Dragon Ball Roshi

Taro glanced at the group of over a hundred contestants gathering in one area and said, "King Kai, I'll leave Hathaway and Tam in your care."

"Yeah, yeah, just go already." The Northern Kai waved him off dismissively, one hand behind his back.

Taking measured steps, Taro moved toward the group. Though his pace seemed leisurely, each step spanned several meters. In fewer than ten strides, he reached the contestants gathered below the main stage, where the Grand Kai was stroking his white beard and explaining the tournament rules.

In truth, there weren't many rules. Since everyone participating was already dead, the risk of dying again didn't exist. Thus, the Other World Martial Arts Tournament adhered to a single criterion for victory: defeating one's opponent. Moreover, all participants were martial artists who had ascended to Heaven, ensuring their integrity. As such, there were no restrictions or prohibitions typically associated with tournaments in the living world.

"…That's the gist of it," the Grand Kai concluded. "Now, I'll assign numbers randomly, pair everyone up, and we'll get started. The audience has been waiting long enough."

With that, the Grand Kai extended a finger toward the 128 contestants below the stage.

Beep—

An invisible ripple radiated outward from his fingertip, spreading like water waves.

Taro looked down and noticed a circular tag had appeared on the front of his clothes, displaying the number 23. A quick glance around confirmed that every participant now bore a similar number.

"No divisions by bracket… Wait a second…" Taro's gaze shifted to the single large square platform in the center of the arena, and his expression turned exasperated. "Just one ring… 128 contestants… Are they going to fight one-on-one, in sequence…?"

His eyes swept over the surrounding circular stands, filled with countless white flame-like spirits, punctuated only by a few corporeal figures — such as Gaya, seated in the ninth row of the southwest section, waiting for the matches to begin.

Pulling his attention back to the stage, Taro pondered, Could it be that, since people in the afterlife don't have biological needs, lifespans, or a sense of time, they don't experience impatience?

With 128 participants and one-on-one matches, 127 bouts would be required to determine a champion. Assuming each fight lasted just five minutes and ignoring the time for contestants to enter and exit the stage, the tournament would still take 635 minutes. That's over 10 hours. And if several matches were closely contested, stretching to 20 minutes, half an hour, or longer…

Shaking his head, Taro joined the others heading toward the central platform. The square ring measured over 100 meters on each side, allowing the contestants to spread out as they gathered along one edge.

Amid the crowd, Bam approached Taro. "Master Muten."

Taro glanced at him and noticed the number on his tag: "100."

Just as Taro was about to comment on the strangely nostalgic feeling that number gave him, the Grand Kai's voice resonated across the arena, reaching every contestant and spectator — corporeal or spirit alike. Unlike Gaya, who struggled to communicate with spirits, the Grand Kai faced no such barriers.

"Let the first match begin. Numbers 1 and 2, step into the ring."

"Pay attention to the matches. Don't lose in the first round," Taro said lightly. Turning his gaze to the Grand Kai, he saw the elder seated lazily behind the main stage. Having made the announcement, the Grand Kai casually waved his hand, sending a beam of light toward the square platform.

"Hmm, I'll do my best. Over the past fifty years, i've learned quite a bit from King Kai," Bam said with a confident smile, clearly proud of his progress. Even without his words, Taro could guess that he had likely mastered the Kaioken to a high level.

Bam looked up, and a beam of light flew toward them, transforming in midair into a massive tournament bracket that floated above one side of the square platform.

At the very bottom of the bracket, the numbers of all 128 participants were listed. At this moment, the line connecting numbers 1 and 2 on the far left was drawn in black.

At the same time, after the Grand Kai announced the start of the first round, two beings resembling aliens with golden halos appeared among the 128 contestants and leaped onto the square platform. They greeted each other respectfully, preparing for their match.

Five minutes later…

"Number 2 wins."

The line connecting numbers 1 and 2 on the massive tournament bracket turned red, and the line extending from number 2 moved upward. Soon after, the lines connecting numbers 3 and 4 were also drawn.

"Second match begins, numbers 3 and 4, step into the ring."

One match after another began. Each round varied in length from one or two minutes to several dozen, with the quality of the battles ranging widely. This was because the "random numbering" the Grand Kai mentioned truly was random.

Some matches had clear disparities in strength, and those who were clearly weaker lost in a flash. The upside of this was that these rounds ended quickly.

It seemed that Taro's guess was correct — since the souls of the deceased in the afterlife had no concept of time, they were unconcerned by how long the tournament dragged on. Even though this was a drawn-out one-on-one competition with no additional arenas, not a single soul showed signs of impatience. Though it was hard to read the impatience of spirit forms, none of them left mid-match.

Taro stood beneath the platform, occasionally chatting with Bam, though he wasn't sure how much time had passed when…

"Match 12, number 23 and number 24, step into the ring."

As the announcement rang out, Bam glanced to the side. "Master Taro, it's your turn… huh?" He looked around, only to realize that Taro had already disappeared.

"Such speed!"

"When did he get up there?"

"I didn't see."

The spectators were all skilled martial artists, yet none of them could figure out when Taro had ascended the platform. They murmured in shock, astonished by the speed he had shown just getting onto the stage. Even though there had been other powerful participants before, none had demonstrated such extraordinary speed in entering the arena.

Of course, Taro simply wanted to save some time.

Even Jiam, who had been lingering at the edge of the crowd, furrowed his brows and muttered, "Did I just space out for a second, or did I miss something?"

Meanwhile, the previous champion, Duan, who had been standing aloof at the other side of the large stage since the start, coldly observed the situation. His eyes narrowed sharply when he saw Taro's display.

"Such speed!!"

With his level of skill, Duan had only managed to catch a faint trace of Taro's movement as he ascended the stage. It was as if Taro had moved so quickly that his image only flickered like a low-frame-rate black-and-white film, the film skipping slightly, and before Duan knew it, Taro had already stepped onto the platform, standing there with calm composure.

How could this not send a chill down Duan's spine?

---

In truth, from the moment the Grand Kai announced the match, to Taro's arrival on the stage, and the shock of the spectators, it all happened nearly simultaneously.

At that moment, Taro's opponent was just beginning to ascend the platform.

"It's you?" Taro said in surprise.