✍️ Author's Note
> Now you can probably feel it, right?
Yes — this story is inspired by Dragon Ball Z.
And yes — it can cross the multiverse.
---
⏳ Five Months Later
Five months had passed.
Five months of mountains.
Cold mornings.
Crushing weight.
Silent pain.
Leo stood at the edge of the pit.
So did Chen Wei.
For the first time in months—
they reached behind their backs.
The stones fell.
BOOM.
Iron bands were unlocked.
Heavy weights dropped from their wrists…
their ankles…
their spines.
The ground shook as if relieved.
Chen Wei rolled his shoulders.
"…Feels lighter," he said.
Leo exhaled slowly.
"Too light."
They stepped back.
Bare hands.
Bare feet.
Fighting stance.
The mountain went quiet.
---
🍃 The Leaf
A single leaf drifted down from above.
Slow.
Gentle.
The moment it touched the air between them—
They vanished.
Not fast.
Gone.
No shockwave.
No sound.
Just absence.
The leaf split in half.
A thousand strikes clashed in less than a heartbeat.
The mountain cracked.
Then—
Silence.
Leo and Chen Wei reappeared.
Five fists met five fists.
THUD.
They smiled.
Behind them, the sun rose—
painting the peaks gold.
---
🚌 The Return
They stood before the same broken, terrifying bus.
Rusty.
Crooked.
Laughing at gravity.
Chen Wei stared through the window.
"…This thing looks worse than before."
Leo smirked.
"It survived us. That's enough."
The bus rumbled forward.
The road hugged the mountain edge.
Too close.
Chen Wei watched the valley below.
"…If this falls," he muttered,
"I'm haunting you."
Suddenly—
A massive rock broke loose above.
It fell straight toward the bus.
Passengers screamed.
The driver froze.
Before impact—
Leo jumped.
The bus tilted dangerously.
In one motion, Leo caught the falling rock—
and slammed it back into the cliff.
CRASH.
The road stabilized.
The bus rolled forward again.
Chen Wei stared.
"…You didn't even breathe."
Leo climbed back inside.
"Let's go," he said calmly.
"Kathmandu's waiting."
---
👁️ Something Watching
As the bus moved on—
Leo looked up.
The sky felt wrong.
Floating above the clouds—
was something unfamiliar.
Not a god.
Not a dragon.
Not anything from Dragon Ball.
Its body was slender.
Its eyes—
sharp.
Cat-like.
Cold.
Chen Wei felt it too.
"…Do you see that?"
Leo nodded.
The presence smiled.
A destroyer.
Something else.
Something new.
"Who are you?" Chen Wei asked softly.
The being said nothing.
It only watched.
And then—
It disappeared.
---
🌄 End
The bus continued toward Kathmandu.
The tournament awaited.
But something beyond the tournament had already arrived.
---
END OF CHAPTER 43