The Special Beam Cannon landed at the bottom of the mountain fissure. A spot of blood-colored light splashed up, then rapidly expanded. An indescribable explosion enveloped a thousand miles in radius.
An enormous mushroom cloud rose from the Earth's surface, as if putting a chef's hat on the planet.
Piccolo, Krillin, and the others quickly used Flight Technique to fly up.
"This planet will be destroyed!" Piccolo said through gritted teeth.
"No, not yet." Lott, who was holding No. 18 by his side at the waist, chuckled lightly. The smoke gradually dispersed. Everyone vaguely saw a blue light bursting forth from the bottom of the blood-colored light.
At the edge of the ground was Goku, shirtless, erupting with a Kamehameha! For a moment, only red and blue colors remained in this world.
"Although I think the Son Family never loses in beam struggles, this time..." Lott trailed off.
"Comparing you to the data Dr. Gero inputted about the future, you've become much stronger." Suddenly, the smile on Cell's face widened. Goku gritted his silver teeth, the ground beneath his feet cracking further.
"Lott! Save him!" Even Krillin could see that Goku couldn't hold on.
"Saiyans shouldn't interrupt others' fights. Besides, that guy Goku wouldn't want me to do that." Lott said calmly. Everyone's expressions changed drastically as they looked at Goku. Indeed, there was no intention of asking Lott for help at all.
"A bunch of idiots!" Bulma on Planet Terra cursed and turned to leave.
"Bulma-san, where are you going?" Genos turned his head to ask. Genos also held great respect for Bulma, who had helped him complete the cell transplantation.
"To prepare the Dragon Balls. Don't we have to revive Goku afterward?" Bulma said irritably.
As the person who brought Goku out of that deep mountains, over the years, she had developed a conditioned reflex to clean up the mess for these muscle-brained battle maniacs afterward.
"No, please wait." Ishigami, who had switched to the Rinnegan, narrowed his eyes, detecting something unusual with his new eyes.
Genos, Bulma, and the others looked back at the live stream screen.
The blood-red Special Beam Cannon had completely suppressed the Kamehameha. No matter how good the Son Family was at beam struggles, they couldn't make up for the difference in strength this time.
The blood-red laser completely pierced through the Kamehameha, simultaneously piercing through Goku's abdomen. However, it didn't hit a vital spot.
Krillin rushed forward without any hesitation, catching Goku as he fell and reverted from his Super Saiyan form back to normal.
He took out a Senzu Bean from his pocket.
"What do you mean by this?" Piccolo questioned Cell with a furrowed brow. As the inventor of this technique, Piccolo knew very clearly that Cell had intentionally avoided Goku's vitals just now.
Cell crossed his arms in front of his chest and sneered, "The Saiyan constitution is such that every time they are brought to the brink of death, their power becomes stronger."
The moment Cell finished speaking, Goku had already swallowed the Senzu Bean with a 'gulp'. Instantly, golden flames erupted, and he re-entered the Super Saiyan form.
However, the white lightning flashing around the periphery of the golden Ki flames was even more dazzling. His eyes also became sharper. Goku had broken through that threshold! He's now reached True Super Saiyan 2!
"Is he crazy?" On the Planet King of Fighters, Shermie, who had returned to a normal life since it was impossible to revive Orochi again in the short term, was dumbfounded.
She had also heard about this overpowered attribute where Saiyans become stronger every time they come back from the brink of death.
But she never expected that Cell would actively trigger this attribute in Goku, making his power reach a higher level! And it wasn't just Shermie; 99.99999% of the entire group never expected it!
"It seems you're very confident in your power, Cell." As the currently third strongest person in the universe, Goku understood exactly what Cell was planning.
Cell maintained his position high in the air with Flight Technique, his smile widening as he said, "You are too weak now, not sufficient to make me display my full power. What I want is to show my true, complete, most perfect power to the entire universe."
The entire universe fell into deathly silence.
Bulma slapped her own forehead and sighed, "As expected of a guy who absorbed Saiyan's cells. In this aspect, he's really like those two!"
Letting the enemy go on purpose to make them stronger… wasn't that exactly what Lott and Goku loved to do the most?
However, Chi-Chi breathed a sigh of relief. No matter what, she didn't want her husband to die, Dragon Balls or not.
"So? Lott, do you want me to help you out too?" Cell glanced sideways at Lott on the other side.
"Help me?" Immediately, Lott showed an exaggerated expression, as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world.
The next instant…
Whoosh-
In the sound of a huge impact, ignited golden light shot straight into the cosmos. Other planets relatively close to Earth could even vaguely see a golden light spot faintly appearing at the top of the sky.
Bzzz-
Golden Ki flames continuously burned on Lott's body, accompanied by the crackle of white lightning arcs. Super Saiyan 2!
"So handsome!" Nino excitedly waved her pink fists. Every time Lott transformed into this form, she could... take in a few dozen milliliters more.
"With the two of them together, they can definitely defeat that monster!" Li Xiangfei, who had just become a new member of the Women Fighter Team this year, couldn't help but shout.
In her over-excitement, the twin pigtails on her head jumped along. Kagura Chizuru, who had said the same thing when Cell first appeared three years ago, shook her head helplessly.
The subsequent development was indeed as she predicted. Neither Lott nor Goku had any intention of making the first move.
"As a stage for me to display my perfect power, choosing only Earth seems a bit too small." Cell descended from the sky back to the ground and said with a smile, "How about this? I'll also host a martial arts tournament, using the World Martial Arts Tournament as a template."
As soon as Cell said this, the faces of everyone in the group changed drastically.
'Th-this monster wants to host a martial arts tournament!?'
Cell continued, "Let's call it the Universe's Number One Martial Arts Tournament. The conditions are the same as the World Martial Arts Tournament: one-on-one matches. But there are no restrictions on venue or time. The outcome of the match isn't determined by boring settings like who falls off the stage. To determine victory or defeat, there are only two standards: who surrenders, or who dies."
"But there is one additional condition." At this point, a malicious smile appeared on Cell's face as he raised one finger. "The loser's planet... will be destroyed."
Cell's words were like dropping a heavy torpedo into an already turbulent lake, causing the entire group to explode. Whether they were skilled experts or ordinary people silently lurking, their hearts were all stirred up with towering waves.
'Losing meant the destruction of the entire planet along with it. Th-this is playing for way too high stakes?!'
Lott didn't show much reaction yet. But Goku had already furrowed his brows tightly and said in a deep voice, "If it were only the contestants' own lives on the line, I wouldn't mind. But to involve the fate of an entire planet... isn't that a bit too much?"
"Heh, if you're dissatisfied, you can try to defeat me in the first round, Goku. Well~ though that's on the premise that you can draw me in the first round." As he spoke, Cell turned his gaze towards Lott. After all, this guy was the main event.
"What do you think, Lott? With your personality, you wouldn't stop something this interesting, would you?"
Lott raised an eyebrow and thought for a moment, then spoke to the camera, or more accurately, to Miku, Shiranui Mai, and the others on Planet Terra: "Don't worry, you'll be fine."
The meaning was clear… he didn't oppose it!