Chapter:47 “Broken Bones, Broken Beliefs” - Legend of gine !!

Want to read more?

The next 10+ chapters are already available on my Patreon!

By joining, you'll get:

📖 Early access to future chapters

🗳️ Polls to shape the story

🎁 Exclusive content for Patrons

🔥 Bonus scenes & content you won't find anywhere else

👀 Don't fall behind—others are already ahead!

👉 patreon.com/FanfictionTakashi

(If link doesn't show, just search on Google: FanfictionTakashi Patreon)

------------

Wolf Fang Blowing Wind Technique!" Yamcha yelled, going after Tien to strike in the same places. Gine nearly shouted out to him to not to do it but decided against it as she wondered if it would be considered outside interference. Plus, he did such a stupid tactic that any warrior ought to know, that he almost deserved to lose the brief lead he had in the fight.

Sure enough, Tien had seen what the technique could do and found a way to adapt to it. He stood where he was, and after some heavy grunting he turned red and bulked himself up. Yamcha struck him with his special attack as hard as he could, but Tien took the blows without even flinching.

Yamcha looked at a loss, his best attack shrugged off like it was nothing and realizing his error too late. He was also starting to look tired as Tien had not expended as much energy during the fight.

"Fine! Then I have no choice!" Yamcha suddenly declared.

He crouched into a stance that Gine thought was very familiar, as she had seen her son do it many times. Bluish light started to glow in his cupped hands.

Huh, guess he knows that attack too, she thought.

"Ka...me...ha...me...HAAAAAAAA!" Yamcha fired the blue energy shot at Tien, but he just stood there with his fingers pointed together.

The Kamehameha Wave stopped just short of Tien, then, unexpectedly, it flew right back at Yamcha!

Shocked by the twist, Yamcha launched himself into the air just barely in time to dodge his own attack, but Gine saw Tien jump behind him before Yamcha did.

"WATCH OUT!" Gine shouted without realizing it.

But Yamcha wasn't fast enough. With a single brutal kick to the head, Tien sent him flying down into the arena, striking the tiled floor hard with a thud. Yamcha didn't move, but Gine could see he was out cold. She felt sorry for him for some reason, even though he proved to be an inadequate fighter.

Then, without warning, Tien deliberately knee dived on Yamcha's leg. Gine watched and heard the bones snapping in it in painful slow motion.

Kicking your opponent while they were down was something Gine had witnessed enough times in her life to have grown accustomed to, but at that moment she was disgusted by Tien's display of unnecessary cruelty. Was it because she cared more about Yamcha as a friend of her son, or the act itself being committed by someone who, by extension, she hated in Crane? She did not know why she was more invested than she felt she should.

Bulma cried out in horror, wheeling around and clutching Gine hard as she wept into her shoulder loudly.

The announcer too looked shocked, but he stuck to the match.

"Yamcha is out cold and out of commission with a broken leg. Though this was a low thing to do to an opponent, it appears that Tien Shinhan is the winner!"

The crowd went crazy, but some looked really uncomfortable at what they just saw.

"It-it's okay, Bulma. He should be fine." Gine awkwardly tried to comfort her. Bulma didn't react to her and kept weeping. "It's only a broken leg." Gine said simply.

Bulma suddenly stopped crying and looked up at Gine, her eyes wet but wide in disbelief. "ARE YOU SERIOUS?! WHAT KIND OF HEARTLESS ALIEN ARE YOU?!" She practically shouted into Gine's face.

Gine felt her blood run cold for a moment at this sudden change, and a rise of panic too at that little tid-bit of information being said aloud in public for all to hear.

"THAT GUY JUST FREAKING BROKE YAMCHA'S LEG!" Bulma yelled and stormed off toward the wall where Kakarot was to see if she could tend to Yamcha. He looked just as angry at Tien.

Gohan watched the whole exchange wordlessly as he saw how Gine looked completely unsure what to make of that outburst.

"They couldn't be this concerned over an injury, could they?" Gine asked Gohan disbelievingly.

"Humans are not as impervious as Saiyans are, Gine. Surely you must know this by now."

"I know, but... they think it's the worst thing you could do to someone on the battlefield. It was a very viscous thing to do still, but that Tien didn't outright murder Yamcha or take his leg off entirely, and even that's tame compared to some of the things I had seen my fellow Saiyans do to helpless opponents. " She said back.

Gohan sighed through his nose grimly, seeing her point but thinking she was missing his entirely. But they had these kinds of conversations before.

"I guess there are indeed far worse things one could do to torture a defenseless foe, with the things you've told me..." He remembered some of the stories Gine told him in her more somber and emotional moments, recounting her most horrible memories of things she had seen and done as a Saiyan warrior before becoming a cook. Things that made even a seasoned martial artist like him shudder.

"But humans are not a warrior race like the Saiyans. We learned to fight but we are not born for it. So, it's unnatural for us to see acts of unwarranted brutality." He explained.

"Huh." Gine said thoughtfully as she looked back at Kakarot and his friends tending to Yamcha while Tien simply walked off, basking in his victory. "I thought they'd be more upset by how Yamcha lost the match, given how he made that grave mistake of using his signature attack repeatedly."

"I thought the same thing too, in regard to the fight." Gohan replied. "But you must understand that in the world of martial arts we don't cause harm to each other out of spite or sport. We fight only for spiritual growth and self-defense. And not causing undue harm is especially true in self-defense. As we fight with honor and treat our enemies the way we'd want them to treat us."

"Why would you ever want to do that?" Gine asked him disbelievingly.

"Because it's the right thing to do." He said it as if it was as true as two plus two equals four. Gine looked at Gohan with a quizzical look as if he just spoke gibberish.

"Even in the heat of combat with an enemy who has sworn to kill you and all you cared about, no matter what?"

Gohan nodded. "Yep."

"Even if they wouldn't give you the same courtesy as you would for them?" Gine pried.

"Yep, and that's exactly why we would. Because we are not them. We show them that we can be kind and forgiving to someone that may never had experienced kindness at all. That there is a better way to enlightenment and being the best without crushing someone's soul or skull."

Gine looked away uncomfortably, seeing what Gohan was getting at. Sure, humans were weak and never meant to be the warriors as Saiyans were, but humans embraced compassion. It was a trait almost unheard of among the Saiyans, and was for all intents and purposes a joke or curse to toss around. Compassion and mercy were weaknesses that would get you killed or taken advantage of, and power was the only true virtue. Rise to the top and crush all beneath you. She had that philosophy pounded into her countless times, reminded constantly that no matter what, if she wasn't strong enough, she was dead. And the kindness of strangers was a mere fantasy that didn't exist or ought to exist at all.

But had she not herself experienced it from this very man? He was by all counts a better warrior than her, but he showed her mercy. Took her in when she had nowhere else to go, gave her and her son a second chance at life without exploiting them. It went against everything she was raised to believe but she embraced that fully. She owed her life to Gohan and would defend him to her dying breath.