When the tournament's qualifying matches finally began, I chose to find a spot leaning against a tree right outside the tournament grounds as I closed my eyes and tried to sense what was going on within the building. From this particular spot, with my Saiyan eyesight, I'd also be able to pretty easily see the public matches from here, too.
Luckily, this early version of the tournament was nothing like it'd be in the 24th and on tournaments. There were no stands, no tickets. The tournament people made their money entirely off of concessions and souvenirs, and actually watching the matches was entirely free and simply required you to be able to find a spot to watch it on your own. Despite the fact that the qualifiers were supposed to take most of the day, many people had already staked their spots out in the very front rows, proving just how popular this tournament was.
I closed my eyes, sensing the battles as they went on inside the building walls. From the outside, I probably just looked like a weird kid taking a nap against a tree, but this was actually fairly good mental practice.
Honestly, though, even in the World Martial Arts tournament, there weren't many people strong enough to be easily sensed. From my spot against the tree, I could only count three, including Gohan and Roshi, who really stood out enough that I could easily follow their movements. Everyone else, while generally stronger than the rabble, was murky and weak.
Not that the strongest of the bunch were easy to follow. I couldn't really get a feel for precise movements, even from Roshi and Gohan, whose general locations I could pinpoint from halfway across the planet, were essentially just weak, murky blobs to me, but that was part of the fun, in my eyes.
As weak as they were, they'd managed to create techniques that'd leave the people of Vegeta floundering in awe, despite having almost no energy, comparatively speaking. I envied it.
Creating the Regalia Wave had only been realistic for me because I'd had a power level touching on a thousand. By that point, my body had so much ki energy that it was actually harder to tamp it down than it was to use it.
Even then, it'd taken me weeks upon weeks of effort. Even now, I knew that my Regalia had a ways to go before it was truly complete.
The qualifiers didn't feel particularly special, though. While the murky energies spiked and flailed as they were eliminated one by one, the three strong humans didn't seem to have any trouble at all, remaining relatively calm and stable the entire time, only spiking occasionally, and only for a few seconds at best, as they crushed their opponents almost effortlessly. I was glad for that. If Roshi was forced to eliminate all of the other strong fighters in the qualifiers, then I'd probably have simply left. There wasn't anything particularly exciting about watching Roshi end every single fight instantly, without trying at all.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, the qualifying rounds finished and the quarterfinals' schedule was posted. Surprisingly, I recognized exactly half of the names.
The first battle was to be a fighter named King Chappa, facing a man named Bacterian.
I scoffed, seeing this. Poor King Chappa. He'd probably win against that foul-smelling idiot, but it'd be bittersweet at best.
From what I knew, King Chappa was probably the power level that I'd been able to single out as strong, aside from that of Roshi and Gohan. My memory of him from the original series was limited, but I knew that, as a fighter, he'd had Roshi and Goku's respect, a tough feat for sure. I was also pretty sure that he'd supposedly won a World Martial Arts tournament in the past…
But he still wasn't strong enough to beat Roshi or Gohan, so I seriously doubted that this was that tournament.
After Chappa's fight with Bacterian, there was a battle between fighters that I didn't recognize, then Gohan and Roshi would both fight people I didn't recognize. As such, I wasn't particularly interested in any but three fights: The fight between Chappa and Bacterian, the fight between Roshi (Who was pretending to be Jackie Chun) and Gohan in the second round, and the fight between the winner of the two and King Chappa in the finals.
I wanted to see the techniques that three of the most powerful humans currently on this planet had to offer. I wanted to see it really badly!
Fundamentals were important. No matter how strong you became, technique and fundamental skill was always the most important thing, and I knew that, even though mine were far beyond that of any other Saiyan alive in those aspects, I didn't have a thing on human fighters like Roshi.
As such, I opened my eyes to watch as the fighters walked up to the ring. But just as they did, I overheard a commotion by the entrance to the qualifier building.
"Come on! I just wanted to catch a peek! Please?! I just wanted to see the greatest fighters in the world up close!" A kid, maybe a bit older than me, but not by much, had apparently been caught by the security guards, trying to sneak into the building to see the fights.
"Kid, what's your name?" One of the guards asked him.
"Yamcha! I just want-"
"Look, Yamcha. Just get a seat in the front row. You can try to find and talk to the fighters after their matches. It is very important that they all concentrate on their upcoming fights."
"Still-!"
I watched, slightly amused, as the young version of Yamcha argued with the guards, before being turned away and vanishing into the crowd. The poor kid probably had nobody to look after him.
Still, though. Yamcha was talented. As talented as Roshi, or Tien, give or take. Essentially, the guy was about as close to the peak of human talent as it got. Even as a kid, I was sure that he'd have no problem taking care of himself, which probably made him even more determined to meet with the greatest fighters of the times.
Too bad he didn't have the natural drive to make it as a fighter. His passion for combat would eventually grow lackluster, as his attention turned from getting stronger to meeting girls, then cheating on them.
If he'd been Krillin, I might've made the spontaneous decision to take him under my wing, but Yamcha wasn't worth the trouble.