For the ordinary spectators, let alone those who truly understood the stakes—like Gine, Raditz, and Krillin—no one could have predicted that the final match between Goku and Yamiru would unfold like this.
That was a Super Saiyan they were witnessing!
Son Goku, the Super Saiyan!
Yamiru had vanished from the world for six years, and upon his return, no one expected him to have grown this strong.
And his power was unfathomable.
No trace of his energy could be sensed at all.
Raditz wore an expression of sheer disbelief, his shock far surpassing even Vegeta's beside him—because he had personally witnessed Yamiru, that "pitiful Earthling," being gradually overtaken by Kakarot in the past.
It was precisely because he remembered the Yamiru of old that Raditz found this even harder to believe.
Eleven years ago, when his father had first used the Dragon Balls to bring him to Earth, Yamiru had needed to rely on a dangerous, unstable power just to barely eke out a win against him.
But now?
Raditz's own battle power had stagnated at a measly one million.
Meanwhile, Yamiru was overwhelming Kakarot in a fair fight!
'This is absurd! Ridiculous!' Raditz's fists trembled. The Earthling he had once dismissed as weak had now surpassed him, a warrior of the Saiyan race.
And this was Kakarot—the same Kakarot who had long since mastered the Super Saiyan form in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber!
'What the hell did Yamiru go through to get this strong?!'
That was the question swirling in the minds of the stunned onlookers.
But Piccolo wasn't concerned with that. In his mind, his master was the savior of Earth from forty thousand years ago, the original Kami, the man even the Supreme Elderly Lord had once called "the undisputed strongest under the heavens".
Goku's Super Saiyan form was formidable, yes—but not enough to surpass his master.
Unless Goku could go even further beyond… 'But is that even possible?' Piccolo wondered.
Why Yamiru was so strong, whether he himself could grow stronger—these weren't questions Goku was thinking about right now.
Exhausted but exhilarated, he poured everything into this fight.
Since hitting his growth spurt and ascending to Super Saiyan, he hadn't had a battle this thrilling in years.
"RAAAH—!"
Goku's golden fist, capable of shattering mountains, hurtled toward Yamiru.
Yamiru swung his own.
CRACK!
Goku's momentum halted instantly. The impact sent a spray of blood from his arm, muscles spasming, bones creaking under the strain.
Yamiru stepped forward, fists becoming blurs as they pummeled Goku's body in a relentless barrage.
The sickening thuds of flesh striking flesh made the audience's scalps crawl. Goku's already tattered gi disintegrated, revealing a torso now cratered with bruises…
SPLAT!
A mist of blood erupted from Goku's body.
Only then was he sent flying like a cannonball, soaring over the heads of the crowd.
Wind howled past him as the Super Saiyan hung limp, emerald eyes rolling back, consciousness flickering—
'No!'
His eyes snapped back into focus. Goku wrenched himself to a stop midair.
Gritting his teeth, he roared—his dimmed golden aura flared back to life.
WHOOSH!
A streak of gold shot back toward the tournament grounds.
Down below, Tights yanked Bulma back before she could climb onto the stage to throttle Yamiru.
Wreathed in white light, Yamiru barely had time to brace himself before—
BOOM!
A bloodied hand clamped over his face.
Most of the crowd didn't even register the movement. A select few—Raditz among them—caught only a glimpse of gold before Yamiru and Goku vanished from the stage.
Gine whipped her head around, but all she saw was a fading golden streak.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
Wind screamed past Yamiru's ears as Goku, one hand gripping his face, blitzed across the sky.
In an instant, they were over the ocean.
The golden streak split the sea, carving a canyon hundreds of meters deep, walls of water collapsing in their wake. Fish, foam, sunlight refracting in the spray—
Then they were gone.
Over grasslands.
Over snow-capped mountains.
With a final roar, Goku's aura erupted, and he hurled Yamiru away.
Yamiru spun toward a desolate peak—
At the last second, white light exploded around him.
His back struck the mountain.
BOOOOOOM!
The entire iceberg shattered.
Avalanches roared. Snow filled the sky.
And from the chaos, two lights—one gold, one white—soared upward, locked in battle.
---
Back at the tournament, the announcer stood speechless.
He debated whether to grab a Capsule Corp. hovercar and chase after the fighters—but where had they even gone?
Gine and the others broke out in cold sweat.
Though they couldn't sense Yamiru, they could still track Goku's energy—barely.
They could barely keep up with the battle.
At this moment, Goku's energy flickered like a strobe light, appearing all over the planet.
In the minds of Raditz, Vegeta, and the others, it was as if golden threads had been tangled haphazardly across the Earth's surface.
"These two…" Vegeta felt weak all over—a sensation he'd never experienced before, not even when facing monsters in Freeza's army. Despair crept into his voice as he muttered, "What kind of battle is this…?"
---
WHOOSH—
The white and golden streaks tore through the sea of clouds high above.
SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!
Above the clouds, the golden light suddenly unleashed dozens of energy blasts, weaving a dense net that struck the white light with pinpoint accuracy.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
But unlike Goku's expectations, there were no explosions, no billowing smoke.
The golden blasts simply sank into Yamiru's white aura.
Through the gaps between the blasts, a pair of golden eyes gleamed.
Yamiru grinned.
The next instant—
The golden energy melted, rapidly absorbed into his body.
"H-How…?" Goku stammered.
"Phew—" Yamiru exhaled a puff of steam, then let out a satisfied burp.
Goku barely dodged as a conical blast of pale gold energy erupted from Yamiru's mouth, grazing his side.
Seizing the opening, Goku charged forward, transforming into a golden comet.
BAM!
His fist connected, sending Yamiru flying over a hundred kilometers.
'That energy just now…' Goku panted, his reddened skin oozing blood where the "burp blast" had scraped him.
BOOM!
He flared his aura and gave chase—
Only to be met with a CRACK!
Yamiru's counter sent Goku hurtling back even faster, blood spraying as he flew hundreds of kilometers.
"What's wrong? Is that all you've got?"
A flash of white light—Yamiru caught up in an instant, delivering a spinning kick that launched Goku like a meteor.
---
Downtown Metropolis. Skyscrapers.
Behind glass office windows, a slacking salaryman scrolled through forums on his phone, eyeing trending posts about the same topic.
"No wonder Goku eats so much!"
"HOLY SHIT, SO THOSE MAGAZINE COVERS WEREN'T PHOTOSHOPPED?!"
"At the tournament right now—risked my life to snap these pics. Best quality I could get…"
The salaryman skimmed hundreds of comments, skeptical. Even if this was real, he didn't see how it concerned him. Still, it made for fun gossip.
Then—
RUMBLE.
The glass panes vibrated. The entire building trembled.
"Earthquake?!"
"What's happening?!"
"Run for your lives!"
"Early dismissal, woo!"
Amid the chaos, every window in sight—his building, the neighboring towers, the entire skyline—shattered simultaneously.
A golden and white streak streaked past, leaving stunned office workers blinking at the suddenly open sky.