North Galaxy, Solar System, Earth.
Mist drifted in the air, and high above, beneath a vast sky as blue as a colossal sapphire, two small figures hovered in midair, unaffected by the frigid winds cutting through the altitude like countless blades.
Of course, one of them was naturally able to remain comfortable in such conditions, while the other could only do so thanks to the former's assistance…
These two, naturally, were Taro and Fabeli.
About an hour earlier, after roughly discussing the super-intelligent program Jarvis that Taro envisioned, as well as the Virtual Earth Network he intended to build upon it, Fabeli had packed up his belongings and followed Taro to Earth—Taro's home and base of operations. Of course, it was hard to say how much of this decision was due to the challenge of the research project itself and how much was out of gratitude for Taro's help.
In any case, this universe-level scientific genius—capable of building spaceships, gravity chambers, intelligent programs, mechanical constructs, and even genetic bioengineering—had been "coaxed" back to Earth by Taro.
"Whoa, nice view." Fabeli observed the planet below from high above. The endless blue ocean stretched out like a vast, curved sapphire, and the land, where the ancient and the modern coexisted, was dotted with towering mountains, sprawling rivers, and clusters of skyscrapers. Even though he couldn't see the people living on the surface, the world itself was vividly alive.
Despite his admiration, Fabeli didn't seem overly surprised or excited. After all, he had lived for over a hundred years. While he had spent some of those years in deep sleep and had survived the later decades only through bodily modifications, his experiences wandering the universe had long since dulled any excitement he might have felt purely from scenery. Besides, he was a researcher—logic and reason always outweighed sentimentality.
A thin, white ki barrier surrounded him. This ki, naturally, belonged to Taro. However, it wasn't integrated into Fabeli's body—he wasn't an immortal phoenix, nor was he a martial artist of the same lineage as Taro. In fact, he wasn't even a martial artist at all. It was impossible for him to absorb or process Taro's ki easily. The white barrier was merely a "flight tool" simulated through Taro's ki-mimicking ability.
Without it, the biting wind wouldn't even be the main issue—he simply wouldn't be able to fly at all.
Taro pointed behind them. "Forget the scenery for now. Settle your things first, and I'll find you a place to stay."
Behind them floated a large black cube, approximately "10m x 5m x 3m" in size, suspended silently in midair. Its material was strange—resembling metal, wood, and plastic all at once. Inside was Fabeli's personal research equipment. Since he was already accustomed to using these tools, and to avoid the trouble of rebuilding everything from scratch on Earth, he had simply let Taro transport everything for him in one go.
With a brief incantation, Taro had conjured this unique storage cube, leaving Fabeli momentarily stunned. He had seen plenty of so-called warriors in his time, flying around and blasting energy waves left and right. He had even personally created experimental subjects with power levels of 100,000, 200,000, a million, and even Slinn's monstrous 10 million. But Taro's peculiar magic was something else entirely. It reminded Fabeli of what Taro had previously mentioned—mental magic.
Once again, he found himself wondering what it would feel like to be part of the "spiritually connected network of countless individuals" that Taro had described.
"Are we going?" Fabeli was puzzled. Taro had said they were leaving, but he hadn't moved. He turned to look at Taro, only to find him gazing in another direction. Fabeli followed his line of sight. Below was nothing but the vast ocean… wait—something was approaching. Something was flying toward them.
As it got closer, Fabeli recognized it as a large red bird. And on its back—was that a tiny person?
As the red bird drew near, Fabeli finally heard a faint voice through the howling winds—a child's voice calling out:
"Grandpa! Grandpa!"
Taro stood motionless in midair, extending a hand toward the approaching phoenix. A gentle but powerful force pulled the little girl off the bird's back and brought her into his arms. The child showed no fear at all, joyfully leaping into her grandfather's embrace. She looked up and chirped, "Grandpa, Little Red said you were back, so I came to find you!"
Little Red, of course, was the phoenix's nickname. For whatever reason—perhaps a quirk of genetics—despite having a name(Cinder), Tam and Ninn always preferred to call it by simpler nicknames like Ash. Sometimes, they even referred to it as "Little Red" based on its crimson feathers. And so, a majestic divine bird was constantly addressed in such an underwhelming way.
Right now, the phoenix was circling Taro, clearly miffed at being called Little Red again. It shot him a look full of grievance, but Taro ignored it completely.
As for Fabeli, he gave the phoenix a few curious glances. Perhaps due to his innate talent as a scientist, he had an excellent memory. He still remembered the seven little colorful birds that used to follow Taro around.
He never expected that, after all these years, one of them would grow into such a grand and imposing creature. He would never have connected this majestic bird with the tiny, sparrow-like creatures that once perched on Taro's shoulder.
"Let's go! Time to head home!"
Taro gestured with his hand, holding his granddaughter in one arm as he soared through the air, heading toward a specific location over the sea. The white, veil-like ki barrier surrounding Fabeli was controlled by Taro's will, functioning like a flying vehicle, closely following behind him and Ninn. The last to take off was the Phoenix, which flapped its wings forcefully in the distant sky, scattering the surrounding white clouds. It let out a long, piercing cry—so loud and far-reaching that before Fabeli could even turn his head, a fiery red blur had already streaked past him.
Notably, as he flew, Taro briefly glanced toward the horizon, almost imperceptibly. He had just sensed the gaze of the Earth's Guardian Temple deity. However, with Taro's current level, as long as he didn't want to be seen, not even Earth's Guardian—let alone the North Kai—would be able to truly perceive his actions. Probably only a Grand Kai, one of those demigod-level beings from the pre-epoch cosmic era, could manage such a feat.
This wasn't even a matter of raw strength. If Taro's current soul had entered his body right after Mutaito's death, he would have still been able to do the same things. He could still communicate with the North Kai via telepathy—it had nothing to do with power but rather with one's spiritual and philosophical cultivation. It was like how, even if a battle-hardened Son Goku were stripped of his strength and left crippled, he'd still be able to contact the North Kai and even interrupt conversations between the North Kai and Earth's Guardian.
That's what sets martial artists apart from pure warriors.
---
Skimming just above the shimmering ocean, Taro took a rare moment to play with the waves alongside his granddaughter. The little girl was mesmerized by the glittering sunlit waves, and in a moment of amusement, Taro took a deep breath and blew toward the sea. With a thunderous boom, an enormous wave surged up from nowhere. Though Ninn was securely held in his arm, she clapped and laughed joyously.
The Phoenix circled them, chirping in delight.
With blue skies above and white-capped waves below, an old man and a young girl, a human and a divine bird, soared with the wind and danced upon the waves.
Trailing behind, Fabeli suddenly found himself thinking that this kind of life might not be so bad. It was certainly better than wandering from planet to planet. His home planet had long since been invaded by Frieza's army. Hah, wasn't that outcome expected from the start? He wondered what had become of that so-called god, Gaia. Probably dead by now, huh?
Soon, Fabeli followed Taro to his home on the island.
Tam wasn't there—only Hathaway was at home.
That wasn't surprising. Tam had an entire corporate empire to oversee. He was still young, nowhere near the retirement age of Bulma's father in the original timeline, and had plenty of responsibilities to handle. He had managed to take a few days off to join Taro on their "vacation" in space partly because he genuinely feared his reckless old man would monopolize his own daughter, and partly because, like his mother, Tam was sharp-minded. Maybe he hadn't been as monstrous as his mother in childhood, but as he grew up, he pieced together enough from his childhood memories to suspect that his father was no ordinary man.
So, despite harboring resentment over his parents' unexplained twenty-year disappearance, Tam was willing to reconcile with them. He was nearly thirty now—he had spent enough years raging, enough years hating, and enough years coming to terms with it. The past was the past. Was he really going to disown his own parents over it? They were family, after all. All it took was a moment of understanding, and they were a family again.
His unexpected maturity was a relief to Hathaway. When she had waited for Taro at the Grand Kai's place, she had worried that their son might hate them both. But in the end, he had been so understanding that it almost made her heart ache. Perhaps she still saw Tam as a child. Sometimes, Hathaway laughed at herself for that.
Just then, she caught sight of several figures skimming over the glistening sea in the distance. They swiftly crossed the island's surrounding forest, and before long, they had arrived. Who else could it be but her husband?
She had just been wondering where little Ninn had run off to—turns out, she had gone with the Phoenix to find Taro.
"You're back?" Hathaway greeted them as they landed, her gaze shifting to Rat and the massive black cube that landed beside him with a low hum, kicking up a small cloud of dust.
Taro introduced him, "This is Fabeli, an exceptionally skilled scientist from the universe." At the same time, his voice echoed in Hathaway's mind: "This is the scientist I told you about—'Rat.'"
The name 'Rat' had been a casual nickname Taro had used based on his appearance. Back then, he hadn't thought much about asking for his real name. During their journey, though, he had finally asked.
"Hello, I'm Taro's wife. My name is Hathaway," she greeted with a smile, taking Ninn from Taro's arms. The little girl wanted to be put down, so Hathaway placed her on the ground and held her hand.
Fabeli took a brief look at the purple-haired woman in front of him. By Earth's standards, she was quite stunning, but his interest wasn't in her appearance. He had heard from Taro that his wife was a talented scientist. He nodded. "Hello."
Their brief exchange wasn't particularly lively, but in the meantime, Taro had already explained the situation to Hathaway via telepathic communication.
Of course, Hathaway had long known about Taro's two-phase plan involving his advanced AI program, Jarvis, and the Virtual Earth Network. He had begun conceptualizing it bit by bit ever since their marriage. Otherwise, she wouldn't have spent those twenty years in the Grand Kai's realm painstakingly researching artificial intelligence—she simply wanted to do whatever she could to help her husband.
Now, with this so-called genius fromouter space, Hathaway felt both excitement and a slight competitive urge. She was naturally curious and eager to learn. The prospect of studying science beyond Earth's boundaries thrilled her.
Perhaps there was nothing more exciting than that.
Well… maybe there was.
As Fabeli examined her inventions, primarily the supercomputer and the energy conversion device (ki-to-electricity), Hathaway cast a quick glance at her husband, who remained as composed as ever. She said nothing. Before long, Fabeli returned, clicking his tongue in admiration. He showered Hathaway's energy conversion device with praise but also criticized her for limiting its potential. "You could've made a bidirectional converter!" he scolded. "Why stop at just ki-to-electricity?!"
Fabeli pondered. What if they could design a perpetual energy core?
That evening, Taro and Fabeli built a new residence at the edge of the island, with an elaborate underground laboratory. With Taro's magic assisting, and his sheer strength capable of sinking the entire island with a single finger, the construction took less than three hours. By the time they were finished, the sky had only just turned dark.
Night fell. A helicopter approached the island, its deafening rotor blades shattering the tranquility of the evening. From the illuminated villa, a massive white hand emerged, grabbing the aircraft as if it were an insect.
The family gathered for a warm, lively dinner. It was Ninn's first time enjoying such a feast at home with her parents and grandparents. The normally quiet girl happily stuffed her face, even making sure to share every dish with the phoenix at her side. The divine bird was deeply touched—at least the little one cared about its well-being.
Tam, meanwhile, shared his first drink with his father, getting so drunk that he clung to Taro's neck, demanding they dance and sing together. Taro, of course, couldn't actually get drunk—his body made it impossible. But he let his son revel in his drunken antics instead of smacking him into West City or using magic to put him to sleep. Fabeli, on the other hand, was wide-eyed in disbelief. Ninn simply clapped and giggled at the scene.
---
Age 640, deep autumn.
Taro's path forward was clear. He advanced steadily on the road he had found in the Ancient Supreme Kai's chamber. His training was uninterrupted. His dream of a new Earth grew closer to reality. And at night, as he held his wife in his arms, he gazed at the starlit sky, remembering the distant past.
"I'll always be with you," Hathaway whispered.
"Of course. And I with you," Taro murmured, holding her close.
The cool night breeze tangled their long hair together—his black streaked with white, hers a fading lilac. Under the starlight, they swayed gently, as if dancing among the heavens.