After leaving the Hyperbolic Ti Chamber, Hathaway took a few steps, glanced at the flas covering her body, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The fire gradually receded, vanishing into her body.
She was an exceptionally clever woman. Although she never cared to train in martial arts alongside her husband, ever since she had linked her life to Taro's, she'd picked up a few tricks for manipulating ki. So the bit of ki Taro had infused into her—Hathaway could just barely manage to control it.
She retraced her steps as if taking a leisurely stroll through her own garden. Exiting through the palace gate on the Temple Square, she left both Kami Piccolo and Mr. Popo visibly stunned. Mr. Popo asked, "Taro's wife, did you morize the entire path?"
"Of course, didn't I walk it once already?" Hathaway answered playfully, then chuckled. Reaching into her coat's inner pocket, she pulled one capsule from a neat row of Hoi-Poi Capsules and said to Kami, "Kami-sama, would you mind lowering the barrier?"
As she spoke, she casually tossed the capsule to the ground. BOOM—a cloud of smoke puffed out, and when it cleared, a sleek, human-sized personal aircraft emblazoned with the Capsule Corporation logo stood where it had landed.
Kami Piccolo looked down at the aircraft, seemingly deep in thought. After a mont of silence, he nodded, and with a heavy tap of his wooden staff against the plaza's stone floor, a mysterious power rippled outward. Hathaway, just a re mortal, of course felt nothing unusual.
The air was thin, but not dramatically different from before. So the barrier has multiple layers? she thought. Nodding to both Kami Piccolo and Mr. Popo, she leapt into the aircraft's open hatch with ease, leaving them stunned once again.
Whoosh! Hathaway piloted the aircraft, rising, banking, and soaring off toward the world below.
"Kami-sama, her movents..."
"Hm. I wasn't paying close attention earlier... but her ki—it's carrying an enormous presence... Taro's ki," Piccolo murmured. While it was just a small portion of energy for Taro, to soone like Kami Piccolo, it already felt trendously powerful.
After thinking it over, Piccolo quickly understood the reason for Hathaway's change. The Ti Chamber's environnt was extrely harsh, especially its gravity, which was nothing like Earth's. Without protection, Hathaway likely wouldn't have survived.
More than half a day later, Hathaway's aircraft returned from the lower realm.
With Kami Piccolo and Mr. Popo watching, she jumped down, pressed a switch on the aircraft's side, and BOOM—the aircraft was sucked back into its capsule. She pulled out another capsule—this ti a kitchen capsule she had purchased on her trip—pressed the switch, and tossed it onto the empty plaza. BOOM—a compact kitchen materialized on the spot. Opening the door, she revealed a stash of fresh ingredients inside, all carefully prepared.
Rolling up her sleeves, she glanced back with a smile. "Bringing in one proper al per 'month'—you don't mind, do you?"
Mr. Popo said, "There's food inside already."
Hathaway raised an eyebrow. "You an that pile of flour and water?"
Mr. Popo's expression didn't change. He stated matter-of-factly, "Is it not enough? For Taro, whether it's flour and water or the delicacies of the mortal realm—what difference does it make?"
Though Kami Piccolo remained silent, Hathaway could tell he agreed.
"You're all so infuriating... I know, I know, Taro probably thinks the sa." Hathaway sighed, lifting her pale, jade-like arms with a helpless smile. "But just because he's willing to endure hardship doesn't an I'll let him. If he can eat well, why shouldn't he? If it doesn't matter whether the food is good or bad, then we might as well go with my version!"
Kami Piccolo and Mr. Popo fell silent. But thinking it over, they had to admit—if he could eat both the rich and the plain alike, why obsess over restrictions? Looking at the spirited Hathaway, Kami Piccolo eventually said, "...As you wish."
"Of course—it's always as I wish!" Hathaway chuckled, her eyes full of tenderness as she stepped into the capsule kitchen.
---
And so, Taro's training continued in the Hyperbolic Ti Chamber atop Earth's Temple.
Once every "month", Hathaway would arrive with a whole cart of delicious dishes, allowing Taro to feast. She was extrely intelligent and had precisely tid the difference between inside and outside. The error never exceeded an hour inside the Ti Chamber. Hathaway also knew that when Taro focused on training, his appetite drastically decreased, so her timing was impeccable—once a month, no more, no less.
Sitting together, they would eat the hearty steaks she had lovingly prepared. Yet most of Taro's mind was still imrsed in the mysteries of his eyes. Hathaway noticed his distracted deanor, but only smiled gently—she didn't mind.
About two hours in the outside world equaled a month within the chamber. Every three visits, Taro would replenish Hathaway's ki. Otherwise, her delicate human body wouldn't withstand the chamber's intense gravity.
One day, after their al, Hathaway began tidying up the dishes and preparing to leave with her food cart.
"I'll co with you," Taro said, the brightness in his divine jade-like eyes flickering. He stood up and walked beside her.
Hathaway blinked, confused. "Didn't you say you'd stay in for the full two days? It's only been a little over one."
She ntally calculated. Two hours per round trip—this was the fifteenth al she'd prepared, aning Taro had been inside the Ti Chamber for fifteen months.
Taro gently patted her hair and smiled. "If I don't leave soon, my little kitten might drop dead from exhaustion... You haven't had a proper sleep today, have you?"
Of course, he could also calculate that one month in here equaled about two hours outside. Since she'd never missed a al delivery, it ant she hadn't slept for more than two hours straight the entire ti.
And if she'd spent ti preparing the als, her actual rest might not have even been a full hour.
"Did I disturb you?" Hathaway asked with a pitiful look.
"How could there be any talk of disturbance between us?" Taro smiled, draping one arm around her shoulder. With his palm facing forward, a soft stream of ki pushed the little food cart along. Hathaway let go, walking side by side with him.
As the doors to the Hyperbolic Ti Chamber opened, Taro held Hathaway close and stepped out.
In that mont of transition, ti itself seed to stretch endlessly. Taro's perception sharpened to its peak, his mind fully imrsed in the delicate shifts between inner and outer dinsions. He was falling, endlessly falling, as though into a bottomless abyss—yet also rising, ascending into infinite void.
BOOM!
Abyss. Void.
A pair of colossal Nine Tomoe Rinnegan eyes... suddenly snapped open!
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