Goku's naive behavior made Krillin, Yamcha, and others facepalm in despair; he was indeed too innocent.
Fortunately, such attacks were nothing to Goku, who had finally woken up completely from his drowsiness. He stood up, lightly brushed off the dust from his clothes, and said to Giren, "Now it's my turn to attack."
Giren was well aware of the power behind his previous punch. In his view, hitting Goku without any defense should have left him severely injured or unconscious. However, this child showed no signs of injury.
Goku didn't give Giren much time to think. He charged forward, targeting Giren's lower body due to his shorter stature. His strikes were fierce and powerful; although Giren wanted to keep up with Goku's speed, he was unable to do so. Goku seized an opening and landed a punch to Giren's abdomen.
The strong impact caused Giren to lose his combat ability temporarily as he bent over clutching his stomach. Goku then moved behind him, grabbed his tail, lifted him up, spun him around a few times, and threw him into the air.
Goku intended to eliminate his opponent this way but forgot that Giren had wings. Once he regained his composure, Giren flapped his wings and slowly returned to the stage.
The intense battle drew loud applause from the crowd.
Looking at the little guy in front of him, Giren decided to use his secret weapon—Magic Gum.
Just as Goku was about to finish off his opponent, Giren suddenly spat out a light blue liquid. This liquid flew directly at Goku, circling around him twice before solidifying into a circle that trapped Goku firmly inside.
Seeing that his special move had captured Goku, Giren couldn't help but laugh loudly: "You little shrimp, you lost! Hahaha..."
After saying this, likely to avoid any prolonged suspense, Giren lifted the bound Goku and threw him into the air.
"Hahaha..." Giren laughed at his opponent being thrown away. "I won! He doesn't have wings; even if he breaks free from my special move in mid-air, he won't be able to return to the stage."
Just when everyone thought Goku was about to be eliminated, he shouted in mid-air: "Flying Nimbus!"
Suddenly a yellow cloud flew over from afar and caught the falling Goku, bringing him back to the stage.
Giren immediately shouted at the referee: "Referee! He's cheating; he used a prop!"
The host was at a loss; this was indeed something he hadn't considered. After discussing with several other referees, they decided to let it slide for the sake of flow but ruled that Goku could not use Flying Nimbus again.
Giren was speechless but accepted the referee's decision; after all, this little shrimp couldn't use Flying Nimbus anymore—he could just send him flying again.
The surrounding audience heard this ruling and cheered for Goku.
However, regardless of the ruling or how many people supported him, it didn't change the fact that Goku was currently trapped by Giren's special move.
Giren walked step by step toward Goku while he struggled hard to break free from the Magic Gum.
"Give up! Don't struggle anymore. Not just you; even we can't break free once trapped by this stuff." It seemed that after so long without being able to escape from his special move, Giren didn't immediately eliminate Goku but instead stood there trying to persuade him.
Krillin shouted from the side: "Go for it, Goku!"
After several minutes of persuasion without any sign of surrender from Goku, Giren prepared to take action himself and finish him off.
At that moment, Goku suddenly noticed that his previously severed tail had grown back!
Overjoyed, with the power of his tail restored, he exerted all his strength and with a loud "bang," broke free from the Magic Gum that bound him.
"Huh?!" Giren looked shocked as he saw his special move actually shatter.
Ignoring Giren's surprise, Goku began playing with his tail and finally kicked down a decorative wall standing nearby.
Realizing that his special move had been broken and that Goku had grown stronger after regaining his tail, Giren knew he no longer had what it took to compete against him.
As excitement faded away for Giren, Goku also realized he was still in a match and looked back at Giren ready for another round.
However, just as Goku prepared to unleash an all-out attack, unexpectedly Giren shouted: "I concede!"
Goku had no choice but to redirect his already launched punch onto the side of the stage, creating a large hole upon impact.
Startled by this display of power, Giren quickly yelled: "I concede! I concede!" As he spoke, he jumped off the stage in fear of being hit by one of Goku's punches if he took too long.
Thus ended the four matches leading into the semifinals. The semifinal matchups would be Jackie Chun vs. Krillin and John vs. Goku.
Due to the damage caused by Goku on the stage, there would be a temporary break while staff repaired it properly.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the host decided to interview three contestants other than Jackie Chun.
John walked onto the stage alongside Goku and Krillin.
The host held up a microphone and loudly introduced: "Ladies and gentlemen, these three are about to participate in the semifinals! We noticed a characteristic—they are all wearing identical martial arts uniforms."
"Are they from the same dojo? Who is so impressive that they managed to train three disciples who all made it into the semifinals?"
Since John appeared to be the oldest among them, the host first directed the microphone towards him and asked: "Mr. John, are you three from the same dojo as Mr. Goku and Mr. Krillin?"
John smiled and replied: "Yes! Actually it's not really a dojo; technically speaking, we three are all disciples of one master—Master Roshi!"
The host exclaimed in surprise: "Master Roshi? The one revered as the God of Martial Arts?"
"Yes," John confirmed.
"Then may I ask how many disciples Master Roshi has taken this time? How many have come to participate in our World Martial Arts Tournament?" The host continued questioning.
"He only took us three as disciples," John answered.
"Oh my god! Did everyone hear that? Master Roshi only took three disciples this time! Yet all three made it into our top four finals! This has turned our World Martial Arts Tournament into their internal exchange meeting! What incredible strength! Truly worthy of being called God of Martial Arts!" The host shouted excitedly.
Nearby Master Roshi heard these praises and immediately smiled with squinted eyes; it was indeed surprising that all three of his disciples made it into the semifinals.