Dragon Ball Roshi-Chapter 164 - : The Rotation of Stars (2)

The moment Taro stepped into the ancient True Kaioshin training chamber as described by the Grand Kai, he found himself immersed in a mysterious realm shrouded in hazy, ethereal mist. In this space, there was no distinction between up and down, left and right, or far and near. The swirling mist gave the impression of miniature cosmic explosions, constantly forming and dissipating.

"What will happen here..." Taro muttered as he walked for what felt like an eternity, though the environment around him remained unchanged. Perhaps it was because the surroundings were so uniform that he failed to perceive any transformation. He glanced back, only to find the door he had entered through already a distant blur, obscured by the mist.

Deciding to stop in his tracks, Taro recalled the Grand Kai's speculation about the latent divinity within him. He quietly activated the Muken, thinking that if the Kaioshin training chamber held any secrets, the energy of Muken might trigger them.

As he channeled his inner power, Taro's sharp, focused gaze scanned his surroundings.

The mist enveloping him began to shift and churn, taking on various forms — at times resembling dragons, at others gods — constantly morphing and defying comprehension. Finally, the haze started to dissipate, revealing a barren, desolate landscape.

"Where is this?" Taro frowned, finding himself standing in what appeared to be a wasteland.

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Something felt amiss. Turning back, he realized the door he had entered through was gone. With his current level of perception, he should have been able to spot even the tiniest detail from hundreds of meters away, yet the door, which had been no more than fifty meters behind him, was nowhere to be seen.

"Is this a spatial displacement... or some kind of illusion?" Taro wondered, but he didn't linger. Instead, he decisively took to the air, soaring high above the ground. Hovering near the clouds, he conducted a thorough 360-degree scan of the area. There were no signs of human habitation or any trace of buildings. Meanwhile, his ki sense spread outward, sweeping as far and wide as possible.

Eventually, he concluded, "There are faint traces of life, but they seem to belong to ordinary people..."

Suddenly, his expression shifted as he focused intently in one direction, having detected something unusual.

In the next instant, Taro vanished from the air. A mere half-second later, the clouds and mist where he had been hovering exploded outward, spiraling into a massive vortex that tore toward the direction of his departure.

Taro reappeared above a hilly region, hovering in mid-air and gazing down with a look of surprise. He murmured, "So I was right... this is Earth's unique terrain. Does that mean this place is some kind of parallel dimension?"

Over the years, Taro had traversed countless mountains and valleys, honing his skills through solitary training. He was deeply familiar with Earth's geography, and the distinctive features of the terrain below confirmed his suspicions.

This was the unique landscape of Earth's northwestern hills, down to the composition of the soil.

Surveying his surroundings thoughtfully, Taro mused, "Could the so-called training chamber of the Kaioshin... be a device for traveling to parallel worlds?" He shook his head, unimpressed by the lack of originality in such a premise.

Since it was Earth, Taro instinctively extended his ki sense once more, this time with a clear objective. His focus swept toward the distant sky where the Earth's Lookout was located.

He sensed nothing. There was no trace of life on the Lookout. Neither Kami nor Mr. Popo were present.

Taro narrowed his eyes slightly and redirected his ki sense downward to the base of the Lookout — the location of Korin Tower. As expected, Korin's presence was also absent. He realized that during his earlier sweep of the planet, when he hadn't yet recognized this as Earth, he hadn't detected Korin's familiar energy. If he had, he would have known this was Earth long before identifying the unique terrain.

"So, let me see... what kind of parallel world this is. If I've been brought here, does it mean there's something here to inspire my training?" Taro murmured to himself. His expression calm, he transformed into a streak of white light and disappeared into the distant sky.

---

About twelve years ago, Earth suffered two consecutive disasters.

The first was the return of the terrifying Demon King Piccolo, who had broken free from his imprisonment and reappeared in the human world. Though aged and frail, the Demon King had learned patience and cunning. He allied with the world's most powerful armed terrorist group, the Red Ribbon Army, pushing the global federation to the brink of collapse. Meanwhile, he used the Red Ribbon Army's resources to search for the Dragon Balls.

For the first time in a century, Earth's people once again experienced the agony and despair their ancestors had suffered under the Demon King Piccolo. Their modern weapons, in which they had placed so much pride, proved laughably ineffective against the Demon King, even in his twilight years.

Simply seated aboard a Red Ribbon aircraft, the Demon King Piccolo would casually wave his hand at a densely populated city below, taking thousands of lives in an instant. Another wave, and tens of thousands of souls were left wandering the void between life and death, as those killed by demons were unable to pass into the afterlife. Countless Earthlings were condemned to suffer without release.

The people of Earth were plunged into despair, but no hero emerged to save them.

Yet, even greater horrors lay ahead.

Compared to what followed, the terror brought by the Demon King Piccolo seemed insignificant.

A fearsome creature with a tail appeared — a being whose small frame harbored unfathomable power, far surpassing that of the Demon King Piccolo. This creature was also far more ruthless, reveling in the thrill of destruction and delighting in slaughter.

The Demon King Piccolo met a gruesome end at his hands.

Shortly thereafter, the martial arts master Roshi faced the creature armed with an electric rice cooker, but fell in battle. It was said that in his final moments, the old man muttered regretful words, his cloudy eyes shedding bitter tears of remorse as he died unfulfilled.

A year later, a young man with three eyes — the former champion of the World Martial Arts Tournament — confronted the tailed creature with a similar rice cooker. But before he could unleash the ultimate technique he had spent a year mastering, the creature decapitated him with a single strike and crushed his body into pulp with a mere stomp.

And there was an even worse nightmare.

For five years, during each full moon, the tailed creature transformed into an enormous beast, wreaking havoc on Earth. On those nights, his eerie roars seemed to echo across half the planet. Beneath the giant moon, the shadow of a rampaging Great Ape painted a horrific silhouette of Earth's devastation.

By the sixth year, the creature vanished, seemingly because there was nothing left for him to destroy. For someone who lived for destruction and slaughter, the absence of anything to break must have driven him away. Indeed, for the following six years, the creature never appeared on Earth again.

Of course, even if he had returned, no one would have known.

Because there was no one left on Earth.

---

Flying over countless crumbling ruins and the remnants of cities, Taro began to confirm his suspicions: this was Earth in a timeline far beyond the events of the original story — or perhaps an alternate timeline altogether. In the ruins of one city, he had spotted the logo of Capsule Corporation, indicating that Bulma's family's company had already been established.

"What point in time did this parallel world diverge from the original timeline?" Taro wondered as he navigated the clouds. Suddenly, he stopped mid-flight, his sharp eyes narrowing as he peered downward, seeming to pierce through the layers of mist. On the desolate ground below, he spotted a small figure trudging along.

"Compared to ordinary Earthlings, their ki is not weak... a martial artist?"

With that thought, Taro descended, landing near the figure. Using his spiritual and magical senses, he identified the person moving like a zombie across the barren land.

Blocking their path, Taro stood still, observing the individual. The figure had long, filthy, greasy hair and beard dragging on the ground. Their lifeless eyes stared ahead as they walked, unaware of Taro's presence until they nearly collided with his ki barrier.

The person finally looked up, and it was then that Taro noticed something peculiar beneath the matted hair — this person had no nose.