EPIC Side Story: Dragon Ball

Chapter 7: Strength

Similar to Chakra, Ki was comprised of Physical and Spiritual Energy. You could become stronger through training, but, without the proper mentality, you would quickly hit a bottleneck.

In the version of Dragon Ball that Vahn was familiar with, the Z-Fighters had worked tirelessly just to exceed a hundred battle power. After that, it took a literal decade for Goku and Piccolo, prodigious warriors who were constantly training to exceed each other, to reach the 400s.

It was only after Goku and his friends became aware of external threats far exceeding their previous understanding of what it meant to be strong that their limits were completely shattered. After that, even the weakest among them was able to exceed Master Roshi, one of the most powerful humans that had ever existed up until that point, several times over.

Over the course of a single year, people who couldn't surpass a power level of 300, even with more than a decade of focused training, were able to exceed 1500. Shortly after that, barely even a month later, two of them had exceeded more than 10,000 in power. By the end of that same year, Krillin, a determined martial artist who had gone from a power level of around 130 to 206 over the course of eleven years had exceeded 75,000.

Simply put, while physical and spiritual strength represented the literal foundation of Ki training, a person's limits were determined by their comprehension and overall mental state. If the strongest person you were aware of only had a power level of 500, you could train as hard as you want, and, unless you innovate and come up with your own methods of training, there is a chance you might never surpass them. Inversely, if you were aware of people with power levels in the quintillions from the very beginning, reaching a power level of 500 might sound like a joke.

If you were thoroughly convinced that obtaining a certain level of strength was simple, surpassing it was equally so. It was, quite literally, a matter of perspective. After that, the most important qualifier for strength was willpower. So long as you pushed yourself and kept improving step by step, limits may as well not exist.

At the present moment, both Sarina and Goku were lacking the proper mentality to become strong. They had the proper motivation, sure, but that could be said for every serious martial artist. In spite of this, the upper limit for even a Grandmaster, at least by Earth's standards, was generally around 160-200. Reaching this point required literal decades, so, while motivation was important, it wasn't the key to growing stronger.

In Sarina's case, Vahn was intending to build up her confidence by having her casually defeat every opponent she came across. If possible, he even wanted her to become overconfident, as, the higher the pedestal she created for herself, the greater the impact when she inevitably fell.

One of Sarina's biggest problems, at least in regards to becoming stronger, was that she lacked a genuine reason to become strong. Simply wanting to be strong because you believed you 'needed' to be wasn't enough. In fact, it was an extremely vain way of thinking that generally disregarded the ordeals others had to face in order to become strong.

What Sarina needed the most right now was a genuine setback. She needed to experience working hard for something only to have it ripped away or denied due to the efforts of another. She needed to be able to empathize with others and recognize the efforts they made to become stronger, and, more importantly, the efforts they had made to surpass her. If she couldn't, she might never be able to overcome the deeply rooted insecurities that had influenced her behavior since long before their initial encounter…

Fortunately for Sarina, Goku, much like Luffy, had an infectious personality that invariably influenced everyone he encountered. Better yet, she had a perfect foil in the form of Bulma. They were around the same age as each other, yet, despite associating with people who could casually destroy planets with energy blasts, Bulma relied on nothing but her wit and intelligence to remain one of the most relevant characters in the series.

Though there was a good chance they would become 'frenemies' rather than genuine friends, Vahn believed that Sarina and Bulma would be a good influence on one another. Bulma was confident to a fault, and, despite lacking legitimate confidence, Sarina possessed a power that far exceeded girls her age. They were bound to talk amongst themselves, and, though they were virtually guaranteed to butt heads, each would imprint some of their characteristics onto the other…

Just as Vahn was thinking about her, Bulma emerged from the inn-like cottage wearing an outfit that was, very clearly, intended to draw attention. She had let most of her hair down and instead settle on tying just a small part of it into a single pigtail. As for her actual outfit, it consisted of a form-fitting white t-shirt, a pair of brown jeans with one of the legs ripped away, a pauldron-like harness for her pistol, red compression sleeves, leather gloves, and oversized boots that vaguely resembled space shoes. There was also a pair of goggles rest atop her rather sizeable bust, but, due to the thickness and color of her shirt, the thing most people would focus on was the outline of her lacy black bra…

After briefly observing Sarina and Goku taking turns throwing rocks at each other, Bulma looked around before smiling the moment she saw Vahn. Then, a stark contrast to her meek and bashful behavior from before, she walked over with a fearless gait, asking, "When are we leaving?" without even a hint of hesitation in her tone.

Raising his brows, Vahn was about to tease Bulma by insinuating her journey had nothing to do with the three of them.

Seemingly anticipating this, Bulma promptly crossed her arms beneath her breasts, saying, "Don't even think about trying to send me off on my own. I still need Goku's Dragon Ball and there's no way in hell I can save a village or extinguish an inextinguishable fire without some kind of magical assistance. Are you seriously going to send a weak, defenseless, and beautiful sixteen-year-old girl into danger without any kind of support?"

Maintaining a relaxed smile, Vahn took the wind out of Bulma's sails by promptly retorting, "While I might be able to influence them, I have no control over your decisions, Ms. Briefs. If you'd like, I can escort you safely to West City. As for your journey to gather the Dragon Balls…well, simply put, what does that have to do with us? Unless we betray you, the only person who stands to gain anything at the end of this journey is you. You want us, people you met yesterday, to risk our lives and help you solve problems for…what was it again? Ah, yes, the perfect boyfriend…"

Though she had a habit of staring people down, Bulma couldn't help averting her eyes in the face of Vahn's relaxed deconstruction of the present situation. Vahn's words had hit the nail on the head, and, now that she thought about it, she hadn't even thought to offer them anything in exchange for their services. She had just assumed they would travel with her…

"I just…I thought that you might enjoy going on an adventure…?"

Not knowing what else to say, Bulma reached for the only excuse she could think of that didn't make her sound petty and opportunistic. To her surprise, a light chuckle emanated from Vahn's throat before as he parroted, "Adventure…". Then, in complete defiance of gravity, he smoothly transitioned to a standing position, a teasing smile developing across his face as he appended, "Now that you mention it, that does sound like fun."

Realizing she had, once again, been played, Bulma puffed out both of her cheeks before giving Vahn's surprisingly firm chest a punch. She wanted to do more, but, before she could retract her fist, Vahn casually grabbed her wrist as he said, "The strength of a punch, contrary to what most people believe, comes from the legs. The muscles in the arms, shoulders, and lower back are all important, but, unless you put your weight behind each blow, you're more likely to disrupt your own balance rather than your opponent's…"

Before Bulma could react, Vahn promptly spun her around before deftly repositioning her hands and feet in a comfortable, relaxed boxing stance. This caused her eyes to widen, not because her body had suddenly been reposition but because Vahn was half-embracing her from behind as he said, "If you really want to throw a punch, you need to step into it whilst simultaneously pivoting from the hips. It's sort of like-"

Feeling something 'snap' in her mind the moment Vahn placed his hands on her hips, Bulma's train of thought was completely derailed. For a while after that, she couldn't even process the words that were coming out of his mouth. Instead, she just allowed her body to be guided like a marionette as the only thoughts in her mind revolved around how close they were, how warm Vahn was, and how things might develop if she didn't resist…

Unfortunately, just as Bulma thought to express her interest by leaning into Vahn's chest, the latter moved to release her. As a result, she ended up falling backward for a brief moment until Vahn, with a teasing smile on his face, caught her by the shoulders, musing, "Your balance is even worse than I thought…"

Blushing more fiercely than ever before, Bulma 'really' wanted to tell Vahn to go and find a hole to crawl in. Instead, she leaned backward, forcing him to keep her upright as she looked up and asked, "Are you trying to flirt with me…?"

Without missing a beat, Vahn brought his face marginally closer to Bulma's as he flatly replied, "It would be more accurate to say I enjoy teasing you. More specifically, I enjoy teasing strong-willed yet paradoxically bashful beauties. It's only really flirting if you're enjoying it…"

Swallowing hard the moment Vahn brought his face nearer to hers, Bulma wanted to say something but found herself unable to speak. She didn't think he would actually be able to do anything at this angle but a part of her was afraid he would somehow kiss her the moment she parted her lips…

In brazen defiance of her thoughts, Bulma's heart began to race as she found her lips slowly parting against her will. The subtle squinting of Vahn's eyes exacerbated things, as, despite the unflattering angle, he was still one of the most handsome men she had ever laid eyes on. He might even be the most handsome overall…

Interrupting Bulma's train of thought for the umpteenth time, Vahn planted a brief and chaste kiss on her forehead before forcing her to a standing position. Then, as her hand instinctually moved to the place his lips had grazed, Vahn promptly turned around to go and inform Sarina and Goku of their imminent departure. This caused all kinds of misunderstandings in Bulma's mind, but, when it came to sixteen-year-olds on the cusp of reaching adulthood, when weren't they misunderstanding something…?

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(A/N: Alternate Titles: 'Perspective is important','Vahn, God of Teasing','Bulma be like, (O////O)…')