Namek was plunged into an unprecedented crisis, one even more terrifying than the worst natural disaster. One wrong move, and the entire planet could explode.
Frieza and Slug battled fiercely, like the most wicked gods of slaughter. The endless mountains around them crumbled, and even the shock waves from their fight were suffocating.
Vegeta had yet to reach the scene. Watching from afar, he was utterly shocked.
"Is that Frieza!?"
"Who would dare fight Frieza?"
He had no idea the Frieza Force had come here too. Cui had originally gone to tell him, but he'd been killed before he could get the words out.
Vegeta cautiously crept closer and discovered that the surviving Namekians were here too, dashing his hopes of secretly gathering the Dragon Balls.
"Damn it!"
When he saw the Frieza Force below, along with two people who looked a lot like Frieza, despair welled up inside him.
"Why did all these people come out at the same time? The news about the Dragon Balls must have leaked!"
"I'm the mighty Saiyan Prince! Am I really never going to get back on my feet?" Vegeta growled in anguish.
He didn't choose to leave. Instead, he found a secluded spot to hide.
What if everyone ended up badly wounded?
Vegeta was unwilling to give up. He was still hoping to swoop in and take advantage.
In the blink of an eye, Slug and Frieza had fought a hundred rounds.
"The emperor of the universe is nothing special." Slug laughed, unleashing a continuous barrage of terrifying punches without bothering to defend himself.
"Death Beam!"
Frieza spread his palm. Ten thin red beams shot from his fingertips, faster than lightning and impossible to evade.
"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!"
Countless bloody holes appeared across Slug's body, spraying torrents of blood. But the next instant, the wounds healed at a visible speed.
"An immortal body really is troublesome," Frieza remarked calmly, completely unruffled.
In his third form, he had Slug thoroughly outmatched. If this Super Namekian didn't have an immortal body, Frieza would have killed him long ago.
"I won't lose. I'll show you my full power!"
Slug suddenly erupted with an even more powerful aura. His body began swelling rapidly, growing larger and larger until he was over twenty meters tall.
"Die!"
He raised his foot, its enormous shadow engulfing Frieza, and brought it down with tremendous force, as if an earthquake had struck.
Frieza leaped backward, but failed to dodge completely. The edge of his body was grazed.
"That move is similar to the Saiyans' Great Ape form," Vegeta observed from afar.
"Not bad." Frieza looked at the small amount of blood running down his body and praised Slug.
"As a reward, I'll show you my final form!"
Frieza roared. The entire sky was dyed an eerie color as his aura surged, turning into a gale that pulverized everything around him.
His body shook violently, and his skin cracked like a shattered mirror. Then, with a bang, it all exploded away.
His final form was revealed: one and a half meters tall, entirely snow-white, with a patch of purple on his head and a powerful tail swaying casually behind him.
"The second half of the fight begins!"
As soon as Frieza finished speaking, he vanished from the spot. The next instant, chunks of flesh were torn from Slug's body.
Seeing Slug's immortal body, Cooler grew more and more furious. It had been his wish, and now it had slipped through his fingers.
He looked coldly at his three useless subordinates. "Salza."
"Yes!"
Salza, Dore, and Neiz were all trembling uncontrollably, their hands and feet ice-cold with fear.
"There are a few bugs over there spying on us. Go take care of them." Cooler thought it over and decided not to take his anger out on his subordinates.
But he felt that bringing the whole army here had made them look like fools. He couldn't let word of this get out, so he would just kill everyone on the planet.
"Yes, Lord Cooler!"
Salza and the others felt as if they'd been granted a new lease on life. They hurriedly fled the oppressive scene and headed toward Son Gohan and the others.
"Lord Cooler, I'll go help too!"
Ginyu hurried after them. Now that Cooler's Armored Squadron had left, he was the only one left here who had failed to get the job done.
If Cooler and King Cold suddenly felt like taking their anger out on someone, they could kill him with a single slap.
"I thought we were done for!" Dore patted his chest, relieved to have survived.
"Lord Cooler is only letting us off for now. That doesn't mean he won't punish us when we get back," Neiz said, still shaken and uneasy.
"So we have to handle this quickly and cleanly, and show Lord Cooler how efficiently we work," Salza instructed them as their captain.
"Hmph, that coward Ginyu came along too."
The three of them had already forgotten how pathetic they'd looked a moment ago.
"Looks like someone's heading this way," Tien said. Of the group, his three eyes could see the farthest.
"It's fine. They're all minor characters."
Son Gohan took one look and saw that neither Cooler nor King Cold had come. That put him at ease.
When the Z Fighters first arrived here, they hadn't made any effort to hide themselves, since their displayed battle power was only a few tens of thousands.
He hadn't expected them to catch Frieza's attention even with such low battle power. The emperor's family really was domineering.
"I'll fight them!" Son Goku said eagerly. He'd been itching for a fight.
"No, Dad. Your battle power is too high. You'll attract Cooler's attention."
Son Gohan's plan was to let Frieza and the others fight Slug first, then have his side step in at the end and reap the rewards.
"Don't worry. I'll make sure you get to fight to your heart's content later," Son Gohan promised.
If you can't turn Super Saiyan, I promise Frieza's attack will be both painful and quick.
"Uncle Krillin, you four can go in together later. It'll be a good chance to test the results of your training."
Son Gohan assigned them their opponents according to their strength.
"No problem!" Krillin said excitedly. Actual combat was better than endless training.
Just then, the three members of Cooler's Armored Squadron and Ginyu flew above them, looking down from on high.
"Who are you people, and why are you on Namek?" Ginyu finally got a chance to ask the question he was most curious about.
"There's a Namekian here too," Neiz said, pointing at Piccolo.
"Cackling, the great me was just looking for somewhere to let off steam, and here you are, coming right to me." Dore crossed his arms, smiling mockingly.
"Finish this quickly. We need to report back."
Salza hurled countless energy blasts with both hands. Powerful enough to destroy a planet, they rained down over Son Gohan and the others.
"Tri-Beam!"
Tien folded his hands, forming a diamond shape. A massive golden beam roared out, swallowing up all the energy blasts.
"Go!"
Krillin leaped into the air and threw a punch at Salza's head, the blow tearing through the air. The two of them began fighting.
The strongest member of Cooler's Armored Squadron, Dore, was left to Tien.
The remaining member, Neiz, fought Yamcha to a standstill.
Chiaotzu was slightly weaker than Ginyu, but he could still keep him occupied.
The eight of them launched into an earth-shaking battle royale!
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