High above Planet Namek, five spherical spaceships flew side by side, about to break through the planet's atmosphere.
As soon as Frieza got in touch with Dodoria, Dodoria immediately passed the good news on to the Ginyu Force.
The Ginyu Force had spent ages working on their poses, only for the Cold Force to look down on them. In a fit of rage, they'd been given a thorough beating!
What a raw deal!
If King Frieza were here, he might not praise them, but surely he'd at least respect all their hard work, wouldn't he?
When they heard that King Frieza had arrived, the five of them burst out of their healing pods at once. Ignoring the fact that their injuries hadn't fully healed, they hurried off toward Planet Namek.
Their injuries weren't serious, anyway. Even without the healing pods, they'd recover soon enough.
They'd been hiding in the healing pods mainly because they were too embarrassed to show their faces~~
They desperately needed recognition!
Especially from someone strong!
So, ten minutes later, they reached Planet Namek and plunged straight down.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
A five-hit combo!
As luck would have it, all five spaceships landed right on the gigantic Slug.
One struck each of his limbs, and the last hit his lower abdomen, leaving five craters in all.
Frieza's eyelid twitched at the sight.
Since Namekians reproduced asexually, who knew whether Slug might have ended up castrated otherwise?
'Click~ hiss~'
The hatches of the five spherical spaceships opened, and five figures of varying heights stepped out.
The tallest was Burter, with a battle power of 44,000. He was known as the fastest man in the universe, though exactly how fast, no one could say.
The shortest was Guldo, with a battle power of 18,000. He was the weakest member of the Ginyu Force, and the only reason he'd made it onto the team was his psychic abilities.
But to Frieza, the guy was just there to make up the numbers. His abilities weren't worth much.
Jeice had the best hairstyle: a long head of white hair and a battle power of 50,000. He was also the Ginyu Force's vice-captain.
The one with the biggest muscles, the simplest mind, the long face, and the pineapple-shaped hair was Recoome. In the original story, he gave Vegeta, Son Gohan, and Krillin a miserable beating.
But his battle power was only 40,000, making him the second weakest member of the Ginyu Force.
The last one was the purple figure who looked as if he didn't have a head. He was Ginyu, captain of the Ginyu Force.
No one knew if that was what he'd really looked like originally. After all, he had a secret technique that let him switch bodies.
The Ginyu Force was named after him. He had the highest battle power, a full 120,000, and carried the team's overall strength on his shoulders.
"Ginyuuuu!!"
The five leaped together, shouted their names, and struck a ridiculous pose.
A gust of wind blew by, and a bead of cold sweat appeared on Frieza's forehead.
He'd seen their ridiculous routine in the anime, but even watching it live couldn't stop a bead of cold sweat from running down his face.
It was just too embarrassing!
Whap!
With a flick of his tail, Slug, who'd been playing dead and questioning his life, sprang up with a bang.
He quickly returned to normal size and bowed obsequiously. He didn't even dare heal the craters left by the spaceships.
"From now on, you'll take my place and make a show of doing everything you can to collect the Dragon Balls. But you absolutely must not go to the tower in the northwest!"
"Understood?!"
Slug trembled all over, sweat pouring down him as if it were free. He bent forward so sharply he nearly hit the ground headfirst.
"Understood, understood!" (Honestly, the Japanese "hai" would fit better, but I just don't want to use it!)
Seeing Slug bow like that, Frieza couldn't help kicking him again.
"What the hell are you doing, holding a memorial for me?"
Without another word, he turned and walked back to the spaceship, leaving Slug to disappear into the distance.
"Dodoria, why is this spaceship such a wreck? What kind of number-one lackey are you?"
Dodoria had barely crawled back, aching all over, when he perked up at once. His head stopped hurting, his legs stopped aching, and he was suddenly brimming with energy!
"Don't worry, King Frieza. I'll have headquarters send over an even more luxurious ship right away!"
Dodoria had found his purpose again. He could go back to throwing his weight around under Frieza's protection. The feeling was simply too good.
"Mr. Zarbon, I don't think you're handsome at all! Stop getting in my way. Go handle support for Ginyu and the others!"
Frieza looked at Zarbon's green skin, especially the long braid he wore, and felt his whole worldview crumble!
Zarbon immediately bowed at a seventy-five-degree angle. He didn't dare bow any lower—Slug was a cautionary example.
Zarbon jogged over to Ginyu and the others. He was terrified of Frieza now.
Vegeta was missing, and he'd thought he was as good as dead.
Now he'd been lucky enough to keep his life—no, his little life—and he was already more than satisfied.
As for whether he looked good, Frieza, who had no gender, didn't get to decide that!
'Boom!!'
An energy blast slammed into Zarbon!
It nearly vaporized him on the spot, but Slug managed to save him at the last moment and put him into a rapid-healing pod.
"Don't badmouth me in your thoughts. If you want to end up like him, go ahead and try!"
Even Slug, who'd just landed after his free fall, was trembling with fear. The snarky thoughts he'd been about to voice died before they could leave his mind.
"Dodoria may have no strength and no guts, but he has the heart of a dog!"
"You should all learn from Mr. Dodoria!"
"Oh ho ho ho ho!"
Very good—he'd laughed one time too many and made himself even more detestable!
Frieza glanced at Vegeta, who was sneaking off in the distance, and smiled.
Dodoria and the others had only just arrived when Frieza spotted Vegeta unconscious and secretly used a Healing Technique on him.
He was the second lead of Dragon Ball. Without him, a lot of the fun would be lost.
"Oh ho ho ho! Vegeta, don't disappoint me. Whatever you do, don't die like you did in the original story!"
Sometimes the power of the plot really was astonishing. Even though King Cold's men were collecting the Dragon Balls, they were still wiped out by the Namekians.
And Dende, who knew the Healing Technique, had been rescued by Krillin and the others. Frieza only had to sense the area briefly to know that.
Even more astonishingly, Vegeta had run into Son Gohan and Krillin along the way, and the three had reached the historic decision to form a strategic alliance.
Vegeta and the others could sense ki, so they did their best to suppress theirs as they ran toward the Grand Elder's home.
Meanwhile, Son Goku's spaceship was less than a day away from Planet Namek.
Just now, Son Goku had wriggled across the floor like a maggot to the little pouch of Senzu Beans again. He slammed his chin against the floor, and a bean popped out.
When Son Goku saw the bean, his eyes lit up. He stretched out his tongue and tried to scoop it up, but failed!
He tried a second time and failed again!
For the Nth time—just as the light in Son Goku's eyes was about to fade—he finally managed to roll the bean into his mouth.
Crunch, crunch~
Ta-da-da-dah~!
Son Goku raised both hands over his head, fully restored once more!
And what was our protagonist, Frieza, doing?
Oh, he was wondering how he was supposed to pee.
It was a very serious problem!
Before you continue