Dragon Ball Roshi

In the desolate area suspected to be a remnant of the Kaioshin Realm, there stood an extraordinary sword embedded in a solitary peak of stone. The barren land around it was devoid of life, yet this sword pierced the summit as if it had always belonged there. Most of the blade was buried in the stone, leaving only a portion of the sword and its simple, ancient hilt exposed. Between the blade and the hilt was a straight, cross-shaped guard.

The sword blended seamlessly with its surroundings, as though time itself had failed to erode its presence.

Taro stood still, resisting the urge to touch the sword immediately. Instead, he paused to assess the situation.

There was no doubt: this sword, this setting, reminded him of a certain scene from the original Dragon Ball story — a sword embedded in a stone peak, used by Gohan for training, later broken to release the Old Supreme Kai.

A similar Kaioshin Realm, and a sword stuck in a stone peak.

"Could this sword also be sealing away that old man?"

Taro entertained the thought as he crouched down to examine the mysterious ancient sword. Despite its age, the sword appeared pristine. His eyes were immediately drawn to the end of the hilt, where he spotted a distinctive marking. The design, simple and sharp, consisted of three intersecting lines forming a shape resembling the letter Z.

"Could this really be that Z Sword?"

Taro's skepticism deepened.

If this place truly was what he suspected — an ancient remnant of the Supreme Kai Realm from before the current era — then the desolate, lifeless land he now stood on must exist independently of the twelve shattered universes.

However, the Z Sword he knew of, the one that sealed the Old Supreme Kai, should only exist in Universe Seven, the setting of the Dragon Ball story he had crossed into.

Yet here it was, the same Z Sword from the original story, embedded in the stone in front of him, while the surrounding environment was nothing like the Supreme Kai Realm depicted in Universe Seven.

One possibility was that this place belonged to an alternate timeline of Universe Seven, where the Supreme Kai Realm had undergone some mutation.

Another theory was that this location was indeed the ancient central hub of the twelve micro-universes — a fragmented remnant of the original Supreme Kai Realm. The countless Z Swords scattered across the myriad parallel timelines of Universe Seven were merely projections of the very sword before him.

With a calm expression, Taro gazed at the ancient sword embedded in the peak, contemplating: or perhaps, the sword before him was not even an entity, but rather... a mirage of sorts?

Testing it would reveal the truth.

Just as he was about to reach out, something caught his eye. His hand froze mid-air, and his eyes narrowed. On the blade near the cross-guard — the part where the blade met the hilt — there was an inscription, faint but unmistakable.

"An... Ji... Li... Ya...(Angelina)"

Taro's lips moved soundlessly as he mouthed the characters. In the vacuum of this environment, no sound could travel, but his vocal cords vibrated at a frequency he hadn't used in a very long time. He silently repeated the name, and with each syllable, his heart grew heavier.

The letters themselves seemed ordinary, possibly a name or the sword's title.

Ordinary — except for one critical detail.

The four characters were unmistakably written in Chinese!

Perfectly squared, meticulously crafted strokes formed the familiar characters, as if engraved by a hand that understood their profound meaning.

Taro's mind reeled in shock. The sight of these four characters struck him like a mental assault, shaking him to his core. The familiarity of the script and its precision resonated deeply within him, as though the inscription carried a power far beyond its mere appearance.

Reborn three times, with the second life in a cruel ninja world and the third in the long pursuit of martial arts, Taro had nearly forgotten what the familiar strokes of Chinese characters even looked like. Yet now, in this place resembling the Kaioshin Realm, the sudden sight of the four perfectly written characters "An Ji Li Ya" did not fill him with nostalgia — it chilled him to the core, flooding his mind with doubt.

These four characters, written in Chinese, were like an undeniable ironclad fact thrust before him:

There was another traveler.

Who?

Who was the owner of this sword?

Taro furrowed his brow. In the original Dragon Ball story, the Old Supreme Kai only mentioned being sealed within the Z Sword by a powerful enemy but never revealed who the sword's owner was. Could it be that this other traveler had become an enemy of the Supreme Kai? Did they not know Dragon Ball's original story? Or were they from a completely different era — a person from ancient times? A foreigner unfamiliar with Dragon Ball? Or even someone from a future where Dragon Ball had long been forgotten?

One question followed another, but Taro, in this barren and lifeless world, found his mental strength depleted. With no energy left for speculation, he suppressed his doubts and set them aside for now.

Maintaining a calm expression, Taro reached out without hesitation and gripped the hilt of the Z Sword embedded in the stone peak. The metal was ice-cold, like frozen steel, sending a numbing chill through his body despite his strong constitution. The sword's grip was plain yet surprisingly ergonomic, fitting perfectly into his hand.

He focused his energy and exerted force.

The sword remained motionless.

As expected, Taro sighed silently.

In the original story, even Gohan had to transform into a Super Saiyan to pull out the Z Sword.

Narrowing his eyes, Taro activated his fiftyfold Muken.

"Wait — what?!"

Taro froze, staring at his hand gripping the hilt. His expression shifted between surprise and confusion. Just now, the Muken, which had become second nature to him, had failed! He had perfectly channeled his mind and spirit to align with the principles of the technique, intending to amplify his power fiftyfold to test the sword's resistance.

But it was as though the technique, like his ki-based abilities, had vanished without a trace!

It disappeared, as if it had been blown away like a wisp of smoke.

Could it be...

A thought flickered in Taro's mind. He glanced up at the dark purple sky, swirling with clouds. Just as he prepared to release the sword and test another method, the Meditation Technique, which was just as powerful as Muken, a faint glimmer of light flickered across the sword's hilt.

Then, everything changed.

---

The transition through time and space did not involve any tangible Process. From "Time-Space A" to "Time-Space B", the result appeared the moment the cause and transition were triggered. For example, when Taro was transported to this desolate world, he hadn't even noticed it.

At the moment he saw the illusory, ancient silhouette of the Supreme Kai turning back, Taro had already been shifted through space-time without realizing it. This led to him lying unconscious in the barren world for over a decade, during which his ki and mental energy completely faded before he awakened.

Now it seemed that not only had his ki disappeared, but also his Muken — and possibly even the Meditation Technique!

Taro remained crouched, hand still gripping the air as if holding something, though the rocky peak and the mysterious Z Sword with Chinese characters were gone. He hesitated only briefly before regaining composure.

He scanned his new surroundings.

It was a cavernous space, but the stone walls shimmered with iridescent colors, dreamlike and ethereal, exuding a sacred aura.