Vegeta was on a rampage. After taking out the fleeting Ginyu Force, he flew toward the spaceship even faster.
Son Gohan and Krillin looked at the scattered limbs littering the ground and felt a little sick.
But until Son Goku arrived, the stronger Vegeta was, the safer they would be. That was a good thing.
Boom!!
Son Gohan and Krillin were still flying when Vegeta encountered Slug in the distance.
Though Vegeta had felt a moment of doubt when he first saw Slug, he recognized Zarbon.
Zarbon was standing respectfully at Slug's service, holding a tray with a glass of red wine in one hand and a white towel draped over his other arm.
This—
He looked like a waiter!
Slug was quite pleased with Zarbon's service. He was in need of loyal subordinates right now.
As it happened, Frieza had rejected Zarbon. Slug figured that all he had to do was appeal to his emotions and reason with him, and winning him over wouldn't be difficult.
So when Vegeta charged at Zarbon, Slug immediately intervened.
As a genius-level Super Namekian, controlling his ki was easy.
Seeing that Vegeta had a mere 300,000 in battle power, Slug couldn't be bothered to use his full strength. After growing old once, he'd become especially focused on taking care of himself.
He only brought 1,000,000 of his battle power to bear. With a casual swipe, as if batting away a fly, he slapped Vegeta across the head.
Then Vegeta slammed into the ground, and a deafening crash rang out.
A moment earlier, Vegeta had been full of confidence. The next, Slug had slapped him senseless.
The gap in strength was simply too great. Just as Vegeta had easily taken out the Ginyu Force, Slug could just as easily take him out.
The fact that Vegeta hadn't been killed by that slap was thanks to his Saiyan constitution.
But Vegeta had lost the ability to fight. Slug was already surprised that he was still conscious.
"Mr. Zarbon, that Saiyan Monkey is the traitor who betrayed King Frieza, isn't he? Go finish him off!"
"Yes, honored Lord Slug!"
With one hand clenched in a fist against his chest, Zarbon bowed to Slug, showing his respect.
"Hah!"
With a short shout, white ki flared around Zarbon. Before the Super Saiyan appeared, white was the most common color for ki, and its size represented the strength of the fighter.
Zarbon, with a battle power of 21,000, sped toward Vegeta. He held a deep grudge against him. Because of Vegeta, King Frieza had cast him aside.
Once he reached Vegeta, Zarbon bent his knees and dropped toward his chest, ready to land a vicious blow.
Zarbon was descending at tremendous speed, while Vegeta could only watch helplessly. He couldn't summon even a trace of ki, leaving him completely defenseless. One hit like that and he'd probably be done for.
At this critical moment, Son Gohan arrived first. After having his potential unlocked, his battle power had reached 20,000, not much lower than Zarbon's.
Seeing Vegeta in such a sorry state, Son Gohan—already going all out to get there—had no time to think. He kicked Zarbon sideways.
His Scouter destroyed, Zarbon hadn't noticed Son Gohan's approach. By the time he saw him, a small foot had already sent him flying.
Rumble—
Zarbon was no luckier than Vegeta. He crashed into a hill, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Solar Flare!!"
Krillin had a lower battle power and arrived a moment after Son Gohan. Sensing Slug's powerful, evil presence, he immediately used a perfect escape technique.
"Gohan, run!"
Krillin grabbed Vegeta by one foot and, without even looking toward Slug, fled at top speed to the northwest.
In the distance, two figures were slowly flying this way.
One was Frieza, who had killed King Cold as soon as he appeared, then dragged Slug out to take the blame.
His smooth body, elegant curves, and crimson eyes all proved he was a villain born to the role.
Yet beside him flew a woman who wobbled along. She shielded her eyes with one hand as she struggled to keep going.
That woman was Bulma. Frieza had taught her to fly, though it had taken up quite a bit of his time.
He'd even missed the fight between the Ginyu Force and Vegeta!
As she flew, Bulma shouted, as if the wind would drown out her voice unless she raised it.
"Mr. Frieza, wasn't that bright flash just now Krillin's Solar Flare? The voice sounded like him, too!"
Frieza clasped his hands behind his back, easily matching Bulma's speed.
"Oh ho ho ho! Lady Bulma, you're right. A little bald man and a child just appeared on the battlefield in the distance. They even rescued the badly wounded Vegeta."
Every time Bulma heard that smug laugh, she got goosebumps. But she didn't dare question him, much less criticize his laugh.
Wait, what had he just said?
"What? Krillin and the others teamed up with Vegeta? Huh? Wasn't Vegeta one of your men?"
Even though Bulma was the smartest person in the Dragon Ball World, she still couldn't figure out what had gone wrong.
Vegeta was the ruthless killer who'd slaughtered his way across Earth. Yamcha, Tien Shinhan, Chiaotzu, and Piccolo had all been killed by him!
Vegeta: Don't make things up! Nappa killed them all. I haven't killed a single person! I'm not taking the blame for this!
At the thought of Yamcha, tears welled in Bulma's eyes.
Mostly because dust from the distance had blown into her eyes, which still weren't used to flying.
Of course, Bulma still liked Yamcha at this point. She hadn't yet realized just how much of a womanizer he was.
"They're probably strategic allies. My men are collecting the Dragon Balls, and so are you. Isn't it said that the enemy of your enemy is your friend?"
Bulma's mouth twitched. She really couldn't understand how a man with such gentlemanly manners had become the emperor of the universe.
And such an infamous demon, at that.
King Cold must have dumped all the blame on his son. A man like that deserved to die.
Mm-hmm, that had to be it.
Frieza had been willing to kill his own father for justice, so he must be on the side of righteousness.
Otherwise, why would he give her such delicious fruit and teach her how to fly?
Speaking of which, she wanted to fly through the sky like Son Goku and the others, too. But as soon as she thought of their training methods, she gave up.
Frieza understood her. One piece of fruit had granted her wish. It was absolutely perfect.
Just then, the dust cleared, and Bulma could see again. To her surprise, a meteor was plunging toward the ground at incredible speed.
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