“BOOM!!” A concentrated ki blast struck the base of the tail dead on!
The explosion sent flames roaring into the sky!
“ROAAAR!!” The Great Ape let out a howl a hundred times more agonized than anything before.
The flames cleared.
That thick, massive tail had been blasted clean off at the root!
“Hah…
hah…” Son Gokai dropped to one knee on the ground, breathing hard, his heart pounding fast.
He was not tired exactly, since on the energy front the Dragon Talisman guaranteed him unlimited ki, and on the physical front the Dog Talisman kept his body at its peak.
The Great Ape’s howling cut off abruptly.
Its massive body, like a balloon with the air let out, began to shrink rapidly at a visible pace.
The black fur receded, and the enormous frame shrank back into that of an eight year old child.
“Thud.” Son Goku dropped bare bottomed onto the ground, sprawled flat on his back, with a wisp of smoke still rising from the stump where his tail had been.
He smacked his lips, rolled over, and fell asleep.
“…” Son Gokai and Son Gohan stood before the yard (ruins), which looked as though a typhoon had passed through it, and looked at the soundly sleeping Son Goku in speechless silence.
“Haah…” Son Gohan picked up his hat and let out a helpless sigh.
“Gokai, it looks like…
the three of us are sleeping in a tree tonight.” Son Gokai wiped the sweat from his brow, but smiled with genuine happiness.
As long as everyone was alright, that was enough.
He turned his head and looked at Son Gohan.
“Grandpa, once the house is repaired, I’d like to make a trip out and visit the senior Master Roshi that you’ve mentioned before.” Son Gohan stared at him blankly after hearing this.
The morning after the Great Ape rampage.
Sunlight poured through the smashed window frame and fell on Son Goku’s bare bottom.
“Mmph…” Son Goku rubbed his eyes and sat up, shaking his head as if nursing a hangover.
“Huh?
Where’s the house?” He stared up at the open blue sky above him, his face full of confusion.
“My butt…
it hurts so much!” He instinctively reached behind him, and where his tail should have been, there was only a bare, smooth scar.
“Waaah!
My tail!!” Son Goku leapt up on the spot, but immediately lost his balance and fell flat on his face with a thud.
“Ow ow ow…” “Stop wailing, Goku.” Son Gokai’s calm voice came from outside the yard.
Son Goku clutched his bottom and hobbled out, instantly frozen in place by the sight before him.
He saw Son Gokai floating in midair (Rooster Talisman, levitation), serving as a one man crane.
With his hands raised and open, he used powerful “telekinesis” (Rooster Talisman) to slowly lift an enormous log that would have taken several people to wrap their arms around, and set it precisely into the mortise and tenon joint of the foundation.
Son Gohan, meanwhile, was down below handling the securing and hammering.
“Gokai…
you…” Son Gohan looked at his eldest grandson and was already past the point of being shocked.
The destruction from last night had been so severe that he had assumed it would take at least several months to rebuild.
Yet the moment dawn broke, Son Gokai had sprung into action.
First he had hurled the massive boulder rubble weighing several tons each into the valley with one hand (Ox Talisman, strength).
Then he had become a blur (Rabbit Talisman, godly speed) and charged into the forest that the Great Ape had crushed the night before, returning in under an hour with all the lumber needed to rebuild the house.
And now, he was displaying this refined ability to control objects remotely.
What made it even more absurd was that when fitting the timber together, Son Gokai did not need a saw at all.
His eyes flashed red, the heat beams swept across, and the cut surfaces of the lumber became smooth as a mirror, perfectly precise.
What kind of nine year old was this?
This was simply a monster!
“Grandpa, focus, the crossbeam is coming.” Son Gokai called out a reminder.
“Oh…
oh!
Right!” Son Gohan snapped back to attention and hurried forward to help.
With Son Gokai as a “super construction crew,” the rebuilding work proceeded at an unbelievable pace.
Son Goku, the patient of the hour (freshly docked tail, aching all over), could only stand to the side and help with small tasks like passing nails, his eyes filled with total admiration for his older brother.
It only took a single day.
By evening, a brand new wooden house, sturdier and more impressive than the original, stood atop Mount Paozu.
That evening, at the dinner table.
Son Gohan took a sip of his soup and looked at his two grandsons, his heart stirring with a hundred different feelings.
One was the “monster” who had nearly taken his old life the night before.
The other was the “miracle worker” who had turned everything around and rebuilt their home today.
Neither of these two grandsons was simple.
Son Gokai swallowed the last piece of roasted meat, wiped his mouth, and set down his bowl and chopsticks.
“Grandpa, Goku, I’m done eating.” He stood up, his expression calm and resolute.
“Grandpa, what I said last night, I meant it.
I’ve decided to set out tomorrow and go to the coast to find the martial arts teacher you told me about, Master Roshi.” Son Gohan was not surprised to hear it.
The determination Son Gokai had shown last night, along with the steadiness and strength beyond his years he had displayed while rebuilding the house today, both proved that he was ready.
“What?!
Brother, you’re leaving?” Son Goku shot up with a start, then forgot again that he had no tail, stumbled, and nearly fell over.
“I want to go too!
I want to go too!
Brother, take me with you!” He rushed over and wrapped himself around Son Gokai’s leg.
Son Gokai patted his head and shook his own.
“Goku, your body hasn’t recovered yet.” He pointed at Son Goku’s bare bottom as he spoke.
“Your tail just came off, you can’t even walk steadily, coming with me would only slow things down.” “I…
I would not!” Son Goku protested with his chin raised, but his flushed face and wobbly stance betrayed him.
“Listen to me.” Son Gokai’s tone left no room for argument.
“You stay home and keep training properly with Grandpa.
That big thing you turned into last night is dangerous, and you need to learn to control it.” (Son Gokai felt there was nothing worth hiding, and had told Goku that he would transform on the night of the full moon.
The reason Goku had not been careful last night was because he had woken up in a daze and on top of that had a rather urgent need to use the bathroom.) “When you can truly beat Grandpa, then you can leave the mountain and come find me.” “Or in a little while, I’ll come back to find you too.” Son Goku pressed his lips together, eyes going red at the corners, but he knew what his older brother said was true.
He had no memory of the events of the night before, but when he woke up in the morning and saw the wounds on Grandpa and his brother (though they had been healed by the Horse Talisman, the bloodstains on their clothes remained), along with the home that had been leveled to the ground, he knew he had caused a terrible disaster.
“…Alright.” Son Goku lowered his head and answered in a sullen, dejected tone.
Son Gohan looked on at the two brothers with warm satisfaction.
He stood up, went into the inner room, and brought out a yellowed piece of parchment, which he handed to Son Gokai.
“Gokai, this is a map.” “Head southeast from Mount Paozu, pass through this large forest, and you’ll see the sea.
Master Roshi’s ‘Kame House’ is on a small island out at sea, and once you reach the coast you’ll know it when you see it.” Son Gohan’s eyes were filled with complete trust.
This grandson of his, from the day he had taken him in, had been a hundred times more composed than other children his age.
He was sensible, sharp, and sure of himself, and his abilities were formidable.
Son Gohan knew that what he himself could still teach this boy was not much.
“Gokai,” Son Gohan said with earnest care.
“Master Roshi is a true grandmaster of the martial arts.
But his personality…
well…
is a little eccentric.
When you meet him, be sure to remain respectful at all times, and do not show off your own abilities.” Son Gohan paused for a moment at this point, then added.
“Especially the invisibility.” Son Gokai of course knew exactly why Son Gohan had added that last line.
“I understand, Grandpa.” Son Gokai nodded and put the map away.
“Go then.” ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 📖 Like the story?
I found this one intresting