"Mm-hmm hmm, mm-hmm hmm, mm-mm-mm-mm-mm hmm…"
Under the vast blue sky, the cheerful humming of a young man echoed in the cockpit of a small plane speeding through the air.
Skillfully piloting the aircraft, he occasionally drummed his chest with his fist, keeping time with his tune.
Ah! The blue sky.
Yamiru hummed the lively melody.
"Ah! The clouds... Oh, the Fire Mountain is below!"
Humming a wild tune, he suddenly felt a faint wave of heat rising. Following his instincts, he tilted the plane's nose downward and looked below. Sure enough, a blazing mountaintop came into view.
"Ah, shameful! Shameful! I should have cleaned this up last time…"
Yamiru pocketed a white stone, then steered the plane into a spiraling descent toward Fire Mountain.
"Hmm?"
Sitting on a giant rock halfway up the mountain, the Ox-King suddenly heard the rumble of an engine. He looked up at the sky. "Someone's coming. Another fool trying to steal my treasure, no doubt!"
He picked up the massive axe beside him and called back over his shoulder, "Chi-Chi! Stop bathing and get dressed! Come to your father!"
Due to the inextinguishable flames at the mountain's summit, the once-refreshing springs of Cool View Mountain had turned into warm pools. Four-year-old Chi-Chi, however, was rather fond of them. She bathed several times a day, always staying clean and tidy.
Hearing her father's voice, she quickly dried herself off, got dressed, and ran to his side. Since Cool View Mountain became Fire Mountain, treasure hunters had grown increasingly brazen, willing to risk everything to plunder its riches. Naturally, the Ox-King would not let them take anything and had resorted to harsher punishments, earning himself an even fiercer reputation.
Upon reaching her father, Chi-Chi saw a plane landing nearby. Soon, a tall, handsome young man jumped out.
"I remember him!" Chi-Chi thought. "He came before to help Daddy chase off the bad guys. There was also a boy riding a cloud with him. He's not here this time?"
The Ox-King waved for Chi-Chi to come closer, laughing heartily. "Chi-Chi, come here! This is your big brother Yamiru. Remember him?"
"Yes!" Chi-Chi nodded obediently.
"What a well-behaved little girl," Yamiru complimented, then pulled a white stone from his pocket. "Ox-King, I'm here to return the seven-star Dragon Ball as promised. Since I've already made a wish, all seven Dragon Balls have turned into white stones for the next year. But don't worry — they'll revert to their golden crystal form after that."
"No problem, no problem. I trust you." The Ox-King casually accepted the stone. "Honestly, like I said before, you didn't have to go out of your way to return it. Without you, I'd never have known what this orb was even for. Who knows — it might've just been buried and forgotten. You found it; it should be yours."
Yamiru grinned and said, "Then let's say you're just holding onto it for me. If I need to collect the Dragon Balls again, I'll know I can come borrow this one directly from you."
The Ox-King nodded in agreement, praising his suggestion. "That's a great idea. I'll take good care of it. If you need it, just come get it."
"But actually, I came for another reason this time," Yamiru said, scratching his head. "When I borrowed the Dragon Ball last time, I got so caught up with my own stuff that I forgot to put out the fire on the mountaintop for you…"
The Ox-King was startled. "Yamiru, you have a way to put out the flames?"
"Mm," Yamiru replied, making up an explanation on the spot. "While gathering the Dragon Balls, I met Master Roshi. He told me the flames on Fire Mountain can be extinguished using the Kamehameha technique."
The Ox-King was shocked once more. He truly hadn't expected that Yamiru had already mastered Roshi's prized creation — the Kamehameha.
To his knowledge, only his senior brother Gohan and Master Roshi himself could perform the technique.
"You've only been training under Gohan for two short years, and yet..." the Ox-King murmured in awe.
"Actually, I'm considered slow. Son Goku — the one who rides the Flying Nimbus and wields the Power Pole — you remember him, right, Ox-King?"
"Mm, ah…"
"After Master Gohan demonstrated the Kamehameha once, Goku just looked at it and immediately learned how to do it."
"..."
The Ox-King was utterly speechless. He exchanged a glance with Yamiru, who seemed just as exasperated, muttering under his breath, "Even retelling that kid's feats still feels so frustrating…"
Comparisons really are maddening!
Pushing the irritation aside, Yamiru eagerly prepared to help the Ox-King and his daughter extinguish the flames.
He estimated that even his fully charged Kamehameha wouldn't match the peak power of Master Roshi's buffed-up version as shown in the manga. Replicating Master Roshi's feat of leveling the flames — and the castle along with them — was out of the question.
Besides, Yamiru didn't want to destroy the Ox-King's castle. After all, it was their home.
The Ox-King and Chi-Chi followed Yamiru toward the mountaintop. As they climbed higher, the air grew hotter and more oppressive, even scorching. Farther up, they could feel their hair slightly singeing and smell the faint odor of burning.
The trio stopped midway.
Standing still, Yamiru decided that, since he couldn't clear the flames in one massive blast like Master Roshi, he would take a more meticulous approach, extinguishing them section by section. This way, he could also protect the castle from collateral damage.
With a plan in mind, he gestured for the Ox-King and Chi-Chi to step back. Then, he began concentrating his energy for the Kamehameha.
"Kame…"
"Hame…"
"Ha!"
A blue-white sphere of light formed between Yamiru's palms as he held them near his waist.
The Ox-King murmured, "It really is the Kamehameha. I haven't seen it in so many years..."
With a sharp exhale, Yamiru's Golden Veil instinctively activated. He thrust his palms forward toward the raging flames.
"Ha!"
A white energy beam, not too large but packed with force, tore through the inferno, carving out a path amidst the flames.
The Kamehameha, used for the first time in this manner, proved effective.
"Wonderful! It worked!" The Ox-King cheered, overjoyed.
In his eyes, the path cleared by the Kamehameha did not close up even as the fire continued to burn on either side. The flames, despite their ferocity, didn't converge to fill the gap. This meant that, by carefully repeating this method, Yamiru could eventually "erase" all the flames on the mountaintop.
"As long as it works…" Yamiru was also pleased.
However, his Golden Veil remained fixed on the blaze.
The Kamehameha had scattered the flames, but it left Yamiru with a nagging doubt.
Originally, before seeing the fire of Fire Mountain for himself, he assumed that Master Roshi's success in the manga was due to destroying the castle and mountain, eliminating the fuel source for the fire. Without anything to burn, the fire naturally died out.
But now, having encountered the flames directly, something felt off. Fire Mountain couldn't possibly have enough fuel to sustain such a fire for so many years!
And the strangest part: why didn't the flames spread?
Logically, even in the time since Yamiru last borrowed the Dragon Ball, these raging wildfires should have consumed all of Cool View Mountain. Yet the flames remained confined to the exact same area he had seen before — not an inch more, not an inch less.
They didn't spread, and they didn't extinguish.
Apparently, they didn't require tangible fuel like wood to burn. And yet, they could be dispersed by the Kamehameha.
Questions swirled in Yamiru's mind.
Under the intense focus of his Golden Veil, the towering walls of flames began to reveal subtle differences — details he hadn't noticed before.