Among the many targets Ethan needed to defeat, Piccolo was one of them as well. After all, the Piccolo arc was a crucial turning point in the original Dragon Ball story.
This part of the plot gradually abandoned the early comedic martial arts style and shifted toward a hot-blooded battle style.
Furthermore, the Piccolo storyline was originally planned as the final arc. It was not hard to understand why such an important major villain would become a target Ethan had to defeat.
Ethan was certain that to complete his mission, he needed to defeat not the old and weakened Piccolo, but the Piccolo who had regained his youth and peak strength through the Dragon Balls.
"I didn't expect to have to act so recklessly this soon..."
Not only did he have to defeat him, but Ethan also had to help Piccolo find the Dragon Balls and grant his wish first. This level of recklessness was even more absurd than Vegeta allowing Cell to absorb Android 18 later on.
"It completely goes against my usual style."
"Ethan, what exactly are you talking about?"
Ethan had not realized how much shock his words had caused Master Roshi.
Did Ethan want to defect to the demon realm? Why would he do that? There seemed to be no reason for him to do such a thing, right?
Tambourine, standing opposite him, also looked utterly bewildered, not understanding what this human was up to.
"Are you trying to defect to my master's side? I didn't expect you to have some self-awarene..."
Before he could finish speaking, Tambourine was sent flying by Ethan again. If Ethan had not held back, this guy would have been killed long ago.
"Defect to Piccolo? You've got to be kidding!"
Ethan tilted his head back and looked down at the demon warrior before him with disdain.
"Does that old geezer Piccolo deserve my allegiance? Go back and tell Piccolo to wait honestly. I'll find him soon and kill him!"
Saying such harsh words was not very useful and could easily make people think he was bragging, but Ethan had to say it. Otherwise, Krillin and the others really would misunderstand and think he was preparing to defect to the demon realm.
Having been sent flying repeatedly, Tambourine had already realized the gap in strength between himself and Ethan. Although he was very annoyed, he did not say anything more and flew away directly, preparing to return and report everything that had happened here to his master.
Of course, he would not have anything good to say about Ethan in his report. Even if Ethan did not hear it, he could guess. It would be nothing more than a boastful human martial artist who delusionally wanted to challenge the invincible Piccolo, and so on.
It was not until Tambourine had flown out of sight that everyone swarmed forward, wanting to ask something but not knowing how to begin.
Master Roshi was the first to break the silence.
"Ethan, what exactly do you want to do?"
"Kill Piccolo!"
Hearing Ethan's resolute words, the few people who had been worried breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed Ethan was not planning to defect to the demon realm after all.
"I thought you were going to defect to the demon realm!"
"Why would I defect to the demon realm?"
"Uh..." Oolong, who had been silent, suddenly blurted out, "Because you can rule the world?"
"I have no interest in that. My current goal is to become stronger, and Piccolo is merely a stepping stone on the path to becoming stronger."
Master Roshi had a psychological shadow from Piccolo and could not be as optimistic as Ethan. He was still struggling with how to seal Piccolo again.
As for killing him, he did not even dare think about such a thing.
"Then what did you mean by what you said earlier?"
Piccolo was collecting the Dragon Balls, but Ethan said he would go find the Dragon Balls and told Piccolo to wait honestly. It sounded like Ethan was going to help Piccolo.
Compared to Yamcha, Goku, and the others, Tien Shinhan was not very familiar with Ethan, nor did he know his personality, so he would not truly believe Ethan based on a single sentence.
"I know Piccolo is collecting the Dragon Balls because he wants to use their power to regain his youth... Right now, Piccolo is too old, and his power has weakened significantly..."
"So that's it. In that case, maybe we can seal this demon king again."
When Master Roshi heard that Piccolo's strength had weakened, he immediately felt hope return, and Ethan's next words almost made him throw out his back.
"So I'm going to help him collect all the Dragon Balls so he can regain his youth."
"???"
Everyone looked bewildered, then stared at Ethan with strange expressions.
"You said you wanted to kill Piccolo, and then you said you wanted to help him regain his youth... This... how does that not sound contradictory?"
It was Goku, the natural-born Saiyan, who understood Ethan's idea the fastest.
"Ethan wants to fight Piccolo when he's at his strongest."
"Huh?"
With Goku's explanation, everyone finally understood the reason behind Ethan's earlier strange actions and words.
"No! You can't!"
Master Roshi's first reaction was to object. Piccolo was already terrifying, and no one knew better than him how terrifying he would be if he regained his youth and returned to his peak.
"Doing this will lead to terrible and irreversible consequences."
Ethan knew that nothing he said now would matter. Master Roshi would never agree to his plan, but he did not need Roshi's consent.
Only Bulma suddenly asked, "Why are you doing this?"
"Let's just say I have a reason why I must do this... If you absolutely need an explanation, then just think of it as me needing to challenge a stronger opponent in order to become stronger."
When he said this, martial artists like Goku and Tien Shinhan could somewhat understand. After all, with Ethan's current strength, powerful opponents were not easy to find.
Although the method was debatable, they could understand the idea. People like Bulma and Oolong could not understand and just thought Ethan's brain was fried. Yoruichi, however, immediately understood the real reason he was doing this.
"Next, I'm going to collect the Dragon Balls. It's best if everyone doesn't split up. Piccolo is very likely to attack the martial artists on Earth... It's safer if everyone stays together."
Ethan gave Yoruichi a subtle look, and she immediately understood what he meant. He wanted her to look after their friends.
With Yoruichi there, along with the fairly strong Yamcha, Piccolo should not be able to harm these acquaintances.
"I'll go with you too."
Master Roshi was still feeling depressed, while Goku had already made his decision.
"I also want to see how strong that so-called Great Demon King really is!"
He did not want to miss such a battle, and if possible, he wanted to fight Piccolo himself.
Tien Shinhan had a similar thought. He also wanted to see how terrifying the Great Demon King who had nearly ruled the world back then really was. Even Yamcha, who was not someone seeking an easy life at this point, said he wanted to go too.
In the end, all the companions present wanted to act together with Ethan. Even Master Roshi wanted to go along.
Ethan knew that Roshi had his own plan, likely to sabotage his Dragon Ball collection, or perhaps find an opportunity to seal Piccolo again.
However, the old man was also genuinely devoted to protecting the world, and Ethan's own actions were indeed a bit baffling, so he would not get angry with Roshi or think he was holding him back.
"Under normal circumstances, if I saw someone acting like this, I would have slapped them already."
Putting himself in Roshi's shoes, Ethan felt that Roshi not using force to stop him directly was already giving him a lot of face. Do not assume that just because Roshi's power level was lower than his, he was easy to deal with. The current master still had quite a few desperate techniques.
"In that case, let's all go together..."
Just as Bulma took out the Capsule Corp plane and everyone began collecting Dragon Balls around the world together, Piccolo, on the other side, was left speechless by Tambourine's report.
"You said there is a human martial artist who declared that he's going to kill me?"
"Yes, he's a very arrogant young man."
"He said I don't need to worry about the Dragon Balls, and told me to wait?"
"Uh... he did say that."
"Heh heh!"
Piccolo let out a strange laugh. He was not a low-level demon like Tambourine with no brains. He immediately understood the true meaning of Ethan's words.
"It seems I've been sealed for too long, for a mere human martial artist to dare look down on me like this!"
After understanding his opponent's true intention, Piccolo's strongest feeling was frustration. He felt as if his whole body was on fire, with a surge of anger that had nowhere to go.
His furious appearance scared Pilaf and his gang nearby into silence. Even if their intelligence was not very high, they knew that speaking carelessly at that moment could get them killed horribly.
It took quite a while for Piccolo's anger to subside a little.
"Go monitor the Dragon Balls. See whether that arrogant human is really collecting them."
Pilaf quickly provided the answer. Someone was indeed collecting the Dragon Balls, because one of the Dragon Balls was rapidly moving toward the location of another one.
"Very good. In that case, I can save some effort. When that arrogant human comes before me, I will let him know the terror of the demon realm!"
No matter what, as long as he could achieve his goal of regaining his youth, that was all that mattered. Piccolo decided to swallow his anger for now and take revenge after he recovered his youth.
As for being defeated by the opponent? That possibility simply did not exist.
"Failure?"
Ethan looked at Master Roshi, who was questioning him, and shook his head very simply.
"Impossible. Piccolo's power level isn't that high. Even if he regains his youth, he still won't be my opponent."
Master Roshi found it hard to understand why Ethan had such confidence. He should not have seen Piccolo before, right?
"Aren't you being too confident?"
"No, I just know my own limits..." Ethan tilted his head back and looked at the sky outside the plane. "My current strength is only enough to show off on Earth."
"Earth?" Master Roshi was taken aback, then suddenly remembered what Ethan had said during the tournament, which led him to a possibility. "Could it be that you..."
"Shhh~"
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)