Yunba caught Krillin with a kick and followed him into the air, hammering him with a combination that ended with Krillin crashing back to the ground hard enough to leave a crater.
Yunba hovered above him with a broad grin, clearly convinced the fight was over. That confidence lasted until a hand emerged from the crater and beckoned him closer with one finger.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Before Yunba could make sense of it, a sharp rush of ki came screaming toward him from behind. He twisted aside on instinct, and a Kienzan sliced past his cheek close enough to make him break into a cold sweat.
Another fraction of a second and it would have taken his head off.
Krillin sprang out of the crater and immediately took control of the Kienzan again, curving it back toward Yunba. He flew upward to avoid the returning disc, only to laugh when it continued straight toward Krillin instead.
"You idiot! You're going to cut yourself in half!"
The Kienzan passed directly through Krillin.
Yunba's laughter died when the image in front of him faded away.
"I'm over here!"
Krillin's voice came from behind him. Yunba spun around to find the real Krillin already gathering a huge amount of ki between his hands.
Yunba's expression changed, but there was nowhere left to dodge.
"Kamehameha!"
The blast engulfed him at point-blank range and drove him out of the sky. Yunba slammed into the ground in another violent explosion, and by the time the smoke cleared, he was sprawled unconscious at the bottom of a crater.
Krillin finally allowed himself to breathe. The fight had been much harder than he wanted to admit, but the two months of training had paid off.
He waved over the pair of Galactic Patrol officers assigned to support him. "Can you guys take it from here?"
"Of course. We'll make sure he's returned to the Galactic Prison."
The two patrolmen bowed gratefully before moving to secure Yunba.
Krillin was about to go check on the other battles when an angry scream came from the nearby forest.
"You disgusting old man! Where do you think you're looking?!"
A second woman's voice followed almost immediately.
"You pervert!"
Krillin slowly turned toward the trees just in time to see Master Roshi come flying out of them. The old martial artist bounced across the ground several times before finally rolling to a stop.
"Ow..." Roshi rubbed his swollen cheek. "Those three are feistier than they look."
Krillin landed beside him. "Master Roshi, are you okay?"
"Oh, Krillin." Roshi pushed himself upright and gave the forest a remarkably grave look. "They're formidable opponents. I couldn't touch them."
Krillin gave him a suspicious stare.
Roshi quickly corrected himself. "I mean my attacks couldn't touch them."
That clarification came just in time for Miza, Iwaza, and Kikaza to emerge from the forest, all three furious. Their clothes had been roughed up during the struggle, and judging from the murderous looks aimed at Roshi, the old man had behaved exactly as badly as Krillin feared.
Miza pointed at him. "You filthy old creep! You've been staring at us this whole time!"
Roshi grinned shamelessly. "If I'm going to die anyway, I might as well enjoy the view first."
Krillin covered his face with one hand. There were some things no amount of martial arts training could fix.
Roshi seemed to realize the same thing. He pulled out a strip of black cloth and tied it firmly over his eyes.
Krillin blinked. "What are you doing?"
"I can't concentrate while I'm looking at them," Roshi admitted with a sigh. "This way I can focus entirely on the fight."
Krillin stared at the blindfold, then at Roshi. "Wouldn't not being able to see make touching them even more exciting for you?"
Roshi paused.
"You know, that actually—" He caught himself before the thought could go any further. "Stop trying to corrupt my state of mind!"
Miza, Iwaza, and Kikaza were practically shaking with rage.
"Like master, like student!"
Krillin opened his mouth to protest that he had done absolutely nothing, but the three prisoners were already attacking.
Roshi never removed the blindfold.
Without his eyes distracting him, his movements became much calmer. He slipped around attacks from two of the women and caught the third as she came in from the side, redirecting her momentum before she could land a hit.
"What the hell?" Miza snapped. "Why is he better with his eyes covered?"
Roshi continued moving through their attacks with almost irritating ease. Whenever one of them committed to a strike, he was already somewhere else, responding to their movements without needing to see them directly.
"You girls still have time to stop this," he said. "Keep living like criminals and eventually it catches up with you. Go back to the Galactic Prison, serve your time, and maybe you'll come out better for it."
"As if we'd ever go back there!" Miza shouted.
"The blindfold is the only reason I can fight you properly," Roshi replied. "Without it, my mind keeps wandering."
That explanation only made them angrier.
Iwaza looked toward Miza. "Should we use it?"
Miza had clearly reached the same conclusion. "Yeah. Enough playing around."
Kikaza moved beside them, and all three immediately began merging together. Their bodies overlapped and compressed into a single form, growing larger and heavier until the three attractive prisoners had been replaced by one enormous fused warrior with a powerful, bulky frame.
Krillin stared up at her. "They can fuse?!"
Roshi heard the change in his voice and immediately pulled off the blindfold.
The moment he saw what had happened, his face fell.
"They're not cute anymore!"
Krillin's alarm had much less to do with her appearance and much more to do with the surge in power. "Master Roshi, we've got a problem!"
The fused prisoner moved far faster than her size suggested. She crossed the distance before Krillin could properly defend himself and buried a fist in his body, launching him across the battlefield until he crashed headfirst into the ground far away.
"Krillin!"
Roshi barely had time to turn before a kick slammed into him next. He disappeared through the trees in a shower of broken branches and leaves.
Krillin dragged himself free of the ground and looked toward the forest where his master had vanished.
"Master Roshi!"
Deep among the trees, Roshi groaned and rubbed his head.
"That really hurt..."
Whatever advantage he had gained by fighting blindfolded had just disappeared along with the three women.
Their fusion was on an entirely different level.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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