"Although it may sound a bit off to suddenly remember that when I borrowed the Seven-Star Ball from the Ox-King, I could have helped him put out a fire, but forgot."
It was already quite late. Especially for the two little ones, who were constantly dozing off. Both of their clever little heads were nodding one by one.
So, Yamiru grabbed one in each hand and walked with everyone into the Kame House, chatting and laughing as he tossed the two kids upstairs to settle them into their rooms.
Actually, Yamiru was tired too.
He wasn't like a Saiyan with a monster-like body. After the continuous battles with the fortune teller, his body was exhausted, and he had been forcing himself to stay awake.
"Get some good rest," Master Roshi noticed Yamiru's fatigue and reminded him, then found a couch to rest on.
Tights lay down on the other "L-shaped" couch.
Yamiru glanced around and found a blanket to make himself a bed on the floor.
The old master turned off the lights with a soft click.
After a while, Master Roshi's gentle snoring filled the air.
Yamiru, lying in the pitch-black room, listened to the snoring and the distant sound of the ocean waves, but sleep didn't come easily.
This was not in line with his usual sleep schedule, he thought.
He zoned out for a while, trying to self-hypnotize, but it didn't work.
Yamiru turned over and looked toward the couch where Tights was lying, only to find that she had quietly turned toward him, her hand propping up her head as she observed him with blinking eyes.
For some reason, just looking at each other in the quiet darkness made them both want to smile.
He sat up, grabbed his pillow, and moved it to the other side, lying back down.
His head was now level with Tights', and as he lay there looking up, their gazes met as Tights looked down.
Yamiru activated his Golden Veil, and when he blinked, it looked like stars flashing — quite fun.
Tights smirked as she watched him. In the deep night, with such a close distance between them, they could clearly feel each other's breath.
The two of them exchanged mischievous glances for a while, thoroughly enjoying the moment.
Suddenly—
A slight movement of the blanket, and Tights leaned forward, lowering her head. Her lips met Yamiru's.
Yamiru kissed her back, his hand reaching up to trace the delicate lines of her jaw and slender neck. Their kiss was close and intimate, and the eye contact made it feel romantic, but they both couldn't help but want to laugh. Perhaps it was because, just by looking at each other, all kinds of lively emotions bubbled up from deep within them.
"Hey, since we can't sleep, how about going for a walk?" Tights whispered.
"Sure. Let's go," Yamiru replied.
The two of them exchanged sly looks and whispers.
Yamiru quietly got up, then effortlessly lifted Tights off the couch. Despite her being around 1.7 meters tall, she felt as light as a feather in his arms, and he carried her outside the Kame House. They held hands and walked along the beach, their voices drowned out by the sound of the waves crashing.
The next morning, as the sun rose, Goku yawned and stretched, groggily getting up.
But he quickly woke up and energetically ran downstairs, finding Master Roshi was also just getting up.
"Grandpa, are you going out for your morning exercise?" Goku asked happily.
"Heh..." Master Roshi put on his sunglasses. "What nonsense are you saying? Someone like me, a hermit, is long past that stage."
"Oh, right!" Goku nodded repeatedly, not really sure if he understood. He grabbed the Four-Star Ball, which had turned into a white stone, and looked around for Yamiru and Tights. Not seeing them, he was about to go back inside when a pair of youthful and energetic figures walked in.
The handsome man and beautiful woman entered, smiling as they greeted, "Hey, you guys are already up?"
Master Roshi looked outside and saw a small plane parked on the beach.
Tights smiled and raised the bag in her hand. "I bought breakfast for everyone! I looked at the map, and there's a larger island nearby with residents."
That is the island where Master Roshi took Son Goku and Krillin to practice.
"The clothes are different now..." Goku muttered. "Did everyone bathe yesterday?" With Yamiru around, Gohan hadn't been crushed, so it was unlikely Goku would be so clueless as to not know what a bath is... Of course, in the manga, when he asked Bulma what a bath was, it was probably because he didn't know the word bath.
Sure enough, in the reflection of Master Roshi's sunglasses, Yamiru and Tights returned from breakfast, both changed into new clothes.
"Do I need your approval to buy my boyfriend new clothes?" Tights scolded playfully, putting down the breakfast bag. Over there, Yamiru saw Bulma rubbing her sleepy eyes as she came downstairs and waved. "Bulma, come join us for breakfast."
The young girl groggily shook her head. "No, I haven't brushed my teeth yet."
With that, Miss Bulma went to the bathroom, only to find no extra supplies. She then returned upstairs, grabbed her small bag, took out a capsule, and stepped outside the Kame House. "Click," she opened the capsule, revealing a mini house. Bulma went inside and started washing up.
"Such a spoiled young lady..." Master Roshi stared in awe at this operation. To brush her teeth, she brought out a villa.
"Ah! There's meat buns! And hot milk!" Goku exclaimed as he opened the breakfast bag, excited. "Never mind, I'll do morning exercises after I fill my belly."
After everyone finished breakfast and took a short break, they planned to get to business.
First, Master Roshi, upon learning that Yamiru planned to participate in the upcoming World Martial Arts Tournament, sighed slightly. "I never expected this. Five years ago, even I couldn't see it. You've come so far."
Tights laughed. "Yamiru is fine. He defeated the former champion of the World Martial Arts Tournament at the fortune teller's place. The guy was called Devilman."
"What!? Devilman!" Master Roshi was startled. "I didn't know that crazy sister of mine brought out someone so strong. And you managed to defeat him. I heard that Devilman had a move called the Demon Beam, which was a deadly move he developed when he transformed from a human into a demon. They say no one survives that attack."
Yamiru shuddered. "It really is a terrifying move. Master Roshi, you said that Devilman was once human before becoming a demon?"
"Exactly, he was a human before," Master Roshi nodded. "He was once a champion of the Martial Arts Tournament. If he were a true demon, why would he come to Earth to participate in the tournament?"
"I heard that anyone with evil thoughts can turn into a demon, and that demons can't enter the underworld when they die. Instead, their souls drift in the cracks of the human world," Yamiru asked curiously. "What does that mean?" He knew that the old turtle had lived for hundreds of years and must have seen a lot.
Master Roshi pondered for a moment, perhaps recalling a particular figure.
Master Roshi continued after a while. "It's not just evil thoughts that turn someone into a demon. Actually, everyone has evil thoughts deep inside. If you've experienced Devilman's attack, you should know what I mean. Even the same person can have varying degrees of evil thoughts at different moments. One second, they might be lascivious or violent, and the next, they could be like a sage. As for demons... when a person becomes strong enough, and their evil thoughts burst forth intensely, it attracts the demonic energy that permeates the world. This energy enters their body and completely transforms them into a demon."
Yamiru understood. Perhaps, without the help of his Golden Veil, he would have never seen those dark golden "demonic clouds" and failed to disperse them from his body. Even if he shouted loudly or said all the right words, the end result would have likely been embracing the swelling evil thoughts and becoming a demon himself.
That demon dragon that was being born from his evil thoughts.
His eyes glinted gold as he looked out the window. The dark golden hellish clouds flowed in the human world.
However, it seemed that the Kame House was a good place, as the concentration of these hellish clouds was very low.
At this point, Master Roshi continued. "As for why demons can't enter the underworld when they die... it's actually simple. The moment they become demons, they enter a state of neither life nor death. They are neither mortals nor deads. The underworld energy they absorb is 'lost' energy. Once they've absorbed this lost energy, even when their bodies are destroyed, the energy tainting their souls remains. So, of course, they don't follow the usual pattern of passing to the underworld..."
"Oh! I see now!" Yamiru suddenly understood.
In other words, the hellish aura from the underworld once spread across the Earth in ancient times for some reason, giving birth to various demons and monsters.
And these hellish energies from the underworld, after leaking out and not being reclaimed by the underworld, were either because the high-ups in the underworld didn't want to, weren't happy to, or simply couldn't do so. In any case, these wandering underworld energies had become outcasts from the underworld's system.
This meant that those beings who became demons due to their growing evil thoughts, when tainted by these external underworld energies, found themselves in an awkward position.
Outcasted, these lost souls could only name themselves the Demon Clan. They were neither mortals nor acknowledged as dead by the underworld, existing as wandering undead in the human world. Their souls no longer recognized by natural laws.
Yamiru thought to himself: "No wonder the second-generation demons in the original work are no longer considered demons. It seems they were reborn through reincarnation, taking on new bodies and personalities, and thus erasing the demonic energy. The new second-generation demons, while still having evil thoughts, likely hadn't been tainted by the underworld's energy again, so they were still innocent.
Going a step further, even if we don't count the demons of the Earth Demon Realm, there are also demons like Dabura, the King of the Demon Realm...
Does this mean that it wasn't just Earth that had been tainted by the underworld's leaked energy?
Those scattered underworld energies, spread across the universe, gave rise to subspaces, forming the so-called "Demon Realm"? Essentially, it was an unofficial, "little underworld" not recognized by the Kais?
Yamiru's mind raced with these thoughts, yet he seemed to have reached a new understanding of life and nature.
And these speculations seemed to be connected to the place the fortune teller had hinted at — the Mount Five Element. If he wanted to verify these guesses, the one in charge of the passage between the Earth's yin and yang, the Furnace of Eight Divisions administrator, should be able to provide some answers.
"Speaking of which, being able to defeat that Devilman means your skills have grown considerably. No wonder Gohan felt safe sending you two down the mountain." Master Roshi said seriously, a rare sight for him. "With your experience, perhaps you could even win the upcoming tournament. But don't forget that there are always higher peaks. I'm sure you understand that, right, Yamiru?"
Yamiru snapped back to reality and nodded seriously.
He thought to himself: Although my thoughts just now went all the way to the Demon Realm and the Kais, in reality, I'm still just a little guy.
At that moment, Master Roshi went to the calendar, counted the days, and circled today, May 1st, with a pen, then circled the date of the tournament opening, May 7th.
"Time's running out! You better wrap up your business," Master Roshi reminded them.
"Got it!"
Yamiru gathered his spirits, quickly retrieved the Seven-Star Ball that had been turned into a white stone — since it was no longer possible to count the stars, it was hard to distinguish between the different Dragon Balls — and rushed outside, climbing into the pilot seat of his small aircraft. He gave Tights, who had followed him outside, a thumbs-up. "I'll leave the communication with Jaco to you, and also with Goku and Bulma. Thanks!"
Tights gave a quick blink and flashed an "OK" gesture.
Yamiru piloted the small plane toward the direction of Fire Mountain, the engine roaring loudly as it sped into the clear sky.
"Alright, we'll get to work here too!" Tights stretched lazily.
Bulma stepped out of the mini house, chewing a cheese sandwich, and raised her small fist, mumbling, "Hm~!"