Chapter 139: Two Origins

The group's lunch began in a Castle nestled in the mountains.

Indeed, Dr. Brief and his wife returned to Paozu Mountain just in time for lunch, riding their flying vehicle. They probably worried about their two daughters being hungry.

Mrs. Brief even chose a Castle in the style of an ancient forest castle to match the atmosphere of Paozu Mountain.

Even Son Gohan, who was usually calm and collected, was astonished by the grandeur of the Brief family's actions.

Jaco stepped aside and gestured for Tights to go first. "Miss Tights, please."

Tights: "..."

Bulma, who couldn't wait any longer, dashed to the dining area, climbed into a chair, and grabbed a knife and fork, eagerly awaiting her meal.

Dr. Omori and Dr. Brief continued their conversation as they walked inside.

Mrs. Brief, meanwhile, moved closer to Yamiru and quietly asked if he had any interest in Tights. Yamiru was caught off guard, not knowing how to respond, but before he could say anything, Mrs. Brief gave him a sly smile and walked off. She then said something to Tights, who was in the middle of a verbal spat with Jaco. Jaco shot a glance at Yamiru, while Tights scolded her mother with dissatisfaction.

Soon, the aroma of food wafted through the castle, probably from the robotic servants cooking in the kitchen.

The little monkey-tailed boy, who had been alert since the appearance of the ancient castle on the empty lot, sniffed the air and his stomach immediately growled loudly.

"Feeling hungry?" Son Gohan walked over with a smile, scooping up the little monkey, wiping the drool from his mouth, and carrying him into the castle. "Come on, let's have a big meal together."

The Saiyan boy didn't resist. He was probably really hungry.

At the dining table, the Saiyan boy's voracious eating and incredible appetite once again astonished everyone.

As a result, the conversation shifted back to the alien child.

"Are Saiyans really that scary?" Dr. Brief asked, cigarette in mouth, clearly unaware of Jaco's previous descriptions of the Saiyans. "From this child, though, you wouldn't be able to tell. However, their spherical spacecraft — I've been studying it this morning — is indeed very advanced. Oh, right, Yamiru—"

The doctor looked at Yamiru, who was eating. "About the communication device, I checked it. It definitely has a backdoor for eavesdropping and positioning, but I don't know who removed it beforehand."

"Removed it?" Yamiru was surprised. "Did it fall somewhere in the mountains, like the communication antenna that Jaco carelessly broke?"

Jaco was irritated, but couldn't find a way to argue.

Dr. Brief shook his head. "No, I'm sure it was removed deliberately. There are no signs of impact damage."

Dr. Omori was astonished. "Wait a minute, Doctor... You mean to say you finished researching the alien's communication technology in just one morning?"

"Ah..." Dr. Brief had initially planned to be modest, but then realized there was no need. He nodded and admitted, "Well, more or less. I think even Bulma could have done it."

Bulma, eating carefully, asked cautiously, "Really?"

"While it's definitely more advanced, there are areas where it complements our own communication technology. In fact, in some aspects, our theories are even more advanced." Dr. Brief smiled as he explained the basic technical points. Bulma nodded, saying, "I see now!" and continued eating.

"Removed beforehand..."

Yamiru couldn't help but focus on this detail. Was it removed, or was it a model deliberately chosen without the installed remote backdoor?

He couldn't help but think about Bardock, Goku's father.

This excellent warrior, with his foresight and sense of caution, might have intentionally destroyed the listening and tracking devices in the spherical spacecraft to protect his child. Or perhaps he chose a "pure version" of the spacecraft — could that be possible?

Yamiru hadn't seen the Galactic Patrol's short story by Jaco, but he had heard about the "Dragon Ball prequel written by Akira Toriyama" and was somewhat familiar with the so-called "Dragon Ball Minus" origin story.

However, since he personally preferred the version he saw in the animated series as a child, particularly the iconic image of "Son Gohan holding up a naked Son Goku," he had been a bit dismissive of the "official Dragon Ball prequel", which was why he hadn't looked into it closely.

Now that he was in the Dragon Ball world, Yamiru realized that what he was witnessing pointed directly to the version of the origin story he didn't particularly like.

Yamiru wasn't someone rigidly stuck in his ways. Seeing it unfold before his eyes, he couldn't deny the reality. If the true origin was indeed the version where Kakarot landed in his battle armor, then... Yamiru began pondering. He quickly thought about the inconsistencies in the animated version. That iconic "lifted high" image depicting Son Gohan holding a naked Son Goku was meant to portray the moment Son Gohan found the alien child (hence the nudity).

However, at the moment of landing, that wasn't even Son Goku yet — it was still "Kakarot". If it were Kakarot, how could he have shown such a naive, silly, and sweet smile?

Moreover, in the main storyline, all information about Son Goku's origins came from secondhand accounts by Master Roshi and Raditz. And even calling them "accounts" is generous — neither of them had personally witnessed those events. At best, they were passing along hearsay.

One of them had heard a casual remark from Son Gohan, whose recollections might have been incomplete. The other, Raditz, wasn't even on Planet Vegeta when Kakarot was sent away. He had no direct knowledge of his brother's departure and likely only knew Kakarot had been sent to Earth from data in the Saiyan archives.

Compared to these secondhand accounts, Akira Toriyama's depiction in the Dragon Ball Minus prequel, directly illustrating Bardock and Gine sending Kakarot away on the day Planet Vegeta was destroyed, seemed far more accurate.

Thinking of this, Yamiru felt an odd sense of amusement. Toriyama, oh Toriyama — what kind of divine being are you to create this Dragon Ball universe? Or was it just a coincidence of the multiverse?

After all this pondering, Yamiru boiled it down to one key point — the fundamental difference between the origin story presented in Dragon Ball Minus and what fans had always believed.

The crux of this difference lies in the purpose behind Kakarot's journey to Earth.

In the past, fans thought Kakarot was sent to Earth for destruction, as Raditz had claimed — to conquer and destroy.

But Toriyama's story, as Yamiru was now witnessing, suggested a different truth: Kakarot wasn't sent to destroy but to escape. Bardock and Gine sent their youngest son to Earth, a remote planet so insignificant that even Frieza's forces wouldn't bother hunting him down, all to protect him from the destruction Bardock foresaw. They even destroyed the spaceship's listening and tracking devices.

This difference between the two versions — the fictional and the factual — was glaring.

And what Toriyama seemed to want to convey through this reality was that Saiyans were not inherently cold and ruthless.

In the original story, Kakarot was sent to Earth from birth to destroy it. That narrative painted Bardock as cold-blooded and uncaring. But the prequel replaced this with a warmer Bardock, one who made the decisive yet heartfelt choice to send his son away to escape the catastrophe he foresaw. This Bardock showed an emotional depth that made him far more relatable.

Everything Yamiru had observed so far matched this revised narrative.

But there was still one piece of evidence that could conclusively prove this new version of events.

By the time lunch was nearly over, Yamiru had been deep in thought, and everyone left him alone. Suddenly, he looked up, glanced at the now-full Saiyan child bothering Son Gohan, and asked Dr. Brief, "Doctor, could you do me a favor?

"Oh, of course," Dr. Brief replied, noting Yamiru's serious tone.

"Could you help determine this kid's exact age?" Yamiru pointed at the oblivious Saiyan boy.

"Sure, I can do that," Dr. Brief said thoughtfully. "But I don't specialize in biomedical fields. I might need to spend an entire evening brushing up on the relevant knowledge," he added with a casual smile. "After all, dealing with an alien who might destroy Earth isn't exactly something we'd want to leave to the hospital, right?"

"An entire evening..." Dr. Omori muttered, somewhat envious. Was this what true genius looked like?

That afternoon, Dr. Brief and his wife departed for West City, taking a vial of blood and some tissue samples with them.

To get the monkey-tailed boy to cooperate for the blood draw, Son Gohan had to personally restrain him.

Jaco, curious, asked Yamiru, "What are you trying to do?"

Yamiru smiled. "Oh, nothing much. Just taking some samples to run some tests."

One major difference between the original origin story and the Dragon Ball Minus prequel lay in Kakarot's age when he arrived on Earth.

Taking this opportunity to sort through the origins — or at least discuss them — felt worthwhile.