Luffy learned that the woman was named Bulma, and she was apparently a genius scientist from something called 'Earth.' She was just as fascinated by Luffy's story as Roshi was. "A dimensional rift? Fascinating! The energy readings from that dinosaur were off the charts because of you! You're like a walking, talking anomaly!"
Luffy didn't care about any of that. He cared about training. After the dinosaur incident, Roshi, seeing the boy's genuine desire for strength to protect his friends and find his way home, agreed to teach him the basics. For one week.
The training was insane. Luffy had to deliver milk in a tiny cup without spilling a drop while running a marathon. He had to plow an entire field with his bare hands. He had to fight giant bees while wearing a ridiculously heavy turtle shell. For Luffy, who had survived Amazon Lily and years of insane training, it was... fun. Hard, but fun.
The biggest challenge was the Ki. Roshi explained it was life energy, the force that all living things possessed. To use the Kamehameha, one had to gather it, focus it, and release it.
Luffy tried. He really did. He stood there, grunting, his face turning red. "Ka... Me... Ha... Me..." pop. A tiny, pathetic puff of blue smoke came from his palms. "It's not working!"
Roshi sighed. "Boy, you're trying to force it out like a sneeze. Ki is about calmness and focus. Your entire fighting style is chaotic, wild. You rely on the unique properties of your body. That power is not Ki. It's something else. You must learn to feel the energy around you, not just within you."
After a week, Luffy could just barely manage to manifest a small, flickering aura around his fist. It was a start. But Roshi had other students to attend to and couldn't dedicate all his time to the strange rubber boy. He gave Luffy a single piece of advice before they parted: "Seek out the Lookout. Find Kami. If anyone can help you understand the nature of your being and this universe's energy, it is him."
Luffy, with a new goal and a new technique to practice, said his goodbyes and hitched a ride with Bulma, who was heading back to her city. Their plane was a capsule house that turned into a plane, which blew Luffy's mind almost as much as the Kamehameha.
As they flew over a vast, empty plain, a warning siren blared. "Unauthorized spacecraft approaching! It's a space pod!"
A small, spherical pod slammed into the ground ahead of them, creating a massive crater. The hatch hissed open. Emerging from the steam was a man of medium height, with wild black hair that defied gravity, a muscular build, and a cold, arrogant sneer. He wore a form-fitting battle suit and a scouter over one eye. His tail, thick and powerful, whipped behind him.
"The scout readings from that anomaly were correct," the man said, his voice dripping with contempt. "A power level that spikes and drops unpredictably. And it's coming from... that flying tin can."
The man's gaze locked onto Luffy, who had stuck his entire head out of the plane window, staring with wide-eyed curiosity.
"Hey!" Luffy yelled. "Your hair is awesome! It sticks up like mine!"
The man's eye twitched. "The clothes. The straw hat. The complete lack of any detectable Ki sense. You're the anomaly. I am Vegeta, Prince of all Saiyans. And you are coming with me."
"Nope!" Luffy said, popping the 'p'. "I'm going to find a guy named Kami! Wanna come?"
Vegeta's scouter crackled. The power level of the boy was fluctuating wildly between 5 and... 1,000? It made no sense. He didn't have time for games. With a snarl, he vanished from the crater and appeared directly in front of the plane, his fist cocked back. "I'm not asking."
He punched the plane. The machine crumpled like tin foil. Bulma screamed as they plummeted. Luffy, with a yell of "Gomu Gomu no... Rocket!" stretched his arms around Bulma and the plane's wreckage, using his own body as a giant rubber ball to cushion their fall, bouncing them safely to the ground.
He gently set Bulma down, his expression shifting from curiosity to the focused, serious look he wore when a friend was in danger. "That was my ride. You broke my ride."
Vegeta landed lightly a few feet away, scoffing. "A rubber body? A mutation. No wonder your power level is erratic. Your very biology is a glitch. You're not a Saiyan, you're a freak."
Luffy didn't understand half the words, but he understood the tone. "I'm gonna beat you up for breaking the plane! And for making Bulma scream!"
"Ha! A low-class mutt challenging a Saiyan Prince? Entertain me." Vegeta dropped into a fighting stance, his aura flaring to life with a brilliant, golden-yellow light. The pressure was immense. Rocks around him began to crack and levitate. It was a hundred times the pressure that dinosaur had put out.
Luffy felt it. This guy was strong. Maybe even stronger than Kaido. His blood sang with excitement. He cracked his neck, the serious face taking over completely. "Gomu Gomu no..." He punched the ground, launching himself into the air. "...Gatling!"
A barrage of rubber fists rained down on Vegeta at a speed that would have demolished most foes. Vegeta didn't even try to dodge. He stood there, his arms crossed, a sneer on his face. The fists connected, but instead of hitting flesh, they rebounded off a solid barrier of Ki that surrounded him like a second skin.
"Pathetic," Vegeta said. With a flick of his wrist, he swatted Luffy out of the air like a fly. Luffy crashed into a rocky hill, creating a Luffy-shaped crater. He popped out, shaking his head, a trickle of blood on his forehead. "Ow. That tickled."
Vegeta's scouter crackled. The boy's power level, which was reading at a steady 500 after the Gatling, suddenly jumped to 2,000.
"Hm? What's this?"
Luffy grinned, wiping the blood away. "Okay. You're strong. That's good." He bit his thumb, a flicker of steam beginning to rise from his body. "Gear... Second."