Chapter Text
Sitting around the campfire, everybody is laughing and telling stories of their favorite memories from all of their past adventures.
“Oh! I’d have to say my favorite memory was defeating DBK! It was so cool how I got to correctly use Monkey King’s powers for the first time!” Mk said excitedly.
“Speaking of which, when you were fighting DBK the jingguquan appeared on your head.” Tang imputed.
“The jingu what now?” Mk asked.
Sun Wukong flinched in the background at the mention of his tightening fillet as Tang went on to explain.
“The jingguquan, it was the golden headband Monkey King had worn during The Journey To The West as well as when he had defeated DBK!” He said in a matter of fact tone.
“Oh yea! I remember now!” Mk said.
Tang then frowned, “I actually don’t know much about the magical circlet..maybe I should look into it a bit more.”
Monkey King then laughed awkwardly drawing everyone’s attention towards him, “Wow guys, look at the time! You dorky mortals need to get to bed so you're well rested for tomorrow!”
“Awwww Monkey King! I knew you cared about us!” Mk said happily.
“Yea yea, bud, get to bed.” Wukong said with a smile as he ruffled Mk’s hair.
“I call sharing a tent with Mk!” Mei called, grabbing Mk and running to one of the tents.
“You and me Pigsy?” Sandy asked.
“Sorry pal, but I promised Tang I’d share with him.” Piggy replied.
“No worries! More room for me and Mo.” Sandy smiled and went to claim his own tent while Pigsy went with Tang.
Wukong let out a sigh of relief before calling his cloud to lay on.
Tang, Pigsy, and Sandy were the first up the next morning. Pigsy started making breakfast, Sandy was tending to Mo, and Tang was looking through all of the books he brought with him.
“There has to be a book about Monkey King that goes into detail about the jingguquan..” Tang mumbled to himself, “..maybe The Journey To The West?”
Grabbing the mentioned book, he went to go sit near Pigsy. By this time Mei had woken up and was dragging Mk over for breakfast.
“You hungry Tang?” Pigsy asked, pouring a bowl of congee.
“What kind of question is that? I'm always hungry for your food!” Tang joked and accepted the bowl of food.
Everyone else followed suit, grabbing a bowl and sitting all together to eat. Tang skimmed through his book, stopping when there was mention of the jingguquan. With curious eyes, he paid close attention to the explanation of how the tightening fillet worked.
“How fascinating, an object that could be used to keep the Monkey King in line.” He said aloud on accident.
“What was that Tang?” Mk asked.
“Ah, I didn’t mean to say that outloud but it says in The Journey To The West that the jingguquan was a type of punishment used to keep Monkey King in line. Tang Sanzang was given a spell that could tighten the circlet whenever he saw fit and it would cause immense pain for the Monkey King.” Tang explained.
“What?! That sounds so cruel!” Mk said, surprised by what he heard.
Pigsy laughed a little, “Boy would that be a helpful tool for us.”
Mk gasped and turned to Pigsy, “I can’t believe you’d say that Pigsy! Monkey King is a good person!”
“Sure, kid. If he’s a good person then DBK is a hero.” Pigsy said, rolling his eyes.
Sun Wukong then joined the group, being the last to wake up. He silently grabbed a bowl of food and sat down.
“He helped us save the world! None of that would have been possible without him giving me his powers! We would have all died to LBD!” Mk argued.
“Yea, well none of it would have even occurred if he was actually a good person, good people don’t lie to their friends.” Pigsy shot back.
“Personally, I think I am a good person. People just judge me for my past actions and can you even really call it lying? I was just not telling you guys everything, not lying about it.” Monkey King chimed in.
“Oh can it monkey man, just admit you're a terrible person and terrible mentor who almost got us all killed!” Pigsy snapped at him.
Taken aback, Sun Wukong didn’t respond.
“Maybe if you stopped to think about what you're doing or even stopped to care a little bit about Mk, things might have been better and we would have been better prepared!” Pigsy pressed on.
Sandy put his hand on Pigsy’s shoulder, “Hey, let’s all calm down a little and just enjoy our trip.” He said with a smile.
However, Pigsy shrugged off Sandy’s hand and grew more angry. “No! I can’t believe you guys have forgiven so quickly, especially you Mei! Monkey King not telling us you had the samadhi fire inside you could have gotten you killed!”
Mei flinched and looked down, and Mk hugged her as an attempt to comfort her.
Sun Wukong set down his bowl and stood up, “Alright swine, I think it’s time your little speech ended. You’re upsetting everyone now.”
Pigsy laughed, “You think you intimidate me? Your title means nothing to me! You are no great sage, you are just a horrible person who has pushed all of his problems onto his successor! And I wish you still had that stupid tightening band so I could say the spell and have it tighten so you could feel even just a fraction of the pain we have gone through due to you!”
Suddenly Monkey King yelped and held his forehead, surprising everyone.
“Monkey King?” Mk said in a concerned tone, slightly pulling away from Mei.
“I’m fine, bud. I just need to go lay down..” Sun Wukong said, quickly walking away from the group.
Everyone but Pigsy shared a concerned look on their faces, Pigsy just looked furious.
“Classic Monkey King, running away instead of telling us what's going on.” He mumbled. “Let’s go for a walk, old pal.” Sandy said, leading Pigsy towards the trail near their campsite.