In the third month after Vegeta joined them, Son Goku found Kashu. "Big brother, I'm going to King Kai's Planet to train," Son Goku said. "Why do you suddenly want to go to King Kai's Planet?" "Because I can sense that there are even stronger enemies out there in the universe." Son Goku looked up at the sky. "Frieza won't let this go. I need to get stronger—strong enough to protect everyone." Kashu looked at his younger brother's determined eyes and nodded. "Go ahead. Snake Way is a million kilometers long. It'll take ten days to fly there. King Kai is a strict teacher, so be humble and learn from him." "I will!" Son Goku said goodbye to Chi-Chi and his newborn son, Son Gohan, and set off along Snake Way. Snake Way was a narrow white road winding above the clouds, with an endless abyss on either side. Son Goku flew with the Flight Technique, but a strange force field above Snake Way made flying extremely difficult. Most of the time, he could only run, with the occasional stretch of flight. Along the way, he encountered a giant demon—the guardian of Snake Way. The demon tried to swallow him, but Son Goku punched it away. "Sorry, I don't have time to play with you." Son Goku continued onward.
Ten days later, he finally reached King Kai's Planet. It was a tiny planet, only a few hundred meters in diameter, with a surface covered in emerald grass and a small house in the distance. A short, fat blue man stood in front of the house, holding a staff and wearing sunglasses. "Lord North King Kai!" Son Goku bowed. "My name is Son Goku. I'm here to become your student and learn from you!" North King Kai looked him over. "A Saiyan? Your brother Kashu came here a few years ago, too." "You know my brother?" "Of course. He was my student. But he left after learning Kaioken and the Spirit Bomb." North King Kai said, "What do you want to learn?" "Kaioken! The Spirit Bomb! And every technique that can make me stronger!" Son Goku's eyes shone. "You can learn them, but first you have to pass my test." North King Kai held up a finger. "First, catch the monkey behind me." Son Goku looked behind North King Kai. A little monkey was crouching there, eating a banana. "That's all?" Son Goku darted forward and reached for the monkey. It vanished, reappearing on North King Kai's shoulder. "Pretty fast, huh?" North King Kai said smugly. "That monkey's name is Bubbles. He's ten times faster than I am. If you can't catch him, don't expect to learn my techniques." Son Goku didn't lose heart. He closed his eyes and used ki to sense Bubbles's position. The monkey was three meters behind him, making a face at him. "Got you." Son Goku opened his eyes, darted forward, and grabbed Bubbles by the scruff of the neck with his right hand. The monkey struggled a few times, then gave up.
North King Kai's smile froze. "Y-You did it... How?" "I used ki to sense his position and track his movements," Son Goku said. "No matter how fast he is, he still has to obey the laws of physics. If you predict his movements correctly, you can catch him." North King Kai fell silent for a few seconds, then burst out laughing. "Well done, kid! You've got a knack for this, just like your brother! I'll take you on as my student!"
North King Kai began teaching Son Goku. Kaioken worked by unleashing the ki within the body in an instant, increasing strength and speed. North King Kai could only use Kaioken up to five times, but Son Goku kept breaking through his limits as he trained. After one week, Son Goku had learned five-times Kaioken. After one month, ten-times. After three months, twenty-times. "You really are a monster," North King Kai said in amazement. "I trained for hundreds of years just to reach five-times Kaioken, and you reached twenty-times in three months." "Maybe it's because my body's stronger," Son Goku said. "My brother said Saiyan bodies evolve in battle." "Next is the Spirit Bomb," North King Kai said. "The Spirit Bomb gathers the energy of the universe—the energy of planets, living beings, and light—and forms it into a ball. It's different from your ki. It's the power of nature." Son Goku studied it earnestly. His heart was pure, so it was easy for him to connect with nature's energy. After one month, he could form a Spirit Bomb a meter in diameter. "Very good, very good," North King Kai said with satisfaction. "You've mastered the basics. Next comes real combat." "Real combat?" "That's right. I'll use an illusion to create an opponent—your brother, Kashu." North King Kai swung his staff. A flash of light passed, and a figure identical to Kashu appeared in front of Son Goku. "This illusion is based on your memories of Kashu and has eighty percent of his strength," North King Kai explained. "Defeat him, and you'll graduate." Son Goku looked at the illusion, took a deep breath, and unleashed his Super Saiyan form and twenty-times Kaioken. "Big brother, I won't lose!" The illusion charged at Son Goku. Its crimson aura collided with Son Goku's golden one, and the entire planet shook. Son Goku trained on King Kai's Planet for a full year (one day on Earth—through some kind of special time dilation? No, time on King Kai's Planet and Earth flowed at the same rate, but in the Dragon Ball world, it took ten days to run Snake Way, and a year of training was still a real year. Note: time flowed at the same rate on King Kai's Planet and Earth, so Son Goku was gone for a year. Kashu and the others trained during that year, too.) In the spring of Age 755, Son Goku completed his training, said goodbye to North King Kai, and flew back to Earth. When he landed in New Vegeta City, everyone was stunned—his ki was at least ten times stronger than it had been a year ago. "Goku! You're back!" Chi-Chi ran over, carrying Kid Gohan. "Honey, I'm home!" Son Goku took his son and kissed him on the cheek. "Gohan, did you miss your dad?" Kid Gohan was a little over a year old. Babbling, he reached out to grab Son Goku's hair. "Kakarot, your improvement is astonishing." Kashu walked over and sensed Son Goku's ki. "Three million in your base form, one hundred and fifty million as a Super Saiyan. With twenty-times Kaioken, thirty billion at your limit?" "I can only hold that for five seconds," Son Goku said. "But five seconds is enough." "It sure is," Kashu replied with a smile. "Frieza's final form only has a power level of one hundred and twenty million. You could defeat him with one finger." "Then should we go fight Frieza now?" "Not yet." Kashu's expression turned grave. "Frieza already knows Namek has Dragon Balls. He's sent a fleet to Namek to seize them and wish for eternal life." "Namek? Piccolo's home?" "That's right. We need to reach Namek before Frieza and protect the Namekians and the Dragon Balls." "All right! I'll go!" "Not just you. We're all going."
Just as Kashu was preparing to head to Namek, Frieza's vanguard fleet arrived on Earth first. Six spherical spaceships landed at different points across the planet. Each carried ten Frieza Force soldiers and a Saibaman captain. Their mission was to test the strength of the Saiyans on Earth.
"Lord Frieza said we should test them first and avoid a direct fight," one Saibaman captain told his men. "Collect the data, then withdraw immediately." The six Saibaman captains had power levels ranging from fifty thousand to one hundred thousand, far stronger than ordinary Frieza soldiers. The alarm sounded again in New Vegeta City. "Six landing sites!" Gore reported. "Power levels over fifty thousand at each one!" "Split up," Kashu ordered. "Kakarot, take the eastern site. Krillin, the west. Tien Shinhan, the south. Piccolo, the north. Gore and Luo Ling, you're responsible for the northwest and northeast. I'll take the one in the middle—the strongest one, with a power level of one hundred thousand." "Understood!" Everyone scattered. Kashu landed on a barren plain twenty kilometers north of the city. A Saibaman captain stood there with ten soldiers lined up behind him. "Are you the strongest on this planet?" The Saibaman captain scanned Kashu with his Scouter. The reading showed 3.5 million. His expression changed. "Th-That's impossible!" "It doesn't matter whether you think it's possible," Kashu said. "Did Frieza send you here to die?" "Retreat! Move!" the Saibaman captain ordered. The soldiers fled in all directions. Kashu stretched out his right hand, and a crimson energy sphere formed in his palm. It split into eleven smaller spheres, each flying toward the Saibaman captain and one of the ten soldiers. All eleven struck their targets with pinpoint accuracy, and Frieza's soldiers were instantly reduced to ash. "Pathetic." Kashu turned and flew back to the city. The battles at the other sites ended just as quickly. Son Goku blasted the Saibaman captain and his spaceship apart with a Kamehameha; Krillin sliced the enemies in two with a Destructo Disc; Tien Shinhan blasted them to pieces with a Tri-Beam; and Piccolo pierced six of them with a Special Beam Cannon. Frieza's vanguard fleet was wiped out.
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