"W-what… what did you just say?" Dodoria suddenly seemed to realize something, and his face drained of color.
"Dodoria, you're the second one to taste this technique." Vegeta's smile grew even brighter. He lifted his right hand slightly, and a tiny violet-red point of destructive light appeared in his palm.
The violet-red light was only the size of a sesame seed, but the instant it flickered to life in his hand, it radiated an aura of pure death.
"Wh-what is that thing?" Dodoria's pupils shrank.
"Hakai!" Vegeta grinned, flicking his hand. The destruction energy in his palm howled straight toward Dodoria.
"Hakai? What's that supposed to—" Dodoria's mouth said one thing, but his body did another. He didn't dare be careless and hurriedly threw himself out of the way.
Whoosh!
The violet-red energy point grazed by Dodoria and slammed into the cliff face behind him.
The next moment, the tiny light struck the cliff.
Snap!
The cliff shattered like a soap bubble, instantly erased into nothingness, vanishing without a trace before Dodoria's eyes.
Dodoria was stunned on the spot. He rubbed his eyes, utterly shaken.
"Th-th-this… what kind of move is that?" Dodoria was stuttering so hard he could barely speak.
Sure, Dodoria could also blow that cliff apart with his ki.
But that would only blow it to pieces. The cliff would become rubble.
Vegeta's move, however, had turned the entire cliff into pure nothingness, not even a speck of dust left behind.
And the thing Vegeta released had only been a sesame-seed-sized point of light.
Something that tiny had hit a cliff ten meters high and eight meters wide, and the whole thing had simply ceased to exist.
It was terrifying.
"Was I not clear enough just now? This is a God of Destruction's technique I just awakened—Hakai. Not bad, right?" Vegeta narrowed his eyes with a smile as he looked at Dodoria, though he was feeling a bit dissatisfied inside.
The power was impressive, but the speed was too slow. Dodoria had actually managed to dodge.
Looks like he still needed real combat to sharpen it.
"Oh, and by the way, Cui was destroyed by this very move. Not even scrap was left," Vegeta said as another sesame-seed-sized point of destruction light formed in his right hand.
Dodoria rubbed the stump of his severed arm, his face ashen, his pupils full of bottomless terror.
"Get ready to die. You dodged once—let's see you dodge a second time!" Vegeta snorted coldly.
Whoosh!
In the blink of an eye, Vegeta appeared behind Dodoria and drove a fierce kick into his rear.
Dodoria went flying and hit the dirt face-first, eating a huge mouthful of soil like a dog skidding across the ground.
"This can't be happening! This is impossible!" Dodoria struggled to his feet, eyes bloodshot. "Why can't I beat you?!"
Bang!
Vegeta drove a heavy kick into Dodoria's body and booted him high into the sky.
Whoosh!
In an instant, Vegeta flashed above Dodoria and smashed a heavy punch straight down, hammering him from midair back into the ground.
Boom!
Dodoria's body crashed into the earth, gouging out a deep crater.
Vegeta descended unhurriedly, landing right in front of him, his grin growing more and more smug.
"How is this possible? How is your power higher than mine?" Dodoria stared at Vegeta in disbelief.
"Hmph. Surprised, aren't you? You can think about it in hell." Vegeta smiled, raising his hand and pointing it at Dodoria. The violet-red light in his palm gleamed brilliantly. "Your little brother didn't die in much pain. I won't let you suffer too much either. I'm very merciful."
Vegeta was just about to unleash the destruction energy in his hand and erase Dodoria.
Dodoria panicked and frantically waved his remaining hand. "W-wait, Vegeta! If you let me go, I'll tell you a secret—about your Saiyan homeworld, Planet Vegeta."
"Oh?" Vegeta's lips curled, and he stayed his hand instead of firing. With clear interest, he said, "Let's hear it."
"You won't kill me after I tell you, right?" Dodoria asked nervously.
"Then don't bother talking," Vegeta snorted, killing intent flaring.
"I'll talk, I'll talk!" Dodoria hurriedly shouted. "Your Saiyan Planet Vegeta wasn't destroyed by a giant meteor impact like Frieza-sama said."
"What, you're about to tell me Frieza was afraid a Super Saiyan would be born among Saiyans, so he destroyed our planet first. That it?" Vegeta snorted.
"Y-you… you already knew?" Dodoria froze.
"So it really is like that. Just like Ken said!" Vegeta clenched his fists tight, anger flashing through his eyes.
"How does Ken know?" Dodoria muttered, baffled.
"Hmph. That's more than you need to know. Get ready to die." Vegeta snorted coldly and flicked his hand, sending the violet-red point of energy tearing toward Dodoria.
Dodoria's soul nearly leapt out of his body. He wanted to dodge, but his injuries were too severe. Even moving was difficult.
Snap!
The next moment, the violet-red point struck Dodoria dead-on.
In an instant, Dodoria's body broke apart into glimmering motes, scattering like soap bubbles popping in the air.
He didn't even have time to scream before he vanished completely.
With Dodoria erased, Vegeta's lips curled into a shallow arc. His smile grew even happier.
"Dodoria, Zadoria… you both died by my hand," Vegeta said proudly. "I've become this strong already. Next, I need to think about how to deal with that guy Frieza."
First, I'll go find a Dragon Ball and hide it.
As long as I find one Dragon Ball and stash it away, Frieza won't be able to gather all seven.
Yeah, that's it.
I remember there's a village in that direction. I found a Dragon Ball there once.
And I really can sense several ki signatures from that direction.
Whoosh!
Vegeta shot off toward the place he remembered.
As he opened up his senses, he immediately picked up around twenty ki signatures in that village.
Vegeta sped through the air.
"Perfect. Now that Frieza's lost his scouters, no matter how I move, they won't know a thing." Vegeta burst out laughing.
Before long, he was already hovering above the village, looking down at it.
Snap!
The next moment, Vegeta dropped from the sky and landed in the middle of the village.
"Who are you?" The village elder's face changed.
"What, twenty-plus years and you don't recognize me anymore?" Vegeta snorted.
"You're… Vegeta? The one who used to be with Ken?" The elder quickly recognized him.
After all, Vegeta's hairstyle was way too distinctive. He was hard to forget.
"Took you long enough," Vegeta snorted.
"Y-you coming here… are you after the Dragon Balls again?" the elder asked warily.
"Hmph. You're lucky you ran into me. If it were Frieza, not a single person in this village would survive." Vegeta snorted and strode straight toward one of the houses.
Bang!
He kicked the door open and walked right in.
Three to five seconds later, Vegeta came out hugging a Dragon Ball about the size of a basketball.
"You even left the Dragon Ball in the same place as before?" Vegeta chuckled.
Elder: "…"
The other villagers were all speechless.
"This Dragon Ball's mine," Vegeta said bluntly. He didn't feel the slightest need to be polite.
"Has Ken come to Planet Namek too?" the elder hurried up to ask, excited. "He's a benefactor of us Namekians."
"I don't know if Ken has come to Planet Namek," Vegeta replied calmly, "but a very terrifying guy has."
"A very terrifying guy? Who?" The elder froze.
"Frieza." As soon as Vegeta said the name, he slowly rose into the air.
"Frieza? Who is that?" the elder asked again.
"He calls himself the emperor of the universe," Vegeta answered. "You'd better pray for yourselves, or find a place to hide. That's all I've got."
Whoosh!
With that, Vegeta took the Dragon Ball and shot off into the distance.
A few minutes later, after scouting around, Vegeta casually tossed the Dragon Ball down into a lake below.
"Perfect. Now no one knows where this Dragon Ball is," Vegeta said, looking even more pleased with himself.
…
Krillin and Gohan had already brought Dende back to the cave from before.
However, Goku and Piccolo still hadn't returned.
So Krillin passed the time by chatting with Dende.
"By the way, what's your name?" Krillin asked.
"My name is Dende."
"I'm Krillin, and this is Gohan," Krillin said, introducing them.
"Thank you," Dende said gratefully.
After they waited a little longer…
"Goku and Piccolo still aren't back. It's already been an hour, just like we agreed. I hope nothing's happened to them…" Krillin said worriedly.
"Maybe the Grand Elder lives far away," Gohan guessed. "It takes a long time for Dad and Piccolo-san to fly there and back."
"Grand Elder? You know about the Grand Elder-sama?" Dende looked at Gohan in surprise, then at Krillin.
"There really is a Grand Elder?" Krillin asked.
"Yes. The Grand Elder is the one who gave birth to all of us Namekians," Dende explained. "A long time ago, because of severe climate changes, there was only one person left here. He's the one who brought Planet Namek back to life. I'm the Grand Elder's 108th child."
"How does one person have children?" Krillin asked curiously.
"How else? He spits eggs out of his mouth, of course," Dende said, giving Krillin a strange look.
"You Namekians don't have men and women?" Krillin asked.
"What's a woman?" Dende tilted his head, confused.
"Gohan, do you think Piccolo—who grew up on Earth—ever wanted to find a girlfriend, only to never realize he's actually both male and female in one body?" Krillin whispered gossipily to Gohan.
"The one who wants a girlfriend is you, Krillin-san," Gohan replied.
Krillin: "…"
"Krillin-san, maybe let that topic go for now…" Gohan cut him off, then quickly asked, "Dende, is the Grand Elder very far from here?"
"It's not very far if you fly," Dende replied. "But at my speed, it would still take several hours."
"Gohan, should we go find the Grand Elder too?" Krillin suggested. "That way we can meet up with Goku sooner."
"Okay, Krillin-san. I'll go with you," Gohan nodded, not objecting.
The three of them took to the air together, flying quickly toward the Grand Elder's location.
…
Back in Moori's village.
Frieza and his men had been waiting a long time, but there was still no sign of Dodoria.
"What's Dodoria doing? Why isn't he back yet? Is he still looking for those pests?" Zarbon frowned.
"That idiot's all brawn and no brains. He probably lost them and is too scared to come back for fear of my punishment, so he's still searching desperately," Frieza said coldly from his hovering pod. "Forget about him. We'll focus on the remaining two Dragon Balls first."
"Yes, if we search other villages, we're bound to find them," the one surviving underling stepped forward and said respectfully.
"Frieza-sama, let us go look for villages," Zarbon suggested.
"Then I'll take these five Dragon Balls back to the ship and wait for you," Frieza said calmly.
"You trouble yourself too much," Zarbon said as he stepped up to help gather the Dragon Balls together.
"I'm counting on you for the rest. Only two Dragon Balls left, and my wish will be fulfilled," Frieza said with a smile.
"Yes, sir!"
Zarbon and the underling both bowed deeply.
Then the two of them flew up into the sky.
"You go search that way. If you find a village, don't attack right away. Come back and report to me. You're no match for those strong Namekians," Zarbon warned sternly. "Whether you find a village or not, meet back at the spaceship in three hours."
"Yes!" the underling replied.
The two of them sped off in different directions.
Frieza, meanwhile, took the five Dragon Balls back to his spaceship.
…
After getting one Dragon Ball, Vegeta went off to look for a second.
Just then, he suddenly sensed the ki of Krillin and Gohan.
"Who are these two? Could they be Kakarot's friends from Earth?" Vegeta frowned slightly. "I don't feel good about this. I should check it out."
Whoosh!
Vegeta quickly gave chase.
Up ahead, Gohan and Krillin both felt their faces tighten.
"Not good, we've been found!" Krillin yelped. "That ki… it's Vegeta!"
"Let's hide," Gohan suggested. "Dad's not here—we can't beat him."
The three of them dropped hurriedly to the ground and scrambled to find cover.
Vegeta was flying along when he suddenly sensed another powerful ki rising from a different direction.
Without hesitation, Vegeta changed course and shot toward that other ki.
"What's going on?" Gohan blinked.
"He changed direction, Krillin-san… Another strong ki just appeared over there," Gohan said, pointing up into the sky in another direction.
"Is it one of Frieza's subordinates?" Krillin guessed.
Vegeta's grin widened, and he pushed his speed to the limit, roaring toward the new ki.
It wasn't long before Vegeta and Zarbon ran into each other in midair.
"Vegeta!" Zarbon was mildly surprised.
"Long time no see, Zarbon," Vegeta said with a smile. "Dodoria's already been wiped out by me. You're next."
"Y-you killed Dodoria?" Zarbon's face went through several shades.
"Of course I did," Vegeta nodded.
"I don't believe you," Zarbon shook his head.
"You'll believe me soon enough," Vegeta snorted.
"Vegeta, why did you betray Frieza-sama?" Zarbon asked, puzzled.
"How ridiculous. This prince is going to be this universe's God of Destruction. Frieza is nothing," Vegeta sneered.
"God of Destruction? Are you still dreaming?" Zarbon smirked in disdain. "I get it—you want to use the Dragon Balls to wish yourself into becoming this universe's God of Destruction, right? You can stop dreaming."
"Oh? And why is that?" Vegeta blinked.
"Frieza-sama once saw Dragon Balls as big as a planet. The Dragon Balls on Planet Namek are just the little offspring of those planet-sized orbs. Their wishing power is limited," Zarbon explained simply. It wasn't exactly a secret, so he didn't mind saying it.
"I thought you were going to say something impressive. Of course I know the Dragon Balls on this planet have limits. I already gathered them once a long time ago," Vegeta snorted, sounding like it was no big deal.
"You… you gathered the Dragon Balls?" Zarbon gave Vegeta a doubtful look, then a hint of disappointment crossed his eyes.
"What's that expression supposed to mean?" Vegeta felt his temper spike.
"You gathered the Dragon Balls long ago. Don't tell me you never made a wish?" Zarbon chuckled lightly. "If your wish had been granted, you wouldn't still be this weak."
That line hit Vegeta right where it hurt.
"I'll tell you something else," Zarbon went on, his face full of scorn. "Frieza-sama's power is not something someone like you could ever surpass. You have no idea how strong he really is. And there's one more thing you'll probably never know—Frieza-sama once represented our universe as a candidate to become a God of Destruction."
"God of Destruction?" Vegeta froze.
"What's wrong? Judging from your face, you clearly didn't know," Zarbon said, chuckling. "And you think you can challenge Frieza-sama? Vegeta, it's time to wake up from your dream."
"Stop spouting nonsense. I'll shut your mouth right now!" Vegeta roared. His figure blurred as he flashed straight in front of Zarbon.
Zarbon reacted quickly, driving a fist at Vegeta.
Vegeta raised his left hand and caught Zarbon's punch.
Then he clamped down on Zarbon's fist and flung him upward with a powerful swing.
Zarbon flipped head over heels several times in midair before he managed to surge his ki and stabilize himself.
He thrust his right hand downward, sending a massive orb of energy roaring toward Vegeta.
Staring at the oncoming blast, Vegeta had a sudden idea. A violet-red point of light quickly formed in his hand.
"Hakai!"
Vegeta hurled the destruction energy at Zarbon's attack.
To Vegeta's delight, the energy Zarbon had fired shattered like a soap bubble on contact, breaking apart and vanishing into pure nothingness.
Zarbon's eyes went wide, his face full of disbelief.
"Wh-what kind of move is that?" His voice was trembling.
"A divine technique of a God of Destruction," Vegeta said with a smirk. "What's wrong? Didn't Frieza ever tell you about this marvelous power when he was trying out for the position?"
Zarbon fell silent.
"Get ready to die, Zarbon!" Vegeta shouted, surging up and slamming a brutal elbow strike straight into Zarbon's face.
Zarbon's face twisted out of shape from the blow, blood splattering across it.
"Hmph. You're pathetic, Zarbon," Vegeta said with open contempt.
Enraged, Zarbon kicked at Vegeta in a fury.
Vegeta slipped out of the way with ease, laughing wildly. "What's wrong, Zarbon? You can't lay a finger on me!"
Bang!
As he spoke, Vegeta lashed out with another kick, booting Zarbon straight down out of the sky.
Zarbon twisted his body at the last second, planting both hands and feet against the ground so he wouldn't crash flat.
Then he quickly raised his head to look up.
But as soon as he did, Zarbon realized Vegeta had disappeared from the sky above.
A heartbeat later, Zarbon's expression changed again. He clearly sensed a subtle disturbance behind him.
At some point, Vegeta had already gotten behind him.
Bang!
Vegeta's kick landed squarely on Zarbon's rear, sending him pitching forward.
Zarbon stumbled and almost did a full-on dog-eating-dirt dive.
"Hahaha, Zarbon, that's all you've got," Vegeta taunted mercilessly.
Zarbon dragged himself up off the ground, his face twisted with rage, a harsh laugh in his throat. "Your power has increased a lot, I'll give you that much. You really surprised me. But if you think this is my true strength, you're dead wrong."
"Oh? You haven't shown your real power yet? Then hurry up and show me," Vegeta said skeptically.
"I'll tell you why I haven't shown my true power," Zarbon said calmly. "To use my full strength, I need to transform. But my transformed appearance is hideous. I like being handsome. I can't stand looking that ugly. If I don't transform, though, you'll kill me. I have no choice anymore."
"You said transform?" Vegeta blinked, then smiled even brighter. "Like us Saiyans, huh? Hahaha! People always say the most impossible things when they've got nowhere left to turn!"
(End of Chapter)
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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