(Gohan P.O.V)
It's been a year since I began training my grandson and new disciple, Yamcha. He had no prior knowledge of fighting, so I had to start with something much more approachable for a beginner. Fortunately, I knew a bit of boxing from my other life, I'd practiced it as a teenager for fitness and never took it too seriously, but I was at least competent. Boxing would lay the foundation of basic combat skills for my student. Goku didn't really need that, fighting comes naturally to him as a Saiyan, but after watching me teach Yamcha, he insisted on learning boxing too.
Besides the conditioning workouts, which Yamcha called a disguised torture, we did boxing training in the afternoons after lunch. Over the course of that year, I was able to observe, in a more 'scientific' way, how the human body grew stronger with such super‑intense training. Not that I was any kind of scientist for in‑depth analysis, but I knew the limits of a normal human.
After observing and analyzing Yamcha's evolution through his ki, I realized that the presence of ki itself was what drove the body's evolution beyond "normal" standards. The body still needed rest due to the stress caused by training, but ki, even if the person didn't know how to use it consciously, made this type of training possible.
Over the past year, I've also maintained my own training regimen. Although I can't reach high levels of physical exertion due to my age, I've been able to rapidly improve my ki usage. The Yardrats' training methods are truly exceptional. Everything from my control to the quality and quantity of energy I use has improved, and I've been able to be even more ambitious with the techniques I've attempted to recreate.
I was standing beneath a waterfall far from my home. It was night, and I was taking advantage of the time when my grandson and student were asleep to train. This has been my routine for the past year. At that moment, I was trying to recreate a technique from one of the anime series I watched with my son. I have been working on this for six months and realized that one of the issues was how I was shaping my ki. For that reason, I have devoted more time to improving my control using the Yardrat methods.
(Narrator in 3rd Person P.O.V)
Old Gohan stood before the waterfall. His torso was bare and drenched in sweat, his breathing uneven, and faint tremors ran through him from time to time. But those tremors were not from the chill of the damp air, they came from the relentless effort of his self‑imposed training that night.
"Urgh… One more time… I'm almost there…" Gohan muttered between heavy breaths.
He inhaled deeply through his nose and exhaled slowly through his mouth. He repeated this for a full minute, until his breathing steadied. Then he straightened his posture. His ki began to flow around him in a calm current. He raised his arms deliberately. His heart pounded. His ki, once placid, now pulsed and expanded before contracting all at once into a thin, softly glowing aura.
Gohan planted his feet firmly. His left arm lifted slightly, while his right hand drew in close to his torso, fist clenched. His ki focused on a single point, forming a bright sphere around his fist. In one swift motion, Gohan swung his fist in an upward arc. The ki in his hand erupted, taking the shape of an Eastern dragon. The blast shot toward the waterfall and soared into the sky. The roar of falling water ceased for several seconds.
The ki‑dragon created by Gohan's strike continued to climb. The elderly warrior watched the sky long after the technique had vanished from sight.
"It's almost perfect…" Gohan whispered to himself.
"Recreating the Rozan Shōryūha from Saint Seiya is far more complicated than I thought, haha…" he added. "I'm close, this technique will be complete once I reverse the flow of this waterfall!"
During that night, Gohan continued to practice and correct the new technique until dawn.
Meanwhile, after dawn on a small island where the infamous "God" of Martial Arts, Muten Roshi, better known as Master Roshi, lived, it was possible to see the silhouette of the old master leaving and preparing a small boat while being accompanied by the Sea Turtle that lived with him.
"Master, why are you packing so suddenly? Are you going on a trip?" asked the turtle.
"I've spent a whole year thinking since Gohan's last visit, he informed me of many unbelievable things…" Roshi said, "Knowing that he fused with a wandering soul is surprising." Roshi continued.
"Your student is strange master, besides those memories he adopted an Alien without thinking twice!" pointed the turtle.
Roshi gave a light laugh as he scratched the back of his neck.
"You're right, but he's still my favorite student hahahaha" Roshi laughed.
He paused for a few moments before continuing to explain the reason for his trip to his longtime friend.
"But knowing that Piccolo Daimao could resurface after Mutaito-Sama's sacrifice scared me. For a while, I thought we were lost, and I sank into self-pity. But in the last exchange of letters with my student, he opened my eyes. No enemy is invincible. He may be strong, but he is not insurmountable. He told me how his grandson, Goku, defeated that demon after drinking the ultra-divine water in Karin's tower..." Roshi paused for a moment.
"Will you drink this magic water, master?" asked the turtle.
Roshi looked at the turtle for a few seconds before answering.
"No," Roshi said firmly.
"I know I won't survive if I take a single sip of that poisonous water. The path to becoming strong has no shortcuts, and I also can't stay still wallowing in my vices that I developed as an escape for my sadness. Mutaito-Sama would be ashamed of me. I'll be leaving for the island to the southwest. I usually go there to train my students, but now I'll go for my personal training. Likewise, I need to prepare for a possible fight with Piccolo!" Roshi said with conviction.
"But master, Gohan might be wrong and Piccolo might never resurface!" said the turtle, trying to reason with the old man. He was worried about his friend doing something that might hurt him. After all, there was no certainty if what Gohan said was what would actually happen.
"Yes, but still, my student is training even in his old age for this unlikely scenario… As his master, I cannot stand by and let him fight a difficult battle alone!" Roshi said.
"You're coming with me, turtle!" Roshi stated.
Roshi then dragged the sea turtle onto the small boat, the old master dismantled his house, turning it into a capsule and storing it in his pocket, and then set off for the training island full of determination to overcome himself and prepare for a possible dark future.
'Gohan said that in that comic he read in his other life that told the adventures of his grandson there was a technique of the gods that moved the body automatically and without wasting any energy, each part of the body will move without the need to use the brain's commands, due to moving instinctively, giving greater speed and an advantage against opponents who can move at great speed.' Roshi thought
"I should start trying to get to something close or similar to that…" Roshi whispered to himself as he steered the boat towards the training island to the southwest.
The boat then disappeared over the horizon that morning, marking the beginning of a great change for both that old master and the future of that planet.
(Yamcha P.O.V)
"Come on, use your hips to help with the punch, if you don't use hip rotation your punch won't be any different from an amateur's!" said Master Gohan.
I was learning to box, after a year of torture disguised as training, I finally started to learn how to fight.
"You say that, but how should I use my hips? The demonstration you gave was very quick, and you only showed it once, too!" I complained.
Master Gohan looked at me and laughed softly. If I hadn't known it was a laugh of satisfaction at seeing me curious, I'd have thought he was just joking, but before he could answer, Goku, the old man's grandson, decided to speak up.
"But it's quite simple, look!" he said.
He demonstrated the "Jab" perfectly, it was identical to what the master had done, these moments reminded me that that child younger than me was a genius, despite having someone who evolves so fast that it becomes discouraging so close to me, this only motivated me even more to surpass him, when I turned to Master Gohan he still had a discreet smile.
"Goku may be talented at learning, but he's a horrible teacher and assistant, hahahaha" Master Gohan laughed.
"This better not take away your motivation to improve yourself, come, I'll show you and explain properly how the Jab works!" said Gohan.
I followed the master to a nearby tree, master Gohan stood next to a tree and asked me to watch.
"Boxing has simpler, easier-to-learn moves, especially when compared to other martial arts. Remember that, Yamcha. The most important thing here isn't how pretty your punch looks, nor how much weight you lift, nor how strong you are, but how well you use what you've learned," Gohan said firmly.
"The jab we're currently working on is very versatile; you can use it to measure distance, cut off your opponent's rhythm, open up space for other strikes... or just keep him at bay." The master explained.
Despite the difficult words, I could easily understand what he meant.
"The important thing here is to know that the movement starts not with the punch itself, but with the back foot of your base." Gohan continued explaining, looking at me while pointing to his own demonstration.
"You push off the ground with your back foot, generating momentum. Your front foot stabilizes your base. The force travels up your legs, through your hips, which you rotate at the right moment, and then your shoulder follows suit. Only then does your arm come into play and the punch lands. That's a well-executed jab."
I saw it all happening in front of me, he executed the move again, with precision. Now I understood every part of it.
"The conditioning training we have done so far has served to build strength and endurance beyond human limits, however, without knowing how to utilize this new strength, there is no point in getting stronger than that." The master said.
Master Gohan then turned to the tree that was beside him.
"A jab executed with an ordinary physique can knock out an ordinary person, but a jab with a superhuman physique goes further!" said Gohan, getting into position.
That jab was different from the demo.
Just like the one shown to me before, it was perfect, but it was also faster and incredibly powerful. When the master's fist met the wooden trunk, I thought the wood would crack or something, but Gohan's arm went through the solid wood trunk as if it were paper. For a moment, everything was silent. The tree, badly damaged, gave way. The sound of the trunk falling to the ground snapped me out of my shock.
"What you saw just now was the result of a body trained for years. You can do something similar, but your hand will probably end up injured because it's not calloused enough!" said Gohan. "We'll continue practicing the jab, and we'll also callous these fists so they don't get hurt."
My heart was pounding, I was excited to learn more things, however I had forgotten, this friendly looking old man was sadistic when it came to training.
"We'll wrap a cloth around your hand, and you'll punch a tree 100 times!" He said with a cheerful smile.
My days were numbered, that was a certainty for me…