West City, underground shelter.
"Aunt Bulma, sorry for the trouble, but could you prepare some high-calorie rations and enough specially made gravity suits to last us two years? Put everything in Hoi-Poi Capsules. Trunks and I need to go somewhere to train."
"Train?" Bulma stared at him. In this desperate world, where the Androids could discover and kill them at any moment, where could they possibly train that was safer than hiding in the basement?
"The Lookout." Gohan's gaze was resolute. "There's a Hyperbolic Time Chamber there."
Bulma frowned. "The Hyperbolic Time Chamber? I know about the Lookout, but how come I've never heard of a place like that there?"
"My dad told me about it before he died." Gohan unhesitatingly passed the buck to Son Goku. "It's a magical space inside Kami's Palace. Time is short. The sooner we get stronger, the more lives we can save from the Androids. We have to leave as soon as possible."
At the mention of Son Goku, the doubt in Bulma's eyes vanished. She looked at the Gohan in front of her, whose aura was entirely different from before. The young man who had once always seemed tragic and exhausted now had an absolute confidence in himself shining in his eyes.
It had been far too long since Bulma had seen such hopeful eyes in this broken world.
Bulma said no more and immediately rushed into the lab. Ten minutes later, she placed a small Hoi-Poi Capsule case in Gohan's hands.
"Be careful," Bulma said, offering only those four words.
"We will."
High above, two blazing auras streaked like meteors through the gloomy sky, heading straight for the Lookout above Korin Tower.
The wind howled in their ears. Trunks stayed close behind Gohan, and finally couldn't hold back his question. "Gohan, is the Hyperbolic Time Chamber really as amazing as you said?"
Gohan slowed down a little, his voice carrying through the wind. "That's right. It's a space completely different from Earth. Time flows differently there. One day outside is a whole year inside."
"A year?!" Trunks' eyes widened in shock.
"That's not all," Gohan continued. "Gravity inside is ten times Earth's, the air is incredibly thin, and the temperature swings wildly from forty degrees below zero to fifty degrees above. It's a hell made purely to push the human body to its limits. An ordinary person wouldn't last a minute in there."
Trunks swallowed, but rather than fear, a burning fighting spirit sparked in his eyes. "If it'll make me stronger, I can endure even the harshest conditions!"
Seeing the purple-haired boy brimming with enthusiasm, Gohan turned his gaze forward and silently began planning their training.
His base power was currently around seven million.
The Super Saiyan transformation was essentially a violent amplification of the "ki" within the body. An ordinary Super Saiyan multiplied base power by fifty. In other words, his current maximum power was around 350 million.
But that was far from enough.
During their year in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, he not only had to perfect the Super Saiyan form until it reached the "Full Power" state, where it consumed no stamina, but also try to break through the barrier to Super Saiyan 2!
Super Saiyan 2 multiplied base power by a hundred, twice the power of Super Saiyan.
Beyond that, Super Saiyan 3 multiplied base power by four hundred, but the form consumed an absurd amount of stamina. Without the benefits of being dead or having God Ki, it wasn't very practical in a real fight.
He also needed to awaken the Legendary Super Saiyan Bloodline within him.
The terrifying thing about the Legendary Super Saiyan Bloodline was its unreasonable growth and limitless expansion of ki. A normal Super Saiyan transformation was an emotional outburst, while a Legendary Super Saiyan transformation was pure, unrestrained savagery. Once activated, his power wouldn't simply increase by a multiplier—it would keep growing even after the multiplier was applied!
And...
Gohan formed an incredibly audacious idea in his mind.
If it worked, based on the method for transforming into Super Saiyan 4 in Dragon Ball GT, could he skip the Super Saiyan 2 and Super Saiyan 3 stages and find a shortcut to the threshold of Super Saiyan 4?
The principle behind Super Saiyan 4 was to transform into a Golden Great Ape, regain one's reason, and compress that immense wild power into a human body. Broly's Legendary Super Saiyan Bloodline was already an extremely high-level Saiyan bloodline, and in Great Ape form, he wouldn't lose his reason at all.
Still, whether it would work remained to be seen.
After all, Son Goku and Vegeta in Dragon Ball GT were old monsters who had lived through the Majin Buu Saga, survived countless battles to the death, and trained for decades. It was no exaggeration to say that Goku, who had successfully transformed into Super Saiyan 4 in the GT era, could pin his current self to the ground with a single finger even while in his black-haired base form.
The difference in base power was like the distance between heaven and earth.
"Take things one step at a time. Let's handle Super Saiyan Full Power and Legendary Super Saiyan first." Gohan took a deep breath and suppressed his roiling thoughts.
Before they knew it, they had passed through the thick clouds, with the top of Korin Tower far below them.
A huge, hemispherical palace floated quietly above the clouds.
Red tiles, white buildings, and lush trees all around. This was where Earth's deity lived.
After Piccolo and Kami died, this place should have been a silent ruin.
But when Gohan and Trunks landed lightly on Lookout Plaza, they both stopped in their tracks.
A figure stood quietly before the steps leading to the main hall.
Black skin, a white turban, round eyes gazing ahead without a trace of emotion. He looked like a statue untouched by time.
Mr. Popo.
Trunks instinctively took a defensive stance. He had never seen this man before, and in this desperate world, any stranger was extremely dangerous.
But Gohan held out a hand to stop Trunks, studying the seemingly harmless, chubby man before them with a penetrating gaze.
Mysterious.
That was Gohan's only impression of Popo. In the original Majin Buu Saga, the two little troublemakers, Goten and Trunks, transformed into Super Saiyans on the Lookout and attacked him recklessly as they sparred. Yet Popo had effortlessly blocked every attack powerful enough to destroy a city without even breathing hard.
His composure was just like that of the Angels in the God of Destruction Saga.
If he was so strong, why had he stood by and watched the Androids slaughter humanity without stepping in?
The question flashed through Gohan's mind, but he immediately pushed it aside. He didn't question Popo or test him. The rules of this world were strict: those with divine duties couldn't casually interfere in the fate of the mortal world. Asking would be pointless. They should focus on what they'd come to do.
Gohan stepped forward, about to explain why they had come.
"Son Gohan. Trunks."
Popo spoke first. His voice was so ethereal and utterly without inflection that it seemed to come not from his mouth, but directly from inside their minds.
His round eyes held a calmness that seemed to see through everything.
"I know why you've come here." Popo slowly turned around, without a single unnecessary movement, and headed deeper into the palace. "Follow me."
Trunks froze, then turned to Gohan. "H-how does he know my name?"
"Trunks, come on." Gohan didn't explain and hurried after Popo.
The three of them walked through a long, dark corridor. It was so quiet that all they could hear were their own footsteps.
At last, Popo stopped in front of an incredibly heavy wooden door carved with ancient patterns. A remarkably ancient and oppressive aura seeped through the crack, as if the door connected to another universe.
Popo reached out with his black hand and pressed it against the ring on the door.
"Once you go inside..." Popo turned his head slightly, his impassive eyes fixed on Gohan's.
The wooden door rumbled dully and slowly swung inward.
"Be sure to watch the time. Each person can spend only two years inside during their lifetime. If you stay any longer, you won't be able to get out."
Before you continue