Dragon Ball Roshi

While having dinner in the family restaurant, Hathaway told her parents that she planned to go on a long joaurney. The reason? She had been feeling a bit bored with her research lately and wanted to get some fresh air. The trip would be anywhere from three to four months, or at most close to a year.

Hathaway had noticed the locations of the seven reaction points on her detection equipment. They were scattered across various remote areas of the continent, with vast distances between them, ranging from the northern plateaus to the southern forests. The electromagnetic wave responses from the beads were present in all of these locations.

She estimated that collecting all of them would take quite a bit of time and effort.

"So long?" Hathaway's mother, Hannah, was surprised. She set down her bowl and chopsticks, a worried look on her face. After a moment of hesitation, she sighed, understanding her daughter's personality, and said softly, "You're going alone... you have to be careful."

"Don't worry, Mom, it's not the first time I've gone out. I'll be fine." Hathaway nodded, brushing off her mother's concern, even offering her reassurance, thinking that her mother was overreacting.

Smart children always have a strong sense of curiosity, and Hathaway was no different. When she was eight years old, she wandered around West City all by herself, which could be called running away from home. If you counted all the times she ran away from home before the age of thirteen, Hathaway had lost count of how many times she'd left on her own.

Her father only paused his chopsticks for a moment before saying, "Remember to take extra money with you. If you run into bad people, and your equipment can't handle it, even if they take your money, it's okay. Your safety is the most important thing."

"I know, Dad." Hathaway replied.

After dinner, Hannah packed Hathaway's things for her.

Things like a "glove with a built-in mini electric shocker," "super strong anti-wolf spray," "universal strong rope," and "multi-functional detachable tools"… these were all essential for her trip.

"Why are you bringing so much makeup? You're a girl, and dressing too nicely when you're out there is dangerous," Hannah scolded as she saw Hathaway stuffing her bag with the items.

"Mom, these aren't just ordinary cosmetics," Hathaway replied with a grin.

"What's so special about them?"

"Look, Mom."

Hathaway opened the "cosmetic" box and took out some strange materials and liquids, applying them to her face and hair...

Hannah's expression grew more and more surprised as she circled around her daughter. She reached out to touch Hathaway's now golden hair, and when she checked her hand, it was clean. She returned to the front, staring at her daughter's transformed face and clicked her tongue in amazement, "Incredible…"

"Mom, I'm amazing, right?" Hathaway grinned and rushed over to hug her mother, shaking her and saying, "Alright, I know you're worried, but it's fine. I'm just going out for a stroll, clearing my mind."

"Won't you run off too far with that wild temper of yours?" Hannah, her mother, embraced her daughter in return, tilting her neck back, their foreheads touching as she mock-seriously questioned her.

"How could I? I'm so well-behaved!" Hathaway kept her forehead pressed against her mother's, shaking her head from side to side, and solemnly made a promise.

"You and your...," Hannah sighed lightly, holding her daughter tighter. Her gaze drifted out the window at the moonlit starry sky, thinking to herself that, before she knew it, Hathaway had grown taller than her... It felt like a dream when she remembered how close her life had been to hanging by a thread when she gave birth to this girl.

"Ah! I almost forgot…"

Hathaway suddenly remembered something. She pushed her mother away, flicked her golden ponytail, and ran to take down a painting from the wall, rolling it up and putting it into her bag. She then grabbed a book from the cabinet titled "TheUchiha's Sinner 7" and stuffed that into her bag as well.

Hannah, leaning against the window, watched her daughter roll up the painting. She thought back to when Hathaway was little... well, the person who had given her that painting was someone she had mostly forgotten by now.

What Hannah remembered was when Hathaway was sick and crying nonstop. If she simply showed her this painting, the little girl would stop crying immediately.

"Heh..."

"Mom, what are you laughing at?"

"I was thinking about which handsome young man I should introduce to you... You're not getting any younger, and you won't go to college. You're always in your lab, not acting like a girl at all. You really worry your mother, what are you going to do about finding a boyfriend?"

"Mom, if you keep going on like this, I won't come back!"

---

Several days later, on the east coast, a known port city, located 100,000 miles away from West City, a girl appeared wearing a heavy backpack, a long-sleeved short jacket, denim hot pants, fingerless gloves, and a baseball cap with a blue ponytail.

There were many small fishing boats along the port's coastline, but since there was no overseas continent, there were no large cruise ships. The biggest vessels were just advanced fishing boats from large fishing companies.

"Phew, the fourth one." This girl, of course, was Hathaway. She stood on the port, wearing her baseball cap, one hand on her forehead as she looked out over the vast sea.

The surface of the sea shimmered in the sunlight, waves rising and falling, creating a breathtaking view.

Hathaway took out a map of the sea area from her jacket pocket and then took out a 30-centimeter square detector from her backpack. The seven blinking dots that had appeared on the screen before had now clustered into three in the center of the grid. The one closest to her was out in the vast ocean ahead.

Hathaway glanced at the scale on the map and expertly adjusted the grid scale on the detector to match the map's. Then she compared the target dot with the map... Her finger slid across the map before stopping at a small island located about 100 kilometers offshore.

"This is it."

She returned the detector to her backpack, then pulled out a marker from her jacket pocket and made an X on the map, marking the island.

Suddenly, a hand was placed on Hathaway's shoulder from behind.

"Little girl…"

Hathaway rolled her eyes, not bothering with words. She quickly grabbed the hand that was resting on her shoulder. A device embedded in her gloves activated instantly, buzzing with a sharp sound—zzt zzt.

The man, initially pleased that the girl had taken the initiative to engage, thought there might be a chance here. But then, he suddenly felt an uncontrollable force surge from his hand up to his head... His whole body twitched, shaking a couple of times, his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed to the ground.

People walking along the coast turned their heads at the noise. Hathaway pulled down her cap, smoothly dragged the man away, and continued on her way.

---

When the man woke up, his first reaction upon seeing Hathaway's face was: Damn, didn't expect this to be a "back killer". Great figure, but her face... so ordinary...

His second thought was: Where am I? What the hell just happened?

"You!?" the man gritted his teeth, about to get up.

"What?" Hathaway flipped her cap around, cracking her knuckles as she raised an eyebrow. When she saw the sleazy man trying to get up, she raised one hand toward him, pressed a button, and the electric arcs in her glove's palm began to dance, crackling with a sharp sound.

"Nothing, nothing. What can I do for you?" The man's tone immediately changed, and he obediently asked.

It was obvious to him that he had run into a wall today. The girl had such a big backpack, and it was clear she wasn't a local. She must have brought him over for a reason.

Hathaway was pleased with the man's cooperation. She pulled out the map, shook it open, and held it up in front of him. Pointing at the island marked with an X, she asked, "Do you know where this island is? Tell me everything you know…"

"You're going there for a trip?" The man sighed with relief. But when he saw the island Hathaway pointed to on the map, his face immediately changed. He blurted out, "You're going to the Ghost Island?!"