Saiyan stowaways on the Ark

His back was blocking the entrance to the cave, making it impossible to see what was inside.

"Hey! If you don't move, I'm going to kick your ass!"

But Thomas remained silent for a moment, then continued:

"...Bardock, it's better to be mentally prepared before you come in."

Bardock's expression changed—then without hesitation, he kicked aside Tomat, who was blocking his view, and rushed inside.

[Main Text] Terra's World's Greatest Martial Arts Tournament. Debate Chapter: Chapter Thirty-One: The Cage and the Trapped Beast

"...I told you to calm down."

Thomas got up, rubbing his backside where he had been kicked.

The kick was quite powerful, but it didn't send him flying out of the building.

He then said to Bardock, who was somewhat stunned, and Meteor, who was covering his mouth:

I don't know whether to say it's a pity or... 'good luck'.

This is a dirty, messy room full of cages.

The exact scale is unclear, but the layers upon layers of cages piled up here form high walls that divide the space, and their number is probably much greater than that of a zoo.

And what's inside isn't an animal.

It is a human being.

They were emaciated and on the verge of death.

Sarkaz, Kuranta, Elafia, Ursus, Zalak...

Perhaps the only thing this place has in common with a zoo is that it gathers almost every common species.

The tattered cloth concealed the broken body covered with crystals.

Mud, blood, scars, new wounds, disability.

In the cold cage, the small body was filled with these unsettling elements.

And his thin physique is not only due to the obvious symptoms of malnutrition.

More often than not, it's simply because they are too young.

His face, thin with prominent cheekbones, still retained an undeniable childishness.

Their once bright eyes were now lifeless. They either used their withered arms, covered in calluses and scars, to block out the light from the orb, or they huddled blankly in their cages, staring at the three people who had suddenly entered without daring to utter a word.

Of course, many more simply lay there, seemingly oblivious, continuing their faint breathing—some were even completely still.

Meteor's eyes were a little red, but the hand covering her mouth was still unconsciously tightening its grip due to the anger in her heart.

She had imagined what unacceptable things she might see in the Infected Arena, but she was not mentally prepared for it.

Has Kazimier already accepted that this kind of thing happens in every infected arena?

How is this any different from the Ursus people they despise?

Bardock was stunned for a few seconds.

He spent most of his time on the battlefield.

There, mountains of corpses and seas of blood were to be expected, and he had long been accustomed to such exaggeratedly brutal scenes.

But this is not a battlefield.

It was just a scene in a relatively peaceful and prosperous city on a planet that Bardak considered relatively peaceful.

A “cruel” act whose meaning he could not comprehend.

"Lily of the Valley and Bubble aren't here, but..."

While the two were still stunned, Tomat quickly looked around and continued:

"There's another door ahead, and the atmosphere behind that door is even stronger... I guess that's the arena, while this is probably backstage."

Thomas also looked at the nearby cages.

Inside, a child with half his face burned was trembling as he looked at himself.

"Furthermore, many of these people's wounds do not look like normal injuries. They are either bitten by wild animals, torn apart, or even look like they have been corroded."

Bardock snapped out of his daze and crouched down to look at the nearest cage.

The small body inside was already cold and stiff.

"...So, it's not about fighting, but about using them for amusement, right?"

"Ah."

Thomas nodded.

"...Should we go inside and look around? I've sensed it. Besides the arena where many non-infected people are gathered, there are several separate spaces where some people are also gathered, probably in the players' preparation rooms or something like that."

He continued to explain the current situation from the side.

"I'll go find it."

Bardock stood up, his expression utterly calm. After offering to go inside to find the person, he pointed to where the three were and said:

"...You know what to do, so just consider it me asking for your help, okay?"

He said something else unclear, and then disappeared from sight.

"Don't be so polite with me... Ah, Miss Meteor, please inform Rhodes Island about the situation here, and the Doctor will arrange suitable personnel."

After chuckling and saying something to the spot where Bardock had been, he approached the nearby cage while speaking to Meteor.

"By the way, you can go and follow Bardak. Don't worry, he's quite obedient. Just remind him to be careful."

"Huh...? Okay..."

Meteor had no idea what formula the two had reached, but before taking out her communicator and heading towards the door where Bardock was currently standing, she asked Tommat:

"Then why is Mr. Thomas staying here?"

“Give them some basic first aid. The people here are just left to die; it wouldn’t be surprising if they died at any time.”

Thomas flicked his wrist, and a beam of light flew from his fingertips.

Then the surrounding cage bars disintegrated with a loud crash, scattering across the ground.

Even so, the children inside only screamed softly and tried to curl up deeper inside.

"At this close distance, it should be possible..."

Thomas muttered as he extended his hand to one of them.

A pure white aura immediately emanated from his hand, covering a large area.

"Alright, hurry up and go, or Bardak will disappear again."

“I know, but please think carefully. This kind of thing is ‘permitted’ in Kazimierz, protected by their written laws. Doing so is tantamount to interfering with their laws and politics. Even if we are acting from a humanitarian perspective, they don’t seem to consider infected people as ‘human,’ and they have countless reasons to condemn us…”

Thomas didn't stop, turning back to look at the shooting star.

But he wasn't tired of this phrase that he heard so often.

Because he understood why Meteor or others who had given the same advice had reservations.

Insufficient ability and weak strength.

Even if you have a strong impulse or a correct stance, you should still worry about the consequences of your actions.

After all, the side that "seems" to be stronger is not always on the so-called "correct side".

They treated children as slaves in the mines.

Treat children as warriors in an arena.

This is something that will inevitably cause controversy if it is brought to the forefront, yet it is something that actually happens in Terran society.

However, the infected individuals themselves constitute a social problem, and the aforementioned methods are far easier than addressing the problem pathologically—they tend to squeeze all the economic or political value out of the infected individuals before "solving" them biologically.

The imbalance on the scales of interests is too obvious, and there is no intention to change this situation.

That's why it becomes "ignoring" and "tacitly approving".

“I don’t care what the policies are like in Kazimierz or other cities, or whether things might be worse elsewhere, but we’re Rhodes Island people now, right? The point isn’t whether Kazimierz allows it or not, but whether we allow it or not.”

"Overestimating one's own abilities, meddling in other people's business, interfering in other countries' affairs—you are absolutely right."

Thomas certainly knew what he was doing, or rather, what would happen next.

But this time he didn't have too many concerns, and instead started to "encourage" it.

He continued speaking to the shooting star:

"But Rhodes Island was planning to do these things all along—to fight for the rights of the infected in a world where everyone discriminates against them, to provide them with treatment, to try to eliminate conflicts, even if it means becoming a thorn in the side and doing stupid things that are considered 'outrageous' by those big shots."

"Rhodes Island's thoughts and actions are inherently aimed at harming the interests of those people."

As he spoke, he looked at a small Sarkaz girl with one arm who had been breathing weakly just moments before, but was now slowly opening her eyes.

These are their "interests".

Helping them escape their current miserable state and live like normal people is like taking food from their mouths.

"We weren't targeted before because Rhodes Island wasn't capable enough, so others looked down on us and we didn't dare to be too high-profile."

Meteor is a veteran operator of Rhodes Island, and the days that Thomas recounted are not that far removed from the present.

However, since Tomat arrived, various events have made Rhodes Island a force worth courting by a nation.

The change was so drastic that she—or rather, most of the Rhodes Island members—did not allow their thinking to change accordingly.

They remained cautious and wanted to keep a low profile as before.

Of course, this doesn't mean that being cautious is bad.

But excessive restraint, to the point of being like a wild beast that has lost its teeth and claws, still "binding" itself to a cautious approach, forgetting its original ambition and drive...

That would make him just as "cowardly" as Tomat before he met Bardock.

"If I were back then, with the strength that Rhodes Island has now, I wouldn't have pretended anymore, I would have just gone and twisted that dwarf's head off."