Son Goku gathered all his strength to take a punch from Saitama, transformed by Rhode, but still couldn't block it. He was sent flying backward and fell out of the Martial Arts Tournament ring. Thus, the champion of this World Martial Arts Tournament was crowned: Saitama, transformed by Rhode.
At this moment, seeing Son Goku, who only knew how to resist head-on but not how to adapt and dodge, Saitama, transformed by Rhode, was quite speechless. It seemed Goku still had a long way to go before becoming a true Martial Arts Grandmaster.
After Son Goku was blasted out of the ring, Rhode's clone appeared by his side immediately and used Recovery Technique on him, dispelling the damage Son Goku had sustained and restoring him to full health.
"Thank you, Mr. Rhode!" With his body fully recovered, Son Goku stood up and immediately thanked Rhode's clone. However, his gaze then fell upon Saitama, who was receiving congratulations from the entire arena. Thinking of the punch he couldn't block even with all his might, he couldn't help but mutter, "He's really strong!"
"Hehe." Hearing Son Goku's heartfelt emotion at this moment, Rhode's clone beside him couldn't help but smile: "He is indeed very strong!"
"Huh?" Rhode's words of agreement reached his ears, and Son Goku's face immediately filled with surprise: "Mr. Rhode also thinks he's very strong?" In Son Goku's eyes, both Rhode and Aira were incredibly powerful, far surpassing him by many levels, because he couldn't sense their power at all. Although that Bald Saitama on the stage was also very strong, his aura wasn't much stronger than his own. It was just that his application of power was superb, allowing him to instantly defeat him. However, at this moment, that bald man had actually received Mr. Rhode's approval, which was very terrifying. Therefore, Son Goku was very surprised, after all, anyone Rhode acknowledged as strong must be extraordinary.
"Indeed, very strong, comparable to me!" Facing Son Goku's surprise, Rhode's clone nodded seriously: "When he fought you, he hid his strength, only using power at the 100,000 Battle Power level."
"He's that strong?!" Hearing that the bald man on the ring was actually comparable to Mr. Rhode, Son Goku couldn't help but feel shocked. However, thinking about it, it made sense. Although he felt he was very strong, he didn't sense that the opponent was hiding his strength. He just didn't know how strong his full power truly was? At this moment, Son Goku was full of curiosity about Bald Saitama and really wanted to witness his true strength. However, Son Goku also knew his own limits, knowing that his current self was no match at all. It seems he needs to train even harder in the future, Son Goku thought silently.
"Alright, let's go back. Summarize this competition well and make up for your shortcomings." Now, with the champion decided, the World Martial Arts Tournament came to an end. Although there would still be an award ceremony for the champion's medal and prize money, Rhode directly used Time Stop, letting his clone transform into Saitama to handle those troublesome matters. He himself returned to his original appearance and then led everyone back to the West City Martial Arts Hall.
The Martial Arts Hall covered a large area, and only a few people lived in the back half. Therefore, many rooms were empty. During the initial training phase of the young ones, cleaning those empty rooms was also part of their training. Now that Bardock, Gine, and Raditz had come to Earth, the houses on Mount Paozu couldn't accommodate them, so the three temporarily stayed at the Martial Arts Hall. Of course, Goku, who had just reunited with his family, was no exception and did not return to Mount Paozu, also temporarily staying at the Martial Arts Hall. However, even with Goku's family of four, and the accompanying Bald Krillin and Yamcha, the total number of people in the back of the Martial Arts Hall, excluding staff for the cafeteria and cleaning, was only about a dozen. This was still insignificant compared to the vast Martial Arts Hall.
"You can use the training facilities in the Martial Arts Hall as you please, but don't damage them. Alright, everyone is free to do as they wish." After leading everyone to visit the Planet Yardrat-like training facilities, the Gravity Chamber, the restaurant, the cafeteria, and their respective residences, Rhode let everyone move freely and no longer paid attention to them.
As for Rhode himself, after a brief relaxation following the World Martial Arts Tournament, he focused his energy on further increasing his power. Rhode's current power was already terrifying. Previously, when he first broke through to Super Saiyan, his normal state power limit was one billion Battle Power. After reaching this level, the rate of increase became slow again. And after breaking through to Super Saiyan 2, the increase in power became rapid again.
At that time, in the Time Chamber, he helped Aira break through to Super Saiyan 2 and also trained himself to control Super Saiyan 2's power until he perfectly mastered it, even going a step further, able to stack Great Ape Power before stopping. By then, Aira had also broken through to Super Saiyan 2, and the two began to increase their normal state power.
Compared to Super Saiyan's normal state limit of one billion Battle Power, after breaking through to Super Saiyan 2, the normal state limit surged tenfold, reaching ten billion Battle Power. After the normal state power reached ten billion Battle Power, the rate of increase became slow again. However, with the research and control of his own Ki, and the development of techniques, this deepening process was also a kind of self-organization and introspection. Therefore, in the process of developing techniques, Rhode seized the opportunity to further break through to Super Saiyan 3.
Compared to Super Saiyan 2's normal state limit of ten billion Battle Power, after breaking through to Super Saiyan 3, the normal state power limit surged tenfold again, reaching one hundred billion. However, after breaking through to Super Saiyan 3, because Aira had not yet broken through and temporarily could not reach the state of Super Saiyan stacking Great Ape Power, the two could not spar. Therefore, Rhode began to train alone. That is, after transforming himself with the Basic Modification Technique, his lifespan reached several thousand years. After that, he made some progress in the Intermediate Modification Technique, and his lifespan increased again.
As a result, Rhode was able to quickly and precisely control Super Saiyan 3's power by leveraging the time difference in the Time Chamber, and in a short period in the real world, he once again raised his normal state power to its limit. Otherwise, if it were only his original lifespan, it would probably take at least several decades in the real world to perfectly control Super Saiyan 3 and raise his normal state power from ten billion to one hundred billion.
In other words, Rhode's current normal state Battle Power has already exceeded the one hundred billion limit, and he has perfectly mastered Super Saiyan 3 power. Next, in addition to continuing to research and comprehend Time-Space Power, Intermediate Modification Technique, Forced Fusion Technique, and Autonomous Ultra Instinct, he will further break through the limits, thereby being able to quickly increase his power again.
Aira has already put one foot into Super Saiyan 3, and a breakthrough is only a matter of time. Once she successfully transforms into Super Saiyan 3, with the Time Chamber, she will be able to master her power and raise her normal state Battle Power to its limit again in the shortest possible time. Although there is a gap in combat power between the two because Aira cannot temporarily stack Great Ape Power in Super Saiyan state, Rhode still wants to advance to a new level.