The battlefield where King Cold and Goku clashed shifted from island to island, crater to crater, but for fighters of their level, distance had no meaning. Even the horizon was just decoration.
"Now then… time for the main course," King Cold murmured as he gathered power.
Before he could move, the calm sea beneath them began twisting.
A whirlpool rose from nothing, then expanded with violent force.
The ocean churned, the sky trembled, and islands shook as if the planet itself was convulsing.
"Impossible… that Saiyan is still alive?" King Cold hissed.
Annoyance flashed into fury.
The Saiyan just would not die.
He prepared another blast, but froze.
His instincts flared.
He dodged.
A heartbeat later, a blood red pillar tore out of the whirlpool and pierced the heavens.
The surge was so immense that King Cold was driven backward.
Shock widened his eyes.
"No. That power… it cannot be… could it be…?"
Something ancient stirred within him.
A buried memory.
A fear his son Frieza never understood.
But that thought never completed.
"AAAHHHHHHH!"
Goku's voice erupted through the sky, a roar so violent it split the clouds and shook every corner of Namek.
His ki climbed with unstoppable force.
This was not the fifty two million he had displayed earlier.
It was far beyond.
Goku rose within the pillar until he floated above the sea, burning red, shoulders heaving.
King Cold felt a cold knot tighten in his chest.
"Our fight is not over!" Goku shouted.
Before Cold could respond, Goku bared his teeth.
"This time… Kaio ken twenty times!"
The crimson column collapsed inward and exploded outward again.
Goku's aura flared like an erupting volcano.
Even King Cold had to squint; the radiance stung his eyes.
Then—
Pain.
Sharp, sudden, explosive.
He did not even see the first punch.
Goku's fist slammed into King Cold's jaw and twisted his face sideways.
A second strike buried itself into Cold's gut.
Froth and saliva sprayed from his mouth, his eyes bulging.
Boom.
A third blow.
Goku clasped his fists and hammered Cold downward.
The tyrant flew like a broken shell, crashing through the seabed.
Goku steadied his breathing.
He needed more.
Much more.
Even Kaio ken twenty times might not finish this monster.
"Not enough. Far from enough. I need more power."
His voice cracked with raw force. "Kaio ken twenty five times!"
A low, resonant hum shuddered across the battlefield.
Goku's muscles swelled, his aura twisted violently.
Had he not trained under one hundred times gravity days earlier, the transformation would have torn him apart.
Power soared from seventy million
to eighty seven million.
Goku vanished.
A streak of crimson light ripped across the sky.
King Cold sensed it too late.
Goku feinted left, then drove his fist into Cold's jaw with a sickening crack.
Cold's body shot upward.
Blood sprayed from his mouth like a fountain.
"Take this final move!" Goku roared.
"Kamehame… HA!"
He brought his hands together.
The Kamehameha burst forth, a beam bright enough to blind.
It struck King Cold before he could recover, engulfing him completely.
Goku pushed the wave harder and harder until it hurled King Cold into space.
Only then did the beam fade.
Then Goku collapsed onto a floating rock.
Exhaustion.
Agony.
Burning veins.
In the final instant, he had detonated Kaio ken at thirty times.
The self damage was catastrophic.
"Damn it… even pushing past my limits… I still could not beat you," he whispered weakly.
His limbs hung limp.
Breathing grew shallow.
He had given everything.
Across the horizon, the air split.
King Cold returned.
His body was smoking and battered, but he still stood.
He still breathed.
He still glared.
"Damn. Damn. Damn!"
His voice cracked with fury.
He had not been injured like this in decades.
Veins bulged across his body.
Then he lunged.
A streak of violet light crashed into Goku before the Saiyan could even raise a hand.
The tyrant slammed him into the earth, grabbed him by the throat, and dragged him across shattered stone.
"This time, I will erase you completely."
King Cold lifted Goku in one hand and gathered a dark, swirling sphere with the other.
A killing blow meant to vaporize him.
Goku closed his eyes.
A faint, bitter smile crossed his face.
So this is it…
A thunderous crack sounded.
The grip on his throat vanished.
Another explosion tore the sky.
"Dad!"
That voice.
That ki.
Goku forced his eyes open.
Gohan stood between him and King Cold, aura raging like a newborn star.
In the instant Goku had closed his eyes, Gohan had unleashed a terrifying surge of power, blasting King Cold backward and snatching Goku away.
"Dad. Are you okay?" Gohan cried, voice shaking.
"I am… fine… thank you… Gohan," Goku whispered.
The effort made him cough violently.
Once Gohan confirmed his father was alive, he lifted him and flew at full speed toward Dende.
He forgot about the Senzu beans entirely.
Behind them, another explosion split the sky.
King Cold roared in pursuit.
Goku tried to warn Gohan, but pain wracked his lungs, and he choked on the words.
Gohan held him tighter and sped up.
What neither of them saw—
was the figure that moved faster than both of them combined.
A figure whose aura began to shift
from its usual deep blue
to a violent golden flicker.
Vegeta.
His ki trembled.
His blood boiled.
His instincts screamed one word:
Now.
~~~~~~
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