Chapter 378: Why haven"t they come yet?
The next day, early in the morning, the sun was s.h.i.+ning brightly.
All the contestants partic.i.p.ating in the World Martial Arts Tournament arrived at the Martial Arts Temple.
Goku and his colleagues put on the martial arts suit of Turtle School and entered the compet.i.tion hall. The top eight experts of the tournament would be selected via the ring form. Two contestants would be selected from each of the four areas. Of course, luck would also play a large part in it.
“Haha, the martial arts suit of our Turtle School suits me better. I was afraid that Master Ros.h.i.+ wouldn’t prepare it for us, so I had someone make a customized one for me,” Krillin put on the orange-red martial suit emblazoned with the logo of the Turtle School and said smugly.
“I thought so too!” Yamcha’s flexed his wrists, preparing for the tournament. His eyes were br.i.m.m.i.n.g with confidence.
After several years of hard work, Krillin, Yamcha, and Chi-Chi’s strength had made great progress. Even if they were not as powerful as Goku, they were elites and already had their martial arts accomplishments. They no longer sought after victory or defeat.
“Wow, Chi-Chi looks even more beautiful after putting on the cheongsam,” Krillin grinned and said, causing Yamcha to also compliment.
At this time, Chi-Chi had put on a modified version of her cheongsam, specially made for the tournament. The white cheongsam with bamboo drawn on it made her figure even more outstanding.
Chi-Chi stared coldly at them and began to warm up, minding her own business.
Yamcha smiled and said, “Chi-Chi is now a key figure whom Kami is paying attention to and has more prospects than us.”
“Yeah, yeah!” Krillin responded jokingly.
Chi-Chi stamped her foot and said, “You two, believe it or not, I will knock you out in the preliminaries.” Chi-Chi had learned a little divine magic from Kami which could be used to do little things like manipulating the drawing of lots.
“Please no, we were wrong.”
Krillin and Yamcha immediately admitted their mistakes, and inwardly thought, ’You really can’t offend women!’ If Krillin and Yamcha fail to pa.s.s even the preliminaries, they would feel ashamed towards the training they had done for the past few years.
At this time, chewing sounds that came from the corner of the compet.i.tion’s martial arts hall attracted their attention. It was a fat boy in a coa.r.s.e coat. His hair was messy, but Krillin and others sensed a powerful aura emanating from him.
“Who is that boy? Such a powerful Ki…” Yamcha’s expression turned serious.
Goku turned around and calmly said, “His Ki is no worse than King Piccolo from three years ago!”
“Really?” Everyone was frightened as they seriously sensed his aura. Indeed, the fat boy was exceptional, but their current strength, they were confident that could also deal with him calmly.
Suddenly, an icy gaze was cast at them. Goku’s sharp senses felt it and his eyes pa.s.sed through the dense crowd and gazed at a strange man wearing a cloak in the corner of the Martial Arts Temple.
The strange man was also staring at Goku coldly, and then he coldly snorted and turned around.
“Such a cold expression… he looks very powerful. However, it seems like I’ve seen him somewhere. Goku, do you recognize him?” Krillin had a grave expression as he asked. He had sensed the frightening pressure emitted by that person, and he felt his whole body tightening.
“Well, this guy is very powerful, but he is not a good person! No matter who meets him in the tournament, immediately admit defeat; otherwise, it will be difficult to protect your life!” Goku said with a serious tone.
Goku didn’t recognize Piccolo’s ident.i.ty, but Piccolo’s icy and powerful aura made him realize that he had run into his match. Krillin and the others were no match for Goku.
Goku was a little excited as he continued, “But he is a powerful guy. I want to fight him as soon as possible.”
“Are you kidding? Our strength has also improved a lot. Is that guy so strong?” Krillin asked in disbelief. ’Our strength is greater than Kami’s, but there is still someone on Earth who is more powerful than us?’
Goku nodded and seriously warned, “That guy is very strong. He is even many times stronger than King Piccolo! Anyway, be careful.”
“That guy is a demon… He is the new King Piccolo,” Chichi suddenly said.
“King Piccolo… He is still alive?!” Krillin and the others revealed a surprised expression, and even Goku was startled.
Chi-Chi nodded and said, “This is what Kami told me.”
Krillin breathed a sigh of relief, and said to Chi-Chi, “It seems that Kami wants to train you into the new Kami.”
Regarding the inheritance of Kami’s position, Krillin and Yamcha didn’t have any interest.
In their eyes, Goku—who was pure like a blank sheet of paper—and Chi-Chi were the best candidates for Kami’s position. However, between the two, Goku couldn’t stand the loneliness, so only Chi-Chi could be Kami’s candidate.
Moreover, Chi-Chi’s current strength was also somewhat unfathomable. She learned a lot of magic secret arts from Kami, and she had many unique moves that were unpredictable.
“d.a.m.n it! After training hard for three years, I wanted to put up a good performance, but a strong opponent like ‘King Piccolo’ has suddenly appeared. It seems that I can only have Goku deal with that guy.”
Although their strength had improved a lot after training for three years, granting them a potent strength which was much more powerful than that of the previous King Piccolo, they still had no chance of gaining victory against the current King Piccolo. Yamcha swallowed his saliva as he clenched his fists tightly; his face was full of unwillingness.
Yamcha still had the self-awareness that he was no match for the current Piccolo.
Goku nodded seriously. The pa.s.sion in his blood seemed to be surging as his eyes sparkled with excitement. “Leave King Piccolo to me. I’ll fight well!”
“All contestants, I have kept you waiting long enough. The qualifiers are going to begin immediately. Everyone, please gather at the center!” A staff member’s voice was broadcast over the loudspeaker.
All the contestants gathered over. After the host introduced the rules of the tournament, they began to draw lots. Goku and the others were lucky not to be drawn in the same bracket.
On the stage, Goku met his old rival King Chappa.
“Hehe, Goku, after three years of hard work, I am now going to take revenge for the past humiliation!”
However, King Chappa’s current strength was already not at the same level as Goku’s. Goku indifferently looked at his opponent and stood straight on the stage without a.s.suming any defense.
In the end, King Chappa didn’t even know how Goku attacked. He was knocked down by Goku with just one karate chop.
The referee was astonished and it took a long time before he reacted and announced, “Contestant Goku wins!”
“Well, Goku has also gotten so strong, but this is also interesting! Goku, I am going to defeat you in front of everyone!” Piccolo revealed a cold smile, his eyes flas.h.i.+ng with a cold light.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
In another arena, the match was still going on.
At this time, Chi-Chi had already gone on the stage, and she was focused on fighting her opponent. She was quick, and her attacks were rapid and accurate. She defeated her opponent very easily.
“Chi-Chi’s martial arts are much more powerful than ours!” Krillin had his arms folded around his chest as he watched the battle on the arena, his elbow pressing against Yamcha’s arm.
Yamcha speechlessly rolled his eyes, nodded and said, “Even Chi-Chi is more powerful than me. I think it’s better to give up on the idea of surpa.s.sing Goku as early as possible.”
Krillin shrugged his shoulders and said, “I won’t give up.”
The matches in each venue were in full swing. The morning pa.s.sed, and the winners entered the quarterfinals.
The top eight were: Goku, Piccolo, Krillin, Yamcha, Chi-Chi, Shen (Old Kami), Yajirobe, and Cyborg Tao.
“The morning preliminary matches are over. The quarter-final matches will be held on the outdoor arena in the afternoon. Next, everyone would have to come and draw lots!” The host took out the box for drawing lots.
“Chi-Chi, can you divide us into a different match order?” Yamcha leaned towards her face and asked in a low voice.
“OK.” Chi-Chi agreed and manipulated the paper slips in the cardboard box.
The match order:
The first match, Krillin vs Ma Jr. (Piccolo).
The second match, Yamcha vs Shen(Old Kami).
The third match, Chi-Chi vs Yajirobe.
The fourth match, Goku vs Cyborg Tao.
……
After the qualifiers finished, Goku, Krillin, Yamcha, and Chi-Chi walked out of the hall and joined up with Master Ros.h.i.+ and others. After a good meal, Master Ros.h.i.+ and others pushed and squeezed to the front of the tournament’s stands, waving their hands to cheer everyone!
Because of the strong support of Central City, from here on, the martial arts tournament would be broadcast live to the entire world.
Xiaya and Xiling used their qi field to clear an open area. Bulma stroked her light purple hair and giggled before following them in.
“Xiaya, I wanted to ask early on… Are you also a Saiyan?”
Xiaya looked straight at Bulma and said, “You guess!”
Bulma’s face turned black, and she furiously stamped her foot.
On the stage, the first match of the World Martial Arts Tournament’s quarter-finals was already nearing the end. Piccolo was fighting against Krillin.
Krillin was very strong, but his opponent, Piccolo, was even more powerful. Piccolo occupied the upper hand with an overwhelming advantage. In the end, Krillin used his signature move— Destructo Disc, but still failed to turn things around; thus, he could only helplessly admit defeat.
“The first match, Contestant Ma Jr. (Piccolo) wins!”
The blonde host continued to announce, “The next match, Contestant Yamcha will fight against Contestant Shen (old Kami)!”
As the host announced in a loud voice, Yamcha confidently jumped on the martial arts stage. Since he didn’t come across Goku and Chi-Chi, Yamcha felt lucky. He knew that he had a 90% chance of winning this match.
“Come on, Master Yamcha!” Puar shouted from the audience seats.
Oolong, Hasky, and others were also cheering for him.
The final result was as expected. Although his opponent was Kami’s disguised character, Yamcha’s current strength had already surpa.s.sed Kami, and it was only natural to gain victory.
“Hmph, that guy named Yamcha is also Goku’s fellow apprentice? His next opponent is me. I hope he can properly entertain me!” Piccolo sneered while standing on the roof of the Martial Arts Temple and swept his eyes around with an indifferent expression.
At that moment, Piccolo’s eyes swept towards Xiaya and the others in the stands, towards Xiling and Myers precisely.
When Piccolo saw the two girls, his green-colored face suddenly trembled, and his whole body stiffened as raging waves swirled in his heart.
“It’s them! Why are these two also here?”
Following Xiling and Myers’ appearance, Piccolo felt complicated emotions in his heart, and the unforgettable memories of one year ago came forth. He would never forget these two proudful, G.o.dlike figures.