Chapter 7

"I can't believe it, this is actually Korin's tower!" Kaz was excited beyond belief as he approached the tower. Mentally he was only sixteen after all, and what teenager wouldn't get excited over getting to live in their fantasy like this?

"Now I just need to figure out what year I was reborn here. I really hope it's at least during the events of OG dragon ball, because no matter what powers I have, I know I won't be prepared for anything after Piccolo, at least not yet." Before coming to this world, Kaz had talked to himself, but it wasn't nearly as frequent as he does it now, as he didn't want his parents to know and think he was weird. However, after spending a year alone he didn't care anymore and had developed the habit of speaking his thoughts aloud and rarely kept quiet. This came back to bite him in the ass when he actually found people.

"Who goes there!" Kaz heard as a spear shot past his face and hit a tree right next to him. "Explain yourself now, what is your purpose here?"

Kaz was stiff with some sort of anxiety as he watched a massive man walk toward him from the bottom of the tower. The man was incredibly buff, he had light brown skin, red paint on his face, and was wearing nothing but his pants, a necklace, and armbands.

'Shit, I forgot about him! He is supposed to be the guardian of Korin's sacred land right? Damn it, what was his name?' Kaz was a little panicked upon seeing the man as he had forgotten about the guardians that lived at the bottom of Korin's Tower.

'It's fine, I'm a kid right now, so he won't kill me, right? I just need to stay calm and act cool, so long as I do that I should be fine. Wait, I should be strong enough to defeat him right now, at least I think I should be. So I don't need to lower myself, I just need to act normal and tell him why I'm here.' Kaz thought. He then did his best to straighten his posture and puff out his chest, which, while it was more muscular than an eleven-year-olds should be, it was still not nearly enough to scare Bora.

"Answer me kid!" Bora demanded.

"I-I'm Ka-, I mean, my name is Kaz sir!" Kaz stuttered out. 'Why am stuttering? Why am I so nervous right now?'

"Kaz? Okay then, why are you here? This is the sacred land of Korin and it is my duty as guardian to protect it, if you do not give your reason for being here you will have to leave!" Bora said, though he lowered his other spear, relaxing a little.

"I am here t-to climb the tower! I heard that there was a great m-master at the top that could teach me martial arts!" Kaz said in a quiet voice, not looking Bora in the eyes but instead looking at the ground.

'Oh shit! Stop talking! God damn it! Why am I so nervous?!' Kaz though, bewildered by his behavior. What he failed to realize was that he hadn't spoken to anyone outside of his family since he was six, and his social skills reflected that. Transmigrating didn't change his personality, so he still has the same shitty social skills, and, just as before, he still gets incredibly nervous whenever he has to talk to people.

"A great master? I see you wish to learn martial arts from our god. I can allow you to pass, but first, you need to tell me who you are and why you want to go, I can't allow someone with evil intentions to even attempt to climb the tower." Bora was still suspicious, especially after seeing how nervous Kaz seemed to be.

"I-I don't know who I am sir! I hit my head on a rock about a year ago and don't r-remember anything from before that other than my name." Kaz had prepared this excuse months ago and thought that it was perfect, but after actually saying it to someone he suddenly started to second guess that thought.

"That's quite the story kid! But if that is the case then how do you know your name, and where did you learn about this tower?" Bora asked, obviously not buying it.

'Shit, why did I think this was a good enough excuse? I should have put more thought into it! God damn it I am an idiot! Okay, calm down. I might still be able to salvage this situation, I just need to think of something quick!'

"I... um, I don't know if you'll believe me if I tell you." Kaz mumbled as he thought of something, and carelessly went with it.

"Go ahead, I doubt it's that hard to believe." Bora had seen a lot of bizarre things in his time, so very little would actually be surprising to him.

"I... I can see the future!" Kaz spat out without thinking. 'Shit, why did I say that?! Fuck! I should have put more thought into this, there is no way he is gonna believe me after I've said something like that. There were a million better excuses and I went with that one! What is wrong with me?'

"Ah, so you are one of those types. Fine then, I'll let you pass, but you still need to tell me why you want to get stronger." Kaz was stunned and didn't know what to say. Bora was a very experienced warrior and had seen many things during his life, and seeing the future wasn't all that rare, at least not in this world.

'Shit, okay, now I need another excuse! I guess a great threat reappearing is good enough right?' Kaz hurriedly thought about it for a second, before looking around. To his delight, he spotted a small child far away, hidden behind a tree watching them with curiosity. 'Upa! so this is during the time of Dragonball! Great! But, he seems a little younger, than he was in canon. Maybe about one or two years old. How is he walking at that age? Whatever, this is great, it means that King Piccolo hasn't attacked yet!'

"I saw a powerful being in one of my visions. He is going to take over the world and I have to get strong enough to stop him!" For the first time, Kaz had a little more confidence and managed to speak while looking into Bora's eyes. And Bora, being the experienced veteran that he was, saw the honesty in his eyes. Even if Kaz was lying about why he wanted to get stronger, he wasn't lying about the threat or about wanting to stop it.

He may know that King Piccolo should be killed by Goku in the future, however, he didn't know if this was canon world or not, and he didn't know if Goku still had his plot armor, so he couldn't trust that King Piccolo would be defeated, or any other enemy for that matter. So, even though he knew he might die doing it, the second he fought the dinosaur and confirmed that this was earth, Kaz had already made up his mind that he would get strong enough to defeat any enemy if Goku couldn't.

"Very well, you seem to be telling the truth, so I will allow you to pass freely. However, are you confident that you are going to be strong enough to reach to top? I had attempted it when I was young, and many have tried after that, and yet not a single person has ever made it to the top, save for a legend from about three hundred years ago." Bora put away his spear and started to lead Kaz to his tipi.

'Well, that was easy! Really easy! Too easy! Do I have plot armor? Where did I get it? Shit! Did I take Goku's plot armor? I hope not, because if I did then he likely won't survive his adventure, at least not the same way he did in canon. Whatever, stop thinking about it Kaz, plot armor isn't real.'

"I don't know, but I am going to try anyway, if I'm not strong enough, I can just train down here until I am, then I can try again. We should have a few years before the threat appears, so I just need to get strong enough by then." By this point, Kaz was more talking to himself than Bora, even though Bora asked him the question, so most of his nervousness disappeared, at least for now.

"I see, that is a reasonable strategy. Oh, My name is Bora by the way." Bora said as he walked over to a tree and grabbed younger Upa. "And this is my son Upa, say hello Upa"

"Hello," Upa said clearly as if he wasn't a baby still. 'The hell? He can talk already? How? Actually, never mind, he was able to talk, run, and throw an ax with more strength than a full-grown man when he was four, so I guess it makes sense that he can talk.'

"Hello, Upa, nice to meet you," Kaz said with the nicest tone he could muster, however, the nervousness was returning. 'Shit, am I actually getting nervous talking to a baby right now? Seriously? No, this is because Bora is still right there. Definitely.'

"Before you start climbing, I suggest you rest a little. If you do make it to the top, you can learn martial arts if God decides to teach you, however, you should instead try to obtain the sacred water. Drinking it will be much better than getting stronger through training because it multiplies your power by many folds." Bora advised as he sat down and started carving something out of wood with a knife.

"Sacred water? I didn't know something like that could exist, I guess my ability to see the future isn't as powerful as I thought." Kaz said as he walked up to the tower, looking directly up, completely dumbfounded by its height. Of course, Kaz knew about the "Sacred water" but he also knew that it was just bullshit, however, he had to play the part so he pretended to be ignorant.

"Hey Bora, will you fight me?" Kaz asked bluntly as his excitement to test his power against an opponent who should have a power level of about 100 overwhelmed his nervousness. If he could defeat Bora, then he knew for certain that he could make the climb in a few days, just like Goku, who had a power level of about 125 at the time. However, if he couldn't then he would have to train before he tried.

Kaz had a mild fear of heights, and unlike Goku, would never attempt to sleep while climbing the tower. Even with his healing Ki, he still had to sleep at least once every few days, or he used the Wim Hof Method he could stay awake for a full week. If he were to climb the tower for that entire week, he could get pretty far, however, that was only if he was near Goku's strength, if he was weaker than Bora though, then it would take much longer. So If he lost right now, then he would stay at the bottom for a little while to train before attempting to climb.

"Why do you want to fight me?" Bora was curious but didn't get mad.

"You said that you attempted it when you were young and still failed, and now you are stronger than you were in your youth, so if I can defeat you now, then that means that I definitely have a higher chance of reaching the top on my first try." Kaz explained as he started stretching.

"Ah, very well, I will fight you then." Bora agreed with little resistance as, while he didn't really enjoy fighting, he needed something to fight against to help him keep his skills sharp. He was the guardian of Korin's tower, so he had to be able to defeat any invaders, but he couldn't do that if the only things around to fight were animals that were relatively weak. Fighting an actual person would be a nice change of pace for him.

"However, I will not be using my spear, which is the weapon I am best with, in fear of killing you, so I won't be able to use my full strength. Is that okay with you?" Bora asked as he stood up and walked over to a clearing a little ways away from his tipi and the tower, with Kaz following him.

"Of course that's fine with me, I just need to know if I'm faster than you or not, the spear only increases power and range, which I'm not concerned with, so you should still be able to move at full speed." Kaz said as they both got into a fighting stance.

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