Where Did It Come From?

Chapter 6: The Chaotic Gate of Time and Space

Within the white void of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, space itself was emitting a groan of unbearable strain.

Black fissures, visible to the naked eye, flickered in and out of existence in mid-air. The once-stable gravitational field had completely collapsed, fluctuating between a hundred times the normal gravity and total weightlessness.

Adult Gohan stood shirtless, the muscles of his remaining right arm defined like carvings in stone. He stood perfectly still, not having transformed, yet the aura naturally radiating from his body caused the air within a hundred-meter radius to stagnate.

Two years had passed.

Throughout these eighteen months, he had never ceased his assault on the threshold of Super Saiyan 4. Although every attempt to forcibly compress the Great Ape power ended with his body on the verge of collapse, failing to break through that barrier, this extreme exertion on the edge of life and death—combined with the terrifying growth potential of his Legendary Super Saiyan bloodline—had caused his base combat power to skyrocket in an inconceivable manner.

His base combat power was forty billion.

Even in the Majin Buu era of the main timeline, this figure would be enough to pin a non-transformed Son Goku and Vegeta to the ground. If he were to stack the hundred-fold multiplier of his Legendary Super Saiyan state, he would be the strongest in the universe in an era where the God of Destruction had yet to emerge!

Not far away, Trunks finished his final set of training.

The purple-haired youth's physique had bulked up significantly compared to two years ago, and the naivety and panic that once clouded his eyes had faded, replaced by a cold, hardened resolve forged through countless trials. His base combat power hadn't increased as exaggeratedly as Adult Gohan's, but it had reached the threshold of 1.5 billion; the Androids 17 and 18 would be nothing but a joke to the two of them now.

"Time's up." Gohan grabbed his tattered orange martial arts gi from the ground and draped it over his shoulders, covering the scars that mapped his body. "Let's go, Trunks. It's time to head out and finish off those two pieces of scrap metal."

Trunks nodded heavily, following behind Gohan toward the light-filled door leading to the outside world.

At the same time, in the outside world.

The atmosphere on the Lookout Plaza was terrifyingly oppressive.

Son Goku, maintaining his Super Saiyan form and clad in his Saiyan battle armor, stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the young Son Gohan, who was also in his Super Saiyan state. Piccolo, draped in his white cape, stared into the distance with furrowed brows.

They had only just emerged from the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and were in the midst of preparing for the Cell Games. The terrifying shadow of Perfect Cell loomed over the Earth, and everyone was racing against time to increase their strength.

Suddenly, a dull, muffled roar echoed from deep within the palace.

The entire hemispherical Kami's Palace began to shake violently, and the red floor tiles cracked in large patches.

"What's going on?" Piccolo whipped his head around, cold sweat instantly sliding down his green cheeks.

That direction—it was the door to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber!

"Something's wrong!" Son Goku instantly shifted into a combat stance, his golden aura erupting as he glared at the door deep within the corridor. "It feels like... something is trying to come out!"

"That's impossible!" Piccolo gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead. "Goku, didn't you and Gohan just come out of there? How could there be anyone else inside?"

Piccolo's expression was grave, his face turning a shade of green.

Suddenly, two extremely terrifying, violent, and even somewhat primal energies began to pour out from behind the door. One of the auras was relatively weaker, roughly on par with the Android siblings, yet it felt somewhat familiar. The other aura, however, had already caught up to the power of Son Goku and Adult Gohan in their Full Power Super Saiyan states, and it was exceptionally violent, showing no signs of friendliness.

"Such an evil ki..." Ten-year-old Son Gohan instinctively clenched his fists, his gaze wary. He had just mastered the Super Saiyan Full Power state and considered himself quite strong, yet he felt an inexplicable sense of danger in the face of that aura behind the door.

Even the Perfect Cell currently hosting the martial arts tournament didn't give him a feeling as intense as this.

"Prepare for battle!" Son Goku assumed his starting stance, his eyes more serious than ever before.

Thud—

Thud—

Thud—

Heavy footsteps approached from the darkness, resonant and powerful. Two figures, one large and one small, walked out from the gloomy corridor with heavy, deliberate strides.

The young man in the lead wore a tattered orange martial arts gi; his left sleeve hung empty, and a sharp, jagged scar ran across the corner of his right eye. He had black hair and black eyes, and not a shred of energy leaked from his body, yet merely standing there, he exuded a terrifyingly powerful aura.

The purple-haired youth following behind him wore similarly tattered clothes, his eyes sharp as blades.

The two groups stood across the plaza, their gazes locking.

The air fell into a deathly silence.

Piccolo stared fixedly at the face of the one-armed young man, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. "Go... Gohan?!"

He jerked his head to look at the ten-year-old Gohan beside him, then back at the one-armed youth radiating such terrifying pressure, his brain completely short-circuiting.

Although the Son Gohan before him was somewhat different from the young Gohan, he recognized him instantly. After all, he had raised Son Gohan himself.

"Uncle Piccolo." The moment Son Gohan saw Piccolo, his eyes trembled violently.

Seeing Piccolo, who had been dead for over a decade, standing before him in the flesh, his body's instincts made the words slip out before he could stop them.

He looked to the side.

The man with golden hair and a face full of caution was none other than his father, Son Goku, who had long since died of a heart disease.

And the child hiding behind Goku, looking ten years old and also maintaining the Super Saiyan Full Power state... wasn't that his former self?

Looking at the people before him, Son Gohan realized immediately that the two of them were likely no longer in their original world.

The countless times he had forcibly pushed toward the Super Saiyan 4 realm within the Hyperbolic Time Chamber had caused the extremely violent energy to disrupt the laws of that pocket dimension, leading to a distortion in time and space.

He hadn't returned to his own world of despair; he had opened the door to the main timeline!

"Are... are you the future me?" Young Gohan's eyes widened as he spoke, stuttering. He could feel a familiar aura from the man, but was that massive power for real? The Son Gohan before him was only in his base form. Perfect Cell? Perhaps in the face of this future version of himself, he would be nothing more than a bug to be crushed.

"Time and space have been twisted."

As if to verify the conjecture in Son Gohan's mind, Popo appeared at the edge of the plaza. His round eyes fixed on Adult Gohan, and his voice resonated directly in everyone's minds: "You released power far beyond what the Hyperbolic Time Chamber could withstand in another dimension, tearing the time anchor of the chamber. You have now arrived in the past of a parallel timeline."

Young Trunks froze in place upon hearing this.

He paid no mind to the talk of parallel timelines, his gaze frantically sweeping across the plaza.

Piccolo with his green face, Son Goku whom his mother had mentioned so many times, and the Gohan he remembered from his childhood...

"Where is my father?" Trunks couldn't help but ask, his voice trembling with suppressed emotion as his eyes eagerly searched for the figure he had only ever seen in photographs. "Father... is he not here?"

In this timeline, Vegeta should still be alive!

Piccolo swallowed hard, forcing down the shock in his heart, and pointed downward: "Vegeta is training in the gravity room in West City, preparing for the Cell Games in a few days."

"The Cell Games?" Adult Gohan caught the term with keen sensitivity.

It seemed the main timeline had already progressed to the point where Perfect Cell was hosting his martial arts tournament.

Son Goku powered down from his Super Saiyan state and walked slowly toward Adult Gohan.

He looked at the young man standing half a head taller than himself, his gaze falling upon the empty left sleeve and the scarred cheek.

He paid no attention to that terrifying base combat power of forty billion.

All that remained in Goku's eyes was deep heartache.

"Gohan..." Goku raised his hand and patted his son's right shoulder heavily. Even without having experienced that future, he could read just how much this battle-worn body had been forced to carry.

"Father." Adult Gohan's eyes grew warm, but he quickly suppressed the feeling. He was no longer the hothouse flower in need of his father's protection. In this cruel world, he had long since grown accustomed to being strong, and he had to be.