Namek.
The edge of the shattered battlefield.
As the last ripples of the explosion faded, Vegeta slowly restrained his golden aura and murmured, "It is done."
Then he turned toward the spaceship.
He did not cancel his Super Saiyan form at once.
He kept that brilliant gold burning, deliberately allowing Goku to sense it, memorize it, and chase it in his heart.
Goku needed to feel the transformation.
He needed to let it carve itself into his core.
Only then would he break through.
Goku stared in awe.
Even though he had glimpsed the memory of Super Saiyan through the Grand Elder, this was different.
The sight of Vegeta standing there with golden flame, emerald eyes, and the pressure of a living sun made Goku tremble.
This was not power.
This was awakening.
He finally understood what he lacked.
Not training, not talent, but the feeling that ignites the transformation.
The crisis was over.
"King Cold is gone. Namek has no more enemies," Vegeta said calmly.
He turned his eyes toward the distant island where Cold's ship had attempted to flee.
It was already in the air, engines burning.
Just like Frieza's remaining soldiers, Cold's men abandoned their ruler the moment the situation turned hopeless.
It made no difference.
Vegeta did not need them.
Their loyalty, their lives, their existence meant nothing to him.
He raised a hand.
A single sphere of energy formed.
Those watching blinked in surprise, realizing what was about to happen—
Cold's ship blossomed into a fireball in the sky.
Not a single soldier survived.
Silence followed.
Vegeta finally relaxed his transformation.
The golden flames dimmed, the aura faded, the emerald gaze returned to dark onyx.
He looked at Goku one last time.
"I will wait until the day you become a Super Saiyan.
Do not let me down."
He did not wait for a reply.
He simply turned and walked away.
He could have told Goku how to achieve it.
He could have explained the emotion, the trigger, the state of mind.
But no.
A Saiyan reaches that height only through his own path.
Only then is the transformation real.
Behind him, Vegeta's elite soldiers followed without hesitation.
After watching him vaporize King Cold, their respect and fear solidified into absolute loyalty.
If they wanted to live, they had to remain useful.
Inside the ship, Vegeta stepped onto the command deck.
His next path was already decided.
Planet Yardrat.
Originally, the Ginyu Force had been heading there.
That coincidence was what let Goku learn Instant Transmission in the original future.
Now the timeline was different.
Vegeta needed to learn it.
Instant Transmission was not optional.
It was essential.
He was not the old Vegeta, too proud to learn techniques Goku mastered.
As a reincarnated soul with future insight, Vegeta knew the value of that skill.
It was a weapon.
A shield.
A strategic advantage surpassing raw power.
Even Porunga could not give him a superior version of it.
Learning it himself was the correct path.
The Yardratians would accept him.
They always accepted those of fate.
They accepted Goku.
Later in another timeline they even trained the older Vegeta in advanced spirit techniques.
If they could train that Vegeta…
then this Vegeta, who had saved them indirectly, would be welcomed.
"Lord Vegeta, based on our earlier calculations, at maximum speed it will take fourteen days to reach Planet Yardrat," the mushroom headed Hera reported respectfully.
"Fourteen days…" Vegeta muttered.
Not so bad.
But far more than the five or six days he once assumed.
For Goku to have survived that long in the original timeline without understanding ship navigation truly was absurd luck.
"Lord Vegeta, will we begin the journey to Yardrat immediately?" Hera asked.
Vegeta glanced at the stellar map.
He studied the galactic routes displayed by the navigation projector.
"If we go from Yardrat to Planet Seventy Nine later, how long will that take?"
Hera conferred with the other operators, then answered.
"Twelve days, Lord Vegeta."
Fourteen days to Yardrat.
Twelve more to Planet Seventy Nine.
Training time on Yardrat.
And then nearly twenty days from Seventy Nine to Earth.
It would take roughly two or three months in total.
Meaning that if Vegeta departed now, he and Goku would likely return to Earth around the same time the Dragon Balls were restored.
Namek's Dragon Balls needed one hundred thirty days to recharge.
Vegeta stepped away from the navigation console and continued questioning the operators for details as he shaped the final steps of his plan.
The journey had already begun.
~~~~~~
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