"No… Impossible… This cannot be…"
Piccolo knelt on the shattered ground, his mind reeling. The opponent who had once been his rival now rendered him utterly helpless with a single, dismissive strike.
"What's so impossible? Let me show you the true distance between us."
With those words, Son Goku clenched his fists, threw his head back, and roared. His ki exploded outward, surging to its absolute peak. Instantly, the very mountains trembled. The earth fissured and split, and the rubble around him began to levitate, suspended in the crushing pressure of his terrifying aura.
"This… this power… How? It's… it's too much… Victory is impossible… My body… it's shaking… Is this fear? Damn it… What a pathetic joke…"
Goku's overwhelming might poured into Piccolo a sense of profound, soul-crushing helplessness. It was akin to the moment in the original timeline when he was casually annihilated by Raditz—no, this was worse. The raw, staggering battle power before him, now exceeding 35,000, dwarfed even that of Vegeta during his first invasion of Earth.
"You are far too weak as you are now. I don't even have the interest to finish you."
Having made his point, Son Goku simply turned and shot into the sky, leaving the devastated Demon King behind. Piccolo could not die yet—the Dragon Balls were still needed. Besides, Goku's true opponents were not Earth-bound fiends, but the monstrously powerful entities that roamed the wider cosmos.
"Damn you… Damn you! To look down on me, the Great Demon King Piccolo, like this… Son Goku! I swear I will repay this humiliation a hundredfold!"
Piccolo pounded the broken earth, his heart a vortex of shame and bottomless rage.
The ultimate consequence of this encounter was that Piccolo did not appear at the World Martial Arts Tournament a year later. Instead, he vanished, pouring every ounce of his being into a solitary, grinding pursuit of power, vowing not to resurface until he possessed the strength to crush his nemesis.
As for Goku, the World Martial Arts Tournament had long since lost its appeal. His gaze was fixed on the stars.
---
At Capsule Corporation, in the vast, manicured backyard, Son Goku upended his bag, and the seven Dragon Balls tumbled onto the soft grass. Saeko and the other women stood behind him, their faces a mix of breathless anticipation and deep curiosity. Goku had brought them here specifically to witness this—to broaden their understanding of what was possible in his world.
Rei glanced at Bulma, who stood beside her with a knowing smirk. "Bulma… can these things really summon a dragon?"
Bulma's smile widened. "Just watch."
Son Goku raised his hands to the darkening sky. "Come forth, Shenron!"
The world answered. Day became night in an instant, clouds swirling ominously. With a earth-shaking roar, the Eternal Dragon erupted from the gathered orbs, his colossal, serpentine form coiling through the darkened heavens.
"MAKE YOUR WISH. I CAN GRANT ANY ONE DESIRE…"
"It's real…" one of the girls whispered, the words swallowed by awe.
"Pretty incredible, huh?" Bulma said, thoroughly enjoying their stunned reactions.
Goku took a steadying breath, his heart pounding with purpose, and shouted his wish to the sky. "I wish for a spatial ring! It must have the largest possible internal space, capable of sustaining life. Inside, I need a chamber that manipulates time—a Hyperbolic Time Chamber like the one on the Lookout. It must also include a gravity generator with the highest possible adjustable setting!"
Shenron was silent for a long moment. "…YOU ASK FOR MUCH… YET IT STILL CONSTITUTES A SINGLE WISH… A MOMENT… THIS REQUIRES EFFORT…"
Five tense minutes passed. Then, Shenron's eyes blazed with crimson light. A simple, ancient-looking ring materialized in the air and fell. Goku snatched it from its descent.
"YOUR WISH IS GRANTED… HOWEVER, WITHIN THIS SMALL VESSEL, I COULD ONLY CREATE A SPACE ONE-QUARTER THE SIZE OF THIS PLANET… THE REST, YOU MAY EXAMINE FOR YOURSELF. THE RING IS BOUND TO YOUR SPIRIT; A THOUGHT WILL GAIN YOU ENTRY… FAREWELL."
As Shenron began to dissolve and the Dragon Balls glowed, preparing to scatter to the winds, Goku was already moving. He shot into the air, hands flinging out a shimmering dome of energy that encapsulated the seven orbs. The light within the barrier flickered and died, and the petrified spheres dropped harmlessly to the grass.
Goku landed, a triumphant grin on his face as he collected the inert stones. "Good thing I prepared that energy-sealing barrier in advance. No more year-long scavenger hunts. And if I leave these in the ring's Hyperbolic Time Chamber… hehe, a new wish every single day."
"A real spatial ring? I've only read about those in fantasy novels!" Shizuka exclaimed, blinking her large eyes at the unassuming band in Goku's palm.
"A space a quarter the size of Earth… How is that even possible? Goku, let's go in! Now!" Rika Minami was practically vibrating with excitement. A legendary artifact was right before them.
With a mere thought from Goku, a small, swirling vortex appeared. It pulled Bulma and the other women inside in a flash of light, followed by Goku himself.
---
Within the ring—no, this was no mere storage device. It was a Ring of Worlds.
They materialized on a sun-drenched grassy plain, surrounded by gentle, forested mountains. The air was sweet with the scent of flowers and alive with birdsong. It was a slice of paradise, perfectly crafted.
"It's… beautiful!"
"We're really inside the ring! It's enormous!"
The women marveled, their voices filled with wonder, while Alice immediately dashed off to chase butterflies through a field of blossoms.
"Wahahaha! Shenron, you magnificent serpent! This is perfect!" Goku laughed, his ambitions soaring. This was more than he had dared hope for—a private, stable, and fully-featured sanctuary. His eyes landed on a magnificent, sprawling castle in the middle distance. "Come on! Let's check out our new home!"
The castle was opulent and vast, befitting a king. At its furthest reaches, they found the Hyperbolic Time Chamber—a stark, endless white space, adjacent to a simple resting room. Within that room was the control panel for the gravity generator, its maximum setting a mind-boggling 100,000 times Earth's gravity.
A true haven for training… and for a life of his own design.