The small white cat didn't move at first.
He kept his eyes squinted shut, a calm, knowing smile etched onto his whiskered face. He took a slow breath, leaning on his wooden staff as the two exhausted children stepped into his sanctuary.
"Well, well." Korin finally spoke, his voice high-pitched but carrying a strange, ancient weight.
"It's been a long, long time since I've had visitors. For two little runts, you certainly didn't dawdle. You made it up here faster than most legendary masters."
Goku's eyes went wide.
"A talking cat?! Are you Master Korin?"
"In the fur." the cat replied, finally opening one eye to peer at them. He looked Goku up and down, nodding slowly, but then his gaze shifted to the girl cradled in Goku's arms.
His expression softened into one of curiosity and concern.
"My, my... what happened to the girl? She looks like she's been through a war and back."
Korin hopped down from his cushion, his wooden staff clack-clacking against the floor as he approached.
He sniffed the air, his nose twitching.
"I felt her spirit flickering like a dying candle halfway up the tower. She was holding onto your weight while her own body was screaming for mercy. Is she alright, boy?"
Chi-Chi let out a faint, shaky breath, her eyes barely half-open.
She looked at the cat, her mind so delirious she didn't even find it strange that he was talking.
"I'm... I'm fine, just... give him the water... he needs it to beat the bad man..."
Korin paused, his whiskers twitching.
He looked at the dried blood on her arms and the deep, dark bruises around her neck. He realized then that she hadn't just climbed the tower; she had conquered it through sheer, agonizing willpower to protect the boy holding her.
"She has a fierce heart." Korin murmured, looking back at Goku.
"Most people climb this tower for greed or glory, but she climbed it out of something much deeper. Put her down over there. She's pushed her body past the point of no return."
Goku nodded quickly as he gently laid Chi-Chi down on the plush red cushion.
"Is she gonna be okay?"
Korin reached into a small jar and pulled out a single green bean.
"She'll be more than okay."
Korin didn't say a word at first. He simply leaned on his staff, his eyes squinted into thin slits as he stared at Goku.
A moment of heavy silence passed, and then the cat nodded slowly.
"I see... an assassin with a deadly finger, a fallen guardian, and a wish to bring back the dead," Korin murmured, his voice echoing in the small room.
"You've had a rough couple of days, haven't you, Son Goku?"
Goku jumped back, his eyes nearly popping out of his head.
"Whoa! How do you know all that?! I didn't even say anything yet! Are you a wizard?"
"A good hermit doesn't need to hear words to know the truth. I can read your mind as easily as a map."
The cat then turned his attention back to the battered Chi-Chi, who was still slumped on the mat, looking like a ghost.
He reached into a small jar and pulled out a single, hard green bean.
"Here." Korin said, holding it out to her.
"Eat this. It's a Senzu Bean."
Chi-Chi struggled to focus her eyes on the tiny object.
She wrinkled her nose, her old stubbornness flickering back to life even through her exhaustion.
"A... a bean? Ugh... I don't like vegetables. I'm an Ox-Clan princess. Don't you have a steak or some ribs in that jar?"
Korin's eyebrow twitched. He let out a huff of annoyance and tapped his staff sharply against the floor.
"Stop being so picky and just eat it! This vegetable is more valuable than any feast in your father's castle. Now, don't be a brat and chew!"
Grumbling under her breath about the lack of protein, Chi-Chi took the bean and crunched down on it.
Her eyes instantly went wide.
CRUNCH.
A surge of pure, electric energy exploded from her stomach, racing through her veins like wildfire. The deep, agonizing ache in her ribs vanished instantly.
The shredded skin on her arms knit back together, leaving smooth, unscarred flesh. Even the stiffness in her neck, which had felt like it was made of rusted iron, disappeared.
She sat up with a start, her movements fluid and sharp. She looked at her hands, then touched her neck, her jaw dropping.
"I... I feel amazing! It's like I just slept for a month!"
"That's a Senzu Bean for you." Korin said, hopping back onto his cushion.
"One bean keeps a person full and energized for ten days. Now that you're not dying on my floor, we can get to the real reason you're here."
He held up a small, ornate bottle tied to his staff.
"The Sacred Water. You want it? Then you'll have to take it from me."
Goku and Chi-Chi looked at each other, then back at the small cat, completely baffled.
"Wait, that's it?" Goku asked, blinking.
"We just have to take it from you? That sounds way easier than climbing the tower."
Chi-Chi stretched her newly healed limbs, feeling a surge of overconfidence.
"Seriously? This shouldn't take more than a second."
Korin chuckled, his eyes remaining closed.
"Is that so? Well, by all means. The bottle is right here. Come and get it."
Goku didn't waste a heartbeat. He lunged forward, reaching for the ornate bottle dangling from Korin's staff. But before his fingers could even graze the glass, the wooden staff blurred.
WHACK!
"OW!" Goku yelped as the cane caught him right in the forehead, sending him tumbling backward across the stone floor.
Chi-Chi used her Skywalk to close the distance instantly, her hand darting out like a viper's strike toward the bottle.
THWACK!
Korin didn't even stand up. He simply tilted his staff, and the blunt end poked Chi-Chi right in the solar plexus, knocking the wind out of her and sending her skidding back next to Goku.
"Hey! What's your problem?! You said we could have it!" Goku shouted, rubbing the growing lump on his head.
"And I meant it. It's right here. I'm not hiding it." Korin replied calmly, tail swishing back and forth.
Chi-Chi climbed to her feet, her face red with frustration.
"Then what's the catch? You said we could take it, but then you hit us!"
"There is no catch, I told you that you could have the water if you could take it from me. I never said I would make it easy. If you can't even touch the bottle, you certainly aren't ready for what the water offers."
He stood up, leaning on his staff with a mischievous grin.
"All you have to do is be fast enough to grab it. But I should warn you... the last person who tried took three years to get a single sip."
"Three years?! We don't have three years!" Chi-Chi screamed.
Goku stood up, his expression shifting from confusion to that familiar, hungry look he got whenever he faced a real challenge.
"Three years, huh? Well... I bet we can do it way faster than that."
Goku and Chi-Chi didn't need another invitation. They split up instantly, circling Korin from opposite sides like two predators cornering a mouse.
"Now, Chi-Chi!" Goku barked.
Goku exploded into a low, aggressive slide, aiming to sweep Korin's legs and force him off balance. Simultaneously, Chi-Chi launched herself into the air, a shadow passing overhead as she dived toward the bottle from a blind spot above. It was a flawless pincer maneuver, timed to the millisecond.
Korin didn't even look up. He simply leaned back on his staff, and the two children collided in mid-air with a loud thud, while the cat seemed to have simply "melted" out of the way.
"Urgh... you're in my way, you idiot!" Chi-Chi grumbled, rubbing her nose as she scrambled up.
"Me? You're the one who landed on my head!" Goku retorted. He turned and lunged again, his movements becoming a blur of high-speed grabs.
For the next hour, the sanctuary was filled with the sounds of scuffling feet, frustrated shouts, and the clack-clack of Korin's staff.
Chi-Chi used every ounce of her agility, twisting her body in mid-air to reach for the bottle, but Korin moved.
Every time she thought her fingers were closing around the glass, the bottle would sway just a hair's breadth out of reach.
Whack!
Goku got poked in the ribs.
Thwack!
Chi-Chi got a tap on the top of her head.
"It's like he knows where we're going before we even move!"
Chi-Chi panted, sweat dripping from her chin.
"He's not even looking at us half the time!"
"That's because I don't need to look." Korin said, yawning casually.
"You two are as loud as a mountain landslide. Your muscles tense up three seconds before you move, and your breathing is so heavy I could hear you from the bottom of the tower."
Goku stopped, his chest heaving. He watched Korin carefully.
"He's right, Chi-Chi. We're just rushing in. Every time I try to grab it, I'm thinking too much about the bottle and not enough about how he's moving."
Chi-Chi gritted her teeth, her ponytail messy and her face flushed.
"Fine. New plan."
She crouched low, her eyes narrowing as she focused not on the bottle, but on the tiny twitches of Korin's whiskers.
Goku and Chi-Chi stood side by side, their breathing finally falling into a synchronized rhythm.
The frustration from their earlier failures had crystallized into a sharp, focused intent.
"Ready, Chi-Chi?" Goku whispered, his knees slightly bent.
"Ready."
Goku exploded forward, but as he reached for the bottle, his body suddenly flickered and vanished into thin air.
A split second later, three identical Gokus appeared around Korin, all reaching for the staff simultaneously.
"The afterimage technique." Korin muttered, his eyes widening just a fraction.
But the surprise didn't stop there. From above, Chi-Chi executed the exact same move.
She split into two images, dropping from the ceiling like a pair of falling stars.
She had watched Goku use it enough times to mimic the high-speed vibration perfectly.
"Double Afterimage!"
The five images closed in, their fingers inches away from the ornate bottle. They had Korin trapped in a sphere of blinding speed. There was no room to lean, no room to dodge, and no way for the cat to slip through the gaps.
But just as their fingers were about to touch the bottle, Korin's whiskers twitched. In a blur that made their own speed look like a crawl, Korin's body didn't just move—it multiplied.
Fwoosh!
Goku and Chi-Chi's hands passed through empty air, grasping nothing but the fading heat of an afterimage.
Korin had vanished from the center of the circle and appeared casually sitting on the railing of the balcony, several feet away, yawning.
"Not bad, kids." Korin said, leaning on his staff as the afterimages of the children faded away.
"The afterimage is a fine trick, but you're using it to hide your position rather than to find mine. And besides..."
He gave them a playful, toothy grin.
"...Who do you think taught that move to the man who taught it to you?"
Goku tumbled to the floor, staring in awe.
"Y-You trained Master Roshi?!"
Chi-Chi landed on her feet, panting, her eyes burning with a mix of annoyance.
"You're kidding... we used our best move and he didn't even break a sweat."
"The afterimage only works if your opponent is slower than your eyes." Korin lectured, tapping his staff.
"To me, you're moving in slow motion. If you want this water, you'll have to stop trying to fool my eyes and start moving with your soul."
Korin chuckled, the sound like dry leaves rustling. He leaned back on his staff, watching the two children panting for air.
"You two are so focused on the bottle that you've blinded yourselves to your own progress. Do you really think you're the same kids who crawled up over that ledge three days ago?"
Goku paused, blinking as he wiped sweat from his brow.
"Huh? What do you mean? I still feel like I'm not fast enough to catch you."
Chi-Chi stood up, stretching her sore shoulders.
"Yeah, I'm still exhausted. Are we really any different?"
"Is that so?" Korin's eyes glinted with mischief.
"Well, if you don't believe your own bodies, allow me to give you a little demonstration. It's hard to notice growth when you're standing still."
Before Goku could react, Korin reached out with his wooden staff and hooked the Four-Star Dragon Ball right out of Goku's sash.
"Hey! My Grandpa's ball!" Goku shouted, reaching for it.
"If you want it, go get it." Korin said casually. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the orange sphere over the railing.
Goku and Chi-Chi scrambled to the edge, watching in horror as the small orange glint plummeted toward the sea of clouds thousands of feet below.
It vanished into the white mist in a matter of seconds.