Gokua's pupils contracted. He couldn't sense a single trace of the other's energy. Desperately, he tried to pull back his longsword, but that hand clamped around the blade like an iron vise.
"Raaagh!"
Gokua roared. He could transform too. His already terrifying energy surged even higher.
His hair turned bright red. Bare-chested, his muscles bulging, he stopped trying to pull back his sword and put all his strength into cleaving the child before him in two.
Boom!
Son Gohan transformed into a Super Saiyan in an instant. His overwhelming aura sent waves of energy surging outward, forcing everyone nearby to shield their eyes.
"Crack!"
He gave the blade a light squeeze. The sturdy longsword snapped into pieces, and metal fragments clattered across the ground.
"How is this possible?!"
Only the bare hilt remained in Gokua's hand. He instinctively stumbled backward, disbelief filling his eyes.
Son Gohan moved. An ordinary punch landed with a muffled boom against Gokua's chest.
Gokua was struck as if by lightning. His mouth hung open, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. He stood stock-still, as if paralyzed.
Son Gohan powered down and left him alone, crouching to check Trunks's injuries.
"Thud!"
A gust of wind passed, and Gokua fell to the ground. The golden flames of energy had reduced his internal organs to ashes. His body looked unharmed, but he had already been dead for some time.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Son Goku, Vegeta, and the others used Instant Transmission and appeared there as well.
They had been on their way to Earth aboard a spaceship. Since there was no powerful energy on Earth for them to sense, they couldn't use Instant Transmission to get there.
Only when Trunks and Gokua began fighting did Son Gohan sense Trunks's energy and teleport there ahead of them.
The others didn't know who Trunks was and hadn't been in as much of a hurry, so they arrived a little later.
It was worth mentioning that during their nearly year-long stay on Yardrat, Piccolo and Vegeta had also learned Instant Transmission, in addition to Son Gohan and Son Goku.
The remaining four—Tien Shinhan and the others—simply couldn't learn it, as their talent was limited.
"Uncle Chiaotzu, could you give me a Senzu Bean?" Son Goku called to the others.
Chiaotzu hurried over and, at Son Gohan's instruction, fed Trunks a Senzu Bean.
Something miraculous happened. The terrible wound on Trunks's chest healed instantly, and he sprang back to full strength, bursting with energy.
"A Senzu Bean..." Trunks said wistfully.
In the future, there had been very few of them. Otherwise, Son Gohan wouldn't have died. He had fed the last Senzu Bean to Trunks when he was badly wounded and unconscious.
"Big Brother Gohan, how do you know my name?"
After his initial excitement, Trunks suddenly realized something was off. He hadn't introduced himself yet—how could anyone here know his name?
"We'll talk about that later. Let's deal with the enemy in front of us first," Son Gohan told him to be patient.
"Impressive. If you could defeat even Gokua, you must be the strongest person on this planet."
There was no anger in Bojack's eyes over his subordinate's death, only confidence in his own strength.
"Take me to North Kai."
Son Gohan didn't answer. He recalled how Bojack and his group had come to be there.
Originally, Son Goku had taken Cell, who was about to self-destruct, to King Kai's Planet using Instant Transmission. The explosion destroyed the entire planet, along with North Kai.
That had loosened the seal on Bojack and his group, allowing them to escape.
Even if time and space had become chaotic, this was far too chaotic. The androids hadn't even appeared, yet Bojack and his group had shown up ahead of time.
"Gohan."
King Kai's worried voice came through. Clearly, he had been keeping an eye on what was happening on Earth.
"What's going on, Lord King Kai?" Son Gohan realized that he was the only one who could hear King Kai's voice.
"I don't know either. Maybe someone deliberately released Bojack and his group, without any of the four Kais noticing."
"That means this person's strength is far beyond ours."
King Kai sounded deeply worried. Bojack was clearly after him and had been looking for someone to lead him to King Kai's Planet.
"Is there someone behind all this?" Son Gohan had a vague idea who it might be, but he wasn't certain.
He was still getting stronger too slowly. All fear came from not having enough firepower.
"Don't worry, Lord King Kai. We'll defeat them," Son Gohan assured him, taking responsibility for the whole situation.
He hadn't spent the past year lazing around on Yardrat. Besides learning Instant Transmission, he had reached Super Saiyan Full Power.
After assimilating Slug, Piccolo's strength was more or less at the same level. With his partial immortality, Son Gohan couldn't say he was sure to win against him.
As for Bojack, he wasn't strong enough to reach Super Saiyan 2. Even if he was a little stronger than Son Gohan and Piccolo, the difference couldn't be that great.
His four underlings were only at the early to intermediate levels of Super Saiyan, just a little stronger than Trunks was now.
"Isn't this just an experience pack delivered right to our door?" Son Gohan reasoned, his eyes lighting up.
"Brothers, unleash your spirit powers—no, wait... Transform!"
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Three golden pillars of light and one white pillar shot straight into the sky, piercing the clouds. Countless boulders floated into the air as howling winds swept dust across the heavens.
Their four auras intertwined, forming a destructive storm. Their overwhelming pressure filled the sky, as though it were about to crush the heavens.
On Yardrat, Son Goku had finally taken the last step and successfully transformed into a Super Saiyan.
"Looking to die? Then I'll grant your wish!" Bojack and the others charged over, their faces twisted with cruel smiles.
Son Gohan became a golden streak of lightning and lunged at Bojack. The two terrifying figures collided violently in midair.
There was no testing the waters and no holding back. From the very start, it was a true fight to the death.
Son Goku chose Bido, a burly man with a Mohawk who wore a purple sleeveless shirt. He was a rare opponent strong enough to be a challenge.
Trunks went head-to-head with Bido. His opponent's magical, unpredictable strands of energy had given him a hard time earlier.
That left the adorable girl, Zangya. She was the strongest after Bojack, but unfortunately for her, she had run into Piccolo and was being thoroughly overwhelmed from the start.
"Damn it! All four of them!" Vegeta cursed, his fists clenched tight.
"There aren't even any Saiyans left in this world! How could another Super Saiyan appear?!"
Vegeta's eyes reddened with envy and fury, his emotions rising straight to his head.
"Ah, at the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament, I even won the championship."
"I don't know when it happened, but now, when I face a powerful enemy, I don't even qualify to take the field." Tien Shinhan reminisced with a sigh, full of rueful emotion.
"Tenshin, I'll always support you," Chiaotzu said sincerely.
"Somehow, that makes me feel a little better. Even after winning the championship, we still have to stand outside and watch."
Yamcha seemed to be talking about Tien Shinhan, but he was really speaking for himself. The frustration of being unable to keep up had weighed heavily on him.
"Maybe this is for the best. With Gohan and the others around, we can get married and settle down." Krillin's words carried a hint of self-mockery, but also genuine feeling.
"Boom!"
While they were talking, Piccolo had already blasted his opponent to pieces. He wasn't about to hold back just because she was an adorable girl.
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