End and Suspicion

"The times have changed, King Piccolo." Raditz stopped beside him, looking down from above.

The timing was right.

He raised his hand, energy that made one's heart tremble gathering in his palm once more, the light illuminating his perpetually calm and ripple-free face.

"This is... the end." His voice reached King Piccolo's ears with absolute clarity.

That slowly gathering energy.

I'm going to die... I'm really going to die!

Under this extreme threat of death, the instinct to survive and the obsession with revenge overwhelmed the pride belonging to the Demon King.

"You want to kill me? It won't be that easy!!" King Piccolo roared, two beams of light shooting from his eyes toward Raditz's face.

Raditz blocked them instantly with one hand, causing nothing more than a cloud of dust.

However, King Piccolo channeled his energy and fled frantically toward the horizon, just as he had fled from the Evil Containment Wave earlier.

Raditz smiled knowingly. "This is your last chance; don't let me down."

Immediately, the energy wave gathered in his hand blasted toward the sky as well.

The energy tore through the air, instantly catching up to the fleeing green shadow.

Feeling the destructive heat behind him, a crazed, ferocious grin appeared on King Piccolo's face.

How could we of the Demon Clan perish here?!

Almost at the instant the energy wave reached him, he squeezed out every drop of his life force and essence, gestating a solid white egg.

An egg covered in mucus and filled with an evil aura was shot toward the distant dense forest with his final ounce of strength, moving at high speed along a tricky trajectory.

"My child, one day, you must avenge your father!"

"The roots of evil must not be extinguished..."

The next moment.

BOOM!!

A violent explosion bloomed in the sky, forming a small mushroom cloud.

On the ground, Raditz's gaze shifted. He had been keeping a close watch on that patch of sky and successfully caught sight of that imperceptible white speck.

He let out a silent sigh of relief.

With this, Kami would be safe.

The smoke and dust in the sky dissipated.

Master Roshi looked at the fading traces, then at Raditz, his mouth opening as he struggled to find words.

King Piccolo, who had ruled the world for hundreds of years and had just regained his full strength, hadn't even had the chance to announce his return to the world.

Just like that... he had been dealt with... so nonchalantly?

Tien Shinhan also fought off his drowsiness, struggling to sit up, his eyes filled with shock.

"Is... is it over?"

The enemy he once thought would require the sacrifice of his life to even attempt to defeat had been so thoroughly crushed in front of Raditz?

"For now... I suppose." Raditz's voice pulled the two of them back from their shock. He looked toward the spaceship quietly hovering in mid-air not far away. "There are still some loose ends to deal with."

As soon as he finished speaking, his figure flashed, and he appeared on the deck of the spaceship.

Inside the ship, the Pilaf Gang huddled together, shivering.

King Piccolo had been eliminated, and seeing Raditz, this "god of death," suddenly appear, they were scared out of their wits.

"Spare... spare us! It has nothing to do with us! It was all King Piccolo forcing us!" Pilaf wailed, tears and snot streaming down his face as he kowtowed on the floor; Mai and the others quickly chimed in as well.

Raditz swept his calm gaze over them, finally settling on some equipment near the console.

"I ask, you answer."

His voice was beyond questioning. "How did King Piccolo know about the match between me and Tien Shinhan at the World Martial Arts Tournament?"

Pilaf jumped, hurriedly pointing at the computer on the console: "It... it was this! Shortly after Lord King Piccolo was relea... er... released, the ship's system received an anonymously sent video recording!"

"We op... opened it, and it was footage from the World Martial Arts Tournament, showing the match between you and that gentleman!"

"It was only after Lord King Piccolo watched it that he... he decided to send two of his subordinates!"

Sent anonymously?

Raditz's eyes narrowed. It wasn't strange for there to be audience footage of the tournament, but to be able to precisely locate King Piccolo's spaceship and send it anonymously... this was definitely no coincidence!

He opened a device and watched the recording.

The image was blurry, and it was indeed his match, but...

The recording was taken from an aerial, top-down perspective!

Yet, he hadn't seen anyone other than Tien Shinhan in the air while he was on the scene.

A flicker of suspicion crossed Raditz's mind.

"Shall I send a source energy trace?" he continued to ask.

"I... I tried, but I can't find it!" Pilaf said with a mournful face. "The signal encryption method is very strange; the source is layered through multiple iterations, making it impossible to pinpoint. At the time, we just assumed it was someone who didn't want to reveal their identity but wanted to curry favor with King Piccolo..."

Curry favor? Raditz sneered inwardly.

This felt more like a deliberate lure, intended to make King Piccolo notice him, thereby altering his actions, inciting conflict, or perhaps... observing?

Dr. Gero? The thought surfaced.

If it were him, given the technology at his disposal, doing this would not be difficult.

The only doubt was how he knew about King Piccolo's emergence and how he had managed to contact him.

A trace of vigilance rose in Raditz's heart. Regardless of whether it was him or not, a variable had appeared; someone was deliberately stirring the situation from the shadows.

"U-um, can we go now? We promise never to do bad things again!" Seeing Raditz fall silent, Pilaf asked cautiously.

Raditz glanced at them and waved his hand.

"Thank you! Thank you, my lord!" As if granted a reprieve, the three of them scrambled out of the spaceship, boarded their small aircraft, and fled in a panic without looking back.

Raditz carefully checked the spaceship's computer again, but unfortunately, apart from that recording, he found no further clues regarding the sender.

He turned and left, feeling helpless.

Master Roshi and Chiaotzu were carefully moving the unconscious Tien Shinhan into their aircraft.

The matter here had come to an end.

Boarding the aircraft and lifting off slowly, Raditz suddenly spoke, "Master Mutten, before we head back, let's go take a look over there."

He pointed in a direction—it was exactly where Shenron had appeared earlier.

"Go there?" Master Roshi asked, somewhat puzzled. "After Shenron grants a wish, don't the seven Dragon Balls turn into stone spheres and fly away?"

Even so, Master Roshi agreed to take a look; there was no rush to return just yet.

The aircraft was fast, and before long, they arrived at the area.

As soon as they landed, Master Roshi saw seven round stone spheres lying quietly on the ground.

"This is..." Master Roshi picked one up, took off his sunglasses, and examined it closely. "It is indeed a Dragon Ball."

"But why were they left behind?"

"Perhaps King Piccolo intercepted them, intending to make another wish?" Chiaotzu guessed.

Raditz swept his gaze over the seven stone spheres and gave his answer in a calm tone, "You're right, he did intercept them—but he killed Shenron."