Watching Chiaotzu easily float out of reach, Yurin’s mouth twitched.
For a moment, she stood there in the courtyard, completely at a loss for what to do next.
Tien sighed, taking in her mix of helpless frustration and lingering anger.
“Yurin, why are you doing this?” he asked softly.
“We trained under the same master.
There’s no deep hatred between us.
Even though we went our separate ways back then, we can still be together now!”
For some reason, hearing those specific words made Yurin’s heart melt like honey.
A sweet, giddy feeling washed over her.
A deep blush crept across her cheeks.
Her large, watery eyes darted around in sudden panic as her heartbeat skyrocketed.
She bit her lip, dropping her voice to a shy whisper.
“Can we…
can we really still be together?”
“Of course!” Tien answered without missing a beat, completely oblivious to the romantic implication she had drawn from his words.
Seeing Yurin stunned into a lovestruck silence, Alex decided it was time to step in.
“Well, since that little misunderstanding has been resolved, Tien, I have a task for you.”
Tien immediately turned to Alex and bowed respectfully.
“Whatever you need, Master.”
“I want you to challenge Goku.”
Both Tien and Chiaotzu froze.
“Challenge Goku?” Tien asked, blinking in surprise.
Alex gave a slow, deliberate nod.
Tien hesitated.
“Master, my power has definitely grown immensely, but…
the gap between Goku and me is still massive.” He knew exactly how much stronger he had become, but he wasn’t delusional.
Beating Goku in a straight fight was simply impossible.
Alex chuckled.
He knew perfectly well that Tien couldn’t beat the Saiyan.
Winning wasn’t the point at all.
The real goal was to bait Goku.
He needed to pique Goku’s interest and let him know a new martial arts master had appeared on Earth.
Once the bait was taken, Alex could rope him in as a disciple, throw him into the Super Hyperbolic Time Chamber, and watch his own power levels skyrocket.
Just thinking about those sweet stat multipliers sent a thrill of anticipation through him.
“Your goal isn’t to win,” Alex explained smoothly.
“It’s to gauge his current strength.
Think of it as a friendly spar.
However, I want you to go all out and show him everything you’ve got.”
Tien breathed a sigh of relief.
If it was just a spar, that made much more sense.
“Understood, Master.”
At the same time, a spark of anticipation flared in his chest.
He was dying to know exactly where his new limits lay.
Just how much of the gap between him and Goku had he actually managed to close?
“Head out and find him now,” Alex ordered.
“Right away!” Tien immediately took to the sky, rocketing toward the western hemisphere.
Goku’s house wasn’t actually inside West City limits, but deep in the rural outskirts—a location Tien knew like the back of his hand.
Seeing Tien leave, Chiaotzu quickly floated up.
“Go ahead,” Alex waved.
Having just reunited with the man of her dreams, Yurin wasn’t about to let Tien out of her sight.
She quickly took off into the air, chasing right after them.
Meanwhile, in the rural farmlands near Mount Paozu.
Goku was currently operating a sputtering tractor, one hand lazily resting on the steering wheel as he let out a loud groan.
“Man, this is so boring!” he complained to the empty fields.
“Why is farming always this boring?
I just want to go train!”
He was whining so much that he completely stopped paying attention to where he was driving.
CRASH!
The tractor rolled right off the edge of a steep cliff, taking the Saiyan with it.
“Whoa!”
A few seconds later, Goku floated casually back up over the ridge, holding the heavy tractor effortlessly over his head with a single hand.
“Goku, what exactly are you doing?”
Goku looked up.
Tien and Chiaotzu were floating right above him, staring at the bizarre sight.
“Hey!
It’s Tien and Chiaotzu!” Goku’s face instantly broke into a wide grin.
He gently set the tractor down on the grass and scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed laugh.
“I wasn’t paying attention and kinda drove it off the cliff.”
Tien deadpanned.
Who accidentally drives a tractor off a cliff?
Then again…
this was Goku.
When it came to fighting and eating, he was an absolute genius.
When it came to literally anything else, he was completely hopeless and easily distracted.
Tien touched down in the dirt next to him.
Goku brushed the dust off his gi, looking curious.
“So, what brings you guys all the way out here?”
“I’ve made some significant improvements to my power recently,” Tien said, getting straight to the point.
“I came here to challenge you to a spar.”
He knew exactly how the Saiyan would react.
And he wasn’t disappointed.
The moment those words left Tien’s mouth, Goku’s eyes lit up with absolute thrill.
He practically bounced on his heels, cracking his knuckles with a massive, giddy smile.
“Really, Tien?!
Are you serious?
That’s awesome!”
Tien couldn’t help but smile.
He knew Goku would never turn down a fight.
If Tien hadn’t challenged him, Goku probably would have begged him for a match anyway.
“Man, I was dying of boredom out here!
That’s why I wasn’t watching the road!” Goku laughed, stretching his arms high above his head.
“Let’s go, Tien!
Without wasting another second, Goku shot into the sky, heading straight toward the rocky wastelands.
There was no way he was going to fight near his house—if Chi-Chi caught him wrecking the radish fields, he would never hear the end of it.
Tien and Chiaotzu quickly followed his ki signature.
A short flight later, the three of them touched down in a barren, rocky canyon.
Chiaotzu, always protective of his best friend, floated back to a safe distance and called out nervously.
“Goku, please take it easy on him!
Don’t go too far!”
“Don’t worry, Chiaotzu!
I know!” Goku called back, rolling his shoulders to loosen up.
He knew full well that Tien was nowhere near his level, so he planned to keep his power heavily suppressed and just enjoy a light warmup.
“Alright, Tien, whenever you’re ready!” Goku grinned, dropping into his signature Turtle School stance.
Tien’s expression hardened into serious focus.
“It’s been a long time since we went one-on-one like this, Goku.”
Goku’s playful demeanor faded, shifting into the sharp intensity of a martial artist.
“Yeah, it has.
I can’t even remember how many years it’s been…
I just remember fighting you at the World Martial Arts Tournament.”
“That’s right,” Tien nodded slowly.
“When you think about how we were back then compared to now…
we were incredibly weak.
Barely even a blip on the radar.”
It felt like a lifetime ago.
Back then, Goku didn’t even know what a Super Saiyan was, and Raditz hadn’t even landed on Earth yet.
A nostalgic smile touched Goku’s lips.
“Yeah, we really were completely out of our depth back then!
But hey, Tien!
I know we’re gonna keep getting stronger.
I bet years from now, we’ll look back at how strong we are today and think we were weak all over again!”
Tien strongly agreed with that sentiment.
Now that he had awakened the Three-Eyed Celestial Bloodline, his current strength wasn’t his absolute limit anymore.
This was just the starting line.
“You’re absolutely right, Goku.
Now, here I come!” Tien shouted, his eyes narrowing.
“Haaa!”
Tien instantly flared his ki.
A massive shockwave erupted from his body, tearing through the wasteland.
Gale-force winds whipped up the dirt and sand, spiraling into a violent cyclone that expanded outward, shattering rocks in a hundred-meter radius.
Goku’s eyes widened in genuine shock, which immediately shifted into pure, unfiltered excitement.
“Whoa!
Tien, you’ve gotten way stronger!” he cheered, thrilled by the massive surge of energy.
“This is gonna be great!
Haaa!”
Goku flared his own brilliant white aura to match the pressure.
With a sonic boom, he launched himself forward.
Tien didn’t hesitate, rocketing toward him in a blur of motion.
BAM!
The two martial artists met dead center in the canyon, their fists colliding with explosive force.
BOOM!