"Have Tien, Krillin and Yamcha not arrived yet?" Goku looked around, puzzled.
"Weren't you all training at Kami's Lookout together?" Master Roshi asked.
"After you left a year ago, Master Roshi, the Lookout was attacked by a group calling themselves the Garlic Force, named after Garlic Jr." Goku recounted the attack by Garlic Jr. and his group.
"After we beat them, everyone felt we'd hit a plateau. We couldn't make any more progress, so we decided we needed harsher training. Everyone else went their separate ways, while I stayed at the Lookout to keep practicing. I don't actually know where they went."
"So even more strong enemies appeared while I was gone." Master Roshi nodded, marveling at how powerful his students had become.
"Hm?" Naruto, Goku, and Master Roshi stopped talking instantly, their gazes shifting in unison. Bulma and the others looked on in confusion. "Powerful ki. Not bad. Looks like they are here."
Several figures appeared before them, riding a howling gust of wind. Some wore straw hats, others wore coir raincoats.
It was Tien, Yamcha, Krillin, and the rest, people Naruto hadn't seen in a full year.
"Good afternoon, Master Roshi," Tien greeted the old man warmly. He still wore the Crane School's yellow-green uniform, but the crane symbol at the center had been replaced with the character for "Kami."
It signified that Tien had broken free from the Crane School and found his own path. Chiaotzu had done the same.
"Krillin, Yamcha, everyone, it's been ages." Goku extended his hand.
"You- you're Goku?" Krillin craned his neck, staring in shock. Goku had once been his height, but now he towered over him by a full head.
"He is Goku?" Tien and Yamcha were equally stunned. Only Chiaotzu showed no reaction.
Krillin circled Goku, searching for an explanation. "We've only been apart for a year, and you've grown this much?"
"Come on, tell me, is there some secret recipe for growing taller?"
"Hahaha, I don't know either." Goku scratched his head, carefree. "I woke up from a nap and felt like my clothes shrank. I guess I really did grow."
'What do you mean you grew just from taking a nap?'
Krillin looked wounded. Just a year ago, they were the same height, yet Goku had secretly shot up without telling him.
"Oh, that reminds me!" Bulma suddenly remembered something. She cast a sinister smile over the group. "Let me see your battle powers."
The group stared at her, confused. Only Naruto understood what she meant, and he simply smiled in silence.
To everyone's surprise, Bulma pulled a Scouter from her bag.
It was the same model Naruto had worn previously. After collecting the Scouters from Turles and his men, Naruto had given them to Bulma for upgrades. His own had been replaced with the latest model, capable of measuring power levels exceeding 3,000,000.
Bulma pointed to the device beside her eye, her face beaming with pride. "This item quantifies your strength into a concrete form. In the universe, it's called a Scouter."
"That sounds amazing!" The group looked on in shock. The idea that strength could be converted into numbers was hard to fathom, but since Bulma made it, it made perfect sense.
They had absolute faith in the talent of Miss Bulma. If she said it existed, it existed.
"Quick, test us!" they urged, eager for the results.
While they could sense and utilize Ki, they could only perceive approximations. They couldn't resist the novelty of the machine.
"Old Turtle, you're first." Bulma aimed the Scouter at Master Roshi. As the device beeped, a string of numbers flashed across the lens. "139. That's it?"
Bulma had secretly tested Naruto before and gotten a reading of 500. Compared to that, 139 was low.
"I feel insulted," Master Roshi chuckled, though he wasn't actually angry.
Naruto glanced at Master Roshi. He knew the old man's battle power wasn't merely 139. That was his original value. Having trained at the Lookout, his actual strength far exceeded that number.
Naruto believed that, like himself, Master Roshi kept his power suppressed to a specific value. When he went all out, such as in his Muscular Form, he would easily surpass it.
This was the art of restraint, though he was also practicing it. True success in this method meant that even when not deliberately controlling his power, a person's reading would appear no different from an ordinary human's.
"Master Roshi is only 139? What about me?" Krillin asked impatiently. "Bulma, test me too!"
"Fine." Bulma aimed the Scouter at Krillin and read the numbers aloud. "770! It's actually that high?"
Master Roshi was 139 and Naruto was 500. Unexpectedly, the unremarkable Krillin hit 770.
Did that mean Krillin was stronger than Naruto?
Bulma thought about how Naruto had already completed training under 100x gravity. Could Krillin really be more impressive than that? For a moment, the talent scientist doubted her own machine.
"770! Hahaha! I've already surpassed Master Roshi by that much!" Krillin laughed.
"The machine must be broken," Master Roshi muttered, though he didn't argue. To an outsider, he just sounded stubborn.
Krillin, unlike Roshi and Naruto, couldn't yet control his power freely. The 770 battle power displayed was his absolute limit.
"Let me check the others." Bulma aimed the scouter at Tien, Yamcha, and Chiaotzu.
Chiaotzu's battle power was 410, Yamcha's was 680, and Tien impressed at 830. It was the highest reading Bulma had measured so far.
"Tien is powerful," Krillin said, hands clasped behind his head, his face full of admiration.
Ever since learning his own strength, Krillin had grown cocky.
"Let's check Goku's." Bulma aimed the scouter at Goku. The number on the machine shocked her. "O-over 1,300?!"
Goku was the first person Bulma had ever seen with a battle power exceeding one thousand.
"Goku is actually that strong?" Even Krillin stood stunned.
They had all trained together, how did Goku get so far ahead?
"You've definitely been secretly training behind our backs," Krillin said, dissatisfaction evident in his voice.
He wasn't truly angry, it was just teasing between friends.
"Not really. After you all left, Kami took me to a strange place to train with Mr. Popo."
Goku's expression soured as he spoke, recalling unpleasant memories. "But the conditions were harsh. I was constantly hungry. I only lasted one month before coming out."
"That jerk Kami actually gave Goku secret extra training," Krillin said indignantly.
Yamcha chimed in. "Even Goku thought the conditions were harsh... sounds like that place was brutal."
Naruto knew where Goku was talking about: the legendary Hyperbolic Time Chamber.
Its gravity was ten times that of the outside world. That alone would be manageable, but the air was extremely thin. Even light exercise made breathing difficult, and the temperature fluctuated violently between fifty degrees Celsius and minus forty.
Those with weak willpower or poor concentration easily suffered hallucinations if they stayed too long.
Most importantly, one year inside equaled just one day in the outside world.
It was a top-tier sanctuary for tempering the will.
The only downside was that the Hyperbolic Time Chamber could only accommodate two people at a time. Furthermore, each person could only stay inside for two days, two years of internal time, in their entire lifetime.
Exceeding this limit caused the exit to disappear.
Unless one's strength was enough to break the limitations of time and space, they would never get out.
Despite these restrictions, the Hyperbolic Time Chamber remained the premier training sanctuary in the Dragon Ball-verse.
Goku's short one-month stay was deceptive, the boost to his power was enormous.
"How are we supposed to fight him? Goku's too strong," Krillin groaned. The gap between him and Tien wasn't large, so he wouldn't easily admit defeat against him.
But the gap between 770 and 1,307 was nearly double.
Yamcha sounded defeated. "I thought we'd closed the gap this time, but it only got bigger."
Tien stood in stark contrast to their dejection.
He stared at Goku with burning eyes, his fighting spirit blazing. "Goku, even though your battle power far exceeds ours, I won't admit defeat. Let's have a proper fight."
"Indeed. Battle power numbers are just numbers. The real victor is determined through combat." Master Roshi nodded in approval. "Krillin, Yamcha, remember this: never cower before a fight."
"That is a martial artist's greatest taboo."
While measuring strength through battle power was popular throughout the universe, martial artists operated differently. Only through fighting could one truly know who was stronger.
*Beep beep beep*
Bulma's scouter beeped again. She froze as she saw the number on the display. "1,500?!"
"How is this possible? His power level is higher than Goku's! Is the machine malfunctioning?"
Goku looked toward a specific direction. Not far away stood a tall man wearing a turban, glaring at him with eyes full of hatred. The man's skin was green.
The son of the Demon King Piccolo, Piccolo Jr.
When Krillin, Tien, and the others saw Piccolo, they felt the presence of a formidable enemy. The oppressive aura they had experienced facing the old Piccolo returned, only this time it was amplified. Piccolo was countless times more powerful than his predecessor.
"Hmph." Piccolo ignored the others, fixing a cold gaze on Goku, the one who had slain his father.
Their eyes clashed in the air. Piccolo's gaze soon shifted, lingering on Naruto for a second before he turned to leave.
As Piccolo vanished, Bulma's scouter stopped beeping. The reading had belonged to him.
'I will defeat you all. In the name of my father, the Demon King Piccolo... no, in my own name, Piccolo.'
'I will show you that I have grown into a worthy Demon King.'
'I am the Great Demon King Piccolo Jr!'
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