Dragon Ball Roshi-Chapter 165 - : The Rotation of Stars (2)

For the past eleven or twelve years, Krillin had lived in regret and self-blame.

Back then, the resurrected Demon King Piccolo sent his demon minions to infiltrate the World Martial Arts Tournament's venue, attempting to steal the Four-Star Dragon Ball from his fellow disciple Son Goku's belongings. Krillin happened to discover the theft and stepped in to stop them, but, having exhausted his strength after the tournament, he was defeated in a single exchange and left on the brink of death.

Yes, only on the brink of death.

Hearing the commotion, Master Roshi, Goku, Yamcha, Bulma, Launch, Oolong, Puar, as well as newfound allies like Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu, all gathered at the scene. They were horrified to see Krillin in such a near-death state. Master Roshi, recognizing the slip of paper bearing the symbol "魔" (the mark of the demon clan) left at the scene, confirmed that it was the calling card of the dreaded Demon King Piccolo, who had been sealed away a century earlier.

As the group wrestled with fear, sorrow, and anxiety, Goku finally erupted in a fit of rage. Seeing Krillin on the verge of death triggered something terrifying within him. A dark personality within Goku's mind shattered its restraints and seized control — Kakarot, the Saiyan, had awakened.

If not for the fact that Goku had expended most of his energy in his match against Tien Shinhan, the entire group might have been slaughtered by the maniacally laughing Kakarot.

Kakarot called out for the Flying Nimbus. A bright yellow cloud appeared in the sky, but as he leaped onto it, he fell right through.

"Only those with pure hearts can ride the Nimbus... Who are you?" Master Roshi was the first to realize that something inexplicable had changed in his prized disciple. Stepping forward, his expression was grave.

But Kakarot merely sneered, raising his palm to unleash a ki blast that shattered the Flying Nimbus. Hovering in midair, he gazed at the group below as if they were strangers, then let out a sinister laugh. "Just wait... Your deaths won't be far off!"

With those words, he burst into laughter and flew off into the distance.

Tien Shinhan, infuriated by Kakarot's disrespect, prepared to use his Flight Technique to pursue him. However, Master Roshi extended a hand to stop him. The old man gazed at the distant sky, his brows furrowed, and after a long silence, sighed. "Let's focus on saving Krillin... I can still sense a faint trace of life in him."

Without any Senzu Beans, Krillin woke up in a hospital emergency room seven days later.

When he opened his eyes, the television in the room was showing shaky footage of his best friend, Son Goku, wreaking havoc in the city, killing indiscriminately. Krillin stared in shock, thinking he was hallucinating or that the broadcast had to be some kind of mistake.

How could the innocent, pure-hearted Goku turn into such a malevolent figure?

But the truth was far worse than he could have imagined.

A little over a week later...

The moon was full.

A terrifying Great Ape appeared on the horizon, rampaging through cities, trampling tens of thousands of people to death. With a swing of its arm, a lash of its tail, or a roll on the ground, the beast left devastation in its wake. Its mouth spewed searing energy blasts, toppling skyscrapers, shattering the earth, and leaving countless people to perish in despair.

In a single night, it obliterated several cities, leaving behind nothing but mass graves.

The Demon King Piccolo was slain (taking Kami along with him), the Red Ribbon Army headquarters was razed to the ground, West City became a ruin, and the Kingdom's federal government was forced to relocate.

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The world's strongest fighter, Master Roshi, stood up to stop his treacherous disciple. But even he met his end at the hands of the monster, his body left to decay in the wilderness.

Even the Korin of Korin Tower was killed. Without the Dragon Radar, the monster couldn't summon Shenron to grant his wish. Not that it mattered to him — he wasn't interested in wishes. All he wanted was to vent over a decade of pent-up desires for destruction and slaughter.

After rampaging across Earth for years, leaving nothing alive and nothing intact, the monster grew bored. Having killed all he could and destroyed all there was to destroy, he returned to Mount Paozu. Sitting in his spherical spaceship, he activated the onboard systems. Drawing on the "infant education" knowledge embedded in the ship's programming, he launched into space.

By the time Krillin came to his senses, there was no one left on Earth.

He wandered aimlessly across the barren planet, consumed by loneliness. From one end of the world to the other, he walked, imagining what Goku must have felt like when he had once traveled across half the Earth on foot. Sometimes, he would stop and stare at the enormous full moon hanging above, screaming, cursing, and sobbing in frustration. But the moon offered no response. Whether Earth was brimming with life or barren and desolate, the moon continued its cycle of waxing and waning, indifferent to it all.

---

"So that's how it was..."

Taro placed a hand on the head of the disheveled vagabond before him. His palm rested on greasy, filthy, tangled hair that dragged to the ground. A flood of memories, brimming with regret, sorrow, desolation, and pain, surged into Taro's mind like a muddy torrent.

The vagabond with no nose was none other than Krillin, Earth's sole remaining human.

Noticing someone blocking his path, Krillin sluggishly lifted his head. The face he saw was youthful, yet somehow, in his muddled state, it seemed to overlap with the kind, aged visage from his memories.

"Master Roshi, is that you...?" Tears streamed from Krillin's murky eyes, hidden beneath his overgrown beard and hair. He had thought himself incapable of feeling any more sadness, of shedding any more tears. Yet now, he wept uncontrollably.

If this was a dream, he prayed it would never end.

Wrinkles began to creep across Taro's face, as if time itself had become a sculptor carving its mark on him. His jet-black hair turned white, each strand seeming to drain away the years in an instant. In a transformation that mirrored Master Roshi's aged appearance, Taro placed a comforting hand on Krillin's shoulder.

"It's me, my child," he said softly.

"Master... I'm so full of regret..." Krillin collapsed to his knees before Taro, sobbing like the young monk who had once bowed before the small island hut decades ago. "If only I hadn't been so weak back then... Goku wouldn't have turned out that way. It's all my fault... I deserve to die. Why wasn't it me who died instead?"

"Because you couldn't die. You shouldn't have died." Taro's voice was steady and filled with an inexplicable power, calming Krillin's tortured heart. Krillin looked up, and as the overcast sky began to clear, a ray of sunlight broke through, illuminating them.

Looking at his master bathed in golden light, Krillin suddenly felt as though all his fears and pain had been washed away.

"Damn it..." Taro's aged eyes remained sharp, his gaze piercing as he looked toward a point in the sky. His voice, calm to the point of being icy, carried a chilling edge. "It's them!"

Boom!

A disk-shaped spaceship tore through Earth's atmosphere, descending to land at the edge of the horizon.