"Gohan, you did great. Leave the rest to me."
Goku gently set his son down, then went straight into Super Saiyan 4. His gaze sharpened like a blade as it locked onto the masked stranger.
"The moment we returned to Universe 7, we sensed that unbelievable ki coming from Earth." Piccolo's stern face softened with a rare trace of approval. "You can stand on your own now, Gohan."
His eyes fell on Gohan's left shoulder, a mess of blood and torn flesh.
Piccolo's aura surged.
With a sharp crack, his weighted clothes shattered apart as his muscles swelled. He shifted into his Orange form, eyes blazing red, and shot forward before Goku could even move.
He drove a punch into the stranger's face.
BOOM!
The masked man was launched thousands of meters away, crashing into the side of a mountain.
Piccolo's fury burned hotter. He chased relentlessly, fists raining down again and again.
His strength was far above the stranger's now.
And yet against someone weaker, he showed not a shred of mercy.
"The vanished illusion… it's back again. Kakarot…" Blood seeped from the stranger's lips. He shook his head, and his vision suddenly blurred.
Bang!
A figure appeared in front of him.
The instant the fist landed, a huge spray of blood burst from the stranger's mouth.
"Goku?" Piccolo froze for a split second, then surged forward again.
Goku and Piccolo moved as one, perfectly in sync, a punch and a kick alternating like a drill. The masked man kept coughing blood, driven back with every exchange.
Lying among the rocks, Gohan watched in disbelief.
"Dad and Uncle Piccolo are way stronger than him… but they're both fighting to be the one to hit first…"
"It does look a little like bullying," Tien sighed, "but after what they did to Earth, they should've known this was the price."
Yamcha edged closer, full of emotion. "Man… seeing Piccolo and Goku fighting side by side again. It really takes me back."
Bulma, now separated from Android 18 after the fusion ended, looked equally reflective.
"Who would've thought they used to be mortal enemies?" she murmured. "Back then, all Piccolo ever thought about was beating Goku and ruling the world…"
"If the Saiyans hadn't invaded Earth," Chiaotzu added, "those two might still be enemies even now."
"Raditz kidnapping Gohan forced them to team up… and today…"
Suddenly, everyone's attention snapped back to the battlefield.
The masked man covered in wounds rose unsteadily, eyes flashing with stubborn refusal.
"So this is my fate…"
He pushed himself up and slowly lifted into the air, staring upward.
Above him hovered two figures whose power was terrifying.
Images flooded his mind. One scene, in particular, overlapped with what he was seeing now.
Endless pursuers behind him.
And ahead an arrogant ruler of the cosmos, looking down from on high…
Like destiny itself, repeating.
"No!" he roared. "I'm going to change it!"
"It's been years. That bottleneck should break today. Super Saiyan 4… I can do it!"
He released the limiter on the Blutz Waves he'd been storing inside his body.
Thump. Thump.
His heartbeat boomed like war drums, and power poured out like a bursting dam.
Muscles swelled rapidly across his frame.
But just as he was about to transform into a Great Ape
Someone seized his tail in an iron grip.
"I've been guarding against this," Goku said coldly, eyes sharp as if he'd seen through everything. "I've got your tail."
"What?!" The masked man's face changed. "My transformation… it's slowing down!"
For a battle-hardened warrior like him, the tail was no longer a true weakness.
But it also meant breaking through quickly was now impossible.
He never imagined Goku had been that vigilant the entire time.
"Piccolo, finish him!" Goku shouted. "Another powerful ki is closing in!"
"Nice work, Goku! Got it!" Piccolo raised two fingers to his forehead and began gathering ki.
His killing intent sharpened into something almost tangible.
From above, the masked man could feel it power that could erase him completely.
He wasn't willing.
He refused to fall into that same powerless ending again.
The masked man threw his head back and roared
But an even angrier roar drowned him out.
"Special Beam Cannon !"
The spiraling beam fired, locked dead-center on his head.
RUMBLE !
When the last sparkle of light faded, the mask on his face exploded into powder that scattered like ash.
Yet he still wasn't completely erased.
Even Piccolo and Goku couldn't believe it.
Piccolo's full-power Special Beam Cannon… blocked by a mask?
Then both of them froze.
They stared at the man's exposed face.
"…Don't tell me," Goku muttered. "Is it Zamasu again?"
But it wasn't.
The face was eerily similar to Goku's yet a cross-shaped scar cut across one cheek.
And his ki felt nothing like Goku's.
"Whatever," Goku snapped back to reality. His grip on the tail tightened again. "We do it one more time, Piccolo!"
"Yeah."
"My memory…" The man went still. His voice dropped to a murmur. "My fate… Kakarot's fate…"
As if something clicked, he jerked his head toward Goku.
"Kakarot! You're… Kakarot?"
"Yeah." Goku's tone was flat. "That's my Saiyan name."
"You really are Kakarot?" Something flickered across the man's cold face shock, emotion, disbelief.
"Yep, he's Kakarot," Piccolo said with a sneer, speeding up his charge. "But he grew up on Earth. He's not on your Saiyan side."
The man suddenly stopped resisting altogether.
"Kakarot… my name is Bardock."
"I'm your… father."
Bardock?
Father?
What?!
Piccolo's hand twitched so hard his Special Beam Cannon nearly misfired.
Even Goku's expression tightened, his grip on the tail no longer steady.
"Ever since… that incident, my memory's been damaged," Bardock said calmly. "I forgot a lot of things."
"It wasn't until you shattered the mask that I finally found myself again…"
"Shut up!" Goku snarled. "A brutal guy like you I'm not calling you my father. You were trying to kill Gohan. And you still have the nerve to say that?"
"If you really are Goku's father," Piccolo barked, "then Gohan is your grandson!"
"And your Saiyan kind doesn't even have a real concept of family. I've seen it with my own eyes. Back then, Gohan's so-called uncle nearly killed him right in front of us."
"You turned Earth into this," Goku said, unwavering. "I'll never forgive you."
For a moment, Bardock didn't know what to say.
Then something struck him.
"Wait… you mean you two brothers have already met?" he asked quickly. "Raditz… how is he now?"
Goku and Piccolo both wore strange expressions an eerie sense of déjà vu washing over them.
"I killed him," Piccolo answered plainly. "Just like I'm about to do to you."
"Saiyans did too much evil," Goku said, his emotions settling. "So extinction was only a matter of time."
He looked at Piccolo.
"Do it."
Bardock gave a bitter smile and closed his eyes, ready to accept it.
Then, a knot in his heart one that had haunted him for ages finally surfaced.
"Wait… before I die, I need to confirm something."
"In my prophetic visions, I saw you confronting Frieza…"
Pride rose across Bardock's face without him even realizing it.
Prophetic dreams didn't lie.
Kakarot… you must've avenged me.
Then I can die without regret.
"In the end… did you kill him?"
"Did you take revenge for our Saiyan race?"
Goku scratched his head.
The silence stretched, long enough to feel cruel.
But Bardock didn't mind.
A thousand years had already passed.
What was a little longer?
He smiled, full of anticipation.
"Son… did you do it?"
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