Dragon Ball Human

Although the Kamehameha Yamiru launched was somewhat thinner than the one Son Gohan had previously used, both in duration and length, it was still a significant achievement. The fact that he had managed to gather energy and unleash this attack, even though it didn't mean he fully grasped the concept of Ki, proved that he had surpassed the typical fighter, martial artist or not. He was beginning to tap into a power that only true masters could control — the fundamental force of life itself.

After the attack, Yamiru slumped.

He was mesmerized by the lingering glow of the Kamehameha. It was something he had dreamed of doing countless times, and now, he had truly accomplished it. However, before he could bask in the glory for too long, he suddenly felt weak, dizzy, and light-headed. His legs wobbled, and he collapsed to the ground, panting heavily.

"Master... huff, huff..." Yamiru took a moment to regain his breath, stunned. "this technique drains this much mana?"

"Hmm?" Son Gohan, puzzled, didn't quite understand.

Yamiru squeezed his palms together, feeling the vast amount of energy he had expended while performing the Kamehameha, as if it had drained his physical energy — or more accurately, his Ki.

Although Son Gohan didn't understand the term "Mana" that Yamiru had mentioned, he could tell from the exhaustion on his disciple's face what Yamiru meant.

The old man laughed, "Haha, the Kamehameha is definitely not a technique you can use freely at your current level."

Yamiru, having experienced it himself, fully agreed.

He said, "It doesn't have much practical use — at least not for someone with my current strength. My physical condition isn't exactly robust, so I can't unleash a very powerful Kamehameha. With this weakened version, it's fine if I'm hitting a stationary target, but if someone dodges it, I'll be at a disadvantage. The energy spent on a failed attack could leave me vulnerable."

By now, Yamiru had already experienced several real battles on his way to Paozu Mountain. He had developed his own judgment about combat.

Son Gohan nodded in acknowledgment, agreeing with his disciple. "Hmm, you're not wrong. But actually... the order is reversed."

"The order is reversed?" Yamiru repeated. "Master, what does that mean?"

Son Gohan chuckled, lifting Yamiru up from the ground and brushing the dust off his clothes. "It means that in a normal training process, martial artists naturally come into contact with the concept of Ki. And by the time they can harness Ki, their physical strength is already enough to support some of the martial techniques for actual combat."

The old man smiled and gently patted his disciple's head. "But you, you learned Ki too early."

Yamiru immediately perked up. "So, master, does that mean I have pretty good talent?"

Son Gohan, with Goku in his backpack, laughed heartily as he walked home with his disciple. "The Kamehameha is a technique that took my master, the martial arts god, many years to create. For you to master it in such a short time, this kind of talent, do you think I can call it anything less than remarkable?"

This was the first time Yamiru had received such affirmation from a true martial arts expert in this world. Hearing this, he couldn't help but smile widely. Even Goku, in the backpack, didn't seem so "unappealing" anymore. Yamiru even spoke more lightly about the little one quickly learning the Kamehameha.

Son Gohan, too, hadn't forgotten about the astonishing feat of his adopted grandson quickly learning the Kamehameha. The shock he felt was likely even greater than Yamiru's, who had been mentally prepared.

"Can't say I'm surprised. After all, this is the so-called battle-hardened, combat-focused 'warrior race' that our alien friend warned us about." The old man mused. "Saiyans..."

"Saiyans..." someone suddenly spoke from the backpack.

"Yeah, Saiyans! Super Saiyans..." Yamiru nodded, casually muttering the words. It was nothing more than adding the prefix "Super" before Saiyan, and even if someone overheard it, they would probably just assume he was complimenting the Saiyans.

However—

"Huh?" Yamiru suddenly looked up, glancing at the figure in the backpack. "Master, did Goku just speak?"

Son Gohan, though surprised, wasn't entirely caught off guard.

He said, "Since Dr. Brief confirmed that Goku is already over four years old, it would actually be strange if he didn't speak at this age."

Yamiru, astonished, asked, "Really?" He wasn't familiar with children, and in his previous life, he hadn't had much interest in them. He didn't know the normal milestones for when kids could walk, talk, or how much they weighed at certain ages.

The old man opened the backpack, revealing the boy who seemed to exude a faint scent of milk.

Yamiru said, "Just now, he repeated Saiyan, right? Could it be that when you mentioned Saiyans, it triggered something in him? Could he be regaining his memory?"

"To put it in Dr. Brief's words," Son Gohan gently touched Goku's delicate face with his rough, calloused finger, "A child just over four years old doesn't have what you'd call memory. It's more accurate to call it fragmented impressions. And especially for Goku, who, from birth, was much smaller than children his age."

"So his already fragmented memory got shattered even more by that punch from Jaco, huh..." Yamiru teased. "But I wonder, did Goku just learn to talk, or did he already know how to speak on the Saiyan planet, and then, after being in that spaceship, forget how to talk?"

Son Gohan whispered, "It doesn't matter now. The important thing is to live well from here on. Right, Goku?"

Goku blinked his large eyes, neither sad nor happy, but full of life. He smiled mischievously and said, "Goku~~"

The master and disciple continued walking through the mountains back to their cabin.

Soon, the smell of cooking wafted up from the cabin.

The aroma of dinner spread out, and the nearby animals had long since scattered, likely considering the area as the domain of some fierce and mighty ruler.

Son Gohan and Yamiru ate meat porridge while Goku gnawed on a pile of meat.

"I still don't know what exactly Saiyan bodies are made of." Yamiru thought. The sight of Goku eating was always astonishing, and no matter how many times he saw it, it never failed to be thrilling. It really made one hungry just watching! If Goku ever did a food-eating livestream, he could probably become the most famous competitive eater online. He could earn money just eating, balancing martial arts training and earning a living at the same time. Wouldn't that be perfect?

Yamiru took a couple of big gulps of his meat porridge and said, "I've felt Goku's body before, and I can honestly say it's incredibly tough! Master, I feel like even if an axe struck this kid, it probably wouldn't hurt him..."

Son Gohan wiped the porridge off his gray beard and said, "Hmm, Goku's muscles and bones are indeed tougher than usual."

Yamiru thought to himself, Saiyan bodies were probably even more formidable than this.

In the manga, Goku had only a weak power level in the double digits, but he could still use the Kamehameha with style, never looking like someone who was drained after just one use like Yamiru did. If Yamiru remembered correctly, by the time Goku's friends started using techniques like the Kamehameha and energy blasts in battle, they had already developed significant power.

No matter how hardcore a Dragon Ball fan Yamiru was, he didn't keep track of insignificant battle power numbers. But he guessed that when Krillin, Tien, Yamcha, and the others started using Ki techniques, their battle powers were probably at least over 100, right?

Ki. Strength.

At that moment, Yamiru realized that martial artists were divided into different levels of combat, almost like a natural progression.

Lower levels relied on strength, while higher levels relied on Ki.

It wasn't that masters were hiding techniques from their disciples, or that strong people were secretive about their martial arts. Rather, these advanced techniques were useless for those without enough power, and they would only disrupt the battle style of weaker fighters.

After focusing on the key points and talking with his master, Son Gohan nodded and said, "You're right. For those whose combat power hasn't reached a certain level, the practicality of Ki techniques is actually far less than that of hand-to-hand combat. So Yamiru, with your current strength, don't underestimate other fighters, like those in hand-to-hand combat, just because you know the Kamehameha."

"I won't, Master," Yamiru said. "If I face an opponent as weak as I am now, I won't use the Kamehameha. It's more efficient to use my fists and feet. With the same amount of energy, a Kamehameha drains it all, but in hand-to-hand combat, I can last much longer. The one with who can utilize well his Ki is clearly the one who will last longer, Master. I know how to choose."

"I'm glad you understand." Son Gohan nodded. "Actually, Master Roshi never formally taught me or Ox-King the Kamehameha. Master Roshi once said that it would take at least 50 years of hard training to master it and use it freely in combat."

He wiped the grease from Goku's mouth and continued, "This doesn't mean that it takes 50 years to learn the Kamehameha, but rather, to accumulate enough power to master it and use it effortlessly in battle, requires a lot of dedication."

Yamiru understood and thought, "even though Master Roshi's and Goku's talent gap was large — Goku finished the training that Master Roshi took three years to complete in just three days — it couldn't be that much of a gap between Roshi and Krillin or Yamcha, right? The techniques that Master Roshi spent years polishing, these younger fighters were able to master in no time.

Now that he thought about it, the Kamehameha was indeed hard to learn, but the real challenge lay in the fundamentals of Ki techniques — the martial artist's own power.

"So, Master, how long did it take you to learn the Kamehameha?" Yamiru asked curiously.

"Well..." Son Gohan scratched his white beard and frowned. "I can't really say when it started. As I mentioned, Master Roshi never formally taught me the Kamehameha, but Ox-King and I did see him use it. Then, one day, many years later, I suddenly felt that I could use that technique, so I did."

The old man shrugged and smiled mischievously. "So, would you say I learned it over decades, or did I suddenly realize it in an instant? Learning martial arts is just a natural process."

This was exactly like Krillin and the others! Yamiru understood again and nodded. "Master, don't worry, I won't aim too high too fast."

Indeed, Master Roshi never officially taught the Kamehameha.

Goku, that prodigy, simply watched once and immediately copied it, while Krillin and the others, years later in the tournament, used the Kamehameha and surprised even Master Roshi himself.

There is a difficulty to learn Ki techniques, but it wasn't as unreachable as Yamiru initially thought.

If he considered it, the case of Videl should be the same. She was born with considerable power, making her apt for learning Ki techniques, but before meeting Son Gohan, her environment never exposed her to true martial artists. And due to her father, Mr. Satan, she had always viewed Ki techniques as mere tricks. After Son Gohan's guidance, however, her mindset changed, and she naturally unlocked the Ki within herself, becoming a true martial artist who could harness Ki techniques.

This meant that, if we took 100 battle power as a benchmark:

Fighters below 100, who learned Ki techniques, wouldn't necessarily be stronger than those who relied on physical fighting.

This might also explain why figures like Mr. Satan could dominate Earth's martial arts scene.

Even if someone from the "authentic" martial arts world wanted to topple the glamour and vanity of commercial fighters, they would still need real strength to do so. Fighters with battle powers of around 100 weren't guaranteed to lose to other fighters with the same power, and with some guidance, a commercial fighter could easily defeat a Ki martial artist.

But how many true martial artists, capable of overwhelming top fighters, would actually bother with such trivial matters?

"I see, yeah, yeah..." Yamiru thought deeply for a while, feeling that things made more sense now. He felt clear-headed and full of energy. From then on, he trained harder and ate with more vigor.

Since learning to use the Kamehameha, Yamiru felt his strength slowly but surely increasing during his training.

Work Hard.

Study Well

Eat and Sleep Plenty.

This lifestyle and philosophy from Master Roshi's school allowed Yamiru to immerse himself in a unique rhythm in daily life.

He increasingly understood.

A way to adjust both body and mind.

A perspective on life and power.

This was the true essence of Earth's martial arts, the Turtle School philosophy, and at the core of it all was the very nature of Ki that Yamiru had vaguely begun to grasp.

In the Dragon Ball world, Ki wasn't just physical energy.

Courage, righteousness, spirit... these seemingly intangible forces were also parts of Ki. If that weren't the case, how could Goku, Krillin, and Master Roshi detect a person's Ki and judge their morality?

Ki is a blend of physical and spiritual power, an organic union of how martial artists perceive, interact with, and live in the world.

And the training philosophy that the turtle School hold — peaceful and enduring like an ancient turtle, promoting health — further nurtures the growth of the martial artist's own Ki.

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