Dragon Ball Human

But by the fourth day, Yamiru still hadn't left the vast coastal jungle.

"Aside from eating, drinking, finding a stream to bathe, and sleeping, I've basically been traveling. I only stop to rest when I feel my stamina can't handle sudden challenges..."

"This jungle, although harder to navigate than a flat road, my speed still isn't that slow. Back in the outskirts of South City, I could run fifty kilometers in an hour. Here, I must be averaging at least twenty kilometers per hour, right? Assuming six hours of travel each day, that's four days, so I should have covered at least four hundred and eighty kilometers..."

"And yet, I still haven't gotten out?!"

It wasn't until he calculated that Yamiru felt the absurdity of it.

"There's no way this jungle is that big..."

Taking a break, Yamiru continued to study the map on him.

He figured it would be a good idea to keep studying it in case the map got lost one day or got ruined by rain, or maybe he'd burn it for warmth in the cold... So he made sure to memorize the map, especially the area the elder had marked for the location of Paozu Mountain.

Since he wasn't sure which part of the coastline the elder had slapped him to, Yamiru studied the map carefully, focusing on all the landmasses surrounding Papaya Island in every direction. To the north was the main continent where Paozu Mountain was, while the south and east only had some scattered deserted islands or small tourist islands. As for the west, across a bay, was the southern continent where South was located.

After examining the islands south and east of Papaya Island, as well as the coastlines of South and the southern coast of the northern continent, Yamiru couldn't find any forests extending more than four hundred and eighty kilometers from the coastline.

"I'm forced to come to a painful conclusion... I'm lost!"

Yamiru solemnly put away the map.

He felt that the scene was almost comic-book-like, as if a crow should be flying overhead with a loud caw, adding to the atmosphere of this world.

However, the real world paid no attention to his idle amusement. The surrounding dense jungle remained eerily silent, with the lurking predators and prey moving cautiously. Only he, the carefree human, seemed oblivious to the danger and had been recklessly charging through the treacherous jungle for the past few days... and now, he had gotten lost.

At that moment, Yamiru, dressed in animal pelts, his pants in tatters, a snake skin belt tied around his waist with the snake's head knotted in front, its fangs now bent, and wearing hand-woven grass sandals that looked like something straight out of the Stone Age, appeared like a wild man.

Aside from his face, which he carefully cleaned, the rest of his arms and legs were dirty and covered in grime.

He looked like a true savage.

But Yamiru didn't mind. Since his transmigration, personal image and emotional concerns had been pushed to the back of his mind, and he hadn't even had the energy to think about such things.

"Anyway, I still have to keep going! But this time, I'm sticking to one direction. Even if the path ahead is difficult, I can't change direction now… If I keep wandering around in this cursed place, Goku will be fighting Piccolo Damaio, I'd still never get out!"

Yamiru muttered to himself, but his gaze remained firm. He didn't get discouraged or complain—when faced with a problem, the solution was simply to solve it.

He pressed forward in the direction he had been heading.

This time, Yamiru slowed down significantly, as he didn't want to alter his direction because of random obstacles—every small adjustment made his journey more exhausting. He kept looking back occasionally, checking if the line he had drawn with a branch was still straight, hoping it hadn't veered off.

And so, alone, he walked for another day.

"It's time to toss the branch."

Yamiru discarded the branch he had been using to mark his path, confirming his direction. He no longer wanted to rely on this method to help him maintain his sense of direction.

"Keep a clear mind, stay sharp, and then... trust the judgment my brain makes."

Yamiru closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again. His golden eyes gleamed with determination.

He had heard of an experiment where people, while blindfolded, would walk a straight line, only to find when they opened their eyes that they had veered off course. Yamiru was worried that this might happen to him, that he might unknowingly circle back. In fact, it seemed like it already had.

But he was determined to overcome it. "Overcoming oneself, isn't that what a martial artist... or rather, a strong person should do?"

Yamiru smiled to himself as a form of encouragement, then took a big step forward… although, honestly, it wasn't a huge step, but he was certainly moving forward with determination.

Walking to Paozu Mountain was never going to be easy, Yamiru had known that from the moment he woke up on the beach. But even he hadn't anticipated such a significant change by the fifth day. The transformation in his spirit felt like something that would have taken five months, or even five years, in South city to achieve. Perhaps... this was exactly why the old man had told him to walk to Paozu Mountain!

The back of the transmigrator, making his way through the dense forest, grew more resolute.

---

As Yamiru stepped down, something didn't feel right.

He slowly opened his fiery golden eyes, and in an instant, his mind processed the scene he had briefly noticed earlier while observing his surroundings.

—Dim light.

In his haste, Yamiru lifted his foot, only the tip of his toe touching the ground.

—Scattered, wild grass.

The quick adjustment to his body movements made it difficult for him to balance. He instinctively wanted to drop his heel down, but he barely managed to stop himself from moving.

—On the ground, the rusty edge of a metal trap.

Yamiru looked down. His toe was resting right in the middle of the exposed part of a rusty animal trap.

He pushed aside the wild grass in front of him and finally revealed the full sight of the trap—a rusted animal snare! Yamiru's foot was now safely placed in the small area where the trap's mechanism had not yet been triggered.

Luckily, with his small feet, even his toe hadn't triggered the trap. If his foot had been any bigger, or if he had let his heel drop, he would have definitely triggered the mechanism and would now be screaming in pain, clutching his foot.

A cold sweat broke out on Yamiru's forehead, and he felt a rush of relief. If he had been injured in this wild area, he would have had no choice but to use the last half of his senzu bean to heal.

Carefully retracting his foot, Yamiru suddenly felt a bit of joy.

The presence of the animal trap meant he was probably close to escaping this damn jungle!

He cautiously watched his step, parting the wild grass with his hands as he advanced. Soon, he found himself on a small trail through the forest! It was the first human-made path he had encountered in this damned forest.

On the side of the road stood a wooden sign. Yamiru walked around to the front and saw two crooked characters written on it: Trap.

It was probably a warning written by a hunter for others or to remind himself, since wild animals couldn't read. Yamiru thought this instinctively, then looked around, picked up a wooden stick, smeared some mud on it, and scratched it on the back of the sign. After a few motions, he forcefully stuck the stick into the sign.

Clapping his hands, Yamiru continued down the small path, heading in the direction of the forest's edge.

The stick wedged into the sign was now angled toward the animal trap he had almost stepped on earlier. On the back of the sign, beneath the stick, was a large middle finger drawn with mud.

---

"Shh! Don't move!!"

At the forest's edge, a middle-aged man desperately covered a boy's mouth.

Nearby, a large bear was pacing on all fours, slowly moving about as if searching for its vanished prey. This frustrated the bear, making it irritated. The previous daysnappearance of a troublesome "wild beast" in the forest had forced it to leave its territory. Now, it had finally come across two weak prey, thinking it could fill its hungry stomach, only to find the prey had "disappeared."

"This is bad, how did this blind bear end up at the forest's edge?" the middle-aged man muttered under his breath. He had brought his nephew to the forest to find someone, but hadn't ventured far when they encountered the bear, which shouldn't have been in this area.

"Hey! Lazy bear, look over here!" A loud voice suddenly came from deeper in the forest. It sounded like a boy, and there was something in his voice… excitement?

"Who's that?" The middle-aged man and the boy, whose mouth he was holding shut, were both curious but remained motionless.

"How did you end up here? Haha, are you surprised to see me? Aren't you thrilled? Hey, don't run! Stop! I'm telling you to stop, do you hear me?"

The middle-aged man heard the thundering sound of footsteps, the bear likely running, which confused him even more. When combined with the boy's excited tone, it made no sense. He pressed his nephew tighter against him, but he couldn't help but peek in the direction of the noise. What he saw left him stunned.

"Are you running or not?" came a voice from the forest.

To his shock, a black-haired boy, dressed in animal skins, was sitting on the bear's neck, laughing as he pounded the back of the bear's head. After a few hits, the bear wobbled and then collapsed to the ground with a thunderous crash.

The boy's brutal combat abilities shocked the middle-aged man, causing him to flinch and make a sound.

Yamiru's ears twitched, and he quickly turned around. "What's that?"

The middle-aged man's heart skipped a beat!

He could only feel that the creature riding on the bear's back and staring at him was a fierce beast dressed like a boy, its golden eyes shining with an intense gleam. The sight made him tense up, and he quickly pulled his nephew out of hiding, dropping to his knees and raising his hands, crying out, "Mercy, my savior!"