Porunga's Trial

A golden pillar of light illuminated the entire temple as brightly as day.

The light emitted by the seven Dragon Balls was no longer a gentle pulse. It was like seven sharp swords thrusting straight into the heavens, tearing apart the shadow cast by Frieza's ship. An ancient, heavy pressure began to fill the air—not killing intent, not battle power, but a pure divinity born from creation itself.

Ji Ming looked up at the sky.

The golden pillars converged into a blazing white point at the zenith. Then that point began to expand, expand, and expand again—like a beating heart, doubling in size with every beat. The clouds were forced apart, the atmosphere compressed into an enormous hollow, and countless twisting bolts of golden lightning burst from the point, striking the earth in every direction. The white stones around the Dragon Ball Altar crackled under the current, and several elderly Namekians dropped to their knees involuntarily.

Porunga appeared.

Planet Namek's dragon was exactly like Ji Ming had seen in the manga, but the shock of witnessing it in person was far beyond anything a page could contain. It rose from the light, its body as majestic as a mountain range, covered from head to tail in dark golden scales. The edges of every scale glowed red like molten lava. Its upper body was tremendously developed, its chest and shoulder muscles resembling carved mountain ridges. Two massive arms hung at its sides, its fingertips nearly touching the ground. Its head bore two enormous horns curving forward, its eyes were twin flames of pupil-less crimson, and when it bared its mouth, two rows of sharp fangs gleamed within.

But what truly made Ji Ming's heart tighten was Porunga's "ki." It was not something that could be measured in battle power numbers. It was a crushing pressure that bore directly upon the soul—the power before him was a power of rules capable of twisting reality itself. Standing before this divine dragon, one instinctively realized just how laughably small one was.

Frieza saw Porunga as well.

His hover pod stopped roughly two hundred meters from the Dragon Ball Altar. He did not order an attack, nor did he continue forward. He merely sat inside the pod, his blood-red eyes fixed on the dragon rising from the light. His lips moved, as if he were muttering to himself—or giving some sort of order to the ship behind him.

"Porunga..." He spoke the name in Namekian, and for the first time, his voice held none of its usual mockery. In its place was a cold scrutiny. "So this is what Namek's Dragon Balls summon. Much larger than Earth's dragon—and much uglier."

His fingers lightly tapped the armrest of his pod twice. A smile returned to his lips, but it never reached his eyes.

"How interesting. If I can make a wish with this dragon and obtain immortality directly... then I won't need to fear any Super Saiyan." He tilted his head slightly and raised his voice toward the ship behind him. "All personnel, stand by. We move once I understand the wishing process."

Frieza was no fool. This was his first time facing a true dragon, and he did not know that wishes required the Namekian language, nor did he know whether the process could be interrupted. Until he understood those things, he would not act rashly. This was the opening Ji Ming needed.

Ji Ming turned, his gaze swiftly sweeping across everyone behind him—Son Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Krillin, Tien Shinhan, Chiaotzu, Nappa, Nail, and the Namekians gathered around the temple. Everyone was looking up at the sky. Krillin's mouth hung open, golden ripples reflecting off his bald head. Vegeta stood off to one side with his arms crossed, seemingly unmoved, but light kept flickering deep in his eyes.

"Uncle Krillin," Ji Ming said in a low voice, speaking rapidly. "Among all the Namekians, aside from Guru and Nail, only Dende knows healing. Once the battle begins, he'll be crucial for keeping people alive. Take him to Guru's side, and don't leave them for even a step."

"Got it." Krillin had just nodded when he froze. "Did you just call me... Uncle?"

Ji Ming had no time to address the title and had already turned toward Nail and Piccolo. "You two will be at the front. Nail, focus on defense. Piccolo, prepare Special Beam Cannon—once Frieza makes a move, the first strike must punch a hole through his body. Even if it's only a small opening, make him understand that Saiyans aren't the only ones on this battlefield who can hurt him."

"I've been waiting to hear that." The lines of Piccolo's face appeared even colder beneath the golden light, his white cape snapping in the rushing air.

"Vegeta." Ji Ming grabbed his shoulder, the muscles beneath the battle armor taut as rock. "Take Nappa, Tien Shinhan, and Chiaotzu to support the left and right flanks. Don't rush in. Focus on using Tien Shinhan's Neo Tri-Beam and Chiaotzu's psychic powers to disrupt his senses. The moment the dragon finishes granting wishes, I'll join the battle immediately."

Nappa slammed his fists together before his chest, the crack of his knuckles overpowering the distant thunder. Chiaotzu said nothing. He merely touched two fingers lightly to his temple, violet light flashing in his eyes as he locked onto Frieza's "ki."

"Dad." Ji Ming finally turned to Son Goku, his voice clipped and clear. "You're the only one who can reach twenty times Kaio-ken. Your time isn't now—it's when Frieza transforms into his final form. Until then, your task is to conserve your strength and ki."

Son Goku sat cross-legged on the ground with his eyes closed. Hearing that, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly. He said nothing, merely raised a hand and gestured that he understood.

After arranging everyone's positions, Ji Ming turned and walked toward the open ground before the temple. Porunga's enormous eyes lowered, two crimson gazes falling upon his small figure. That gaze carried weight—not physical weight, but the weight of rules. The creator of the Dragon Balls had set the dragon to answer only the summoner's wishes, so it waited for the child who had summoned it to speak.

Ji Ming made his first wish in Namekian.

"First wish—revive all Saiyans killed by Frieza, including every Saiyan killed by him and his army on Planet Vegeta and on all other planets—all of them."

Porunga was silent for two seconds. Its giant crimson eyes flickered, and then it spoke in a voice as deep as rolling thunder. "The scope of this wish is extremely broad. The number involved exceeds the normal limit of a single wish. I cannot precisely restore every Saiyan to their condition before battle, because too much time has passed."

Ji Ming's heart clenched. "What do you mean?"

"All Saiyans killed by Frieza and the Frieza Force outside of combat will be revived on the nearest safe planet to where their battle memories are strongest or where remnants of their DNA remain. Those who died in battle will be revived on the nearest safe planet within the same star system. Their battle power will remain in the state they remembered at the final moment before death. If their corpses are still exposed in outer space, I will gather them onto the nearest celestial body with an atmosphere and restore their lives there."

Ji Ming swiftly considered the practical outcome. As long as the Saiyans returned, their battle power would return with them. As for being scattered across different planets, that would temporarily prevent Frieza from locating them all at once.

"Fine. Do it that way."

Porunga's eyes suddenly erupted with blinding red light.

"It is done."

As those three words fell, at some coordinates deep in the universe, countless Saiyan warriors who had long become cosmic dust opened their eyes in the same instant.

The ruins of Planet Vegeta. A remote colony satellite forgotten by the Frieza Force. Dozens of Saiyan escape pods, abandoned for years, drifted through the satellite's orbit.

A frozen fertilized egg split open with its first crack inside a cultivation tank. An adult Saiyan's hand burst from the rubble, its fingernails still packed with scorched soil from Planet Vegeta's explosion all those years ago.

A low-class warrior who had once performed forced labor in Frieza's army raised his head and stared blankly at the unfamiliar starry sky before him, his mouth hanging open.

None of them cheered. No one knew why they had come back to life. But in the minds of every Saiyan, wherever they were, one name echoed at the same time—four words conveyed through Porunga's divine power.

[Son Gohan.]

Vegeta stood on the rocky ground before the temple. His scouter had long since been blown to pieces, but his body felt it. Something like an electric current shot up from his tailbone, carrying an unprecedented sensation through his spine—it was the signal of countless Saiyan ki signatures rising simultaneously from every corner of the universe. Not a communication signal, not an energy signal, but a bloodline signal. The Saiyan race had begun breathing again in the era in which he still lived.

"They really... came back." Vegeta's voice was so hoarse it was almost inaudible. After speaking, he turned his head to the side, his jaw clenched as tightly as an iron plate. Ji Ming pretended not to see that trace of something that should not have appeared in the eyes of the Saiyan Prince.

Porunga lowered its eyes once more, waiting for the next wish.

"Second wish—revive all Namekians slaughtered by the Frieza Force today and over the past few days."

The scope of this wish was comparatively small, and Porunga answered directly. "It is done."

At the outskirts of the temple, the Namekian warriors whose bones Dodoria had crushed earlier opened their eyes amid golden light. They sat up in confusion, touching their fully restored bodies and staring at their hands. Farther away, among the ruins of the eastern village, villagers consumed by flames reappeared one after another from the ashes, as if the fire had never existed. Outside a cave in the southwest, a Namekian child who had just lost his father slowly sat up from the ground. He saw his father bend down a few steps away, pull him tightly into an embrace, and gently brush his forehead with his antennae, his voice choked with emotion.

Nail stood beside Guru, his antennae trembling uncontrollably as he sensed the life signals of so many of his people. He had believed that Namek would be completely annihilated today, but now—his people were returning from death.

"Frieza." Nail gritted out the name, but not in fear. For the first time, it carried a hatred backed by absolute conviction.

Inside Frieza's ship, a technical soldier monitoring energy fluctuations trembled as he pressed the emergency communication button. "Lord Frieza! A massive number of Namekian and Saiyan life signals are reappearing—we can't calculate the number at all!"

The smile finally vanished completely from Frieza's face. He no longer tapped his armrest, no longer tilted his head as he studied the dragon.

"Revived? They've been revived?" For the first time, sharp fury entered his voice. "A bunch of primitive savages actually dared to use Porunga right in front of me—to revive every Saiyan?"

Ji Ming did not turn to look at Frieza's expression, but he felt the change in the air. Frieza's ki began to blaze rapidly. The fury of having his fundamental interests threatened was stripping away his calm facade.

Porunga's crimson eyes lowered, meeting his gaze one last time. "The third—and final—wish. What is it?"

Ji Ming stood where he was, not speaking immediately. He knew this was the final wish, and the most crucial one. Once all three wishes were used, the Dragon Balls would turn into ordinary stones, and the next summoning would require a wait of one hundred and thirty days. But the battle before them absolutely would not wait one hundred and thirty days—the outcome would be decided within the next few dozen minutes.

The atmosphere before the temple suddenly tightened. Everyone watched Ji Ming. Frieza narrowed his eyes, one finger hovering over the attack button on his hover pod, waiting only for the final wish to be spoken.

Ji Ming took a deep breath and raised his head to look directly into Porunga's eyes.

"The third wish—"