Gohan kept his eyes fixed on Jiren in the distance as Jiren stared back with a cold, crushing intensity. Their gazes met like two bolts of lightning, sparks almost seeming to crackle between them.
Then, in the middle of the suffocating silence, an urgent voice echoed inside Gohan's mind.
'Gohan! Don't rely too heavily on sensing his energy!'
Gohan froze for a moment, looking toward the source of the voice. Piccolo, who had been lying motionless on the ground moments earlier, was already back on his feet. In the next instant, he flashed over and appeared right in front of Gohan.
His mouth never moved; he was speaking through telepathy.
Gohan was surprised. Piccolo had looked badly injured and completely unable to move just moments ago. But thinking back, it made sense; Piccolo had always been skilled at healing himself, so recovering this quickly wasn't impossible.
Still processing Piccolo's warning, Gohan repeated the words to himself in thought.
'Don't rely too much on sensing his energy?'
Piccolo nodded firmly.
'That's right, Gohan. Exactly.'
Piccolo had been studying martial arts longer than almost anyone present, and his understanding of energy was exceptionally deep. The moment he realized Gohan was relying too much on sensing Jiren's aura, he understood how dangerous that was.
Gohan considered his words carefully. 'Don't trust energy sensing too much... Does that mean using aura alone isn't enough to read an opponent's movements? Then what am I supposed to rely on instead?'
Looking at Piccolo, he asked through telepathy, 'Uncle Piccolo, are you saying I should use my eyes?'
Piccolo smiled faintly, a hint of approval in his expression.
'Exactly, Gohan. Sometimes, what your eyes pick up is more direct and reliable than what you sense through energy. By watching your opponent's movements and the smallest changes in their body, you can predict the direction and form of their next attack far more accurately. What you sense isn't always what's actually happening.'
Piccolo's expression grew serious as he continued.
'Jiren clearly knows how skilled we are at reading energy. That's why he's deliberately feeding you false openings and baiting you into reacting. From the very beginning, he never intended to launch those attacks for real, he was only trying to throw off your concentration.'
He paused before adding, 'And don't forget how absurdly fast he is. At the instant he actually attacks, he can even strip the energy away from his fist. That interferes with your ability to read both his movements and his intentions, leaving you unable to tell whether he's truly attacking or merely trying to mislead you.'
Piccolo's explanation covered everything. Experience really did make a difference, and once again, Gohan found himself learning a lesson from him.
Piccolo shook his head and continued speaking directly into Gohan's mind.
'Gohan, we can't drag this out any longer. I'm afraid Jiren's true strength goes far beyond this. Have you noticed? He's gradually adapting to your attack speed.'
Piccolo's voice was more serious than Gohan had ever heard it. As he spoke, a warm sensation spread through Gohan's body, Piccolo had healed him once again.
After listening to Piccolo's advice, Gohan clenched his fists and charged at Jiren once more.
Jiren repeated the same technique as before. His body flickered, and countless afterimages appeared all around the battlefield.
This time, however, Gohan didn't rely solely on sensing Jiren's energy. Instead, he locked his eyes onto every afterimage, searching for the real one. In fact, Gohan had taken Piccolo's lesson a step further: rather than abandoning energy sensing altogether, he combined it with his vision.
Together, the two gave him complete confidence to identify Jiren's true position.
His eyes locked onto an afterimage less than ten meters away. He kicked off the air, ignoring every other illusion. His target was clear.
'That's the real Jiren.'
Gohan drew both hands back to his waist as blue energy rapidly gathered between his palms.
"Kamehameha!!"
The instant he released it, the beam exploded from a thin stream into a colossal pillar of blue energy over a hundred meters wide. Like a dragon bursting from the sea, it roared straight toward Jiren.
At that instant, Jiren's normally calm eyes trembled. For the first time, surprise crossed his face; he hadn't expected Gohan to see through his technique so quickly. It was completely beyond his expectations.
But as a veteran warrior, Jiren didn't panic. With a powerful swing of both arms, he released a majestic burst of energy. Every afterimage surrounding him vanished like smoke, leaving only Jiren himself standing firmly in place.
Slowly raising both hands in front of his chest, Jiren caught the incoming Kamehameha with both palms.
Then something unexpected happened.
Without warning, excruciating pain shot through both of Jiren's hands. It felt as though countless steel needles had pierced his palms all at once, as if blazing flames were burning straight through his skin.
Jiren grimaced in pain. His eyes turned bloodshot, veins spreading across the whites until they looked ready to burst.
Then... he suddenly sensed someone behind him.
It was Piccolo.
(End Of This Chapter)
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