Unfortunately, he had realized it a little too late.
Tien Shinhan had not only just begun growing stronger.
King Vegeta had simply been blinded by his delight when he held the advantage earlier and had failed to notice.
Now, however, every punch and kick from Tien Shinhan landed solidly on him.
The unmistakable increase in force made it impossible for him not to notice.
And the more he felt Tien Shinhan growing stronger as they fought, the more desperate King Vegeta became.
Against a powerful opponent, King Vegeta might still have imagined turning the tables by breaking through his limits.
But against an opponent who was not only powerful, but also constantly breaking through his limits and growing stronger...
This was fucking cheating.
With both overwhelming strength and constant breakthroughs combined, how was he supposed to fight?
It would have been one thing if Tien Shinhan were weaker than him.
But now that Tien Shinhan had surpassed him in battle power, it meant he would never have a chance to catch up and defeat him.
Because the speed at which Tien Shinhan grew stronger also far exceeded his own, the king of the Saiyans!
There was no answer!
There was no way to win this fight!
He could never defeat an opponent who was cheating!
Still, while he could not win in a fair fight...
As a Saiyan, he still had a trump card!
Great Ape Transformation!
With that thought, King Vegeta abandoned his defense entirely when Tien Shinhan attacked again.
Bam!
Tien Shinhan's next punch sent King Vegeta flying.
And in that brief moment as he flew backward...
King Vegeta immediately formed a small, special energy ball above his head.
This energy ball had little destructive power. Its sole purpose was to release high-intensity, special light waves within a small area to help Saiyans complete their Great Ape Transformation.
"Roar!"
Under the energy ball's light waves, King Vegeta rapidly swelled in size, soon becoming a Great Ape nearly a hundred meters tall!
And because of his special bloodline, the Great Ape he became was not a black ape like Kid Goku's transformation, but a Golden Great Ape!
King Vegeta had originally planned to save his Great Ape Transformation for a coming full-moon night on Planet Plant.
Then he could take them by surprise and wipe out the entire Tuffle race in one stroke.
But now, faced with the nightmarish battle Tien Shinhan had brought upon him, King Vegeta had no choice but to reveal this trump card ahead of time.
Only cheating could counter cheating. Otherwise, he could not even find an opportunity to escape right now!
"This is..."
Dr. Lychee had been thrilled to see Tien Shinhan regain the advantage, only for King Vegeta to unleash a move like this.
In an instant, King Vegeta's strength rose to a level of nearly one hundred thousand.
His terrifying aura brought the entire battlefield to a standstill.
The Saiyans stared at the Great Ape King Vegeta had become, never having expected Tien Shinhan to force their Saiyan king into using his final trump card.
But now that King Vegeta had used this move, they believed Tien Shinhan was certain to die.
Meanwhile, Goku, whose battle with Bardock had left them both wounded, also noticed the ape that had suddenly appeared.
"He can turn into an ape just like me? But it's daytime. There shouldn't be a moon out."
Goku panted heavily, looking toward the Golden Great Ape in some confusion.
Bardock wiped the blood from his face and held the caved-in area of his chest to keep his injuries from worsening.
"Hmph. The Golden Great Ape King Vegeta transforms into is different from the apes ordinary Saiyans become.
"Only those with a sufficiently pure and noble Saiyan bloodline can transform into a Great Ape that retains its reason!"
Although Goku was a somewhat unusual Saiyan, their battle had earned him a degree of genuine recognition from Bardock for his strength.
"He can still think clearly? Then Tien Shinhan's in danger."
Nearby, Krillin had just defeated his opponent and was panting heavily with his hands on his knees. Hearing that the Golden Great Ape King Vegeta had become could still retain its reason, he immediately realized how frightening the situation was.
He still shuddered at the consequences of Goku turning into a huge, mindless ape. And this Golden Great Ape could even think clearly, so he would certainly seize the opportunity to target Tien Shinhan!
"Be careful, Tien Shinhan! That ape might still be able to think! He's not like the dumb ape Goku turns into!"
Krillin shouted a warning to Tien Shinhan.
Beside him, Goku felt a little embarrassed at those words.
Fine, so he really was a dumb ape after transforming. Happy now?
How could Tien Shinhan not know that King Vegeta could transform into a Golden Great Ape?
In fact, the very reason he had deliberately kept beating King Vegeta so relentlessly was to force out his Golden Great Ape form.
There was no other reason: a stronger opponent could help his own strength improve faster.
In other words, Tien Shinhan was actively increasing the intensity of his actual combat training!
After all, King Vegeta, whose original battle power had been ten thousand, no longer offered Tien Shinhan as much of a challenge.
Of course, against this Golden Great Ape with a battle power approaching one hundred thousand, Tien Shinhan could not recklessly charge in with his own battle power, which had only risen to around eleven thousand.
What if his recklessness got him killed in a single blow?
Neo Multi-Form Technique!
Thus, before continuing his fight against King Vegeta, Tien Shinhan immediately unleashed the new technique he had perfected.
Though called the Neo Multi-Form Technique, the number of physical clones Tien Shinhan could create was no longer limited to a mere four.
Having just completed his Golden Great Ape Transformation, King Vegeta was about to avenge his humiliation by turning the tables and stomping Tien Shinhan to death.
Instead, he saw a full ten Tien Shinhans appear around him!
Not only that, while each Tien Shinhan was slightly weaker than the single body fighting at full strength, every one of them still had a battle power of nearly ten thousand.
Most importantly, King Vegeta had no way of telling which Tien Shinhan was the original.
He swung his enormous fist straight at the Tien Shinhan in front of him.
Bam!
The speed afforded by a battle power of nearly one hundred thousand was not something this Tien Shinhan could evade.
With one punch, that Tien Shinhan was smashed into a bloody mist.
At the sight, the Golden Great Ape King Vegeta had become opened his enormous, bloody maw and burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! Tien Shinhan, crushing you now is as easy as crushing an ant!"
Yet the very next moment, his laughter abruptly stopped.
Because as that Tien Shinhan was blown apart, he keenly sensed that the other nine Tien Shinhans had all grown a little stronger.
Not only that, the other nine Tien Shinhans showed no fear at what had just happened. Instead, they all launched a joint assault on the Golden Great Ape.
Seeing this, the Golden Great Ape swung his arms wildly, trying to kill every last Tien Shinhan.
Yet although these Tien Shinhans kept dodging his sweeping, massive arms, they also continued to grow stronger in this intense battle on the brink of death.
"He's getting stronger! He's still getting stronger! And every single clone is getting stronger!"
King Vegeta noticed the aura coming from each Tien Shinhan.
Even as they repeatedly attacked and evaded him, they were still growing stronger.
Ten thousand!
Eleven thousand!
Thirteen thousand!
After just half an hour, Vegeta discovered to his horror that each of the five Tien Shinhans remaining around him already had a battle power of around fifteen thousand!
"No! This can't go on!"
Realizing that he might have become nothing more than Tien Shinhan's sparring partner, King Vegeta began to consider retreating.
He had thought transforming into a Golden Great Ape would end the nightmare Tien Shinhan had brought him, only to find that he was still trapped within it!