Three years passed after Louis returned to the God of Destruction Realm.
In those three years, Universe 7 underwent tremendous changes.
With the Saiyans joining the Galactic Patrol, the organization grew stronger by the day, and the Frieza Force began to lose ground in the North Galaxy.
The main reason was that the Frieza Force was short on manpower. The strongest person under Frieza was Ginyu, with a power level of only 120,000.
Meanwhile, ever since the Saiyans joined the Galactic Patrol, their power levels had skyrocketed for reasons no one could explain.
Now, every Saiyan had a power level of at least 15,000.
The strongest Saiyan was a man named Bardock, whose power level had surpassed 150,000!
King Vegeta was no pushover either, with a power level of 120,000.
The Saiyan race had more than two thousand members in total!
Their overall strength was tremendous!
However...
No matter how powerful they were, if Frieza took action himself, the Saiyans' current strength would be useless—even if every one of them transformed into a Great Ape!
But three years ago, Louis and Tights had visited Frieza's headquarters. Frieza had learned Louis's identity and didn't dare act recklessly.
He didn't even dare openly hunt down the Saiyans. That was one of the reasons they had been able to steadily grow stronger.
Besides the changes mentioned above, the average human level in Universe 7 had also improved considerably, rising from second to last place to third to last.
This change left the Gods of Destruction from other universes dumbfounded.
More than ten years ago, Beerus had made a terrible decision by making a little brat a Candidate God of Destruction.
Now, fourteen years had passed. Why hadn't Zeno destroyed Universe 7 yet? Not only that, but Universe 7 had even risen one place in the rankings.
As Universe 7 changed, so did Earth.
Although Louis hadn't directly interfered with Earth, its story had still unfolded as usual.
But Earth had still been affected by the butterfly effect. Four years ago, Louis had asked Tights to get Dr. Briefs to build a Gravity Chamber for Son Goku to use.
Son Goku used the Gravity Chamber, and his power level increased tremendously.
However...
Son Goku was the slow-growing type of Saiyan, so his power level hadn't risen all that dramatically.
Today, fourteen years after he was sent to Earth, the seventeen-year-old Son Goku had a power level of 5,000.
Aside from that change, three extraterrestrial visitors appeared on Earth today, four years later.
Their invasion of Earth came a full three years earlier than in the original story!
Kame House.
"Goku, those three energy signatures are incredibly evil, and they're especially powerful. Can you handle them?" Krillin stood at the door, staring fixedly at the sky.
"I don't know. If they try to hurt Earth, I won't let them get away with it." Son Goku looked up at the sky too, his voice still childish.
Seventeen-year-old Son Goku was still a child because he was the slow-growing type of Saiyan. He wouldn't suddenly shoot up in height until the day he became an adult.
That was different from Louis and Vegeta.
"I can't believe enemies would invade Earth on the very day Goku was supposed to go train at the Lookout." Master Roshi looked worried.
"You stay here. I'll go see what's going on."
Son Goku took off into the sky and flew toward the place where the three spaceships were descending.
Outside West City.
Vegeta, Raditz, and Nappa climbed out of their spaceship.
Their clothes were all in tatters, and clotted blood stained their bodies. They looked miserable.
"Damn it! Frieza won't even let us return to Galactic Patrol Headquarters!"
Raditz lay on the ground, gritting his teeth. "At least Frieza didn't send his elite troops after us personally. Otherwise..."
"Vegeta, what now? We've been running for fourteen years. Are we going to keep running?" Nappa asked bitterly.
"Shut up!"
Vegeta clenched his fists. "It's been more than ten years. Why hasn't Louis come back yet? If he returned, Frieza would be nothing but a corpse!"
Vegeta still remembered the day, fourteen years ago, when Beerus had taken Louis on as a Candidate God of Destruction.
He was a Candidate God of Destruction!
Who would dare mess with him?
"Right. If Louis came back, we wouldn't be in such a sorry state."
Raditz and Nappa both nodded.
"Enough useless talk. This planet is where Kakarot was exiled. Let's go find him. Another person means another pair of hands!"
Vegeta shook his head and tapped the Scouter by his ear.
[Beep beep beep!]
[Southeast direction: power level 2,000!]
"What's going on? A power level of 2,000?"
Vegeta was startled. He checked again and confirmed the reading was correct.
"Vegeta, could that be Kakarot's power? How could a Low-Class Warrior be that strong?"
Nappa checked too and was just as startled.
The strongest of the three was Vegeta, with a power level of 30,000.
Nappa had a power level of 8,000, while Raditz had a power level of 2,000.
Their power levels were considerably higher than they had been in the original story, when they invaded Earth.
That was because the three of them had constantly been hunted by the Frieza Force and were always facing life-or-death situations.
"A power level of 2,000 is hard to believe, but if it really is Kakarot, then we'll have another pair of hands."
Vegeta raised his head and looked toward the southeastern sky.
"He's coming!"
Raditz clenched his fists. The newcomer's power was exactly equal to his own, so he couldn't help but grow cautious.
Whoosh!
A white beam of light descended from the sky.
"Who are you?" Son Goku asked, his voice low, as he looked at the three ragged men before him.
His childish voice and short stature made the three of them pause in surprise.
But Raditz quickly recognized him. "Vegeta, he's Kakarot. He looks exactly like my father."
Vegeta understood why the other was still so small. "He was born with a power level of only two. Only a Low-Class Warrior would grow this slowly. But I guess he'll be an adult in another year."
"Who are you? Why have you come to Earth?" Son Goku furrowed his little brows.
Earth?
He must mean this planet.
Vegeta checked the Scouter again and noticed many other readings that were pitifully weak.
"Kakarot, you didn't kill the people on this planet?"
Nappa blinked in surprise. "You haven't killed them all yet? That doesn't make sense. With a power level of 2,000, you should've wiped out the natives here long ago."
"Kakarot, what's going on?" Raditz shouted.
Son Goku looked at the three of them in confusion. "Tell me, what are you doing here? And who's Kakarot?"
At that, the three Saiyans exchanged looks, confusion in each of their eyes.
"You're not Kakarot?"
Raditz froze, but when he looked at Son Goku's appearance, he saw he looked exactly like Bardock. "No, you have to be Kakarot!"
Vegeta and Nappa nodded. Son Goku looked far too much like Bardock.
"..."
Son Goku scratched his head, completely baffled. He was clearly Son Goku, so why were these three guys calling him Kakarot?
Vegeta asked, "Do you know you're a Saiyan?"
Son Goku blinked his big eyes. "What's a Saiyan?"
The three of them exchanged another look. There was no doubt about it—he'd forgotten all about the Saiyans.
Raditz hurriedly asked, "Did you hurt your head when you were little?"
"How did you know I hurt my head?"
Son Goku pouted. "When I was little, I fell off a cliff and hit my head. Grandpa rescued me."
That was what his grandpa had told him.
Thinking of Son Gohan, Son Goku grew a little downcast.
"Just as I thought!"
Raditz put a hand to his head and looked at Vegeta helplessly. "Vegeta, what do we do now?"
"If we were still following Frieza, I'd kill everyone on this planet without hesitation and sell it off."
Vegeta's eyes narrowed. "But we Saiyans joined the Galactic Patrol, so we can't do that anymore."
Raditz and Nappa remembered that too.
Back then, after the Saiyans had followed Beerus's order and joined the Galactic Patrol, they stopped obeying Frieza's commands.
Now, the Saiyans were more like mercenaries in the Galactic Patrol. They took on missions issued by Galactic Patrol Headquarters every day and no longer pillaged and slaughtered.
Raditz looked at Son Goku. "Your real name is Kakarot. I'm your big brother. None of us are from Earth."
"My name is Son Goku. I'm from Earth, and I'm not your little brother!" Son Goku clenched his fists angrily.
He was clearly from Earth. Why were these people saying he wasn't?
Stirred by his anger, the power he'd been suppressing began to leak out.
"Beep beep beep!"
"Power level: 3,000!"
"Power level: 3,500!"
"Power level: 5,000!"
Son Goku's power level climbed steadily before finally stopping at 5,000.
Nappa's eyes widened. "How is that possible?!"
Raditz swallowed. "This has to be fake. Isn't he a Low-Class Warrior? How can he be stronger than me, an Elite Warrior?"
Vegeta's eyes narrowed. "That must be his actual power level. The reason it was only 2,000 before was that he was suppressing it."
Vegeta saw through Son Goku's secret at a glance. He stepped forward. "Saiyans have never used a technique like that. There must be something special about this planet!"
Clearly, Son Goku had learned how to hide his power on this planet.
"Kakarot, where did you learn that technique?"
Vegeta appeared behind Son Goku in a flash and grabbed his little shoulder.
Son Goku unleashed a burst of power, knocking Vegeta's hand away. He leaped several meters forward and shouted angrily, "My name is Son Goku! I'm from Earth!"
"Tell me, are you going to hurt Earth?"
"Don't worry. We won't hurt Earth."
Vegeta rolled his wrist. The kid had jolted his hand, and it still hurt.
"Really?"
Son Goku asked innocently, no longer angry.
"Really!"
Vegeta's mouth twitched slightly. The kid was so easy to fool.
But what he'd said was true. He had no intention of harming Earth. In fact, he'd grown interested in its martial arts.
"Then I'll take you to learn how to control your ki. I haven't learned it very well myself yet. I was about to go train at the Lookout when you came down from the sky."
Son Goku tilted his head, blinking his big eyes with an adorably silly look.
Son Goku flew into the sky. Vegeta and the others exchanged glances, then followed him.
And so, by a twist of fate, Vegeta and the others "invaded" Earth.
Only, unlike in the original story, they didn't wreak havoc on Earth. Instead, they followed Son Goku up to the Lookout and received instruction from Popo.
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