"Whis, when are we heading to the Sacred World of the Kais?" Gran asked urgently, his impatience palpable.
He couldn't wait to see the results. A combination of the Divine Dimension, Ultra Instinct, and the Mystic state—who knew just how terrifyingly powerful that synergy could become?
"There's no rush for that," Whis replied with a gentle smile.
"Why not?" Gran was taken aback.
Whis tapped his scepter on the ground. "Because you are a deity now. If the Elder Kai doesn't take the time to adjust his own state, he'll find it quite difficult to unlock the latent potential of a god."
Gran's heart skipped a beat. Right, I'm a god now. He wondered if the old man truly possessed the ability to enhance someone of his current standing.
"You needn't worry," Whis added, as if reading Gran's mind. "The Elder Kai is quite remarkable. Unlocking your potential won't come at a cost to you; it only requires a bit of his physical stamina."
Gran thought back to the series. After the Elder Kai finished the ritual for Gohan, the old guy really did seem perfectly fine afterward.
"That's a relief," Gran said, exhaling. "So, when do we go?"
"In three years, I'd say." Whis estimated that it would take that long for the Elder Kai to get his physical condition back to its peak.
"Three years..." Gran's eyes flickered with a sharp, calculating light.
At that moment, Beerus leaned in. "There are eight years left until the Gran battle between the Destroyer candidates. Whis and I have discussed it; the only thing you're lacking right now is raw power. We plan to have you train your strength for two more years, leaving the final year for you to sharpen your mental state. That way, you'll be in peak condition when you receive the potential unlock."
Even Beerus hadn't expected Gran to master the rules of Destruction three years ahead of schedule. The kid was a total freak of nature, as usual.
"So that means I have one year of free time right now," Gran muttered to himself.
"What was that about a year?" Whis asked, his ears as sharp as ever.
"Lord Beerus, Whis," Gran said, looking at them both with a serious expression. "Let me plan these next three years myself."
Beerus and Whis exchanged a look of confusion. What was this kid up to now?
"I have my own ideas. I guarantee that in three years, I'll have achieved a massive breakthrough!" Gran clenched his fists.
He had chosen to return to Earth after mastering the Power of Destruction to reunite with them, and he wouldn't deny that the planet's food was a major draw. But he had another motive entirely. Gran looked up toward the Sky Kingdom—specifically, toward the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.
The Room of Spirit and Time was a miraculous place where a single day outside equaled an entire year inside. He'd be a fool not to take advantage of such a "cheat" item. As for why he hadn't used it before? He didn't have the time. Previously, he had to receive martial arts instruction from Whis, enter the Tower of Dimensions to cultivate his rank, and travel the cosmos to master the laws of Destruction. None of those things could have been done inside the Time Chamber.
But now, he finally had a window.
"Oh?" Whis followed Gran's gaze up to the ceiling—or rather, toward the Lookout far above it. He let out a soft chuckle. "No wonder you're so confident about a breakthrough. You're planning to use that time-distorting room up there."
When Whis had first visited the Lookout with the others, he had scanned the entire place. He knew exactly what was up there. If Gran utilized that room, he could turn two years into seven hundred and thirty years of training.
"What?" Beerus frowned. "You want to use that time room?"
"Is there a problem?" Gran asked, noting their strange tone. Was something wrong with the chamber?
"There's nothing wrong with the room itself," Whis clarified. "It simply warps time so that the flow differs from the outside world."
Gran looked at him curiously. "Whis, can you do something like that?"
In Whis's previous explanations, he had mentioned that Mr. Popo was a very peculiar "Angel-like" figure who couldn't use Angelic abilities directly, but could manifest them through the creation of magical items. The Hyperbolic Time Chamber was Popo's way of manipulating time. Gran wanted to know if Whis was on that same level.
Whis understood the subtext immediately. "Warping time in a room is a simple trick. Compared to actually rewinding time, it's child's play. For an Angel, creating a room like that is actually quite easy."
Gran's eyes went wide.
"What, you don't believe me?" Whis teased, acting slightly offended that his pupil would doubt him.
"No, no!" Gran shook his head quickly. "I just didn't realize such a miraculous thing was 'easy' for you." He paused, his brow furrowing. "If it's that easy to create, do the other universes use rooms like that, too?"
Beerus and Whis answered in unison: "Yes."
Gran had achieved so much in just fourteen years thanks to his "Surpassing" talent. But not everyone was Gran. For others, ten years was far too short. Beerus suspected that without such shortcuts, the "idiots" from the other universes wouldn't even be able to grasp the Power of Destruction in a decade, let alone make other improvements.
"Then I definitely need to go in!" Gran's lips curled into a smirk. If everyone else were using "cheats," he'd be an idiot to play fair.
"Gran," Beerus said suddenly.
"Yeah?"
"Do you know why Whis and I looked a bit odd when you mentioned the time room?"
"No clue."
"Life shouldn't be just about training. There's food, there's sleep..." Beerus said quite seriously. "The lives of gods are terrifyingly long. Spending your time manipulating it to train more is often meaningless."
Gran went quiet for a moment. He understood Beerus's point, but he answered just as seriously: "This candidate battle is special. I don't want Universe 7 to lose. I'll use the room just this once."
His voice echoed through the dining room. "Besides, I didn't say I was staying in there for three years. I plan to go in for one... actually, I might not even last a full year."
He loved training because he wanted to be strong, but he wasn't a total battle maniac. He didn't want to spend every waking second fighting. He had spent the last two years destroying planets every single day until he was ready to vomit. He planned to rest for a year first, then enter the chamber. As for resting inside the chamber? That environment was hellish. Just thinking about spending a year in that void made him feel sick.
"Fair enough," Beerus said, relieved that Gran took his advice to heart.
Silence fell over the room again. At some point, little Broly—who should have been full—had dragged Gran's plate over to himself and started sneaking bites. The three of them just stared at him.
"Get some rest for now," Whis said as he and Beerus left the room. If Gran had a plan, they were content to let him follow it.
Now, only Gran and Broly remained under the soft glow of the hanging lights.
"You brat, you eat like this every day, and you still don't get fat!" Gran joked, breaking the silence as he picked Broly up by the collar.
"Big bwo-thaw! Earth food is too good! I love it here!" Broly dangled in mid-air, a chicken leg clutched in his tiny hand, looking completely innocent.
"You make it sound like my cooking wasn't good," Gran grumbled.
"No, no!" Broly puffed out his cheeks. "Big brother's cooking is the best! But... but you don't cook for me anymore!" He looked so genuinely hurt that Gran almost felt guilty.
"You really think I'm your personal chef? Just finish your dinner." Gran plopped him back in his chair and walked out into the courtyard.
The sun had set completely, leaving only a crescent moon hanging in the sky. Bulma was still sitting cross-legged on the grass. Looking at her, Gran figured she wasn't going to achieve flight today. He started to turn away.
"Lord Gran... is this Ki?"
A voice came from behind him. Surprised, Gran turned around. Bulma had stood up, her long legs looking particularly fair in the dim moonlight. In her right hand, a white orb of energy about ten centimeters wide was glowing.
"Bulma, look at you!" Gran was genuinely impressed. It had only been half a day, and she was already manifesting Ki outside her body.
"Lord Gran, is this it?" she asked again, pouting slightly because he hadn't answered her directly.
"Yes, that's Ki," Gran laughed. "I guess being a top-tier scientist pays off. High IQ really does help. Manifesting Ki in half a day is incredible." Unlike Videl, Bulma had zero martial arts background. She was starting from absolute zero.
"You're overpraising me. It's mostly thanks to that Spirit Fruit you gave me and the way you guided my energy earlier," Bulma said, blushing a little.
Gran nodded and pointed to her feet. "Since you can manifest it, try focusing the Ki under your feet and releasing it."
The Flight Technique (Bukujutsu) is just an application of Ki. To lift off, the simplest way to start is to gather and release energy beneath your feet. Once you're off the ground, the rest is easy.
"Okay, I'll try." Bulma balled her fists, concentrating all her focus on her feet. Gran stood by silently, watching.
Ten minutes passed.
Hum!
A change finally occurred. A faint aura appeared around Bulma's feet, the grass around her swaying in the breeze.
"The girl's actually got tal—" Gran's smirk vanished, and his face went pale. He bolted toward her instantly.
In the next second, the tiny aura around Bulma's feet exploded.
BOOM!
A power level of 10,000 was released all at once. The Earth was instantly vaporized.
Little Broly, who had been eating a second ago, found himself floating in the vacuum of space, covered in soot and grime. Lord Beerus, who had fallen asleep in his room, watched his bed turn to ash in the explosion. Whis was the only one unruffled, his bed perfectly preserved inside a protective energy sphere.
"Big bwo-thaw! Someone attacked me again!" Broly cried, flying over.
"Bulma! How dare you wake me up like that!" Beerus roared, flying over as well.
Whis elegantly rose from his bed and floated in the void, letting out his signature "Oh-ho-ho" laugh. They all stared at each other in the middle of space, expressions of utter disbelief on their faces.
"Bulma really is something else," Gran chuckled. He hadn't expected her to be so reckless as to blow up the entire planet.
But she didn't respond. Gran looked over and saw her face turning blue. She was suffocating.
"Whis!" Gran shouted.
With a flick of his scepter, Whis restored the Earth instantly.
"Haaa... haaa!" Bulma gasped for air, clutching her chest. As the only one who couldn't survive in space, she had nearly suffocated to death.
"Explosions, explosions... I've had enough of this planet!" Beerus snapped at Whis. "Hurry up and reinforce it!"
"As you wish." Whis didn't argue. He had been annoyed by the planet's fragility for a while, too. He waved his scepter again.
Vroom!
A silver light sank into the ground, and the Earth let out a strange, low hum in the night.
"Mr. Whis, reinforcing the planet won't affect how people live, will it?" Bulma asked, worried about her fellow humans.
"Not at all," Whis replied. "To the naked eye, Earth is the same. The reinforcement only triggers when the planet faces a destructive impact."
"To what extent did you reinforce it?" Gran asked curiously. "What kind of power would it take to destroy it now?"
Everyone leaned in to hear the answer. Whis gave a mischievous grin. "Actually, blowing up this new Earth is quite simple. You need to possess more power than me."
Beerus: "..."
Gran: "..."
Did he really say "simple"? Gran thought. There are maybe three people in the entire multiverse stronger than you!
"Now I can relax," Bulma laughed, thrilled that her home was now the safest place in existence.
Gran could only offer a moment of silence for any future villains who planned on blowing up the Earth. That particular threat was officially off the table for Goku and the others.
Seeing Bulma still giggling, Gran scoffed. "What are you laughing at? You're the only person in history to blow up their own planet just trying to learn how to fly."
"Lord Gran, you...!" Bulma stomped her foot in frustration.
Seeing her reaction, the entire group burst into laughter.
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