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Chapter 9 - "Roshi's Return and the Nimbus Gift."

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The road ahead wasn't peaceful. One after another, all kinds of talking beasts—mostly dinosaur-types—kept jumping out, thinking the three of them would make a great meal. Unfortunately for them, every last one ended up becoming their dinner after taking a punch from Goku.

Watching all these talkative, high-IQ monsters pop up, Broly couldn't help sighing at how magical the Dragon Ball world really was. If this were his previous life in a xianxia world, these creatures would definitely be considered fully cultivated demons.

Broly was wearing his custom heavy-weight training suit, slowly getting used to the discomfort. To be honest, the weight itself wasn't much to him. What made it tough was that the 500 kg load wasn't resting on any single point—it pressed evenly on every part of his body. It felt like he was training under five or six times Earth's gravity at all times.

But that was exactly why the effect on his strength was huge. Once he adapted fully, he'd hit a major breakthrough. Still, adapting wasn't easy, and Broly refused Bulma's offer to ride in the car, insisting on running behind them instead.

Since he had made up his mind, Bulma couldn't really argue. And so Broly began his painful-yet-weirdly-fun training journey.

Whenever he felt like his body was about to fall apart, he'd stuff the training suit into his system inventory, jump onto Bulma's hover car, and collapse like a soggy rag to recover. Once he was back to full energy, he'd hop right off and continue sprinting after the car with the heavy suit on again.

He could just redeem senzu beans from the system store. They weren't expensive—ten points a bean—but he definitely needed more than one. Judging by the twenty or so times he had already collapsed into the car, he'd go bankrupt fast. Better to save points for when he really needed senzu or other rare items.

While Broly was once again sprawled inside the car resting, Goku somehow rescued a giant sea turtle that had gotten lost. Being the kind-hearted kid he was, Goku insisted on escorting the turtle back to the ocean.

Broly, half-dozing, suddenly heard a familiar voice. He opened his eyes, and sure enough—there was a big old turtle head he knew all too well. He immediately got up, jumped out of the car, and landed right in front of the sea turtle.

"Hey, old turtle! Long time no see!"

"Huh? Broly? I thought I heard Goku say your name earlier… didn't expect it to really be you!" The big turtle's eyes lit up with surprise and joy.

"Well, since we bumped into you anyway, we'll take you back to Master Roshi. I wanted to visit the old man too."

"Then I'll trouble you, everyone!"

"It's about twenty kilometers straight ahead. Sit tight—I'm speeding up!"

A random bear demon tried blocking the road, but Goku knocked it out with one punch, and they reached the beach without further trouble. The turtle slipped back into the sea and asked them to wait while it fetched Master Roshi to thank Goku for saving its life.

A short while later, Goku spotted the turtle swimming back from far out in the ocean. And standing on its back… was someone whose shiny bald head caught the sunlight so brightly it looked like a mirror. That glare alone got Goku and Bulma's attention before anything else.

When he got closer, they could make out the rest: white beard, sunglasses, cane in hand, a giant turtle shell on his back, and that unmistakable pervy aura beaming from his posture and the tilt of his head. 

Broly twitched at the corner of his mouth. "Figures. Like owner, like pet."

"You brat," Master Roshi immediately scolded the moment he came ashore. "You've been gone so long without visiting your poor old master. I thought something happened to you!"But beneath the scolding, Broly clearly heard the deep concern and affection in his voice. It warmed his heart.

"Relax, relax! I'm here now, aren't I? And with my current strength, nothing's gonna happen to me."What he didn't say aloud was: with his power right now, he could practically wipe the floor with every fighter on Earth before Dragon Ball Z even begins.

These past days of weighted training had done wonders. He still hadn't fully adapted, but he could now run for hours without collapsing. With a bit more time, he'd reach the same total adaptation Goku had in the original story.

Of course, Goku's original weighted clothes were nothing compared to Broly's. Just by training like this, Broly's battle power had reached 396—almost 400—close to what Goku had when Raditz first arrived in Dragon Ball Z.

"You must be the boy who saved my turtle," Roshi said. "As expected—anyone who hangs around with Broly here is no normal kid. Since you saved him, I'll give you a gift."

"Old man, stop talking nonsense," Broly cut in. "You still have that Flying Nimbus, right? You don't need it anyway, so give it to Goku. He's kind-hearted, pure, and simple-minded enough to ride it."

The moment the words "you don't need it" came out, Roshi's face twisted like he'd been insulted.What do you mean I can't use it anymore!?

"Come out, Nimbus!" Roshi shouted, slamming his cane into the sand.

A yellow cloud really did zoom over from the horizon and stopped right in front of them.

Broly explained, "This is the Flying Nimbus. If you can ride it, you can fly anywhere you want."

Goku's eyes sparkled. "Really? That means I can fly like you?"

"Yep."Truthfully, Goku had been dying to learn the flight technique from him and had pestered Broly for quite a while, but Broly always brushed it off with, "Focus on getting stronger first."

It wasn't that Broly wanted to keep it secret—flight was too basic to hoard—but Goku really did need to focus on training for now. He planned to teach Goku flight before the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament anyway. With that plus a full year of Broly's personal training, Goku in this timeline would be way stronger and trickier than the original.

After saying goodbye to Master Roshi, the three of them resumed their Dragon Ball hunt. This time, Broly sat in the car chatting with Bulma, building rapport. Since he had almost fully adapted to the weight, he didn't need to train constantly anymore. Goku zoomed around overhead on his brand-new Nimbus, having the time of his life.

Unlike the original story, Broly prevented Roshi from "demonstrating" his usual antics and saved his master from embarrassing himself in front of his own disciple. Broly didn't even know if he or Bulma met the requirements for the Nimbus, so Roshi definitely wouldn't.

To keep Roshi from doing something stupid in front of him, Broly not only stopped him but quietly traded him a stack of magazines—carefully selected by the dog-headed system pervert—in exchange for the Dragon Ball.No way he was letting Master Roshi make demands involving Bulma—she was already tagged as his future woman.

"....."

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