Roshi's hotel room had become a command center as the dragonball gang planned out how they were going to deal with the Demon King and his still tiny forces. A map of the area that Piccolo was sensed to be in was lying on the table surround by everyone. As the only living person to have fought against King Piccolo, Roshi started the meeting. "We need to split into two groups. One will be our heavy fighters and the other will be everyone else with one or two fighters to act as guards. The fighter group will head off to confront Piccolo and hopefully kill both him and whoever unleashed him. Krillin, Tien, Chaotsu, Goku, and I will be the fighters who will challenge King Piccolo."

"Ox King and Yamcha will act as guards for the rest of you as they should be able to deal with one or two demon spawn together. While we go to fight King Piccolo, you all will be collecting the remaining dragonballs so that we can wish Chi-Chi and anyone else that King Piccolo's men have killed. If we fail in our mission, you will need to steal back the dragonball that they took from Goku and have Shenlong destroy the Demon King."

Roshi turned to look at Goku who had shocked everyone that morning by showing up in his saiyan armor. "Since Goku has the most information on our enemy's current power and has suggested this course of action, I'd suggest we listen to any plans he has and modify them accordingly."

Goku pulled out some shogi pieces and placed them on the table. He set the reigning king at one point on the table with a silver general and a lance by it. "The king is obviously the Demon King, the silver general is Chi-Chi's killer, and the lance is the weaker power that we detected near the Demon King." Goku then pulled out the challenging king, two gold generals with the second general promoted, and two knight pieces. Pointing to the pieces in the order he set them on the table, the young saiyan elaborated. "Master Roshi, Tien, myself, Krillin, and Choutsu. We will need three different battle plans depending on who is with King Piccolo when we attack and how things go. If both minions are with King Piccolo, then Krillin and Choutsu are to engage the lower power minion, Tien will hold off Chi-Chi-s killer, and I will engage the Demon King." He then moved the pieces so that the people they represented were attacking each other. "Krillin, Choutsu, and Tien's main objective is to keep the minions for helping King Piccolo with the secondary objective of killing the minions if possible. My goal is the distract King Piccolo and keep him occupied long enough for Master Roshi to charge up his most powerful Kamehameha Wave so he can vaporize King Piccolo."

"The other two plans are variations on this basic set-up. If only one minion is with King Piccolo then Krillin and Chaotsu will engage that minion while Tien and I fight off King Piccolo while Master Roshi has powers up. On the other hand, if there are far more minions than when we last checked I will use my Oozaru transformation to destroy the minions. Krillin, in this scenario you'll be charged with protecting my false moon while Tien and Chaotsu guard Master Roshi. Are there any questions?"

Tien frowned and quickly asked, "Two things don't sit right with me. One, why are you always the one to engage King Piccolo? Second, aren't all of these plans heavily dependent on Master Roshi delivering the killing shot?"

Goku nodded his head. "That is correct Tien; I'm depending on Master Roshi to kill King Piccolo. However, this is because he is the most powerful member of our group not counting me in my Oozaru state. I'd use it to kill King Piccolo, but I'm worried that my false moon will be a weak point that he can exploit. The reason why I must face King Piccolo is because I am the second strongest fighter and thus have the best chance of holding King Piccolo off. Besides, if necessary I'll have to hold King Piccolo in place for Master Roshi to hit him. Even though we have the dragonballs, it is the most potentially lethal place in the battle and I'm not about to put someone else in that spot."

Chaotsu then chose to speak up. "Goku, I can use my telekinesis to hold King Piccolo in place."

Goku nodded his head, "Okay Chaotsu. We'll do that first before I hold him in place. Does everyone think this is a good plan?" With solemn nods, all of the fighters showed their agreement to Goku's battle plan.

King Piccolo held the four star dragonball in his hands both marveled and disgusted by the tiny item. To think that such a trinket would, with its six remaining counterparts, be able to restore him to his youth. For all his power and knowledge, that was the one thing that the great demon king couldn't do on his own. However, that knowledge and the aura emanating from the dragonball disgusted King Piccolo to his core.

There were no doubts at all in King Piccolo's mind; the dragonballs had been made by him. That being's accursed aura clung to the dragonball like flies over a dead body. It was only the fact that killing him would mean his own death that had stayed the demon king's hand last time. For a moment, King Piccolo wondered if he should use the dragonballs to sever the link he shared with him. After all, he still had a few more decades left and his minions would be more than enough to take care of the martial artists in this day and age.

After considering it very carefully, King Piccolo decided to simply stick with his original wish and then to destroy the 'eternal dragon' that was going to restore his youth. King Piccolo quickly figured that if it was possible to sever his bond with that being with the dragonballs, then that creature would have done it during his captivity. Despite how 'noble' that damned hypocrite pretended to be; that thing hated him as much as he hated it. That was the only thing they could agree on.

Mai's voice came across the intercom disturbing King Piccolo's thoughts. "Attention everyone, the fortress will be landing shortly to take on fuel. We will be on the ground for three hours to collect the necessary water to power the ship. During this time, all passengers are welcome to leave the ship and stretch their legs if they wish."

King Piccolo rolled his eyes in annoyance at the foolish mortal's prattle. Like any of his spawn were going to go 'stretch their legs', those tools only moved and even existed because he willed them so. Still, at least he could respect the mortal's loyalty to her duty; even if it was to a pipsqueak moron with an ego far bigger than it should be. That was why he tolerated the mortals on this vessel and was even seriously considering letting them live once they had outlived their usefulness. Perhaps he was getting sentimental in his old age. But then again, it wasn't like those three were a threat to him even now.

About half and hour later, King Piccolo was once again disturbed from his meditation. Except, this time it wasn't because of Mai's annoying voice, but because of an explosion rocking the ship. King Piccolo quickly looked around with his ki senses and detected four powerful people. Great, just what he did not need, a squad of martial artists who had obviously been sent to hunt him down!

For the first time since his release, King Piccolo felt fear. None of the powers he sensed were strong enough to challenge him, even in his weakened state, but they were attacking just the same. Could it be that one of them knew of the Mafuba? Who's to say that the man who sealed him in that thrice damned rice cooker hadn't passed along the secrets before he died? That's why he had Tambourine out hunting the martial artists who participated in the Tenkaichi Budokai.

King Piccolo checked on where the intruders were and frowned. The weaker two were making mince meat out of Piano while the stronger two were heading towards him. Quickly making up his mind, King Piccolo swallowed his dragonball and began to create another minion. He just couldn't chance those two beating him as a team given his current state.

The egg housing King Piccolo's newest minion was spat out just as Tien and Goku entered the throne room. Tien's face started turning green and he muttered to himself, "I think I'm going to be sick."

Goku quickly sprung into action by racing towards the egg and punching his fist into it. The young saiyan made a twisting motion with his arm a mere seconds latter a sickening snap was heard. King Piccolo and Tien watched in shock as Goku pulled his arm out of the egg along with a severed and crushed head. He then dropped the minion's head on the floor and coldly stared at King Piccolo. "This is our fight, no minions are allowed. You're going to pay for causing Chi-Chi's death!"

Tien started to back away as Goku's ki started to visibly glow. This didn't make any sense to Tien, how could Goku's power have increased so much from his match in the finals? He knew that Goku hadn't been holding back during the finals so where was all of this power coming from? What Tien didn't know about was Goku's natural saiyan ability to get stronger after every near death encounter. Down in Hell, Master Crane was being informed about that little fact by some of Goku's relatives as they played the classic party game of 'blow the moron up'.

King Piccolo and Goku quickly began mixing it up as they started a no holds bar fist fight in the throne room. Tien, quickly seeing that he was out classed, had ducked into the corridor leading into the throne room waiting for a chance to help Goku out. Tien watched as the duo completely trashed the place trying to bash each other's brains in. At one point, Goku even used the egg of the minion he had killed as a shield while King Piccolo was in the middle of slamming his throne on Goku's head.

In hindsight, using the egg as a shield was not the smartest move Goku could have made. King Piccolo was very clear on that count as he yelled out, "You insufferable mortal! How dare you touch the shell of my minion." King Piccolo shot two small beams from his eyes which Goku barely managed to doge. Tien watched with ever increasing worry as Goku and King Piccolo continued to battle with ki attacks intermixed with their fists and feet.

Soon enough, the problem dawned on Tien. Goku wasn't fighting with all of his skill! The rage and sudden boost in power had cut Goku's skill in half if not even more. A demonic grin appeared on King Piccolo's face that only grew larger as the duo fought. Tien felt a chill run down his spine realizing that the demon king knew he had the upper hand in both power and skill. Tien shouted out, "Get your head together Goku or he'll kill you!"

Goku turned his head towards Tien in surprise causing the battle lust to stop clouding his mind. Unfortunately for him, King Piccolo never thought that an opportunity was too good to pass up in battle. King Piccolo slammed his fist into Goku's gut with enough force to crack the saiyan's armor. King Piccolo immediately picked the stunned Goku up by the tail, spun him around, and then threw him at a wall with enough force to throw Goku out of the ship.

The demon king smirked at Tien and then fired a destruction wave through the hole in the wall hitting Goku. "What are you going to do boy? That rude brat was your strongest warrior and I killed him like the trash that he is."

Tien slid into a defensive stance and refused to let the demon king's comments get to him. Goku had let his rage get in the way of the plan he had crafted to take this monster out; Tien refused to do the same. Eyeing the recently created exit, Tien figured that it was in the general direction of where Roshi was powering up. All he needed to do was sent King Piccolo through that exit.

King Piccolo and Tien now started to fight a battle very differently from the one Goku and the demon king had been locked in just moments ago. Tien wasn't trying to beat King Piccolo and was constantly avoiding his attacks. While Tien was trying to avoid all of the attacks, more blows connected than he had anticipated. The triclopes was thankful for his brutal training under Tao; it allowed him to maneuver King Piccolo while making it look like he was being maneuvered. Finally, Tien got to the critical part of his plan and braced himself as King Piccolo punched him into a wall.

A smirk appeared on King Piccolo's face as he stared down at the battered and bruised Tien. He gave Tien a quick kick in the stomach which caused Tien to cry out in pain and then the demon king laughed. "Oh the irony, you foolish mortals thought that you could vanquish me like the martial artists of the bygone age. However, those annoying ants slaved away for decades in order to create a technique to seal me away. A technique which you don't have! Any last words before I kill you?"

Tien smirked and replied, "just this: Tri-beam ha!" Behind Tien's back, the triclopes's hands were position in a triangle. Using the force of his attack, Tien rocketed towards King Piccolo and gave him a powerful kick with both his feet. The kick sent King Piccolo flying out the hole that Goku had been sent through. Tien collapsed on the ground about a foot away from the entrance and was completely exhausted from putting everything he had into that kick. The last thing Tien saw before he closed his eyes was the blue glow of a massive Kamahameha wave flying directly towards King Piccolo.

Goku opened his eyes to find that he was lying on the back bench of a capsule cargo plane. Krillin walked over to Goku and called out, "Hey buddy, welcome back from dreamland."

The young saiyan sat up and quickly noticed that his armor was gone. Krillin saw the question in Goku's eyes and nodded to a crate on the other side of the plane. "Master Roshi took that armor of yours off so you could rest easier. It's pretty banged up, but if it wasn't for that armor of yours you would be with Chi-Chi now. Where did you get it anyway? Master Roshi couldn't recognize it and he's seen a lot of different sets of armors over his lifetime."

A scowl appeared on Goku's face and he briskly replied, "It's an heirloom from my birth kin." Krillin was shocked to hear Goku mention his blood relatives. As far has he had known Goku had been left in the woods as a baby only to be found by Goku's grandfather. Part of Krillin wanted to ask Goku about what he had learned about his birth family, but the look in the young saiyan's eyes killed those questions before they could form on his tongue.

Goku got off the bench and walked up towards the front of the plane. He spotted Roshi at the controls and bowed his head at Roshi's back. "Master Roshi, I want to apologize for letting my anger at King Piccolo get the better of me. I hope that we were able to win in spite of my lack of control."

Roshi sighed and replied, "Don't worry Goku, you didn't do anything wrong. Even the best warriors can loose their cool when someone they care about has been hurt or killed by someone. However, you've done two very important things that separate you from other people who have made this mistake. First, you recognize the mistake and knowing you, you won't make it again. Secondly, you insured with your plan that your mission could still be achieved even though you lost your wits."

His trademark smile returned to Goku's face when he heard the last bit of Roshi's speech. "So Master Roshi, does that mean that we won?"

Unseen by Goku, Roshi's solemn face frowned. "No Goku, King Piccolo is still alive. The plan worked perfectly except for one thing: human error. I was so busy concentrating on gathering all my power that I barely noticed when Tien sent King Piccolo into the air. I hastily fired the Kamehameha wave I had been preparing and only took off his arm and part of his shoulder. Such a blow would have killed a normal man, but the demon king was able to regenerate his damaged body good as new. I was too exhausted and could only watch as King Piccolo fled the area obviously worried that we might have another fighter to challenge him."

Goku slipped into the copilot's seat and looked out at the dawn sky from the plane's cockpit. After a few seconds Goku said, "Master Roshi? Do you think that we should train some more before facing King Piccolo again or are we going at this the wrong way?"

"If you had asked me that question before the tournament Goku, I would have said that we had no chance against King Piccolo. However, we nearly beat him which is something I never dreamed was possible before. Although we lost the element of surprise, I have full confidence that we can defeat King Piccolo one and for all in good time. We just need to do some more training to truly prepare ourselves. Unless, you happen to have something else in that otherworldly bag of tricks you have that can give us an edge."

Goku's eyes bulged in shock. "How did you know?"

Roshi's eyes lit up with mischievous mirth. "Come now Goku, surely you didn't think that your grandfather was completely silent on your origins? He confessed everything to me in order to insure that someone was around who could help you if anything happened to him. I helped him file all the necessary paperwork so that he was your legal guardian. I was also able to call in some old favors that insured no social workers ever came after you when your grandfather died. I had my sister check up on you from time to time back before you met Bulma to make sure you were doing alright. My original plan after Gohan died was to simply let you live on Gohan's estate at peace and alone. No offense, but I figured a happy life by yourself would be better than constantly having to hide yourself because of your unusual nature."

The young saiyan nodded his head accepting and understanding what Roshi had told him. There was a moment of silence before Chaotsu entered the cockpit. "Master Roshi and Goku, Bulma is on the videophone. She stated that they just got the sixth dragonball." The trio quickly left the cockpit to talk with Bulma. Roshi paused just long enough to put the plane on autopilot.

Bulma was smiling as the trio entered the video cam's view. "Hey guys! We've got the six remaining dragonballs. All we need is the one that was stolen from Goku and we're set to bring back Chi-Chi."

Goku's face lost most of its normal joy and settled on an expression of cold seriousness. "We don't have the dragonball. King Piccolo managed to escape from us so be on your guard-"

The sounds of an explosion on Bulma's end abruptly cut Goku off in mid sentence. Bulma wasn't paying any attention to the guys anyone as she looked around to try and find the source of the explosion. Muted cries of agony and diabolical laughter could faintly be heard over the videophone. Roshi backed out, "Turn off the phone and hide Bulma! It's got to be King Piccolo."

The fear was clear as daylight in Bulma's eyes as she turned off the videophone. Roshi turned off the monitor on his end and turned to face the younger martial artists. "There's nothing we can do now but pray. Goku, I want you use that device of yours to check King Piccolo's power once the sky turns black. With luck, it will increase."

Krillin shouted, "What? Why the hell would you want that monster to get even stronger?"

Roshi raised an eyebrow and calmly replied, "I can think of only two possible things that a creature like the demon king could wish for: immortality or the return of his youth. If he becomes young again his power will undoubtedly increase. However, even a far stronger opponent is better in this situation than an opponent that can't be killed." Roshi's words hit home as the sky turned pitch black signaling that somewhere in the world, Shenlong was being summoned.

For two nerve fraying hours, the dragonball gang's finest warriors flew towards the location that Bulma had called them at not knowing what they would find. The scene that greeted the warriors was heart wrenching. Oolong and Puar were left skewered on the plane's antenna. Yamcha's corpse had a basketball sized hole in his chest. The burnt wood and the giant skeleton marked where Ox King fell. Bulma was alive, but had been left badly hurt in the plane wreckage. Launch was alive having gone to the woods for a bathroom break before King Piccolo attacked, but she was stuck in a catatonic state because her good side witnessed such barbarity. However, the most terrifying sight was the seven stone balls lying in the sand that could only be the dragonballs.

The warriors quickly gathered their surviving comrades. Tien led Launch back to Roshi's cargo plane. Goku and Krillin made a makeshift stretcher to bring Bulma into the plane. Chaotsu collected the inactive dragonballs while Roshi took upon himself the grim task of burying everyone. Once everyone's tasks were completed, the remaining members of the dragonball gang took off for the Land of Korin.

Goku had been the one to suggest going to Korin. They could get Bulma healed with a senzu and get some advice from the old feline master at the same time. After that five hour plane ride, Goku used the Kinto'un to carry Launch and Bulma up to Korin. Everyone else followed up the Tower by climbing it and reached the top an hour later. By that time, Goku and Korin had gotten the girls healed, put to bed, and Korin had been fully apprised of the situation.

Korin frowned into his tea cup as he looked around at the other warriors gathered at his table. "This is a very serious matter now that King Piccolo has been restored to his youth. As you were coming here, I saw that he has already taken over the Eastern Capital. No doubt, he will soon force the King to hand over the throne of the planet to him. The question is: how do we proceed?"

Krillin looked at Korin and asked, "Uh, couldn't you train Tien, Chaotsu, and I like you did Goku? I mean, wouldn't it be a step in the right direction to have the three of us become more powerful?"

The white cat shook his head. "I'm afraid my training wouldn't do much for you three. The 'Sacred Water' that the people of this land talk about is merely a gimic I created to train people in speed, relaxes, endurance, and coping with fighting in the thin atmosphere that being so high up creates. At your current levels the 'sacred water' training I gave Goku would produce very little real gain."

Tien frowned and then added his two zenie. "How was King Piccolo sealed in the first place? I mean, if it's been done once it can be done again."

Roshi quickly spoke up. "My master sealed King Piccolo away using the Mafuba. I know the theory behind the technique, but I haven't practiced it in centuries because it can easily kill the user. I've thought about using it on King Piccolo, but I'm just not sure if I'd be able to get close enough to him to use it and if I could successfully seal him."

Goku slammed his fist on the table making everyone jump in shock. "Sealing King Piccolo away is not the answer. That's simply leaving the problem for someone else to handle like the situation we're in now. We need to destroy him once and for all."

Korin nodded his head. "Well said, young Goku. However, there is a vast difference between saying something and doing something. King Piccolo has gotten even stronger than he was before. Do you have any idea how to beat him?"

The young saiyan closed his eyes and nodded his head. "Yes I do. I'll need you guys to beat me up within an inch of my life, use the senzu to heal me, and then repeat the process until I'm at least as strong as King Piccolo."

Tien, Krillin, Chaotsu, and Korin all screamed out, "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING GOKU?" Roshi raised both his eyebrows in wonder. Such a 'training' system wouldn't help a human at all. But, since Goku wasn't human, could it be different for whatever race he was?

Goku took a sip of his tea to calm his nerves. Now wasn't the time for secrets. "I'm not human guys. Unlike you, I have the ability to get stronger after every near death encounter I live through. It's what allowed me to get so much stronger than Tien after the finals when Master Crane tried to kill me. Before the finals, our power was almost the same. We can use that ability to make me strong enough to beat King Piccolo. Also, we do have my Oozaru form to unleash since I very much doubt he'll be suspecting a trick like that."

To the other martial artists' surprise, Roshi quickly spoke up. "Goku, what about your natural limits? Your grandfather never found much information on your race's abilities. What if you're ability to get stronger after every near death experience simply gets you closer to your potential's ceiling quicker? Or worse, what if you trade some power now by lowering your ultimate potential?"

Krillin made a time out gesture with his hands. "Hold the phone, you mean Goku isn't pulling our legs with that not human line?"

In reply Goku had his tail wave back and forth like a charmed snake. He then pointed to his tail and said, "Why do you think I have a tail and turn into a giant ape whenever I look at a full moon?" Krillin fell face first onto the table signaling his defeat. Goku then turned to Roshi and replied, "Don't worry Master Roshi; there isn't any such ceiling to worry about. Anyone can get stronger if they have the will and put in the effort. My race's abilities simply allow them to get stronger faster. That's one of the main facts I learned about my race from my spacepod."

Trying to bring the conversation back to the mater at hand Korin said, "I have another possibility. I have an elixir known as the Ultra Divine Water. Unlike my Sacred Water gimmick, this stuff is the real thing. It can bring out a person's potential that would take years sometimes decades of intense training to achieve. However, there is a catch. The Ultra Divine Water is also a powerful poison that tries to kill a person as a result of bringing out a person potential. Only someone with tremendous strength and a will to live can survive the process and have their potential unleashed. I've witness 14 powerful warriors take the Ultra Divine Water and all of them died. The pervious gate guard before me told me that she had witness 20 people take the water and only 1 person lived."

Before a morbid silence could descend on the group, Goku jumped up and thumped his chest. "I'll take the Ultra Divine Water Korin. Can you pour me a cup?"

Tien turned to Goku and replied, "Are you serious Goku? 33 people who drunk the Ultra Divine Water have died!"

Goku gave the triclopes his patented grin and replied, "But your forgetting that 1 person survived. That means that there's a chance this will work and as long as there's a chance of getting strong enough to stop King Piccolo from hurting innocence people I have to pursue it."

Krillin looked down for a few second and then firmly looked at everyone. "I'll have a glass of the Ultra Divine Water as well. I'm not going to let Goku go this alone. Besides, if he doesn't make it I might get lucky and get the strength to beat King Piccolo. After all, there is a chance."

One by one, each of the fighters stated that they'd take their chances with the Ultra Divine Water. After seeing the resolve in their eyes, Korin left to retrieve the elixir. He returned a few minutes later with a tea kettle and six cups. The cat saw the looks everyone was sending him and calmly replied, "If you're all taking a shot at this I figure I might as well try this stuff again. Hopefully, I won't need to spit it out like last time." Korin then set the tea cups down and filled them.

Roshi took his cup like he was making a toast and said, "Well guys I just have this to say. May we all get strong enough to beat King Piccolo. Failing that, let's just hope we meet some hot chicks on the other side, bottoms up!" With that said everyone chugged down their cup of the Ultra Divine Water and fell to the floor in agony as it began to work.