You are? Son Gohan!

Outside the Time Chamber, the seasons turned in silent succession.

On the plains outside West City, dandelions withered and bloomed again, and a year passed swiftly amid the everyday necessities of ordinary people. But for the newly built little cabin on Mount Paozu, these days carried a touch of domestic warmth it had never known before.

"Gohan, don't run too far! Dinner's almost ready!"

Chi-Chi stood at the cabin door, wearing a faded apron that had been washed countless times and holding a spatula in her hand. As she watched the tiny figure tottering across the grass after butterflies, her face—once always somewhat spirited—was now filled with the tenderness and fussing of a first-time mother.

Starting a family, building a life, getting married, having children. Over the past year, Goku seemed to have completely settled into the rhythm of an ordinary Earthling's life. He worked in the fields with Chi-Chi, and he clumsily held newborn Gohan in his arms, laughing heartily. Yet whenever the night grew quiet, Chi-Chi would look at her husband lying beside her and notice that Goku's callused fists still clenched on their own, even in his sleep.

The blood in Goku's veins had never gone cold.

But that peace was utterly shattered at noon today by a violent roar that tore through the sky.

BOOM—!!!

A massive spherical meteor, trailing billowing smoke and dark red flames, smashed viciously into the wilderness not far from Mount Paozu. The earth shook violently, and even the glass windows of the little cabin cracked with fine fractures.

"Chi-Chi, take Gohan inside. Lock the door."

The smile vanished from Goku's face in an instant. He tore off his vest, revealing the silver-gray gravity suit beneath. Deep in his clear eyes, the Saiyan instinct that had slept for a year stirred like a brown bear catching the scent of something terrifying.

The newcomer's "ki" was far too terrifying.

To Goku's senses, that ki was like a blazing star, barreling straight toward Mount Paozu.

When Goku and King Piccolo, who had also sensed something was wrong, arrived at the wilderness almost simultaneously, the long-haired man who stepped out of the crater was sneering as he switched off the scouter by his ear.

Raditz.

Because of Chen He's transmigration, the course of this world's story had long since undergone a chain of changes. Raditz, originally a low-class warrior of mediocre strength in the original story, gave off such tangible white ki flames the moment he set foot on Earth that the ground for miles around was forcibly shaved away!

300,000 power level!!

It was an absolute despair that made even Goku, who had now reached a power level of 90,000, and King Piccolo, who had trained bitterly to 85,000, feel their limbs turn cold.

"So this is my useless little brother? His power level is only ninety thousand... What a disgrace to the Saiyans, Kakarot."

Raditz smirked mockingly. He did not even assume a fighting stance, merely taking a casual step forward.

BOOM!!

The savage wind pressure stirred up by that single step instantly blasted Goku and King Piccolo back more than ten paces. From the very beginning, the battle became a brutal slaughter, a desperate attempt to fill an unbridgeable gulf with flesh and blood. Even though Goku and King Piccolo combined the techniques of the Turtle School and the Demon Clan to their utmost, before the absolute crushing force of Raditz's 300,000 power level, their bones were still mercilessly broken one after another.

Until the black-haired youth who had remained hidden in the shadows arrived, tearing through the air with steps so heavy they made the earth ache.

Chen He had come.

No one knew just how far he had pushed his power level during that year in the Time Chamber. When Chen He removed the gravity vest that was overloaded to the point of faintly glowing dark red, his appearance forcibly suppressed the tension Raditz had brought with him.

It was the darkest and most tragic day in Earth's history.

"Kakarot... you lunatic! Let go of me!!"

Raditz howled hysterically amid the ruins. Chen He had snapped both of his arms with the most primitive brutality, while Goku locked his blood-covered arms tightly around Raditz from behind, pinning his collarbones.

All of Goku's ribs had collapsed, and chunks of his internal organs kept spilling from his mouth. Clinging to his final breath, his clear eyes blurred by blood, he still stared fixedly at Chen He ahead of him and let out one final roar. "Chen He... do it!!"

Chen He stood more than ten meters away. The muscles in his right arm had torn open from overloading, leaving bloody gashes deep enough to expose bone. Dark red blood dripped from his fingertips onto the sand. His power level had likewise been completely exhausted in the previous struggle, and he had held on until now solely through sheer willpower.

Hearing Goku's shout, there was not the slightest hesitation or wavering in Chen He's eyes.

In this Dragon Ball world, where it was kill or be killed, any emotion called "kinship" was the cheapest poison.

"Special Beam Cannon—!!"

Beside them, King Piccolo, who had forcibly healed his fatal injuries through the Demon Clan's unique cell division ability, suddenly lit up a dazzling spiral of purple light between two fingers. This was the ultimate killing move he had prepared over the past year to deal with Chen He and Goku, yet at this moment, it became Earth's only lifeline.

BOOM—!!!

The purple streak, carrying the blood and obsession of all four men, instantly pierced through Raditz and Goku's chests.

At last, the storm subsided.

Raditz's mythical body, bearing a power level of 300,000, crashed heavily into the dust, filled with unwillingness and disbelief. Goku lay beside him, wisps of white smoke rising from the charred, bloody hole in his chest. Looking at Chen He and King Piccolo as they approached, then turning to glance toward Mount Paozu, he managed a relieved smile.

"Gohan... I'll leave him to you... Chen He."

Goku's pupils gradually lost focus. His scar-covered right arm fell limply onto the grass, and his breath finally ceased.

Chen He knelt on one knee amid the ruins and coughed violently several times. With every cough, thick black blood spilled from the corner of his mouth. The agony of his grievous injuries made his vision darken in waves, but he still braced himself against the rubble and stood.

"If you're not dead, get up, Piccolo." Chen He's voice was hoarse beyond recognition.

King Piccolo weakly wiped the cold sweat from his face. Though he had survived thanks to the Demon Clan's healing ability, the previous expenditure had severely drained him. King Piccolo turned his head to look at the small Gohan trembling in terror among the nearby ruins after witnessing his father's gruesome death, and an exceedingly complicated darkness and struggle flashed through his eyes.

"That little brat... the ki he erupted with for that instant even made Raditz waver." King Piccolo gritted his teeth, his voice carrying the ferocity of the Demon Clan. "Chen He, you're keeping him?"

"We knew each other once."

Chen He walked over with difficulty, grabbed the sobbing Gohan, and tucked him under his bloodstained arm. He looked back at Goku's corpse, then raised his head to look at the sky.

"In one year, more troublesome people will arrive. The two of us won't be enough. We need more allies."

Chen He turned and walked away, his steps unsteady from his grave injuries yet still incredibly heavy.

King Piccolo stared fixedly at Chen He's battered back. The claws hidden beneath his cape loosened, then clenched again. He hated the black-haired youth who had stolen all his glory, but reason told him that following this madman was his only path to survival.

"Hmph... Don't die on the way, Chen He."

King Piccolo flicked his long tail and silently followed, carried by a skyful of demonic winds. All that remained was the lonely little cabin on Mount Paozu beneath the setting sun, and Chi-Chi's faint, anxious calls drifting through the wind.