Hearing this, Tarble deliberately asked in a cold voice, "Who are you, exactly?"
He had more or less guessed who they were, but if you were going to put on an act, you had to see it through!
"Kid, prick up your ears and listen!
"We used to be elite warriors under Frieza. Now that Frieza's dead, we're the ones who should rule the universe!"
"You Saiyan monkeys can enjoy the last few minutes of your lives on Earth!"
"Ha ha ha!"
As soon as they finished speaking, Tarble kindly reminded them, "Aren't you afraid of Super Saiyans?"
"Your King Frieza died at the hands of a Super Saiyan!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a voice full of disdain immediately came through the Scouter.
"Hmph, Super Saiyans?"
"Trying to scare us?"
"So what if they're Super Saiyans? We're far stronger than Frieza now. If you've got the guts, don't run!"
"My brother and I would like to see for ourselves whether Super Saiyans are really that powerful!"
Bzzzt!
With a faint crackle of static, the Scouter fell silent.
Clearly,
they had great confidence in their own strength.
A contemptuous smile tugged at Tarble's lips.
As the saying went, there was no talking sense into someone bent on dying!
Since they were so determined to get themselves killed, there was nothing more to say.
Then Licks's panicked voice came from beside him.
"Prince Tarble, they're stronger than Frieza. What should we do?"
At this, Tarble said calmly, "What's there to panic about? This is a trial fate has already ordained for us."
"Even if we can't beat them, we still have to fight!"
"We Saiyans are a warrior race famous throughout the universe."
"Even if we have to die, we'll die charging into battle."
Those rousing words dispelled much of the fear in Licks's heart. He answered resolutely, "Yes, sir. I understand."
Tarble reassured him:
"Don't worry. Son Goku, who can become a Super Saiyan, should be on Earth.
Frieza couldn't defeat Son Goku, so what chance do these little nobodies have?"
After that,
the two of them said no more.
A minute later, the spherical spaceship they were riding finally made a rather intimate landing on Earth.
Rumble!
The ship made an involuntary emergency stop, then came to a steady halt. Tarble couldn't help smiling.
He could sense several ki signatures nearby.
No need to guess—they had to be Vegeta and the others.
He immediately pressed the button to open the hatch.
Creeeak!
The hatch slowly opened, and the view suddenly brightened. He instinctively squinted.
Once his eyes had adjusted, he stepped out of the spaceship.
He looked up along the slope of the crater and, sure enough, saw the famous Z Fighters.
Among them was a man with flame-shaped hair standing on end, arms crossed over his chest. If that wasn't Vegeta, who was it?
Even though he recognized him, he didn't call out right away.
Instead, he pretended that his eyes still hadn't adjusted to the bright light, squinting and raising a hand to shade his forehead.
His silence didn't mean Krillin and the others would stay quiet.
When they saw that the person who'd emerged from the spaceship really was a Saiyan, they all wore expressions that said, "Just as we thought."
A couple of gasps and murmurs of surprise escaped them.
Yamcha said in astonishment, "Krillin, they really are Saiyans!"
Krillin nodded in agreement. "Yamcha, they're definitely Saiyans, but why do their ki signatures feel so weak?"
Tien Shinhan offered a different opinion. "Weak?"
"They may be a little weak compared with us now, but sense them carefully. Both of them are stronger than Vegeta and the others were when they came to Earth!"
Only Son Gohan and Piccolo said nothing, but both instinctively glanced at Vegeta.
They knew that only Vegeta, the Saiyan Prince, might recognize other Saiyans.
At Tien Shinhan's words, Vegeta frowned in displeasure but didn't argue.
After all, he really had intended to invade Earth back then!
Besides, he could sense that Tarble's ki was far stronger than his had been at the time.
Once he was sure the person approaching really was Tarble, he called out, "Tarble, what are you doing on Earth?"
At this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
At least Vegeta knew the man in front of them, so they could avoid an unnecessary fight.
Even though any one of them could easily overpower the newcomers,
they weren't bloodthirsty.
Naturally, they had no desire to fight if they didn't have to.
However,
when they saw the two people flying up from the crater and heard what one of them said, they were all astonished.
The shorter of the two Saiyans flew out of the crater and called out excitedly, "Big Brother Vegeta, you really are on Earth!"
"That's wonderful!"
Big Brother?
This little Saiyan had called Vegeta "Big Brother"!
Could he be Vegeta's younger brother?
That was Son Gohan and the others' first reaction.
At the same time, they instinctively studied Vegeta and Tarble's faces.
The more closely they looked, the more surprised they became.
Now that they thought about it, aside from their difference in build and Tarble's refined air, their faces really did look somewhat alike!
As for the other Saiyan, who was considerably taller, he obviously wasn't Vegeta's brother.
He was probably Tarble's subordinate.
Although he flew over with them, he never once moved ahead of Tarble.
While they were sizing them up, Tarble and Licks flew over to them.
Licks looked at Vegeta, whose face was identical to King Vegeta's, then immediately knelt and said respectfully, "Your subordinate, Licks, pays his respects to Prince Vegeta."
Hearing that long-forgotten form of address, Vegeta furrowed his brow. "Hmph. There are only a few of us Saiyans left. There's no need to keep up the old formalities."
"Yes!" Licks replied, then stood up.
Vegeta's personality had changed considerably, and as he spoke to his younger brother, whom he hadn't seen in decades, his voice was a little less cold. "Tarble, what brings you two to Earth?"
As he spoke, he looked up at the sky, then lowered his gaze again. "Don't tell me you came to Earth to run for your lives?"
"Can Saiyans who only know how to run even call themselves Saiyans?"
"Where's your pride as members of the Saiyan warrior race?"
By the end, his voice had turned cold again.
He truly looked down on Saiyans without any backbone.
Hearing that, Tarble couldn't help thinking to himself:
I'm already living off my in-laws, and he's still going on about Saiyan pride!
But aloud, he asked in confusion, "Run for our lives?"
"Big Brother, what do you mean?"
"Licks and I heard you might be on Earth, then found out where Earth was and came here."
"We didn't come here to run away!"
"Didn't you just say we're the only Saiyans left in the universe?"
"I thought it would be better for us to gather together."
At this, Vegeta and the other Z Fighters furrowed their brows.
But the next second, their expressions relaxed.
They remembered that when Vegeta invaded Earth, he hadn't been able to sense ki or suppress his own ki, either.
Just then, Licks suddenly reminded him, "Prince Tarble, have you forgotten? Just now, when we were above Earth, we heard on the Scouter that Frieza's men were pursuing us."
At this, Tarble pretended to suddenly remember and went along with him. "Right, right. I'd forgotten."
As he spoke, he turned to Vegeta with an anxious expression. "Big Brother Vegeta, we don't know when Frieza's soldiers caught up with us!"
"They said they're far stronger than Frieza."
"Big Brother, what should we do?"
"By the way, is Son Goku, the one who can become a Super Saiyan, here?"
"I'd like to ask him to help us take out the pursuers behind us!"
Before you continue