London, England. 1991.
In a dark, damp, and filthy alleyway, Goku's silhouette slowly flickered into existence.
"What a weird place!"
He looked around, a look of mild surprise on his face. This time, he had appeared in another alley, but it didn't feel like a normal one. On either side of the narrow street were strange shops with even stranger displays.
Some shop windows featured shrunken heads lined up in rows; others displayed massive black spiders suspended from hooks. The entire place felt eerie and oppressive.
Of course, this meant nothing to Goku. He had seen far creepier things at Fortuneteller Baba's palace—demons, ghosts, and mummies were old news to him. He'd even traveled to the Demon Realm to fight Shula and his horde of ghouls.
*Grumble...*
Goku's stomach roared again. He'd fallen asleep on the plane before dinner, so he was waking up with a serious calorie deficit.
"I wonder if spiders that big taste good roasted?"
He walked over to a shop on the left and pressed his face against the glass, staring at a cage full of black spiders the size of washbasins. He couldn't help but drool a little.
However, he restrained himself. If these were out in the wild, he'd have caught and cooked them in a heartbeat. But this was a city; the spiders were inside a shop, which meant they belonged to someone. He'd learned over the years that you shouldn't just take things without the owner's permission.
"Amazonian Giant Wolf Spider. Its venom makes a perfect base for a paralytic potion."
A hunched old man wearing pitch-black wizard robes poked his head out of the shop. His face was so wrinkled it looked like it could trap flies in the creases, and he wore a predatory grin.
"You could slip a drop into the tea of a classmate you dislike. By the next morning, you'd never have to see them again. Only three Galleons a bottle—a bargain!"
"I don't have any 'Galleons,'" Goku replied honestly. "But do you still want those spiders after you take the venom out? If you don't, can I have them to roast and eat?"
"Roast and eat? You little brat, are you mocking me?"
The old man's expression soured instantly. He reached for a wand tucked into his belt, paused, and then let it go. "Scram! If you've got no gold, don't block my storefront!"
It was rare to see a wizard this young in Knockturn Alley. He'd hoped to swindle some pocket change out of a lost pureblood kid, but it turned out the boy was just a penniless beggar.
In the old days, he might have used a Killing Curse just for the insult, but he was a business owner now. If he killed a child in broad daylight and the Aurors investigated, he'd lose his shop.
Goku didn't mind the old man's rudeness. Instead, he asked with polite curiosity, "Old Grandpa, is there anyone really, really strong around here? I want to have a duel!"
'Is this kid an idiot?' the old wizard wondered.
A boy who looked like a second or third-year student wanted to challenge the "strongest" in Knockturn Alley? Was he suicidal? As London's most notorious black market, the alley was a revolving door for Dark Wizards with high bounties on their heads. These criminals didn't mind killing; they'd just Apparate away before the Ministry showed up.
The Aurors didn't even care much about what happened here. Knockturn Alley was the unofficial "trash heap" of the wizarding world. If you went there to buy illegal goods, you accepted the risk of being murdered.
"See that man over there? The one with the mustache walking out of the shop?" The old wizard's eyes gleamed with a sudden, malicious light as he pointed across the street.
A middle-aged wizard carrying a briefcase had just stepped out of *Borgin and Burkes*. The shopkeeper recognized him: Alek Neil, a Dark Wizard wanted by the German Ministry for a Muggle massacre. He was quite powerful.
If the boy got himself killed by Alek, the Aurors would swarm the man. The old shopkeeper didn't have a personal grudge against Alek, but an investigation would mean *Borgin and Burkes* would have to close for questioning. And if his biggest competitor was closed, his own business would boom.
"He's the strongest one here," the old man lied with a wicked grin.
Goku looked toward the mustachioed man and immediately marched over, cutting him off.
"Hello, Mister! My name is Son Goku. Can you duel me?"
"Where did this brat come from?"
The man, Alek, drew his wand instantly, his instincts on high alert. When he saw it was just a kid, his expression shifted to one of pure annoyance. He flicked his wand casually.
" !"
He didn't want to catch a murder charge his first week in England, so he used a Full Body-Bind Curse instead of a lethal spell. His wand tip glowed, and the spell hit home.
Goku, not expecting a "sneak attack," felt a strange energy wrap around him like a heavy, invisible spiderweb, locking his joints in place. The sensation was familiar—it felt almost exactly like General Blue's telekinesis from the Red Ribbon Army days.
But Goku wasn't the same boy who had struggled against General Blue.
"Hah!"
With a sharp kiai, Goku flared his Ki and tensed his massive physical power. Through sheer brute strength and internal energy, he literally shattered the magical binding. The invisible constraints evaporated into thin air.
"You really *are* a master!" Goku chirped, bouncing on his toes. "Let's start the real duel now!"
"What?!"
Alek, who had already started to walk past the "statue" of the boy, froze and spun around. His jaw dropped.
Across the street, the old shopkeeper was equally stunned. Breaking a Body-Bind through sheer physical force? Did this kid have Troll or Giant blood? Even a weak curse from a first-year student couldn't be broken by a normal adult through muscle alone—let alone a spell cast by a seasoned Dark Wizard.
***
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