Chapter 31 - Warm-Up

"For the first match of the tournament, we have Krillin from the right corner! Once again wearing his Turtle Hermit Merch, the independent monk has come up on stage once again to try his hand in the pot! On the left corner, we have a new face on the scene, Yajirobe! Coming from deep in the mountains, he is here to show all the city folk what the wilderness has done to him!"

"Let the first match start!" The announcer announced the first matched and stepped out of the arena allowing the two contestants to face each other.

"Hey Chichi. isn't that the guy that we met when we were out looking for the Dragon Balls?" Bulma got a closer look at this Yajirobe guy that sounded familiar and realized that they had met him before.

"Oh yeah, I remember him~"

---

(Start of Flashback)

Beep. Beep. Beep.

"The radar says that the Dragon Ball should be around here." Bulma was cutting through some trees with an adventurous garb on while Chichi also wore the same attire on her flank.

"Just a couple more- Oomph! What the..." Bulma walked right into what she thought was a yellow rock all of the sudden. Stumbling back, both she and Chichi tripped over themselves to the ground.

"Who is it?" Not fazed at all, the yellow rock appeared to be a man with a sword hanging from his waist. With wild, unkempt hair he looked down at the two girls that were trying to stand up.

"What are you are doing just laying on the ground there? I'm walking here!"

"You two are the ones who disturbed my nap, I should be asking what you two are doing here!"

Logic on either side wasn't really sound at all making the whole argument worthless. Bulma was about to go on until her eyes got blinded by a reflecting coming from the guy's necklace. Seeing the Dragon Ball hanging like a shiny ornament on an ugly Christmas Tree, she had to stop herself short.

"That is the last Dragon Ball and just before the World Martial Arts Tournament started! Hey, I really need the thing on your neck, I have been looking for it for a long time."

"What, this thing?" Yajirobe unhooked the strings and dangled it over Bulma's hand only to snatch it away when she clasped it.

"What do I get for it? I found this a couple of weeks ago and from what I know around these parts is finders keepers." Yajirobe had a smirk on his face from the extortion. Maybe the useless ball could net him a bj if they are desperate. The smug look turned into one of shame when his stomach growl quite loudly as if it knew of its audience.

"How about I give you a year's worth of food?" Bulma's smile grew wider when the short man agreed pretty easily excited at the prospect. Throwing down a capsule, a refrigerator popped out of the smoke capturing the young man's attention.

Hopping on to her hoverbike, the two sped away to their house not looking back. Opening the large fridge, he saw a very stocked fridge full of ingredients and meat.

"What? This isn't a year's worth, this is barely a week worth! Those scammers!"

(End of Flashback)

"Didn't know he was much of a fighter." Bulma concluded the flashback that the two had of the guy that had left a small impression on them.

Yajirobe burst towards Krillin with a wild demeanor. The trained Martial Artist analyzed his movement and moved according to them, Blocking the fist coming for his head, he went for a headbutt from an egg to a hedgehog.

Thinking that his endurance will hold up, Yajirobe angled his head to dull the impact and waited for it to come. When it did it came hard and strong. Sporting a huge new bump, Yajirobe sunk to the ground a couple of centimeters while gritting his teeth.

'What the f*ck is this strength? I only came here to find that girl to pay me for that ball I gave her.'

Seeing the kick coming for his rib, Yajirobe was able to block with his other hand. Both appendages of opposite sides were in his grasps, he used brute strength and pushed forward with the momentum he had.

Krillin tried as hard as he could to keep afoot with his one leg but he was getting closer and closer to the ledge with Yajirobe finally feeling like he had a chance.

One step away from being disqualified, one last hurrah pushed Krillin out of the ring, but instead of falling like Yajirobe that he would happen, the little man started to float in the air like magic. Looking up in despair, he saw Krillin's shiny head once more before his nose caved in from the impact.

"And the winner is Krillin!"

---

"For the next match, we have come back once more with his former school mates is Yamcha! Will the fan-favorite rise on top today or will he plummet like every other time? On the left corner, we have Demon Junior who looks uncanny to the Demon King Piccolo appearance 3 years ago in this tournament. Maybe it's his son avenging his father by challenging Goku or maybe he will 'conquer the world' like his papa."

"Let the second match begin!"

Yamcha got chills down his spine when looking into the eyes of Junior. Reminded him too much of how useless they all were against the might of the Demon King.

"Are you not going to move bug or am I?"

Yamcha geared himself up, he has trained hard these last three years. He is not the man that he was before.

---

"And the winner is Demon Junior!" The audience felted too much pity when they looked at the down form of Yamcha on the ground. He didn't have any outward injuries but the whites of his eyes showed his unconsciousness.

"Despite showing off his new baseball move, the Spirit Ball. Junior was able to move behind him though the erratic ball. Yamcha was unable to retaliate to the insane speed and was knocked down with just a karate chop to the neck!" The announcer was hyping up Piccolo's strength knowing that he will advance to the final round.

"Yamcha really did get a lot stronger in the gap of three years so this Demon Junior is more powerful than I expected." Tien was observing the fight with the others in the back. Piccolo walked past them bumping Tien's shoulder making him fall over easily like proving a point.

"He is powerful, but I don't think you should be looking at his match but your own right now." Goku reached out a hand and helped him up. Just as Tien brushed off the dirt that accumulates on his butt, their names were called out to step into the ring.

---

"From the right corner, we have the previous school member of the infamous Crane Hermit school Tien Shinhan! He came in second place in the last tournament. losing to Goku who was crowned the champion. Will he avenge himself or will he be walking away once again? On the left corner, we have the previous champion of the World Martial Arts tournament Goku! He had an enormous growth spurt from when we last saw him but hopefully, his strength has also gone through a growth spurt as well."

"Let the third match begin!"

"I know our strengths are probably not even but I still wish you use everything you got." Tien spoke while jumping forward with an incredibly serious face on. All three eyes were trained on the newly adult Goku waiting for him to move.

Instead of the standard battle that he was expecting of attack and counter, Goku was the only one attacking at all. To stop the Tien's momentum, Goku did a fast high kick that left as fast it came. Not stopping for a second, he jumped up with one leg and did a kick with his entire body supporting him.

Tien was able to dodge the first relatively easy, but the second kick was too fast for him. The kick barely touched his cheek but left a small scratch to show how powerful it was. Landing smoothly, he then did rapid punches to every part of his body.

Tien was too slow to keep up and it all stopped when he was punched in between the neck and chest. He flew back but was able to control it somewhat with his flight. When he stabilized himself, he decided to fire back with a risky play by making both of his fingers glow.

Shooting the Dodan Rays at the spots that Goku once was. The beams were not coming fast enough and Tien completely forgot that he could win when someone rams a fist in your stomach. Training for three years under insane pressure, literally and figuratively, allowed Tien to achieve great boons in strength. But Goku was just too powerful for him to handle.

And it's not just pure strength anymore like he felt the previous times he was outmatched. This time there was something else that supported him and wormed its way through Tien's defenses that made him that much stronger.

Tien could not embarrass himself any longer and decided to give up right there.

"I give..."

"And that is the match! Last tournament world champion easily defeats his rival from the last tournament! It looks like the Goku has far surpassed him and entered his own league. Will anyone dethrones him or will he take the crown once again?"