By now, Turles was already regretting bringing Raditz back. He'd only done it on a whim, and because Raditz had mistaken him for his father, Bardock, and called him Dad, he'd given him a chance.
But after learning Turles wasn't his father, Raditz had somehow decided that Turles was his younger brother, Kakarot, who had been sent to Earth. He'd even tried to claim Turles as his little brother, leaving Turles speechless.
Seeing Paragus still laughing nonstop, Turles tossed Raditz over to him. Since Paragus had known Bardock back in the day, he could let the old veteran train this good-for-nothing nephew of his.
Paragus had no objections to Turles asking him to train Raditz. In fact, he eagerly accepted the task.
Raditz's talent wasn't all that bad, actually. At least, he'd been assessed as having the potential to become an Elite Warrior at birth, which was far better than his father's potential. Otherwise, he never would've been selected for Vegeta's team.
But perhaps because of Bardock's influence, Raditz believed even more strongly than Bardock in the Saiyan doctrine of bloodline superiority. Having been assessed as an Elite Warrior at birth, he blindly trusted his power rating and lacked the fighting spirit Bardock had. Whether in battle or in training, Raditz put in far less effort than Bardock had at the same age, leaving him nowhere near the potential he'd shown at birth.
On top of that, Raditz was one of the few Saiyans who bullied the weak and feared the strong. He'd rarely faced death head-on. Of the three Saiyans on Vegeta's team, Raditz had the lowest battle power, so he mostly cleared out grunts and helped Vegeta and the others. He had even fewer chances to train, while Vegeta and the others were always at the front of the fight, growing stronger at a much faster pace. With that vicious cycle, it was no wonder Raditz had a battle power of only 1,300.
But Raditz's good days were basically over. After Turles had dangled the prospect of restoring the Saiyan race before him, Paragus had made it his goal. Now that he'd found a Saiyan with decent potential, he'd train him to within an inch of his life. With Broly around, Paragus had nothing to fear from any Saiyan who might resist him.
After taking care of Raditz, Turles began preparing for his interstellar journey. Judging by the star chart data he'd gotten from Carl, it wasn't feasible to travel straight from here to the center of the galaxy. He'd have to make several stops along the way, so he needed to settle on a route that would not only avoid planets under Frieza's control as much as possible, but also take the least time.
However, the planets marked on the star chart gave Turles a few ideas.
As Turles was planning his route, he suddenly sensed Vegeta rapidly approaching. He immediately put away the data and walked out of the room.
Vegeta clearly hadn't been able to swallow his pride. He'd come looking for him again already.
When he reached the entrance, Turles suddenly seemed to remember something. He ran back inside and dragged a bewildered Paragus out with him.
"Turles, what are you doing? I was bonding with Raditz!" Paragus protested, clearly unwilling to be dragged out.
Turles glanced at the bruise at the corner of Raditz's mouth. He didn't call out the old bastard's "bonding" for what it was, but instead gave him a sly grin and tempted him, "Paragus, do you want to get back at King Vegeta?"
At Turles's words, Paragus perked up at once and immediately guessed what he was thinking. "What, do you know where Vegeta is?"
Turles nodded, smiling at Paragus.
I knew the old bastard hadn't let go of his grudge against King Vegeta!
Paragus silently cursed Turles, who was still smiling at him, then put on a shameless grin and said, "Just tell me where Vegeta is, and I'll grant you one favor. Whatever you ask me to do, I'll do it!"
Turles was startled by Paragus's offer. He hadn't expected the old bastard to go that far, but he didn't mind. He held out his right hand and said, "Deal!"
Paragus held out his right hand too, and they slapped palms.
After they slapped hands, Turles said nothing, instead looking up at the sky.
Paragus had been about to say something, but when he saw this, he immediately followed Turles's gaze. Sure enough, he saw a face that looked very much like King Vegeta's.
Paragus shot a glare at Turles, who had clearly set him up, then shot straight into the sky and flew to a spot not far from Vegeta.
Vegeta was feeling a little uneasy. Something seemed off. He'd thought "Kakarot" was the one with a battle power of over 20,000. Even though he couldn't win, his pride as the Saiyan Prince had brought him here anyway. He wouldn't allow himself to be challenged by a Low-Class Warrior without having the courage to answer, so even though his opponent's battle power was 10,000 higher than his own, Vegeta had still come without hesitation.
But looking at the white-bearded old Saiyan with the unfriendly expression, then at "Kakarot" watching from the ground, Vegeta's thoughts grew muddled.
During his earlier fight with Turles, Vegeta hadn't had time to activate his Scouter before getting knocked flat. So when it detected a battle power of 20,000, he'd assumed it belonged to Turles and rushed over. But now the one showing a battle power of 20,000 was this old Saiyan, while "Kakarot" wasn't giving off any energy at all.
"Kakarot! What the hell are you up to?" Vegeta finally shouted at Turles.
"You're Kakarot! Your whole family's Kakarot! My name's Turles!" Turles hadn't expected that he'd end up being mistaken for Kakarot too. He was immediately annoyed.
As he spoke, he shot Raditz a glare. It went without saying that Raditz must have told Vegeta about Kakarot, making him get the wrong idea. What a wonderful big brother Kakarot had!
Vegeta was taken aback by the retort, but he didn't have time to dwell on it. Paragus couldn't wait any longer to teach Vegeta a lesson and had already launched an attack.
Vegeta reacted quickly. Seeing there was no time to dodge, he immediately raised both arms to shield his head, preparing to block Paragus's attack.
As he blocked the blow, Vegeta immediately noticed something was wrong. Paragus's strike was heavy, but it didn't have the concentrated, explosive force he'd felt when fighting "Kakarot." Instead, its power felt scattered, and this was an attack style he knew very well.
As he blocked Paragus's attacks, Vegeta thought about what made "Kakarot's" fighting style special. With his exceptional battle instincts, he quickly identified the difference. Combined with the fact that he hadn't detected "Kakarot's" energy just now, Vegeta felt he'd figured out the secret!
"Hahaha! That's all you've got? Are you trying to tickle me?" Vegeta roared with laughter, then suddenly exerted himself and forced Paragus back.
Vegeta pressed his advantage and charged forward, launching a fierce counterattack against Paragus and catching him completely off guard. But Paragus was an experienced fighter, and he quickly began to fight back.
The two of them fought fiercely in the air, trading blows back and forth. For a while, they seemed evenly matched.
Turles hadn't expected Vegeta, who couldn't last a single move against him, to hold his own against Paragus. It gave him a new appreciation for the Saiyan Prince. It seemed Vegeta wasn't weak; it was Turles who had an unfair advantage now that he'd mastered ki.
Thinking back to the original story, Vegeta, with a battle power of 18,000, hadn't been able to beat Son Goku after he'd just returned from King Kai's Planet, even though Goku's battle power was only 8,000 at the time. By all rights, Vegeta should've crushed him, yet they'd ended up with a draw. Goku had the protagonist's plot armor, of course, along with Kaioken, a technique that boosted his battle power, but that didn't change the fact that mastering ki gave a tremendous boost to one's strength!
Turles's battle power was around 18,000 now. On top of that, mastering ki had made his movements faster and more precise, so it was no surprise he'd knocked Vegeta out with a single move.
What Turles hadn't realized was that Vegeta had already noticed the difference. His fight with Paragus was a way of testing his theory. With Vegeta's talent, it was only a matter of time before he mastered ki.
But mastering ki wasn't easy. At the very least, it couldn't be done in such a short time. And since Vegeta had dared to let his attention wander while fighting an opponent far stronger than himself, Paragus quickly spotted an opening. He struck Vegeta out of the sky and sent him crashing into the ground, where he blasted out a huge crater.
As the dust settled, Vegeta was covered in wounds, and his Battle Suit was badly damaged. He looked utterly miserable!
Paragus landed at the edge of the crater, his face alight with the joy of finally getting his revenge. Laughing loudly, he taunted Vegeta. "Saiyan Prince, is that all you've got?"
"King Vegeta certainly raised a fine son. After all these years, you can't even beat an old man. I hear you lost to Turles before this, too?"
"Good grief, Turles came from a Low-Class Warrior background!"
"..." Turles had just flown over and hadn't expected Paragus to bring him into his verbal assault on Vegeta. What was more, he'd learned a lot of those lines from Turles himself.
Vegeta had never endured such humiliation. His eyes turned bright red, and if the situation had been right, he might even have transformed into a Super Saiyan.
"Enough, Paragus. Give it a rest and don't forget why we're here!" Turles couldn't help cutting off Paragus, who was still chattering away and showing no signs of stopping.
Ignoring Paragus's displeasure at being interrupted, Turles looked at the badly injured Vegeta and asked, "Vegeta, do you know Beerus?"
"Beerus?" Vegeta had been furious and thought Turles was about to mock him too, but instead he'd asked an unexpected question. Vegeta froze.
"What? You've never heard of him?" Seeing that Vegeta hadn't answered for a while, Turles couldn't help frowning.
That didn't make sense. Wasn't the reason Beerus had ordered Frieza to destroy Planet Vegeta that King Vegeta had slighted him? Vegeta should've met Beerus back then too. Unless this universe had no God of Destruction, and was merely a parallel universe?
"I think I've heard of him. Let me think!" Vegeta came back to himself and began to recall.
"Hm?" Hearing that Vegeta remembered Beerus, Turles immediately relaxed. Still, Vegeta's willingness to talk surprised him a little!
That was just Vegeta's tsundere personality. Although Turles had defeated him, he hadn't mocked him like Paragus had. Compared to Paragus, Turles seemed quite friendly. On top of that, Turles was much stronger than him, so Vegeta's attitude wasn't surprising. Of course, when the time came to kill Turles, Vegeta wouldn't hesitate!
Before you continue