Dawn breaks through the window, a ray of light hits Goten's face, and he opens his eyes with difficulty, lifts his head off the pillow, and yawns loudly.
Suddenly, smack! A pillow hits him in the face, causing him to fall out of bed.
"Oliver! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Goten complains, standing up and looking at his cousin with annoyance.
"What's the need to yell to yawn?" he asks, his face pressed against the mattress.
Gouten was about to throw the pillow back at him, but he stopped short. He blinked a couple of times, feeling confused. He lowered his head and checked his body.
"Oliver... does your body hurt?"
"No... but my muscles feel tense..."
"Oh my God!" Gouten shouted in surprise, lifting his T-shirt.
He quickly took it off, leaving his torso bare, and stood in front of the mirror, seeing himself with slightly defined muscles.
"But... you were skinny yesterday..." Oliver commented, looking at Gouten in amazement.
Oliver took off his T-shirt and looked at his abdomen, seeing the same result.
"Is this what Max was talking about? Our bodies adapting to physical exertion?" Gouten asked curiously.
"Probably..." Oliver replied. "But he lied about one thing... I don't feel like new..."
"Speak for yourself... I feel like a chimpanzee..." Gouten confessed, jumping over a meter and a half high.
"Wow..." Oliver whispered, impressed by his cousin's achievement.
Oliver stood up and tried to jump, but he felt a cramp and fell to the ground on his knee...
"I... I can hardly move yet... Why?..." Oliver said in pain. "I slept as long as you did... I shouldn't..."
"Get up! It's time to..." Max burst in, opening the door to Oliver and Gouten's shed.
Max looked at the boys' physiques in surprise.
"Ha, ha! How fast!" he shouted enthusiastically. "Forget breakfast... let's test your new strength..."
"Can I do it another time?" Oliver asked, managing to straighten his back. "I can barely move, Max..."
"Don't lie to me, Oliver... you've seen the change in your bodies," said Max, looking at him seriously. "That means your bodies have been renewed and adapted to the previous physical effort. Don't give me excuses for not training..."
"No... Max, I'm telling you..."
"I don't want to hear another word..." interrupted Max.
"I'm not going to do anything else right now except eat breakfast," interrupted Gouten. "My stomach is already growling..."
Max looked at him for a moment and agreed.
"All right, have breakfast... it's a bit extreme to put you to work without having renewed your energy," said Max as he walked away from the hut.
Oliver stood there, surprised, watching Max leave.
"Max... he's never spoken to me like that before..."
"I recommend that you relax as much as possible at breakfast... because later, no one will be able to save us..." Gouten said to his cousin as he put on his T-shirt.
"Since when did Max become so bossy?"
"He always was... but yesterday it was more noticeable... strange..."
The boys went to breakfast. Each had a cup of milk with some cookies. Oliver tried to follow his cousin's advice: relax his body. However, the morning was difficult for the boy. His body was still tense, and relaxing it only made him feel more uncomfortable, as if allowing it meant giving his muscles a voice to scream out their agony.
"I feel like I'm breaking... I can't take it anymore... Was this a training day? What awaits me today? And tomorrow? And this week?" Oliver thought, terrified.
"Is something wrong, Oliver?" asked Baldur, who had noticed the young man's look of terror as he accompanied them during breakfast.
"Huh?" Oliver replied, turning to Baldur. "No, no sir... I'm fine..." he answered shyly.
"Hm... okay..." said Baldur, although he couldn't help looking at him with concern.
Breakfast time came to an end, and the boys slowly made their way out to the courtyard, heading for the place where Max was waiting for them.
"Why didn't you say anything to him?" asked Gouten curiously.
"Yesterday at dinner, Max and Mr. Baldur seemed to be at odds... talking or complaining about Max could complicate things between them..."
Gouten just kept quiet, not knowing what to say to his cousin.
They both reached Max, who turned to look at them, no longer smiling like yesterday, but with a serious, cold look that inspired terror.
"All right... since you're here..." Max said, pointing to two trees. "Hit a tree each. With all your strength..."
"What?! Has he lost his mind?!" thought Oliver, staring at the trees with wide eyes. "Well... he made us train for almost twelve hours... what the hell was Max doing on the planet Terra?
"Gouten... are you going first?" Max asked him.
"Okay..." Gouten replied hesitantly, taking a few steps forward and fixing his gaze on the tree bark.
He stood still, with hundreds of questions in his head. He took his time to prepare himself.
"Well?" Max said impatiently.
"How do I hit it? Is there a particular movement or...?"
"Just unleash all your strength against the tree," Max replied firmly.
"Okay..." Goten said, taking a deep breath.
Gouten took his position, standing sideways in front of the tree. He put one foot forward and one foot back, while stretching his right arm backward. He stood still for a few seconds, and Oliver noticed the doubts shining in his eyes. He let out a long breath, leaned his body forward with force, and swung his fist at the tree with all the power he could muster.
A loud thud echoed and the wood cracked. Oliver saw pieces of bark fly off to the sides and the tree shake violently. Gouten was surprised to see the deep gash he had left in the trunk. Dry leaves fell roughly to the ground.
"Wow!" Gouten shouted, fascinated. "My knuckles hurt like hell, but that was awesome!"
"Awesome..." Oliver whispered, staring at the crater he had left in the tree trunk.
"Excellent, Gouten!" Max shouted with a proud smile. "That's incredible... I bet you're already stronger than the average adult man."
"Really?" Gouten asked, surprised.
"Of course..."
Gouten looked at his hands with wide eyes, letting out a big smile.
Max turned to look at Oliver, his gaze cold once again.
"Your turn..." he said, staring at him.
"I'll change his face... What's wrong?" the boy wondered silently as he looked his brother in the eyes.
"Yes..." Oliver replied shyly, taking a few steps forward and watching as Gouten passed by him.
"You can do it..." Gouten whispers as he steps back.
"If Gouten could do it... surely I can too..." the boy thinks, standing in front of the tree, feeling the pain in his legs... "My body hurts, but I know I can do it... I just have to hit him..."
Oliver stands up, taking the same position Gouten had taken. This catches Max's attention, who watches his brother's actions closely. He was standing exactly like his cousin, even the way he stretched his fist back was the same.
"One punch... with all my strength... you can do it..." Oliver says to himself, feeling the intense muscle pain as he stretches his arm back.
A quick forward lean, which causes even more pain in his body, but he endures it and brings his fist with all his strength toward the tree trunk.
A sharp impact sounds and the tree bark is seen to burst with the blow.
"Did he do it?" Gouten asks himself in surprise.
A drop of blood falls to the ground and Oliver cries out in pain, pulling his fist away from the tree. Looking closely, Oliver had only managed to break the bark, but at the cost of tearing the skin on his knuckles.
Max approaches the tree and inspects it closely. The damage is much less than that caused by Gouten's blow. He only managed to break the bark and leave a trail of blood on the bare wood of the trunk.
"What a shame... you turned out to be a weakling..." Max says aloud.
"Weakling?" Oliver repeated, confused, as he clutched his fist in pain.
"Yes... you're weak..." Max replied coldly, looking at his own brother. "You have a lot of work to do."
He turned and began to walk away with his hands in his pockets. "That's all for today... go do whatever you want." Tomorrow we'll continue with more strength."
Gouten approached Oliver, noticing his bloody knuckles.
"He called me weak..." Oliver murmured in a broken voice, as the wound throbbed.
"Don't let it get to you... your body hurt, you couldn't do anything else," his cousin said calmly. Look on the bright side: you broke the tree, unlike me, but it's progress... you're not weak.
Oliver sighed, nodding with a glimmer of hope.
"I think... you're right..."
"Come on, we'll definitely make it in time to watch Dragon Ball. I think it's starting right now," Gouten encouraged him with a smile. "Let's distract ourselves with our favorite show."
"Yeah..." Oliver replied, trying to smile as he carefully held his injured hand.
Together they walked back to the main house, the morning sun casting long shadows on the ground, illuminating their figures as the tension of the test faded, although the wound still burned in Oliver's hand.