale's birth truly an interesting coincidence, as the Dragon God said, or was it something he had planned? Did I push the history of Dragon Ball, or did I unknowingly become part of it?"
"Ah, this is…" Tights's soft voice broke Yamiru's train of thought.
He turned his head and saw a piece of paper stuck to the car window. It seemed to have been blown there by the wind during the drive.
Tights spoke up because of the content on the paper.
On the front, there was a large graphic introduction.
Through the light, Yamiru could make out the image on the other side—a photo of an iconic landmark or perhaps a gate sign.
It turned out to be a promotional poster.
Tights stood up and reached out to pull the poster from the outside of the window. After unfolding it, it was indeed a promotional poster for the 20th World Martial Arts Tournament.
A Martial Arts Tournament poster…
Yamiru felt a slight sense of nostalgia.
Back when he was picking up trash in South City, he had once found a poster for the 17th World Martial Arts Tournament. It was dirty and old, but he had kept it for a long time and even drew a picture of Super Saiyan Goku on the back of it.
Who would have thought that today, he'd pick up another one along the way? It truly felt like fate.
"Even though you said you wouldn't participate in this tournament, it wouldn't hurt to visit, right?" Tights said with a playful smile, holding the poster up to her face. "After all, Papaya Island is a famous tourist spot. We didn't get to properly explore last time."
Yamiru nodded. "Yeah, after all, last time we mostly spent the time..."
Before he could finish, Tights kicked him.
Yamiru smirked, effortlessly turning the steering wheel. The hover car let out a sharp "whoosh" and executed a smooth low-altitude drift, veering off toward the southern coastline.
---
Red Ribbon Army
A certain base's research lab
Dr. Gero was immersed in a large pile of documents, deeply engrossed in his research.
Among these materials, the most prominent were three human anatomical diagrams.
They were marked as No. 17, No. 18, and No. 0.
The diagrams depicted an x-ray view of a boy, a girl, and another boy. Next to these diagrams were corresponding images of a young man, a young woman, and... another young man.
Endless data surrounded these three pairs of humanoid figures, making it impossible for ordinary researchers to even begin to understand them.
As a result, Dr. Gero personally took control of every detail of these android projects.
If these androids succeeded, the Red Ribbon Army's domination of the world would be a matter of minutes.
Dr. Gero paused his work and rubbed his forehead.
He picked up the three anatomical charts from the pile of documents, admiring his upcoming masterpiece, and took a sip of his hot coffee with satisfaction.
In a corner of the bright laboratory, a solution cultivation tank floated with what seemed like specimens—two severed legs and one severed arm...
Judging by the size of the limbs, they seemed to belong to a child of not much age.
---
Year 745, May 7th
Papaya Island
The preliminaries for the highly anticipated 20th World Martial Arts Tournament had concluded.
The top 8 matches on the outdoor arena were about to begin.
The scene was buzzing with excitement as both the specially invited spectators and tourists who came to Papaya Island for vacation and happened to stop by to watch the commotion were purchasing fruits and snacks, calling friends, chatting, and entering the arena.
Some of them had attended the previous tournament five years ago and were vividly describing the exciting events of the last tournament to their friends.
For instance, the guy who looked like a Salted Egg.
The strange boy who suddenly turned into a gorilla.
And how intense the final match was, leaving the audience mesmerized…
Most people who hadn't seen it with their own eyes didn't believe it, especially the descriptions of the final match.
How could there be such a master?
Someone moving so fast that their speed couldn't even be captured by the naked eye?
Jumping hundreds of meters from the spot?
Was that even human?
The first match of the top 8 began amidst this lively atmosphere.
"Let's welcome, Tien Shihan, and... King Chappa!" the blonde host announced passionately. "Tien Shihan was in the top four in the last martial arts tournament, and King Chappa has been the champion of multiple martial arts tournaments! It looks like this will be an exciting showdown!"
In the contestant's rest room, Dumplings cheered for Tien Shihan.
Tien Shihan, sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, placed his feet on the ground and nodded as he stood up and walked toward the stage.
Though Master Roshi had mentioned it, Tien Shihan didn't expect that neither Son Goku nor Yamiru would be participating in this martial arts tournament.
Tien Shihan felt somewhat disappointed.
As he reached the arena, King Chappa looked much more weathered and composed. It seemed that after losing to Yamiru in the previous tournament, he had put in a lot of hard work to improve.
However, perhaps because of his improvement, he couldn't resist throwing a jab at Tien Shihan. "You're just a kid who relies on small tricks. I'll show you that your top 4 finish last time was just luck from the draw!"
Tien Shihan: "..."
As he stood there speechless, he heard someone from the audience section chuckling, "King Chappa is really unlucky this time. Looks like he's stopping at the top 8."
Tien Shihan turned his head, and saw Yamiru in the front row of the audience, beside him was a beautiful woman wearing a sun hat and sunglasses. Tien Shihan recognized her as Yamiru's girlfriend, Tights.