"Men are the stronger of the two- we live to fight, to protect, to build! While women are nurturers. They cook, grow food, and care for children- and make them." he said, with a wiggle of his eyebrows.
Kakarot seemed to consider it, "So are you a woman?"
"Wha- no! Of course not."
"But you're a nurturer." Kakarot said, "Or you sure as hell act like it, you do the cooking, and you foolishly keep trying to care for me." the Saiyan said, folding his arms.
"But- I mean, children are meant to be cared for! If I had a woman, she would be the one caring for you, instead of me."
"Maybe you're both?"
"I- I'm pretty sure you can't be both?" Gohan said, unsure, "Well, look, women look different than men. And they're weaker than men, so they need to be protected and cared for."
"Why would you protect something that's weak." Kakarot snarled, "Unless they're crazy, like you were."
"Well, because women make children." Gohan said, "They're very important."
"Why?"
"Because children are- kind of a part of yourself. They're half of you, and half someone else, combined. They can carry on your legacy after you're gone, protect you when you're weak, help you do things you can no longer do yourself. They're people who are like you, who can understand you."
Kakarot's eyes widened, before he looked down, considering. "...There aren't any other people like me, are there?"
"No. Not that I know of."
"...Well! Who cares! I don't need any help, or people who can help me do anything! Cause I can do anything." he growled.
"Well, there's another thing."
"Oh?"
"It feels really, really good to make children with a woman." Gohan said, "I'm told its heavenly, my master said, if he could do it 24/7, he'd be without regrets."
"Your master- the strongest man in the world, thinks that?" Kakarot asked, shocked.
"Well, I'd like to think I've surpassed him since, but yes. Very much so. My master, well, it was considered improper, but he kept thousands of images of young women, he liked them so much."
"What about you?"
"Err, well, so few women come towards the mountain, and there's the question of finding the right one, and all that, and so forth..." Gohan said nervously, "...I just never had the opportunity, is all."
"Why didn't you go after that woman from earlier then?"
"I couldn't. Our duel was about to begin. I was afraid if you saw her, you would kill her."
Kakarot nodded, "...Fair enough."
The journey was a crazy one, to be sure, but in the end she found she couldn't complete it alone.
Her own Two-Star ball was easy enough to find, it had just been lying around in the basement, found by her father because the unique energy it emitted, then forgotten when that unique energy didn't turn out to have any marketable purposes he could find.
The Five-Star only took a hike and a little spelunking to find.
The Four-Star was a terrifying experience, but ultimately she had just gone in and out, in a matter of minutes, and got what she wanted. There was some trouble with a Dinosaur-Man afterwards, but she was luckily already in her fastest car.
The Three-Star... was humiliating. Damn pervy old man, making her take off everything before handing it over.
When she went to find the Six-Star, it was a bit more complicated. She supposed it was lucky Oolong turned out to be a pushover, and that she managed to sneak him out of the town before they mobbed him for terrifying them for so long, even if it turned out none of the girls had been harmed.
After that, she had to cross a whole desert, evade an admittedly cute bandit, only to find that the Seven-Star was somewhere on an eternally burning mountain, guarded by the Bull King. With that, all her plans more-or-less went down the gutter. Magic flames? Huge legendary fighters willing to threaten an adorable sixteen-year old girl with a massive axe? No thank you! With no other options available to her, she started heading West, to at least collect the One-Star ball.
When she had almost reached it, two thieves ended her journey completely, destroying her car and stealing all five that she had collected, barely saying a word beyond "We found them!" before flying off.
She could have followed with the radar- but what was she going to do against two people with a battle mech and a rocket launcher?
After having come so close, she returned home feeling defeated.
Emperor Pilaf was unable to breach the flames of the Bull King's mountain, and so was forced to give up on his wish- for now. The matter came to a head when the Red Ribbon Army came knocking at his door, and he and his three minions fled from place to place, never able to sit still. Eventually, they had enough, and scattered the Dragon Balls themselves.
Krillin came across Master Roshi, and began training under him as an apprentice, after presenting Launch to the old master to show his worth.
With the Red Ribbon mobilizing, the world became a more dangerous place. The Red Ribbon began conquering smaller nations, taking cities, building fortresses. Wars started and ended. The news got out that what the Red Ribbon wanted more than anything were the Dragon Balls, and so the world, almost united in one desire, did their best to keep the balls on the move.
Unaware of any of it, Kakarot and Gohan dueled. Their battles only increased in intensity, moving on from flying feet and fists, to using ki to attack.
As Kakarot became stronger with every defeat he survived, Gohan was forced to hold back less and less, and in the process, he began to pass on skills to his opponent. Kakarot took to using ki like a fish to water.
Sensing it, utilizing it, even mastering the Kamehameha with only a few attempts. Once he had access to his own ki, he began to fly simply on instinct. To keep up, Gohan forced himself to learn how as well.
Five years passed.