Chapter 275: The "Ki" of Dragon Ball
Sengoku was, to put it plainly, furious — though he kept it restrained to the level of grinding his back teeth.
He'd gone in expecting that his Point investment in physical ability and Devil Fruit enhancement would bring him close to Whitebeard's level. Not necessarily a win, but perhaps a draw. Barring that, at minimum a sustained fight across several days.
Reality had delivered something else entirely. Whitebeard was still comfortably out of reach, and the margin was wider than Sengoku had hoped. The explanation was straightforward: Whitebeard had joined the Chat Group roughly ten months ahead of him. Ten months of sign-ins, quest rewards, and Arena training — all compounding.
And Whitebeard's quest participation had been limited relative to some members. If he'd been on every quest the way Ryū and Yukari had, the gap would be larger still.
Even now, any Points Sengoku spent strengthening himself were matched by Whitebeard spending the same Points on himself. The gap wasn't self-correcting through effort alone.
The two of them were in their seventies, their combined ages approaching a hundred and fifty, and they were currently bickering like children in each other's faces. Ryū had a theory about this: the removal of genuine enmity had let their actual personalities emerge, and it turned out their actual personalities were extremely compatible in the worst possible way.
He stifled a yawn and @-ed the new member he hadn't heard from yet.
RawrSoFierce: @Master Roshi — Roshi-san, do you currently have a student named Son Goku?
Master Roshi: Son Goku? No. At my age, peaceful retirement is the goal. Taking on students — I'll pass.
RawrSoFierce: No Goku yet. So the story hasn't started.
Master Roshi: "The story?" Ah — the group announcement mentioned that the Admin knows the plot of our respective worlds.
RawrSoFierce: Not necessarily all of them — I'm fairly unfamiliar with Yukari's world, for instance.
Eternally Seventeen: Admin-sama calling me an old hag again — do I really look that old? There is not a single wrinkle on my face!
Kaguya-sama: Yukari-nee, your age really is quite significant, and you're being thoroughly shameless about refusing to update your handle.
Eternally Seventeen: Hmph! Little Kaguya, you've definitely been corrupted by Admin-sama. You're defending that perpetual single dog now — unacceptable!
RawrSoFierce: You've lived for thousands of years and you want to claim the concept of "young"?
Eternally Seventeen: Irrelevant! Compared to Tohru-chan, I'm actually quite young! Ha!
Roar of the Evil Dragon: Just came out of the Arena, and I could swear I heard someone call my name.
I Am Thor, God of Thunder!: Woof woof woof???
RawrSoFierce: Pfft — both Thors showed up simultaneously.
Eternally Seventeen: Unacceptable — regardless of anything else, I am seventeen years old this year! Everything you're all saying is INVALID! Invalid! Invalid! All of it, invalid!
RawrSoFierce: Generally speaking, shamelessness doesn't come in measured quantities, but yours is objectively the highest in the group.
Crazy Diamond: Everyone here knows their JoJo references — where did all these memes even come from?
Kaguya-sama: From Admin-sama, obviously.
"…"
On a small island in the Dragon Ball world, Master Roshi was staring at the chat log with an expression of profound confusion.
He rubbed the top of his head — the smooth, bald dome giving him a familiar tactile anchor while his mind tried to catch up.
"The topic changes rather quickly, doesn't it? And none of them seem particularly serious. These people are really from different worlds? This is nothing like what I imagined."
He'd expected serious cross-dimensional discussion. World-building. Exchanges of technique and philosophy. Strategic assessments.
What he was reading was people bickering about whether a gap youkai could claim to be young.
What he didn't know was that essentially no one in the Chat Group cared about the canonical plot of their respective worlds anymore. The moment you joined the Chat Group, the original story became irrelevant — and more than that, actively misleading, because the butterfly effects from every member's existence had long since rendered any "plot" a work of pure fiction relative to current reality.
Anyone still operating on the assumption that their world was following its original script had discovered that assumption painful to maintain.
Important developments had been communicated through private messages with Ryū anyway. The group chat had evolved into social space.
A private message notification appeared at the top of Master Roshi's Chat Group interface.
RawrSoFierce? The Admin himself?
He tapped into it.
RawrSoFierce: Roshi-san — you practice "Ki," correct? Would you be willing to upload the cultivation method to the group files? If so, I can offer a red packet ranging from 2,000 to 4,000 Points.
RawrSoFierce: The Chat Group is starting to find its footing, but many members have hit the ceiling on their current systems. Without Breakthrough Cards, the only remaining option for most people is raw constitution upgrades. Your world's power ceiling is significantly higher than most, and Ki has effectively no upper limit.
Master Roshi: I see — you're doing this for the group's benefit? And paying out of your own Points?
RawrSoFierce: I want to learn it myself. The benefit to the group is secondary.
Master Roshi: Haha! The Admin is admirably direct. I'll upload the Ki cultivation and application methods to the group files. No payment needed.
Master Roshi: I may be a bit short on funds lately, but I'm not the type to charge for something like this from fellow members!
RawrSoFierce: Mm. Appreciated.
"…"
Master Roshi sat quietly for a few seconds, then went back into his house and found paper and a pen.
He had his own thinking about this. Being in the Chat Group with apparently no option to leave meant the priority was building good relationships with the members. What the Admin had just asked — well, that was an opportunity.
Wait.
The Admin had said it was for himself, but wasn't there a secondary implication there? The suggestion that this kind of contribution would be an efficient way to integrate quickly?
Ah. Of course.
He understood now.
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