The Tree of Might

The universe was vast. From the interstellar map, Kast learned that he was currently near the edge of the North Galaxy, roughly ten light-years from the nearest inhabited planet.

Ten light-years away—using the technology of the world Kast had lived in before, without wormholes or space-time folding, even the fastest spacecraft would probably have needed tens of thousands of years to reach its destination.

But now, ten light-years was only a few hours' journey for Kast, even without space-time folding. His ship could simply fly there at light speed.

Unlike his previous world, technology in this world was far more advanced. And here, the speed of light was not the fastest speed.

Otherwise, Kast could never have returned in just a few days from the remote planet where he had been exiled from Planet Vegeta.

As for why the journey from Planet Vegeta to Earth had taken nearly a year, the reason was simple: Earth was in the northern part of the universe, while Planet Vegeta was in the south. They were at opposite ends, with an enormous distance between them.

That was why the journey had taken so long.

In the depths of space, Kast was piloting his ship forward.

As he watched the planets around him recede into the distance, a red dot suddenly appeared on the display in front of him.

The dot indicated signs of life nearby.

"Hmm? What's this?!"

Kast was puzzled as he looked at the red dot on the display. According to the computer's route map, this region had once been a barren star system. It was surrounded by nebular debris, with no stars and no terrestrial planets. The only object there was a gas giant. Life could hardly have arisen in such an environment, and ordinary organisms would have been unable to survive there.

And yet the computer was displaying signs of life.

Puzzled, Kast quietly closed his eyes and focused his senses in the direction the signal came from. Strangely, though, he couldn't sense any life energy.

"Could it be too far away?"

But the map showed that it wasn't very far.

The unusual situation sparked Kast's interest.

"Interesting!"

He changed the ship's course and headed toward the location shown on the computer.

It wasn't far away.

Before long, as the ship drew closer, Kast saw what lay ahead.

"How is this possible?! What is that?!"

Kast stared at the planet floating ahead and rose to his feet in shock.

His ship was now in a barren stretch of space, surrounded by the ruins of shattered rocks. At the center of the debris should have been a massive gas planet, but the gases enveloping its surface were now dissipating, revealing the rocky layers beneath.

What was most astonishing, however, was the enormous, bizarre tree growing on the planet!

Its roots crisscrossed over the planet's surface, while its towering crown rose beyond the atmosphere. At a glance, the whole thing looked like a giant standing atop the planet, an awe-inspiring sight.

As Kast stared at the colossal tree, he understood why the ship's Scouter had detected signs of life when he himself had sensed nothing.

The key was that the ship's Scouter and Kast were sensing different things. The ship carried a planetary Scouter that detected signs of life. There were many kinds of life signs, including those of organisms as well as plants.

Kast, however, could only sense the ki emitted by living beings. He couldn't sense the presence of plants. The two were different, which was why he hadn't sensed anything.

As he gazed at the colossal tree, still astonished, Kast carefully searched his memories. At last, he recalled what it was. In the Dragon Ball world, there was probably only one tree that could grow this large and use an entire planet as nourishment.

It was the extraordinary tree that had appeared several times in the Dragon Ball movies: the Tree of Might!

That's right, the Tree of Might. In his memories, North Kai had explained that it was a sacred tree passed down among the gods, and that its fruit was something only gods were qualified to eat.

The tree was extremely particular about where it could grow. It survived by feeding on a planet. Once it took root on a world, it would ravenously absorb all the nutrients there.

Eventually, it would use those nutrients to produce red fruit.

In the end, the planet would become a barren desert. For hundreds of years afterward, nothing would grow there, and no life would survive.

But Kast knew the story. Although the Tree of Might's harmful effects could devastate a planet teeming with life, its fruit had astonishing benefits!

It not only left the body unharmed, but also greatly increased a person's power, and the boost came without any side effects.

In the Dragon Ball movie, Turles used the fruit of the Tree of Might to suppress the Z Fighters for a time.

He even fought Goku, who had a power level of 30,000. Turles had initially been at a disadvantage, but after eating just one fruit from the Tree of Might,

his strength surged instantly. The tables turned, and within just a few moves, he had knocked Goku to the ground.

Later, even when Goku used the tenfold Kaioken, he still couldn't defeat Turles.

If Goku hadn't eventually used the energy provided by the Tree of Might to create a Spirit Bomb and defeat Turles,

the Z Fighters might have been the ones to lose.

That showed just how powerful the Tree of Might's fruit was.

Kast had even wondered sometimes whether Beerus and the other Gods of Destruction, who appeared later in Dragon Ball, had gained their immense power by eating this fruit.

After all, the Tree of Might was known as a sacred tree whose fruit could only be eaten by gods.

And the Gods of Destruction were high-ranking gods. Since destruction was their divine domain, could it be that they found planets they wanted to destroy, planted Tree of Might seeds there, ate the fruit, and then destroyed the planets afterward?

Honestly, it was quite possible. Given Beerus's gluttonous, sleepy nature, it was hard to imagine him working hard to train. So the possibility seemed pretty high.

Of course, all of that was just Kast's guess. He had no idea what the truth was.

But now that Kast had found the Tree of Might, there was no reason not to go up and pick some fruit to eat.