Goku and Krilin entered the Tenkaichi Budokai arena with Master Roshi supervising their participation. They were ready to proceed with the preliminary selection before the main tournament event. Krilin was visibly nervous and a little scared, while Goku was buzzing with excitement at the thought of finally finding someone who could give him a real challenge.
Before Roshi let them go, he called them over. "I almost forgot—here, it'll be easier to fight in these."
Roshi handed them a set of clothes. They went to change and emerged wearing the iconic orange gi with the "turtle" kanji emblazoned on the back.
"Isn't this a bit flashy?" Krilin worried. "If we lose, we're gonna look ridiculous."
"Another musty gi?! What's up with this world and these ugly clothes!" Goku complained, clearly unhappy with the traditional style.
"Hold on a minute!" He removed his arms from the upper body of the gi, letting the top half hang behind him attached to the lower part. "Now it looks cool!"
Ready to proceed, Roshi called Goku over and told him to come close.
"Here," Roshi said, reaching into his pocket.
"What?! Why?!" Goku protested as Roshi covered his eyes with a piece of cloth, making him completely blind.
"This is your next training challenge," Roshi explained.
Krilin looked surprised at first, but then smiled knowingly. "Yeah, I mean, we gotta have some chance to win too!"
"Listen carefully," Roshi continued. "You can't remove that blindfold until the tournament is completely over. Oh, and no using your ki."
"WHAT?!" Goku exclaimed, but reluctantly accepted his fate.

Krilin grabbed Goku's hand to guide him, and they headed inside the building.
"This is fucking embarrassing..." Goku muttered, blushing as other fighters stared at the strange sight.
---
Inside the arena, Goku remained blindfolded while Krilin marveled at the sheer number of fighters present, describing the scene to his sightless friend. The diversity and skill level of the competitors was intimidating.
The referee called out for all participants to draw numbered balls to determine their bracket positions and opponents.
Krilin began shaking. "I lost all my confidence after seeing all these fighters!"
Both Goku and Krilin drew their balls from the selection box.
"What's my number?" Goku asked.
Krilin glanced at it and answered, "Seventy! I got ninety-three!"
They made their way to the tournament bracket board to check their positions.
"Gegehh! We're in the same elimination block! I don't want to fight you!" Krilin cried out in dismay.
"Our numbers are pretty far apart—we're not gonna fight each other right away," Goku reassured him.
One of the referees called out for all third block fighters, which included both Goku and Krilin. They gathered around the fighting ring, still holding hands so Goku could navigate.
"What a cute couple! Hwahwahwa!" a group of cocky fighters jeered at them.
"I hate this shit!" Goku mumbled, his face turning red with embarrassment.
The referee announced the next match: "Numbers sixty-nine and seventy, please enter the ring!"
"It's your turn!" Krilin said encouragingly.
Goku felt around until he found the edge of the mat, then climbed onto the elevated fighting platform.
"The fact that I can't see is stressing me out a little," Goku admitted quietly.
"Just keep going straight for four steps and you'll be in the center of the ri—HIIIIII!!" Krilin suddenly stopped mid-sentence, his voice rising to a terrified shriek.
"What's wrong?" Goku asked, standing in complete pitch-black darkness.
"The guy is HUGE!" Krilin gasped.
Goku's expression shifted to a smug smirk. "That's good..."
"Why?!" Krilin couldn't understand his friend's reaction, but Goku didn't answer.
The referee positioned both fighters. "What the hell is that tiny thing supposed to be?" Goku's opponent sneered, looking down at the blindfolded boy.
Goku stood perfectly still, listening intently.
"BEGIN!" the referee shouted.
The massive wrestler immediately charged toward Goku, intending to finish the fight quickly. He clenched his right fist—which was easily the size of Goku's entire head—and swung with full force, using his hips and shoulders to generate maximum power.
"IT'S OVER!" he bellowed as his enormous fist hurtled toward Goku's forehead.
The big man had a confident smirk on his face as his attack approached its target. But suddenly, he felt something grab his wrist with an iron grip.
"Huh?!" the wrestler grunted in confusion.
"Now I know where you are," Goku said menacingly.
With his opponent's arm locked in his grasp, Goku now had a perfect reference point for his target. The big guy began to panic and tried to pull his arm free, but it wouldn't budge even a millimeter.
Goku shifted his stance, rotating his right side forward while maintaining his grip with his left hand. In one swift, fluid movement, he delivered a lightning-fast, seemingly light punch with his rear hand.
The strike caved in the massive wrestler's belly, making his eyes bulge out comically as he vomited from the impact. The punch was so incredibly fast that most of the spectators didn't even see it happen—except for Krilin, who broke into a wide, proud smile.
Hearing the sound of regurgitation, Goku quickly let go and jumped backward, not wanting to get dirty from the aftermath.
The enormous fighter collapsed face-first onto the mat with a thunderous crash.
"S-seventy... victorious..." the referee announced in complete shock, still trying to process what he had just witnessed.
Krilin immediately jumped onto the ring, beaming with happiness as he guided his blindfolded friend safely off the platform.
"Why were you so happy when you knew he was big?" Krilin asked as they walked away from the ring.
"Because big guys tend to rush in immediately without thinking," Goku explained. "That's better for me in my condition—I can use their aggression against them."
"Oh, I thought it was something more complicated than that," Krilin replied.
After several more preliminary matches, the referee's voice boomed across the arena: "Numbers ninety-three and ninety-four!"
Krilin jumped at hearing his number called. He looked up at the ring to see his opponent, and his face went pale.
"Geh! Se-senpai!" he began trembling uncontrollably.
Standing on the platform was his former bully from the monk school—the same senior student who had made his life miserable for years.
"Goku... help me, I'm gonna get beat up!" Krilin said, his voice shaking with fear.
"Listen to me, Krilin," Goku said seriously. "Don't go full out—you'll kill him!"
"I know he's gonna kill me!" Krilin was too stressed and frightened to properly listen.
"No! You still don't understand your own strength!" Goku tried to convince him, but Krilin was already climbing onto the ring in a panic.
His senpai spotted him and grinned maliciously. "Krilin, is that you? Long time no see! Since it's been a while, I'll give you some extra special care!"
"AWAWAWA!" Krilin continued trembling like a leaf.
"BEGIN!" the referee shouted.
The senpai immediately charged forward and threw a straight punch directly at Krilin's face. But something strange happened—Krilin could see the attack coming in what seemed like slow motion. The punch that once would have been too fast for him to react to now looked telegraphed and clumsy.
Krilin effortlessly jumped to dodge the strike and landed gracefully behind his opponent. Using the spring in his legs, he dashed forward and delivered a powerful kick to the senpai's stomach. The force folded the bully in half like a chair and sent him flying into the arena wall with a tremendous crash.
"Ninety-three wins!" the referee announced.
Krilin stood there in complete disbelief, staring at his own hands. He ran toward Goku with tears in his eyes.
"I... I won," he said, his voice filled with wonder.
"I know you won, you idiot! I told you to restrain yourself..." Goku sighed, then smiled. "Well done!"
With a wide smile spreading across his face, Krilin jumped onto Goku and gave him a massive hug.
Goku and Krilin continued fighting their way through the preliminaries against increasingly pathetic opponents. Finally, they reached the deciding matches that would determine who qualified for the actual Tenkaichi Budokai tournament. Only eight fighters would be chosen to compete for the prize.
Goku stood in the ring, facing his final preliminary opponent—a normal-looking middle-aged man who carried himself like a true martial arts master. Unlike the previous opponents, this man had been carefully observing Goku's fighting style and had developed a strategy.
Around the ring, a familiar face watched from the crowd.
"I heard there was a really strong kid competing. I should have expected it would be you, Goku!" the observer muttered. "But why is he blindfolded?"
It was Yamcha—he had entered the tournament as well.
"BEGIN!" the referee called out.
The master decided to test the waters first. He approached the blind Goku slowly with feather-light steps and delivered a quick, restricted flash punch. The moment it made contact, Goku's hand shot out trying to grab him, but the master had already withdrawn his attack.
This close call left the master scared and sweating.
"Nice play! I wasn't expecting you to retract it so fast!" Goku said with an unintentionally menacing tone. "Watch out—I'll be ready for the next one."
Frightened by Goku's reaction, the master quickly circled to Goku's right side with silent steps and attempted a leg sweep. But the instant his shoe touched Goku's foot, Goku's hand flashed down and grabbed the master's pants.
Terrified, the master tried to run away by force, but this only resulted in his pants ripping completely off, leaving him standing in his underwear.
"Stop running around—this fight is dragging on," Goku said casually.
"Hehe, you can't touch me, so you can't defeat me!" the master said with false confidence, trying to maintain his dignity despite his embarrassing state.
Goku heard his voice and pinpointed exactly where he was standing.
"I don't need to touch you to defeat you," Goku replied calmly.
"Huh?"
Goku spread his arms as wide as possible, pulling them back as far as they would go. Then, with incredible speed, he brought them together in front of him, creating a massive thunderclap. The resulting shockwave blasted forward like a hurricane, sending the pantsless master flying out of the ring entirely.
"RING OUT! Number seventy advances to the Tenkaichi Budokai!" the referee announced in amazement.
Krilin immediately jumped onto the ring and grabbed Goku excitedly. "You made it!"
He carefully escorted his blindfolded friend off the platform.
The referee then called out: "Number ninety-three, you're up!"
It was Krilin's turn for his final preliminary match. He entered the ring to face his opponent—a massive bear wearing a white gi, standing upright and looking surprisingly civilized for a wild animal.
Goku stood calmly next to the ring, listening intently to the sounds of Krilin's fight to try to determine what was happening. Behind him, a familiar voice called out.
"Goku!"
He turned toward the sound. "Great job! You made it to the Budokai!" the voice said with genuine enthusiasm.
Goku tilted his head. "Who are you?"
"Rogafufuken!" came the reply.
"Yamcha!" Goku exclaimed with genuine happiness at recognizing his old companion.
"Did you make it into the Budokai too?" Goku asked.
"Yes, I trained hard for it! But I don't think I can beat you now..." Yamcha paused, studying his blindfolded friend. "Plus, what's with that blindfold?"
"Something related to training," Goku said simply.
Just then, Krilin knocked out his bear opponent with surprising ease.
"NUMBER NINETY-THREE WINS! ADVANCES TO THE TENKAICHI BUDOKAI!" the referee announced.
"Is he a Muten Roshi-sama disciple too?" Yamcha asked.
"Yeah... His name is Krilin. We trained together," Goku replied.
Krilin came running toward them with pure joy radiating from his face.
"By the way," Yamcha mentioned, "Bulma, Oolong, and Puar are here too."
"Bulma's here too?!" Goku's face lit up with excitement.
After their qualification was complete, Krilin wanted to announce their success to Master Roshi, while Goku was eager to see Bulma and the others. They headed outside the preliminary building where the spectators were gathered.
Meanwhile, Master Roshi had already met up with the group.
"Long time no see," Roshi greeted Bulma warmly.
"Oh! Kame Sen'nin!" Bulma replied. "Where do you live now? I went to the island to see Goku, but there was nothing there!" She sounded a bit frustrated by the wasted trip.
"We moved to a bigger island for Goku's training," Roshi explained, then his expression became hopeful. "Where's the other pichi-pichi gal?"
"Gross! Mai's not here—I haven't seen her since she left!" Bulma replied with disgust.
"You're worse than me," Oolong mumbled under his breath.
Suddenly, he felt someone fiddling with his ear. "Hey, creep! What the he—" He turned around and was shocked to see Goku standing there blindfolded.
"I bet that's Oolong," Goku said calmly.
Oolong's eyes began to fill with tears of disbelief, and he jumped onto Goku, wrapping him in a huge hug. "GOKUUUU!"
Hearing Oolong's shout, Bulma immediately turned around. Oolong released the hug but grabbed Goku by the arms.
"Long time no see! Why are you blindfolded?" Oolong asked.
"Well, it's for trai—ghu!" Before Goku could finish his explanation, Bulma had pulled him into her own embrace, squeezing him tightly against her.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU COME VISIT ME?!" Bulma shouted at him, her eyes shining with unshed tears as she shook him back and forth.
"Hehehe, I'm sorry," Goku said, getting jostled left and right in her grip.
Goku introduced Krilin to everyone, and then Master Roshi approached to ask how the preliminaries had gone. They explained that all three of them—Goku, Krilin, and Yamcha—had qualified for the main tournament.
In the background, the announcer's voice boomed over the speakers, declaring that the tournament was about to begin.
Krilin grabbed Goku by the arm and pulled him away from Bulma's embrace. "We have to go!"
"See you later!" Goku called out as he was led away.
"Wait!" Bulma reached out, but they were already moving. "He's already gone..." she said sadly, watching him disappear into the crowd.
Oolong looked around and noticed someone else was missing. "Where did gramps go?"
Inside the Tournament Building
All eight qualified fighters had gathered in the preparation area. The blonde referee began taking attendance, calling out each name with official ceremony.
"Namu-san?"
"Yes."
"Gilan-san?"
"Hm."
"Bacterian-san?"
"Ghehe."
"Yamcha-san?"
"Yeah."
"Krilin-san?"
"Ye—YES SIR!"
"Son Goku-san?"
"Here."
"Ran-Fan-san?"
"Tehehe."
"And Jackie Chun-san?"
"HOI!"
With all fighters accounted for, they each drew numbered balls from a box to determine their tournament brackets and opponents.
The referee announced the first round matchups:
**Battle 1:** Krilin vs. Bacterian
**Battle 2:** Namu vs. Ran-Fan
**Battle 3:** Yamcha vs. Jackie Chun
**Battle 4:** Goku vs. Gilan
The tournament was about to begin, and each fighter prepared themselves mentally for the battles ahead.