The morning training was about done. Gohan called out to the Phoenix and took a few steps back, sprinting forward with the speed of the wind. At the edge of the mountain peak, he leaped out with a bang, soaring through the air like a cannonball, tracing a graceful arc in the sky.
A fiery red blur streaked from the mountaintop behind him, catching him mid-air. Gohan landed steadily on the Phoenix's back, standing upright as he enjoyed the sensation of the fierce winds enveloping him. He spread his arms wide, feeling as if he were cutting through the airflow.
"Too bad I don't have anything to give to Master's wife as a gift... Hmm, in two years, it'll be the Fifth World Martial Arts Tournament. Should I aim to win the championship? But would that even count as a gift...? This is really a headache..."
…
The year was 668.
Hathaway was turning eighty this year. Though she had maintained herself well over the years, appearing no older than sixty in the eyes of others, eighty was still eighty. Time and age never stopped for anyone.
On the balcony of the second floor, Taro and Hathaway stood together, embracing as they took in the unobstructed view of the island.
"It's strange… I've been looking at the same scenery for decades, yet I never get tired of it. In fact, this island only seems to grow more beautiful with each passing day," Hathaway murmured beside him. Her light-colored eyes reflected the forests, lakes, beaches, and ocean she was gazing upon.
As long as one lived, the body would never stop aging, slowly withering away. But if there was one thing that could remain forever young, perhaps it was the human eyes.
The ocean breeze brushed past the balcony. Taro reached out, tucking Hathaway's stray strands of hair behind her ear. Their gazes met and held. Taro was not a man of many words, so he simply looked—looked at the woman who had accompanied him for nearly sixty years. Her eyes were still as beautiful, serene, and intelligent as the first time he had seen them.
Their eyes met, silent yet profound.
Hathaway's childhood speculations about the author of a painting, their first meeting on this island, the months they spent developing what would become the first functional computer, their natural union, the joy of their child Tam's birth, the determination to wait on Grand Kai's Planet even if it meant leaving their son on Earth, the twenty years of waiting filled with countless emotions, the happiness of their reunion—like being reborn—and the decades of peaceful, uneventful days that followed…
The countless moments that wove their shared history dissipated into the warmth of this quiet gaze.
Hathaway suddenly chuckled. "To be honest, I still get a little scared thinking about it. What if you had rejected me back then?"
Taro smiled faintly. "You already knew the answer to that, didn't you?"
Hathaway leaned against his chest, her voice soft. "Yes… I did."
After a while, Tam and Lavinia came over. Lavinia said, "Mom, come here for a moment. There's something we need your help with."
Watching Lavinia pull Hathaway away to deal with some minor issue, Tam and Taro leaned against the crystal railing of the balcony.
Tam hesitated for a moment before asking, "Dad, how's the genetic solution project at the lab coming along?"
Taro seemed to snap out of his thoughts. "I'm not too sure. It seems like there are quite a few challenges, not much progress."
Tam fell silent again, standing beside him as they let the ocean breeze wash over them. Then, after a moment, he clapped his father's shoulder and, without looking back, said, "Old man, stop lazing around! Come help us out! Ninn won't even let Jarvis lend a hand—she insists our family makes this dinner ourselves."
Taro chuckled and followed along.
At that moment, up in the sky, Gohan stood on the Phoenix's back, descending from the mountain peak…
…
Night fell, and the stars filled the sky.
On Muten Island, the Crystal Palace was livelier than usual.
"Great-Grandmother, Little Gam is here to toast you! Wishing you a hundred—no, a thousand years of life!"
Ninn held her young son's tiny hand and guided him in his well-wishes. She grinned, while the little boy, Mu Gam, looked adorably confused as he held up his cup of juice and repeated, "Great-Grandmother, live a thousand hundred years…"
"Aww, Little Guang is learning to say such sweet things!" Lavinia, Tam's wife, laughed as she watched her endearingly silly grandson.
The family sat together in the brightly lit, spacious dining hall, its crystalline surfaces shimmering dreamlike. Jarvis had rendered the ceiling transparent, revealing the deep black sky above, where a crescent moon drifted in and out of the clouds.
Gohan approached Taro and Hathaway, respectfully raising his cup. "Master, Mistress, I owe you both a debt of rebirth. I, Gohan… have no way to repay you!"
The little boy sighed like a grown man before downing his drink in one go, then knelt on the floor.
Hathaway instinctively moved to help him up, but Taro gently held her back.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Gohan solemnly knocked his forehead against the floor three times, then looked up with a bright smile.
"Enough with all this nonsense. Let's eat."
Taro, seated at the head of the table, waved his hand at everyone. He sighed inwardly before scanning the gathered family—Tam, Lavinia, Ninn, Ninn's husband, their son, Gohan, the Phoenix… and Hathaway beside him.
Ten years from now, decades from now, a century, even centuries later…
Who among them would still remain?
If one counted the "timeline" of the original Dragon Ball story, it only spanned five or six decades. Compared to Taro's long life, it was just a fleeting moment. Ever since he gained prolonged youth and lifespan from the Divine Tree Constitution and the Elixir of Life, loneliness had become his fate.
And how many years did he himself have left?
His sigh wasn't for his solitude—such weak emotions had long been purged from his heart. Nor was it for the inevitable passing of his loved ones. Life and death were natural cycles, inevitable laws of existence. What was there to lament?
What he sighed for was merely the process itself.
Just as one sighs when seeing flowers bloom in spring, leaves fall in autumn, or snow descend in winter…
That was all.
After all, even he was not truly immortal. The Elixir of Life had been consumed long before he arrived in this world, and the God Tree Body—retrieved through the Dragon Balls—was never meant for eternal life, but for the potential of martial growth.