!!!!

Crack!

"Hmph!"

"Ugh!"

Tap! Tap!

After Piccolo kicked Cell away, he spoke thoughtfully. "Looks like I wasn't wrong to think you were a powerful monster..."

"Heh heh, not bad, right? Though I haven't become perfect yet." Cell still wore his ugly grin.

"Perfect? Is that why you're attacking humans?"

"Heh heh... I absorb the essence of living beings for energy."

"..." Piccolo gritted his teeth, struggling to hold back his anger. "Answer me! Who used the Time Machine to send you to this era? Was it one of your companions?"

"I came here myself. The Time Machine was too small for my body, so I had to regress into an egg! But I'm surprised you even know about the Time Machine..."

"But..." As Cell spoke, he suddenly struck a startling pose. "You don't know about this... Kame... ha... me... ha!"

"Unbelievable!" Piccolo was so shocked he almost forgot to dodge.

Though he barely managed to avoid it, Cell suddenly appeared behind Piccolo and pinned him down.

"Ugh!"

"Hmph! It got stuck in your arm? No matter. I want your potent life essence."

Gurgle, gurgle. Cell's tail seemed to be sucking up water, and it quickly drained one of Piccolo's arms.

In fact, Piccolo had deliberately let Cell absorb his arm. With a burst of strength, he broke free.

"Huff! Huff!" Piccolo was quite the actor, even putting on a breathless expression.

"Heh! You escaped, but you've lost an arm. The tide has turned." Cell spoke smugly.

"Indeed, this is a bad situation for me. Unfortunately... it seems you've won."

"Hahaha! You have no choice but to admit defeat. You should feel honored to become part of my power." Cell burst into laughter.

"Before you absorb me, tell me who you are and why you have the ki of Sun Wukong and the others." Piccolo meant to get his answer before he died.

"All right, I'll tell you. My name is Cell. I'm an Android... created by Dr. Gero's computer."

"Gero again!"

"Dr. Gero collected the cells of skilled fighters and researched how to combine them to create Androids. But the process took too long, so he abandoned it halfway through. The computer, however, never stopped. It kept working..."

"When Sun Wukong, Piccolo, Vegeta, and the others fought, their cells were collected..."

At that, Piccolo suddenly laughed. "Wukong from back then? No wonder your Kamehameha just now wasn't very powerful."

"Dr. Gero must have told you that Miniature Robots were used to spy on your movements. They were as small as bees, so nobody could notice them. They also collected cells." Cell suddenly pointed into the air.

"Look, here it comes. It'll send the information about what's happening back to the computer. Maybe it wants your cells..."

"Damn it!" Piccolo blasted the Miniature Robot into pieces with a ki blast.

"Heh, it's too late to destroy it now. Actually, I won't be completed until 24 years in the future."

"Unbelievable. Gero's lab should have already been destroyed."

"The computer is in the basement of that lab."

"I see..."

"Enough talking. Time for you to be absorbed!"

"One last question. You came here from the future. What's your purpose?"

"To become perfect. Absorbing the life essence of humans isn't enough. I also have to combine with two special life forms. The computer told me they're Android 17 and Android 18, created by Dr. Gero."

"What?"

"That's why I started acting. In the future, Android 17 and Android 18 apparently didn't exist because Trunks defeated them. Fortunately, Trunks had a Time Machine. I killed Trunks and used it to come to this era."

"Why choose this era?"

"I don't know. Trunks must have set it. I just pressed the button. The computer also told me that if I become perfect, I'll gain an unimaginably terrifying power!"

"Why? Why do you want overwhelming power?"

"What a pointless question... Maybe it's because I have Saiyan cells and Piccolo's cells inside me."

"I see. Thanks for clearing up the mystery... Oh!" Piccolo gave a low shout, and his arm grew back. "That's very useful to know!"

"Y-You were just trying to get information out of me..." Cell stared, stunned.