A massive spaceship descended to Earth from outer space, and its level of luxury was even higher than the disc-shaped craft used by the cosmic emperor Frieza.
It was also superior in precision and appearance.
However, there was one respect in which it fell short of the ships used by Frieza and his army: the noise and the sheer conspicuousness.
If it were Frieza's craft, even upon arriving from beyond Earth, no nation—or any conventional technological means—would be able to detect it. (Certain cosmic-level scientists and martial artists are exceptions.)
This ship, however, caused a wave of panic on Earth even before it arrived. By the time it reached the planet, a large crowd of reporters and clueless onlookers had gathered around.
One of the universe's major forces, Lord Slug's army, had arrived on Earth.
Before everyone's eyes, the ship's hatch opened, and countless soldiers in strange armor marched out. Judging by their gear, though, their armor was inferior in both looks and quality to the kind used by Frieza's forces, which could withstand considerable attacks.
It even looked like castoff rejects eliminated by Frieza's army.
That Lord Slug could obtain armor of this grade and in these numbers was already rare enough. Not every planet has top-tier cosmic scientists like Bulma and Dr. Brief.
Most researchers in the universe are middling at best; producing armor at this level is already no small feat.
"This planet belongs to the Great Cosmic King, Lord Slug!" With that proclamation from one of the leaders, the soldiers launched an attack on the surrounding crowd.
Compared with the grunts of Frieza's army, Lord Slug's grunts were even weaker. The average grunt under Frieza had a power level over one thousand, and Frieza's elite combatants could reach the tens of thousands.
But most of Lord Slug's grunts had power levels only in the hundreds. The stronger ones were in the low hundreds, and they fought purely with their bodies.
For ranged attacks they relied on mechanisms inside their armor, and most crucially, they couldn't even fly.
If not for Lord Slug's personal power being far above the ordinary, a few of Frieza's grunts could have wiped out this bunch who didn't even qualify as grunts.
"Kishu, hurry up and remodel this planet for me." Whether due to mutation or something else, the evil Namekian Lord Slug, who had strayed from his kind, hated the sun. While sunlight wasn't lethal to him, it reduced his power. Most importantly, it made him extremely uncomfortable.
His grunts were even worse—they couldn't be exposed to light at all. A force with such glaring weaknesses existed only because Slug still used them. Look at Frieza's grunts—quite a few could even fight in space.
And a four-digit power level was baseline for them.
"What an astonishing ki. So that's Lord Slug? He's no ordinary foe." The Z Fighters, tens of thousands of miles from the landing site, were flying full speed toward it.
"Vegeta, the opponent's no joke. Most of the other signatures are manageable, but the biggest one gives me the same feeling as Frieza. No—maybe even stronger than Frieza." Elsewhere, Nappa and Vegeta also sped toward Slug's position.
"Heh, stronger than Frieza? Perfect. Once we take this Slug down, we'll go find Frieza. It's time to settle accounts." Vegeta's confidence showed that over a month of training had boosted his power level substantially. Otherwise, now that he'd learned to use ki, he wouldn't be talking like this.
Of course, even Nappa had learned to wield ki as well. As members of a noble Saiyan line, their innate talent wasn't low to begin with.
"Then, Doctor, I should get moving." In that same forest, the same two people as before—after saying goodbye to the elderly man behind him, Raditz also flew toward Slug's location.
"What terrifying talent. Compared to this race, we Chimera Ants still fall short. Is this race called the Saiyans really not destined to rule this world? The speed at which they increase their strength is unbelievable."
"This planet actually has Dragon Balls? Go find them! Gather all seven within an hour." The aged Lord Slug ordered his subordinates Angila, Dorodabo, Gigu, and Big-Eyes.
"Yes, we'll complete the mission, Great Cosmic King Lord Slug!" The four responded tremulously. As Slug aged, his temper had grown worse and worse. If he got angry—or even displeased—he would kill for a single misspoken word.
"What's that? Why did the sky suddenly go dark?" Seeing the anomaly while flying, Vegeta and Nappa were puzzled. They didn't know that a darkened sky meant someone had summoned the dragon.
"Not good! That guy summoned the dragon! We have to hurry! Everyone, push it!" Goku shouted to the Z Fighters around him, and their speed climbed another notch.
"Hahaha, this is it! This is the feeling! This young body! This planet is excellent. Kishu, finish remodeling it and turn it into a tool for my operations." Restored to youth, Lord Slug was overjoyed, his mood brightening with it.
"Yes, Great Cosmic King Lord Slug." The unknown creature wrapped head to toe in black cloth replied.
"We're here. This is the place." At that moment, Goku and the Z Fighters finally reached the battlefield.
"Yo—Vegeta, you guys came too, huh." Vegeta and Nappa arrived right after.
Vegeta's reply to Goku was a cold snort. Truly the tsundere prince.
"Angila, Dorodabo, Big-Eyes, we have guests. A few Earthlings over there. Their power looks decent."
"Where is Lord Slug?" Vegeta skipped the nonsense and went straight to the point.
"Ahahaha, the little shorty wants to see Lord Slug? What do you want with the King, little shorty—planning to join us?" The speaker was a red-faced hulk whose ki suggested a power level of at least ten thousand.
"Too much talk." Without another word, Vegeta slammed a fist into the hulk's gut, rolling his eyes white and dropping him straight to the ground.
"What?! Taken out in one strike! This guy isn't simple. Big-Eyes, Angila—let's go together and take him down!" The blue-skinned man stared at Vegeta, face growing grave.
"These idiots… daring to bring up Vegeta's height. They've got a death wish." Nappa wiped nonexistent sweat from his forehead and muttered inwardly.
"Wait. I know who he is. A senior warrior of Frieza's army—the Saiyan prince, Vegeta, right?" Just as they were about to reach Vegeta, the blue-skinned man seemed to recall something, quickly retreated several meters, and stared at Vegeta solemnly.
"Could it be that Lord Frieza has his eye on this planet too?" Though Slug had regained his youth and called himself the Great Cosmic King, he was still a step below the true cosmic emperor, Frieza.
Frieza's name might be unknown on fringe worlds like Earth, but on other planets there wasn't a soul who didn't know of the emperor. If Frieza really wanted this planet, they'd have to advise Lord Slug to abandon it.
"Tch—Frieza!" Sitting in the ship and watching via monitors, Lord Slug's face twisted viciously at the sound of that name.
It looked like he'd suffered not a little at Frieza's hands.
Even after regaining his youth, compared to Frieza he still—
"Hmph. This has nothing to do with that guy Frieza. There's only one thing I plan to do here: kill you, and that Lord Slug." Vegeta glared at the man, killing intent in his eyes.
"Frieza, that guy!" Startled at first, the man quickly looked delighted. Clearly, he'd latched onto something very different from what Vegeta meant.
"I've long heard that the Saiyans under Frieza don't get along with the Frieza Force. I didn't expect it to have gotten this bad."
"But that's fine. At least it proves this planet has nothing to do with Frieza."
"So die!" Gigu's arms suddenly stretched out and plunged into the ground, then burst up beneath Vegeta's feet, clamping tightly around his legs.
"Big-Eyes! Angila! Kill this guy!"
The green-skinned monster with two huge eyes spawned four little monsters from his body. They swarmed in from all directions and latched onto Vegeta's limbs. "Hee-hee-hee-hee, even if you're the famous Saiyan prince, you die here today. I'll slowly drain your energy!"
"Hahaha! After Big-Eyes drains you, I'll tear you to pieces in front of your friends!" The winged yellow fat monster laughed smugly.
"Who are you calling my friends?" Vegeta's voice came out slow and steady—no panic, not even the feeling of being suppressed.
"You small fry—get lost." A colossal surge of ki exploded from Vegeta's body. In an instant, Big-Eyes and the four little monsters were blown apart, bursting into chunks of flesh that rained across the ground.
[A special discount will be available from December 30th until Three Kings' Day.]
[Use 37B44 to get 33% off all levels until January 6th]
[Unlock +20 Advanced Chapters on Patre on. com /Mutter]
[For every 50 Power Stones, 1 Bonus Chapter will be released]
[Thank you for reading!]