"Just now... that little guy used Soru?!"
"He used Soru to send Major Bogard flying?!"
"He learned it just by looking at it once??"
The Marines stood there dumbfounded, their jaws hitting the floor and their eyes bulging out like cones. Their shocked expressions captured the absolute turmoil they felt inside.
As the reality set in, many Marines felt their world crumbling. Some were on the verge of collapsing, while others covered their faces and sobbed in grief.
"A twelve-year-old kid learned one of the Six Powers in a single glance. I'm thirty-five, I've been in the Marines for thirteen years, and I haven't mastered a single technique..."
"Thirteen years? I've been here for twenty..."
"Waaaah! I'm useless! I'm trash!!"
"Mom, I don't want to live anymore! Waaaah!!"
"Huh? What's wrong with them?"
Standing where he had just kicked Bogard, Goku looked at the hysterical Marines with a confused expression, unable to fathom what was happening to them.
"T-This... how is this possible?!"
Rubbing his reddened forehead, Bogard stood up, his eyes filled with disbelief.
There was no mistake! What Goku had just used was definitely Soru!
But how? This shouldn't be happening! It was absolutely impossible!!
Known as a genius himself, it had taken him four months to master Soru. And now, he had just witnessed someone learn it after seeing it once??!
*Is this kid a monster?!*
He stared intently at Goku, who looked completely nonchalant, seemingly unaware of the massive shock he had just caused.
"Hey! Did you learn that before?" he suddenly barked at Goku.
"Learn what?" Goku asked, looking back with a dazed expression after being distracted by the other Marines.
"That!"
Bogard used Soru to appear right in front of Goku, his expression dead serious.
"That thing? No, I've never learned it," Goku replied honestly.
"Never? Then how did you just do it?"
"Is it that strange? I just watched you do it once and I figured it out."
"..."
Looking at Goku's innocent and puzzled face, Bogard's eye twitched violently. It felt like a knife had been plunged into his heart.
The pain—it was too much!
Had he, Bogard, never actually been a genius this whole time?
And more importantly—
How could someone say something so earth-shattering with such casual indifference, as if it didn't matter at all!
Suppressing the urge to cough up blood, Bogard kept a stiff face and said harshly, "Fine. You say you learned it in one go? Then watch this one. Let's see you learn this!"
Being naturally gifted in the Six Powers, he had mastered more than just Soru; he knew two others as well.
And both of those were much harder to learn than Soru.
"Watch closely! This technique is called Moonwalk. It took me eight months of hard work to master!"
After speaking, Bogard leaped into the air. Just as gravity began to pull him down, he kicked against the air itself, defying physics to propel himself further upward.
It looked as though he were climbing an invisible staircase in the sky, a truly stunning sight.
"It's Moonwalk! Using immense leg strength to step on the air and stay suspended... that's the technique I've always wanted to learn but never could!"
A Marine cried out in awe, his eyes full of envy.
After all, Moonwalk was unique among the Six Powers. It allowed a person to walk through the sky briefly, effectively granting them the ability to fly like a bird.
Whether for utility or just for show, it was a move countless Marines dreamed of mastering.
Unfortunately, like the other Six Powers, it was far beyond the reach of an ordinary person.
"He's flying? That's amazing!"
Seeing a human fly without any tools for the first time, Goku couldn't help but be impressed.
Back in the day, he relied on the Flying Nimbus Master Roshi gave him to fly. Now that the Nimbus was gone, he was grounded.
Consequently, he was extremely interested in the technique Bogard was demonstrating.
"Stepping on the air?"
He observed Bogard's movements for a few seconds, then tried jumping. His short legs kicked out in the air.
But nothing happened, and gravity pulled him back to the ground.
"Heh heh, little squirt. Can't learn this one, can you?"
Bogard landed back on the ground, crossing his arms with a confident, smug expression.
"I bet you've seen Soru somewhere before and practiced it in secret. No matter how much talent someone has, it's impossible to learn it in a single glance!"
He rambled on, his words dripping with the absolute certainty that he had uncovered the truth.
Goku ignored the chatter and simply jumped a few more times to experiment.
After landing from the fourth attempt, he stopped and looked at Bogard with a grin. "I've already learned it!"
"Look, kid, it's normal to have a bit of vanity. I get it. But in this case, you—"
Bogard, who was already shifting into a lecture on vanity, froze mid-sentence. He shook his head and sighed.
"Sigh, you're just a kid after all. I guess that ego isn't going away anytime soon."
With that, he turned to leave, ready to end the farce he had started.
He had realized that trying to compete with a child much younger than him was beneath his dignity.
Even if he won, what would it matter? Would people really praise him for beating a child?
But just as he turned around and began his first step, he saw the surrounding Marines looking up in unison. Their mouths hung open as if they were witnessing a miracle. "He... he's flying!"
What?!
He whipped around and looked up. A small figure was bobbing up and down in the sky.
"Yahoo! I'm flying! This is so much fun!"
Goku had his arms spread wide in the air. Every time his body began to drop, he kicked his feet, soaring upward as if he were stepping on solid ground.
Getting into the spirit of it, he even threw in a few somersaults, treating the air like a trampoline.
Bogard: (‧̣̥̇꒪່⍢꒪່)
This was crazy. The world must have gone crazy.
No, maybe he was the one who had gone crazy.
His eyes remained vacant for a long time. It wasn't until Goku landed and asked him how he did that he finally snapped out of it.
After a long silence, without saying a word, he leaped into the air and swung his right leg toward the sea with immense force.
A crescent-shaped blue shockwave sliced through the air, tearing a small rift in the surface of the water.
"This is called Tempest Kick. Can you learn this?" he asked Goku, his face devoid of emotion.
"Tempest Kick? I'll give it a try."
Goku blinked, then turned around to start his attempt.
...
Half a minute later, upon seeing a rift in the sea slightly larger than the one he had made, the light died in Bogard's eyes. His face became as stiff as a mummy's.
Ignoring the scene of the Marines swarming around Goku and showering him with praise for being a peerless genius, Bogard—whose ears had long since gone deaf to the world—stumbled away in a daze toward a deserted corner.
He tilted his head back.
Bitter tears streamed down his face.
"Waaaah! I'm not a genius! I'm just trash!!"
—