Don sat and wondered why he had laughed so hard, realizing that he shouldn't have doubted the possibility of Zol truly feeling that way, as he was an honest person, aside from the fact he was slightly under the impression that their first fight was a friendly match, of that he wasn't even sure as it was never spoken, with words or through his gaze.
Walking through the wooden gate of a chicken pen, Don threw the chicken feed out and watched as the chickens flocked to eat every crumb, though he fed them just enough to remain full, healthy and happy equally, with precision even as he scattered the feed, allowing each chicken equal opportunity to eat their fill, regardless of their size or age.
Don had his own habits to keep him entertained in his down time, not every day could be or was a fight to the death or a new challenge, though it'd seemed so recently, he felt calm seas approaching as he calmed his mind further with everything he did as the days went by. He had realized the he was pent up to a point that he hadn't been able to keep track of everything in his mind, body and heart, though he remained somewhat composed during most of his realization's... with the exception of when he laughed a bit too much... kind of scary that he felt death approaching as he gasped for breath... but he thought nothing of it thinking it was meant to be that he survived, and that he did made good decisions, after all, they brought him as far as he'd come.
Leaving the chicken pen and returning to his other activities, Don walked into his farm home, happy and ready to eat, he ate quickly and did not mind the details of his meal, he usually eats beef and some vegetables, though what he ate today remains a mystery for some reason.
In his down time Don relaxes and enjoys a simple farming life, though not extremely wealthy, he made just enough to afford exactly what he wanted or needed, easily coasting through life, living in paradise he felt to say at times.
Sitting in his comfortable and well taken care of farm home, Don wondered what sort of technique Zol used to remain so seemingly serious all of the time, aside from the time he had caught him crying over his death, Don had also teared up for some strange reason recently and didn't weigh Zol's emotions against the serious persona he exuded. Caring about things is what made the person who they were after all, it is what you care about that defines who you are, so in this sense, Don considered what Zol valued in life, although he claimed to be seeking the pinnacle of all things, Don considered himself too and how he had doubted his words so much that he laughed as hard as he did.
Don came to this conclusion, Zol must be telling the complete truth when he claims that his goal is the pinnacle of all things, his own values in life were simply this: remaining true to his own feelings and enjoying whatever he came across for all that it was worth. Though it may seem like a simple doctrine, there are so many different situations in life, especially in Don's, that he found himself needing to continuously redefine for himself exactly what it means to stay true to his feelings, and if there is only a certain amount of time to enjoy certain things, how would one go about assigning value to any particular thing worth enjoying, considering how much time one should spend enjoying the time sensitive pleasures, another question would be how does one go about considering responsibility and preperation for unfortunate circumstances, taking into account that we have only as long to live as we do as humans, though it is possible to extend life as a fighter with his special physique, similar to Zol, Don was going to survive for another five hundred years as long as he did not die to Zol, or any other potential powerhouse that he did not deny the possible existence of.
Comparing his own values in life to what he could possible imagine Zol's to be, considering he claims to and makes an effort to reach the pinnacle of existence itself, questioning why he felt this way wouldn't be very fruitful, as he wasn't sure Zol himself even knew exactly, Don had a solid guess that Zol must be hooked on the thrill of the fight in a sense, hence why he was emotional after he almost died, it still remaining a mystery how he had survived, though Don knew how he had managed to survive of course.
Don had seen many warriors over the course of time become slaves to battle itself, he had once heard a tale about the great battle buddha named Son Wookung, appearently he was a monkey, Don wasn't clear on every detail, though he was certain that it wasn't just a tale, there had once lived a powerful warrior revered as the great battle buddha, he knew this for a fact, because he had seen the golden staff that he heard about in the tale. The staff was even more glorious and extraordinary that Don could have ever created in his imagination or dreams, a glimpse of this item made him nearly mindless in awe of the beauty and majestic appearance.
Don was considering the battle buddha, because of his supposed love for battle, it was said that he would only fight an opponent if they were at their maximum strength, waiting if necessary for an opponent to equip, prepare or recover before their match. It was said that he never fought an opponent that was weaker than him, he had to be certain that they were stronger than him, amazingly through every fight he'd manage to learn quickly enough, often picking up on his opponent's techniques and taking them for himself, never losing a single fight. The story ended when the legendary warrior caught the attention of the mightiest figures, the mysterious controllers of fate, the fighter challenged the mightiest of them all, and was offered a challenge instead.
The mightiest figure said:
"If you can escape my sight, you will be crowned king of all, if you cannot, you will admit defeat for the first time, denouncing your power and living the rest of your life as a fish"
Never one to back down from a fair challenge, the monkey agreed, confident in his ability to escape the figure and their gaze, he left the heavenly palace where they had been talking, jumping from the heavenly court down to the lowest point in the underworld, still feeling someone watching him, he jumped again, to the furthest point in the universe across dimensions, until he came across the curtain of creation, an appearence resembling fabric, though untouchable and impossible to approach let alone ever escape or see the other side, if there even was one, the monkey believed this to be the edge of reality, using his staff to burn a winking smiley face into the nearest planet, the monkey returned to the heavenly court and confidently walked back up to the mightiest figure and said:
"There! I went so far away you couldn't have possibly have still seen me! Now crown me king of all!"
The mightiest figure smiled, and scared the warrior who only knew battle, by invading his mind and revealing to him that he never actually left the heavenly court, in fact, he never actually left the mightiest figure's company, his mind threatened to be broken as he comprehended that what he thought to he an untouchable wall/cloak/curtain of reality enclosing existence itself, was just the robe of the mightiest figure, the nearby planet being an individual component of physical matter itself, science had named it an atom, though the mind of the great warrior struggled to comprehend the scale of the situation, unable to deny it as he was shown the smallest possible fragment of reality was all that he managed to accomplish with all of his effort to escape the gaze of the mightiest figure. When jumping down to the lowest point in existence, then to the edge, he was actually being somehow allowed to think he was moving across dimensions, as if his perception of things itself was being altered. Realizing his inability to comprehend the full extent of the situation, knowing he could not best the mightiest figure with his ability to do battle and learn quickly no matter the circumstance, he was truly just in the palm of the mightiest figure's hand.
Finishing his recollection of the story of the battle buddha, Don found many similar qualities between the battle buddha and Zol, mostly in personality, as Zol has not yet had a council with the mightiest of all existence's, he was seemingly making progress at such a speed, similarly as well finding a great passion for battle itself, that one could possibly mistake Zol for the second coming of the spirit of the battle buddha, though to most is was just a myth, folklore, knowing it to be a real story, having had seen the ominous glory of his majestic staff, experiencing firsthand it's undeniable beauty, Don did not doubt the possibility of Zol truly being someone who could catch the attention of a mysterious existence or two, although the recent days did not require him to risk his life as he had to countless times in his life, Don had second thought's about what he haf thought early, having felt calm seas approaching, he had a feeling that Zol might not allow that to happen.
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The sound of a porcelain plate being set down gently as to not disturb even the air itself, could barely be heard even by Zol's incredibly good hearing, though he knew his sandwhich had arrived, he stayed locked in one position, not allowing a single thought to enter his mind. Zol found that the practice of clearing your mind is beneficial all around in every aspect of life, given that nothing needs consideration of course, though at the moment Zol had nothing to immedietly attend to, barely holding onto his sense of awareness, he found himself in a half dream / half trance state, similar to when he had a vision, though different as he wasn't 'seeing' nearly as much as he was comprehending certain details and aspects of reality, tying up loose end's mentally and solving any paradox, riddle or dysfunctional repeating patterns and dissolving them in understand and comprehension of the fundamental qualities of reality, although Zol seemingly came closer and closer to the peak of all things, he never felt that there was an end in sight, the more he realized about reality, the more questions he wanted to ask reality.
Eventually he opened his eyes and ate his sandwhich prepared by Rodney, he enjoyed the view from study as he wondered what Don might be thinking about, considering how he was always so happy. Imagining it was more of a persona than a genuine personality, Zol questioned if someone could end up so strong with such a care free attitude. Zol was certain he'd been quite cold and unexpected when he had delivered what was supposed to be a fatal blow, so he wondered why Don did not seem to hold this against him at all.
Finishing his sandwhich, Zol decided what he wanted to do with his day today, it had been a very good experience reading the words of his favorite author, even reading all of his published work at least three times, Zol was a serious fan of this author, though he never once made an attempt to even find out who this person was, besides the pen name, Authur Wiseman, a not so subtle nod to the fact that he is a wise author and named Arthur.
Zol made his way to the public record collection building to find out where Arthur lived and visit him.