Who are you?
Why did the ship explode?!
Who are these two guys?
What is this light barrier?
The dozen or so warriors from Frieza's army, now wrapped in Taro's ki barrier, floated in the vacuum of space, their mouths moving but no sound escaping. They were visibly panicked—one moment they had been en route to conquer a planet, and the next, their spaceship had suddenly exploded!
Worse than the explosion was the fact that they were still alive—none among them had the ability to survive in space unaided.
Looking at the white glow enveloping their bodies, then at Taro and Goku floating opposite them, both similarly encased in light, they grew even more anxious. What was more unsettling was Taro's outstretched hand, as if grasping at something from afar—they had no idea what he was doing.
One of the aliens couldn't take it anymore and fired an energy blast at Taro and Goku.
Taro simply flicked a finger.
The energy blast reversed course in an instant, now faster and deadlier, and pierced straight through the attacker's head in a flash.
What the…?!
The rest of the aliens were dumbfounded. He had only flicked his finger! Just like that, one of their comrades had been killed on the spot. What terrified them more was that the move had been utterly silent—no ki surges, no flashy explosions. Just clean, effortless death.
Inside Taro's protective aura, Goku watched curiously. He could sense the ki of these warriors—it was strong. Much stronger than his own. The strongest among them might require him to go all out: Sixfold Muken combined with Dragon Fist, just to stand a chance.
Taro then clenched his fingers, and the remaining aliens were drawn together by an invisible force, smashing into one another until they were crushed into a single writhing mass. He cast a glance toward the fading fireball of the exploded ship and extended his mental energy into the wreckage. His eyes lit up as he focused—and found what he was looking for: a piece of ruined machinery.
The aliens, now crushed together into a meatball-like lump, struggled and groaned. One of them caught sight of the object flying toward them and went pale: Isn't that the combat-recovery machine?
Indeed, the object Taro retrieved was a medical pod used by Frieza's forces to heal wounded soldiers.
Though damaged and leaking nutrient fluid, Taro sealed the container using his psychic power, halting any further loss. He intended to bring it back—perhaps it would inspire Fabeli and help accelerate their research into the Divine Tree Cells project.
With that, Taro sensed the nearest life-supporting planet and instant-transmissioned Goku and the aliens there.
---
The planet was lush and green, brimming with vitality and ancient, primal beauty.
But the moment they arrived, Taro frowned—he sensed traces of life here. That wasn't what he had intended. With a brief mental scan, he made up his mind and teleported everyone away again.
"What the hell is going on?!" the alien warriors roared in frustration and confusion, helpless as Taro warped space again.
Gone was the green world; now they stood on a planet with dark-red soil. It too was habitable, but its gravity was three to four times Earth's. Savage beasts roamed its surface—monstrous creatures radiating brutal, violent ki. Perhaps intelligent life had once sparked here but had been snuffed out by these apex predators before it could take root.
The moment they arrived, Goku sensed the bloodthirsty ki of the surrounding creatures. Deep within his mind, the dormant consciousness of Kakarot stirred, trembling with excitement, as if smelling blood and carnage in the air—it was trying to seduce him.
Goku frowned. Just then, the alien warriors attacked.
Boom boom boom!
They scattered instantly, unleashing a barrage of multicolored energy blasts toward Taro. Though they lacked the ability to sense ki, instinct told them that Taro was far more terrifying than Goku.
So they struck to kill—no holding back.
Goku, full of fighting spirit, prepared to charge in and take them all on. Even though the enemy was strong, he felt confident—he had Sixfold Muken, Dragon Fist, and the will to win.
But Taro stopped him.
With a faint smile, he tapped Goku on the chest. "You think your trial would be that simple? If it were just this, how would it train you for two years?"
The multicolored energy blasts rushing toward Taro froze midair—completely still.
"What… how is this possible…?"
"You've got to be kidding me!"
The alien warriors looked on in disbelief. But the next instant brought even more horror—not only had their attacks stopped in place, but they themselves could no longer move.
"Damn it… DAMN IT!!" one of them roared, veins bulging from his forehead as he struggled to escape.
Taro slowly turned to face them.
As he turned his head, the dozen or so aliens thrashed about like madmen, desperately trying to break free. It was as if the moment Taro looked back at them, a wave of death swept toward their hearts, chilling them to the bone and driving them to frantically unleash every ounce of survival instinct they had.
Taro raised a hand toward them.
"D-Don't do it!" their faces turned pale, cold sweat pouring down.
"Mercy! Please, spare us!" One of the alien warriors was already trembling violently, shaking like a leaf, his limbs weak and powerless. He could no longer even summon the strength or courage to resist. When he saw Taro raising his hand, he was so terrified he didn't dare move a muscle.
Around Taro, the dozen or so frozen energy blasts slowly dissipated.
"Potential…" Taro's eyes were like two deep, swirling whirlpools—mysterious and mesmerizing. He muttered an obscure incantation under his breath, and a dozen invisible forces descended upon the alien warriors.
"Wha—!" Goku was shocked.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
---
The power levels of the alien warriors suddenly surged, instantly doubling—some even tripled! The sudden change in their energy fields caused violent gusts to swirl in all directions, whipping across Goku's face.
"M-My power!"
"This is unbelievable!!"
"Hahaha!!"
The alien warriors looked at their hands in disbelief. One of them became so intoxicated with his newfound power that he forgot himself entirely. Laughing wildly, he launched another energy blast straight at Taro.
But Taro merely exhaled gently in its direction.
Whoosh.
The alien's energy blast, like fire meeting oil, flared up violently midair—then, just as suddenly, twisted around and accelerated. In the blink of an eye, it slammed into the head of the alien who fired it, turning it into a cloud of blood and mist.
"..." Silence fell.
The remaining alien warriors, who had just been drunk with power and delusions of grandeur, felt their blood run cold. They no longer dared to move an inch.
"Do you want to live?" Taro asked them softly.
From beginning to end, he hadn't wasted words on them—not about why he destroyed their spaceship, nor why he brought them here, nor why he enhanced their powers… And the aliens didn't dare ask.
Now, hearing his question, they were drenched in cold sweat and nodded with difficulty.
Life and death had flipped in an instant. Just moments ago, they had been eagerly preparing to wipe out every living thing on a target planet. Now, their own lives hung by a thread… This was someone who could kill them with a single breath or a single glance—it was unimaginable!
"I'll give you two years. If you can kill this little guy on this planet, you get to live," Taro said, pointing at Goku beside him. He handed Goku a second pouch of senzu beans. "Goku, here are your five senzu beans. I think you know what's coming."
"Master, this is going to be hard!" Goku echoed Krillin's earlier words. He was sweating from his forehead, clearly feeling the pressure from the dozen aliens whose potential had just been unlocked—but he still grinned. "...But it's got me really fired up!"
As expected, facing enemies far stronger than himself, he didn't feel fear—only eager excitement.
"Kill this little brat?" one of the aliens exclaimed in disbelief. He tapped his scouter and looked at Goku. Beep beep beep—his eyes widened. "Only… only 50 power level?! You've got to be kidding!"
But Taro completely ignored him, clearly unwilling to waste a single word.
Another alien tried to secretly scan Taro with his scouter, but the moment he locked on—
Bang! The device exploded.
It seemed the target he tried to scan was far beyond what the scouter was capable of measuring.
Taro looked back again, and the aliens all turned ghostly pale, their souls nearly fleeing their bodies. Then, as if responding to his gaze, every scouter on their faces exploded in unison—bang bang bang bang—because Taro had suddenly remembered: the Frieza Force's scouters had communication and tracking functions.
"I'll come back for you in two years," Taro said as he patted Goku on the head. Then, grabbing Goku by the shoulder, he twisted and flung him down toward the planet's surface.
Without so much as a glance at the aliens again, he vanished from the sky, taking with him the damaged healing pod that had been floating beside him.
In the next moment, he appeared in Earth's northern region and tossed the broken healing pod at Fabeli.
"What is this junk? You're always bringing me broken crap!" Fabeli complained, but Taro only smiled, looked up at the sky, and vanished again.
---
Taro returned to the ancient, serene planet he had appeared on earlier with Goku and the others.
He had a hunch—something about the rare intelligent lifeforms he had glimpsed briefly on this planet gave him an urge to investigate. It was a kind of premonition that came from deep spiritual training in mental magic—something like a sudden inspiration. Of course, "sudden inspiration" was just his own way of putting it.
If it were the Holy Mage Ivan, he might've called it divination, revelation, or perhaps even a "minor prophetic dream." Taro pondered this and, with a thought, teleported again. In the blink of an eye, he was now floating above a tribe of the rare intelligent species.
"Metamorians?" Taro raised an eyebrow.