The sky turned dark too suddenly, and it happened so quickly, as if someone had ripped away the clear sky like a canvas, revealing a pitch-black background.
Crack!
A golden lightning bolt, resembling a dragon, shot into the sky at the horizon. From the distance, it seemed to be in the northwest outskirts of the Southern Capital.
Yamiru froze for a moment.
In this situation, anyone who had watched Dragon Ball would immediately recognize it.
Tonpo, still rubbing his shoulder, asked in confusion, "What's going on? Why did the sky suddenly turn dark? And what's wrong with you? Suddenly acting all weird. I'm not like you, a freak. My body's a lot more fragile."
'Fragile, my ass.' Yamiru looked at him with exasperation. The mask Tonpo wore was so tight that the outline of his pig nose was clearly visible. Also, Yamiru thought he heard Tonpo speak two sentences almost simultaneously, which puzzled him, but Tonpo urged, "Let's go, since you don't want to study here, we should head back. There are too many weird superhumans at this school. It's better not to stir up trouble."
"Go back? Hell no. The sky just turned dark like this, and I..."
Yamiru intended to say, "I'm not going back, I'm going to check out the Dragon Balls up close." But as soon as he took a step forward, he saw the clear, bright blue sky again, with not a single cloud in sight. Where was the darkness?
He rubbed his eyes, staring up at the sunny sky, confused. Was it just a hallucination?
Or could it be that the person who summoned Shenron had already made their wish?
But... it was still the year 735 in the Age of Dragon Balls. How could anyone have gathered all seven Dragon Balls?
Yamiru was certain about this.
It wasn't until 749 that Son Goku and Bulma's team gathered all seven Dragon Balls. And one of the Dragon Balls they found had come from Master Roshi. What had Master Roshi said back then? That he had found his Dragon Ball many years ago in the ocean, though Yamiru couldn't remember the exact number of years—was it one hundred or two hundred? But it definitely hadn't been a mere fourteen years.
Without the face of Son Gohan's grandson and the backing from Bulma's perks, who on Earth would have the audacity to take a Dragon Ball from Master Roshi?
"What's wrong with you now?" Tonpo tugged at Yamiru, who was lost in thought, but couldn't move him. Annoyed, he shouted "Transform!" and changed into a massive dinosaur. He tried to bite Yamiru's collar but still couldn't budge him.
Instinctively, Yamiru grabbed the dinosaur's mouth and pulled, which caused Tonpo in his dinosaur form to stumble and crash to the ground before returning to his original form.
"Let's go..." Yamiru said absentmindedly, clutching the two coins in his pocket. He thought to himself that if he had basic combat power, even without reaching Super Saiyan levels, at least he could have flown to the outskirts of the Southern Capital where the Dragon was summoned, to check things out. After leaving the school gates with Tonpo, Yamiru was preparing to take out the double-decker bus capsule when he suddenly asked, "Aren't you curious about the sky turning black and then turning back to normal?"
He expected Tonpo to respond with a casual "Whatever" or "Who cares," but instead, the pig-headed guy asked in confusion, "What are you talking about?"
Yamiru's suspicions grew, but before he could ask more, he heard someone shout from ahead, "Hey! Kid, stop!"
Yamiru frowned and looked over, only to see several people of varying sizes wearing strange uniforms blocking their path. Suddenly, Yamiru noticed the red ribbon emblem on their chests and was taken aback.
How did we run into members of the Red Ribbon Army?
This was the Southern Capital! Sure, it was on the outskirts, but for the Red Ribbon Army to swagger around so openly near one of the five major cities on Earth, did they really think the Earth government wouldn't know?
Tonpo seemed to have the same thought. He was scared and nervously shouted, "We haven't done anything to provoke the Red Ribbon Army. What do you want?"
While speaking, he quickly ducked behind Yamiru's back.
"Hmph... really? Well, that's not necessarily true." The Red Ribbon Army members just smiled.
Then, the group split into two sides, and the person who had spoken was one of the two behind them. One was a leopard-headed man, who was following closely behind a tall, muscular, blond-haired youth.
Tonpo was stunned, pointing at the leopard-headed man and exclaiming, "It's you!"
"Damn stupid pig!" The leopard-headed man grew angry when he saw the pig. If it weren't for this pig, how could he have gotten beaten up by Yamiru? And to make matters worse, he had walked right into it!
"You can't blame me for that!" Tonpo, hiding behind Yamiru, pointed at him. "I told you not to provoke him..."
The leopard-headed man recalled the time Tonpo came to school, taunting them with remarks like, "My friend Yamiru is so strong, you guys can't bully me anymore. Or I'll go find him at such-and-such street at such-and-such time and make sure he beats you all up..." His rage intensified, and he gritted his teeth, sneering.
"You have may have a strong friend, but I have one too. His name ia Blue. Even if you haven't met him, you should have heard of him," he said, proudly pointing to the tall, blond youth.
"Blue? The top Esper in the world, Blue?!" Tonpo was shocked, looking at the blond-haired Blue, who shot them a cold, indifferent glance. Tonpo felt a chill run down his spine and instinctively wanted to hide behind Yamiru, muttering, "Hey, Yamiru, this isn't good. We should run. You're fast, right? You've got at least a hundred extra pounds on you, so you should be fine, right?"
"Blue?' Yamiru thought to himself, the name sounded a bit familiar... He shook his body, throwing the pig-headed man off his back.
"I heard you have beated my friend up and offended me," the blond youth, Blue, spoke. His voice was soft and effeminate, just like his delicate appearance. With a smile, he said, "And soon, I'll be a high-ranking officer in the Red Ribbon Army. So, tell me, haven't you basically already offended the Red Ribbon Army?"
The other members of the Red Ribbon Army laughed along.
"Is this guy crazy?" Yamiru pointed at Blue and asked Tonpo. "From what they're saying, this Blue is a student at a superpower Academy, right? He's colluding with the Red Ribbon Army and openly telling us about it—doesn't that sound like something's wrong with his thinking?"
Tonpo wanted to laugh, but he couldn't. He looked seriously concerned. "I'm telling you, Blue is really strong. Even though you're strong, you won't be able to beat him! We should run!"
"Run? I think running's out of the question," Yamiru sighed. His eyes scanned the area, looking for any mice nearby... That's right, he already realized who this effeminate blond guy was.
Oh, great, not only does he have superpowers, but he's also mixed in with the Red Ribbon Army. Who else could this guy be but the General Blue, who used a paralyzing superpower to trap little Goku in Dragon Ball?