Understanding One Another
Sangonomiya Kokomi had an exhausting few days.
This was due to the fact that she had been busying herself with handling talks in regards to trade for the survival of Watatsumi Island, on top of her regular duties as the Divine Priestess.
It was an extremely tiring back and forth negotiation that had transpired for several days, and only now was it finally resolved. It was not as if it did not end up in her favor, but she had always found them quite tiring nonetheless.
This situation was entirely expected considering their position in regards to the current ruling of Inazuma. It was fortunate they were still floating by, albeit barely.
It wouldn't last for long if the conflict within Inazuma continued, and that was a concern that loomed over her head as days passed by.
In her less energetic state, she had forgo that train of thought and decided to take a rest in her secret hideout.
Though there were few who knew that she had such a place to herself, none could pinpoint the location of it, and she had kept it that way for however long it had been.
It acted as a safe haven for someone such as her, to be able to relax herself and recharge the energy she had lost in the ordeals of her interaction with others.
Truly, it had been a while since she had come back up here, as this was the first time she had returned to this location since the arrival of Watatsumi's new guest.
Speaking of her guest, Son Goku...was a strange person.
He was undoubtedly a carefree individual, what with his outgoing yet confident demeanor. Despite being lost in a new world, she did not see a hint of worry in his expression. Confused perhaps, unknowing what to do one could even say, but he did not show any sort of fear in being displaced in an entirely new world. In fact, he was very determined in any decision he had taken so far.
At the same time, he was confusing to her.
He did not mind helping others, but had never asked for direct help from others except for her. In her eyes, it was not that he was arrogant in that he refused help, moreso he believed he could solve it eventually.
Perhaps that was why there was another matter with him that befuddled her.
As the most revealing of it all, was that he did not continue persisting in his questioning of her decision to withhold information from him.
By her past actions, it was clear even to him that she held some form of answer to his dilemma, yet he did not pursue her any further than that, but decided to occupy his time by training, which had continued on ever since that night she had revealed the existence of the Raiden Shogun.
Those were her thoughts running in her mind as she began writing down on a blank page of a small book.
Son Goku meditated in absolute silence, his mind as clear as the clouds above as he took in everything that surrounded him, from the rustling bristle grass to the sounds of flowing waters.
The reason for the latter was mostly because he was sitting right under a waterfall, allowing himself to be drenched entirely by it.
There was not just one waterfall, but multiple of them in his current location. Within those waters stood four monuments with a strange purple symbol on each one of them.
One was placed at the same eye level as he was at, while the other three were at the very top of the waterfalls, each one several distances from the other.
Then, his eyes snapped open.
He stood up as he joined both his palms together, energy beginning to swell around them.
Sparks of lights formed as Goku slowly separated his palms, his concentration fully on maintaining the trails of lightning flowing between them.
It was a technique reminiscent of one he had seen before in his first tournament, the 21st Tenkaichi Budōkai. More specifically, his final opponent Jackie Chun who utilized his ki to create some sort of technique that shot out lightning, paralyzing him to a point he was unable to escape from it so easily.
He couldn't remember at all how exactly he escaped despite receiving the full brunt of the technique, as there was a blank spot in his memories of the battle.
Regardless, he figured that out of the techniques he had seen, this one seemed to be the most suitable for what he needed.
His attempts in trying to recreate it had been slow, because unlike the Kamehameha, his full concentration was required in maintaining the form of the attack itself, and for it to continue persisting even after he released it.
There was also one difference he was trying to take with this technique, unlike the one Jackie Chun used on him.
It needed to hit more than just one target.
The one Jackie Chun used during that time only hit him, possibly because it was due to being a one on one battle, but for him, he needed it to be more of a technique that affected his surroundings.
Unlike in a tournament setting, fights here weren't always against one opponent.
He could remember a time he had fought off groups of people during his adventures, but he had his Nyoibō back then, which helped immensely dealing with multiple opponents without much effort.
In this new world however, his weapon of choice was no longer by his side, so he had to improvise for situations such as those, as he doubted he could find another pole that could stretch itself almost infinitely.
He couldn't rely on the Kamehameha, for it was a beam of concentrated ki that covered long distances, but not the area around him.
Before he was dropped here, he did learn how to bend it in a way that allowed him to change its trajectory as it was being fired, but it wasn't exactly what he needed right now.
There was another idea he had been trying with the Kamehameha, but it hasn't quite come together as well as he thought it would.
So, for the past few days, he had been training to use a technique that once belonged to Jackie Chun.
Initial attempts were interesting, as there were mostly failures. It took him several tries before he was fully able to use it in the same way as Jackie Chun did.
In a serious fight however, it was still impractical, as the time needed to start the technique was far too slow for his liking, so he had been working on just trying to get the technique out even faster.
That, and him trying to get the lightning coursing through it to flow in multiple directions.
Because of those goals, the area near the waterfalls was the perfect area for him to train this technique, not only because there was no one around to be caught in a potential misfire, but also because of those strange monuments placed in the waters.
He didn't know what they were at first, as he had only planned to use them as training targets, but found out later that they light up when lightning is shot towards one of them.
And just as he was about to fire another right after the first one lit up, the initial mechanism's light dimmed down, indicating that it had deactivated.
From that timing alone, it was clear to him it required all of them to be activated at the same time.
It was honestly good training from him since he had a short term goal for this new technique.
"HAH!" He yelled out as he unleashed streams of lightning in a straight direction.
Upon hitting the mechanism near him, the electricity immediately spread out towards the other three as it ascended upwards, striking them as well.
He heard a short click as the four mechanisms lit up, indicating that whatever it was supposed to be done with it had been achieved.
Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed something shining in the waters, but ignored it entirely as something else preoccupied his mind.
He turned to both his hands, inspecting to check if there were any sort of injuries. His past attempts had shown him that even when it worked, he would sometimes still get burned from the technique. Fortunately, his current host was willing to heal him whenever she noticed it, as if she was expecting it when he told her that he would be out training.
Regardless, to see that there was none assured him that the technique was done flawlessly, and it was finally honed to the point that he was satisfied with the results.
He smiled gleefully, feeling pretty proud of himself.
Still, he wondered if he should name the technique, as he couldn't quite recall what Jackie Chun called it, and by changing it for his use, he didn't think the original name applied anymore, did it?
Oh well, he could think about it later, he wasn't the best with names anyway.
He hopped off the rock, landing on the soft grass beside it as he moved closer to the fire he had made out of the branches nearby, which had been going on for quite a while now.
The reason he had done so was because he was cooking food for himself that he had caught from hunting the wildlife nearby.
There were wooden sticks planted firmly onto the ground, with the food that he had caught being pierced in the middle of each stick being roasted over the fire.
The food he was cooking were strange creatures, as it had only one eye, with no appendages to speak of, which meant their movement relied solely on floating in mid-air.
There was also the fact that their insides were full of elements such as electro or hydro rather than organs, something he had to see himself when he tried opening them up.
They also tasted bad.
Like, absurdly bad even to his standards.
Still, he kept at it despite the terrible flavor. Half the reason was due to the fact that Naki was very much still giving him the stink eye whenever he came back to the shrine at night. Although the shrine maiden never outright admitted to it, even he could tell she did not like him that much.
The other half was because from the couple of days he had spent here, the whole issue with the food supply on this island was very much true, despite how normal it looked on the surface.
So, he decided to hunt food for himself to satisfy his hunger during his stay here.
From what he gathered, it did not seem like the people here had eaten these strange creatures. Thus, when he saw groups of them floating about on the island, he decided to give them a try.
They not only tasted bad, but were also pretty unfulfilling, so he had no choice but to catch them in dozens before eating them in one sitting.
All things considered, it was a good workout considering they could fight back using the concentrated element within them, but they weren't that difficult to handle in a fight.
While they tasted horrible, he was somehow getting used to it after repeatedly eating them.
The crunchy taste after burning it to a certain color was interesting, at least to him.
As he continued eating the last piece of his food, he noticed that the sky had begun to darken, indicating that night time was about to arrive.
He supposed that was enough training for one day, which made him wonder what he should be focusing on now that he was able to achieve his current training goal.
Or instead of training, he should prioritize the more pressing matter; finding a way back home.
Unlike before, he somewhat had an idea on what to do now, which was searching for this Raiden Shogun. From what Kokomi described, it sounded to him that his issue of being trapped in Inazuma would be resolved if he confronted the Electro Archon.
Although he had asked more about it at the time, Kokomi did not elaborate further on the whole situation, as Tsuyuko had brought dinner for them to indulge on, effectively stopping their talk back then.
Even after that, his host had never spoken more in regards to the issue, something that he simply relented on, knowing that it was pointless to ask.
After finishing up the last bits of his meal, he put out the fire before he walked to the edge of the cliff, bending both his legs forward in preparation.
In one fell swoop, he jumped onto the other side, just slightly below the one he was standing on before.
As he began his walk back to the shrine, he took notice of an ever familiar cave, one that he had passed by multiple times already ever since he started his training.
It was a strange little place, as inside it laid shelves of books, with stacks of books scattered on the floor. In the middle of it stood a wooden table, alongside a simple chair accompanying it.
It was clear to him that the cave was used by someone on this island, yet he had never seen anyone ever occupy it.
After all, he had gone inside the cave before, and opened one of those books himself, only to be dumbfounded by how he couldn't understand a single word of it.
He may not have been the brightest in terms of literature, but his master, Muten Roshi did teach him the very basics of it before, yet no matter how long he stared, there was not one word he could identify. They were similar in terms of writing, but none of it made any sense to him.
He had spent hours there during the first day of training trying to understand the contents of every book he had found, but all of it was to no avail.
After that, Goku mostly took a glance at the cave just to see who was using such a place.
It was obvious to him that it was none of the villagers from Bourou Village, but he couldn't quite guess who the individual was
Until now, that was.
For the first time since he had discovered this location, he saw the silhouette of a person sitting there, unmoving.
And as he walked in, he could not be more surprised by who it was.
It was his current host, who was sleeping ever so soundly as they laid their head on the wooden table, their breathing still, even with the sounds of his footsteps echoing ever louder.
What piqued his interest at the scene was not just Kokomi, but also the small yet open book that was right on the table.
Curious, he picked it up himself and began to take a look at its contents.
Kokomi stirred from her slumber, her vision blurry as it slowly adjusted back to normal.
...only for her eyes to become wide awake as she realized the individual standing right beside her.
"Oh hey, you woke up Kokomi. I can't believe this book belongs to you, because it sure wasn't what I was expecting," he said casually, reading a book in his hand.
A book that was private only for her eyes.
Having just awoken, her mind was still groggy, meaning she was not at her most rational.
"Hyah!?"
Instead, she panicked and immediately stood up as she reached for the book in his possession. In her attempt to do so however, she accidentally pushed him back, causing Goku to lose his footing from the particular action.
"Eh?" Goku blurted out.
With a loud thud, both of them fell onto the ground.
Kokomi was now positioned above Goku, with him blinking confusedly at what just occurred, not knowing the implication of the scene before him.
Neither did Kokomi, as her eyes were more focused on her book, rather than the compromising situation they were in.
"...Please return that back to me," she stated, a hint of desperation in her tone.
Everything became still between the two of them, one waiting for a response while the other was still trying to prepare one
It lasted for quite a bit...before Goku broke the silence with a laugh, smiling cheekily as he returned it back to her.
"Relax Kokomi, I didn't read anything in it. After all, I can't understand a single word of it," he explained.
In a rare moment of slow realization, she became flustered as she should have noticed the signs before rushing in with her actions just now. Even if it was because her mind was still recovering from sleep, she should have recognized the signs sooner.
After all, Goku had been holding her book upside down the entire time.
With her eyes fully awake, she finally noticed that she was laying atop of him, something that he seemed to not mind, if at all.
Inwardly, she could feel her heart beating faster, firmly believing it was only because of the sudden close proximity. Outwardly, she tried to keep a cool expression.
"You're a lot lighter than I thought you would be, but it's gonna be hard to talk like this, ain't it?"
She did not analyze the implication of his words, as she was most definitely taking this opportunity to get out of this current predicament they were in.
"Yes...you're correct," she said simply.
As the two slowly got off one another, Goku continued the conversation as he removed himself from the ground right.
"But it was kinda surprising how you were acting just now. Now that I think about it, you sounded like that when I carried you back then right?" he said, thinking back on his first day here.
She gave him a blank stare, "...You're surprisingly devious, aren't you Goku?"
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean!? I just thought it would be fun, since I see you being serious all the time."
Was that the only reason? She had plenty of moments where she had shown him the proper courtesy, or was it perhaps still too stiff for him?
Truly, his reasons confounded her even now.
As she gingerly touched the edges of the book, she turned to face him, "...Goku, if you couldn't read this, then is it too different from the literature in your world?"
"It's kinda different, like I sorta recognize the letters in your book, but none of it makes any sense to me. It's not like I'm smart enough to understand an entire book or anything, but I am able to read letters thanks to my master."
Strange, it sounded like there were similarities between them, but he was not able to fully comprehend them, yet he was able to speak the language here just fine. Was it just a mere coincidence, or was there something bigger at play here?
As Kokomi dwelt on the issue, Goku decided to ask the question had been wondering about since he first stumbled into this location.
"So I gotta ask, is this place yours or something Kokomi? Cause this is the first time I've seen anyone here."
So he had known of this location for a period of time, presumably since he had started his training near the area.
Even with her obscuring the entrance, he was still able to discover it despite all her preparations in preventing such a scenario from occurring.
Perhaps she didn't cover all her bases in terms of hiding it, either that or Goku was the sole exception to her planning for some reason.
"I wouldn't quite call it belong, this location...is just for my personal use."
Now he couldn't help but ask, as he would have thought it would have been for something else, "Eh, so what do you use it for?"
"...To relax mostly. It's a place where I can unwind, and take some time to myself."
He nodded in understanding, "I get it, you want a place all to yourself. Sorry about bothering you then."
Strangely, she was not as bothered as she thought she would be, "It's fine. While I don't mind being interrupted when it's a serious matter, I would very much appreciate not to be disturbed when I'm here."
"Sure, but now that I think about it...what were you writing about in that book of yours? I kinda saw numbers, but I'm not too sure."
While she did not mind him being here, it did not translate to knowing the details of what she had written in this personal book of hers.
"Information that would not interest you in the slightest."
Somehow, the way Kokomi said it did not convince him at all, but decided to focus on something else, "Still, can't believe ya can read so many books on your own, Kokomi."
Among his friends, none of them he knew of were exactly the scholarly type. After all, most of them were martial artists striving to become better than they are, and being literate wasn't exactly needed in that regard. The smartest one among them would probably be Bulma, but even then he had never exactly seen her reading books, as she preferred to tinker with machinery instead.
"It's nothing. After all, I quite enjoy reading, especially the ones pertaining to military strategies."
"Military Strategies?"
She nodded, "Yes. To be able to figure out the planning and execution of strategies between groups of armed adversaries is what makes it more than worth it to me."
From her words, he equated them to battles, "That means you like fighting, doesn't it?"
"No, I'm not very physically capable, and I can hardly call myself a competent fighter, thus I have no interest in such area, but to be able to analyze and construct well planned stratagem to attain victory with those methods, those are what I enjoyed thoroughly each time I flip a page in those books."
In a way, he could relate to that kind of sole interest. After all, he was grinning ear to ear from training just a while ago.
"What about you, Goku? What do you enjoy the most in life?"
Since it was such a rare opportunity, she figured that it was about time she got to understand Goku as a person more, since they were alone at the moment.
He thought about it for a bit, because there were quite a lot of things he enjoyed in his life, but if he had to pick one then...
"Fighting."
"Fighting...is that why you don't mind facing dangers by yourself?" she questioned, recalling the incident he had with Tsuyuko.
"Nothing like that. I just like a good fight, that's all. It's great whenever I can feel my heart pumping at full speed, knowing the fight could change any moment, with both me and my opponent giving it our best. There's just nothing more that gets me more excited compared to everything else. "
Then, his expression became much more intense as he continued on, "But what I don't like is when a fight involves harming others."
She could infer various meanings from his tone alone, "In fighting, is it not already expected that both sides could potentially be injured?"
"I don't mind that. It's when monsters take the fight to people who don't wanna get involved."
He still remembered the last fight he had with Piccolo, with the supposed demon king taking his friend Tenshinhan as a hostage in order to gain an advantage in their fight.
The fact Piccolo had harmed so many others beforehand didn't help in alleviating his distaste for it either.
While Goku recalled that specific moment, Kokomi was currently processing the information, reevaluating her analysis on him.
With this new revelation, what exactly had her impression of him changed?
Nothing.
Truth be told, it merely solidified what she already knew, that his character was what he had shown thus far. However, it did tell her that Goku had experienced something beyond just simple battles between two fighters.
But she had no desire to discuss further into it, as she believed that there was no need to dwell into something that he did not seem to enjoy remembering.
"If fighting is what you enjoy the most, then what is your dream Goku? Are they related to one another?"
"Dream huh?"
What followed was mostly silence from the martial artist, which concerned her, as she didn't expect it would be this particular question that would make him ponder for so long.
"I want to become stronger and fight strong people...but I don't think it's right to call that a dream," he muttered, scratching his head in confusion.
That was because it was a constant goal he had strived for, but was he not already becoming stronger than he was every day? Had he not already fought opponents that forced him to give it everything he had? So, how could one call that a dream if he already achieved them?
What was his dream?
To become the strongest martial artist?
To be the Tenkaichi Budōkai Champion?
To continue on in his adventures endlessly?
To constantly battle strong opponents for him to take on?
He had never truly thought about it, as he never needed to. After all, his life up until this point was always one adventure connected to another, and he happily went along with it.
He wasn't dissatisfied, not in the slightest, but could what he had always been doing really be called a dream?
Taking notice on how hard he was contemplating on the topic, she decided to give him a bit of her perspective. "A dream doesn't have to be specific. It's called a dream for a reason after all."
"...What's your dream then Kokomi?" he decided to ask.
"My dream is ensuring the future of Watatsumi Island to always be bright. I want to be able to bear witness to it prospering, with and without me being the Divine Priestess."
"But isn't this place safe already? Besides that weird thing I fought off a few days ago, things don't look too bad to me."
"It's not. In fact, the future of this island is more uncertain as the days go by. it could be akin to attempting to sail through a storm in the middle of the ocean, drifting endlessly and without end, only to be pushed from all sides. In the end, they could do nothing but inevitably drown."
These were her honest feelings on the predicament of this island, and to the side that was against the current situation within Inazuma.
She was not blind to the many possibilities that could ensue, because she knew that at any point in time this whole conflict could potentially end in one fell swoop.
"I don't know what's it about, but it can't be as hopeless as ya think it is. After all, you haven't given up at all, right?"
"And why would you say that?"
"Easy, it's in your eyes. I've seen that look plenty of times."
He was right. Although the potential future was grim, it did not mean she had given up. In fact, it was that very reason she was still fighting, and it didn't apply only to her either.
"So stop overthinking it. If ya believe you can do it, then there's no reason to doubt it."
There was a strange confidence in the way he spoke, one that she could not dismiss so easily, "...I would say the same thing to you, seeing as you haven't given me your answer yet."
"Ehehe, that's true. Guess I just needed to be reminded of what I wanted," Goku then stared upwards for a moment, only to return to the conversation with a confident smile.
"My dream is that I have no dream."
Now she was the one who could not follow his train of thought, "How so?"
"Cause I'm already doing everything I want to. From training everyday to fighting strong opponents, making great friends and having adventures all the time. I guess what I'm trying to say is, I got no dream because I'm just doing whatever I want."
Kokomi let out a soft laugh at his absurd proclamation, something of which Goku had never seen her act in such a way before.
She had predicted all sorts of answers from him, ranging from being the strongest fighter in the world to wanting to have endless battles in order to satiate his desire for battles, perhaps even the desire to save everyone.
Yet, his answer was so vague and non-descriptive, that she never saw it coming despite all the lines of thinking she had come up with.
Kokomi may not have known Goku for too long, but for some reason she found it was the most fitting answer coming from him.
"Hey, my answer wasn't that bad," he complained, not getting the joke.
It took a bit before she stopped herself. She did not respond however, merely writing in her personal book, with a sign in it that Goku did not recognize.
It was only after she finished, did she finally turned to him, "You're misunderstanding. Your answer was not bad, not in the slightest. Shall we return then? I believe it is getting quite dark now."
With that, she moved from her spot, going for the entrance as Goku merely stared at her in confusion, not quite understanding what she meant by that, but followed along regardless.
"Fuah, that was a good meal," Goku stated as he finished the last plate of his meal.
Having eaten earlier, he had already satisfied most of his fill, so dinner was mostly a light snack for him, as he only ate a few plates of rice instead of the dozens he usually had.
Kokomi did not question the scene before her, as she had already figured out what was going on, what with the reports she had gotten on the drastic drop in the population of specters on the island.
She supposed that was one issue that was unexpectedly being rectified.
And just as the two sat in a comfortable silence, a young man dressed in a uniform burst into the scene, his breathing ragged as he quickly held a letter in his hands, showing it to Kokomi.
"You Excellency, I bear urgent news from Fort Fujitou."
She carefully took the letter from his hand, "Thank you Shibata. Please calm yourself while I read through this."
The young man did just that, or at least attempted to since in Goku's eyes, it seemed that Shibata was even more nervous than before. Though he did not quite comprehend what was going on, from the looks of it however, it did not seem like good news.
"I see...so the situation in Yashiori Island has devolved to such a state," she commented as she closed the letter, having just finished parsing through it.
"Your Excellency, what should we do? Mobilize the squads on Watatsumi Island?" Shibata already knew of the contents within the letter, it was the very reason why he had rushed to deliver it.
"No, that would leave Watatsumi Island defenseless. Our best move would be for me to personally observe the situation. There's no need for any more members to follow along."
"But Your Excellency, at least take some of us with you! And what about transport? Trying to find one at this time of night would be—"
"If you wanna just move to another island, then I can carry you over there, it can't be that far away," he suggested, adding to the conversation.
The other two paused, one only now noticing Goku present in the room while the other contemplated on his suggestion.
Kokomi was the first to speak between the both of them, "Shibata, please inform the others of the situation. You do remember the directives for cases such as these, correct?"
The young man nervously shuffled his feet, before giving a firm nod, "Yes, can do Your Excellency. Goku, was it? It is disrespectful for me to ask, but please look after Her Excellency in our place."
Goku simply let out a firm nod, of which the young man's expression relaxed upon seeing it. Returning the nod, Shibata excused himself as he left the two alone for his own duties.
Once the sounds of footsteps could no longer be heard, Kokomi turned to the martial artist, "Goku...I appreciate your willingness to help, but do you truly understand the implication of your action if you do so?"
He blinked, "Umm, we're just moving to another island right?"
It didn't seem to be that complicated to him, though he didn't know what exactly was so urgent about it.
"Yes, and that island is known as Yashiori Island. Do you recognize who that person was just now? "
He recalled the faces he had seen in the past few days, his face brightening at the realization, "He was one of those guys that thought I was from this Shogun's Army, right?"
"Mm, and do you know why they were acting in such a hostile way?"
"Well, they attacked me because they were trying to protect this place, but..."
"It's because they are a part of an army, one known as the Watatsumi Army, or the Resistance if you require something shorter. Its purpose is to directly oppose the current Inazuma Shogunate," she said as she stood up, giving him a commanding stare, "And I am its leader, Sangonomiya Kokomi. Do you understand now, Goku?"
This was it. She had been slowly revealing bits of information so that he would not be completely overwhelmed by it, especially so since he had only arrived in an entirely different world.
It did not mean she would not involve him in her endeavors, because in order to ensure victory in this civil war, it was a necessity.
There was no kindness in roping someone uninvolved in an internal dispute, especially with an outsider to this world. However, she would not ask for his help just yet, and if he simply wanted to leave she would not stop him either.
She wondered, what would be his response once he realized her intent in the future, given his distaste for dragging those who are uninvolved into combat?
For now, she wanted him to see the situation with his own eyes, that would more than suffice, "If you truly still want to help, then promise me that you will not involve yourself in what is about to occur once we land on Yashiori Island, no matter what happens."
Despite the initial shock, Goku remained as easy-going as ever, "Come on Kokomi, it's not that big of a deal."
"This is not a light matter. You can't make your decisions so easily Goku. Tell me, do you not still want to start your journey to find a way back? If you involve yourself in the matters pertaining to Inazuma any further, then you would simply waste more time by attracting the attention of the Shogunate."
He had no answer for that, because logically speaking she was right. As much as he wanted to deny it, he could not.
"Perhaps you can start finding your way out of Inazuma from there. Now that I know of your capabilities, I'm sure it's more than possible for you if you were to venture out on your own. However, you cannot involve yourself in this conflict unless you truly understand all the implications from doing so."
She was not so selfless to not involve someone like him, but she saw no merit in hiding anything more from him.
"This Shogunate? Are they doing bad things, is that why you're fighting them?"
"This war…is not dictated by simply good and evil. They're people, just like you and me. The only difference is what we're fighting for, one side for the decrees enacted and another against. In that sense, I suppose that when one looks at it from afar, it's much simpler than it is."
This was different from a lot of things he had experienced before, not in terms of scale, rather the ambiguity of it all.
Still, he couldn't just ignore it since he was now made aware of the situation. Coupled with what he had learnt before, he had settled on a decision, one that needed to be done sooner or later.
"Okay, I won't do anything once we get there."
She checked for any signs of lying, but having found none, she decided to put her trust in him.
"Very well. Before we leave, I need to thank you. Not many people would be willing to help out if they were in your position. After all, I'm the leader of a side that opposes the Shogunate."
"Don't make it out like a big deal Kokomi, even if you're this leader whatever, I ain't gonna think less of ya or anything. Besides, there's nothing wrong with helping out a friend, right?"
He didn't know a lot of things, but even if she had put it as badly as she did, he honestly did not believe her to be a bad person.
Kokomi did not respond, merely letting out a subtle smile as she turned to the other side, sliding the shoji screen open.
"We have arrived," Kokomi announced as they arrived at a shore, jumping off him.
They had immediately set out after that conversation, with her sitting atop of his shoulders as he swam through the ocean, just like before.
On their way there, they had stumbled onto a strange place, where small pieces of land were spread out in an area of the ocean.
He was curious about it, but since Kokomi didn't speak a word, he swam forward, passing through it.
After swimming several distances, they were able to arrive at Yashiori Island, and were immediately greeted by the downpour of rain, accompanied by heavy thunderstorms in the distance.
Goku could feel the immediate difference in terms of atmosphere.
It was hostile, as if everything here did not welcome the two of them being here at all.
"Stay close, with this weather condition it is best not to stray too far from the path," she voiced out clearly, even with the rain drowning out most of the sound.
And so he did.
As they moved along, Goku observed his new surroundings, taking in every bit of detail despite the darkness obscuring most of it.
If he was seeing things correctly, Yashiori Island seemed to be more of the typical islands he had come across before, unlike Watatsumi Island. So, the area was already much more familiar to him in comparison.
There was one thing that stuck out though.
He couldn't exactly make them out but he did see them once or twice on their journey to the camp.
By the shape of it, it was certainly no tree, nor was it any kind of rock that he knew. He couldn't quite identify what it was, but just as he wanted to take a closer look to sate his curiosity, he remembered that it was best that he left it alone for now, considering the situation.
As they took a step upward a slope, Goku could sense the presence of dozens of people gathered in one area, which he now knew were the members of the Resistance.
At first, the men did not notice them immediately, presumably because the sounds of their footsteps were drowned out by the heavy raindrops. It also did not help that it was already late at night, making it harder for them to see anything unless it was in close proximity.
Once the two came into view, one of the soldiers stood up in recognition, "Your Excellency, you have already arrived?"
At the mention of their commander's name, many of them turned towards her, only to find another person accompanying her. Not having seen Goku before, they were wary of his presence, their muscles tightening in anticipation of a sudden attack from this new individual.
Anticipating such a scenario, she held out her open palm towards them, "At ease, Goku is merely here to act as an observer, one that requires for him to be here with me. Without him, I would not have been able to arrive at this hour. "
They relaxed at her explanation, "Your Excellency, our situation is grim. General Gorou, he— "
"Before we begin, I believe it is more important to look at the wounds of those that were injured. After that, we can move our venue of discussion inside."
With that, Kokomi began inspecting the members one by one, making sure that there were no wounds that were missed. It would be detrimental if there were any sort of fatal injuries left unchecked.
As she did so, some of the soldiers eyed Goku, not quite understanding why he was still in their camp, despite their general's explanation for it. Stares, that the martial artist ignored entirely as he was focused on something else.
"What is the current situation?" Kokomi questioned, sitting in the middle end of a large table, with several members of the Resistance by her side in the room.
Goku was standing near one of the walls, not saying much as he wanted to try and understand what was going on.
She knew of the general gist of it already, but she needed to hear every little detail if she were to enact a plan that ensured the least probability of failing.
"In our last battle, we were ambushed by the Shogun's Army. We didn't even see them coming and before we knew it, we were surrounded. In order to ensure the rest of us could escape, General Gorou made himself a sole target for the enemy. Tch, if only we weren't caught off guard, we wouldn't be in this situation," one of the men explained in frustration.
It was quick thinking on Gorou's part. Just from observing the state of the troops on the camp, she had already envisioned what had occurred on the battlefield.
What she needed to do now was what she knew best.
"I see, then we'll need to prepare a counterattack, with two objectives in mind, the first is to find and ensure a route for general Gorou to return to, with the second one being our efforts in pushing back the Shogun's Army."
With her words alone, the men in the room became much more rejuvenated.
"Are you all prepared? Because take heart, for victory will be ours!" she proclaimed firmly, her hand held out in order to show her confidence.
Their response was to let out a rousing shout, indicating that they were still spirited enough to fight despite the pain they had endured.
After all, if Her Excellency was here, then victory was within their grasp no matter the situation.
On the side of the room, Goku was awed by the scene, not only by Kokomi's resolute yet commanding voice, but also at the soldiers that were still raring and able to fight despite the difficulties.
The scene before him really reminded him a lot of his friends back in his own world.
Goku wondered...if he could truly just sit around and do nothing the entire time he was here.
AN: Finally, the story is moving out of the island. That being said, next chapter is definitely gonna be a challenge for me, since I suck at writing characters making smart decisions, and adding to the fact that it's about a battlefield instead of an individual fight…Yeah, don't expect much out of me on that front. Not to mention I'll be making some questionable decisions next chapter, but I won't apologize for that when we get there. Anyway, I feel like I should address the question of transformations for this story, with the answer being a resounding no. There will be no Super Saiyan or any of its variations, no techniques like the Kaioken, and most certainly no Ultra Instinct, aka Migatte no Goku'i. In fact, I don't plan on involving any elements after the 23rd Tenkaichi Budōkai arc, because at best, there will only be small references to them. Does it make it boring and dull for some? Sure, but that's fine for me since I have no interest in exploring the aspects of being a saiyan for Goku in this story. I want to explore more…human aspects, I guess you can say even if I might fail at it. Besides, there's plenty of better stories out there that expands on it much more than I ever could. But if anyone who reads this story can still enjoy it despite lacking that particular element, thanks.