"Vegeta, let's attack the barrier first," Son Goku said, forming an energy blast in his hand and sending it past Janemba toward the barrier.
"Brat, you don't have to tell me!" Vegeta snapped, hurling several energy blasts at it as well.
But they were soon dumbfounded.
Instead of taking even the slightest damage, the barrier absorbed their energy blasts on contact.
Not only that, their energy blasts actually made its defenses stronger.
Son Goku and Vegeta refused to believe it, frantically pelting it with blast after blast.
But without exception, every blast vanished into the transparent barrier like a stone sinking into the sea.
"H-how is this possible?" Both of them were stunned.
Meanwhile, Janemba, who had been left standing on the sidelines, grew angry too.
I'm such a big, adorable baby! Can't you see me?
Janemba's enormous fist appeared out of thin air beside Vegeta and Son Goku.
One punch sent both of them flying.
Yes, that was right—out of thin air.
It was as though Janemba had torn open a passage through space. He could stand still and throw a punch, and his fist would emerge right beside Son Goku.
Caught by the sudden heavy blow, Son Goku and Vegeta flew dozens of meters before crashing to the ground, each spitting out a mouthful of blood.
Both rolled across the ground and sprang into the air.
But just then, the colorful stones on the ground suddenly burst upward, hurtling toward them.
"Aah!"
"Whoa!"
Son Goku quickly grabbed Vegeta and used Instant Transmission, appearing behind Janemba in a flash and dodging the colorful stones.
After putting some distance between themselves and Janemba again,
Son Goku said gravely, "Vegeta, I'm leaving the barrier to you. I'll keep him busy."
As he spoke, Son Goku let out a long "Aaaah!" Golden flames surged around him, his tremendous aura shot skyward, and lightning crackled over his body as he transformed into Super Saiyan 2.
"W-what transformation is that?" Vegeta's eyes widened in shock as he watched Son Goku transform.
The sight of Son Goku at that instant was burned deep into his mind.
But Son Goku had already charged at Janemba and no longer answered his questions.
Vegeta clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white and ground his teeth. Resentful yet helpless, he glanced at Son Goku charging toward Janemba, then turned away and punched the barrier again and again.
At that moment, Vegeta felt frustrated, stifled, and downright furious.
All these years, he had been unable to train and grow stronger because he had no physical body, only his soul.
After regaining a body, he was still only as strong as he had been when he died.
Although the evil energy had suddenly given him a boost earlier,
his current power was clearly still nowhere near Son Goku's.
The proud Saiyan Prince simply could not accept that his former rival had surpassed him by so much.
Damn it!!!
Vegeta turned his fury into strength, hammering the barrier with one powerful punch after another.
After transforming into Super Saiyan 2, Son Goku used Instant Transmission to appear beside Janemba and unleashed a sweeping kick.
A sharp hiss rang out as his kick tore through the air.
But something strange happened.
He had clearly struck Janemba, yet his leg passed straight through Janemba's body without any resistance, as though he had kicked empty air.
Deeply shocked, Son Goku quickly put some distance between himself and Janemba again.
"Kamehameha..."
"Haaa!"
A powerful Kamehameha blasted toward Janemba.
The blue beam that spanned heaven and earth reached Janemba in an instant, seemingly about to slam into him.
But another bizarre scene unfolded.
A pitch-black rift suddenly appeared in front of Janemba and swallowed Son Goku's Kamehameha.
The Kamehameha simply vanished into thin air.
It was absurdly powerful, and utterly unheard of.
"W-what kind of trick is that?" Son Goku exclaimed, his face filled with disbelief.
After several exchanges, he still could not figure out his opponent's moves and had failed to inflict any damage.
Even when he hit Janemba, his power rebounded on him, leaving his opponent completely unharmed.
All those attacks had dealt no damage, and he had even been hurt by his own rebounding power.
How am I supposed to fight this?
Son Goku rose into the air and hovered there, shouting toward King Enma's palace, "Lord King Enma, what kind of monster is this guy?"
King Enma's voice rang out.
"Goku, his name is Janemba. Over the years, Other World has accumulated a great deal of evil energy that we haven't had time to purify.
"Today, Little Red Oni had an accident while working. He accidentally broke a container holding evil energy, and then many other containers storing evil energy exploded too."
"All that evil energy took Little Red Oni as its host and attached itself to him, turning him into the enormous Janemba you see before you.
"In other words, Janemba is the embodiment of all the evil energy that has built up in Other World over the years."
"I see. Does he have a weakness, then?" Son Goku pressed.
King Enma said, "I don't know! This is the first time anything like this has happened in the Underworld."
Son Goku was speechless. ...
Although he still had a trump card, he could not make any sense of the fellow before him, making him extremely difficult to fight.
Vegeta was still pounding away at the transparent barrier, but it did no good at all.
The barrier's resilience was terrifying. It seemed impossible to destroy.
But the dim-witted-looking Janemba gave Son Goku no more time to think, charging at him while blowing colorful bubbles.
Son Goku intended to lure Janemba away to give Vegeta more time to break the barrier, so he made a face at the charging Janemba and stuck out his tongue. "Bleh, bleh, bleh!"
Seeing Son Goku's strange antics, Janemba actually stopped attacking. An innocent smile spread across his face, and he cried, "Janemba, Janemba!"
He looked like an enormous child.
Still innocent at heart.
That actually worked?
Son Goku paused, then turned around, stuck out his backside, and slapped it repeatedly.
"Come catch me, dummy! Bleh, bleh, bleh!"
"Janemba, Janemba! Waaah! Janemba!"
Vegeta was utterly dumbstruck.
"Dummy, come catch me!" Son Goku suddenly shouted, then flared his aura and shot away.
Janemba paused, then frantically gave chase, crying, "Janemba, Janemba!"
Vegeta: !!!
He could not have been more shocked!
What kind of fighting style is this?
Kakarot, that idiot.
That stupid-looking Janemba is an idiot too.
But remembering that Son Goku was risking his life to keep Janemba occupied, Vegeta quickly snapped out of it and resumed attacking the transparent barrier.
Meanwhile.
Some resurrected souls discovered that the passage from Other World to the mortal world had opened.
Countless souls who had regained their freedom crowded into the passage, hoping to return to the mortal world.
In no time at all, the passage was packed with a dense mass of souls.
"Oh no! Vegeta, hurry!" King Enma urged.
"Shut your mouth!" Vegeta roared.
Bastard! You threw me into hell, and now you have the nerve to order me around?
He simply stopped hitting it.
"W-what's wrong? Why did you stop?" King Enma's anxious voice rang out again.
"Obviously, I can't break it!" Vegeta snapped, flying a circuit around the barrier without finding any way through.
"This..." King Enma was on the verge of losing his mind.
After so many years of working overtime, he had still failed to keep Other World safe.
Now that Yemma Palace was sealed inside the barrier, he had lost control over Other World.
With the dead resurrected and the passage to the mortal world wide open, countless souls who should have remained dead were returning to the realm of the living. Wouldn't that make him guilty of a terrible sin?
All those years of hard work had gone down the drain.
King Enma paced back and forth inside Enma Hall like an ant on a hot pan.
Countless resurrected souls passed through the passage and successfully returned to the mortal world.
After watching for a while, Frieza and King Cold rushed out.
But the passage was already clogged, and they could not get through at all.
"You insects! Don't stand in your king's way!" With that, an energy blast hurtled toward the crowd.
With a boom, it killed countless resurrected souls.
Who could have known that Android 17 and Android 18 were among the crowd?
And so, out of nowhere, they found themselves on the receiving end of Frieza's attack.
"Damn it! Are you two lizards asking to die?"
The two Androids were no pushovers either, and they furiously began fighting Frieza and King Cold.
After being resurrected, Frieza and King Cold had received a considerable boost in power.
Fighting one-on-one, they actually managed to hold their own against the two Androids in a fierce battle.
Android 18 straddled King Cold's shoulders and tugged at the horns on his head.
Android 17 punched Frieza's head sideways.
Meanwhile, Bojack and his four companions had already slipped through the passage.
Before you continue