Journey to Namek

The winds of Yunzabit Heights carried icy shards of stone, howling day and night without pause.

The ancient spaceship, hidden among the barren mountains and jagged rocks for centuries, was now firmly secured in the center by massive supports. Blue arcs of electricity flickered across its hull from time to time, accompanied by the shrill roar of pneumatic tools.

Bulma had barely slept for three straight days. Several streaks of black engine oil smeared her once-clean cheeks. With an unlit cigarette hanging from her lips and a particle welder in hand, she was practically buried within the tangled maze of circuits and conduits. As the heir to Capsule Corporation, she could have been sitting in a comfortable office in West City, sipping coffee. But now, whenever she heard the cold metallic sounds coming from the spaceship above her, all she could see was Goku lying in the ruins, covered in blood.

"Kami, Krillin, everyone... they've all pinned their hopes on this. There's no way I'm dropping the ball!" Bulma gritted her teeth and viciously reconnected an alien fiber-optic cable.

On an open patch of ground not far beneath the spaceship.

Boom—!

A ring of tangible white pressure exploded outward, blasting the rocks within a hundred-meter radius into powder.

Krillin and Yamcha, bare-chested and drenched in sweat, exchanged punches wildly amid the rubble. After the brutal beating they had suffered in the battle against the Saiyans, the unwillingness deep in their hearts—the unwillingness of martial artists—had been completely ignited.

"Haaah!" Krillin drove a heavy punch into Yamcha's bracer, sending both of them staggering back several steps. He wiped the sweat from his face. The timidity that had once filled his eyes was gone, replaced by grim resolve. "Yamcha, if we don't push ourselves harder, then by the time we get to Namek, we won't even be qualified to collect Goku's body!"

"Quit talking and come again!" Yamcha spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, his gaze fierce. They knew they might never catch up to Chen He or Goku for the rest of their lives, but at the very least, when danger came again, they wanted to use their own bodies to block a dirty blow meant for their companions.

At the edge of a cliff not far away.

Chen He sat quietly in meditation. The burden of 150 times gravity had crushed all the grass around him flat against the ground. His breathing was extremely slow, each exhale somewhat heavy as he continuously sensed the flow of his ki.

He knew that the Dragon Ball storyline had already veered completely out of control. What awaited them on Namek would definitely not be merely the conventional Frieza from the original story.

Before we arrive, I have to become stronger.

Chen He opened his eyes. There was no emotional fluctuation in his dark pupils, only his usual rationality. He turned to look at Goku, who was slowly walking not far away while pushing an enormous boulder.

Goku's silver-gray gravity suit was already somewhat damaged, and the hundredfold gravity had pressed tiny beads of blood from his skin. Yet his eyes shone brighter than the stars in the night sky.

"Chen He, Bulma said... that antique spaceship doesn't have enough room for large gravity equipment. So she's planning to use the alien technology from Raditz's spherical spacecraft to build us a newly modified ship." Goku laboriously set down the boulder, breathing heavily, but a slightly crazed smile hung on his face. "That ship... can stably simulate 300 times gravity."

"Three hundred times?" Chen He rose to his feet and walked over with heavy steps, his gaze cold. "That will kill you, Goku."

"If I die on the way, that just means that's all I amounted to." Goku clenched his fists and turned to look at the pitch-black night sky over Yunzabit Heights. His voice was low, yet carried unshakable resolve. "Gohan will stay behind and protect Earth while he's at it. The Dragon Balls on Namek... the two of us have to get them first."

Half a month later.

With a dull metallic clank, the newly modified spaceship—combining Namek's ancient technology with the core components of a Saiyan space pod—finally revealed its imposing silver-gray hull beneath the morning sun.

"It's done! The gravity can be adjusted up to 300 times, and the living quarters are separate from the gravity field."

Bulma slumped weakly against the railing of the launch platform. Holding the control terminal and sporting two massive dark circles beneath her eyes, she shouted at them, "Goku, Chen He! I've already calibrated the coordinates for you, but once you get there, you have to be careful!"

Krillin and Yamcha stood behind her, watching the two figures in clean training clothes silently make their way toward the hatch. Their fists clenched tightly at their sides.

"Goku, you have to come back alive!" Krillin could not help shouting, his eyes reddening.

Goku stopped walking without turning around. He merely raised his right hand and gave his companions behind him his signature big thumbs-up. Chen He, meanwhile, slightly turned his head and glanced at the sky, who stood silently in the shadows of the rubble with his arms crossed, watching them.

Click.

The heavy alloy hatch slammed shut.

"Activate the gravity field. Start at 100 times."

Inside the spaceship's cramped gravity training room, Chen He expressionlessly turned the dial on the control panel.

Rumble—!!!

As the entire vessel shook violently under the powerful recoil force, this spaceship bearing Earth's final hope became a silver blade piercing the heavens. In an instant, it tore through the atmosphere and plunged headlong into that pitch-black sea of stars—unknown, cold, and savage.

During the long, tedious journey through space, their mad duel began in earnest within that cramped steel cage, beneath the inhuman pressure of 100 times gravity, 200 times gravity, and finally 300 times gravity.