The competition had ended, and as evening approached, John, the winner, collected his prize money and treated his family to a sumptuous dinner.
On their way to the restaurant, Goku asked John, "John, how have you been training? You've improved so much since we last met a few years ago."
Krillin, standing nearby, quickly replied, "I know the reason. Over the past three years, we haven't just been doing regular training. We've also been training in the gravity adjustment chamber, which can simulate up to 10 times Earth's gravity."
"That's right. It's because of this training that we've been able to progress so quickly. I can now barely manage to train in an environment with 4 times Earth's gravity, while John can freely move around in 10 times gravity," Krillin explained.
Goku nodded in understanding, realizing the reason for their rapid progress. "I should also train in such a gravity chamber," he said.
"Of course, there's no problem. My recent material research has made a breakthrough, and the gravity adjustment chamber can now control gravity from 1 to 50 times Earth's gravity," Bulma added happily.
"1 to 50 times Earth's gravity! You're amazing, Bulma," Goku exclaimed in awe.
Soon, they arrived at the restaurant, and it was then that Goku realized he had left his Dragon Balls and Power Pole at the tournament arena. He decided to go back to retrieve them.
At that moment, Krillin spoke up, "Don't worry, Goku. I'll go and get them for you. You just finished fighting with John, and you must be exhausted."
Goku and Krillin's conversation suddenly reminded John that the next day was the day when Piccolo Daimao would send his henchmen. Krillin was the one who had died at the hands of the enemy.
Although John believed that with Krillin's current strength, it was hard to say who would kill whom, he wanted to avoid any accidents. "Don't argue about who will go. Let's all go back together. It's not a long walk anyway," John suggested.
"Let Bulma, Muten Roshi, and the others order for us. It will take some time for the food to be served anyway," John added.
Without waiting for the others to respond, John led the way back to the arena of the World Martial Arts Tournament.
The others exchanged glances but didn't say much. Some of them went into the restaurant to place the order, while the rest accompanied Goku back to the tournament arena.
As they walked, they chatted and laughed, eventually arriving at the tournament arena.
Suddenly, screams and cries of pain filled the arena, along with the familiar voice of the announcer, "Who are you? Why are you stealing the tournament participant list?"
John and the others, who were already at the entrance of the arena, rushed inside. They saw a man with bat wings grabbing a tournament staff member by the neck and demanding the participant list.
In his other hand, he held Goku's Four-Star Dragon Ball, making it clear that the Dragon Balls were also his target.
"Damn you! Stop!" Goku shouted and took the initiative, punching the bat-winged creature.
However, Goku's shout had startled the creature, who, upon realizing Goku's attack, immediately threw the staff member he was holding towards Goku.
Goku abandoned his attack and opened his arms to catch the falling staff member.
As Goku was catching the person, the creature smirked and attacked Goku.
But with so many people around Goku, they wouldn't let him be bullied. Krillin stepped forward and positioned himself in front of Goku, blocking the creature's attack.
Seeing his attack blocked, the creature flew back into the air.
Looking at the group standing at the entrance, the creature arrogantly said, "So, you're the martial artists participating in the tournament. You've come at the right time. I'll take care of all of you now and save myself the trouble of finding you later."
"Remember my name. I am Tambourine, a servant of Piccolo Daimao. To celebrate the rebirth of Piccolo Daimao, I'll kill a few of you as a gift to him," Tambourine declared.
Unfortunately, Tambourine had misread the situation. Apart from John, no one in the arena recognized Piccolo Daimao, and even John showed no fear.
Not seeing a trace of fear on the martial artists' faces, Tambourine became increasingly irritated. "It seems like I need to remind people of Piccolo Daimao's name starting from now," he said.
Tambourine turned his attention to the two boys who had attacked him earlier and said, "In that case, I'll start with you two."
With that, Tambourine dove down from the air at high speed and attacked Goku first.
However, after engaging in combat, Tambourine realized his mistake. Although he had exhausted a lot of energy in his fight with John, it didn't mean that Goku would be an easy target.
As Tambourine dove down to attack, Goku dodged his strike with a simple duck, followed by a straight punch that landed directly in Tambourine's stomach. As Tambourine was about to fall, Goku delivered a flying kick.
Tambourine flew like a bullet, crashing into the arena wall with a loud "bang," and fell to the ground.
"Cough, cough!" Tambourine coughed violently from the blow to his abdomen, and purple blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, which he wiped clean.
Seeing the fresh blood on his hand, Tambourine's anger grew, and he roared, flapping his wings. "Damn you! I'll kill you all. None of you will survive," he shouted.
After saying this, Tambourine opened his mouth, and an energy blast shot out, heading towards Goku and the others.
Goku extended his hand, and with a simple gesture, he caught the energy blast.
Tambourine was stunned. His anger suddenly subsided, and his eyes widened in fear as he looked at Goku and the others. "Who... who are you?" he stammered.
Ignoring the terrified creature, Goku simply replied, "Earthlings!"
Goku was about to move forward to finish off Tambourine.
At that moment, Krillin stopped Goku. For some reason, seeing the creature filled Krillin with an overwhelming urge to kill him, and he couldn't control it.
"Goku, you just finished fighting with John, and your energy hasn't fully recovered. Let me handle this enemy," Krillin said.
Tambourine, feeling disrespected by their attitude, became furious. He didn't believe that everyone was as strong as they seemed, and seeing that they were changing fighters, he immediately took the initiative and attacked Krillin, determined to kill one of them to restore his confidence.