Tien was very unhappy, extremely unhappy. He felt that Ethan was far too arrogant. Although Ethan was powerful, he did not believe he had no chance of winning at all.
As it turned out, Ethan's confidence was well founded. The current Tien was no match for Ethan at all.
Ethan did not just stand there and let Tien attack as he pleased. After the match began, the moment Tien launched his attack and rushed toward him, Ethan struck him directly in the abdomen with a heavy punch. The intense pain made Tien double over like a shrimp. He clutched his stomach uncontrollably and could not care about anything else.
Then Ethan followed up with a kick that sent him flying out of the ring. From beginning to end, Tien did not even touch Ethan before being eliminated.
"Ah..." The announcer was stunned for a moment before reacting. "Ti... Tien Shinhan has been knocked out of the ring! Ethan is the winner!"
Wow!
The audience was stunned. Tien had displayed tremendous strength earlier, and these spectators already felt that he could no longer be considered an ordinary human.
They had not expected such a powerful Tien to be unable to withstand even one punch from Ethan, only to be kicked out of the ring by the second hit. Was Ethan really that strong?
"Looking at it that way, that guy named Yamcha must be stronger than this guy named Tien Shinhan, right?"
The surrounding audience had similar thoughts. Bulma was also shocked by Ethan's performance. She realized that although she had known Ethan for several years, she had never truly understood him. Bulma had never imagined that Ethan had such a dominant side.
"Actually, this is what he's really like."
Yoruichi knew very well how good Ethan was at putting on a front. Back in Soul Society, when his strength was still insufficient, he had also lived a very low-key life.
At the time, Yoruichi had not understood why Ethan, despite having exceptional talent and considerable strength, acted that way. It was not until Aizen revealed his true strength that she understood the reason behind Ethan's behavior.
After arriving in this world, Yoruichi, now just an ordinary human, had also chosen the same path as Ethan, living as low-key a life as possible before gaining enough power.
Aside from necessary situations, Ethan and Yoruichi rarely left West City. Most of the time, they stayed at home and trained diligently.
"Handsome, strong, and very smart. What a perfect choice..."
Thinking about the fact that Ethan was getting older, and with qualities like his, who knew how many girls he would attract.
"Yoruichi, you need to keep a close eye on him!"
"Why would I keep a close eye on him? We don't have that kind of relationship." Yoruichi glanced at Bulma beside her. "Are you interested in him? Do you want me to help?"
"Hahaha, stop joking."
Amid the casual chatting and teasing, Krillin and Goku appeared. This was an internal match between Turtle School disciples, and it ended with Goku winning and advancing. Unfortunately, Goku was destined to finish as runner-up in this World Martial Arts Tournament. Even he did not think he could defeat Ethan.
"How did Ethan train to become so powerful?"
Krillin remembered that when he first met Ethan, he had only thought Ethan seemed to have some skill. Later, when he saw him again on Korin Tower, he realized Ethan's strength was fairly good.
He had never expected that in less than three years, Ethan's power would grow to such an extent. This rate of improvement was practically cheating.
"I really want to know too."
Goku had known Ethan even longer. Back then, Ethan had still been very "weak." Goku had never expected Ethan's strength to improve so quickly.
Only Yamcha, standing nearby, knew how Ethan had become so strong. And being a very loyal friend, Yamcha directly suggested that if Goku was interested, he could come to West City and train with them.
"Really?"
"Bulma and Ethan would be very happy!" Yamcha turned to look at Ethan, feeling that Ethan would definitely welcome Goku. "Right, Ethan? Huh?"
He turned and saw Ethan lowering his head, seemingly lost in thought. He called out to him a few times before Ethan finally reacted.
"What are you thinking about? You're so distracted. That's unusual for you."
"Nothing, I was just thinking about how I should train next."
After Yamcha called out several times, Ethan finally snapped out of it and temporarily set aside the feeling he had just experienced. After exchanging a few words with Goku, the two of them stepped onto the ring.
The final match of the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament was Ethan versus Goku.
Goku knew that he was no match for Ethan, but he still hoped Ethan would fight him with his full strength. He wanted to see just how powerful Ethan really was.
"Full strength?"
"Yes!"
Ethan looked at Goku's serious expression and quickly made a decision.
"Then I'll grant your wish. Wait a moment."
The volume of their conversation was not very loud, but the announcer and the spectators in the front rows could hear them clearly, not to mention Krillin and the others watching from the side.
"Full strength? I wonder just how strong Ethan really is." Krillin turned to ask Yamcha beside him. "Yamcha, you should know, right?"
"Honestly." Yamcha gave a helpless wry smile. "I used to think I understood Ethan's strength very well, but now I realize I may never have actually seen him go all out."
"Ah!"
That match with Ethan had made Yamcha understand a lot of things. As for being weaker than someone else, he had no problem admitting it.
Besides their curiosity about Ethan's strength, the recovered Tien and Chiaotzu were also watching this final match.
"Full strength... Let me see just how strong you really are!"
Tien had already made Ethan the target he wanted to surpass. He wanted to know just how far away that goal still was.
Under everyone's expectant gaze, Ethan removed the wristbands from his hands and casually tossed them to the edge of the ring, where they landed with a dull thud.
Next came the weights on his legs, and finally, the shirt he was wearing.
Yamcha already knew about it, but Krillin was startled by the sound of the heavy objects hitting the ground. Seeing the wristbands and the other items right in front of him, he walked over curiously and picked them up.
"This..."
Each one weighed about as much as the turtle shell he used to carry. And adding several of them together...
"This has to be at least a hundred kilograms, right?"
Several people who had already known Ethan was carrying a heavy load showed shocked expressions upon hearing Krillin's words.
The announcer and the ordinary spectators reacted immediately, impossible, that was too exaggerated.
Tien first found it unbelievable, then immediately ran over and picked up the shirt still lying on the ground. The heavy weight in his hand told him that Krillin had not exaggerated at all.
"This guy... He's been wearing such heavy clothes this whole time?"
Putting aside the actual fight, during the match with Yamcha and in the preliminaries, Ethan had shown no obvious signs of discomfort. No one could tell that he had been carrying such a heavy load.
"So it wasn't that his speed couldn't keep up with Yamcha, it was because the weight was holding him back..."
After removing the weights, Ethan, now bare-chested, simply stretched his wrists and neck, then nodded at Goku.
"We can start now. Here's a little bonus, you can attack first."
Goku was not bothered by Ethan's confidence at all. He could vaguely sense the gap in strength between himself and Ethan.
"Then I won't hold back!"
"Come on!"
A storm-like barrage of punches and kicks rained down on Ethan. However, these sharp attacks, which were almost impossible for ordinary spectators to see clearly, were all casually blocked by Ethan.
"So... so strong..."
"Not a single attack got through Ethan's defense and landed on him, and Ethan really did not counterattack even once."
After ordinary punches and kicks proved useless, Goku also tried using the Kamehameha, but it still had no effect and was easily deflected by Ethan high into the sky.
"The gap is too big!"
Even ordinary people could see the huge difference between the two. There was no longer any suspense in this match. Ethan also did not force any suspense. After the bonus time ended, he launched his own attack on Goku.
There were no flashy moves, just a simple straight punch, and it was enough to send Goku flying out of the ring.
This time, it was not just the ordinary spectators. Even skilled martial artists like Krillin, Goku, and Tien could not clearly see Ethan's movement.
"So fast!"
When the gap was this large, even if you knew what move Ethan was going to use or how he would attack, there was no way to block or defend against it.
Moreover, Ethan's attacks were extremely heavy, something Tien had already experienced personally.
"The champion of the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament is... Ethan!"
Winning the World Martial Arts Tournament was not a big deal. At this point, the tournament was not yet as grand or influential as it would become later. Winning the championship now only brought some fame within a small circle, unlike in the future, when Mr. Satan would win and be hailed directly as a world idol.
The champion's prize money was only 500,000 zeni, barely enough for Goku to eat one meal. For Ethan, who had already earned a decent amount of money by selling some small inventions through Capsule Corporation, this income was insignificant.
So for him, the greatest value of this tournament was defeating Tien, the strongest character at this point in the original story, and Goku, the protagonist of this world.
When he defeated Tien, a clear realization surfaced in his heart and confirmed his mission in this world.
There was no need to do something as extreme as shattering the core of this world. The task he needed to complete was very simple, defeat certain individuals, and he could complete the mission.
The troublesome part was that this mission would take a very long time, because he was certain that Super Saiyan 3 Goku and the later major villain Buu were both among the targets he needed to defeat.
That was not even the most speechless part for Ethan. After realizing that his mission was to defeat the "strongest" at various stages, he thought of another problem. Many major villains in the Dragon Ball story were created by the reckless actions of the protagonists themselves. If they had not been so careless, many enemies could have been eliminated before they even had the chance to grow.
"Does that mean that in order to fight those people, not only can I not stop them, I actually have to go along with their recklessness?"
(To be continued.)