Chapter 3: The Old Master and the Mountain Beast
The second day of my new training regimen began before the sky had even finished mourning the stars. Mist curled along Fire Mountain's slopes like lazy ghosts. My breath came in clouds, but my body was already drenched in sweat. The 3-ton ankle cuffs clanked like funeral bells with each step as I lunged up the incline, dragging a boulder by rope across my back.
Stussy watched from a velvet chair she'd somehow lugged out to the cliffside, reading a novel and sipping peach tea.
"Six minutes slower than yesterday," she called out, without looking up.
I grunted. "Add three more tons tomorrow."
"Try not to die before lunch," she replied. "Goku's expecting fish stew."
---
Meanwhile, just beyond the peak of a neighboring hill, a bald head gleamed in the morning sun.
Master Roshi crouched low in the grass, binoculars pressed to his face, mouth agape as he watched me pull off the final stretch of my climb. I had no idea he was there—at least not yet.
"Sweet Kami," he whispered. "Since when did the Ox King train like this?"
He adjusted the focus, his eyes twitching as he spotted the weights on my legs. Then the boulder the size of a sedan trailing behind me.
And then… Stussy.
"Oh-hohoho, what do we have here?" Roshi smirked, zooming in. "Is that a woman? On Fire Mountain? With style, legs, and books? This calls for investigation."
He leaned too far over the edge.
The bush beneath him snapped.
Roshi screamed—quietly—and tumbled down a slope, right into the hot spring runoff channel. Steam rose as he faceplanted into muddy reeds.
I paused mid-step, glancing over my shoulder.
Stussy didn't even look up from her book. "Pervert."
---
Back to Work
After the mountain climb, I shifted to stone golem sparring. Handmade from local boulders and reinforced with ki—simple constructs, but perfect for low-stakes brawling.
The first golem swung wide. I ducked and countered with a crushing gut punch. The stone cracked.
The second tried a leaping slam.
I blocked it with one forearm, shifted my hips, and sent it flying with a backhand.
Garp's power... it's growing.
Already, I could feel my footwork stabilizing, my punches carrying that maritime quake—not just strength, but shock. The kind of force that could floor enemies by the pressure alone. At 12% Garp, I was still in the kiddie pool, but the water was starting to ripple.
I didn't know Roshi was still watching, now using a soggy reed for cover, shivering from his impromptu bath.
"This is not the man I remember…" he muttered, his beard dripping.
---
Lunchtime
Back in the kitchen courtyard, I was cooking blindfolded—literally. A new test I invented. The challenge was to prepare a five-dish meal with zero sight, relying solely on smell, sound, texture, and ki.
The fire was too low? I could feel the vibration in the iron pan.
A fish's bones needed extraction? I visualized its skeletal layout from the weight alone.
Soma's instincts guided my hands like I'd been born in a kitchen.
Goku had woken up by now and watched, slack-jawed, from a barrel he'd half-filled with water for a bath he never took.
"You're like... a cooking superhero!" he gasped.
I chuckled. "Something like that."
Stussy took her usual seat. Roshi, now dried off and dressed like a traveling merchant, finally approached, trying to play it cool.
"Ahem!" he declared, adjusting fake glasses. "Fine day for stew, wouldn't you say?"
I looked up. Goku waved. "Hey Master Roshi!"
Roshi blinked, exposed.
"...Oh well. Worth a shot."
---
The Reunion
After lunch (sweet soy-glazed tuna with fermented rice and charred bamboo tips), I finally sat down across from Roshi. He wiped his mouth with reverence after every bite.
"I've eaten at royal banquets," he muttered. "But nothing like this. What's your secret?"
"Love and obsession," I said. "Also... template integration."
He stared. "Template what?"
I debated lying—but Roshi wasn't stupid. Just perverted.
"Let's just say I've been given... access. To the strength and skills of certain legends. And I have to earn them."
His expression turned serious. "You're not joking."
"No."
He took a long breath, adjusting his sunglasses. "Ox King… I knew you as a gentle man. Strong, but soft. This—" he gestured to the cracked training grounds, the refined food, the intensity in my posture— "is new. Good, maybe. But dangerous."
"I have a daughter," I said quietly. "I have a wife. And I have a world that's going to explode with demons, aliens, and monsters in a few years. I won't be caught off guard."
Roshi leaned back. "Fair."
Goku, meanwhile, was bouncing on his heels.
"Master Roshi! Can Uncle be my training partner when I start with you?!"
Roshi laughed. "Kid, I think he'll be your teacher if we're not careful."
---
Afternoon Training
I let Roshi observe as I shifted into my afternoon regimen.
Ki Suppression Conditioning was next—balancing boulders on my shoulders while lowering my ki output to almost zero. The key was control under stress. Garp was all about pressure-resilience. Soma was about calm under chaos. Between the two, I had to learn not just to endure strain—but to refine it.
Roshi shook his head. "You're going to punch a hole through the planet at this rate."
"Only if I miscalculate the seasoning," I called back.
That got a chuckle out of him.
---
Evening
After training, we all sat together on the veranda. Stussy brought out dessert—sweet rice dumplings with roasted sesame paste.
Roshi had seconds. Then thirds.
He finally sighed. "You know... with food like this and strength like yours, you might actually become a proper king."
I raised a brow. "I thought I already was."
"No," he said, smiling behind his tea. "You were a strong man with a title. But now? You're building an empire. One fist. One dish. One mountain at a time."
---
> Template Progress:
[Garp Template: 14%]
[Yukihira Soma Template: 40%]
And beneath it all, the interface whispered something new.
> [New Template Option Discovered: Yujiro Hanma - Locked]
I froze.
The monster was watching.
And it was hungry.
---
Next Chapter Preview: Roshi proposes a sparring match—Ox King vs. Goku under his supervision. Chi-Chi returns home early and sees her father fight like a hurricane. Meanwhile, deep in the sacred archives beneath Fire Mountain, Stussy uncovers a scroll that might trigger Yujiro's full awakening.