Goku was very aware of Mister Popo's disapproving glare as he loudly slurped his noodles, but he'd long ago learned to ignore the man's judgment around what he referred to rather disgustedly as "bodily functions." Goku had been living at the Lookout for over a year now – he'd turned sixteen and started growing hair in odd places several months ago, and in that time Mister Popo had borne witness as the now young man adjusted to the changes of his bodily functions. Goku would never be able to stop laughing at the memory of the look on Mister Popo's face when he decided to demonstrate his excellent aim by dropping his pants and peeing over the side of the Lookout.
"Look out below!" he'd called out, laughing as Mister Popo watched in horror. "Now do you get the joke?"
Mister Popo had not gotten the joke.
Goku knocked back the remaining broth and wiped his mouth. "Are you ever gonna tell me how you make all this food?" There was no kitchen in the palace at the Lookout – Goku had been very thorough in his exploration of the building.
"I told you once," Mister Popo said, "the food is here when you need it. It should not concern you how it is produced."
"Only it's not very good. I mean, it's okay," Goku didn't want to be rude, "but it could be better."
"Jeez, anyone'd think you were raised on pheasant meat and gold leaf." Korin was a rare visitor to the Lookout, coming up to check on Goku's progress and deliver Senzu beans, tiny beans that had magical healing and feeding properties. Goku had lived on them during his time at the Tower, and Korin had fielded a stream of complaints from the young Saiyan about their flavor, or lack thereof.
"If you require nothing else," Mister Popo moved to stand, "we can continue with your training."
"Wait, wait," Goku said, "I wanna know how I'm doing. I mean, compared to the others. Am I doing as good?"
Mister Popo and Korin exchanged looks, to the extent that the closed-eyed cat and the expressionless keeper had looks to exchange.
"What do mean exactly?" Korin said.
"I mean compared to when they were my age, am I as strong as they were?" Goku asked.
Korin scratched his head. "We didn't know them when they were your age. Truth is, you're a lot younger than they were when they came to the Lookout."
Goku sat up straighter. "Really?"
"I don't remember exactly how old they were, but they were definitely older. I mean, Taiki already had a couple kids, right?" Korin turned to Mister Popo, who nodded.
"He would observe them with me, if I recall."
"Who's Taiki?" Goku asked.
"I believe you know him as the Ox King," Mister Popo said.
"He could observe the real world? I thought you said only you could observe the world below," Goku said.
"No, I said that you could not," Mister Popo corrected.
"You need to listen more closely, kid," Korin said.
"The ones who came before you were older, wiser, and they had already tapped into powers beyond what you now have."
"So, they were stronger?"
Mister Popo shrugged. "Like all of your kind you are obsessed with physical strength over all else. So, it would please you to know that you are in fact, physically stronger than either of your two predecessors, even though they exceeded you in both age and experience."
Goku's eyes popped out of his skull. "Really?!" he squealed. "I'm stronger than the Super Saiyan!"
"Oh no, certainly not," Mister Popo said, as Goku deflated. "But you are stronger than he was when I began training him."
"Wow," Goku whispered. His face flushed with pride.
"In fact, your entire race has grown in strength considerably over the last several hundred years."
"Of course, that wouldn't stop either of them wiping the floor with you," Korin said.
The bubble popped. "What? How come?" Goku protested.
"It's like Mister Popo says. You're obsessed with strength, but it takes more than that to be great warrior," Korin said. "If all this is just about strength to you, Goku, you might as well go home and fire a bunch of Kamehamehas into the ocean over and over. But it takes a lot more than that to be a master."
"But I don't understand…," Goku scratched the back of his head.
"There is also the force of will," Mister Popo said.
"Force of will?"
"That is the meaning of purpose."
Goku sighed. "I don't get it."
"Yeah, we know, kid." Korin turned to Mister Popo and grinned mischievously. "You know what I always wanted to do?"
"Yes, I do, Master Korin."
"So how 'bout it?"
"I," Mister Popo paused, his eyes fixed intently on Goku. "I would not normally consider it, but you…are an odd one, Goku. It would be perhaps good for you to see what it is to have purpose." He stood up, arms behind his back, and motioned to the two to follow him.
Their destination was a room within the palace, one that Goku had never noticed before despite his thorough excavation of the place. Like most of the palace its walls were lined with white tile, but on one wall was displayed a gigantic, round, gold clock. It ticked silently, but the movement of the hands created tiny vibrations in the air that ruffled Goku's messy spikes.
"This is the Room of Spirit and Time," Mister Popo said. Something odd was happening to his voice – it was quieter, but it thudded against the walls and dissipated into the air. "On the Lookout, Time and Space exist as they do in the mortal world below. Here, Time and Space may bend to your needs."
"Uh…"
"We can travel through time, kid," Korin explained.
"Really?" Goku squeaked.
"It is more complicated than that," Mister Popo said, "but for your purpose, yes, we can travel through time. If you like, I can take you to-"
"Yes!" Goku was practically jumping up and down from excitement. "Take me take me take me!"
"You haven't heard where to," Mister Popo pointed out.
"The Ox King!"
"See, he's getting smarter," Korin grinned.
A haze descended on them – it felt light like mist but obscured Goku's vision entirely. He felt a spinning sensation, but he wasn't moving, and he didn't think the room was moving either.
When the haze cleared, the three had landed in a quiet, dark stone hallway.
"Where are we?" Goku whispered.
"This is Kada Castle," Korin said. "And you don't have to whisper, nobody can hear or see us."
Before Goku could ask what or where Kada Castle was, a scream pierced through the silence, and suddenly there was crying and yelling. Instinctively, Goku rushed towards the cries, Korin and Mister Popo floating behind him.
He ran down the hall and into a horrific scene. The doors of two rooms were flung open, and people in black uniforms and metal armor – guards, it looked like – were dragging people out. A woman lay bleeding onto the stone floor, and a young girl lay next to her, neck snapped. An elderly woman was on her knees by the bodies, weeping and screaming.
"Oh gods!" Goku screamed. He rushed towards them and tried to lift the woman up, but he couldn't touch her, his fingers disappeared against her body.
"We're not really here, Goku," Korin said. "You can't touch anyone."
"There is nothing to be done here," Mister Popo said. "All this has passed, nothing can change it."
"But," Goku looked up helplessly. The guards had killed two more people, young boys, not much older than Goku himself by the looks of it. Standing over the bodies was a tall man wearing a cape and gloves, and a nasty grin on his face. He was holding another man by the scruff of his neck, hands behind his back, forcing him to witness the gruesome deaths.
"How do you feel, brother?" the man hissed. "Not quite as cocky as you were when last we met, hmm? You see now that I was not playing games with you when I said I would have the throne. Well, don't be too sad. You will not be long parted from your dear family." With that, the man pulled a dagger seemingly from nowhere and stabbed his brother in the chest, then dropped his body onto the ground to bleed out and die.
"Why?" the elderly woman cried out, crawling to where the brother lay dying and grabbing his hand. "Why are you doing this? He did not wrong you!"
But before the murderer could respond, crying was heard from one of the rooms. At the door was a small child, maybe two or three years old, holding a blanket, tears pouring down his cheeks and a look of terror in his eyes.
The man turned towards the sound, raising an eyebrow in surprise. "It seems my brother's family has grown since last I saw him."
"NO!" With a speed that shocked Goku, the elderly woman rushed to the child, covering him with her body as he sobbed. "No! I will not allow you to hurt him! He is a small child, for gods' sakes! Have you not shed enough of our family's blood this dark night?"
The man grinned darkly. "Auntie…"
"No!" she screamed, grasping the child more tightly against her. "You will spare him, or you will kill us both!"
"Come now, Auntie. You know I could never hurt you." The man's voice was sickly sweet, and even the evil glint in his eyes appeared to have dimmed ever so slightly. "I will always remember fondly the nights you sat with me when I was ill and read to me. Hmm? Do you not remember those days?"
"I will not surrender the boy! Never!"
"Auntie," he said, "I tell you this. You may hand me the child, and live in this, your ancestors' castle, as a queen, or you can keep hold of him, and seek out your livelihood wherever it may take you, away from the Kada Lands."
"I choose him!" she cried defiantly. She picked up the still sobbing boy, holding him tightly against her, her wrinkled hands deliberately covering his head and chest. "I would not live with you in this castle of blood one moment!"
The man's previously softened expression hardened once more, and he seemed somehow angrier than he had been as he stabbed his brother. "Then you take him and nothing else but the clothes on your back from this castle."
The scene swirled, and suddenly Goku found himself watching the old woman carrying the small boy across a field. He turned, and in the distance he could see the tall spires of the castle.
Something about it looked familiar.
"Where are we, exactly?" he asked.
"These are the Kada Lands," Korin explained. "That boy is Taiki Kada, who you and the rest of the mortals of your time know as the first Ox King. His father was king of the Kada Lands until about two hours ago, when the scene you just saw happened. That's his great aunt. They're going into exile, but she's going to die when he's 10, so then he'll return to the Kada Lands and work for some years before he begins to come into his power."
"So, he's going to fight to get his throne back? That's his purpose?"
"Taiki's uncle is a cruel, malicious ruler," Mister Popo said. "He will drive these lands into such poverty and misery as had not been seen in living memory before, and will not be seen again under the rule of an Ox King."
Before Goku could ask any more questions, the scene swirled again, and this time the trio landed in a dark town square. Mud squelched unpleasantly beneath people's feet, and the smell of manure permeated the air. Tiny wooden shacks were huddled together, grime caking their walls. People looked sick, haggard, and miserable.
Goku had seen a lot of poverty, but this was of a debilitating type.
"Where are we now?" Goku asked.
"This is Ter-Kader," Mister Popo said.
"No," Goku shook his head disbelievingly. He knew his father's hometown was no beach resort, but even its worst neighborhoods weren't this bad. More importantly, there was a key feature missing. "That's not possible. Where's the mountain?"
Sure enough, the town was situated in a flat plain. Not a hill or mound in site.
"Come on," Korin said, and the two led Goku away from the square and into a tiny house.
"We can walk through walls?" Goku whispered excitedly.
"I told you, you don't have to whisper!" Korin said.
"Shush," Mister Popo admonished. "You are here to observe and to learn."
The room they had entered was crowded with about 40 or 50 men, both Saiyan and human, Goku noticed. At the center was a very familiar young man – thick tight curls, dark skin, slim figure and broad shoulders.
The Ox King.
But this was not the Ox King whose image overlooked the worshippers at the Temple in the mountain. This was Taiki Kada, maybe in his late 20s or early 30s, with a softer face and rounder cheeks, and shoulders that, while broad, were not quite as built as they were in the portrait. He was bent over a table, moving a set of cups around.
"The main thing," he was saying to the onlookers, "is that we can't let them retreat into the castle. Once they get past those walls, it's over. They have weapons and reinforcements and supplies, and we'll be sitting ducks out here."
"So, what you're saying," a man next to him said, "is this is a one shot?"
"Exactly," Taiki sighed. "Alright, everyone have a weapon?"
There were grunts of affirmation around him.
"Good," he lifted an axe from under the table. "Let's get this done."
Goku watched with interest as the men exited the house in groups, sneaking through back alleys, weapons hidden under their clothes.
"They're gonna fight now, right?" Goku was excited. "This is gonna be the purpose, right?"
Mister Popo gave him one of those mysterious smiles that Goku had since learned meant that something very strange was about to happen. "You said that Taiki's purpose was to regain his father's throne, didn't you?"
"Yeah."
"You did not see that as a fitting purpose."
"I just thought it had to be pure of heart or whatever. Selfless, like you and Korin are always saying."
"You're right about that," Korin said.
"Let us continue," Mister Popo said. "We do not need to sit through all of the battle."
"Aw!" Goku complained.
The scenery swirled, but unlike previously, they did not stop at any one scene. Instead, Mister Popo seemed to be moving time along faster, creating a soft blur over the entire image. But even in the haze, Goku could make out the contours of the battle Taiki had planned, partly because Mister Popo had a made a point for the three of them to be in the thick of it. Now, instead of the center of town they were on the outskirts, a few miles away from a large fortress surrounded by thick forest. This, Goku realized, was Kada Castle on the outside, surrounded by high walls and a moat. Presently a bridge lowered across the murky water. Exiting was some sort of convoy of two carriages, with a contingent of guards of about 10 or 15 guards each, and once they were about 20 miles away from the castle, 20 of Taiki's men surrounded the convoys, and a fight broke out. Goku was surprised to see how dependent the fighters seemed to be on handheld weapons – energy blasts were used sparingly, and were small when they were used. It was hard to tell how long the fight lasted before a new set of guards were running up across the drawbridge toward the fight. They had hardly reached the carriages before a stream of a men flooded out from behind the trees. Now Taiki was in the front, axe waving in the air as he and his fighters rushed the guards.
The fight seemed fairly even, from what Goku could make of it. The guards they had attacked had better weapons and were more skilled fighters, and they also outnumbered Taiki's band. But the latter group was brutal in their attack, and despite their disadvantages were beating back the guards. Soon the carriages were pulling away as the some of the guards began to retreat, and one carriage had managed to elude capture and was rolling at speed back towards the fortress.
Taiki and a handful of men chased after it, with Goku and company pulled towards them as the others stayed back to fight the guards. But the carriage was outpacing Taiki and his men, who were already winded from the fighting. The distance grew between them, and soon the fortress' drawbridge was being lowered.
"We're not going to make it, Taiki!" someone yelled, and Goku found himself right behind the man himself.
He was worn out – you could see it in his breathing, his stance, everything. With the last of his energy, he heaved his axe – which, Goku was now realizing, was not the one that the present-day Ox King used, and certainly not the one from the portrait; it was rather small, actually – and launched it with impressive precision at the carriage.
It was a clean shot, splintering the carriage and slicing through the horses' reins. The driver screamed and fell off, and the horses reared up, but the carriage didn't stop – someone crawled out and grabbed the horses, leading them straight for the drawbridge.
Taiki was bent over, and Goku could feel the despair washing over him. He felt so bad, he wanted to reach out and hug him, or even better, fly over and stop the carriage himself. It would be so easy too! But before he could even ask Mister Popo if he could make an exception, he felt a sudden burst of energy.
Rage.
A bright red aura flared around Taiki as he raised his palms up, bellowing from the depths of his soul. His ki flooded the land around him, every muscle in his arms and shoulders bulging with strain. Goku felt the ground underneath him shift, and when he looked down he saw a deep and rapidly widening crack ripping its way through the rock, hot lava bubbling up within it, and straight towards the castle. Around it, the earth rumbled as Taiki's power built up greater and greater and he screamed, and cracks multiplied and grew, lava pouring out, and rocks lifted beneath the castle grounds, shaking the stone structure. The guards who had previously be running towards the fortification were now running from it, screaming as lava and rocks accosted their paths. The carriage had been overturned as the horses tried desperately to escape the molten rock, and someone now was crawling out.
"He's gonna bring it down!" Goku yelled.
"No," Korin said calmly. "He's gonna bring it up."
"HAH!"
Taiki roared, lifting his palms to the air, and his red aura flared like a firework, and rock exploded out and up from the earth, taking the castle into the air with it as magma flew in every direction.
"Oh, my-" Goku breathed.
He screamed again, and with every burst of energy the rock rose higher into the air.
"The mountain," Goku whispered. "That's the mountain. That's the mountain!" He looked around wildly – yes, yes, now, with the mountain in its place, he could see it, his father's hometown. This really was Ter-Kader. Everything fit now.
He turned back to the man, Taiki, the Ox King, whose hands were still raised even as the red aura flickered, shoulders and chest heaving with the effort and strain. Goku thought for a second that he might pass out, but Taiki stayed on his feet, lowering his arms not to take in his feat, but to grab his axe in hand and make a beeline for the man crawling out of the damaged carriage.
Goku rushed after him, catching up just as Taiki grabbed the man and pulled him up to his feet. He recognized him immediately, despite how he'd aged – this was the uncle, the man who'd killed Taiki's family that gruesome night.
"Look at me." Taiki shook him, bringing him right up to his face. "Look at me! Do you know who I am?"
"You're that thief," the man spat. "That so-called king of the peasants, who has been riling the peasants up against me these past eight years. Was this your plan all along? I should have ordered you killed when you were caught thieving with that group of bandits three years ago."
Taiki grinned, pulling his uncle in even closer. "No," he whispered. "You should have killed me when you found me crying in my parents' room the night you killed them."
Horrified realization wiped the man's defiant expression, replacing it with shock and terror. "You-you are-"
"I am Taiki Kada," his grin widened, but his voice stayed steady and calm. "But I am not here to reclaim the birthright of which you robbed me, or avenge my family whom you destroyed. I am here as the so-called king of the peasants. And in the name of the peasants whom you so despise, I renounce you, Daiyli Kada, and all your dark acts, and hold that you will account for every man, woman, and child in the Kada Lands who suffered privation, illness, or death as a result of those acts." He let go, and his uncle fell to the ground, stunned.
Taiki looked up. The land was in chaos as lava continued to bubble up from beneath the cracked surface of the earth where the mountain had risen. He took a deep breath, then slid into a pose that Goku knew all to well.
"Kame-"
A small, Goku noted, but impactful blast hit a large stone, which toppled onto the largest crack and stopped the flow.
"Do you think you've saved this land?" The uncle seemed to have regained some courage, and was attempting to stand up. "You have lain it to waste with fire."
Taiki looked curiously at his palms, the hands that lay fire, and smiled. "You speak the truth, Uncle. It is fortunate that you left us nothing worth saving."
"This is far from over, boy. Revel in your victory now, but know that the Kada Lands are vast and my supporters are-"
"Being rounded up by mine," Taiki interrupted loudly. "The Kada Lands are vast, but no land is vast enough that it could be spared from your evil. You should have killed me. But I will not make the same mistake you did. Starting now, you are in the custody of the Union of the Peasants, led by myself. Come the morrow you will be tried for the crimes that have filled these lands under your rule, and when you are found guilty, and you most certainly will be, you will be put to death for all to see. You see, Uncle," Taiki grinned, "it is not such a bad thing to be king of the peasants."
The scene dissipated, and Goku found himself on his knees, mouth open, stunned, on the floor of the Room of Spirit and Time.
"Do you see what we mean now when we say purpose, force of will?" Korin asked.
There was a long silence. Minutes ticked by as Goku absorbed what he'd just seen.
Finally…
"I wanna fight him."
Korin practically fell over. "What?!"
"He's AMAZING!" Goku squealed. "Did you see? He made a whole mountain out of nothing! No wonder people worship him, he's so cool! Aw man, am I really related to him? It would be so cool if he really were my ancestor!" He took a deep breath. "Why did they call him king of the peasants?"
"I believe the language has changed since the days of the Kadas," Mister Popo said. "The word for peasant later came to mean pullers of oxen or breeders of oxen. And so the king of the peasants becomes the king of the pullers of oxen."
"I always thought it had something to do with the horned crown he wore," Korin said.
"Wow," Goku breathed. "I wanna fight him."
"Goku, stop it," Master Korin demanded.
"Please!
"Goku, we already explained to you, we're just showing you things that have happened already. We can't go back and change anything, and we certainly can't speak or interact with people in the past!"
"Well," Mister Popo said.
The two turned to look at him.
"It is possible to suspend time. Create a space wherein one could exist in the past as in the present, but without it being a true part of the mortal world."
Goku didn't understand any of that, but he knew it meant he would get to fight the Ox King. "Yes! Let's do it! Please!"
"What are you talking about? How's this first I'm hearing about this?!"
"It has never come up." Mister Popo looked at Goku curiously. "It seems young Goku has provided us with interesting opportunities."
"I wanna fight him at the height of his power!" Goku said. "Right when he got the power to do that thing with the mountain."
"Ah, but that was not the height of his power," Mister Popo said.
"He got stronger?!" Goku could hardly imagine it.
"Not stronger, kid," Master Korin snapped. "Better. Maybe," he turned to Mister Popo, "it would do him some good to get knocked around a bit by a real master."
Mister Popo grinned.
A/N: Who doesn't like a good Hamlet story? I am going to try something a little more creative for the Super Saiyan, so hopefully if you didn't think this was the best origin story ever, you'll at least like that one. These next few chapters are really inspired by the episodes in Dragonball where Goku travels through time and meets a young Master Roshi and Crane Hermit. I thought it would be an interesting concept to use here because time travel is always cool and this has kinda been a story about people who don't really care about their past anymore and don't think it's really interesting or that they can learn from it, and Goku is kinda challenging that in a way. I also kinda liked the idea of a Super Human, like what would it look like if Krillin or one of the other Z fighters got a power up like Super Saiyan? And I thought that the aura of Goku when he uses the Kaio-Ken might be a good one to use for that.