That Year, Five Years Old, Was a Super Saiyan... Four?

Whoosh!

The wind in the distance gradually grew louder, yet Son Gohan's expression remained unchanged. He was merely trying to make himself angry.

But Son Goku and Piccolo both paled.

They were shocked by the power Gohan had unleashed just now, but they were equally shocked by the Namekian's resilience—he had actually survived that force.

And now, Slug had erupted with even greater power.

They had no confidence at all that they could withstand it.

"This guy's gotten even stronger!"

Sweat dripped down Son Goku's face. He clearly felt immense pressure and could not even think of a way to defeat his opponent.

"Even though we're both Namekians, he's far stronger than I am."

Although Piccolo was in the midst of a crisis, he still maintained his cool pose. He spat toward the distance and said, "But there's no other choice now. We'll fight with everything we've got!"

"Yeah, let's give it everything!"

Son Goku spread his arms to either side, and the crimson aura around him flared even more fiercely. He was clearly prepared to fight to the death.

Riiip!

The massive figure came crushing in from afar in an instant.

It was like a mountain falling from the sky. Terrifying pressure bore down on them, instantly blowing away everything around it.

Slug, having returned and transformed into a giant once more, did not waste any words.

He swung his arm viciously at Son Gohan.

The attack came with incredible speed. Ordinary people would not even have been able to see an afterimage, but fortunately, Gohan was no ordinary person. He dodged at tremendous speed as well.

But the moment he evaded the sweeping arm, the follow-up attacks came pouring in, leaving him without the slightest breathing room.

Swish, swish, swish!

The two engaged in a rapid aerial battle of evasion.

Slug's body was clearly enormous, yet his speed was not slow in the slightest. He even held the advantage over Gohan as he was now.

"Gohan!"

Seeing Gohan being suppressed, Piccolo immediately charged in without a second thought.

But the gap between him and those two was simply far too great now.

"Hmph, just trash."

Although Slug noticed Piccolo charging at him, he did not care at all. A dark gleam even flashed through his eyes.

After forcibly assimilating Kami, he had obtained Kami's memories as well.

So he knew the relationship between Piccolo and Kami.

Naturally.

He had set Piccolo as a target he had to absorb. After all, according to certain Namekian memories, the Namekian before Piccolo and Kami split apart could even be called Namek's greatest genius.

Yet merely assimilating Kami had not made him feel much stronger.

So naturally, he wanted to assimilate Piccolo as well.

His gaze instantly turned vicious. During another attack, he turned a real move into a feint, then reached back to grab Piccolo at his side.

But that feint could not fool Son Gohan's eyes.

Crimson light blazed around him once more. He appeared in front of Piccolo as if he had teleported, then lashed out with a powerful whip kick that struck Slug squarely on the wrist.

Slug immediately pulled back in pain.

"You little pest!"

Seeing Son Gohan block him again, the hatred in Slug's eyes grew even stronger. He said coldly, "Since you want to die first, then Lord Slug will grant your wish."

"Not necessarily!"

Brilliant golden light flickered within Son Gohan's pupils.

He thought through every single thing that should have made him angry.

Yet just as he had expected, the rage stirred by his own will had ignited, but it was still not enough to turn him completely into a Super Saiyan!

"Piccolo, you and I were originally one. What happened back then was my mistake. Now, we should return to being one, together with Lord Slug..."

While Son Gohan was trying to anger himself.

Piccolo unexpectedly heard that old Kami's voice echoing in his mind.

But the words sounded fake the moment he heard them. He turned his gaze straight toward Slug and sneered. "Hmph, you really know how to play these boring tricks. That old Kami may be hopelessly stupid, but he would never say something like that, much less cooperate with someone like you!"

Slug was not flustered even after Piccolo exposed him. "Piccolo, you were originally a genius among the Namekians. You should not be with this group of inferior humans. Join with me instead. Not only will you fulfill your wish of conquering Earth, you'll conquer the entire universe!"

Piccolo's eyes flickered slightly.

Conquering Earth had indeed once been his ambition, but that was so long ago.

"Conquering everything—that is what we demons should be doing, Piccolo!"

Seeing that Piccolo seemed tempted, Slug's expression grew even more delighted. Clearly, he desperately wanted to obtain Piccolo's potential.

"Idiot!"

A mocking smile suddenly appeared at the corner of Piccolo's lips. He said coldly, "I'm sorry, I did once want to become Earth's king, but that was a long time ago!"

As he spoke, he brought his hands together and hurled out an Explosive Demon Wave.

However, that level of attack could not possibly harm Slug.

"Hmph!"

Slug casually swept aside the attack, then moved to break through Gohan's defense and launch an assault directly at Piccolo behind him.

"You want to assimilate Uncle Piccolo?"

Seeing that ordinary anger could not turn him into a Super Saiyan, and that the enemy was about to assimilate Piccolo, Son Gohan changed his approach.

Since he could not become a more stable Super Saiyan—

Then he would keep increasing the Kaioken multiplier until he could wipe him out without leaving even a single cell behind!

No matter what, he would never allow the enemy to absorb Uncle Piccolo.

Not even if this was only a matched world!

"Kaio-ken—twenty times!"

A savage glint flashed through Son Gohan's eyes. His already swollen muscles bulged further, veins rising across them like tiny coiled dragons.

Whoosh!

An intense crimson radiance flared up.

Violent energy rapidly boiled over. Son Gohan's originally pale face instantly turned blood-red, his black hair rising as red lightning seemed to flicker between the strands.

"What's going on?"

Slug had been preparing to assimilate Piccolo in one fell swoop.

Yet he saw the Saiyan child erupt with an even more terrifying aura than before.

An even greater sense of danger rose in his heart, so he slapped out with his huge palm, intending to interrupt the other's power-up.

"My body... hold on!"

Feeling his bones and blood crying out in agony, Son Gohan could only pray inwardly. No matter what, he had to win!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Under the eruption of crimson energy, steam seemed to rise around him.

Terrifying explosions erupted one after another in the air.

Slug had clearly only made a casual waving motion, yet his body suddenly staggered, as though the force of the surrounding space had changed and even his flight had gone wrong.

"What the hell is going on?"

Slug only had time to roar inwardly before a red flash flickered past his eyes, followed by intense pain in his face.

Half of his face exploded under an utterly terrifying force.

Yet he reacted in an instant, abruptly throwing a punch in an attempt to seize Son Gohan in his hand.

But the red light slipped past his arm, looped halfway around in the air, and slammed viciously into his abdomen.

There was no suspense at all.

A bloody hole was instantly punched through Slug's abdomen.

Under the impact of that tremendous force, Slug was forced back uncontrollably, purple blood spraying from his mouth.

Clearly, the attack had injured him severely as well.

Gohan, having shot past Slug's body, swiftly turned back and prepared to finish the battle with a Kamehameha.

But at that instant—

His entire body suddenly went numb, as if struck by electricity.

The crimson aura quickly vanished, and he began falling uncontrollably. Blood seeped from every pore of his body.

Clearly, his body had reached its limit and could no longer endure.

"Gohan!"

Son Goku swiftly transformed into a streak of red light and rushed over, accurately catching Gohan in his arms. His eyes held both confusion and pity.

Slug, whose body had been pierced through, regained control of himself as well.

But unlike before, his eyes were now bloodshot. Clearly, his emotions were even more unsettled than before.

He looked at the wound in his chest, his gaze turning fiercer. "Damn it! He's just a mere Saiyan brat, yet twice now he has made me feel... the threat of death!"

As the Great Universe King who had received the universe's blessing—

His fury at this moment was unprecedented.

Though he had already unleashed all his power, power enough to crush everything and even shake the universe, this child had somehow struck him with two consecutive life-threatening attacks.

This Saiyan had earned his death!

In his extreme fury, he ignored everything else and turned to fire a mouth blast at Son Gohan.

His attack, launched in a rage, was incomparably fast.

Son Goku had been checking Gohan's injuries when he suddenly sensed a powerful aura bearing down on them, but at this distance, there was no time to dodge.

Instinctively, he turned while holding Gohan and used his own body to block the attack.

"Looks like we lost this match. What kind of freakishly overpowered monsters did we get matched against?!"

Seeing the light blazing behind his father, Son Gohan sighed inwardly. Slug, that cheating bastard, was just too powerful. Even if Gohan risked his life, he still could not win.

If he lost, he would naturally receive no reward—but what would happen to this world?

BOOM!

The mouth blast exploded directly behind them.

The terrifying shockwave instantly spread across a radius of hundreds of miles.

Even the entire Earth trembled from the impact. It was a horrifying attack powerful enough to destroy everything.

A long while later.

The light and shockwaves slowly faded away.

Covered in blood, Gohan was surprised to find that he had not been hurt.

Then he saw a charred body still standing behind his father.

The tall figure faced him with its arms spread wide, clearly trying to protect both him and his father.

But under Slug's furious strike—

There had been no surprise whatsoever.

"Gohan, run!"

Son Goku, still holding Gohan, was trembling all over. He shakily set Gohan down, then collapsed.

Gohan's entire body still hurt as though it had been torn apart.

Yet he instinctively caught his falling father.

Son Goku's body rolled over at once, exposing his mangled, bloodied back. Clearly, he too had exhausted everything he had to block that attack.

"Dad..."

Gohan felt as though something inside him had snapped.

"That idiot Piccolo actually tried to offset my power by self-destructing?"

Slug's voice came again from afar, filled with contempt and rage. "Even if he blocked it, he only delayed that brat's death for a little while! Don't even think about escaping either. I'll use Planet Namek's Shenron to revive you, then assimilate you!"

The grating voice rang in his ears.

Gohan blankly raised his head and saw the body ahead slowly falling. As the wind blew over it, it had already crumbled into dust and vanished.

CRACK!

Something within him seemed to shatter completely.

The world seemed to fall utterly silent in that instant.

Gohan gripped his father with one hand and clenched the other into a fist. At that moment, his mind was completely blank.

WHOOSH!

Amid the absolute silence, the atmosphere rapidly grew scorching hot.

The sky changed in an instant, transforming from clear blue skies into thick, dark clouds, with countless bolts of lightning raging through layer upon layer of clouds.

Seeing the sudden change in the weather around him, Slug's eyes filled with confusion. Clearly, he had yet to realize what was happening.

Son Gohan's expression remained as still as an ancient well.

He no longer thought of anything. Only endless fury burned within his heart, stirring a power capable of destroying the entire world!

Where countless bolts of lightning raged—

A layer of golden radiance wrapped around Son Gohan's body.

His black hair rose with the light, then turned completely golden beneath the glow of the golden aura!

Then an even more ferocious aura erupted in an instant.

"What's going on?"

Slug's gaze immediately locked onto Son Gohan. He seemed to realize something, and the fear in his eyes grew even stronger!

BZZT!

The golden aura surrounding Son Gohan instantly pierced through heaven and earth.

The entire Earth began trembling violently at that moment!

Son Gohan raised his head impassively. His pupils had turned blood-red, the calm in his gaze replaced by utter cruelty and indifference.

"What is this?"

Slug sensed that something was wrong and fired another mouth blast.

Son Gohan still held his father with one hand. Gold suddenly flashed through his pupils, and the muscles all over his body instantly swelled.

Primal power and Super Saiyan energy intertwined within him.

His body began to change rapidly. The blood-soaked clothes on his upper body burst apart, and crimson fur grew from the pores that had been spurting blood.