Easy money? Just sing something good and smile!

In the outskirts of a very isolated village, a boy slept comfortably under the shadow of a tree, his face would sometimes change, with his cheeks getting redder and a sly smile appearing on his mouth, he would then proceed to extend both of his hands with the palms open as if he was touching a round object...

"He... he... Boobs..." He turned to the side and unintentionally hit his head in one of the roots of the nearby tree. "Ouch!"

Opening his eyes, he was about to punch the tree, however, he suddenly stopped and started blinking madly, he tried cleaning his eyes with his hands and looking at the tree once again, then he started spinning around slowly, making sure to catch a glimpse of pretty much every detail.

"This... It can't be... am I having a nightmare!?" The cold breeze reached his back making all of his hair stand on end as the chilling sensation ran across his spine.

However, before he could even give his first step, he suddenly lost control of his body for a moment and fell to the ground, only managing to support himself with his hand at the last moment.

Memories that didn't belong to him, were just copied down into his brain somehow, he could vividly remember the entire life of a boy whose appearance for some reason heavily resembled his, the short brown spiked hair that got orange on the end, the sharp eyes that gave off an unsettling feeling to those who looked at him for too long, the outlined face which woman seemed to consider extremely beautiful ever since those k-pop guys became popular... Which, might he add, wasn't cool since he always wanted to look mainly like Rambo, and other similar action movie actors... if not, he would have been content if he was slightly similar to Jackie Chan.

Shaking his head, he dismissed the thoughts on his appearance and concentrated on the most important and fucked up information he got from those memories, besides being an orphan, the World Martial Arts Tournament... a competition that the true owner of this body apparently went to watch almost two weeks ago, one where he saw what looked like a cartoon character from an old anime his father used to watch...

Goku from the first, well, saga of dragon ball series if you consider each version of the anime as a saga on its own.

He bit his lips and held his head, he never felt he would ever say something like this before but... what the heck, why here? Of all possible anime verses, why this place?

His body started shaking as memories of the seasons started playing on his head, in the end, he could only curse his luck as he remembered that right from the Saiyan saga of dragon ball z, almost everyone could destroy a planet... or at least, they could do so given enough time.

In any case, he couldn't deal with this, he was just a fucking 14 years old boy, wait... no... based on this body memories he's now one year younger, still, he was just a shy kid before, what the hell was he supposed to do now that he was living in a such a dangerous universe!

In fact, where is he going to live? Where is he going to find food?

As questions such as those and others started appearing on his mind, tears started streaming down his face, as he angrily punched the ground and regretted it soon after. "Damn it! Why is the common soil so hard in this weird place!? Fuck, it feels as if I had just punched a rock!" He held his hand and started blowing it to relieve the pain.

Hours went by and he had somehow managed to calm down, he repeatedly told himself that it was time to forget his childhood, now that fate forced him, it was time to become a man, to get a job, to touch some tits... Hehe... he started drooling, but his internal self slapped him in the face.

"You idiot! Think of girls later, that shit of yours can't even stand properly yet, find a way to secure a source of food first, then you can think of..." His internal self gulped. "Titties..."

Sumai slapped himself and started cursing his old friend Alex if that bastard hadn't shown him the wonders of adult videos back in the internet class... Well, there's no use complaining about the past right now.

He might be excited about the new possibilities that came with his new life, but he knew how to sort out his priorities, he wouldn't get the best grades in his class if he didn't know how to do even such a simple thing.

Still, he had a big problem, while getting stronger and training was definitely important, he had no way of doing that now, nor he knew how to found the truly powerful people, such as Master Roshi, the green guy On that floating thing, what was he called again, kami?

He couldn't help but sigh, the last time he watched Dragon Ball was probably a year ago, 2015, but at that time, he wasn't even watching Z, he was watching the filler 'saga' also known as GT.

He could just vaguely remember important locations and important individuals...

"Heavens, why! Why didn't you warn me that this would happen, at least, I would have watched this anime one more time..." Sighing, he stood up and walked towards the center of the village.

The place wasn't that small for a village in the middle of nowhere, the houses were really humble being mostly built with wood, while the richest villagers built theirs with rocks. The kids could be seen playing around, sometimes they pretended to be martial arts fighters, other times they played with a ball.

The people would go and come from as if they walked without a purpose in life, some were using expensive outfits such as suits while others were dressed as farmers from the 18th century. The village had about five stores, although they weren't really the best business around, with their village being the only thing in sight between two cities, they could still get some profit every now and then every time an outsider passed by.

As he walked towards the old fountain that was built by the founder of the village eons ago, his stomach started howling like a furious beast hungry for blood, it was so scary that he felt like his stomach had gained sentience...

"Danmit, I need some money to buy food..." As he thought about how to acquire some money, he saw an old man sitting alone next to the fountain, he had a sad look on his face, a guitar on his left, and a hat filled with nothing on his right.

Seeing that he suddenly had an idea, what if he tried using songs as a source of money? He knew so many of them, it shouldn't be difficult, especially so when he was at least better than the average people at singing and playing instruments.

He approached the old man and smiled at him, it was quite creepy, the old man stared at him uncomfortably and wondered if this boy wanted to steal him.

"Sir, would you allow me to play your guitar to see if I can gather some money for myself? Don't worry, I don't plan on using it for free, I'll give you 10% of the money, what do you say?"

The man blinked and stared at Sumai with a blank face. "Wait, what? Did you say you want to borrow my guitar?"

"Yes, that is correct."

The old man scratched his head and frowned for a moment, however, he looked at the hat lying on the ground without a single penny and sighed. "Okay... but if you don't give me the money you promised, I'll beat you, and no one will be able to stop me!"

The old man's voice got slightly louder as he threatened, the boy paid him no attention and was already grabbing the guitar once he heard 'okay'.

After adjusting the guitar for the right configuration, he paused for a moment, and after thinking for a while he decided to animate a little this little town, he was more used to country songs but this should be enough to give him a good start.

He took the guitar and put on the shoulder strap to not let it fall, he jumped on the fountain and sat down where once there was probably a statue, which now sadly is only a pedestal.

Seeing some of the people around who weren't paying him any attention and were just wasting their time, he lifted his hand and shouted. "Hey everyone, how about some fun? I'll sing you a song, and if you like, you give me the amount of money you think my performance deserves, what do you say?"

A girl wearing an expensive dress looked at him with interest, she never heard that the people from the countryside liked to sing, she was willing to give it a go, but she couldn't speak for the others.

One of the people around the fountain, a sheriff wearing a cowboy hat, spit on the ground and said. "Alright, boy, this has been a tedious day anyway, and since I'm feeling generous today if you sing well, I'll give you a 100 Zeni, but if I don't like what I hear, you won't even get another look from me."

Hearing that the sheriff wanted to hear him singing, the others followed his words and said they wanted to hear as well.

"Very well, but if anything, don't leave just at the beginning, my style might be a little different from what you guys are used to, but I assure you it's a good song."

The small crowd that formed laughed slightly and some shook their head, those were some big words from a kid. If that was what they were thinking, imagine what the old man that looked at him stunned was thinking, heavens, he didn't even have a guitar before, if this kid is trying to scam them, he would be the first to beat him into a pulp.

With his hands adjusted in the right positions, Sumai started moving the plectrum based on his memories, when they heard the beginning everyone frowned, what the hell was that? Why did it sound so... weird?

However, 5 seconds passed, then another 5, and their expressions eased a little. As the sound of the guitar started reaching their ears, they grew increasingly interested in this new style they've never heard before.

It took 28 seconds for the song to really start, but at that point, he knew he already had their attention. Smiling, he let the flow of the song guide him as he closed his eyes and lifted his neck with a pleasurable feeling coursing through his body as the soundwaves passed through him and he opened his mouth. "life is like a road that you travel on when there's one day here and the next day gone. Sometimes you bend, sometimes you stand, sometimes you turn your back to the winds..."

When they heard the first verses, their eyes were all opened wide, the boy wasn't the best singer they had ever heard, and the song felt like something was missing, still, it was their first time hearing such a free song...

With each verse they could picture themselves somehow leaving this place and traveling around the world, feeling the wind in their hairs and making the most of every moment.

The more they heard, the more they liked it, the girl who first noticed him couldn't believe her ears, this boy... such a talent!

Approaching the end of the song, everyone started singing the chorus together with him. "Life is a highway! I wanna ride it all night long..."

When he ended, those who really liked it, more or less half of the crowd stood up as they clapped with smiles on their faces, the other people also clapped, but they didn't felt like it was anything special.

The sheriff was shaking his head as he approached the boy. "You know son, I regret having said those words before, this was definitely a good song... here, take it, a 100 as promised." he dropped the money on the hat and left.

In the end, almost 30 people decided to give him some money, he couldn't believe his luck. Still, he didn't know much about prices in this world, the previous owner of this body, apparently just stole some fruits from the farms when he wasn't eating rabbits and other small game.

"Good lord! Look at this, 500 Zeni!" The old man exclaimed as he looked at his hat which was almost bursting from the number of coins and notes inside it.

"And as promised, here, 50 Zeni." Sumai gave him the money and stashed everything else in his pocket.

Seeing all that money vanishing from his eyes, the old man suddenly started sweating, with part of that amount he might finally be able to buy a ticket out of this place... He looked at the happy boy in front of him and gulped, his eyes locked on the guitar, which had his initials carved behind, a gift he got from his daughter...

Sumai was thinking about all the food he would buy, the room he would rent in an inn, and his next steps when he felt the old man tapping his shoulder. "Mm?" He turned to look at him. "Is there anything wrong, sir?"

The old man sighed, and his hand was shaking as he extended the guitar towards the boy. The idea of parting away with the most precious gift he had ever received was painful, it felt like he was letting go of his own daughter. "Boy... please buy it... 250 is all I ask, with this money I can finally go back to my family."

The old man had his head lowered as he pushed the guitar towards Sumai, who looked at him surprised, and he wasn't the only one, in the three years this old man had stayed around the village, not even once he left the guitar alone, so everyone who noticed this wondered, why would he want to sell it now?

Seeing the tears streaming down his face, Sumai gulped, he never saw someone so emotional like him before... After thinking for a moment he smiled and nodded, he would need a guitar anyway, there was no need to think this over.

"Alright, sir. You got yourself a deal."

The girl wearing the expensive dress looked at this scene with some interest as she massaged her chin, it was amusing somehow, seeing the interaction between the two reminded her of how different a person's life could be from one place to another, 250 was so little for her, but for that old man it meant the world right now.

"Thank you kid, thank you!" He smiled and hugged the boy who stood stiff, barely reacting to the old man's action. The old man then stepped back and cleaned his teary eyes. "Please, take good care of this guitar, it was a precious gift."

"Don't worry I will." Sumai seriously nodded and watched as the old man took his hat and left.

At that moment, he heard someone clapping behind him, turning to see, he saw a girl, probably three or more years older than him. "That's really noble from you, buying an old guitar so overpriced..."

The girl with long brown hair swirled up in a knot on the back of her head smiled as she approached him with elegant steps.

Sumai frowned and simply looked at her, he held his guitar and slightly lowered his head, seeing his reaction the girl raised an eyebrow and tilted her head.

"You think I'm mocking you? This age has made people cynical..." She shook her head as she circled him, her eyes wandered every part of his body, from head to toe.

"Maybe it just the way you spoke, it felt a little bit arrogant, or perhaps I'm just a prejudiced boy..." Sumai gulped as he stepped back from the girl. Who laughed at how nervous he was around her.

"Relax, I don't bite." She smiled, sat down on the edge of the fountain, and crossed her legs as she turned to look at the faraway mountains covered with snow on the north. "I want to speak about your song, I feel like we could benefit from helping each other."