The Warrior of Pure Heart | Dragon Ball Z

20

20

The hours passed one after another without Chi-Chi being utterly aware of this. She focused so much on trying to catch that pot, which Korin was moving around that space playing "cat and mouse" with it, that she didn't notice how late it was getting until the sun began to set. It was also at that moment that the fatigue in her body became more tangible and unsustainable, and her legs ended up giving out, and her entire body collapsed onto the floor.

Chi-Chi stayed there for a long time, breathing heavily and with her heart thundering violently under her chest.

"What's happening?" Korin's shrill voice asked, standing a few meters away from her. "Are you tired so soon?"

"So soon?" Chi-Chi exclaimed irritably. She then turned to look at the sky, which was beginning to turn an orange tone with the imminent sunset. "It can't really be getting dark already."

I was on this all day, she thought, as a small recrimination to herself.

The strange thing was that she hadn't been hungry all that time and still didn't feel it. Was it some effect of the seed he had given her earlier?

In any case, Chi-Chi did not stop to overthink it because what overwhelmed her most was the frustration of not having achieved anything. She wasn't even a bit closer to obtaining the damned Sacred Water, or whatever it was.

"Well, I think it was a good first day," Korin exclaimed optimistically, then headed towards the stairs leading to the lower level. "If you want, let's rest and continue tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Chi-Chi snapped, exalted. And overcoming her fatigue, she stood up and followed him. "Wait a minute, how long do you plan to keep this up?"

"As long as you want," Korin responded with astonishing normality. "I'm not in any hurry."

"But I do!"

Chi-Chi followed the old hermit to the lower level of the tower. He still carried his staff with him and the pot hanging from it. She was tempted to try to take it from him now that his back was turned and he was (apparently) distracted. However, after a whole day of chasing him, she felt that the same thing would happen anyway.

"There's no need to put pressure on yourself," Korin commented. "After all, it took Goku three days to drink the water."

"Three days?" Chi-Chi exclaimed, surprised, stopping at her place. "Did he have to do the same...?"

She had begun to think that this was some kind of joke that he was playing only on her. But did Goku still have to do that same thing when he first came up? If that was the case, she would have liked Goku to tell her about it; perhaps then she would have been better prepared for what she found. But she supposed it was one of those things her late husband didn't usually think about if no one asked him directly.

"That's right," Korin agreed, then turned to face her. "Although, of course, it took Roshi about... three years."

That, for Chi-Chi, was like a bucket of cold water falling directly on her head, disappearing in a snap any trace of exhaustion that remained on her.

"Three years?!" she exclaimed aloud, sounding almost like a roar. "Are you telling me that Master Roshi was here for three years until he was able to take that pot away from you?!"

"More or less," Korin answered with absolute calm.

"That... is a lie; it can't be true!"