Chapter 21: Chapter 21 – The Investigation 

…

Tao ripped out a pillar from the shop near the ramen stand, calculated the trajectory, and then threw it. He jumped and landed at the top of the post, flying through the air faster than a plane. 

 

While in mid-air, Tao took out a small phone and searched for the names Yamcha, Goku, and Bulma through the earth's identity database. Nothing came up again. 

 

For nothing to come up in the database, you had to live in the mountains. Or your identity had to be very special and was someone powerful or related to someone like that. Earth's king's siblings and children were not listed. Except for royalty, rarely anyone else has the privilege of not appearing here. 

 

So Tao safely assumed that these were likely all people who lived off the grid. They never had their identities registered. 

BOOOOM!!!

He landed the flying pillar right atop a mountain with a mansion on it. Many other posts were stuck on the ground, like a spiky forest, showing he had used this mode of travel too much. "I need to get someone to fix this."

 

But such labors were for later as he went into the house and a high-end tech module in the basement. With many big screens and the latest tech money could buy. 

 

"Search bank robbery stopped by a martial artist," Tao called out to his computer. 

 

Hundreds of new articles showed up. There were headlines with figures of a young man wearing an orange gi. His hair was wild and spiky, like a lion's mane. 

 

Tao can see a video of the man saying something to a kid he had just saved. "Computer, lip-reading mode."

 

"[Error: Target was looking outside any camera view when speaking]."

 

"Shit!" Tao was annoyed. He was so close yet so far. 

 

The hostages were inside, so the outside walls covered them. The cameras inside had been turned off by the criminals too, and finding the little kid would take too long. Because if they aren't eighteen years old and have an identity card, then it would be hard to find them with face recognition alone. 

Though it was a long shot, Tao decided to do more investigation after a while and found out that the young man had been heading into Yunzabit Heights in a plane, that hellscape. 

Taking out a map, Tao made lines from Yunzabit Heights to the town where he had appeared in the news. If he followed the line, it would lead to the South Capital. Tao almost felt despair, but once again, he extended the streak a little more and hit a new island. 

 

He remembered Yamcha's clothes that looked like a martial artist, and just past South Capitol was the island where the World Martial Arts Tournament usually occurs.

"Wait, isn't it time for the tournament to be held again? It happens every five years." Tao's eyes widened, and a smirk slowly made its way onto his face. "Found you, little rat."

Tao felt calm once again as his despair was washed away. 

 

Now that he had found his target, that could lead him to the Dragon Balls that weren't appearing on the radar any longer. Well… who was he kidding? He didn't care about the Dragon Balls any longer. Tao was on a hunt. Once again, that excitement when he started working as an assassin bubbled in his stomach.

 

As they say: If you genuinely love your job, then it won't ever feel like work. 

 

"Computer, order a plane ticket for the World Tournament Island."

Tao continued observing the video of Yamcha catching the bullets mid-air and dodging them. Also, shooting a finger beam so precisely, it looked almost like Dondon Ray but didn't seem to have the heat or piercing power of the technique. 

 

Though he hated to admit it, Tao could see that the kid was good. But even with that hanging over his head, Tao had a confident smile. After so much work, he had finally found his prey. 

…

Two days later, Tao was in the World Tournament Grounds. Not many people had arrived, but he still waited at the airport. Tao had already registered for the Tenkaichi Budokai, also known as the World Martial Arts Tournament. 

 

While waiting for Yamcha to arrive, Tao saw something surprising. Roshi was there with two of his students. One of them even fits the description of Goku. But this Goku kid had a tail, and this one didn't.

 

Still, now he knew Roshi was here, so he had to be careful. 

 

Yet as Tao waited more, there was no appearance of Yamcha. So with a wince on his face, he realized Yamcha must have come here through private means, like a private jet or something. 

 

He stalked back to the building where the Tenkaichi Budokai would take place. There were the applicants' boxes, and Tao's heart started beating crazily in excitement. He finally saw him, his prey. 

 

Yamcha hadn't changed since his appearance in the news. But he now had a floating cat-like creature just above his shoulder.

 

"Puar, can you see Bulma anywhere?" Yamcha asked, looking around and narrowing his eyes to get a better look.

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He had his guard down, and Tao decided to act now. He put on a facemask and crouched down to look like an older man. Tao made sure to quench his body as he went to bump into Yamcha to test just how strong physically the kid was. 

 

Finally, once within arm's reach, Tao crashed into him. The first thought that came to mind was that the young man smelled like salt. 

 

But not long after, pain burst in Tao’s shoulder as he felt like it almost broke from a simple bump. 

 

The assassin winced. Even if Tao had bumped against metal, the metal would bend. But when his body bumped against Yamcha, he almost felt his shoulder break. His eyes widened in shock as he fell on his back. 'What monstrous physical power.' 

 

"Oh, sorry, old man," Yamcha smiled and offered Tao a hand to help him get up. "I wasn't looking. You're not hurt anywhere, are you?"

"N -No worries, I am okay. There's no need to apologize. It happens to the best of us," Tao spoke softly. 

 

Immediately he knew the chances of him defeating Yamcha were low. Maybe he would be able to hurt him with the Dondon Ray, but that was only a last resort. 

 

'This Bulma that he was looking for right now. It's the same girl as before when he was traveling with her. His chances of knowing a girl with the same name and looking for her are close to none. Also, from how nice he acted, he’s one of those kind fools like Roshi. No matter how strong, those kinds of people are always weak.'

Tao immediately came up with a plan. He would register in the tournament and end Yamcha there. 

In front of the eyes of everyone, he will kill his mightiest prey to date! His strongest victim deserved the best funeral! He couldn't let Yamcha just die in a ditch.

The plan was simple. Since Tao wasn't confident of defeating Yamcha in a straight fight, he was an assassin, so a fair fight or not, it didn't matter to him. So he would kidnap the girl named Bulma and threaten Yamcha with her life. 

 

After Yamcha was a safe distance away, where he couldn't see him, Tao took off his disguise and started charging through the airport and looking for Bulma. 

But when he found them, Tao almost cursed out loud if it wasn't for fear of Yamcha finding him out. The greenish-blue-haired girl was now hugging Yamcha. Behind the girl were another blonde-haired woman, a talking pig, and a humanoid rabbit.

 

The group greeted each other shortly. Yamcha and the cat introduced themselves, mainly to the blonde-haired girl. She seemed new to the group. Maybe she was another weak point.

 

Tao couldn't hear them that well from so far away. But he didn't need to listen to what they were speaking. Instead, he kept an eye on them, just waiting for Bulma to separate.

 

'If Yamcha wants to join the tournament, he must register and leave the group behind to find good seats for the tournament. That will be the best chance.'

 

He approached the group just as it should be time for them to register.

"Have you registered yet?" Asked the blonde woman. 

 

"Not yet," Yamcha answered. By the tone of their voices, Tao could tell they had just met each other, and there was some awkwardness between them. 

 

"Well, you should go and do so before they close up. While you do that, we find some seats in the front row." The blonde woman suggested. 

 

‘Yes! Everything is going to plan.’ Even from so far away, Tao could tell the blonde-haired woman wanted to speak with Bulma about something while Yamcha was away. This all worked well for Tao and was a fantastic coincidence.

 

"I think we should stay together," Yamcha suddenly suggested. "After all, I haven't seen Bulma in a while, and I have missed her dearly."

 

The girl in question froze in place, Bulma's eyes were clearly star-struck, and she likely liked Yamcha. While that boded well for Tao as she would be a valuable hostage against him, at the same time, he was suspicious if Yamcha had noticed him.

 

Did Yamcha know about this, or was it indeed just a coincidence? Tao wondered.

 

No, that was impossible! Tao was confident in his body language reading abilities. 

 

As an assassin, Tao knew everything there was to know about the human mind. He could even hit a brain pressure point with his tongue if he wanted to. 

 

This was nothing! How Yamcha had offered to help him wasn't something anyone would do if they knew Tao's real identity. He was the most dangerous assassin in the world. Everyone was afraid of him! Even if the young man wasn’t at that point, he would have shown some kind of reaction if he saw through his disguise, Tao reasoned, 

*******

A/N: Did Yamcha notice Tao? Find out in the next chapter of Dragon- *cough* Yamcha RPG.

 

P.S: Next chapter will be in Yamcha's POV. So we will get those answers. 

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