Son Gohan tucked the Three-Star Dragon Ball back into his clothes. The golden thread on his Bracer that pointed the way slowly faded.
"We're going straight to Planet Vegeta." Son Gohan's voice was calm, but his decision was unmistakably firm.
In this world, every extra minute they delayed meant another minute of danger.
That Evil Kakarot was completely different from Lin Fan in the previous timeline. Kakarot had clearly been in contact with the Original Dragon Balls' source for a long time. He could even divide that power and bestow it on his subordinates, giving them immortality!
If they didn't cut off the head of the snake at once, that power would take even deeper root within Kakarot. By then, he'd become the supreme god of the entire world.
Trunks frowned at his words. "Gohan, Planet Vegeta is absurdly far from this part of the universe. Even if we find an intact spaceship and fly there at full speed, wouldn't it take at least several months?"
Son Gohan was already considering how to solve that problem.
Several months was far too long.
"We won't need several months!"
Frieza, who had been leaning against a metal pipe, sprang upright. His weak voice rose with overwhelming excitement.
Hearing that these two powerful Saiyans were going straight to take down Kakarot's lair, the fallen emperor of the universe stared at them with feverish eyes.
"I've still got a final faster-than-light jump ship hidden deep in the base!" Frieza clutched his bleeding abdomen and eagerly volunteered. "It's the resistance's last trump card! With it, we can jump straight to the edge of Planet Vegeta's star system in two days at most!"
"Oh? That's better than I expected." Son Gohan looked a little surprised.
Two days later.
The crimson sky hung over Planet Vegeta. Once a vibrant world, it had now been transformed into a heavily militarized planet, its surface covered in black steel gun towers and factories that soared into the clouds.
The royal palace.
Kakarot sat on a massive throne built from bone and obsidian, resting his chin on one hand. His eyes held nothing but cold boredom.
In the center of the hall, a hulking, one-eyed Saiyan knelt on one knee. He held a string of bloodied heads, all belonging to aliens of various races.
"My king!" The one-eyed Saiyan's voice was hoarse with zealous pride. "I've completely wiped out the last of the South Galaxy's resistance forces! The leaders' heads are all here. For the Saiyan Empire, I beg you to grant me greater power!"
Kakarot glanced coldly at the heads.
"You took a whole month to clean up that trash from the South Galaxy, who couldn't even reach a battle power of a thousand?" Kakarot scoffed. "Still, you've shown enough loyalty to the Saiyan Empire."
He raised one finger.
A pure white glow quietly blossomed at its tip.
It was only a tiny remnant of Miracle Power. Though it was a mere speck, it was enough to grant a wish on the level of Super Saiyan 3.
The white light left his fingertip and shot straight into the one-eyed Saiyan's chest.
"Ahhhhh!"
The one-eyed Saiyan let out a groan of bliss. As his wish took shape, his muscles rapidly swelled before their eyes, and thick, dark-purple veins bulged across his body. Amid the crack of breaking bones, his base-form ki surged several times over, while violent, dark-red arcs of electricity danced around him.
"Thank you for your blessing, my king!" The one-eyed Saiyan slammed his head down, shattering the floor tiles.
Kakarot barely spared him another glance. He waved a hand as if shooing away a fly, signaling him to leave.
At almost the same moment.
Space warped violently in the void surrounding Planet Vegeta.
A streamlined faster-than-light ship burst through curved space and came to an abrupt stop in the vacuum.
Trunks looked down through the window and sucked in a sharp breath.
The sight made his scalp tingle. Hundreds of thousands of heavy interstellar warships hung in orbit around Planet Vegeta. Packed tightly together, they formed an impenetrable steel shell that completely enveloped the planet.
Countless red lights sprang to life in space. They were the fire-control radars of millions of high-energy orbital cannons, locking onto the ship.
"Gohan, the defensive line is too dense! The ship can't break through!" Trunks clenched his fists, preparing to power up and burst out of the ship.
"We don't need the ship."
Son Gohan's voice was cold. Without even opening the hatch, he reached back and grabbed Trunks by the shoulder.
Boom!
A fierce, grass-green aura erupted from Son Gohan's body! The dense, domineering green light instantly enveloped them both.
The next second, the ship exploded under the pressure of the ki surging inside it.
The instant the ship blew apart, millions of orbital cannons in space fired in unison. Blinding red beams wove into a deadly net, powerful enough to vaporize a star in an instant.
But the grass-green sphere didn't even slow down.
Withstanding the barrage from millions of cannons, Son Gohan shot toward the dense cluster of warships like a green meteor flying against the current, smashing straight through with overwhelming force.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A string of metallic tearing sounds rang through space. The moment the green sphere struck, more than a dozen heavy cruisers on the outermost line shattered like paper. Flames and debris burst silently into the void.
Son Gohan charged forward, carrying Trunks as he blasted a vacuum passage hundreds of meters wide through the impenetrable fleet.
Rumble!
A green meteor suddenly slammed into Planet Vegeta's dark-red surface.
The crust shook violently. A shock wave spread outward from the impact point, leveling every factory and tower within dozens of miles. Clouds of dust billowed into the sky.
The highest-level combat alarm blared across all of Planet Vegeta.
"Intruders!"
"They're in Defense Zone Thirteen! Kill them all!"
The sky darkened as hundreds of thousands of members of the Defense Force swarmed toward the crater from every direction like bloodthirsty locusts.
Half of them were mutated Earthlings injected with gene-enhancement drugs; the other half were low-ranking Saiyans in black-and-red Battle Suits. Their eyes held no fear, only bloodthirsty madness.
The dust had yet to settle.
Whoosh!
A brilliant golden aura erupted from the crater, blowing the clouds of dust apart.
Trunks transformed directly into a Super Saiyan. His body became a golden blur as he soared toward the swarm of soldiers.
"Die!"
Hundreds of mutated Earthlings fired ki blasts at him all at once.
Trunks didn't even bother to dodge. He charged through the explosions and plunged into their ranks. His joined hands sliced through the air like the sharpest blades.
Splurt! Splurt! Splurt!
Limbs and dark-red blood sprayed through the air in waves. Each time Trunks flashed past, he claimed more than a dozen lives. Faced with his overwhelming strength, the soldiers fell like stalks of grass before a scythe.
Son Gohan didn't even need to transform.
With one hand in his pocket, he strolled through the ruins, relying only on his base-form strength.
Three hulking Saiyan officers sprang from behind the rubble and attacked Son Gohan's blind spot from three directions.
Son Gohan didn't even turn around. He lifted his right leg and stamped hard on the ground.
Boom!
A terrifying invisible shock wave erupted from him. The three Saiyan officers didn't even touch the hem of his clothes before the force shattered their bones and hurled them away like rag dolls, killing them on the spot.
The two moved forward at incredible speed, leaving nothing but wreckage in their wake.
Just as Trunks was about to widen the area he was clearing, several distinct, powerful auras burst from the ruins ahead.
Five Saiyans wreathed in dark-red arcs of electricity blocked their path.
"Kill them!"
One of the Saiyans roared and charged at Trunks. He made no attempt to defend himself, instead spreading his arms for a suicidal attack.
Trunks snorted and drove a powerful front kick into his chest, blasting the Saiyan's upper body into a cloud of blood.
But in the next instant, white light surged.
The Saiyan's body re-formed in an instant, unharmed. His aura even surged by half, and he swung a heavy punch at Trunks's face.
Trunks raised his arm to block and was knocked half a step back.
"It's useless! We're immortal!" The five Saiyans laughed wildly. With Miracle Power allowing them to resurrect endlessly, they clung to their opponents like mad dogs.
"Oh? Is that so?" Trunks sneered and raised his left hand. "Hakai!"
Deep purple-red energy suddenly blossomed in his palm.
Destruction Energy struck the Saiyan at the front with pinpoint precision.
The grin on the struck Saiyan's face froze.
They stared in horror as the all-powerful miracle light within him met the purple glow and melted away like snow against scorching lava.
"W-what is this? My body... Aaaaaah..."
As the purple light rapidly spread, the Saiyan vanished completely, from the tips of his toes to the top of his head.
The remaining four Saiyans stood frozen in terror.
The nearby soldiers were also shaken by the bizarre means of annihilation, and their attack briefly faltered.
In that strange silence.
Vmmm!
A crushing pressure, heavy enough to make it seem as though the entire planet would collapse, descended without warning from above.
Trunks's heart clenched. It felt as though two mountains of steel had been dropped onto his shoulders, and even breathing became agonizing. He jerked his head up, staring at the sky in disbelief.
In midair, a figure who wasn't particularly tall but radiated absolute arrogance stood with his arms folded, looking down at them.
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