Trouble Arrives

Just as Kast was preparing to pluck the remaining Tree of Might fruit, he suddenly spotted an unusual fruit among them, one that looked different from all the others.

Ordinary Tree of Might fruit had deep-red skin, were roughly the size of a palm, and, most importantly, were covered all over with thorns.

This fruit, however, was grayish-brown and completely shriveled. It contained not a trace of moisture, like a seed.

Looking at it—or rather, at the seed—Kast had a feeling this was the seed of the Tree of Might.

After all, Tree of Might fruit had no pits. And pits didn't grow separately from the fruit.

He put the seed away. Now that he had finished what he came here to do, it was time to leave.

Kast emerged from the tree hollow and flew toward the spaceship above.

When he reached the ship, he didn't leave right away.

Standing on the ship, Kast stretched out his right hand. A white aura began gathering in his palm.

As the energy within him accumulated, an energy sphere as large as Kast himself appeared above the ship.

"Go!"

He swept his hand downward, sending the energy sphere toward the Tree of Might.

At the same time, Kast boarded the spaceship and left.

As his ship departed, the energy sphere finally reached the Tree of Might below.

Boom!

In an instant, a tremendous crash rang out. Under the force of the sphere's immense energy, the Tree of Might on the planet began to disintegrate, scattering into a fine glow across the planet's surface.

Remarkably, the planet itself wasn't harmed at all.

The glowing particles were the energy the Tree of Might had absorbed. Now, all of it had been returned to the planet.

That had been Kast's goal. Yes, all he had done was destroy the Tree of Might on this planet and return the energy it had absorbed to the world.

As for whether life might emerge on the planet someday, thanks to that energy, Kast was quite hopeful.

"Goodbye. I hope we meet again."

With a faint smile, Kast returned to his original course. The detour for supplies had cost him a little time, but it had been well worth it.

After all, with his current strength, even without transforming into a Super Saiyan, he could probably run rampant across the universe—aside from Frieza and his father, who were active out there. Artificial humans like Cell hadn't been created yet, and Majin Buu was still sealed on Earth. Supreme Kai and the others hardly paid any attention to the lower realms. As for the God of Destruction, he was probably fast asleep on Planet of the God of Destruction.

For now, as long as he stayed out of Frieza's sight, he was basically safe.

Still, he knew that only by staying cautious could he live longer. Keeping that in mind, Kast resisted the urge to go wandering around.

After all, who knew what other powerful beings might be lurking in the universe?

So Kast stuck to his original plan. If he wanted to cut loose, he would wait until he could transform into a Super Saiyan. Once he did, there would be few opponents strong enough to defeat him in the short term.

And once he could transform into a Super Saiyan, he could finally do something he had wanted to do for a long time.

For now, though, he needed to refuel the spaceship.

Time passed quickly, and a few light-years vanished in the blink of an eye.

Kast's spaceship had reached the supply planet. It was a silver-gray world, its surface gleaming with streaks of metal—the light reflecting off the planet's buildings.

Yes, it was a technologically advanced planet called Dole Star. Its surface was entirely covered in metal structures, making it look at first glance like a metal sphere floating through space.

Kast stopped in midair to take another look and admire the planet's metallic appearance. Worlds entirely covered in metal were a rare sight.

Just then, he suddenly sensed a powerful presence rapidly approaching from behind the spaceship, moving at incredible speed.

Along with that presence, Kast sensed a powerful hostility.

"Looks like we have an uninvited guest."

With that thought, Kast stopped admiring the view, suppressed his aura, adjusted the ship's course, and flew down to the planet.

A while after Kast entered the planet's atmosphere, a saucer-shaped spacecraft appeared in the distant void. It moved quickly, first arriving at the place where Kast had been and lingering there for a moment. Then it turned and flew toward Dole Star as well.

"These guys look like they're with the Frieza Army. What are they doing here?"

Seeing the craft's distinctive Frieza Army design, Kast couldn't help but look puzzled. He peeked out from among a cluster of towering buildings.

But as soon as he sensed the ship stop at the spot where he had been earlier, he understood.

"They must have followed me here."

He was certain. Kast knew very well that although he had suppressed most of his aura while traveling through space to avoid attracting attention, he hadn't suppressed it completely. He had left several tens of thousands of battle power exposed.

The reason was simple: Dragon Ball's world was one where the strong preyed on the weak. Showing a little of his power could serve as an effective deterrent. That way, anyone with ill intentions would keep their distance, sparing him a lot of trouble.

He hadn't expected, though, that someone would go out of their way to find him because of his strength.

"I hope they leave soon if they can't find me." Kast frowned and sighed helplessly.

This wasn't the time to clash with the Frieza Army—not because he was afraid of them, but because he didn't want to attract Frieza's attention.

After all, Kast still couldn't transform into a Super Saiyan. And from the power he sensed inside the ship, its occupant had a battle power somewhere between 100,000 and 120,000. The only person under Frieza with that kind of power was probably his top subordinate, Ginyu Force captain Ginyu.

Only he could be that powerful.

Though that level of battle power was nothing to Kast, and he could easily kill Ginyu, doing so would surely draw Frieza's attention.

At this stage, it simply wasn't worth it.