The sharp smell of disinfectant was faintly masked by expensive aromatherapy.
The cold white light of the operating lamp made the spacious private delivery room look as bright as day.
The world's most advanced vital-sign monitors emitted a steady series of beeps. Apart from that, the entire room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Several top obstetric specialists, hired by Capsule Corporation at great expense, held their breath, fine beads of sweat forming on their foreheads.
Even Raditz and the other top fighters on Earth, waiting outside the door, were wound tight with nerves. None of them dared even breathe too loudly.
Tension.
Anxiety.
Anticipation.
Every emotion churned in the smell of disinfectant.
"Waaah—!!!"
Suddenly, a clear, piercing cry tore through the delivery room's solemn silence.
The baby's cry was astonishingly strong, its vitality almost tangible. It made the specially reinforced bulletproof glass windows vibrate with a deep hum.
This was nothing like the first cry of a frail newborn. It sounded more like an ancient young dragon announcing its arrival to the entire universe.
He took the tiny life wrapped in a soft blanket from the nurse, his expression complicated.
His hands trembled slightly, beyond his control.
Those iron hands could shatter a thousand-ton meteor with a single punch and crush the emperor of the universe, Frieza, in one hand. Now they hovered in midair, afraid to even cradle the baby's soft little head with any force.
In the blanket, the tiny red-faced baby, his features still scrunched up, had his eyes closed. He waved his little hands instinctively, then clamped one around a finger.
That faint but burning strength traveled from his fingertip, all the way into the depths of his soul.
Twenty whole years... he murmured to himself.
Since arriving in this world filled