Frieza shook his head. Son Goku had surprised him, but that method couldn't last.
Frieza was sure Son Goku would soon run out of the ki keeping him airborne.
However, as it turned out, even after Frieza had been reborn, Son Goku's protagonist's plot armor was still intact.
Boom!!
When the Kaio-ken wore off, Son Goku, driven by fierce unwillingness to accept defeat, actually transformed into a Super Saiyan. And because he had already experienced a power level of 300 million, the newly transformed Son Goku immediately had a power level of 300 million.
Although that was still no match for Frieza, it was far beyond Vegeta's strength.
Golden hair, muscles that had visibly bulged, emerald-green eyes, and a cold, savage gaze—Son Goku in this state seemed invincible.
But that depended on who he was facing!
A mere 300 million in battle power was nothing. Frieza was completely unimpressed.
Wham!
Frieza punched Son Goku in the face, but Son Goku merely turned his head slightly. His ravenous gaze remained fixed on Frieza.
The full 100-million gap between them had just been ignored by Son Goku?
That wasn't quite it. Using the Kaio-ken while in the Pseudo Super Saiyan state had left Son Goku unable to feel pain.
It was precisely because he couldn't feel pain that Son Goku seemed invincible.
A thick, powerful arm shot upward, landing a punch squarely in Frieza's stomach. Despite the 100-million difference in their battle power, Frieza still felt as though a ball of fire were burning in his abdomen.
"Argh~~!"
Frieza clutched his stomach and staggered back a few steps.
He'd been careless!
He'd let that damned monkey hit him—and caught him completely off guard.
"Ptooey~"
Frieza spat out the bitter liquid in his mouth, and a surge of ki erupted around him.
Wham!
Wham, wham, wham!
Frieza and Son Goku once again clashed in a brutal, bone-crunching battle. Neither used energy blasts; they simply fought hand to hand with wild abandon.
Every clash of fists sounded like thunder. Vegeta could barely keep up with their speed.
Gulp~
Vegeta swallowed and suddenly had a thought.
Those two were both cheaters!
Another five minutes passed. A deafening boom erupted from the heart of the battle, as if a hole had been punched through the sky. Every hair on their bodies stood on end.
A figure hurtled toward the ground at tremendous speed—and was heading straight for where Vegeta stood.
Vegeta panicked. He used every ounce of strength he had to scramble out of the way, then plunged headfirst into the water.
Boom!!!
A crater tens of thousands of meters across appeared. Son Goku lay at its center, bare-chested, his tattered battle pants clinging stubbornly to his legs like scraps of cloth.
His last shred of masculine dignity remained intact, but his eyes were unfocused, his entire body twitching, and he had curled up instinctively.
His Super Saiyan transformation had worn off. Son Goku hadn't passed out, but he could no longer feel his body at all.
Son Goku's inability to feel pain had made him difficult to deal with, but Frieza had ultimately managed to knock him down.
Frieza was breathing a little unevenly, his breaths more labored than before.
He slowly descended to the ground and walked toward Son Goku, one step at a time.
Creak~ Creak~
His signature walking sound effect had appeared again.
Splash~
Cough~ Cough, cough~
Vegeta burst out of the water and crawled onto the ground, coughing violently.
The battle between Frieza and Son Goku had pushed Namek to the brink of destruction.
The planet had suffered irreversible damage!
Especially the impact when Son Goku hit the ground. It had completely wrecked the planet's core, and Namek would explode in less than three minutes.
Frieza waved one hand, and several spherical spaceships belonging to the Ginyu Force flew toward him.
He flicked his hand, sending them down onto the battlefield.
He knew Son Goku wasn't dead, and Vegeta hadn't been badly injured. Vegeta was in far better shape than Son Goku.
"Vegeta, there's an Emergency Healing Pod in this spaceship. It won't cure him, but it'll keep him alive. You should go. This planet's going to explode soon!"
"I'm looking forward to seeing how much you grow. The next time we meet, I hope you'll give me a fight as satisfying as today's!"
"Oh-ho-ho-ho!"
Whoosh~
Frieza vanished from the spot. In the next instant, he had arrived on Ice Planet.
Wait.
Frieza felt that something was off. He couldn't shake the feeling that he'd forgotten something.
Never mind. He'd go beneath the ice and stabilize his battle power first.
Anyone who experienced a significant increase in battle power needed to stabilize it; otherwise, their strength might regress.
Son Gohan in the original story was a good example!
After the Cell Games, Son Gohan had gone to waste. By the time of Majin Buu's era, his initial battle power was even lower than it had been as a child. What a shame.
On Namek, Vegeta finally reached Son Goku. Seeing him in such agony, Vegeta considered killing him then and there.
An energy blast had already formed in his hand. Half a minute later, it faded away. In the end, Vegeta couldn't bring himself to kill him.
"You spared me once on Earth. This time, I'll spare you too!"
"But next time, I'll surpass you, defeat you, and kill you!"
Wham!
Vegeta roughly kicked Son Goku into the nearest spaceship, then ran over and put him into the Emergency Healing Pod. Finally, he pressed the spaceship's launch button.
Boom!
A dragon of lava shot into the sky. Namek was about to explode.
Vegeta didn't dare waste any more time. He hurried to a spaceship, pressed the launch button, and closed his eyes to rest.
He hadn't had a proper night's sleep in the past two days. He was truly exhausted.
Still, if he had another chance to do it all again, he would gladly do so. This time, not only had his strength increased tremendously, but he'd also transformed into a Super Saiyan.
From now on, he would train even harder. One day, he would surpass Son Goku—and Frieza.
"I'm the Prince of the Saiyans, the most talented warrior! I won't lose to you. I won't!"
Click~
The hatch closed. Vegeta's spaceship followed closely behind Son Goku's as they flew out into space.
Not long after Son Goku and Vegeta left, Namek exploded with a deafening roar.
Sound couldn't travel through space, but the brilliant fireworks showed just how terribly Namek had been treated.
On Earth!
Dodoria had been hiding in terror from the lava erupting from underground when he was suddenly transported here.
Looking at the trees around him and the scene of peaceful serenity, he was bewildered.
Who am I?
Where am I?
Where's King Frieza?
Soon, he spotted a group of people not far away.
The one lying on the ground with his eyes closed was none other than Slug.
In front of Slug stood a green mountain—or no, not a mountain, but a Namekian as big as one. A tiny Namekian was crouched beside the giant, releasing green energy from his hands.
Two Namekians who looked exactly alike stared at each other. The atmosphere seemed a little tense.
Then Dodoria saw the Earth woman who seemed to get along well with King Frieza. He didn't know her name, but anyone King Frieza had protected with an energy barrier was someone he definitely shouldn't offend.
As for Son Gohan and Krillin, he knew them even better. They had been the ones who rescued the tiny Namekian back then.
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