When Taro returned, he brought with him a sturdy-looking young boy, surprising the gathered family.
"Dad, this is...?" Tam voiced the question on everyone's mind.
"This child... from now on, he will be my disciple and live with your mother and on the island," Taro said with a smile.
Beside him, the short-statured Son Gohan appeared sowhat uneasy. His arms and legs were tense as he bowed deeply, flustered by the presence of so many people at the dinner table. Unsure of how to address them, he stamred, "H-Hello! My na is Son Gohan, I'm nine years and nine months old... Nice to et you all!"
"Heh." Ninn, who was already quite grown, was the first to chuckle, which caused her oil-covered son beside her to giggle as well. Lavinia shot her daughter a glance across the table, prompting Ninn to clear her throat and stifle her laughter.
Son Gohan blushed furiously and lowered his head. As his eyes fell upon his intact right leg, a deep sense of excitent surged from within him.
A large hand patted him on the back. Son Gohan looked up to see his newly acknowledged master—who, even now, he still couldn't believe had actually taken him in as a disciple. Master Taro... the Martial Sage himself!
"Go on, eat sothing," Taro said warmly.
"Mm!" Son Gohan nodded vigorously.
Taro stood by the door, watching as Son Gohan approached the dining table. Ninn's husband pulled out a chair for him, and Son Gohan softly murmured his thanks. Their eyes t briefly, and Hathaway understood his intent. She excused herself from the table and stepped outside.
"What made you suddenly decide to take on a disciple?" Hathaway asked as she and Taro walked together, a smile playing on her lips.
Taro shook his head, reflecting on the mont, and murmured, "I didn't expect it myself..."
---
As ntioned before, Taro preferred peace over excitent. He enjoyed solitude and disliked noise.
Thus, when it ca to taking on disciples, his enthusiasm had long since faded. If this had been right after his transmigration, he might have eagerly accepted Son Gohan as a disciple the mont he discovered him.
But not now. Now, he was only interested in the future Son Goku. As for others... even Krillin hadn't been enough to motivate him to take on a student, let alone searching for one among the masses.
Taro stood amidst the crowd in front of the Martial Arts Association, his presence cloaked by a subtle ntal suggestion spell. As a result, passersby subconsciously ignored him, and even if they did catch a glimpse, they would rely feel that he looked sowhat familiar.
His face was now famous worldwide. If he wanted so peace, this kind of asure was necessary.
Watching the frail young boy leaning on his crutch, Taro sensed sothing familiar about him... A complex feeling, not in his own emotions, but in that very sense of familiarity itself.
It was as though he was seeing an echo of soone... or perhaps multiple people from his past.
For the first ti in ages, Taro reached out with his spirit to contact an old friend in the Northern Kai's realm of the Otherworld.
"Northern Kai, I have sothing I want to ask you."
The pudgy Northern Kai was, as usual, dozing off in his lounge chair. Startled by Taro's sudden telepathic ssage, he nearly tumbled off his seat, his bubble of sleep bursting with a pop.
Adjusting his tiny round sunglasses, he yawned. "Oh, Taro! It's been ages since you last contacted . What's up?"
"Heh, are you scolding , Lord Kai? Let's not dwell on that. I wanted to ask you sothing..." Taro hesitated briefly before continuing. "What happened to Long Bam?"
The Northern Kai replied, "He reincarnated years ago. Didn't I tell you? Oh... maybe I didn't."
Back on Earth, behind the boy with the crutch, Taro stood unnoticed. Hands clasped behind his back, he gazed up at the vast blue sky, watching the drifting white clouds as if they were pure and untainted souls.
"Do those who have reincarnated... reincarnate again?"
"You asked that decades ago, rember? Before a soul is reborn, it's completely cleansed in the soul pool, leaving only pure spiritual energy. Technically speaking, they all beco indistinguishable from one another. So your question doesn't really hold much aning..."
A reincarnated soul... is truly a completely new person, then...
Before him, the young boy lowered his head and sighed. As he turned, he suddenly found himself face to face with Taro.
Taro looked at him and asked, "Child, what is your na?"
Son Gohan felt that this man looked familiar, but he couldn't quite recall who he was. Leaning on his crutch, he honestly replied, "My na is Son Gohan, sir. Do you need sothing?"
The mont he heard the na "Son Gohan," Taro slightly narrowed his eyes.
Fate truly worked in mysterious ways.
He never would have expected that, on this version of Earth, at this mont in ti, he would run into Son Gohan in the vast sea of people. This was the very person who, according to the original course of events, would take in Son Goku when he arrived from Planet Vegeta sixty or seventy years later... Should he take this boy as his disciple?
If he were just any ordinary Son Gohan, Taro might not have considered it. But since he had sensed that familiar feeling from the boy—whether real or illusory—he figured that, given this connection, he might as well go through with it.
"You have remarkable potential..." Taro started to say but then shook his head. Under Son Gohan's slightly bewildered gaze, he flipped his palm over, revealing a Senzu Bean and handing it to him. "Eat this. Then I'll train you."
"Train in martial arts? But, sir, I..." Son Gohan certainly wanted to train, but no martial arts school would accept him anymore. How could a cripple with a missing leg possibly practice martial arts? He was about to refuse when he suddenly froze, staring at Taro's face in shock. A brilliant, blazing thought surfaced in his mind.
"Master—" He was just about to call out.
"Eat it," Taro interrupted, his open palm still holding the Senzu Bean.
At that, Son Gohan hesitated no longer. If Master Taro gave it to him, he would eat it—even if it was poison. So, still leaning on his crutch, he grabbed the bean and tossed it into his mouth.
---
"I suppose it's just fate," Taro said with a smile, taking Hathaway's hand. "Just like how I t you."
Hathaway gave him a playful glare. "You're shaless. You didn't et —I traveled across great distances to find you, didn't I?"
"It's the sa thing."
"...Hmm, I suppose it is."
After that, the two of them discussed the arrangents for Son Gohan moving to the island and then returned to the private room.
Being an orphan, Son Gohan received so social welfare and had a small inheritance from his parents, but living alone had still been quite difficult. Given Tam's status, even if he wasn't extravagant, a banquet like this could never be considered modest. By the ti Taro and Hathaway returned, Son Gohan was so busy eating that he could barely keep up.
Noticing his master watching him in this state, Son Gohan couldn't help but feel embarrassed.
"Just keep eating," Taro waved him off, thinking to himself, 'Eat more. You'll need the energy when I have you looking after a kid in the future.'
And so, Son Gohan obediently continued eating, completely unaware that one day his master would leave him to take care of one of the most mischievous little brats the world had ever seen.
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