As for those little guys like Goku, it's not that I look down on them, but they simply cannot be a match for the two of us. Therefore, in Aira's opinion, the final championship showdown at the World Martial Arts Tournament would only be between herself and Rhode.
After speaking, Aira turned and left to continue her training. Although time was short, she still needed to improve herself.
"The World Martial Arts Tournament, huh? I wonder if any unexpected events will happen then?" Watching Aira leave, and thinking about the upcoming World Martial Arts Tournament, then recalling the unexpected events that happened at the World Martial Arts Tournament in the original timeline, Rhode was also curious if some unforeseen events and people would appear at this tournament.
Hmm? As he thought this, Rhode's perception spread out, but he didn't find anything unusual on Earth. However, when his perception extended into the depths of outer space, he had an unexpected discovery. Within his range of perception, he actually sensed a familiar aura on a spaceship. And through the Super Instant Transmission's cosmic star map analysis, the destination of this spaceship was undoubtedly Earth.
This is interesting! Sensing the familiar aura in the spaceship, Rhode's expression was somewhat surprised. It was someone he had thought was already dead, according to his knowledge. However, after thinking carefully about it and the possible events that could occur, it wasn't entirely unacceptable.
It's just that, according to the speed of their spaceship, they would probably land on Earth around the time the Martial Arts Tournament was being held. In that case, the World Martial Arts Tournament might indeed be very lively! He only hoped there would be a good ending then.
Thinking this, Rhode didn't pay special attention. Although the person on the spaceship surprised him, their strength was not great and posed no threat. If they didn't cause trouble, that would be fine. If they did, one could only say they came to the wrong place.
Not paying too much attention to the visitors from the stars, Rhode focused on the present. Although he planned to participate in the Martial Arts Tournament to give those little guys some setbacks, Rhode didn't take this matter too seriously, at most viewing it as an occasional relaxation.
However, Rhode was also curious about Bulma and her group's upcoming graduation trip to collect the dragon balls. He wondered if they would still, by chance, encounter the people from the original story? He thought they probably would! These past years, although he knew where the Earth warriors were, Rhode had not deliberately sought them out, letting them develop on their own. In his opinion, no matter how things changed because of him, these people would eventually get to know each other through various means and become friends and comrades. Not to mention what stories Goku and Bulma's dragon ball collecting graduation trip would entail, or what sparks they would create with the characters from the original timeline.
There was still some time before the World Martial Arts Tournament, so after discussing it with Aira, Rhode once again immersed himself in the study of several techniques.
A year passed, and through his research on the half-finished time machine he originally possessed and the complete time machine he obtained from Cell in Future Gohan's world, Rhode's mastery of time-space power had made a breakthrough. Not only had the duration of Time Stop extended to five seconds, but he had also, with the help of his research on the complete version of the time machine, basically gained the ability to precisely locate different parallel worlds. Although this progress might not seem like much, reaching five seconds for Time Stop was a great improvement. Not only was the control stronger, but it meant his mastery over time abilities had become more powerful. And precisely locating different parallel worlds was a qualitative change. This meant that if Rhode were to travel through parallel worlds again, he would actively choose according to his will, thus allowing him to avoid some potential dangers.
In addition to the improvement in time-space power, the Elementary Modification Technique also made significant progress, not far from the Intermediate Modification Technique. It was just missing a few things to truly achieve the Intermediate Modification Technique. At that time, after transforming himself through the Intermediate Modification Technique, Rhode's lifespan would undergo a qualitative change, basically achieving immortality and possessing super-speed recovery, and the problem of physical exhaustion would essentially no longer exist.
Besides the progress and improvement in the mastery of time-space power and the Elementary Modification Technique, only the Ultra Instinct Technique had some clues, and he had figured out some ways. However, there were some differences from the Ultra Instinct he had envisioned.
Ultra Instinct is when the body automatically reacts, dodges, attacks, increases defense, etc. Rhode's current understanding of the Ultra Instinct Technique is only at the stage of precisely reading the opponent's ki or other subtle changes through powerful perception and highly concentrated spirit to react. To put it simply, it's about predicting the enemy by reading their subtle details, anticipating them, and then dodging or intercepting them.
Although there were differences from Ultra Instinct, Rhode thought that if this method was practiced and trained for a long time, eventually solidifying into a subconscious behavior, or even a bodily instinct, then it would be no different from Ultra Instinct. If he could personally experience Ultra Instinct, then successfully mastering it would be very easy.
However, that was for the future. Currently, Rhode was only in the initial stage, with a long way to go before reaching a high level, let alone solidifying it into a subconscious act or even a bodily instinct.
All three techniques had made progress, but for the Forced Fusion Technique, Rhode currently had very little success. Now he had only thoroughly learned and researched the relevant techniques and knowledge. As for how to combine these things to create a new technique, he had no clue yet. Moreover, there was a most important reference object in the research of the Forced Fusion Technique, which was Majin Buu. He had not yet come into contact with him. He planned to search for Majin Buu as a material after the upcoming World Martial Arts Tournament.
Of course, merely one year of real-world time would not have been enough to achieve all this. In this process, Rhode naturally also relied on the Time Chamber's time difference. With some time still remaining before the World Martial Arts Tournament, he naturally wouldn't be idle and continued his research.
Time flew by, and the date of the World Martial Arts Tournament arrived in the blink of an eye.
Swish! As soon as Rhode stepped out of his room, Aira, who had been training these days, appeared before him.
"Time's up!" Upon seeing Rhode, Aira's expression was a bit excited, and she couldn't help but say this. However, immediately after, she looked at Rhode with a puzzled expression, a smile appearing on her face, and at the same time, she was a bit curious: "What kind of look is this? A disguise? But why disguise yourself as a bald man?"
Looking closely, what appeared before Aira was a bald figure in a yellow suit, wearing a cape, with a dull and unmotivated expression. That's right, at this moment, what appeared before Aira was Rhode transformed into Saitama, the protagonist of One-Punch Man, the bald hero.
Rhode wanted to establish an invincible image, to let the little ones know that besides himself and Aira, there were still people on Earth stronger than them!