The 23rd World Tournament

"Why are you eating so much?" Sora asked calmly while throwing Shiro a sideways look, Shiro happily took a bite out of the food, her eyes almost watering.

"It has been 3 years... 3 long years until I eat such good unhealthy food," Shiro said as a drop of tear fell from her eyes, hitting the ground. Sora speechlessly looked at her, Shiro ignored him and took a burger out of the huge bag she was carrying and took another bite.

"Eating such food brings upon impunity within the body. I will have to throw you in lava to remove them." Sora said calmly making Shiro freeze slightly. Shiro looked at the burger for a moment and back at her food, before looking at Sora.

Memories of the torture she went through that day flashed through her mind, and after some thought she took a deep breath as a determined look appeared in her eyes.

"If I don't experience the hellish torture of this world how can I reach the peak? And what expert would I be if I fear such things?" Shiro said righteously, making Sora's speech. Shiro ignored Sora and returned to enjoying her food,

for some time, she had to hunt her food, but once her cultivation reached a point where her need for food lessened to a huge degree, she began eating less and only when she needed to. so eating such food after a long time brought great pleasure to her.

"Oh Hey, Bulma," Shiro called out seeing Bulma and her friends up ahead, today was the day of the tournament, so they were waiting for the Preliminary Peril to end, so they were currently sitting around waiting. Bulma and her friends were just about to take a seat, but Shiro caught them.

"Shiro..." Bulma smiled and froze seeing Shiro eating her food like some hungry caveman. To see someone so beautiful eating in such a way was eye-catching, as for Sora, she had erased memories of seeing him yesterday. accepting it was too hard for her, so she simply forgot such nightmarish news.

".... Sora!!" Bulma's eyes almost popped out upon seeing Sora, what happened to her dream boyfriend, she traveled far and long to wish upon the dragon ball to win his heart. but what happened to him? why was so so... average, how does a 90/10 suddenly drop down to 5/10,

"Something wrong?" Sora asked with a raised slight, what was with such an overreaction, did she not see him just 10 or so hours ago? Bulma's mind almost broke down, how could the thing she thought was perfect suddenly become average?

Everyone also looked at Bulma what was with that reaction? they sat down at the table with Bulma not saying anything, lost in her shock. for a moment the air was awkward, until forcing Sora to try and break the ice. in all honestly, he could understand what Bulma was going through. He was slightly shocked she didn't drop dead out of shock. the disappointment could even lead to Bulma growing sick.

Already, Bulma's mind tried to forget the reality she saw with her own eyes, but how long could her mind keep doing that? it would soon try to escape from reality,

"So, how do you guys know Bulma?" Sora asked lazily, making the group look at each other for a moment before telling their story. Bulma had set off with Goku years back, and along their journey, they ran into them along with many others, so they naturally became friends,

"What was the journey about?" Shiro asked in confusion, making Master Roshi start acting weird, could he talk about the dragon balls to these two or hide the secret?

"Bulma wanted to find the wishing orb to make someone fall in love with her," Oolong said lazily making Shiro and Sora's eyebrows raise.

"of course, it's only a myth," Master Roshi said with an awkward laugh, Oolong also realized he was over-spoken and covered his mouth, but Sora quickly saw through his act.

"myths are nothing to be ignored, sometimes they hold important life lessons, or give a person the to go out and explore the world. She went out there into the unknown to turn her dream into a reality, which turns out to be more than worth it as she came out of it with new friends." Sora said with a smile, stunning them slightly. Bulma who hadn't looked at Sora after the shock slowly looked at Sora, for some reason she felt like Sora's words were aimed at her.

"For someone so young, you give me the feeling of someone who lived for many years." Master Roshi said with a smile, to which Sora shrugged slightly.

"At the age of 2, I ran away from my orphanage and began my martial arts training out in the mountains. Along the way, I read many books and took high importance to learn from those before me, and try and understand their mindset while teaching such things." Sora said calmly, he wasn't lying he indeed did this.

He was not sure that this world's common sense was the same as his world, so he spent many times going through the many books in libraries, and also watch the news from time to time to get a good idea of what this world was like.

"... that's kind of impressive," Oolong said softly, starting from nothing and reaching such a state within 20 years, self-taught at that.

"Something wrong?" Sora asked seeing Shiro's mode suddenly drop, Shiro shook his head slightly with a smile. but seeing this, Bulma felt slightly weird seeing the look in Sora's eyes. looking back, every time Sora looked at her, he was looking at her but had never seen her. it was like she was a side character in Sora's life, there but ignored and forgotten the next moment.

But when Sora looked at Shiro... it was completely friend, it was clear Shiro held a deeper spot in Sora's eyes compared to others. But did she care? her thoughts were in chaos with her current state of mind, was she envies? but Sora was just so... ugly. well not ugly, but the huge differences in looks pretty much made Sora look uglier than ugly. But why did she care so much, she didn't know why. and she wanted to know why,

The group went on to talk for some time, and slowly Bulma got to know Sora's character. He was wise, yet he was prideful not putting anyone in his eyes. Master Roshi and the others, were like side characters in Sora's eyes. Even so, one would only be able to notice this if one look closely into Sora's eyes.

Sora spoke humblingly at times, but she realized it was out of pride. he disdained even trying and show off to them, so he kept to himself. Shiro and Sora had a unique relationship, but she did think they were lovers, at least she didn't get that feeling from them.

Well, after talking for some time it was time to go see the tournament, so they all reached forward to try and get to the front. yet to everyone disappointed, it was pretty much impossible to reach the front. yet they saw something, everyone seemed to move out of Sora's way, making a path for him to reach the front. they followed behind Sora, quickly reaching the front.

"... what was that?" Puar the floating cat asked in confusion while looking at Sora in confusion, how could people just make a path for him without even knowing?

"those with will can't stand around me... the fact you guys could show you're not normal," Sora said calmly, stunning the group for a moment. the group faced many dangers and learned to face their fears at times. some of them were weak, but they were stronger-willed than most people here although they came off as cowardly at times.

'That mot be lonely.' Bulma thought seeing how little care Sora put into the matter, she could why Sora normally has a cold air about him. being so powerful, little people must be able to approach him.

"..." Sora looked over and saw Bulma just looking at him with a confused look, but seeing Sora looking at her, she looked away and looked at the stage. seeing this, Shiro's eyes brightened slightly she threw signals at Sora to do something, to which Sora ignored and looked at the stage.

so the battle began, compared to his improvement in the past 3 years, Goku and his friend's improvement was small. Goku was strong, 3 years ago he had a power level of 270, but now he had a power level of 380, which was nothing to look down upon. that was a good improvement in strength, but 3 years for such improvement was not worth wild.

'the training in this world is all based around pushing one body to its limit, and breaking said limits... this strengthens the body, increases speed and endurance, along with strengthening KI. but this doesn't strengthen durability, they are still normal humans at the end of the day, although Goku isn't human, if caught off guard he could be injured or killed by normal things like a rock.' Sora thought calmly while watching the battles

'Meanwhile, I could sit back and let them attack me for years and they couldn't injure me.' Sora thought lazily. the matches were exciting to the grown, Goku got engaged to someone called Chi Chi, a Cyborg Assassin popped up, One of Goku's friends got defeated by a seemly normal man, and many more.

In the end, Goku and King Piccolo's reincarnation, from that egg he coughed out, were in the finals, fighting for first place. The battle was quite interesting as Goku was forced to his limits, their battle ended up in the destruction of a few mountains far away, and the impact of such power was huge scaring those who were watching, but they returned to cheering for the match.

In the end, Goku and Piccolo had an energy beam struggle which ended in Goku winning but not defeated. this removed the headpiece covering Piccolo's head, making everyone fly into a panic.

"so the thing which grant wishes is a dragon?" Sora asked calmly, which made Bulma and the others node without thinking. they were swallowed in fear, as Goku might not win this. but after a moment, they froze and looked toward Sora, who was not showing any care about the matter.

"... wait, you're strong right? can't you just defeat him?" Bulma asked in hope, to which Sora shook his head.

"This is his battle... I'm more curious about this wish-granting dragon." Sora said softly, making Shiro roll her eyes slightly. She had come to understand Sora liked dragons, so the thought of seeing one must be a big deal for Sora.

"wait, if I defeat Goku and Piccolo, am I able to pass?" Shiro asked softly, to which Sora rolled his eyes slightly.

"of course not, you already failed. Are you still weak," Sora said calmly, making Shiro pout, she had a power level of 350, and adding her skills she was sure she could fight the two of them at the same time, although it would be hard it would be a good and even battle with no clear winner.

"B-but it wasn't even my fault we were late, you... I should be stronger than Goku at least." Shiro pouted slightly, but she didn't dare to complain anymore. Sora always made her training harder with everything she complained about anything. Bulma and the others were at a loss forward, they were here worrying about this but these two didn't even put the battle in their eyes.

but they didn't push Sora to try and help Goku, knowing Goku indeed wouldn't want help. so the match continued, slowly and with great difficulty Goku turned things in his favor, but soon Piccolo pulled off a technique that made everyone fearful, forcing everyone to hide behind Sora as the chaotic energy was not affecting Sora or the area around him the slightest,

soon Piccolo's technique was unleashed, and everyone covered their eyes from the blinding light from the blast. but once the light disappeared, everyone looked around and froze. everything for miles was destroyed, the scene from seconds ago was as different as black and white.

Goku who took the bast head-on was able to withstand it, making everyone sigh in relief before he went on to lunch at his counter-attack, leading to Piccolo Jr. being knocked out, seeing this everyone was happy.

as the referee moved to count to 10, Piccolo Jr. suddenly moved, shooting a beam from his mouth which hit Goku in the shoulder, creating a hole within. everyone froze in horror as Goku's screams in pain filled the air, as Piccolo stood up, everyone turned towards Sora once more Goku couldn't go on.

"You all look down upon Goku, he would win," Sora said with a shrug, making them watch on with unease look as Piccolo went on to step on Goku injures, enjoying the moment to the fullest. unable to watch, Goku's friends rushed forward to help, but they were forced back by an energy beam by Piccolo,

but this gave Goku the chance to stand up once more, even with his injuries Goku still had a smile, enjoying the battle. with a hole in his chest and unable to fight at his fullest, Piccolo fought Piccolo who was low on energy.

the battle went on, and Goku was at the closing end, Piccolo broke Goku's arm and crippled his other hand. As Piccolo moved to make the final move, Kami asked Goku's friends to kill him. since his life was linked with Piccolo's life, if he is destroyed, Piccolo would follow.

But Goku stopped them, giving Piccolo the chance to lunch his attack. once more, everyone jumped behind Sora as the shock wave from the blast spread out, causing dust and spread all over the place, making this place look like a desert.

Piccolo laughed in pleasure as Goku's body was no more, making everyone fall into depression upon seeing this. but some of them couldn't help but blame Sora, if Sora made a move then Goku would be dead.

But from the sky, Goku came flying, slamming headfirst into Piccolo, knocking Piccolo out. at the same time, this knocked Piccolo out of the arena, leading Goku to win the tournament. Seeing this, Goku's friends cheered while they rushed up to Goku who was on the edge of fainting, lucky, they gave Goku magical means which instantly restored him to full health.

Goku after enjoying his victory threw his attention towards Sora, his eyes burning with the hunger for battle. but in the end, he shook his head.

"I'm not your match, but one day I will come and challenge you," Goku said to which Sora nodded slightly,

"I shall be waiting for that moment, don't keep me waiting too long," Sora said with a smile to which Goku nodded slightly. Sora turned to leave, but before they could leave Shiro was invited by Bulma to hang out, to which Shiro instantly agree, So, Shiro and Bulma's friendship began.

But thanks to this relationship starting, began to help Bulma heal from her trauma after seeing Sora's average looks. a few weeks later, Bulma began developing feelings for Sora, but this time based around his character. Something about a prideful man just interested her...