Kurumi seized the moment when Master Roshi collapsed, silently expanding her shadow space beneath his shadow.
Then, she extended the muzzle of her antique pistol out from the shadow space, pressing it against Master Roshi's chest.
At the same time, Altair activated the third movement of Holopsicon, "Representation Exposition", an ability that alters the composition of objects.
She modified the air around Master Roshi and the soil beneath him, creating a vacuum barrier that completely isolated them from the outside world—essentially a physical version of a soundproof barrier.
Inside the shadow space, Kurumi nodded at Altair.
Immediately after, she pulled the trigger, and the time-infused bullet shot into Master Roshi's body.
No gunshot could be heard outside.
The power of time reversal silently took effect.
In just one or two seconds, Master Roshi's body returned to its original healthy state.
At this moment, he hadn't even had time to lose consciousness, leaving him momentarily stunned.
Why did it feel like... his body had suddenly recovered?
Master Roshi's confusion didn't last long before Kurumi's melodious voice drifted out from the shadow space into his ears:
"Hello, Master Roshi. No need to panic, I've just restored your body. We're here to help you."
Hearing this incredibly pleasant female voice, Master Roshi's expression stiffened.
His mustache twitched, and his eyes widened in shock as he muttered softly:
"You guys...? Who are you? Where are you?"
Seeing that he was about to get up, Kurumi quickly said:
"Don't move just yet. Please cooperate with us—we're about to ambush Piccolo, and we can't afford to be discovered by him right now."
Master Roshi hesitated for a moment but ultimately decided to comply, staying on the ground and pretending to be dead.
His mind was still reeling from the shock of being saved by people whose presence he couldn't even detect.
"You plan to ambush Piccolo?" Master Roshi whispered a reminder. "That guy is incredibly tough—he reacts extremely fast. The chances of successfully ambushing him are slim."
"Don't worry, our plan is foolproof."
Kurumi selectively shared parts of their ambush strategy with the old pervert.
Of course, she didn't forget to keep an eye on what Piccolo was doing.
After Master Roshi collapsed, Old Piccolo dug up the five Dragon Balls buried underground.
Then, he found a spot, threw the Dragon Balls onto the ground, and coughed up two more from his stomach.
As the seven Dragon Balls gathered together, they seemed to resonate, emitting a faint golden glow—pulsing, flickering, and gradually growing brighter.
Kurumi quickly turned to Souta and the others, exclaiming:
"Piccolo's about to summon Shenron! We need to move now!"
Under her control, the shadow space instantly relocated to a spot near Old Piccolo.
On the ground, a patch of inky blackness spread like spilled ink, rippling outward.
Souta, Kurumi, Shinobu, and Altair emerged simultaneously from the liquid darkness.
Souta shouted as he took the lead.
His time manipulation abilities came from Kurumi, but his version was more comprehensive.
Unlike Kurumi, who needed to fire a bullet to activate her abilities, Souta could influence anything within his line of sight instantly.
ZA WARUDO! Souta shouted internally, hyping himself up.
In that instant, Old Piccolo, who had been grinning wildly at the Dragon Balls, froze in place.
Sweat dripped from Souta's temple.
He could feel his body's energy draining rapidly.
When he faced the vampire hunter Dramaturgy in the Monogatari world, he could stop him for a full five seconds.
But against Piccolo? Souta could barely hold him for even one second.
Old Piccolo was already beginning to break free from the time stop, and Souta felt a wave of dizziness, as if he could barely stand.
Fortunately, at that moment, Kurumi capitalized on the opportunity he had created—this was all part of the plan.
To prevent Old Piccolo from dodging her time bullet, Souta would freeze him for an instant, allowing Kurumi to follow up.
Kurumi pulled the trigger on her antique rifle with a loud bang.
A manifested bullet of time shot forward, striking Old Piccolo's finger—just as it was beginning to twitch.
The time stop, which had almost ended, was seamlessly extended!
This bullet was a Seven Bullet, which could freeze time.
Back in the real world, Kurumi had spent nearly an hour crafting this bullet in advance.
By her estimation, the amount of time stored in this single bullet was at least 100,000 years.
So even an insanely powerful being like Old Piccolo—who could destroy a city with a single energy blast—was completely frozen, his thoughts grinding to a halt.
A bullet infused with 100,000 years of time... surely it could hold him for a while.
"How... long... can this last... Kurumi?" Souta asked between heavy breaths.
Stopping someone as powerful as Piccolo had completely drained him.
Even if it was just for a fraction of a second, it had taken a serious toll.
Kurumi quickly moved to support him, replying:
"I can't say the exact time, but..."
She estimated internally. "At the very least, it'll last a full day. After all, I burned through 100,000 years of time for this shot."
Honestly, she had never been this extravagant before.
Spending 100,000 years of stored time on a single bullet? The old her wouldn't even have dared to imagine it.
"So... these are the Dragon Balls, huh?"
At that moment, Altair walked over, holding the seven golden orbs in her hands.
Souta looked at the glowing spheres in her grasp and felt a wave of nostalgia... These things were his childhood.
"Kurumi, store the Dragon Balls in your shadow space."
Kurumi nodded. As she expanded her shadow at her feet, Altair tossed the seven Dragon Balls in.
The brilliant golden spheres were quickly swallowed by the inky blackness, vanishing without a trace.
Altair circled the frozen Old Piccolo and suggested:
"Since he's completely helpless, why don't we just kill him?"
"No!" Souta immediately objected. "Piccolo and Kami are connected—if he dies, the Dragon Balls will stop working."
"Then let me take care of him," a new voice spoke.
Master Roshi finally stopped pretending to be dead and slowly stood up.
He looked at the four of them with unconcealed shock in his eyes.
The way they executed this "ambush"—it was completely beyond comprehension.
Just what kind of power could so effortlessly suppress someone like Piccolo?
"Of course," Souta responded with a friendly smile. "You can use the Mafuba(Demon Sealing Wave) to seal him again. Don't worry—afterward, we'll restore your body to its original state."