Dragon Ball World, West City.
Capsule Corporation Headquarters.
Inside the spacious laboratory, Bulma, dressed in a white lab coat, waved at Uchiha Hikari with a bright grin. "Hey, Hikari! You're here! Oh, where's Kikyo and the others? Didn't they come with you?"
"Nah, they went back home to handle some stuff. They'll swing by later," Hikari replied.
Kikyo did have things to take care of. Back on Horai Island, a group of half-demons was waiting for her. Sure, Shiori's mom was there to look after the kids, and Shiori, Little Blue, and the other half-demon children were pretty self-sufficient. But Kikyo, being the secret kid-obsessed softie she was, couldn't help but worry and wanted to check on them.
As for Eri…
She'd wanted to tag along with Hikari, but Hikari had gently turned her down. This trip wasn't just a friendly visit to Bulma. Hikari had plans to take on the Red Ribbon Army, and things might get messy—possibly bloody. There was no need to drag Eri or the others into it.
Still, Hikari was debating whether to let Bulma in on her plans. After all, this was "Bulma's world," and while they were close, causing a ruckus without giving her a heads-up felt a bit off.
"…Where's Yamcha?" Hikari asked, glancing around.
"Oh, Mom took Yamcha shopping this morning. Something about buying him new clothes," Bulma said. "Dad and I have been swamped with research lately, so we haven't had time to hang out with Mom. Yamcha's filling in for us."
"Shopping?" Hikari blinked, picturing the 8-foot-tall, horned Yamcha strolling through West City's streets with Bulma's mom, Bikini. Her expression turned a bit weird.
To be fair, the Dragon Ball world was full of oddballs—three-eyed people, animal hybrids, nose-less aliens, and even a dog as the Earth's king. Yamcha's unusual appearance wouldn't cause a riot; at most, he'd get a few curious stares. Plus, Bulma's family was practically celebrity status in West City, always making headlines. In the original story, hundreds of Namekians lived here for months without anyone batting an eye, so Yamcha blending in wasn't a big deal.
Hikari's gaze shifted to the far side of the factory, where a massive destroyer ship was parked.
"Is that the 'abandoned warship' you mentioned?" she asked.
"Yup!" Bulma nodded. "I had to pull some serious strings with Dad to get the military to sell it to us. We're working on retrofitting it right now."
As she spoke, Bulma unrolled a huge blueprint and pointed at it. "Check it out. The ship's 156 meters long, 21 meters wide, with nine decks. I'm planning to turn this section into a small garden for growing veggies and fruits. This part will be a training room… Oh, and that gravity training room you mentioned? I've pretty much cracked it. We can install it here. By the way, the 'enhanced mini-bracelet' you asked about is still in progress. It's trickier than I thought, so it'll take a bit more time."
After the quick aside, Bulma went back to her blueprint, rattling off plans. "This area's for the bathhouse, this one's the cafeteria, and…"
"With Capsule tech, do you really need to grow veggies on the ship?" Hikari interjected.
"Hmm… it's not the same," Bulma said, thinking it over. "Capsules keep things fresh, sure, but nothing beats produce straight from the soil. Plus, the non-combat crew needs something to do, right?"
"…Fair point."
Speaking of non-combat crew, Bulma herself was the prime example. Despite dabbling in some basic ninja techniques and spiritual energy training with Hikari and Kikyo, she wasn't big on fighting. In the original story, she was surrounded by Super Saiyans and never bothered with training. Now, armed with Hikari's "Earthshaker" Teigu, she had some self-defense skills if push came to shove.
Another non-combatant was Miko Yotsuya, but as a high schooler, she was only free during breaks.
"Have you thought about who to invite on board?" Hikari asked.
"Oh, totally!" Bulma beamed. "Once the Blue Planet is ready, I'm the captain, you're the vice-captain, Yamcha's the chief sailor, and Kikyo's the ship's doctor. For the other roles, I'll post a recruitment notice in the chat group. Anyone who wants to join can hop on for the ride."
She paused, then added, "But we're still missing a navigator and a chef… That Sanji guy seems like a great cook. Should we invite him?"
"?" Hikari froze for a second.
She hadn't been to the One Piece world yet, but at this point, Luffy probably hadn't set sail. Zoro, Sanji, and the others were likely still doing their own thing—bounty hunting or cooking. In theory, Bulma could scoop Sanji up early.
"Eh, let's hold off," Bulma said, scratching her head. "The ship's still under construction, so there's no rush. We can look for people when we hit the One Piece world. Who knows, maybe the chat group will get a few chefs soon."
"Sounds good," Hikari nodded, then carefully brought up the Red Ribbon Army. "So, about the Red Ribbon Army…"
Bulma blinked, then grinned knowingly. "I knew it! You're planning to take them out, aren't you?"
Hikari sighed, chuckling. "Can't hide anything from you. Yeah, I'm planning to deal with them. I visited Turtle Island a few days ago to check on Goku and the others. Master Roshi—that pervy old man—mentioned the World Martial Arts Tournament is in two weeks. Based on the Dragon Ball manga you showed me, after the tournament, the Red Ribbon Army starts hunting for the Dragon Balls and crosses paths with Goku. So, I figured now's the time to act. I'm hoping to convince Dr. Gero to stop his evil plans, but if that doesn't work, I'll take him out to prevent future trouble."
Speaking of which…
Even by Dragon Ball standards, Dr. Gero was a bizarre genius. His whole deal with creating androids was to get revenge on Goku for wiping out the Red Ribbon Army early in the story. To that end, he spent years secretly studying Goku's fights, collecting his blood and cells to perfect his androids. He only stopped spying after Goku's battle with Vegeta, assuming Goku's power—around 9,000 at the time—had peaked.
And then…
With Goku at 9,000 as his benchmark, Gero somehow created four androids capable of matching Super Saiyans: Androids 16, 17, 18, and the ever-evolving Cell.
Just… wild.
The guy was way too cautious.
"Honestly, I haven't met this Dr. Gero guy, but his research skills are insane," Bulma admitted. "He's probably even better than me or Dad. If we let him run loose, it could cause serious problems."
She suddenly looked annoyed. "Ugh, it's so frustrating! The androids are gonna destroy the world in three years, and Goku and the others just don't care! That short-tempered Vegeta even threatened to kill me! What a total idiot!"
"Uh…?" Hikari raised an eyebrow, then realized Bulma was talking about the original Dragon Ball plot. In the Android Saga, when Future Trunks warned about the androids' destruction, Bulma suggested killing Dr. Gero to stop it. Everyone except Krillin shot the idea down, and Vegeta, still half-villain at the time, threatened her life.
Judging by Bulma's attitude now, Trunks' future might not even happen. Whether Vegeta would join the Z Fighters was anyone's guess.
"Bulma, do you have any info on the Red Ribbon Army?" Hikari asked.
"Nope," Bulma said bluntly, shaking her head. "I'd never even heard of them until I read the Dragon Ball manga. It doesn't say where their HQ is either—just that it's somewhere in the west. But it does mention a few of their branch locations."
"Has the Dragon Radar picked up anything lately?" Hikari asked.
In the original story, the Red Ribbon Army started hunting Dragon Balls before Goku. Even if they saw the Dragon appear during the first wish and confirmed the balls' existence, they'd need to wait a year for the balls to reactivate. Then they'd have to develop a detector like the Dragon Radar and start a global search, which would take at least a couple of weeks, maybe a month.
So, if the Dragon Radar wasn't picking up signals yet, the Red Ribbon Army hadn't started moving.
"Nada," Bulma said, shaking her head again. She grabbed a shiny new Dragon Radar from a nearby lab table, flicked it on, and handed it to Hikari. "Here, this is the upgraded version I've been working on. It'll detect the Dragon Balls as soon as their energy reactivates."
She paused, looking worried. "Hey, Hikari, why not wait and team up with Goku? It'd be safer with him around."
From Bulma's perspective, the Red Ribbon Army was no joke. They had powerful military weapons, weird mechs (like the one Adjutant Black used against Goku), and dangerous operatives. General Blue, who could immobilize people like Master Roshi with psychic ropes, could potentially restrain Hikari too. Then there was Tao Pai Pai, the assassin who nearly killed Goku and was arguably stronger than Roshi.
Even with Hikari's skills, taking on these ruthless thugs alone was risky.
"Don't worry," Hikari said with a smile. "I brought Esdeath along. She'll help me handle the Red Ribbon Army. Plus, I'm not diving in just yet—I need to gather some intel first."
Master Roshi likely had some info on the Red Ribbon Army, though probably not detailed. The Cat Hermit, Korin, might also have seen their movements through the sacred jars at Korin Tower. Those were her next stops.
For now, Hikari unsealed Esdeath and left her with Bulma. "Esdeath, I'm heading out for a bit. I'll be back in a day or two. Stay here, and if you need anything, talk to Bulma."
Esdeath and Bulma were already acquainted, having met briefly in the Akame ga Kill world. Even without Hikari's connection, Esdeath wasn't the type to pick a fight with an ordinary person like Bulma. Plus, Hikari could keep tabs on things through the chat group.
"Alright, I'm off to Korin Tower to check on Tanjiro. After that, we'll swing by Turtle Island," Hikari said to Bulma before activating Shangri-La, teleporting herself to the Korin Sacred Land.
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