Chi-Chi, Goku, and Krillin were still small children,
but they shone brilliantly in the preliminaries and quickly earned everyone's respect.
"Contestants number 23 and 29, please step onto the stage!"
After several fights, Chi-Chi's confidence surged.
"It's my turn again. I'm going up, Krillin! Goku!"
Goku encouraged her. "Yeah, go for it, Chi-Chi.
This is the home stretch now—only strong opponents are left. Be careful."
Chi-Chi nodded. "Mm. Thanks, Goku. I will!"
She hopped onto the ring.
A woman stepped up opposite her.
She had refined features, a curvy, dazzling figure, and a beauty mark on her face that made her especially alluring.
Too bad for her…
her opponent was a little girl.
Her beauty was useless here.
Her name was Ranfan—she was supposed to be one of the top eight this year.
Unfortunately, she'd run into Chi-Chi.
Ranfan raised her guard and studied Chi-Chi.
"You, that bald boy, and that short kid are all wearing the same uniform.
You're from the same school, right?"
Chi-Chi copied her stance.
"Yep. The three of us are together!"
Ranfan smiled. "You're all young, but I can tell you're really strong.
Your master must be incredible too, huh?"
Chi-Chi replied proudly, "Mm. Our master is very strong.
He's the Martial Arts God—Master Roshi!"
"What?!"
"Master Roshi—the Martial Arts God?!"
The crowd gasped.
"No wonder those kids are so strong."
"They're disciples of Master Roshi!"
"Wow… unbelievable!"
Ranfan stared in shock. "If you're Master Roshi's student, then your strength makes perfect sense!"
Chi-Chi kept her stance, looked Ranfan over once, then said,
"Our Master Roshi is strong, but he's also a huge pervert.
If you want to become his student, he'd probably be thrilled to take you—
but a sexy lady like you would definitely get groped by that old lech."
Ranfan froze, speechless.
People around them snickered, covered their mouths, and whispered among themselves…
Behind Chi-Chi, "Jackie Chun" stood there with a black line on his face.
"Ahh… that girl has zero tact. She's totally embarrassing me."
Just then, the referee shouted, "Start!"
Ranfan rushed Chi-Chi, hoping to catch her off guard.
Chi-Chi took a kick to the stomach, lost her balance, and fell.
Ranfan gave her no room to breathe—she followed with an elbow strike,
then plopped down on Chi-Chi's back, pinning her hard to the ground.
Chi-Chi lay face-down without a sound.
Krillin panicked. "Oh no! Chi-Chi got careless!"
Goku shook his head. "She's fine. Don't underestimate her."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Seeing Chi-Chi down, Ranfan was overjoyed. She jumped up and turned to the referee.
"I win!"
But the referee didn't announce anything.
Neither did the other officials—every one of them was staring past Ranfan…
at what was behind her.
Ranfan's heart lurched. She spun around.
Chi-Chi was already standing casually, brushing dust off herself like nothing happened.
"Wow, I didn't think I'd gotten this strong.
Those attacks didn't even hurt."
She looked at Ranfan. "My turn now!"
She swung her tiny fist forward.
Ranfan's face went pale. She staggered backward. "No, no, no…
I give up! I surrender!!!"
"Contestant number 23 wins!"
"You will advance to the finals of the World Martial Arts Tournament!"
"Chi-Chi's in the finals! She's amazing!"
"Second bracket—contestants number 70 and 79…"
Before long, Krillin and Goku also won smoothly and entered the finals.
The three of them clustered together, celebrating happily.
Just then, a handsome young man approached them.
"Good. So you came to the tournament too.
This time I'm going to wash away my humiliation!"
Krillin, Chi-Chi, and Goku all turned.
Goku blinked.
"You're… Yamcha?"
Yamcha froze too.
"What?
I don't even know your name—how do you know mine?"
Goku said, "Does that matter?"
Yamcha snorted. "Yeah, fine, it doesn't.
Back in the desert, you knocked out several of my teeth.
Today I finally get my revenge!
For a whole year I trained insanely hard.
I've made it to the finals.
I hope we meet on the ring so I can defeat you with my Wolf Fang Fist and repay that disgrace!"
A small smile tugged at Goku's face.
"Sounds about the same as me.
This year I trained happily—
I even started to really like training from the bottom of my heart.
So if we meet, I won't lose to you either.
Try not to get knocked out by someone else first."
Yamcha stared at him for a moment, then left.
Chi-Chi and Krillin looked curious.
"Who was that?" Chi-Chi asked.
"He tried to rob us in the desert when I was searching for Dragon Balls with Bulma. I beat him up."
Chi-Chi nodded. "Oh, I see.
There used to be lots of bandits around my home too, but after the big fire was put out,
my dad stopped robbing people.
After that, there were fewer bandits in that area."
Krillin grinned. "All three of us made it to the finals!
How about we go tell Master Roshi the good news?"
Hearing that, Jackie Chun hurriedly dropped his disguise and slipped back into the stands.
Taking three disciples was exhausting.
And the finals were about to start—he had to rush back in costume soon.