Despair at 530,000

After the Ginyu Force was wiped out, Namek enjoyed a brief moment of peace.

Morning light spilled across Namek's barren surface, bathing the battlefield in a golden glow. I crouched beside Krillin and watched Tien Shinhan use ki healing to tend to Vegeta's wounds. The bone in that guy's right arm was exposed, yet he still stubbornly insisted, "This little injury is nothing."

"Hey, are you sure you don't need treatment?" Krillin leaned closer, anxiously looking at the wound on my shoulder that Ginyu had "brushed" against.

I lowered my head and looked. My left shoulder was indeed a little itchy, but the wound had already healed more than halfway.

"It's fine. Nothing serious."

That was what I said, but I was thinking about something else: the Dragon Balls.

In the original story, Frieza eventually obtained all seven Dragon Balls and wished for immortality. Now, the Dragon Ball Gohan (Grand Elder) had given me was still on me, Krillin had one, and Frieza had probably collected most of the rest.

In other words, the key to this war wasn't whether we could defeat Frieza—that was simply unrealistic—but who could find the Dragon Balls first.

"Gohan."

Goku's voice came from behind me. I turned and saw him standing nearby, holding the last Senzu Bean.

"Give this to Vegeta."

I froze for a moment. "What about you?"

"I'm fine." Goku grinned and patted his chest. "But you, that hit just now..."

"Interrupting Ginyu's body swap?" I shrugged. "Easy."

In truth, I had been able to shout that in time because I had been watching Ginyu's movements all along. As a transmigrator who had seen the original story, I knew perfectly well what that idiot was about to do.

Unfortunately, that kind of "foresight" couldn't make me stronger.

"Kakarot."

Vegeta swallowed the Senzu Bean and slowly rose to his feet. His face was still pale, but the unyielding fighting spirit in his eyes had not diminished in the slightest.

"Frieza will come." He looked into the distance, his voice low. "He won't let this chance slip away."

Goku nodded, his expression turning serious.

"I know."

Just then—BOOM!!

A blinding light suddenly exploded on the horizon, followed by a suffocating pressure.

This ki was terrifying beyond measure.

It wasn't Ginyu, Recoome, or even anyone Vegeta could compare to.

It was the kind of absolute gap that made people afraid to even think of running away.

"This is..." Krillin's face turned deathly pale, and his legs began to tremble.

I looked up and saw a silvery-white figure appear in the sky.

Frieza.

He hovered in midair, elegant as an aristocrat stepped out of a painting. His body was silver-white, his tail sharp, and a pair of small wings on his back fluttered gently.

He was looking at us. In those purple eyes, there was no anger, no impatience.

Only... amusement.

"Ohohoho..."

That unmistakable laugh drifted down from the sky, shrill and grating.

"It seems little Ginyu has failed."

Frieza slowly descended, landing less than twenty meters away from us. He surveyed the area, looking at the corpses of the Ginyu Force members on the ground without the slightest change in expression.

"What a pity. Such an elite force, cultivated for so long..."

His gaze swept over Vegeta, and he smiled disdainfully. "The orphan of Planet Vegeta, descendant of the Saiyans... I remember you."

Vegeta clenched his teeth, his fists cracking, but he said nothing.

Frieza's gaze continued onward before settling on Goku.

"Kakarot... no, I suppose I should call you Goku? Your fighting power is impressive, and you've got some nerve too."

He tilted his head, his tone like he was appraising a work of art.

"Defeating Ginyu proves you do have some skill. But..."

Those purple eyes suddenly sharpened.

"You seem to have misunderstood something."

He raised one finger and pointed at himself.

"The Ginyu Force and I are not on the same level."

The next second—

BANG!!

A terrifying wave of ki erupted from his body, blasting all of us into the air.

I barely managed to steady myself, but my chest churned, and I nearly coughed up blood.

530,000.

That was Frieza's power level in his first form.

And me? 20,000.

A full twenty-six times weaker.

"Cough..." I dropped to one knee and looked up at Frieza.

His smile remained as elegant as ever, as if he had merely sneezed lightly just now.

"Oh?" Frieza's gaze suddenly fell on me, curiosity flickering in his eyes. "Interesting... so you're that 'Son Gohan'?"

My heart skipped a beat.

"I heard you were the one who interrupted Ginyu's special attack?"

He took several steps toward me, each one feeling as though it were stomping on my heart.

"With a power level of merely 20,000, yet you made that kind of judgment at such a critical moment..." Frieza narrowed his eyes slightly. "You remind me of someone."

"Who?" I asked instinctively.

"Bardock." There was a trace of nostalgia in Frieza's voice. "You and him... share a certain resemblance."

Bardock? That legendary Saiyan?

Fragments of memories about Dragon Ball Super flashed through my mind. Supposedly, Bardock had foreseen the destruction of Planet Vegeta and nearly changed history...

But this wasn't the time to think about that.

"Gohan!!"

Goku's voice came from beside me. He had already rushed in front of me and assumed a fighting stance.

"Frieza!!"

Goku's hair instantly turned crimson red, and a violent aura erupted from his body.

Fivefold Kaio-ken.

400,000 power level.

I looked at his broad back, complicated emotions surging in my heart.

This was my father. The pride of the Saiyans. Even when facing an enemy with 530,000 power, he stepped forward without hesitation.

"Oh?" Frieza raised an eyebrow. "Interesting, a fivefold increase..."

"But, Kakarot..."

His smile suddenly turned dangerous.

"Do you think this is all the power I have?"

Before his words had even faded, an even more terrifying aura erupted from his body.

This time, even Goku's expression changed.

"This is...!!"

The air seemed to freeze, the ground began to crack, and massive boulders were crushed into powder by invisible pressure. Krillin and Tien Shinhan were forced back again and again, while I, even standing still, found it difficult to breathe.

Was this the power of 530,000?

No.

In the original story, this was only Frieza's "first form." His base form had 530,000 power, and he would transform twice more afterward, ultimately reaching 120 million.

And now, he was about to transform.

"Playing around has gone on long enough. It's about time to end this." Frieza stretched lazily, his tone casual. "Let me show you... what true power is."

His body began to change.

Strange patterns emerged across his skin, the bones along his back protruded outward, and his originally silver-white body began to swell.

"Not good!!" I shouted. "He's transforming!!"

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

Crack!!

The sound of bones shattering and reforming echoed across the battlefield as Frieza's body rapidly changed within the light.

His body nearly doubled in size, his muscles became more viciously defined, and the horns on his head grew longer and sharper.

When the light faded, an entirely new Frieza stood before us.

Second form.

Power level: over 1 million.

"Oh ho ho ho..."

Frieza looked down at his new body and smiled in satisfaction.

"This is the real beginning, Saiyans."

He looked at us, his eyes full of mockery.

"Enjoy these final moments while you can."

"Because you have no more chances."

I stared at the monstrous being before me, and an unprecedented despair welled up inside me.

Yet at the same time, a flame burned within me.

The second form was not the end.

In the original story, Frieza transformed three times in total, and his final form had a power level as high as 120 million.

And I only had 20,000 right now.

But so what?

I took a deep breath and rose to my feet. Even knowing it was like an ant trying to topple a tree, I would stand in front of Dad—because this time, I was no longer the child who could only hide behind others.

(To be continued)