"Master, do you plan to teach Goku martial arts?" asked Bulma as she flew her airship to where Dr. Omori's island was.
"Of course, I do, although I had intended to teach him when he reached his teenage years, but with you as an apprentice, I guess there's no need to wait too long," Gohan replied after thinking about his words for a few moments.
"You should keep in mind that even if you have a little experience with the aspects of your energy or Ki, we humans are different from other creatures that live in this world.
Our bodies are not as strong, and our learning of esoteric things like transformation or telekinesis is not as effective as those beings, but we do have one advantage.
While they only learn standard things or rely only on their talents, we humans gradually sum up what is best for us, and with each generation, the methods become more effective.
The way our ancestors grew their food was very different from today. Now we can even feed entire cities with millions of people, and that was just a fool's dream in the past.
Knowing that Goku is not human and comes from a race that seems to have superior potential to humans, why wait until he is a teenager? According to what I learned today, even a minor child could wipe out a planet like ours.
Doesn't that make you want to see what powerful and interesting beings are there? I am too old for this exciting adventure, but you and Goku are not, I hope you can grow together, learn together, and look out for each other when you inevitably encounter more and more threatening beings," Gohan's words contained a strong expectation, and Bulma squeezed her small hands, feeling for the first time something she hadn't expected.
Expectation! Her teacher, who barely knew her, hoped that she would be able to keep up with the monstrous Goku in the future, and although nervous, Bulma knew since she was born into this world that she wanted to do that, but inevitably she had doubts.
How not to have them when the things that Goku and the other Saiyans will be capable of? Not to mention monsters like Freezer, C-17, Jiren, Hit, Broly, and other outstanding figures among the mortals of the 12 universes.
"I will be with Goku in the stars!" shouted little Bulma full of energy, her enthusiasm was conveyed by her words and made both Gohan and Goku smile.
"Bulma," Goku said as he playfully waved his hand at her, obviously having already learned the name of his future teammate.
"I hope you will take care of him as your younger brother, according to tradition, he should consider you his 'Big Sister', although, since my generation, that kind of formalism is not used anymore," Gohan explained as he set little Goku down on the floor, who walked awkwardly to Bulma's side, looking curiously at the shiny buttons on the control board.
"I guess I'm a big sister now, I never expected this," Bulma murmured, putting her hand on Goku's head to prevent him from pressing any random button, the boy was restless and curious about everything.
"Master, could you give me some information about the things I'm going to learn?" asked Bulma curiously, the trip would only take a little more than 20 minutes, so there was no harm in seeking conversation.
"Hmm, I think you can prepare yourself in advance. First of all, you should know that you have to learn to fight, it's inevitable. Even though this world is united, things are not peaceful," Gohan reminded with a serious tone, even though the planet now had a king, there were certain dissident and even evil forces entrenched in the world.
"I know, like the Red Ribbon Army, right? No one knows their purpose, but they seem to haunt some remote places," Bulma mentioned, without saying that the real purpose of that group was the Dragon Balls.
For what reason? The supreme leader of such a group wanted to make a wish, which was obvious, but the content of that wish only showed the "weird" nature of this world, which only wanted to grow a few inches tall.
But such a ridiculous wish does not take away from the atrocities they were constantly committing in some villages away from the big cities, where they still lived in a relatively backward manner.
"Yes, this bunch of idiots... I met them during my travels, if you see them, show no mercy," Gohan advised before continuing with the previous topic.
"Aside from fighting, I will teach you proper ki control, although you can already create an energy ball, your methods are crude. I will teach you how to meditate, how to train, and how to constantly find ways to improve.
I will teach you some skills based on the physical and Ki, they are basic but very effective. I will teach you the techniques of the Turtle School, inherited from Mutaito, as well as the secret of my master Muten Roshi's signature technique, the Kame Hame Ha.
Of course, we must include the secret technique I created." At the mention of the last part, Gohan managed to make Bulma's eyes glow, and considering the use of Ki in this world, that glow was real.
"You have a secret technique!" asked Bulma excitedly, not expecting such a thing, and her question only made Gohan nod with a touch of pride on his face.
"I told you that science and martial arts should not be taken separately, but we should take inspiration from both sides to achieve a sum that leads to a superior result. My technique is simple, it's called Entropy," the mere mention of the name seemed to make Bulma's hair stand on end.
If her master wasn't bluffing, not only would she be able to develop her techniques in the future, but she would also learn what might become the flagship technique of her part, if it lived up to its name, even if it was only 10%.
"Don't get upset, it's not something devastating or world-ending, in fact I could tell you the concept because it's not very complicated. It will simply allow you to use 100% of your energy, no waste, regardless of your body's disadvantages, no one will be able to affect your energy, and you will be the absolute owner of it, so it is very demanding in terms of control and energy shaping.
Why do you think I am so strong when I am so old? I live in the mountains, you don't know how many witches or vampires I have encountered in the wild, but this technique has made me immune to them," Gohan said with a hint of pride in his voice, and the excitement in Bulma grew even more.
There was an interesting situation in Dragon Ball, the warriors could launch ki blasts, but it was rare that these attacks had any use, except for each other's 'special' attacks.
Add to that the fact that many factors could cause their power to drop, and you could understand how powerful this kind of technique was. Even with all the energy control they had perfected for so long, Goku and Vegeta could still suffer from wasted or stolen energy.
"Master, if I heard correctly, you said 'energy', not Ki, do you mean all kinds of energy?" asked Bulma after a moment of thought, even putting special emphasis on the word energy.
"It wouldn't be a secret technique if it was just Ki control, you get that with experience and time. No, endurance, both physical and mental, can be categorized as the body's own 'energy', it also makes it easier to simulate certain phenomena with Ki, for example..." Gohan showed his palm, from which a pinch of Ki emerged.
Under the Elder's precise control, this energy seemed to 'vibrate' and gradually give off heat. It was no metaphor or allusion, the temperature in the airship had indeed risen considerably, the interesting thing was that this sensation seemed to be confined to a small space.
"Sure, there will always be a loss of energy, no matter how much I say it is 100% controllable, it is a natural law that energy will leak, but imagine controlling the heat you produce, accelerating your opponent's exhaustion, or you can hinder their movements by lowering the temperature," soon the heat shifted to a biting cold, but just as it came, it vanished.
Gohan proved with practical facts that Ki could be more than just bursts of energy, perhaps not as specialized as magic, that it could do things like create objects, but using science to cause change with your energy was certainly the perfect way.
Even though Bulma was worried that Goku would have a hard time this time, when she thought that the boy in the future could replicate the Hakai just by looking once time and that this one didn't break his head as a child, unlike his counterpart, she had an idea that he might grow up to be a really smart Saiyan fighter outside of fighting or training.
'I already worry about him like I was his big sister," Bulma thought with a small smile on her face, she already wanted to have her first training arc, but she had to figure out some things first.
Like the fact that the island where Doctor Omori lived was already in sight. She had a strong interest in meeting this man, a mere mortal who touched the realm of time with pure technology.
The academic exchanges she could have with this old man were countless! Especially when she thought that it was probably this man's technology that had inspired the original Bulma in that sad future to develop the most broken object in Dragon Ball.
The fucking time machine. Fuck the Super Dragon Balls or the time rings of Kaio-Shin, Bulma from the future stepped into a field that belongs only to the gods to save her timeline.
This was one of the reasons why she was proud, the Bulma protagonist of this story knew that she could reach much higher than that, with both technology and raw power.
When the airship landed, Tights, an old man, and a strange creature were waiting for them, especially the latter, who looked nervous as he watched the machine's door open.
"How could that girl bring one of those bloodthirsty Saiyans here? Aren't you afraid he'll kill us all? What should I do, shoot him? But Jaco, you already lost a year's salary for shooting a defenseless child..." Jaco mumbled, causing Tights, who was standing next to him, to give him a sideways glance.
'Looks like aliens aren't so different from us,' the blonde thought, not paying too much attention to her new friend's nonsense, her mind was focused on her sister.
"Sis!" Tights ran over to Bulma and scooped her up in her arms, squeezing and twirling her around without seeing the pouty face the girl made at being treated like that.
"We saw each other this morning, why so clingy all of a sudden?" complained Bulma as she tried to pull away from her big sister, but even though her physique was superior to that of a normal human, she could not handle the love Tights felt for her, so she resigned herself like a little cat.
"It's just that you're so sweet, I miss you all the time," the blonde replied deftly, caressing Bulma's soft cheeks and ignoring the fierce look she was giving her.
For Tights, who was used to Bulma's mean looks, nothing could stop her from pinching her cheeks. It was only when she heard the coughing of Jaco, who was standing beside her, that she slowly stopped.
"Sis, this is a real alien, doesn't he look strange? And his name is Jaco!" introduced Tights, waving her hands and wiggling her fingers as if they were emitting magical sparkles.
"For the hundredth time today, my look isn't weird, it's the official uniform of the Galactic Patrol and it's really beautiful, the girls love it!" replied Jaco in a tired voice, receiving a brutal reply from the blonde shortly after.
"I didn't know there were aliens without eyes," the seemingly innocent comment made Jaco stumble, and for a moment, Bulma felt the resignation in the patrolman's emotions, something she understood.
"Welcome to my sister's victim club, Jaco," Bulma said, feeling better after seeing someone else's suffering, truly happiness is neither created nor destroyed, only transferred.
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