All in all, things had finally settled down.
Everyone stayed in West City for a few days.
Son Gohan didn't particularly care where he lived, but the city was too noisy. Comparatively, Mount Paozu was peaceful and quiet, a much better place for retirement.
That said, spending time every day with the inexplicably leisurely Dr. Brief, walking cats and playing chess, turned out to be quite enjoyable. Dr. Brief was quite the character, and Son Gohan was an interesting old man himself. The two got along surprisingly well. If it weren't for Tights stopping them, these two old pals might've happily gone off to a bar to watch strippers together…
Gine, aside from having a tail, was no different from an ordinary Earth woman—perhaps even more pure-hearted than most. Mrs. Brief adored her, and they had a sort of best-friend dynamic. She often took Gine shopping or to beauty salons. And when they inevitably got into trouble for flirting with handsome men, Gine didn't even need the hidden bodyguards to step in—she could handle it single-handedly.
As for Bardock, he naturally spent all his time training.
Each day, he spent about an hour sparring with Yamiru and Son Goku.
Son Goku was enthusiastic about it, even though he ended up getting beaten to a pulp by his father every single time… Yamiru, on the other hand, was suffering. He wasn't a Saiyan and didn't share their masochistic battle instincts. To be honest, such one-sided beatdowns weren't helping him improve much. He wasn't even sure if Bardock had realized this… At any rate, he certainly couldn't tell any difference in the intensity between when Bardock was pounding on him versus when he was pummeling Son Goku…
For the rest of the time, Yamiru and Son Goku trained separately, while Bardock continued his training alone in the gravity chamber.
The gravity chamber had excellent soundproofing, shock absorption, and light blocking, making it nearly impossible to tell what was going on inside from the outside. But once, Yamiru and Son Goku had peeked through the window—and in just a few days, Bardock had already cranked the gravity up to… 50 times Earth's gravity!
Inside, Bardock trained wearing nothing but a pair of pants, barefoot and shirtless, pushing himself until his body was covered in wounds before stopping.
Sometimes, he even beat himself half to death by accident. But then, just like Goku in the manga, with an unimaginable tenacity, he would crawl to where the Senzu Beans were stored, pop one into his mouth…
Fully restored!
"Vegeta insisted on having Krillin beat him half to death instead of doing it himself… I do remember there was a rule that 'self-inflicted injuries don't work'…" Yamiru mused. "So both Bardock and Goku ended up pushing themselves to the brink of death during training, but without the deliberate intent to abuse the Zenkai boost… That's probably how they circumvented the restriction against self-inflicted injuries."
Time passed, day by day…
They had resurrected Bardock and Gine at the end of 742. Now, the year had quietly turned over to 743.
One day, out of boredom, Bulma decided to check on Bardock using a Scouter.
Beep… beep…
The Scouter on her eye emitted rapid beeping sounds. She blinked as the numbers on the lens skyrocketed.
"…19,000… 20,000… 21,000…"
As the numbers soared, the beeping grew more frantic.
"It's still going up… huh?"
"Hm?"
Not far away, Yamiru halted his sparring with Son Goku and turned to look at Bulma. Sensing danger, he left behind an afterimage as he dashed toward her. In the next instant, the Scouter on Bulma's face was gone. Yamiru had already stopped behind her, holding the device in his hand.
Boom!
The Scouter exploded in his palm. Yamiru exhaled in relief.
Unlike Cui, this little girl wasn't a soldier—if the Scouter had exploded on her face, at best she'd be disfigured, and at worst, it could have shattered her eyeball.
"That was close…"
Tights, frozen mid-sip of her drink, rushed over to her sister. "Are you okay?"
Bulma was startled. "Thanks, Yamiru! That really scared me. I didn't expect it to explode!"
Looking at the smoking remains of the Scouter in his hand, Yamiru murmured, "Bardock's battle power must have exceeded the detection limit…"
In the manga, Goku had trained in a similar way—after just five days (with the last day reserved for rest), he had gone from a battle power of over ten thousand to ninety thousand after training under a hundred times gravity on his way to Namek.
And Bardock had been training this way for nearly half a month. Even if the effect wasn't as pronounced, how much weaker could he possibly be? Or rather—why would he be weaker than Goku?
Bardock had single-handedly clawed his way from a low-class warrior to one of the strongest Saiyan fighters, only slightly below King Vegeta. He was the last warrior to stand against Freeza.
"..."
Yamiru gazed up at the sky.
"Perhaps it's time to leave."
Son Gohan approached, asking what had happened.
Upon hearing the explanation, he also looked toward the gravity chamber—outwardly unchanged, but within, Bardock's power was growing day by day… A force so overwhelming it was almost terrifying.
Son Gohan commented, "A high-gravity environment forces you to use ki to protect your body and organs. That should be a very effective way to refine and enhance ki. But… this kind of progress is unbelievable. Saiyans are truly astounding."
"Saiyans grow stronger when they survive the most difficult trials," Yamiru recalled. "That's what Bardock told me before. I gave him some Senzu Beans from Korin, and he's probably almost out by now."
At some point, Gine had also walked over. She had started to develop a sense for ki, so she could faintly perceive Bardock's energy.
She shook her head worriedly. "No, it's not that simple. Our Saiyan physiology is no secret, but no one has ever deliberately tested it…"
"For normal people, even losing an arm could be fatal," Son Gohan said slowly. "But for a warrior like Bardock, his extraordinary willpower and resilience mean that to truly push him to the brink of death, the injuries would have to be severe enough to instantly kill an ordinary person… The stronger a person is, the closer the threshold between 'near-death' and actual death. Conversely, the weaker someone is, the further apart those two lines are—but their fragile will and vitality wouldn't be able to endure it…"
Yamiru mused to himself, "So at the level of a Super Saiyan, if you still want to apply the 'near death + recovery = massive power increase' formula, does 'near death' have to be replaced with 'injured to the point of only having a brain core left'? Only a freak like Cell could survive that kind of 'near death' injury… In the end, 'near death' is too vague of a term. Does exhaustion count as near death? What about starving to the brink of collapse…?"
Son Goku stared at the gravity chamber, lost in thought. The kid actually had his own ideas, especially when it came to martial arts, though he was still somewhat immature for now…
The next day, Son Gohan prepared to leave.
After spending too much time in the city, the old man felt stifled and wanted to return to Mount Paozu for some fresh air.
Bardock and Gine decided to go with him since Son Goku also preferred living in Mount Paozu. The gravity chamber was in capsule form, making it convenient to carry. Besides, both Bardock and Gine were among the strongest fighters on Earth, and their flight speed was unmatched. Honestly, even if they traveled on their own, it wouldn't take them long to reach their destination.
"Yamiru, aren't you coming back with us?"
Son Goku sat on the Flying Nimbus, noticing that Yamiru wasn't planning to leave with them.
Bardock held onto Son Gohan while Gine floated beside them, gazing down at the people on the ground.
"No," Yamiru replied, looking up as he waved with a carefree smile. "Korin said my path is on the ground, so I plan to travel around and see where it leads me."
"Oh yeah? Well, I guess that's that." Son Goku grinned. Before leaving, he asked from atop the Nimbus, "Yamiru, are you going to enter the next World Martial Arts Tournament?"
Hearing the question, Yamiru thought for a moment before finally answering, "No. I won't be participating. What about you?"
"Me?" Son Goku wagged his tail, smiling innocently. "If you're not joining, then I won't either! Dad is really strong, you know? I think I can still get even stronger…"
Yamiru gave a genuine smile and looked at Son Goku on the golden cloud. "You definitely can, Goku."
"You have to keep training too, Yamiru! I haven't beaten you yet~!" Son Goku chuckled, then urged the Nimbus forward. "See you later, everyone~!"
Yamiru waved at the three figures in the sky. "Master, Uncle Bardock, Aunt Gine, see you next time."
Son Gohan gave a gentle nod, his smile tinged with concern.
Bardock and Yamiru exchanged a brief glance. A surge of white energy flared around Bardock, and after a quick look at Bulma's family, he simply said, "Goodbye." With a sharp boom, Bardock shot into the sky like a white comet, disappearing beyond the horizon. Gine waved one last time before flying away as well.
"It really is cool to fly through the sky like that…" Mrs. Briefs waved enthusiastically.
Dr. Brief took a drag of his cigarette and shook his head. "Ever since Bardock showed up, my understanding of the term 'superhuman' has been redefined over and over again… To think someone could survive under 100 times Earth's gravity. If his body weight is around 60 kilograms, that means he's bearing six tons! And that's not even accounting for the strain on his internal organs… Saiyans are truly unbelievable."
"You're really not entering the next tournament?" Tights asked from the side.
Yamiru gazed up at the sky without answering.
Bulma, completely unfiltered, blurted out, "You don't want to lose to Goku, right? Their whole family is ridiculously strong… No need to push yourself."
This time, Yamiru nodded, exhaling softly before saying with a self-deprecating smile, "Maybe that's it."
"So, what's your plan from here?" Dr. Brief puffed on his cigarette. "You're welcome to stay here if you want."
Mrs. Brief teased with a giggle, "I think you and Tights could get married anytime~"
Yamiru turned his head. "What do you think?"
"I haven't really thought about it…" Tights replied indifferently. "It still feels like a far-off thing."
"Same here." Yamiru felt the same way. He didn't care much about the formalities of marriage. These days, breaking up and divorcing had little consequence, so naturally, dating and marriage weren't a big deal either. What truly mattered was the bond between two people within those structures—their genuine feelings for each other. Given their respective backgrounds and abilities (whether in strength or family wealth), Yamiru and Tights surprisingly saw eye to eye on this.
Yamiru said, "Before reviving the Dragon Balls, I plan to travel around…"
"Oh yeah, you sealed the Dragon Balls in a rice cooker. And that weird wish you were thinking about…" Tights nodded, then curiously asked, "If you're traveling, where are you planning to go?"
"All over the world," Yamiru said. "Last time, I was too focused on rushing to my destination and didn't really get to see anything."
Tights raised her hand. "Then I'm coming with you. Last time you almost died a bunch of times traveling alone."
Yamiru chuckled and replied warmly, "Alright, let's go together."
Dr. and Mrs. Briefs exchanged a knowing smile and quietly left with Bulma.
Yamiru and Tights sat on a garden bench, discussing their upcoming year of travel. Tights had a few places she'd been wanting to visit for a long time, and now that Yamiru could fly, they absolutely had to see them together… They chatted and laughed for a long time, never feeling the least bit tired of the conversation.
——————
Bardock: 96,283
Gine: 750
Yamiru: 140
Son Goku: 130