Gohan's Potential

Planet Namek!

Gohan looked at Piccolo lying motionless on the ground. He'd completely forgotten the difference in their strength. Dashing forward, he drove a cannon punch into Frieza's face, twisting it with the impact and sending him flying dozens of kilometers! Frieza's head jerked back as he flew, and his body hurtled uncontrollably into the mountains behind him.

BOOM!! RUMBLE!!!!

The mountains exploded like tofu!

"Impossible... how could this be?!" Frieza cried in shock and fury.

Gohan's ki erupted around him. His battle power had suddenly surged from 50,000 to one million! His overwhelming rage kept him from even noticing.

"Yaaah!!!!"

Frieza had been caught off guard. Though Gohan was still nowhere near his level, the sudden attack had taken him by surprise...

Frieza was shocked. How could a mere Earthling be this powerful?!

Once he'd steadied himself, Frieza took a closer look at Gohan, then at Sun Wukong. Suddenly, it clicked! He understood at once. Their faces looked seven-tenths alike, and he realized Gohan was Sun Wukong's son!

Then he sneered with disgust. "I see. Another wild monkey. I'll wipe all of you out!"

In that brief moment, he'd figured everything out!

Gohan unleashed countless ki blasts, sending them hurtling toward Frieza!

Frieza merely scoffed, folding his arms across his chest as he took the blasts head-on in midair. He'd only been caught off guard before; he hadn't been prepared.

Now he was ready! A mere one million in battle power was nothing to Frieza!

A thunderous roar filled the entire battlefield!

Gohan kept firing ki blasts with both hands.

The blasts striking Frieza gradually formed a vast curtain of light. The yellow waves of energy slowly turned red, and the scorching aura pressed down on the air until it felt as though not a trace of oxygen remained!!!!!

With a series of whooshes, the blasts swept past!

Gohan stopped firing and panted lightly.

There was no time to rest. He raised both hands above his head, gathering a tremendous mass of yellow energy in his palms. It was the special move his godfather had taught him—Masenko!

He fired it into the curtain of light ahead!

"Masenko"!!!!

With Gohan's shout, the beam surged toward Frieza. The red curtain of light burst apart, and an explosion powerful enough to destroy the world transformed the landscape for dozens of kilometers around! A colossal mushroom cloud rose into the sky!

As the light gradually faded, grief welled up inside Gohan. Through tear-blurred eyes, he looked toward where Piccolo had fallen!

Piccolo had vanished! Gohan was alarmed and terrified. Had his attack just destroyed Piccolo's body?

He looked around and suddenly spotted Vegeta, Wukong, and Piccolo hovering in the sky behind him!! All three wore relieved smiles!

"Uncle Piccolo..." he cried, flying over to Piccolo.

He looked at Piccolo with pleading eyes.

Piccolo gently patted the top of Gohan's head.

Reassuring him, he said, "Gohan, I'm fine!"

"Wow, Gohan, you're amazing! If Dad had taken an attack that powerful, it would've hurt him too!" Wukong said cheerfully.

Vegeta studied Gohan, carefully turning the matter over in his mind. So the bloodline formed by a human and a Saiyan was more likely to unleash its potential! Gohan hadn't been through much combat, yet he'd erupted with such overwhelming strength!

Back when Planet Vegeta still existed, any Saiyan with a battle power over 20,000 could be called a prodigy! Yet the Saiyans still alive now had all surpassed the pure-blooded Saiyans of the past!

If they were the famed warrior race of the universe, they couldn't possibly have been this weak! Vegeta couldn't make sense of it.

As for Piccolo, Frieza's earlier attack hadn't struck any vital organs! Vegeta had quickly taken out a Senzu Bean and fed him one!

When Vegeta had sent Bulma to hide, he'd gotten the Senzu Beans from her to be prepared for anything! He was strong enough, but battles could change in an instant. If anything went wrong, the beans could save their lives! He hadn't expected to need one so soon!

By the time Gohan attacked Frieza, Piccolo had already recovered. Gohan simply hadn't noticed in the midst of his furious rage, which was why he'd kept unleashing such tremendous battle power!

Now Gohan's battle power had fallen below 50,000. That ferocious attack had pushed his stamina to its limit; he couldn't even maintain his original strength!

"Uncle Piccolo... I'm sorry... It's my fault for being too weak. I couldn't help you!" Gohan said in his childish voice.

"Gohan, you did very well. You lived up to my expectations!" Piccolo said, pleased.

"Don't get full of yourself. You've still got a long way to go!" Vegeta said scornfully.

Vegeta continued to criticize him. In the anime, Gohan had enormous potential, but Goku and the others had overprotected him, and he'd gradually become Scholar Gohan!

Plenty of Dragon Ball fans had regretted it, and Vegeta was one of them! Now that he was here, he was going to change the original story and make sure Gohan truly became a strong warrior!

When he was little, Gohan had possessed a strong will to fight! But Chi-Chi had constantly drilled the idea of becoming a scholar into him, and he'd gradually lost his resolve!

They were still talking when the dust nearby began to clear. A figure slowly emerged!

"Hey, hey, hey... how much longer are you going to carry on with this heartwarming little scene? I'm about to throw up!" Frieza sneered.

Gohan stared at Frieza in shock! The ferocious attack hadn't harmed him in the slightest! There wasn't even a speck of dust on his body!

"Son Gohan, take that bald guy and go to where Bulma was hiding earlier. Get the spaceship ready!" Vegeta ordered.

"Go, Gohan. Leave the rest of the fight to us. I'm not even sure I can handle Frieza's strength. You won't be able to help us anymore!" Piccolo explained.

"All right, Uncle Piccolo. You have to stay alive!" Gohan said reluctantly!

He knew he'd already reached his limit. If he stayed, he'd only hold them back!

The two of them turned and headed back the way they'd come from...

"Hey, Frieza! We were in the middle of a good fight, then you ran off! Let's keep going!" Wukong shouted!

"Ho ho ho... it doesn't matter who comes. You'll all die anyway!" Frieza laughed in his strange voice!

Just as Wukong prepared to charge at Frieza, Piccolo suddenly grabbed his arm and said,

"Son, let me deal with him myself. I want to avenge the Namekians who died!" Piccolo said bitterly!

"Piccolo, you're no match for him. He's at around 60 million in battle power now, and that's only half his strength! You're at just 20 million!" Vegeta explained!

"Let me try. If I can't handle him, you can step in!" As he spoke, Piccolo was already charging toward Frieza!

"Kakarot, how many times can you use Kaio-ken right now? Do you think you can beat Frieza?" Vegeta asked.

"Uh... I've got a chance against Frieza as he is now. But if he's really only using half his strength, like you said, then I don't have a chance at all. Without hurting my body, my absolute limit with Kaio-ken is ten times!" Wukong replied!

Hearing Wukong's explanation, Vegeta weighed it over.

Kakarot's battle power is around five million right now. With a tenfold Kaio-ken, that would put him at around 50 million! If he pushes himself, maybe he can manage fifteen times—that'd be 75 million. We'll have Piccolo go first, then Wukong, and I'll finish things off myself!

They'd finally found an opponent who could fight them. They might as well make the most of it and take turns, so each of them could reach a higher level!