Roshi walked down the stairs in absolute darkness and silence. Goku lay asleep with arms and legs stretched after a hard day of training. He had recently graduated to a forty-kilogram shell, as heavy as the ones Roshi carried daily, and was still getting used to it.
The boy still kept a beginner's mindset and humility, unaware of how much stronger he had grown in this past year. Roshi had seen too many martial artists falter in the belief they already knew everything, and Goku would soon surpass him if he didn't stay vigilant. But he did, and that was precisely the reason behind his nightly escapades.
He tiptoed to a corner of the ground floor near the bathroom, where a hidden trapdoor led to the house's basement, which he had turned into his personal training room. The walls were soundproofed, so he could train as hard as he wished without fear of waking Goku up.
Roshi hadn't trained seriously in decades, but it didn't take long for his old bones to regain the habit. And for the first time in more than half a century, he actually enjoyed it. Goku's passion for self-improvement had resparked his own love for martial arts, which he thought he had fallen out of long ago.
For the last three months, Roshi had trained all night every night, something that few youngsters could boast of, and that would surely impress more than one lucky lady. Thanks to his sunglasses, which hid his eyes, and his mastery of the art of hypnotism, he recovered his sleep throughout the day while Goku trained.
Roshi couldn't help but smile as his hands and feet cut the air. He wouldn't have felt younger even if hair had sprouted back from his head.
Naked and alone, Kakarot stood upon a rock in the middle of the desert. He couldn't remember how long he had walked upon this dead planet, waiting for any chance to escape it. Hunger and thirst were distant, half-forgotten memories. Sometimes he even doubted he had ever felt such things. If he had, it would be in the before times, when the world was green and blue, and he had not yet begun to regret his terrible mistake.
He had gathered the dragon balls and wished for immortality, he knew that with the certainty of dream. The sun and the moon drew circles in the sky, and time accelerated, but he remained untouched by it.
He only found comfort in sleep.
He opened his eyes, but there was no ground beneath his feet; there was no ground at all. He had to breathe, but there was no air in the void. He suffocated over and over until he got used to it, an eternity later. He drifted in the dark, with the stars as his distant and only company, but even stars die.
In the heatless emptiness, he saw the sun collapse into itself and galaxies crush against one another, while the stars in the eternal night sky flickered off one by one and died.
This was his life, forever.
A black hole got hold of him and trapped him in a place where light, if there was still such a thing in the universe, couldn't escape, infinitely crushing him in a timeless hell that he had wished upon himself.
Kakarot gasped as he woke up covered in sweat. That damned nightmare again. It was almost dawn, and he would rather get up from the soaked mattress and head out for some fresh air. He took in deep the sweet, salty air, and felt grateful for being able to breathe.
He would soon master the Kamehameha, and as the Turtle Hermit had promised, he would have to teach him the Thunder Shock Surprise. After analyzing the stories about Master Mutaito, Kakarot realized that he had already heard about his technique, in the story Son Gohan told him about his final match on the World Martial Arts Tournament.
On second thought, it was obvious. The mysterious Jackie Chun could only know that technique through one of Mutaito's only two disciples, and if so, Son Gohan would have at least heard of the man. But he hadn't, and neither had he been mentioned even once in any of the Turtle Hermit's many stories.
When he finally confronted the old man with his theory, he simply laughed. "Well, the competition was not very strong that year, so I signed up under a false name."
"Why?" Kakarot asked.
"Being proclaimed 'Strongest Under the Heavens' at such a young age might have gotten to your grandfather's head. I didn't want that."
"So you blasted him with the Thunder Shock Surprise."
"Only as a last resort. And just a fraction of its full power," the Turtle Hermit said. "The Thunder Shock Surprise is a technique created to inflict pain and death. It must only be used when all else has failed, and only on those who really deserve it."
The Turtle Hermit came out the door of Kame House, and moved his torso from side to side, cracking his spine."You should be wearing the shell," he admonished without severity.
Kakarot gave him his most innocent smile. "I forgot. I've been wearing it for so long that I sometimes don't even know if I'm wearing it or not."
He was amazed at how easily he could lie to others. These Earthlings are so weak and pathetic, he thought, they deserve what's coming their way. He found that, lately, even lying to himself came easy.
Kakarot put on his heavy shell and began the day's schedule. Milk delivery was still on the training plan, but soon the island would run out of fields to plow and roads to build. Swimming in the shark's lake had long since ceased to pose a challenge, as he could swim, even weighed down by the shell, faster than the animal. The bees had grown slow, and he could take them one by one out of the air and crush them with his fingers.
At the end of the day, Kakarot went to the large boulder he tried to move more than a year ago and took a deep breath as he rested his arms against the rock. Containing the air in his chest, he pushed with his whole body, and the rock budged. Kakarot stopped, as he didn't want to exhaust himself just yet.
He returned to Kame House, where the Turtle Hermit watched TV, and had to pull him away from the screen, which showed young women in colorful, tight clothes exercising.
"What's wrong, Goku? "
"I have to show you something."
Upon reaching the boulder, Kakarot put his hands against the rock with a smile on his face.
The old man's eyebrows furrowed behind his sunglasses, and the man startled as he realized what Kakarot wanted to show him. "You can't mean..."
Kakarot pushed the rock with all his strength. He managed to move it more than a meter back. When he couldn't push anymore, he fell to the ground panting and laughing at the same time. He lay there for a while, with his arms outstretched over his head as a sign of victory.
"Well, I think we can end this part of the training," the Turtle Hermit said. "Starting tomorrow, you won't need to wear your shell. In fact, take it off, I also have something interesting to show you."
Kakarot left the turtle shell on the grass.
"Now, jump as high as you can," the old man added.
Kakarot squatted and jumped, darting up into the air until he was as high as the island volcano's smoking peak. He had become his own Power Pole.
Back on the ground, he asked the Turtle Hermit what would happen from now on.
"We will continue to deliver milk as a warm-up in the morning, but from now on your training will consist of mastering the strength you have gained in this last year and testing it in combat against me."
Night fell, and they went to sleep. In the darkness of the living room, Kakarot pulled the scouter from between his tiger pelts and activated it. His power level was very close to that of the Turtle Hermit, which had somehow increased in recent months. He could wait for the next full moon and kill him easily, but the opportunity to spar with someone with more than three centuries of combat experience was too good to pass up. He could wait a few more months and make sure he had learned everything the Earthling could teach him.
The days went by quickly. The Turtle Hermit often spoke about the World Martial Arts Tournament, which would take place in over a year's time. He suggested they should both enter, and that the final test of his apprenticeship would take place there, but Kakarot knew that he would not have to wait that long.
The night before the next full moon, the third since sparring with the Turtle Hermit every day, the scouter informed Kakarot that he had finally reached the Earthling. They both bolstered a power level of 85. He slept through the night and woke up well-rested and excited. Just as a precaution, he would wait until the afternoon, for if he was not able to overcome him by his own strength, the moon would not take long to appear in the sky.
After lunch and a long nap, they sparred on the grass in front of Kame House. After an exchange of punches and blocks, Kakarot felt warmed up and ready. His heart beat strong and fast in his chest. He jumped back and stood there in silence.
"Tired already?" the Turtle Hermit asked with a teasing smirk.
Kakarot took a breath and focused. Once it started, there would be no turning back. "Training's over, old man."
Kakarot attacked again, this time without suppressing himself, his hands carrying a clear killing intent.
The Earthling dodged some blows and blocked others avoiding most of the damage, and stepped away with a backward jump. "What is going on, Goku?"
"You better not hold back, or it'll cost you your life."
Kakarot rushed again, kicking off the Turtle Hermit's sunglasses from his face, but he managed to evade any real damage; he still seemed reluctant to hit back. Worse for him, Kakarot thought, he had warned him.
"I don't know what's wrong with you, but stop it at once," the old man begged.
Kakarot scoffed. "What's wrong with me is that I'm going to kill you. This is your last warning: fight or die."
The Turtle Hermit let out a long breath. For a moment, his eyes seemed to glisten with tears but then changed into a determined scowl. He took off his colorful shirt and concentrated, blowing up his body full of muscles and pulsating veins. They clashed head-on. The Earthling's strength prevailed, but that swollen shape made him slow and impaired his mobility, so dodging his attacks was not difficult.
The old man accelerated the pace and managed to land a terrible hammer punch and sent him flying to the large boulder, which toppled over upon impact. Kakarot took a second to catch his breath and shake the dizziness from his head and senses. A distant light caught his attention. The Turtle Hermit was charging a Kamehameha.
Kakarot pretended to be in worse shape than he was and let the Earthling time to charge his attack to its full power. The more he did, the more tired he would be left afterward.
The Turtle Hermit released his ki in a raging blast of white-blue light, much larger than Kakarot had ever seen. At the last moment, Kakarot jumped up and avoided the attack, feeling the rush of displaced air around it. When it had passed, the boulder had vanished, along with a long line of the island's ground. In the air, Kakarot threw several bursts of ki to keep the old man busy while he came back down.
The Turtle Hermit had regained his usual size, surely realizing the failings of his buffed-up form, but he hadn't seemed to lose as much energy as Kakarot had assumed.
They continued to clash blow after blow, their hands stained with the other's blood, their bodies crying for reprieve, but none would give up. Whoever would die, would go down swinging. Kakarot had the vigor of youth on his side; the Turtle Hermit, the experience of old age.
Covered in dirt, sweat, and blood, injured and short of breath, they exchanged jabs, punches, and kicks. The Earthling broke the exchange, jumped back and brought his hands together, sparks of electricity dancing between his fingers. But he was tired and needed an instant too long to charge Mutaito's technique, so Kakarot finally found his opening. He tensed his fingers and stabbed the old man's chest in between ribs, piercing his heart. The Turtle Hermit coughed up blood and took several steps back before falling to his knees, dying.
Kakarot could barely stand, but a surge of euphoria came over him. He raised his arms in triumph and fell back on the devastated ground. He could barely move, and yet, he began to laugh. Lying on his back, his gaze up, the full moon soon crowned the sky. The familiar feeling of strength and rage seized him, heartbeat by heartbeat, and Kakarot allowed himself to be dragged into unconsciousness.
The morning found him naked, dirty, tired, and sore, but more alive than ever. He was in a burnt-out clearing, no trace of life around him. On his way back he passed ruined houses and trampled corpses. Of the fields he had plowed, there was nothing left but ashes, and the roads he had helped build, at least those left untouched, would be of little use on an uninhabited island.
Kakarot washed himself of the grime of battle in the shower of Kame House and gathered his things. Before leaving, he slipped the Three-Star Dragon Ball necklace over his head. Using the old man's boat, he sailed to the small island where he had first met him and there he buried the man who had once been the greatest martial artist on Earth.
He deserved that at least.
Kakarot got back on the boat and crossed the sea on his way north, headed back to Mount Paozu, and to the Dragon Ball buried there.