"Yo."
From the front row, Yamiru casually waved at Tien Shinhan, feeling a bit thirsty. He reached over and grabbed the cold drink from Tights, who was sitting next to him, taking a large sip through the straw.
"Leave me some," Tights said with some annoyance.
Seeing Yamiru and Tights acting like a cute couple on vacation, Tien Shinhan felt a bit speechless from his place on the arena.
Meanwhile, the blonde, little-mustached referee and Tien Shinhan's opponent, King Chappa, also noticed Yamiru in the crowd sitting in the front row.
"It's you!" King Chappa immediately got angry, his forehead veins bulging.
Since the last time when Yamiru had blocked him from reaching the top eight, he had been training harder than ever, forsaking all material pleasures. He had suffered much and sweated countless times.
All for the chance to redeem himself in this martial arts tournament!
But unexpectedly, the guy who had been in two consecutive tournaments, facing him both times, Yamiru, had not participated this time!
King Chappa had been bottling up frustration over this, and now, seeing Yamiru casually enjoying a romantic time while not participating in the tournament, how could he not get even angrier?
With his dark, rough bare feet, cracks began to appear on the stone-tile arena as King Chappa clenched his fists and shouted at Yamiru in the stands, "Why aren't you competing?"
"Why should I compete?" Yamiru was a bit confused.
He didn't understand why he had any issue with King Chappa. He had only fought him on the arena a couple of times—just a passerby kind of relationship. Why did this guy seem to act as if they were arch-enemies?
Yamiru responded seriously, "Uncle, you should focus on your opponent. If this was the last pre-qualification match and you faced him, you might have won. But now, Tien Shinhan is stronger. Stronger than you!"
Even without fully grasping the concept of Ki, Yamiru could sense the exceptional progress Tien Shinhan had made.
Ordinary people can sometimes pick up on the strength of martial artists, even without knowing their techniques. Much less for someone like Yamiru, who was a seasoned martial artist himself. Without needing to sense energy, he could read the subtle details—their movements, changes in expressions, and even the rhythm of their breathing. If "Ki" is an internal perception, then these external indicators are signs of it.
These external signs are what Korin would call "unnecessary movements."
Tien Shinhan was full of unnecessary movements. The fact that Yamiru, who hadn't even understood Ki yet, could discern strength from these visible signs meant that King Chappa still hadn't grasped Ki either.
If Korin, Master Roshi, or even Son Goku from the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament were standing there, you wouldn't be able to tell their strength just by watching them. Even if they were masters who had comprehended Ki, you wouldn't spot a difference unless you were paying extreme attention.
This is because masters like Master Roshi and adult Goku had already eliminated all "unnecessary movements," fully mastering their internal energy. Within their limits, they could choose to be stronger or weaker, change at will—endless transformations, all controlled by their will.
What Videl learned under Gohan's guidance in the manga can only be described as a crash course in learning Ki to master flight. It was a shaky foundation.
If Yamiru followed Videl's training, sitting still and just blindly pushing through, he'd eventually notice his own internal energy too. But would that be meaningful? No.
His use of the Kamehameha already showed he wasn't a beginner at using energy. His affinity for it was above average, even by Western fantasy standards.
If he abandoned the concept of understanding Ki's principles and only focused on whether he could "sense and utilize energy," then mastering Ki wouldn't be that hard.
If it were that difficult to "master" Ki, how did Yamiru manage to learn and use the Kamehameha technique so smoothly?
What Yamiru wanted wasn't just to "use Ki freely". He wanted to improve his martial arts realm. When his martial arts reached the next level, mastering Ki would come as a natural side effect.
If he rushed to learn Ki without truly understanding martial arts, only to then circle back and try to improve his basics, it would become an obstacle.
Improving martial arts first, mastering Ki will come naturally, almost like a bonus.
Trying to learn Ki first and then improve martial arts would only slow down progress.
And is improving martial arts really that important?
From what Yamiru knew about Dragon Ball, not so much.
While improving martial arts might have been the key for Krillin, Tien Shinhan, and Yamcha to break their limits and reach higher power levels, it didn't seem to make much of a difference beyond that.
The battle power system faded out after the Namek saga. By the time of the Android and Majin Buu arcs, there were no battle power readings at all.
How strong were Krillin and the others in the Majin Buu arc?
Yamiru had a gut feeling that, compared to the Krillin who had unlocked all his potential on Namek, Krillin in the Buu saga wasn't all that much stronger.
If Krillin, who had unlocked all his potential on Namek, still trained by himself and increased his battle power by several times, then the so-called "unlocking potential" by the Grand Elder would seem like complete nonsense... After all, Krillin wasn't Gohan. Gohan, being a Saiyan, already had immeasurable true potential, not to mention his transformation into a Super Saiyan.
So, what's the point of martial arts?
In the manga, the highest-end combat power is basically dominated by the Saiyan lineage.
The two key elements to transforming into a Super Saiyan: S-cells + threshold combat power.
The former's mental state requirement is something Bulma could meet if she were a Saiyan, not exactly noteworthy.
As for the latter's combat power threshold conditions? With a Saiyan's resilient body and the right methods, they can quickly boost their power in a short time.
Advanced martial arts realms, for the Saiyans, especially the Super Saiyans, are more like the icing on the cake than a necessity.
Even the Super Namekian Piccolo achieved a leap in power just by assimilating twice—each time more exaggerated than the last. What martial arts realm improvements did he gain from those two assimilations? Nothing at all. It was purely due to his racial advantages. It seems the Dragon Clan's unique power is assimilation, where excellent individuals get a synergistic boost that is greater than the sum of its parts.
The realm of Martial arts, as Korin said, truly seem to be of no use.
On Earth, there are philosophers and thinkers as wise as the deep sea, yet none of them suddenly developed the power to destroy stars with a single punch just by intellectual enlightenment.
This world is material, it's objective. No matter how high your martial arts realm is, you can't say a weakling can defeat the cosmic emperor. That simply doesn't make sense.
So, improving the martial arts realm is just a faint hope of reaching a combat power level similar to Krillin's, at best?
Every time he thinks this way, Yamiru remembers the second half of what Korin said—perhaps having no use is the greatest use.
Yamiru believes the universe—or more simply, the creator of all realms—is fair. There's no reason for it to favor players like the Saiyans. Since humans are better at seeking truth in the details, gazing at the stars from the mundane world, and searching for treasures in weak bodies, this should all be meaningful.
Then there's the Dragon God and the Celestial God...
The Dragon God left behind Dragon Balls, the Namekian Dragon Clan, and various incredible miracles from the Dragon World, including Arale...
It seems the Celestial God integrated part of the heavens into all realms, creating the small underworld heaven, maintaining the cycle of life and death for all realms...
While Yamiru was distracted watching the match, King Chappa on the stage had already been knocked out by Tianjin Han in two moves.
King Chappa crashed to the ground, his legs in the air, face full of doubt about life.
"You see, I told you so," Yamiru said to the dazed King Chappa.
King Chappa, probably still dizzy from losing, heard Yamiru's "mocking" words and couldn't hold back his anger. He threw a punch at Yamiru's face from across the spectator barrier.
The spectators in the front rows couldn't handle the powerful punch from King Chappa, and they quickly scattered to either side of Yamiru and Tights.
However, when King Chappa's fist landed on Yamiru's face, the latter remained completely still. It turned out Yamiru had just raised a finger to block the punch.
At first glance, the finger seemed to be placed between Yamiru's face and King Chappa's fist, but upon closer inspection, one could see that King Chappa's fist was trembling slightly due to the force, yet Yamiru's finger, positioned only about a millimeter away from his nose, remained completely still and never touched him.
King Chappa, humiliated, wiped away tears and staggered off the stage.
The front-row spectators cheered and clapped, and the little-bearded referee promptly took the microphone and introduced Yamiru as the previous World Martial Arts Tournament champion.
"They all seem to want you to compete," Tights nudged Yamiru's shoulder with hers.
"Forget it," Yamiru shook his head, waving at the referee and the surrounding spectators. He led Tights out of the spectator area. "What's the point of chicken pecking each other?"
Tights was puzzled. "It sounds like you're counting yourself as one of them."
Yamiru sighed, "It's exactly because I'm also a chicken that it feels so boring. Otherwise, it would just be fake humility, pretending to be the underdog."
"I don't understand you!" Tights linked her arm with his. "Shouldn't it be called evenly matched?"
"Ever since Uncle Bardock's incident, the level of evenly matched has been raised… Now, people like us are just chickens pecking at each other."
Yamiru had a slightly conflicted look that Tights found quite endearing.
By the afternoon, the noise from the Martial Arts Tournament seemed to quiet down. The competition appeared to be over.
Tien Shinhan, the champion of the 20th World Martial Arts Tournament, found Yamiru and Tights, who were resting at a snack shop near the martial arts temple.