Chapter 99 Goku and Bulma, and the stunned Master Roshi (Part 5)

The remaining Dragon Balls were inside the castle.

Originally, the group's plan was to exchange something of equal value for the Dragon Balls.

However, they ended up suffering a malicious attack from the Pilaf trio instead.

To be fair, in the original work, the Pilaf trio had a grand entrance, but their fate was quite miserable.

This time, it was even worse.

The reason was simple—Goku was too powerful!

A power level of 150 is enough to instantly kill everything on Earth, and on today's Earth, only a few people can defeat him.

But, no one expected that the Pilaf trio would continue to develop in secret for over twenty years, eventually becoming friends with the next generation of children in their child forms and fully integrating into their group.

Most notably, Mai—she would go on to become Trunks' girlfriend in the future.

If Bulma knew about this now, she would definitely be furious.

After taking care of the Pilaf trio, they obtained the Dragon Balls.

Summoning Shenron was a first-time experience for most of them, but for Bulma, she had already gone through it once when she was younger.

That time, it was Talot who summoned him.

"Finally, the moment has come," Yamcha said, swallowing nervously.

"What does Shenron actually look like?" Puar exclaimed in wonder.

"Stop muttering! And Bulma, hurry up! We can't wait any longer," Oolong urged impatiently.

Only Goku remained calm, completely undisturbed.

"Got it, I'll summon him now! Come forth, Shenron... and grant my wish! If I remember correctly, this is how it goes..."

As Bulma recited the summoning chant, the seven Dragon Balls emitted a dazzling golden light.

Under everyone's gaze, the mysterious power hidden within the Dragon Balls was awakened and burst forth from within.

Dark clouds rapidly rolled across the sky, spreading at an incredible speed until they completely covered the sky.

In less than a minute, darkness descended upon the entire Earth, blocking out the sunlight.

Light was replaced by darkness, leaving everyone in awe.

Even Bulma, despite having experienced this before, was once again shocked.

At that moment, golden light shot up from the seven Dragon Balls into the sky, accompanied by endless streaks of lightning that churned through the dark clouds.

Gradually, the golden light transformed into a green-scaled Shenron, radiating an overwhelming dragon's might as it hovered in the sky.

"You who have gathered the seven Dragon Balls, speak thy wish. No matter what it is, I can grant you one," Shenron proclaimed in his iconic voice, leaving everyone completely astonished.

Emotions were inevitable, yet the only one who remained expressionless was Goku.

With a pure heart, he was as innocent as a blank sheet of paper.

Others revered Shenron, feared Shenron, and then developed greedy desires.

But not him—he had almost no desires and would never rely on wishes to satisfy himself.

Of course, except for wanting to know the answers to a few questions.

For example, where had his older siblings gone?

This was something Bulma wanted to know as well.

"Shenron, can you tell me where Talot, Salari, and Raditz have been gone all these years?" Bulma asked.

She completely overlooked the fact that asking this question was essentially making a wish.

"Your question should have counted as three wishes, as it involves the whereabouts of three individuals. However, since you are only asking where they went, I can answer you. After all, the three of them have always been together. Right now, they are at the end of Snake Way on North Kai's Planet in the Other World. For the past few years, they have been training under North Kai's guidance," Shenron responded without giving Bulma a chance to take back her words.

With the wish granted, Shenlong raised his head and let out a mighty roar—almost as if relieved by the easy wish, finally venting the negative emotions from the previous time when he was summoned

"Wait~! How does this count as a wish? I was just asking you a question!" Bulma protested, exasperated.

At this moment, she recalled how Talot had made a wish before—Shenron had answered many of his questions, yet they hadn't counted as wishes.

She had been completely misled by Talot's wish-making process, subconsciously assuming that asking questions did not count as making a wish.

But Shenron had no intention of indulging her. With his task complete, he transformed into golden light and returned to the Dragon Balls.

The seven Dragon Balls turned into stone and scattered across the world. Almost instantly, the dark clouds in the sky rapidly dispersed, vanishing without a trace, restoring the sky to its bright and clear state.

Bulma stood frozen in the wind, utterly dumbstruck.

After all the effort she had put into gathering the Dragon Balls, the wish was already over just like that...

She found it hard to accept and felt a sense of frustration building up inside her.

"What the—?! I didn't even get to say my real wish yet!" Bulma wailed in dismay.

Time could not be reversed, and Shenron would not appear again to grant her actual wish.

Unless she gathered the Dragon Balls again in a year and summoned Shenron once more.

"Forget it, Bulma. At least we now know where my big brother and the others are, right?" Goku, clueless as ever, only cared about knowing their location so he could find them quickly.

Bulma just stared at him, feeling like she wanted to cry but was also filled with anger—yet there was nothing she could do.

It took a long time for Bulma's emotions to settle slightly. Meanwhile, Yamcha, Puar, and Oolong had already started talking spiritedly.

First, they were curious about Talot, Salari, and Raditz, wondering what kind of people they were.

Second, Shenron's answer had mentioned Other World.

While they couldn't quite comprehend what Snake Way or North Kai's Planet was, nor did they know what kind of being North Kai was, they at least knew what the Other World referred to.

The world after death!

Ordinary living people would never be able to confirm the existence of the Other World.

Anyone who considers themselves somewhat intelligent would assume that after death, one simply fades into nothingness.

Now that the existence of the world of afterlife was confirmed, it was clear just how shocking this revelation was to them.

"I really can't imagine that our world is actually this vast!"

"Let me sort out my thoughts—Shenron just said that the three relatives you and Goku were looking for are in the Other World… In other words, they're dead?"

Yamcha's conclusion left both Bulma and Goku stunned.

Bulma was still fixated on how Shenron had tricked her, making her even more determined to summon Shenron again next year and get her revenge.

Goku, on the other hand, hadn't understood from the beginning.

Now, after hearing Yamcha's words, how could he possibly stay calm?

"No, that's impossible! Brother Talot is fine. There's no way they're dead!" Although she was panicking inside, Bulma stubbornly refused to believe it.

"I don't believe it either! If they really were dead, Mom would have told me!" Goku practically shouted.

Seeing this, Yamcha, Puar, and Oolong were unsure how to comfort them. They could only hint vaguely that maybe they weren't dead—

But honestly, as long as it's a person, they can understand.

With normal logic, how could a living person possibly reach the Other World? That was a place only the dead could go.

After a long time, once their emotions had stabilized, Bulma and Goku analyzed the situation and decided to return to Mount Paozu first.

Even if they really were dead, they could still gather the Dragon Balls again to summon Shenron and wish them back to life.

The only frustrating part was having to wait an entire year for the Dragon Balls to be restored.

Since Yamcha, Puar, and Oolong had nowhere else to go, they simply decided to follow along.

This caused a deviation from the original work's storyline.

Originally, Goku was supposed to return to Mount Paozu, pack his things, and head to Master Roshi's Kame House to begin his training.

Bulma, Yamcha, Puar, and Oolong were supposed to return to West City to start a new life, and they wouldn't reunite until the World Martial Arts Tournament.

In short, both Bulma and Goku had changed, so it was natural that the things around them would change as well.

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