"Hahaha, young man, I like your arrogance. Too bad you aren't a warrior of our Saiyan race, or I wouldn't mind making you my subordinate!"
Hearing Tien Shinhan's "arrogant" retort, King Vegeta threw back his head and laughed.
Having yet to suffer oppression at the hands of the Frieza Force, King Vegeta was brimming with lofty aspirations, his heart filled with the ambition and bold resolve to lead the Saiyan race to greater strength and prosperity.
Faced with a fighter like Tien Shinhan, whose strength he could respect, he felt no anger. Instead, he felt excitement and a hint of appreciation for his talent.
As for the possibility of Tien Shinhan defeating him, King Vegeta had never even considered it.
He could tell that Tien Shinhan wasn't a Tuffle, but it didn't matter which planet he came from.
Because their Saiyan race was the universe's greatest warrior race, and he, King Vegeta, was an outstanding king among the Saiyans!
King Vegeta believed he held the advantage in this battle. Victory was certain!
Just as Tien Shinhan and King Vegeta squared off, Goku and the others had also just defeated the opponents they had chosen earlier.
"That Saiyan leader's Ki is actually a little stronger than Tien Shinhan's.
Goku, Chiaotzu, let's go help Tien Shinhan fight!"
Because the opponent he had chosen was far weaker than him, Krillin was the first of the group to finish his fight.
The first to have his hands free, he had already sensed through Ki Sensing that King Vegeta was actually a notch stronger than Tien Shinhan.
To keep Tien Shinhan from losing to King Vegeta, Krillin immediately suggested that Goku and Chiaotzu, who had finished their opponents a little later, join him in helping.
Under normal circumstances, Goku insisted on one-on-one fights between martial artists.
But this wasn't a duel between martial artists. It was a melee against a large number of enemies.
Besides, he too sensed that King Vegeta's Ki was astonishingly powerful, so he immediately agreed to Krillin's idea.
"Okay, let's take him on together!"
A trace of excitement appeared on Goku's face. Aside from helping Tien Shinhan fight, he already felt an eager, battle-hungry urge to take on such a powerful opponent as King Vegeta himself.
"Let's go now. Brother Tien probably needs our help."
As for Chiaotzu, the moment he heard they were going to help Tien Shinhan, he urged them on impatiently without a second thought.
Goku and Krillin, who hadn't known the Flight Technique before, had successfully mastered this convenient move during their days at Kami's Lookout.
Having reached an agreement, the three immediately flew toward Tien Shinhan.
However, as the two strongest fighters in their respective camps, Tien Shinhan and King Vegeta's clash naturally wouldn't escape the Saiyans' notice.
The three had only made it halfway when three Saiyans blocked their path.
"Heh, that brat dared to offend King Vegeta. He's just asking to die!
No one can match King Vegeta one-on-one.
As proud Saiyan warriors, we will never let you interfere with this battle.
Let that brat pay the price for his arrogance before King Vegeta's overwhelming strength!"
Unlike Goku's group, who were worried about Tien Shinhan, the Saiyans had complete confidence in King Vegeta.
In their eyes, Tien Shinhan couldn't possibly be a match for King Vegeta.
Since Tien Shinhan had sought out King Vegeta for a fight himself, he deserved to die for his insolence!
All the three of them needed to do was stop or defeat Goku's group, then make them watch helplessly as Tien Shinhan suffered a crushing defeat at their King Vegeta's hands!
Sensing the strength of the three Saiyan warriors' Ki, Goku and the others frowned.
They didn't know what class these three Saiyans belonged to.
But their power levels were certainly nothing to scoff at.
Even the weakest of the three probably had a power level of nearly 300.
As for the strongest Saiyan, judging by his Ki, his power level might have already exceeded 2,000!
Clearly, these three weren't opponents Goku and the others could handle casually either.
With these three blocking their way, breaking through quickly to help Tien Shinhan would probably be difficult.
What surprised the three of them most, however, wasn't their opponents' considerable power levels.
It was that the strongest warrior bore a seventy-to-eighty-percent resemblance to Kid Goku.
Looking at his face, Krillin and Chiaotzu felt as though they were seeing a Goku who had suddenly grown up!
Goku also felt rather strange. He couldn't help staring at the Saiyan several times, then repeatedly feeling his own little head.
"Huh-why do you look so much like me?"
Goku pointed at the Saiyan's face and cried out in surprise.
For the battle-loving Saiyans, an enemy's appearance wasn't normally something they examined closely.
But now that Goku had shouted about it, the Saiyan facing him finally noticed it too.
"You're right. How come you look exactly like I did as a kid?
My name's Bardock. What's your name, kid?
Huh? A tail? You're a Saiyan too?
If you're a Saiyan, why are you fighting against your own people?
Whose child are you? How could you be so spineless as to become a traitor to the Saiyan race!"
Bardock was surprised to discover that Goku not only looked like him, but was also a Saiyan.
If he weren't still unmarried, he might have thought this little Saiyan was his own child!
More importantly, he had watched Goku fight earlier. His strength was already impressive at such a young age.
Yet this powerful little Saiyan was openly obstructing the Saiyan race's operations. It was infuriating!
Goku had still been caught up in his surprise at how much he and Bardock looked alike.
But when Bardock actually started lecturing him, a rebellious streak immediately rose within him.
An inexplicable surge of anger, defiance, and rebelliousness flooded his mind.
"My name's Goku! I may be a Saiyan, but I'm no traitor!
It's wrong for Saiyans to invade cities where other people live and slaughter them. You have no right to lecture me!"
For a moment, the air between Bardock and Goku was thick with tension.
Watching from the side, Krillin's eyes shifted, and a sly look flashed across his face.
*They look so much alike, and this time and space is earlier than ours.
Could this Bardock actually be one of Goku's older relatives, or even his dad?*
Shaking his head, Krillin dismissed the absurd guess.
As Goku and Bardock stood on the verge of battle, the Saiyan warriors facing Krillin and Chiaotzu took the initiative, swinging their fists as they attacked!
"This is bad. All three of them have been stopped, and Tien Shinhan definitely can't beat King Vegeta alone.
Should I ask His Majesty to divert some of the special weapons to support Tien Shinhan?"
While directing the Tuffles' combat squads into formation, Dr. Lychee surveyed the situation across the entire battlefield.
He didn't have much confidence in Tien Shinhan's battle against King Vegeta either.
It wasn't because he distrusted Tien Shinhan, but because King Vegeta had once displayed such terrifying strength before the Tuffles that it had left a psychological scar.
Before Tien Shinhan pushed the Scouter off the scale, Dr. Lychee had mistakenly believed that such strength wouldn't exceed 5,000.
But now he realized he was wrong. If the actual power level Tien Shinhan had displayed to push the Scouter off the scale was around 8,000...
Then, based on the strength they had seen King Vegeta display in the past, his actual power level was very likely close to 10,000, rather than the 5,000 they had mistakenly assumed!
A power level of 8,000 against nearly 10,000.
The chances of victory were truly slim!
But Dr. Lychee glanced at the other side of the battlefield again. Only by firing the special weapons at full force could they hold off the remaining Mid-Class Warriors and Elite Warriors.
If he asked the Tuffle king to divert some of the special weapons to assist Tien Shinhan now, the Tuffles' entire defensive line would collapse.
Faced with this dire situation, seeing all the special weapons tied down by the other Saiyan warriors, Dr. Lychee could only abandon the idea of diverting some of them to help Tien Shinhan.
At this point, unable to do anything, he could only place all his hopes in Tien Shinhan himself.
"I hope he can bring about a miracle."
Dr. Lychee, who had always firmly believed in the power of technology, could now only pray silently for Tien Shinhan.