The first thing Marcus felt was warmth—an overwhelming, radiant warmth that seemed to pulse from within his very being.
His eyes snapped open, and he gasped. Above him stretched an impossibly blue sky, dotted with strange cloud formations that seemed almost painted across the horizon. Grass tickled his back, and the air smelled clean—cleaner than anything he remembered from his previous life.
Previous life.
The memories came flooding back. The hospital bed. The machines. The slow fade to darkness after thirty-two years of an ordinary existence. He'd been an accountant, for crying out loud. Nothing special. Nothing remarkable.
So why did he feel like a sun had been compressed into his chest?
Marcus sat up slowly, and that's when he noticed his hands. They were glowing. Faint golden markings traced across his skin in patterns he somehow recognized—circular designs, intricate symbols that seemed to shift when he focused on them too hard.
"What the—"
He scrambled to his feet and caught his reflection in a nearby stream. The face staring back was younger than the one he remembered—maybe early twenties—but that wasn't what made him freeze.
His eyes blazed with golden light, pupils shaped like crosses. His skin carried an ethereal luminescence, and behind him floated nine black orbs, hovering in a perfect formation as if waiting for commands.
Six Paths Sage Mode.
The knowledge arrived in his mind unbidden, like a file being downloaded directly into his consciousness. This wasn't just a temporary power-up. This was him now. Forever. No base form to return to. No "powering down."
He was permanently merged with the power of creation itself.
"Okay," Marcus breathed, trying to steady himself. "Okay. This is fine. This is... completely insane, but fine."
A massive energy signature suddenly erupted in the distance—raw, violent power that made the air itself tremble. Marcus's enhanced senses picked up everything: the clash of forces, the displaced atmosphere, the screams of combat.
And somehow, instinctively, he knew exactly what that energy was.
Ki.
Not chakra. Ki.
He wasn't in the world he'd expected. The realization hit him like a freight train as another massive power level flared to life, shaking the very earth beneath his feet.
In the distance, he could just make out two figures trading blows at speeds that would have been invisible to his old human eyes—one with wild black hair, the other pink and monstrous.
Marcus watched the battle rage across the sky, truth-seeking orbs rotating slowly behind him, and felt the weight of his situation settle onto his shoulders.
He was in the Dragon Ball universe.
And he was stuck like this.
"Well," he muttered, golden eyes tracking the distant combat, "at least I won't be bored."
The ground shook again as an explosion painted the horizon in brilliant light. Whatever timeline he'd landed in, it was clearly already in chaos.
Time to figure out what a permanently enlightened sage was supposed to do in a world of planet-busting warriors.