Their Home Got Raided

The Divine Realm, Kami's Palace.

"Goku! Goku! Can you hear me?!"

King Kai's voice exploded directly in everyone's minds, filled with unprecedented panic and cracking with fear.

On the distant King Kai's Planet, the chubby North Kai clutched his head and ran circles around the tiny planet, while the monkey Bubbles cowered on a tree, trembling.

"King Kai? What's wrong?" Goku tipped his head back and touched two fingers to his forehead.

"This is a huge problem! A disaster!" North Kai jumped up and down anxiously. "That monster who appeared out of nowhere has an unbelievably evil ki! This isn't just a crisis for Earth. It's a crisis for the entire galaxy... no, the entire universe! We're all doomed!"

North Kai stopped in his tracks and spoke hurriedly. "He's using Instant Transmission to find you! Run! You can't possibly—"

North Kai hadn't finished speaking.

Whoosh—!

A tall, imposing green figure appeared out of thin air directly above Lookout Plaza, bringing with him a pressure as heavy as a mountain.

Ultimate Cell.

He crossed his arms and looked down at everyone below. The mottled shell on his back shimmered with an eerie purple glow in the dim light.

Boom!

Without making a move or even powering up, Ultimate Cell released just a trace of his ki. The entire palace lurched downward several meters, as if struck by a meteor.

The neatly laid red bricks across the plaza crumbled to dust.

Gravity went completely out of control.

"Waaah!" Kid Gohan couldn't react in time. He slammed down on one knee and braced himself against the ground with both hands. The surface cracked under the strain.

Piccolo's green face twisted, the veins bulging on his forehead. He could barely stay upright.

Vegeta clenched his teeth, his eyes bloodshot. His fierce pride as the Saiyan Prince wouldn't let him submit. His legs shook violently, but he still stood ramrod straight.

Future Trunks was faring about as well as Vegeta.

Under the tangible pressure, Goku forced himself into a fighting stance. Sweat poured down his forehead, but the Saiyan fighting spirit in his eyes burned fiercely.

Far away on King Kai's Planet, North Kai had collapsed face-first onto the grass. He didn't dare lift his head, muttering over and over, "We're doomed, we're doomed."

The only person who remained standing and kept a calm expression was Son Gohan.

He held one arm in front of Young Trunks, shielding him from most of the pressure, and stared coldly at Cell in the air.

Beep beep beep—!

The alarm system in Android 16's brain went berserk, his eyes locked firmly on the monster above.

"Energy levels beyond anything recorded..." Android 16's cold mechanical voice rang through the silent palace, numb as a death sentence. "One trillion... three trillion... four trillion..."

With every jump in the numbers, everyone's hearts sank a little further.

"Five trillion."

Android 16 announced the final figure.

"This Cell is more than a hundred times stronger than the original Perfect Cell. Probability of victory: zero."

Five trillion!

Though Goku had braced himself, the moment he heard the number, the excitement on his face gave way to grim seriousness.

Son Gohan had just transformed into his Legendary Super Saiyan Form, displaying a power level of four trillion that had already seemed unfathomable. And yet this monster in the sky was far stronger still!

In midair.

Ultimate Cell savored the feeling of looking down on everyone.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, inhaling the air thick with fear and despair.

After traveling through countless parallel timelines and devouring countless counterparts, he had grown accustomed to the look in his prey's eyes just before they died. Whether it was Son Goku, Vegeta, or those self-proclaimed warriors of justice, they all eventually showed the same helpless weakness in front of him.

How boring.

Cell opened his scarlet eyes and swept his gaze over the people below.

"Another familiar lineup. Son Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo..." Cell's voice was low and resonant, like an elegant grim reaper calling out names.

At last, his gaze passed over everyone and settled on Son Gohan and Young Trunks at the back.

A flicker of surprise crossed Cell's eyes. Then the corners of his mouth lifted into a cruel grin.

"Oh? How interesting." Cell slowly descended, his feet scraping across the shattered flagstones with a hair-raising sound. "I never expected to find you two here. And the ki you're giving off is far stronger than I imagined."

Cell met Son Gohan's gaze, his amusement plain in his eyes. "I thought you'd been blasted into cosmic dust along with that world of yours. So you were hiding in this timeline."

Son Gohan's brow furrowed sharply.

A terrible premonition rose from the depths of his heart.

"What do you mean by that?" Adult Gohan stared at Cell, his ki surging through him, ready to erupt at any moment. "I don't remember seeing a pest like you in my timeline."

There was a Cell in Son Gohan's timeline, but there was no way he could be this monster.

"Of course you haven't seen me."

Cell chuckled and started walking toward Son Gohan, as casually as if he were strolling through his own backyard.

Goku and Vegeta instinctively tried to stop him, but Cell casually swept out a hand, sending a blast of ki that hurled them away. They slammed hard into the palace wall.

Cell passed the others and stopped ten paces from Adult Gohan, his smile full of malice and amusement.

"When I came to that wretched future of yours, you two happened to be away." Cell spread his hands, as if sharing a masterpiece. "But it doesn't matter. I got what I wanted."

Adult Gohan's eyes darkened, killing intent beginning to radiate from him.

Tilting his head, Cell looked at Adult Gohan and Young Trunks and continued as if talking to himself. "I dragged the Android 17 and Android 18 from your timeline out and handed them straight to my first-form self in that timeline."

"I watched that idiot me evolve into Perfect Cell, and then..." Cell licked his lips. "I swallowed him whole. The taste of that power, merging with my own—it was utterly addictive."

Standing behind Gohan, Young Trunks began to tremble. He could already guess what a twisted monster like this had done after reaching their world.

"After devouring myself, I decided that world was too boring." Cell's grin grew even crueler. "Nothing but ruins everywhere, and little rats hiding underground, desperately clinging to life. So, out of the goodness of my heart, I helped clean things up."

Adult Gohan clenched his only remaining right hand, his knuckles turning white.

"It took me one day." Cell raised a finger. "Just one day. I sucked every last living human on that Earth dry, leaving not a single one behind."

"Oh, right."

As if he'd just remembered something, Cell turned his gaze directly toward Young Trunks.

"Under the ruins of West City, I found a blue-haired woman. She was guarding a broken-down machine, and she even had a completely useless laser gun pointed at me."

Cell reenacted the scene, raising his hand like a pistol and aiming it at Young Trunks.

"Pew pew pew~ Hahaha!"

Cell imitated the sound of gunfire, laughing so hard his shoulders shook.

Boom!

The air over Lookout Plaza erupted.

"Cell! I'll kill you, you monster!!"

Young Trunks's eyes instantly filled with bloodshot veins. His purple hair stood on end, and golden flames of ki burst from him like an erupting volcano.

His last thread of reason snapped completely.

"Arrrrgh!!!"

Young Trunks let out a howl like a wounded beast. Driven by overwhelming fury, he broke through the Saiyan limits and entered Super Saiyan 2. His hair grew sharper than before, and lightning crackled around him.

His base power of 1.5 billion was multiplied a hundredfold by Super Saiyan 2, unleashing a raging energy of 150 billion without restraint.

He transformed into a blinding bolt of golden lightning and charged at Ultimate Cell with everything he had.