Goku did not pay much attention to anything other than training and protecting Earth, so since everyone was saying so and Chi-Chi did not object, he simply went along with it.
As for their old home on Mount Paozu, Bulma suggested turning it into a vacation villa. If they grew tired of living in the city and wanted a quiet place to relax, they could go to Mount Paozu.
After all, that was the kind of wealth and influence possessed by the richest person in the world.
By the time they finished talking, it was already getting dark. The once lively World Martial Arts Tournament venue was now occupied only by a few staff members who were still cleaning up and finishing their work.
After thinking it over, they decided not to stay any longer. They left the venue, took out their aircraft, and prepared to head straight back to West City.
Before they could leave, Goku suddenly sensed an energy. He turned his head to look into the distance, then said goodbye to everyone and ran over.
"I'll be right back."
Everyone had actually sensed the energy over there as well. Judging from Goku's reaction, it seemed to be someone he knew.
"Who is it?"
Aside from Goku, only Ethan knew whose energy it was. He was not going to cover for that guy, so he directly revealed the true identity of the person who had arrived.
"It's Kami."
"Kami?"
"Why would Kami come to the World Martial Arts Tournament venue... Oh, it must be because of Piccolo!"
After seeing Piccolo's strength with their own eyes, everyone no longer felt any wariness toward the reborn Piccolo. His strength was far below theirs. The reason they had not directly killed the new Piccolo, aside from the fact that he posed no threat to them, was that this Piccolo had not yet done anything truly threatening to Earth.
This one was different from the previous Piccolo. Although the former one did not have time to do much after breaking the seal, that was only because Ethan and the others had stopped him in advance. Furthermore, that great demon king had committed many evil deeds three hundred years ago. Back then, it was not that they did not want to kill him, but that they could not.
The new Piccolo was different. Those who had learned to sense energy discovered that although his energy was still somewhat chaotic, it did not carry that strong sense of evil.
Also, Piccolo had left early. He went off right after the match ended. Everyone was focused on Goku winning the championship, and no one noticed when he left, so naturally no one chased after him.
"Does Kami want Goku to kill Piccolo?"
"Goku won't agree."
Ethan was certain that Goku would never attack Piccolo before he had committed any truly evil acts.
Sure enough, it was not long before Goku came running back, constantly gesturing from a distance, seemingly telling everyone to hurry and get on the plane.
Although they did not know what was going on, everyone still boarded the plane. As soon as Goku got on, Bulma piloted the aircraft into the air and flew toward West City.
"Goku, what are you doing?"
"Haha, nothing, I just thought everyone was getting impatient."
Ethan stood not far away with his arms folded. Looking at Goku's awkward expression, he knew exactly what had happened.
"Kami wanted you to inherit his position, didn't he?"
"What?"
Everyone looked at Goku in shock. At this point, for most people, Kami was still a lofty and mysterious existence. They had never expected that Kami would actually choose Goku as his successor.
Without any prior agreement, everyone kept looking him over. Bulma even thought back to when she first met him.
"It's really hard to imagine that the little kid who didn't understand anything back then... is going to become Kami."
"I refused!"
"What?"
When they heard that Goku had actually turned down Kami's "invitation," Bulma, who was piloting the aircraft, jerked her hand and nearly sent the plane into a nosedive. Fortunately, Krillin, who was beside her, reacted quickly and grabbed the controls in time.
Everyone was badly shaken by that, but no one complained to Bulma. They all stared at Goku in disbelief.
"Why?"
"Because I don't want to be Kami... Being Kami is too boring..."
As someone who had been to the Lookout and lived there for a while, Goku knew very well how boring it was there. Moreover, as Kami, he would have to spend a lot of time focusing on the lower world, which would leave him with very little time to train. That was not the life he wanted.
As for Kami wanting him to kill Piccolo, and his refusal, he also mentioned it to everyone in passing and explained the relationship between Kami and Piccolo.
At that point, everyone except Ethan learned that Piccolo was originally the evil half that Kami had split off back then. Piccolo and Kami were actually one person, and their lives were closely linked. If Piccolo died, Kami would die as well.
If Kami, the creator of the Dragon Balls, died, then the Dragon Balls would also lose their power.
"So that's how it is... Does that mean we can't just kill Piccolo whenever we want?"
"I think this new Piccolo is very different from the original Piccolo."
As a reborn demon king, Piccolo did not think about harming ordinary people after regaining his strength. Instead, he was determined to defeat Ethan and the others in the martial arts tournament. That did not sound like the thinking of a demon king at all.
Ethan believed this was because Piccolo had been training hard to improve his strength ever since birth. He was more like a martial artist pursuing power, and during that difficult training life, what little demonic nature he had to begin with had gradually been worn away, eventually leading him onto the side of justice.
After chatting for a while longer, Goku suddenly asked Ethan something.
"Ethan, you've met Kami before. Did Kami also ask you to inherit his position?"
With Goku as an example, everyone now had some ability to accept this kind of news. Even Krillin, who was quicker-witted, had already thought of this earlier, but had not had the chance to ask.
"No, because Kami had some concerns about me."
"Hm?"
Seeing that everyone was paying attention, Ethan estimated that it was about time to reveal the "truth."
"Because I'm not from Earth."
"Huh?"
Bulma was startled again, but this time she remembered to switch on autopilot first before turning to look at Ethan, so everyone was spared from being tossed around again.
"Yoruichi and I are actually from another planet. We just had to flee to Earth because of certain circumstances."
"Flee?"
Over the past few years, Ethan had long since found time to coordinate their story with Yoruichi. In any case, it was not complicated. They had originally just been ordinary people from a very ordinary planet... well, perhaps with a little status.
If things had continued like that, they would simply have lived ordinary lives, but disaster struck without warning.
"The Galactic Emperor?"
"Frieza?"
Frieza had set his sights on their planet. This notorious evil emperor of the universe had gathered a large number of villains under his command, and their business was also simple and brutal, reselling habitable planets.
Ethan's planet had been targeted by Frieza because of its good environment. All intelligent life on the planet was massacred by Frieza's group. Only Ethan and Yoruichi escaped by relying on special equipment and made it to Earth.
Listening to Ethan's description, Tien, Krillin, and the others were all shocked by the terrifying power that could wipe out vast amounts of life with the flick of a finger.
According to Ethan, Frieza did not even need to act personally. He had more than enough powerful subordinates to carry out such terrifying work.
"What you're saying... you're not joking, are you?"
"I'm not exaggerating in the slightest. In fact, even this is not enough to fully describe Frieza's terrifying power."
To make everyone take it seriously and have enough motivation to improve their strength, Ethan also exaggerated the strength of the warriors on his planet, saying that his current power was not even as great as the people who had resisted Frieza back then, and even those warriors had been completely powerless against Frieza.
The reason he and Yoruichi were able to escape was because they were too weak, so they were not detected by the scouters used by Frieza's forces, which gave them a chance to get away.
"..."
"That sounds a little terrifying... Is everything you said true?"
Ethan knew he had to provide some truly useful information. If he only said that much, everyone would still have some doubts in their hearts. After all, Frieza's power was far too outrageous for them at the moment, even though Ethan kept emphasizing the combat power of Frieza's subordinates.
"Of course. Otherwise, how could I know that Tien has Three-Eyed People blood, that Piccolo and Kami are actually Namekians, and that Goku..."
Ethan dropped one bombshell after another, shocking everyone once again. Tien then suddenly touched his forehead, realizing that he also had alien blood. And Piccolo and Kami were aliens too, no wonder they looked so different from humans.
"You're actually a Saiyan."
"A Saiyan? What's that? Another alien?"
"Sayians are a race that lived on Planet Vegeta. Although their numbers were small, they had extremely strong combat power and were known as the warrior race."
Ethan briefly introduced the Saiyans.
"Saiyans have powerful combat ability, but a great disaster happened on Planet Vegeta many years ago, causing the Saiyans to become almost completely extinct."
"If they're already extinct, then how could Goku be a Saiyan?"
Bulma's question was also what everyone else wanted to ask. How had Ethan determined that Goku was a Saiyan?
"They're almost extinct, but there are still survivors... The characteristics of Saiyans are very obvious. Although they look the same as humans, they have tails..." Everyone was startled. Goku really had had a tail, but a tail alone was not enough to confirm it, right? Then, in the very next sentence, they heard Ethan say, "Saiyans can unleash even more terrifying power during the full moon."
"Full moon!"
Now everyone understood. They all remembered Goku transforming into a Great Ape when he saw the full moon. That really did not seem like an Earthling ability.
Only Goku, sitting there among them, was full of confusion. "Full moon?"
Seeing that Goku seemed about to ask something, Krillin immediately changed the subject. "How do you know these things?"
"Because... among Frieza's subordinates, there are several Saiyans!"
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
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