"Yeah… I think it was near the coast," Goku muttered, glancing down at Bulma for confirmation.
"Yeah, that's right," she nodded.
At that, Gyumao leapt up and danced with joy.
"Yeeaaah! Now I can finally go back to my castle!" he roared. He quickly clasped his hands together in a pleading gesture. "I have a request—Muten Roshi-sama owns an item called the Bashōsen. I heard it's powerful enough to blow out all the flames covering Frypan Mountain. Could you and this lovely young lady borrow it for me using Kinto'un?"
Goku stood up from Mai's lap—she was still seated on Kinto'un.
"We'll do it… but only if you give us your Dragon Ball."
"Dragon Ball? What's that?" Gyumao asked.
"This," Goku replied, holding up his own Dragon Ball.
"Oh, that thing? Sure! No problem!" Gyumao grinned.
Goku turned to Mai, hands on his hips.
"Alright, go bring back that old pervert, Mai. You remember where he lives, right?"
"Can't you come with me?" she asked shyly.
"I'm not pure-hearted like you. I can't ride Kinto'un. If I even tried—"
Before he could finish, Mai swooped him off the ground and placed him on her lap.
"There. Like this, you're safe," she said, lowering her head to look at him with a smirk.
"Well… no choice now." Goku sighed. "Oolong! Toss me my Nyoi-bō! It's in the car!"
Oolong grumbled but obeyed, tossing him the red staff.
When Gyumao saw it, his eyes widened.
"Where did you get that staff?!"
"It belonged to my… grandfather. Son Gohan."
"Son Gohan!? He was your grandfather?!" Gyumao's jaw dropped.
"You knew him?"
"Of course! He and I were both disciples of the legendary Muten Roshi-sama. I was his number two!"
Behind a ruined wall, Yamcha and Pu'ar listened in, shocked.
Is he seriously making friends with Gyumao?!
A few minutes passed.
"Alright, let's head out," Goku said.
"Wait!" Gyumao called out. "Yesterday, I sent my daughter Chi-Chi to find Muten Roshi. If you see her on the way, could you bring her back with you?"
"Chi-Chi?"
"She's a little timid, but a real sweetheart. You can even marry her if you want!" Gyumao laughed.
Mai twitched slightly at that.
"Wow, that's shallow," Goku replied bluntly, while Bulma and Oolong cracked up in the background, already imagining someone who looked like Gyumao in a dress.
Gyumao pulled out a photo. "Here's what she looks like."
"Whoa, she's super cute!" Bulma and Oolong chimed together.
Behind the wall, Yamcha and Pu'ar's faces turned white.
"She's the girl you knocked out, Yamcha-sama!" Pu'ar whispered.
"What if Gyumao finds out?!"
Panicking, the two sprinted to their jeep and sped off toward the area where they'd left Chi-Chi.
They found her still unconscious on the ground.
Yamcha rushed over. "Wake up! Come on!"
Chi-Chi stirred and immediately sat up, aiming her helmet laser at him.
"H-Hey! Don't shoot!" he yelped, raising his hands.
"How do you know my name!?" she demanded.
"The truth is… I love you!" Yamcha blurted out.
"EHHHH!? You love me?!" Chi-Chi gasped, blushing as she clutched her cheeks.
"Y-Yeah! I'm totally serious!"
"Really? You're not lying!?"
"Of course not! Just look at my face!"
He flashed her a big grin—missing three teeth, making him look more goofy than romantic.
"Oh my! You're missing some teeth!" she giggled. "Your face looks kinda funny up close."
Yamcha twitched in irritation while Pu'ar tried to calm him down.
In the sky, a small cloud could be seen approaching.
"Shit! It's them!" Yamcha panicked.
Still holding her cheeks and glowing red, Chi-Chi turned away.
"No one's ever said they loved me before… I read in a magazine that when people fall in love, they go on dates… and then they hold hands… AAHHHH I'M SO EMBARRASSED!"
When she turned back around, Yamcha was already halfway down the road, speeding off in his jeep.
"Huh? Ah! He must be embarrassed too!" she sighed, smiling dreamily.
Up in the sky, Goku and Mai approached on Kinto'un.
"Is that her?" Goku asked, squinting. "Why is she wearing bikini armor?"
"Hey, is your name Chi-Chi?" Goku asked.
"Eh!? Y...Yes! B-But who are you? I got it! You've come to say you love me too, right!?"
Mai twitched, glaring at her coldly.
"...What? No. 'Too'?" Goku blinked.
"You're Gyūmao's daughter, right?"
"You know my father?"
He quickly explained the situation to her, then gestured to Kinto'un. "Try climbing on this cloud."
Chi-Chi hopped on and didn't fall through. She sat in front of Goku, her back pressed against him—there wasn't much room left on the cloud.
"Let's go, Mai! To the perv!" Goku shouted.
Kinto'un rocketed forward, jolting them so hard Goku and Chi-Chi nearly tumbled off. Instinctively, Goku grabbed her to steady them.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!" Chi-Chi screamed, whipping her head back and smashing his nose with her skull.
Mai, flying close behind, saw the scene—and for some reason, suddenly grabbed onto Goku from behind, squeezing him tightly into her.
"Mai, chill! Your breasts are in the way—I can't see!"
Meanwhile, Chi-Chi was beet red, whispering to herself, "Now that he's touched me in that spot... I have no choice but to become his bride..."
After about an hour of flying over the ocean, Goku—drenched and irritable—finally snapped, "This is pissing me off!!"
"Your language, honey~ Fufufu," Chi-Chi giggled, still blushing.
"Honey...? Anyway, why are you wearing that?"
"Wearing what?"
"That bikini armor!"
"Why wouldn't I wear armor, silly? It's for protection!"
"Okay... but why a bikini?"
"Because Frypan Mountain is hot, duh."
There was a pause. Mai and Goku both looked at her in silence.
"...You got a point," Goku admitted.
"Hmph! I should be asking you! Why is she wearing that—inappropriate bunny outfit!?"
Chi-Chi glared at Mai and silently added, And why is she clinging to him like that!?
"...True," Goku replied after a beat. "I guess we're the weird ones."
Finally, a small island came into view.
"There it is!" Mai shouted.
"Yo! What's up, Gramps?!"
Master Roshi was, for some reason, sweeping sand off the beach. He turned around at the sound of Goku's voice and squinted. "Would you look at that! It's Kinto'un… and the boy I gave it to!"
Goku hopped off the cloud. "How've you been since then, Gramps?"
"Oh, I've been fi—" Roshi paused mid-sentence as his eyes locked onto Mai, still perched on Kinto'un in her bunny outfit. Her curvy, athletic figure caught the full sunlight. His jaw practically dislocated.
Roshi waddled up to Goku, rubbing his beard, and whispered, "I see you've got taste, my boy..."
"Don't come any closer to me," Goku deadpanned, backing away.
Roshi turned toward Chi-Chi next. "And you! You've shrunk a lot since last time! Back then you were liiiiike this." He made an obscene gesture with his hands, suggesting an impossibly large chest.
"EHHHH!?" Chi-Chi twitched violently.
"That's Gyūmao's daughter, Gramps," Goku explained.
"Oh, Gyūmao!" Roshi chuckled. "Good man, good man."
After some quick back-and-forth explaining the situation, Roshi nodded. "Alright, I'll let you borrow the Bashōsen…"
"THANK YOU SO MUCH!!" Chi-Chi exclaimed, clasping her hands.
"But only on one condition," Roshi added.
Goku squinted. "Oh boy. I can already smell the BS."
Roshi put an arm around Goku and leaned in like they were sharing state secrets. "That girl you brought—the one with the massive boingy-boings…" He subtly pointed at Mai. "I want to touch her… boobs."
"That's it?" Goku blinked, genuinely confused.
Mai often crushed and squeezed him into her breast, so the request didn't seem like much to him. But then he turned to look at her. She'd noticed the stare and turned away, blushing—and the motion made her breasts jiggle slightly in her tight outfit. A drop of sweat slid down Goku's temple.
Why did I never notice…? Or did I just get used to it...?
He frowned, conflicted. What should I do...? I need that fan, but I don't want him touching her… Even though she's nothing to me… right? And it's her decision anyway... ARRGGHHH.
Then an idea sparked.
"Okay!" Goku grinned. "But only after the job is done. You don't even know if the fan will work. When the fire's gone, we'll come back and let you do… whatever."
Roshi's eyes lit up. "You promise you'll come back!?"
"Yeah, yeah."
Roshi rushed into his house to find the Bashōsen. As he disappeared, Mai and Chi-Chi walked up to Goku.
"What was the condition?" Chi-Chi asked.
"Nothing," Goku replied smoothly. "Just some old man stuff."
He changed the subject before they could press further—masterfully redirecting the conversation like a true manipulator.
A few minutes later, Roshi came back out—empty-handed.
"Ah... right. I threw that fan away."
Goku facepalmed. "Seriously?! After all that?!"
"No choice," Roshi declared. "I'll come with you!"
"Yeah? And do what exactly?" Goku muttered, sitting cross-legged on the ground, knocking his heels together in irritation.
"Insolent brat," Roshi grumbled. "You should be honored! You're in the presence of Muten Roshi-sama!"
"We are, Muten Roshi-sama!" Chi-Chi shouted with starry eyes.
Mai knelt on Kinto'un, sitting on her feet as Roshi tried to climb up grabbing onto her thigh.
SMACK!
She slapped him across the bald head, knocking him clean off the cloud.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" she yelled, floating off to retrieve Goku instead.
She lifted him easily, and as she pulled him to her lap, Goku turned to look back at Roshi with a smug, arrogant grin. The look clearly said: I win.
Roshi dusted himself off and called for his backup ride—a flying, rotating turtle contraption—before they all took off toward Frypan Mountain.
Oolong was the first to spot them returning.
"Hey! They're back!"
The group dropped down from Kinto'un, landing just outside the burning Frypan Mountain. Goku hopped off first, followed by Mai and Chi-Chi. Oolong ran up.
"So? Did you get the fan?"
"Nope," Goku replied flatly. "He didn't have it."
"WHAT?!"
"He said he'd come himself. And… well, here he is." Goku jerked his thumb behind him.
Master Roshi wobbled down from his ridiculous flying, rotating turtle-copter, completely dizzy. "My ears are burning..."
Gyūmao gasped. "Muten Roshi-sama! It's been a while!"
After a few minutes of introductions and chaos, Roshi shuffled over and poked Goku with his staff.
"Hey… remember our promise."
"Yeah, yeah," Goku replied dismissively.
"I still don't get how he's gonna put the fire out," Goku added.
Roshi took off his vest, revealing a shriveled, bony body—little more than skin stretched over a skeleton. He turned toward Bulma with a wink. "Sexy, ain't I?"
"SHUT UP AND HURRY!!" she barked, red-faced.
He climbed up onto a low wall, wobbling like he'd fall any second. Everyone watched as his tiny body began to tense—his muscles inflating like balloons, growing thicker and tighter until he looked like three Gyūmaos stacked together.
"There it is!" Gyūmao shouted behind him. "Muten Roshi-sama's KAMEHAMEHA!!!"
Everyone held their breath, even Goku.
From the distance, Yamcha and Pu'ar still lurked behind some boulders.
"It's really him…" Yamcha whispered. "That's the Muten Roshi. His Kamehameha is said to concentrate life energy into a beam of destruction... I never thought I'd see it with my own eyes."
Roshi joined his hands together in front of him.
"KA... ME…"
He slowly pulled them to his right hip, energy crackling around his fingers.
"HA... ME…"
Then, with a burst of force:
"HAAAAAA!!!"
A brilliant blue beam surged from his palms, tearing across the land like a lance of light. It shot straight into the mountain, cutting through the towering inferno.
Gyūmao, Chi-Chi, Pu'ar, and Yamcha stood frozen, jaws dropped.
But meanwhile—
"Huh?" Goku, Bulma, Mai, and Oolong all muttered in unison.
Because Roshi's beam didn't just blow out the flames—it obliterated the mountain. The entire castle went up in a massive, earth-shaking explosion.
"GAAAAAHH!! IT'S ALL GONE!!" Bulma screamed, yanking her hair.
"I traveled all this way, collected all those Balls… and you just blew everything up?!" Goku yelled.
"You don't seem impressed, boy," Roshi said, raising an eyebrow.
"I could've done that myself!"
"I think Goku's blast was bigger," Oolong muttered, arms crossed.
Roshi blinked. "Kid… you know how to do a Kamehameha?"
Bulma, Mai, and Oolong all nodded in unison.
Gyūmao and Chi-Chi turned in shock. "WHAT?!"
Goku scratched the back of his head. "Well… yeah? Is that… weird?"
Roshi's eyes gleamed. "Show me. Right now."
While Bulma, Mai, and Oolong sifted through the rubble looking for the Dragon Ball, Goku stepped forward.
"Show you…?" he muttered.
Is it really that rare? I just pushed myself during training to shoot energy blasts… I thought everyone did that in this world. Damn.
"Come on, son!" Gyūmao encouraged.
Goku raised his hand, two fingers extended in a makeshift aiming pose. He locked onto a steep mountain far in the distance. Energy surged through his body. His clothes rippled from the force. Sparks danced along his arms. A glowing orb began to form at his fingertips—small at first, then rapidly swelling in size.
The energy gave off shockwaves, stirring the dust and shaking the air.
"This kid…" Roshi muttered in awe.
Even Yamcha was too stunned to speak.
The ball suddenly blasted from Goku's fingers, ripping through the sky with a thunderous boom. It struck the distant mountain—and a delayed explosion lit the horizon. The shockwave hit seconds later, rattling the ground and knocking back their hair.
As the sparks around Goku faded, he finally lowered his hand.
"Muten Roshi-sama, this is unbelievable!" Gyūmao said, turning to the old master. "Have you ever seen anything like that?"
Roshi's face was grim.
"Not since… Piccolo Daimaō."
"He's Son Gohan's grandson, after all," Gyūmao added.
"He is?!" Roshi blinked. "Even so… Gohan was never at this level. Not even after a hundred years…"
Roshi stepped toward Goku. "Say, kid. Come to my house. Let me train you."
Goku's face darkened with thought.
Was that really his limit? That Kamehameha… it was strong, but mine was way bigger. Is he holding back? He must be way stronger than me…
"Okay, old-timer… after I finish getting all the Dragon Balls."
But his voice faltered at the last sentence.
After I get the Dragon Balls… I'll head back to my world…
He froze, realization dawning.
Wait. What did I just say?
"What's your answer, boy?" Roshi repeated, nudging him with the staff again.
"…I'll see. After I finish my current quest," Goku replied, giving a vague nod, still lost in thought.
Somewhere deep in his mind, a thread tugged at him—something he'd forgotten. Something that didn't belong to this world.