"Underlings?" Salza's smile turned playful. "Me? The former captain of Cooler's Armored Squadron, and you're calling me an underling?"
"Hmph. Don't think we don't know your history," one of the twins sneered. "You only 'won' the captain spot because you got lucky against Ginyu. And what was Ginyu's power level again? A pathetic 120,000. How much stronger could you possibly be than that?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Turles's men flared their auras in unison. The winds screamed. The desertified ground split with cracks in an instant.
"Well?" the twins taunted, each raising a single finger. "Let me give you a reality check, so you can despair properly. Our power level, the Rez and Lacase brothers, is…"
"…760 million!"
"Even if Frieza showed up, we could finish him with one finger."
The Earth fighters exchanged looks.
Salza's trio, meanwhile, wore expressions that turned… strange.
If they'd heard that number when they first arrived on Earth, it would've scared them out of their minds.
But in the span of a single day—after that lord's series of "operations"—everyone had undergone an absurd, epic upgrade: Ginyu, the former Armored Squadron members, all of them. Version after version after version.
When they thought about poor Captain Ginyu getting arranged like clockwork, handled so cleanly he couldn't even complain, the three of them couldn't help but shiver on the inside.
Even with bodies forged through Dark fusion, they didn't dare let their mindset inflate the way their power had. If anything, their awe only deepened.
"You ignorant fools," Salza mocked. "You think swallowing a god's fruit means you can do whatever you want?"
"Fine. Let me show you what I can do now."
With that, Salza—currently wearing a fused body formed from Dark Majin Buu and Dark Cell—released his full aura.
The pressure came down like a mountain.
The twins' faces changed instantly. They stared at Salza in disbelief.
"T-This… how is this possible?"
"Why is your power so different from our intel?!"
Turles frowned slightly. "No wonder the warriors I sent to abduct young women all lost contact. So Earth was hiding someone like you."
Salza's lips curled. "Careless, weren't you? This planet will be your grave!"
As the last word fell, he flashed forward and began weaving between the enemies at terrifying speed.
Slash—slash—slash!
Salza's fighting style turned grotesque.
His body split apart in an instant, tearing into writhing nets of flesh and blood that spread outward, dropping over every member of Turles's group.
Squelch. Squelch—
Before they could even react, those nets had already wrapped them tight.
"What is this technique?!"
"That's disgusting!"
Turles's men stared in horror, struggling desperately—only to find the nets were unbelievably resilient. Worse, the harder they fought, the tighter they were bound.
Salza sneered and yanked with a thought.
The flesh recoiled and flew back.
The chunks of meat that had cocooned them squirmed as they fused into Salza's body.
"Pathetic," Salza said with contempt. "And your power is so weak it's laughable."
Then he turned toward the three who'd avoided the attack—Turles and the other two.
"Looks like only by absorbing you will my strength truly increase…"
Turles looked surprised.
"You're strong. Much stronger than your captain, at least. How about joining my army?"
"Not a chance," Salza refused without hesitation.
Nez and Dre didn't think much of Turles either.
"You can't give us power like this."
Turles's lips lifted. "That, I doubt. My Tree of Might has been reinforced by the energy of the Universe Tree."
"And Earth has the best ecosystem of any planet I've ever encountered. I've been looking forward to the fruit this world will produce."
"So that's why this guy came here to plant his so-called Tree of Might, even if it meant defying the Saiyan Empire's higher-ups…"
The Earth side finally understood the cause and effect.
Salza gave a cold smile. "Thanks for explaining. Now I get it."
"As long as we kill you, the fruit will be ours."
"What arrogance!" Turles snapped, but his grin returned. "If you want to stop me, you'll have to get past this first."
"Someone's been unable to hold back their desire to fight for a long time now!"
As he spoke, Turles pulled out a remote from his waist and pressed it twice.
Click.
The device around the green figure's neck unlocked and fell away.
In the next instant, a terrifying aura exploded upward!
A hurricane howled. Magma erupted. The heavens dimmed, and the world lost color.
It was as if Earth itself let out a mournful cry.
In the pillar of green light, the figure's body rapidly expanded—and the more the Earth warriors looked, the more familiar it felt.
"B… Broly?!" Yamcha's eyes went wide.
Tien narrowed his gaze, solemn. "The aura is completely different, but his presence and appearance are very similar to Dark Broly. Except he has no scars, and…"
"And besides the color being different from Pink Broly, the rest of the traits match almost perfectly!" Chiaotzu added.
Remembering the scene of Levos nearly fighting Pink Broly to the death, everyone shuddered.
Turles made a small sound of surprise. "You actually know his original name? Didn't expect a backwater place like Earth to be so well-informed…"
The Earth fighters cried out together, "That really is Broly?!"
"That's right!" Turles sneered. "He's the legendary Super Saiyan that appears only once every thousand years…"
"…a bio-clone of Broly."
"He carries the most bloodthirsty, battle-crazed side of our Saiyan race. Once his restraints are fully removed, he won't stop until everything is destroyed."
With the limiter gone, the madness in Bio-Broly's eyes could no longer be suppressed. He lunged straight at Salza's trio.
"So strong!"
After only a few exchanges, Salza realized the gap in level was terrifying. This wasn't comparable to those trash underlings at all.
"So that's what warriors from the Green-Hair Legion look like… the kind that can wipe out entire star sectors?" Yamcha swallowed hard.
"Correct," Turles said calmly. "But don't worry. I won't let him destroy Earth before the Tree of Might's fruit ripens."
Amid thunderous booms, Salza's trio and Bio-Broly fought in a deadlocked frenzy.
Turles and the mysterious masked man didn't rush to intervene.
Most of their attention was on Gohan.
Thump…
Thump…
Gohan's heartbeat sounded like heavy drumbeats.
His eyes slowly lost focus, and a red haze crept over his pupils.
The Earth fighters panicked.
If Gohan transformed into a Great Ape, he would completely lose his reason. And then everything would become even more hopeless.
What could they do?
Even Mystic Gohan had been crushed by Turles. If all of them charged together, it still wouldn't matter!
"Wait—where's Cell Jr. Number One?!" Dr. Gero's voice rose in disbelief. "That was Levos's trump card to protect Earth!"
"Ugh…" Bulma rubbed her temples. "I don't know either! The moment Turles and his group arrived, it rushed off like it had something urgent to do. I have no idea where it went or what it was thinking."
"How can it do that?!" Chiaotzu nearly scratched his head bald. "Earth's last hope ran away right when it mattered!"
Tien sighed. "And we can't contact Trunks at all. Cell Jr. Number Two and Ginyu went with him to the Saiyan Empire's main planet…"
"Otherwise… if he fused with Gohan, maybe there'd be a chance!"
"Fusion…" Bulma's eyes flickered. "What a waste. Android 18 isn't here…"
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