As Bulma's car moved through the desert, the girl commented "After we get to Mount Frypan and get the dragon ball that's there, there'll only be the last one left, and it doesn't seem to be too far from the other one, so we'll be able to gather them all in the next few days"
A layer of dust was left behind as the small car moved across the sandy desert soil. The lack of vegetation left the place looking dead and colorless, but it was still a place with a certain natural beauty.
Beside the girl in the car, Seth was tapping his foot rhythmically, following the low music that was playing on the radio "Are you anxious to find all the dragon balls? Your vacation is still far from over, you shouldn't be in a hurry to finish our trip"
"Do you know the name of this band? I like this song!" He casually asked, as he continued to follow the rhythm of the music.
"I'm not in a rush... But I can't help but get excited knowing that we're so close to doing it" Bulma replied, her hands tightening on the steering wheel "And I don't know about the band, I'm not that into music"
The girl smiled slightly "I didn't know you liked music, you always seemed so oblivious to that kind of thing"
"Well, living on a mountain, I had very little access to that, but my grandfather had a radio, so music was one of the few things I had besides martial arts" Seth said.
It was true that Gohan had a radio in the small house, but since Seth didn't control his actions at that time, the truth is that he was never interested in music, that interest came from his past life, of course.
Bulma seemed ready to say something, but suddenly something caught her attention. Coming towards them was a vehicle, at a high speed, leaving a trail of dust.
There was no paved road in this desert, so it was unusual to have another vehicle coming down the same straight as them, a suspicious expression appeared on the girl's face as she slowed down.
A smile appeared on Seth's lips, he knew exactly who the person coming towards him was "It seems to be coming towards us, it seems we have unwanted company again"
It wasn't long before the vehicle was just a few meters away from them, and both sides came to a complete stop.
Yamcha's figure, with his long hair swaying in the wind, was clearly visible on the vehicle that resembled a sturdy motorcycle, while Puar's figure behind him could barely be seen.
Seth stepped out of the passenger door and walked to the front of the car, as he stared at the desert bandit with a slight smile "Carrying a sword at your waist and blocking our path, I must assume your intentions are not at all friendly, are you?"
From inside the car, Bulma looked at Yamcha 'She doesn't look like a bandit, he's actually quite handsome' She thought superficially.
Seth's presence in front of him made the desert bandit not pay attention to the presence of a girl inside the car, so he smiled confidently.
"You seem to have understood the situation very well. I am Yamcha, the owner of this desert. I am a very civilized person, so I don't want to kill for no reason, so how about paying the toll for passing through my lands?" He posed in front of his vehicle, holding the hilt of his sword.
Still in the vehicle, Puar was smiling, completely confident in his friend's abilities, certain that one way or another, they would leave there with a nice loot.
"A thug who introduces himself? Is that confidence or just vanity?" Seth chuckled as he walked closer to him "If you're civilized enough to offer a peaceful exit, I'll be kind enough to make a counteroffer. Get out of our way and you'll still get to live your life another day"
Yamcha made a more serious expression, but without losing his confident air, as he looked at Seth from head to toe. In a quick judgment, he deduced that Seth was younger, smaller and due to lack of muscles, weaker than him.
"Kid, I don't know where your confidence comes from, but if you don't give me at least five hundred thousand Zennis, or something of similar value, you won't be able to pass through here" Yamcha said, as he unsheathed his sword.
"Do I look that young?" Seth placed his hand on his own face, smoothing the soft skin. "Anyway, it's very arrogant of you to think you can beat me with that toy..." He reached into his pocket, and pulled out something the size of a pen.
Turning the small object between his fingers, he continued "This is a real weapon!" Then the object grew in size, revealing it to be the Nyoi-bo.
Yamcha looked at it carefully, with a thoughtful look "Is that staff the legendary Nyoi-bo?!"
Seth smiled "I see you're not just a pretty face without a brain, at least you recognize my weapon" Holding the bat behind his neck he continues "Are you still going to try your luck? That's kind of selfish of me, but I don't like the idea of killing pretty people"
"Pretty?" Yamcha's eyebrows furrowed as slight wrinkles appeared on his forehead "What the hell are you talking about, man?" He gripped the hilt of his sword, as he glared angrily at his target.
"You don't know how to take compliments? That must be because you became a thug, you probably don't know how to behave in society" Seth shrugged, without changing his pose.
Angrily, the desert bandit pointed his sword at him, then said "Since when is that a compliment to a man like me? Even more so coming from a guy like you!"
"Wow, are you so sensitive about this? Relax, my compliments end here, in the end you are just a mediocre thug, who can't even choose the right opponent" Seth said, as he slowly lost his smile "I'll let you attack first, if you can hurt me, I'll consider you someone worthy"
Despite his words starting the fight, he still didn't change his relaxed position, completely open and defenseless.
Yamcha was irritated, but also confused 'A random person wouldn't be walking around with Nyoi-bo, but what makes him so confident? Does he think he can dodge my attack, or maybe he intends to defend himself from that position?'
Inside the car, Bulma didn't have any fears about the fight, but she was curious about the conversation between them and the way Seth was taking it all.
'Is he really trying to go easy on this thug because he thinks he's pretty?' She was confused, but it was evident in the different way Yamcha was being treated.
Animals that got in their way would be killed by Seth, she had seen this a few times in the last few days. As for Earthlings, there were only a few, first the bandit bear, which quickly became a fight and ended in his death.
The second was earlier that day, Oolong, who was not killed on the condition that he reveal the whereabouts of the kidnapped girls. And even if he is alive, he was beaten and threatened with death, in addition to being left in the hands of the villagers, who, although unlikely, could put an end to him.
But to this desert bandit he had given several warnings, and even after his insistence, Seth was still allowing him to make the first attack. It seemed very different the way he was treating this opponent.
Bulma, despite being curious about Seth's reasons, didn't think it was bad that he was taking it easy on Yamcha, after all, despite him getting used to it, she doesn't like bloody scenes.
Back outside, Seth stood practically motionless as he stared at his opponent. "You look thoughtful, but I don't think you're thinking of a way to attack me... Whatever you have in mind, I'll give you a tip. When your opponent is wide open, you want to go for a finishing move, hit a vital spot, you know? Not that it would work in this fight, but it would be the right thing to do"
Yamcha, who was filled with trepidation over his opponent's great confidence, was driven to the edge of his anger by Seth's apparent arrogance.
"You talk too much!" He shouted, as he advanced and launched a horizontal attack, aiming to cut his target's stomach.
The sound of the blade cutting through the air could be heard, as Seth took a small step back, causing the curved blade to cut through just the fabric of his shirt, without even touching his skin.
Despite his fury, Yamcha quickly went on guard after his first attack failed, looking intently at his opponent.
Seth looked at the cut in his shirt "Dude, I only have three shirts and you ripped one of them... But why did you aim here? Assuming I was a normal person and actually got hit, all I would get was a superficial cut in the abdomen, not something fatal. Looks like you didn't want to listen to my tip"
Holding his sword with both hands and making a firm base with his feet, Yamcha gave Seth an irritated look "You managed to dodge, but don't go bragging, you just got lucky!"
"Finish him, Yamcha!" Puar said, in a mix of support and concern, noticing that it wouldn't be as simple as normal.
Seth turned his gaze to the small blue anthropomorphic cat and thought 'If I didn't hear him talking, I might think he was just a strange animal... I'll have to be careful not to end up treating any Earthlings like animals in the future'
As he thought, a second attack came, this time it seemed to be aimed at his neck. He let out a sigh, before casually moving the Nyoi-bo slightly, bringing it from the back of his neck, up above his head, vertically.
The metallic sound of the sword hitting the Nyoi-bo rang right in Seth's left ear, who with a calm expression said "Are you really trying? Aiming for the neck is a good thing, but that's exactly where my weapon was, I just needed to move it a little. If I had used a thrust at my throat, it would have been much harder for me to defend myself. I know curved swords aren't good for thrusting, but you have to improvise sometimes"
It was possible to see a vein popping out on Yamcha's forehead, he was feeling so angry and frustrated. Without even thinking, he pulled his sword back and launched another attack, this one aimed at Seth's chest.
Despite the attack being fast, it was slow in Seth's perception, who with a much faster movement, stuck one end of the Nyoi-bo into the ground, while holding the other end.
Yamcha saw his attack hit the Nyoi-bo, which had grown to over two meters, then looked up, seeing Seth standing over his weapon.
Balancing masterfully and gracefully on just one foot, Seth smiled looking down from above "Hey, Yamcha, can you understand how slow you are? The truth is, if I don't want you to, you'll never touch me. Our powers are on completely different levels, I don't gain anything by beating you, so why don't you give up? Even if you're a bit dumb, you must have already realized that you're not going to win"
Yamcha was furious hearing his opponent's constant mockery and being honest, he had already noticed that he was really at a disadvantage in this fight, he just didn't know how big the difference was.
Throwing his sword to the ground, Yamcha struck a martial arts pose, a serious look on his face, no longer a shred of his usual arrogance remaining.
With a small jump, Seth left the top of Nyoi-bo and returned to the ground "Are you going to try something with your own hands? Let's see if you have anything worthy of my time" He waved his hand, calling him to the fight, while his other arm was behind his back.
"I admit you're fast, but you'll regret being so arrogant!" Charging forward with ferocity in his gaze, Yamcha shouted "Roga Fufu Ken!"
Several blows were delivered at high speed, Yamcha struck with an open fist, using his fingers slightly curved as if they were the claws of a ferocious wolf.
Even though his speed had increased compared to when he used the sword, it still wasn't enough. After a long series of strikes, his breathing became labored and he looked at Seth in disbelief.
'He dodged all my attacks... How is this possible!?' As his chest heaved, he maintained his fighting posture.
"It's improved a bit, but you're still far from being any challenge... If you're satisfied with being a pathetic thug, that should be enough, but if you want to be more than that, you should train more" Seth said, before grabbing the Nyoi-bo behind him, shrinking it back to the size of a pen.
Walking towards the car, he turned his back on Yamcha and said "You haven't shown yourself worthy of a fight, but I don't want to kill you either, so just go away. If you want a rematch, I'll take part in the next martial arts tournament" He waved his hand in farewell.
//
Author's Note: I honestly liked this chapter, I hope it was good, and before you ask, yes, Seth really did find Yamcha pretty, but don't worry, there will be nothing between the two.