Rescuing Dende

Planet Namek!

Frieza led Zarbon, Dodoria, and the others into this village.

They herded all the Namekians there into the plaza and used threats and bribes to force them to hand over their Dragon Ball.

"Where did the rest of your people go? Doesn't a village have ten people? Why are there only old, weak, and sickly ones here?"

Dodoria asked with a broad grin.

The four Dragon Balls he'd obtained along the way had all been stolen by him.

He and Zarbon were Frieza's right-hand men, but Zarbon was even stronger than he was.

So Dodoria usually took care of the small stuff.

"You have four Dragon Balls!"

The village elder was shocked. Their enemy was holding four Dragon Balls.

That meant four villages had already met with disaster.

Every village guarded one Dragon Ball.

And there was no way they would hand the Dragon Balls over to aliens.

How did these aliens know how many people were in their village?

At the same time, Son Gohan and the others followed the Dragon Radar to this village.

On a mountain not far away, Son Gohan, Krillin, and Bulma suppressed their auras and hid, watching what was happening below.

"Uncle Krillin, take Bulma and leave first. I'll stay here and assess the situation."

Son Gohan had spotted an elderly Namekian with two children behind him. One of them was probably Dende.

Dende had played a vital role in the anime, using the Namekian language to make a wish to the dragon, Porunga.

What's more, both Dende and the Grand Elder had incredibly powerful abilities.

Dende's Healing Technique worked just like Senzu Beans: as long as someone still had a breath left, he could heal them.

The Grand Elder, meanwhile, could read someone's memories and unlock their potential simply by placing a hand on their head.

Son Gohan wanted to use the attributes dropped by the system to gain these two incredible abilities for himself.

That was why he was sending Krillin and Bulma away. With his current Battle Power, no one could catch him if he needed to escape.

"Gohan, be careful. Bulma and I will leave first."

Krillin gave him a warning, then left with Bulma.

He knew that he and Bulma would only be a burden if they stayed. The two of them left without hesitation.

Not long after they had gone, several Namekian warriors returned to the village below, and a battle broke out at once.

[ Ding, 10 Battle Power attributes dropped ahead. ]

[ Ding, 10 Battle Power attributes dropped ahead. ]

The system's notifications rang repeatedly in Son Gohan's mind.

The corners of his mouth lifted slightly. As the Namekians and members of the Frieza Force began to fight, Battle Power attributes kept dropping.

Meanwhile!

Far away, Vegeta stood face-to-face with Cui!

"Vegeta, I've never liked you. I just couldn't find an opportunity to deal with you before. Now you've openly betrayed King Frieza, so don't blame me for showing no mercy."

Cui said with a smug grin. He'd always wanted to take Vegeta out, but he'd never had a good reason.

Now that he'd finally found his chance, how could he let it go? His lifelong ambition was to put Vegeta in his place.

"Cui, since you dare challenge me, I'll show you the new skill I learned on Earth!"

Vegeta grinned smugly. This was the perfect chance to show off what he'd learned on Earth and humiliate the guy. He didn't even know how strong Vegeta had become, yet he'd dared to challenge him.

"Hahaha! Don't tell me you learned how to run away on Earth!"

Cui sneered. This guy was all talk. He'd been beaten to a pulp on Earth and come back half-dead, and now he was boasting.

"It's a technique for controlling Battle Power. Open your eyes and see how much Battle Power I have now!"

Vegeta refused to back down and released all the energy in his body.

Cold sweat ran down Cui's forehead. He was terrified.

The readings on his Scouter kept climbing: fifteen thousand, eighteen thousand, twenty thousand, twenty-two thousand, twenty-three thousand.

Bang!

With a sharp crack, the Scouter on his ear couldn't withstand the power and exploded.

"What? Vegeta's Battle Power is twenty-three thousand? Is he already stronger than me?"

At the same time, the Scouter at Zarbon's ear, beside Frieza, exploded too.

"Impossible! Your Scouter is an old model. It must be malfunctioning. Let me check with mine."

Dodoria pressed the buttons on his own Scouter, and it immediately registered Vegeta's Battle Power at twenty-three thousand.

The village elder was as shrewd as they came. He'd been watching the battlefield closely.

Hearing the aliens' conversation, he understood that the devices on their ears could reveal their location and Battle Power.

He seized his chance and destroyed all the devices in an instant.

Dodoria flew into a rage and killed all the adult Namekians. The two children backed away in fright.

Collect!

Son Gohan acted immediately, gathering all the Battle Power attributes.

Then he released his aura and vanished from where he stood. When he reappeared, he was beside Dodoria.

He kicked the fat pig hard, sending him crashing into a building.

Then he scooped up the two children and quickly fled the battlefield. This wasn't the right time to take Frieza on head-to-head.

The Namekians had destroyed all the Scouters belonging to the Frieza Force.

They couldn't detect anyone's aura, or tell how strong their opponents were.

Everyone was stunned by Son Gohan's move. They hadn't realized anyone else was hiding there.

Dodoria staggered to his feet from the wreckage and searched around for the enemy.

"Mr. Dodoria, what are you waiting for? Over there! Hurry and chase him!"

Frieza pointed toward the sky and smiled at Dodoria.

The people on this planet had such low Battle Power that he had no desire to fight them himself.

"King Frieza, all our Scouters are gone. What should we do? Should we have someone nearby bring us more?"

Seeing that every Scouter had been destroyed, Zarbon knew they'd be lost without them. They wouldn't be able to find the last two Dragon Balls.

"Have the Ginyu Force members on a mission nearby bring over some Scouters at once."

Frieza understood how important the Scouters were, and the quickest option was to summon the nearby Ginyu Force members who were out on a mission.

"Damn it! Let's see where you can run!"

Dodoria looked in the direction Frieza had pointed and spotted a speck racing into the distance.

He immediately flared with a White Aura and chased after it at full speed.