Sacred World of the Kai.
"Pffft so that's why you dragged everyone up to the Supreme Kai Realm to fight?!"
Old Kai exploded.
The moment he heard Gohan's "explanation," he actually spat out a mouthful of tea. Out of habit and basic manners he turned his head to the side when he did it… so all the wet tea leaves splattered right across Shin's face.
That's right Gohan had brought the whole Earth squad straight to the Sacred World of the Kai.
Why not go fight on Beerus's planet instead?
Well sure, it was safer in a way. There was a powerful angel, Whis, watching over things.
But Beerus was still asleep. If they accidentally woke him up, there was a very real chance someone would have to pay with a life or two just to calm his "morning temper."
So in the end, they could only use the Supreme Kai Realm. In terms of dimensional strength, it wasn't actually weaker than the God of Destruction's world anyway.
"Old Kai, don't get angry. Think about it," Gohan said smoothly. "Right now, we're basically the peak battle power of Universe 7. Coming here to spar isn't just for fun we want you to give us some guidance too. And besides, Master Whis asked me to improve Universe 7's ranking. We're sitting second from the bottom. If this keeps up, there's a pretty good chance Lord Zeno might erase us entirely. You don't want Universe 7 wiped out either, do you, Old Kai?"
He piled on the flattery and the pressure in one breath.
"Oh, so I'm just some senile fool to you, is that it? I'm old, not stupid!" Old Kai snapped. "With Whis watching over the God of Destruction's planet, that would obviously be the better place for you brats to wreck things. You're just scared of waking that cat up, aren't you?"
He looked at Gohan like he could see through his soul.
"'Cat,' huh? I'll remember that. Next time, I'll be sure to mention it to Lord Beerus," Gohan said with a wicked little grin, seizing the slip of the tongue instantly.
"Y-you young people these days, bullying an old man like me…"
Old Kai started stammering as soon as he realized he'd been caught.
He had just gotten out of that stupid sword. The last thing he wanted was to get sealed back into it because of a few careless words.
"Sigh, Lord Old Kai, it's not that I want to do this," Gohan went on, still wearing that "I'm the real victim here" expression. "But Lord Beerus told me to help him find a successor. Master Whis wants me to raise Universe 7's ranking among the twelve universes. I'm under a lot of pressure, you know. Tell you what why don't I hand all that over to you? I'll go tell them you'll take care of everything."
The look on his face said: I'm doing you a favor here.
Old Kai nearly jumped out of his skin, fury blazing all the way up his spine.
"Fine, fight, fight, do whatever you want! I'm not dealing with this! If you've got the guts, destroy the Sacred World of the Kai while you're at it!" he shouted. "Shin, we're leaving. Take me to another planet to watch. I am not getting caught up in the fallout of these monsters."
Helpless, he let Shin grab him, and the two of them Instant Transmissioned away to a nearby satellite.
Once they were gone, Goku and the others spread out, leaving the battlefield clear for the two fighters.
"Tien, let's start," Gohan said, crooking a finger at him, inviting him forward.
"Then I won't hold back."
Tien took a single step and in the next instant he was right in front of Gohan. His fist hadn't landed yet, but the pressure from his punch already whipped Gohan's hair straight back.
Gohan stayed perfectly calm. He raised his right arm and blocked Tien's heavy, driving punch.
"Huh… what a strange energy."
Gohan felt his arm go numb. The force behind that fist had an incredible penetrating quality, far beyond what he'd expected.
Reading Tien's ki, he knew that punch shouldn't have been able to hurt him.
Reality, however, was clearly not interested in his assumptions.
"Gohan, you should be careful," Tien said evenly.
"I know. Looks like I underestimated you."
Gohan tensed his whole body, getting serious at last.
Ever since he'd broken through to Super Saiyan God and Super Saiyan 4, his mentality had inflated quite a bit. He'd started to think that aside from Angel Whis and God of Destruction Beerus, there was no one in this universe he really needed to fear.
But Tien had used a single, simple punch to drag that swollen ego of his right back down to earth.
Thankfully, Tien wasn't an enemy. If someone with that kind of ability had come for him with killing intent, and he'd been that careless, he'd have paid a huge price somewhere down the line.
The two of them stood facing each other for a moment, then closed their eyes at the same time.
Invisible waves of ki surged off their bodies, pulsing out again and again.
One minute. Two. Three. Ten…
"Huh? What's going on? Why aren't they moving?" Nappa muttered, baffled.
"The fight's already started," Raditz explained. "They're battling in their minds. Their bodies might not be moving, but their consciousnesses are already clashing."
Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, and Krillin were all watching the two of them without blinking.
They obviously knew the match was underway.
Realizing he was the only one confused, Nappa slumped, feeling extremely left out.
Raditz saw it and added, "This is one of Earth's special martial arts methods. I only just learned it myself. Don't be discouraged."
"What about Prince Vegeta then? How come he can see it?" Nappa couldn't help asking.
"Heh. Prince Vegeta's talent is far beyond ours. Did you forget?" Raditz said with a small smile. "The very first time we came to Earth to fight, he'd already figured out what ki was on his own."
"…Fair point. Raditz, when we get back, you're teaching me," Nappa said through clenched teeth.
"Yeah. I'll teach you when we're back," Raditz agreed. "For now, just watch."
Tien's brows were drawn together, a bead of sweat running down his forehead.
Gohan's expression wasn't any lighter his face was full of gravity.
Another ten minutes passed. Then, at the exact same moment, they both snapped their eyes open.
"So strong!" they said in unison, each praising the other.
"Heh, Tien, I never thought your Three-Eyed Clan would be this amazing," Gohan said excitedly. "After unsealing your bloodline, you and your old self are worlds apart."
"You're no slouch either, Gohan," Tien replied. "The Three-Eyed God Clan was always gifted in spiritual power. But I didn't expect a Saiyan a race known for its physical might to have such terrifying mental strength as well."
Neither of them dared underestimate the other now.
"Then let's officially begin," Gohan said, sliding into his fighting stance.
Tien dropped into the Crane School opening posture he'd trained in since childhood.
Swish. Bang.
Their forearms smashed together in an instant.
To everyone's surprise, there was no catastrophic shockwave exploding out from the point of impact only the solid, clean sound of flesh and bone colliding.
"Beautiful. That control over their power is incredible," Piccolo blurted out.
"Yeah… I never thought Tien would become this strong," Krillin said, his voice full of emotion.
"In terms of how they use ki, the Crane School isn't a bit weaker than Master Roshi's Turtle School," Goku added, his body trembling slightly, excitement written all over his face. He looked like he wanted to jump in himself.
Bang, bang, bang!
Up in the sky, down near the ground everywhere, the sounds of their bodies colliding rang out one after another.
Gohan was now completely serious. His movements had become even simpler and more efficient.
His training with the earthen puppets was paying off in full.
Tien, however, refused to be overshadowed. His attacks were unpredictable and fluid, and his speed actually surpassed Gohan's.
And this was against Gohan's base form with a battle power of fifty billion.
"Holy crap… am I not the number one cheater in Dragon Ball anymore? This is insane," Gohan thought, stunned.
He had expected Tien's strength to increase a lot.
But he hadn't expected this level of broken.
He'd had to trigger multiple transformations to force his base form to its current limit.
And Tien?
All he'd done was unseal his bloodline, and he'd become this terrifying?
Bang!
Gohan allowed his mind to drift for a split second and in that instant, Tien's third eye flashed with a faint golden light.
He slipped past Gohan's incoming punch and simply raised his palm.
It looked like Gohan threw himself into Tien's hand. His body snapped back as if he'd run headfirst into a wall, sent flying.
"Spacing out mid-fight isn't a good habit," Tien said.
"Prediction?" Gohan asked, testing the waters.
"Yeah. Just a small trick from the Three-Eyed God Clan," Tien admitted openly.
His third eye had predicted exactly where Gohan's fist would land. He moved out of the way ahead of time, lifted his hand, and the result was Gohan practically throwing himself into the counter.
"Good, good… this is getting interesting," Gohan said, his dormant fighting spirit surging up at last.
He went on the offensive again, flickering in front of Tien with Instant Movement-level speed.
Boom, boom, boom!
Three rapid-fire air cannons blasted out, hurling Tien back a hundred meters.
"Not bad. You figured out a countermeasure that fast," Tien said as he steadied himself.
"Hehe. Even if you can predict my attacks, you can't dodge wide-range air cannons like that forever," Gohan grinned.
"Small tricks. That's all," Tien replied calmly, taking the initiative this time.
Gohan braced himself, and the sound of their fierce clash echoed through the air once more.
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