Tavor watched with his mouth agape as Roshi stepped off the deceased pig demon's head and back onto the ground with a flourish.
"Young man, you are in for a treat; demon pork is quite tasty!"
Roshi extended his hand, firmly seizing one of the demon pig's tusks, and proceeded to walk back toward the house, dragging the immense carcass behind him with steady determination, leaving a large, red-stained trail in his wake.
Tavor stood next to the large sea turtle and watched Roshi walk away with a look of shock on his young face.
"Did he say 'demon pork'? Does it taste different from regular pork?" He wondered aloud, seemingly unaware of the line of saliva extending comically from his lips towards the dirt below.
Turtle gave a nod in affirmation to Tavor's question and proceeded to follow the trail Roshi had left back toward the house.
Upon their arrival, they observed the old man withdraw a large butcher's knife from within the shell on his back, placing it carefully upon a nearby wooden block.
He then stood perfectly still, eyes closed, his breathing gradually slowing into a steady, deliberate rhythm.
"What is he doing?" Tavor muttered in confusion.
"Just watch, little one." Turtle spoke, his voice a calm, monotonous, low baritone that made Tavor feel a sense of comfort for some unknown reason.
Tavor suddenly felt as if the gravity around him had subtly shifted and he turned back to Roshi, only for his eyes to shoot open wide.
"What is this?"
Roshi remained standing, enveloped in a faint, almost imperceptible pale white aura that swirled around him as though he were the calm center of an invisible storm.
The veins on his forehead throbbed with the strain of intense concentration, until, in a sudden movement, his eyes snapped open and he released a thunderous battle cry that resonated far beyond the boundaries of his property.
WHOOSH!
THOOM!
THOOM!
BOOSH!
Suddenly, Roshi's body surged with strength, his muscles exploding with such force that his robes snapped taut against his aged frame.
Roshi's legs thickened like massive tree trunks, the ground beneath him fracturing under the immense pressure of his unleashed power. His arms swelled with formidable strength, each muscle defined and taut, while his veins throbbed with an intense, almost palpable energy.
With deliberate precision, he reached for the butcher's knife, which seemed almost diminutive within his powerful grasp.
In a movement that to Tavor appeared as nothing more than a blur, Roshi swung the blade with practiced efficiency, reducing the demon pig to neat slabs of meat and orderly piles of bone.
With a final, precise chop, Roshi sent the demon pig's head flying. In one swift, decisive motion, he released the butcher's knife, its blade slick with blood and gore, letting it fall aside.
Drawing his hands back toward his core, he sank into a firm horse stance.
The veins that had already been pulsing now throbbed with a pronounced intensity, each beat resonating with an audible rhythm, like the distant pounding of war drums.
"KAME!" Roshi bellowed, his voice booming and reverberating through every corner, each syllable carrying a power that seemed to shake the air itself.
As the sound echoed off the walls and trees, a small yet dazzling sphere of radiant blue and white light began to materialize between his palms, its brilliance growing with each passing moment, crackling with energy and promise.
"HAME!" The radiant orb swelled in size, sending concentric waves of dust and displaced air surging outward from Roshi.
Overhead, the demon pig's severed head, suspended momentarily in the air, began its inevitable descent toward the ground.
"HAAAAAAA!" Roshi roared, extending his palms outwards towards the silhouette of the demon pig's head.
FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!
The radiant orb of blue and white energy cradled in Roshi's palms surged forth, expanding into a monumental column of light that streaked toward the severed head before ascending to pierce the heavens.
In response, the typically crimson sky of limbo shimmered momentarily with a rare, almost amethyst hue, a fleeting transformation, before subsiding once more into its perpetual, oppressive shade of blood red.
As the beam dissipated into nothingness, a fleshless skull descended toward Roshi, who raised a single hand to catch the grim trophy in his outstretched palm.
With deliberate composure and a tight spin, he struck a poised stance in the direction of Tavor, who remained motionless, appearing to be lost in a daze.
"Are you all right, child? I didn't alarm you, did I?" Roshi inquired, a faint flush of embarrassment coloring his weathered features.
The venerable martial arts master remained unaware that his demonstration of the Kamehameha technique had stirred something profound within the boy, an insatiable hunger buried deep in the farthest recesses of his soul, where the fragments of a past life had long lain dormant.
DING!
As Tavor stood there, he heard a ping in his mind.
[Host has come into contact with a Life Force Projection Technique!]
[Preliminary Ki Perception achieved.]
[Host has gained the ability to perceive and sense Ki.]
[Congratulations, Host.]
"Ki? What is this feeling?" He looked down at his hand and squeezed it into a fist, Tavor's eyes flashed with delight as he could make out the presence of something flowing within his very being.
Roshi, observing the scene intently, carefully set the skull aside and fixed his gaze on Tavor, his expression shifting between astonishment and exhilaration as he beheld Tavor, for the very first time, awakening to and experiencing the energy that resided within him.
"What extraordinary energy this boy possesses; it far exceeds the levels expected of a normal child. Could something have transpired on Earth to force even a child to grow to such a degree?" Roshi reflected, observing as Tavor closed his eyes and fell into deep concentration, endeavoring to probe and manipulate the energy within him through sheer thought and force of will.
Tavor's expression hardened with determination as he became acutely aware of the energy within him breaking away from the greater whole, flowing with deliberate precision through every fiber of his being until it coalesced with intent and focus in the palms of his hands.
FWOOSH!
A radiant sphere of blue and white energy emerged, first appearing as a delicate, otherworldly mist that gradually gathered and solidified into the exact, compact form of a small marble.
Roshi instinctively drew back in shock, his lips parting in silent disbelief as his quivering hands slowly tightened into rigid, clenched fists.
"A genius, a once-in-a-century genius!"
In the midst of his profound crisis of self, Roshi noted Tavor assuming a stance strikingly akin to his own at the precise moment he discharged a devastating blast upon the severed head of the pig demon, the force of which was so intense that it nearly compelled him to cough up a mouthful of blood.
"Kame..." The orb of light, as if in direct response to his words and unwavering will, began to swell with an intensified brilliance and surging energy.
Turtle, positioned beside Tavor, instinctively retreated, sensing an imminent and formidable threat forming between the palms of Tavor's hands.
GRUGUGUGUGU!
Suddenly, Tavor's stomach rumbled with the ferocity of a beast deprived of sustenance for a week, tormented by the tantalizing aroma of a succulent steak.
In that instant, the newly formed orb of energy cradled between his palms vanished in a brilliant flash of light, accompanied by a sharp crack of displaced air.
Tavor's legs began to tremble, and his knees threatened to give way, but fortunately, Turtle, who was standing nearby, appeared to sense the urgency of the moment and firmly pressed his shell against Tavor's back for support.
Tavor remained seated, his back resting against the immense curve of Turtle's shell, his breathing slowly steadying after the exertion.
His legs still carried the lingering weakness from his brief attempt at manipulating Ki, though the frailty was swiftly dissipating.
Behind him, Turtle stood motionless, a silent sentinel granting the young Saiyan the support he needed to recover.
For several quiet moments, neither spoke, the stillness between them unbroken.
Then, a sudden sound pierced the calm, seizing Tavor's attention.
SIZZLE.
Tavor's ears twitched as his eyes opened slowly, adjusting to the dim, otherworldly glow.
Across the small clearing, Roshi was already at work, methodically preparing the demon pig for the fire.
Thick, perfectly marbled slabs of meat were skewered onto long metal rods, each glistening with rich fat beneath the oppressive crimson light of Limbo's sky.
With deliberate care, Roshi turned one of the skewers above a roaring blaze.
Droplets of sizzling fat slid from the meat, falling into the fire with a sharp splat, igniting sudden bursts of flame that flared upward in a brief, fierce whoosh.
A sudden tongue of flame flared upward, releasing an aroma that made Tavor's nose twitch involuntarily.
His ears lifted in alertness. A bead of fat dripped into the fire below, producing a sharp, sizzling hiss.
The savory scent of seared meat permeated the air, rich and irresistible. Tavor swallowed hard as his stomach gave a low, insistent growl.
Turtle cast a measured glance downward.
"You appear to be quite hungry," he observed. Tavor remained silent.
His eyes remained fixed upon the roasting meat.
The weakness that had settled into his limbs only moments ago seemed to be disappearing by the second.
A fresh wave of savory smoke drifted toward him, prompting Tavor's pupils to widen as a sudden lightness spread through his body.
His tail swayed rhythmically against the ground in anticipation.
"Is it ready yet?" he inquired, unable to hide his eagerness.
Roshi, seated beside the fire, responded with a warm chuckle.
"Patience, young man. Good food takes time."
Nearby, another thick slab of meat met the flames with a sharp hiss as grease cascaded into the fire.
SIZZLE!
Tavor's fingers flexed involuntarily, his hunger undeniable as his stomach emitted a deep, resonant growl.
GRUGUGUGUGU!
Roshi cast a brief glance over his shoulder at Tavor, who was fixated on the roasting meat with a fervor that verged on reverence.
A quiet chuckle escaped Roshi before he remarked, "All right, all right. I think you've endured enough."
Extending his hand toward the fire, he retrieved one of the largest skewers from the flames.
The cut of meat was massive, several times the size of Tavor's torso, its surface perfectly seared, the charred exterior glistening with rendered fat that trickled through the crevices of the tender flesh.
Holding it out with deliberate care, Roshi offered it forward.
"Here you go."
Tavor's eyes widened, his pupils shimmering with unrestrained desire.
"For me?"
"Unless you see someone else standing here."
Tavor required no further prompting. In an instant, he lunged toward the skewer with unrestrained eagerness.
Roshi scarcely had time to relinquish his hold before Tavor gripped the wooden handle firmly with both hands.
"Thank you," he said, before sinking his teeth into the meat.
CHOMP.
Roshi's smile lingered only briefly, two seconds at most, before fading.
Tavor chewed deliberately, swallowed, and immediately took another bite.
CHOMP.
A third followed in quick succession.
CHOMP.
The massive slab of meat began to vanish at an extraordinary pace, prompting Roshi's eyebrows to ascend incrementally in quiet astonishment.
Turtle observed in complete silence as Tavor maintained his relentless momentum.
He consumed the meat with remarkable precision and speed, scarcely pausing between bites.
Grease spread across his cheeks, chin, and even the tip of his nose, yet he remained entirely indifferent to the mess.
The skewer itself was of considerable size, but its magnitude held no significance.
Tavor devoured it as though channeling the contents into an insatiable void.
Roshi blinked in muted disbelief. "Good heavens…"
Tavor proceeded without hesitation.
CHOMP.
Another bite.
CHOMP.
Another.
The once-formidable skewer diminished rapidly, evoking the image of a celestial body succumbing to the pull of a cosmic black hole, each portion disappearing into a widening abyss.
Slowly, Turtle turned to Roshi and remarked with quiet certainty, "He appears to have recovered."
In mere moments, all that remained was the bare wooden skewer. Tavor regarded it in silence, his ears drooping slightly.
"Finished?"
Roshi's jaw dropped in disbelief.
"You consumed all of that?"
Tavor glanced at him with a look suggesting the question was perplexing.
"Yes."
Roshi's gaze shifted from the empty skewer to the sizable pile of remaining meat, then back to Tavor.
"That portion could have sustained me for several days."
In response, Tavor's stomach emitted a deep, resonant growl.
GRRRRRRRRRR.
Roshi's eyes widened in surprise.
"You're still hungry?" he asked, his tone laced with disbelief.
Tavor gave a firm nod.
"Very," he replied with quiet certainty.
From nearby, Turtle emitted a deep, rumbling chuckle that resonated through the air.
With a weary sigh, Roshi raised a hand to his temples, massaging them slowly.
"Wonderful," he muttered under his breath.
His gaze drifted to the remaining portion of demon meat, then shifted back to Tavor, and again to the meat.
A deliberate pause followed.
Then, a slow, knowing smile began to form across his face, carrying with it an unspoken understanding.
"Well, looks like we will need to go hunting soon!"