On King Kai's Planet.
Son Goku was undergoing rigorous training.
As the culmination of Earth's martial arts, he had only been training for a month, but he had already adapted to the planet's tenfold gravity.
Now he was training even harder, while preparing to learn the special technique King Kai had promised to teach him.
Just then,
he felt a mysterious power descend around him.
His heart began to beat, and his body, which had been lifeless, came alive again. It was a completely different sensation.
Crack!
As that strange power flowed through him, the halo above his head shattered.
Feeling the unusual change in himself, Son Goku stopped moving. His normally square-shaped eyes became round as he realized something was wrong.
"This feeling... Am I alive again?"
"That's right. You've been revived!"
King Kai approached with his hands behind his back, taking short, quick steps. "The Guardian of Earth spoke to me just now. He said it was your son Gohan's idea, and they also revived Raditz."
"?"
A huge question mark appeared over Son Goku's head.
He still didn't understand what had happened. Not only had his own revival come out of nowhere, but they had revived Raditz too.
Had something happened back on Earth?
His expression grew serious as he asked, "King Kai, what happened on Earth? Why did Gohan suggest bringing that guy back, too?"
"According to the Guardian of Earth, your son Gohan and someone else have been training in a gravity chamber. Their power has increased a lot, so they wanted to find someone to test it against..."
"A gravity house?"
"They might have surpassed you by now, Goku!"
King Kai still looked as though he were enjoying the show.
Son Goku blinked twice, then smiled. "Looks like Piccolo and Gohan have been working hard too. I can't let them beat me!"
As he spoke, a powerful aura rose around him.
Clearly, King Kai's news hadn't surprised him. If anything, it had made him even more eager to train.
"Oh, you're fired up, Goku!"
"Yeah, King Kai! Let's start the next stage of training!"
Son Goku didn't ask about Raditz or what was happening on Earth. Instinctively, he trusted Gohan and the others.
Now all he had to do was give his all to improve.
Then he could defeat the two people who had invaded Earth.
"Good! That's the spirit. Get ready. I'm going to teach you my secret technique—the Kaioken!"
Earth.
At some point, the sky had turned pitch-black.
In the wilderness, the covered earth trembled nonstop, as if something underneath were trying to break free.
The next instant,
a hand reached up from underground, clawing its way out.
Then a muscular man burst out of the ground.
"Huff... huff..."
The man, dressed in tattered clothes, dropped onto the ground. Looking around in confusion, he seemed utterly exhausted.
"Where am I...?"
His mind was a mess, and he couldn't even remember much of what had happened.
"Right. That day, I saw something fall over here, and then I saw a..."
Boom!
As he recalled what had happened, the ground in the distance exploded again, and billowing clouds of smoke spread through the darkness.
Almost as soon as the smoke appeared, the sky brightened again.
Far away, a long-haired man floated in the air.
He wore battered armor with a tail-like ornament at his waist. The other man recognized him.
His last memory was connected to that man.
The long-haired man hovered in the sky, surveying the scene in confusion. "What's going on? Wasn't I killed along with Kakarot? What is this...?"
As if a thought had suddenly struck him, joy filled his eyes.
"I get it. It must be that thing they called the Dragon Balls..."
"Looks like Prince Vegeta has arrived. Hmph, now it's time for me to get my revenge!"
Realizing he had been revived, Raditz's eyes flashed with savagery.
"That guy over there looks familiar."
As he glanced around, he spotted the farmer who had also been revived in the distance. He seemed to be the person Raditz had killed so casually.
"Hmph, looks like you're another pathetic weakling with a power level of only five. You'll do for a start!"
His eyes glinted with murderous intent. He wanted to vent his rage.
Just then,
two streaks of light rushed toward them from afar. They were moving so fast that a massive storm churned across the sky.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two figures stopped in front of Raditz. They weren't the two people he had expected, but he knew them both.
One was the green-skinned man who had killed him and Kakarot.
The other was Kakarot's brat.
The moment Raditz saw Piccolo, his eyes turned bloodshot. He, Raditz, had followed Prince Vegeta across the universe for years, only to end up killed by that green-skinned Earthling.
And he had suffered countless hardships in Hell, too.
"You bastard! You dare show your face in front of me?"
Raditz was consumed with rage. He raised a hand, and a powerful aura gathered as a terrifying wave of energy swept toward Piccolo.
But the blast deliberately avoided Gohan, who was standing beside him.
It seemed that even this vicious man had a shred of kindness left in him.
Boom!
The powerful Ki Blast exploded in midair.
Brilliant light burst forth, followed by smoke that filled the sky.
"I'll make sure you're dead for good!" Raditz roared, glaring ahead.
Ki Blasts poured from his hands, and the commotion only grew more intense.
Centered on the area cloaked in smoke, a powerful shockwave spread rapidly outward.
The farmer who had just been revived was sitting on the ground below. The shockwave swept him up and sent him flying far away.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The explosions above continued without pause. Raditz only stopped when he began to feel tired.
Then he stared coldly at what lay before him.
He had seen the green-skinned Earthling before and knew how strong he was. But after that barrage, there was no way he could have survived.
By now, he must have been reduced to a puddle of flesh!
Raditz caught his breath, then looked toward the smoke and laughed loudly.
"Hahaha! You bastard! You got what was coming to you!"
"Cough, cough. All you managed to do was kick up some dust. You call that an attack?"
A calm, indifferent voice came from the smoke in the distance, catching Raditz completely off guard.
His eyes widened in an instant as he stared ahead in disbelief.
The smoke in the distance slowly cleared.
First, the white cape came into view. Then two figures emerged, still standing firm and unmoved.
"N-no way!"
Raditz could hardly believe what he was seeing. Piccolo was completely unharmed, and he had even said something like that.
The scene was so much like the one Raditz had faced when he first met the green-skinned man.
But their positions seemed to have switched. Now Piccolo was the calm one, while Raditz was the one in shock.
Piccolo swept his hand and tore through the nearby smoke. "Hmph, let me show you what a real attack looks like!"
Son Gohan watched Piccolo with an amused look. He hadn't expected Uncle Piccolo to have a sense of humor. He'd thrown Raditz's old taunt right back at him, word for word.
But their strengths really had been reversed.
After thinking it over, he said, "Uncle Piccolo, leave this fight to me. I want to see how much my training has paid off."
Before you continue