Earth, Arctic Ice Fields.
The battle between Son Goku and Piccolo had turned the entire polar region upside down.
Seawater surged inland, the ice cap split open, even the frozen soil beneath began to show through.
Here and there, the colossal remains of ancient beasts long entombed in ice were laid bare to the sky.
The two of them fought for over half an hour without a clear winner.
Piccolo's ki was finally starting to drop. His breathing turned ragged, and the red aura around his giant body flickered in and out, the Kaio-ken clearly reaching its limit.
Goku didn't look much better. His right arm hung limp at his side, completely unresponsive.
A clean fracture.
Sharp pain stabbed in his chest with every breath; at least two ribs were broken.
Piccolo's punches, backed by that monstrous power, were not something a body could shrug off.
Thanks to Namekian biology, Piccolo's body was still mostly intact.
But in terms of aura, he was actually in worse shape than Goku.
Goku, on the other hand, was riding the high. His fighting spirit surged, his power spiking again he'd pushed himself up to 800 billion.
"Son Goku. One last move to settle it," Piccolo called, stepping back and pressing two fingers to his forehead.
All of his energy began gathering at his fingertips.
Goku bent his knees and cupped his hands at his waist.
A perfectly round ball of ki formed between his palms.
That classic, overused finishing scenario was appearing yet again.
Gohan couldn't help frowning. "Seriously… why does it always end in a beam struggle…"
Even so, he tensed, muscles wound tight.
In their current condition, if the clash triggered a runaway explosion, there was no guarantee either of them would walk away from it.
"Kamehameha!"
Goku finished first. A thick blue column of ki roared toward Piccolo.
"Special Beam Cannon!"
Piccolo's Makankosappo wasn't at full charge.
He couldn't help it. That move's biggest flaw was the time it took to wind up.
Faced with the oncoming Kamehameha, he had no choice but to fire early.
One beam thick, one beam thin light lances collided in midair.
Piccolo's Special Beam Cannon felt weaker in raw output than the Kamehameha.
But it had something the Kamehameha didn't: terrifying purity and piercing power.
As it was forced back, the spiraling beam suddenly bit down, its drill-like force punching straight into the Kamehameha's core.
Energy spiked then flipped.
The resulting chain reaction tore the sky open.
A terrifying blast swallowed both fighters whole.
"Knew it," Gohan swore under his breath and vanished.
The sheer heat of the explosion vaporized everything nearby: ice, seawater, all of it gone.
Even the hardened permafrost below couldn't withstand that level of energy. A gigantic mushroom cloud rose from the impact, blotting out the sky. Daylight dimmed in an instant.
Even the spectators had to flare their ki defensively just to stay standing.
Gohan was the first to rush in. He grabbed Goku's limp body and Instant Transmissioned him away from the blast zone, then immediately reappeared next to Piccolo, who'd reverted to his normal form, and dragged him out as well.
Goku was simply drained to the point of collapse, so weak his limbs wouldn't move.
Piccolo, however, was fully unconscious. His ki was almost gone, down to a thin, flickering thread.
Ignoring the rolling shockwaves, Gohan quickly forced a Senzu Bean into Piccolo's mouth.
Piccolo's aura climbed back up. His eyes snapped open
Just in time to see Gohan tilt Goku's chin and shove a Senzu into his mouth.
By the time both of them had fully recovered from their injuries, the aftershock of the explosion still hadn't completely faded.
But the worst of it was over. The core energy at ground zero was steadily dropping.
The massive quantities of vaporized seawater turned to dark clouds. Fat raindrops began to fall.
滴答.滴答.
At first it was a light drizzle, then the wind rose, and the sky broke open into a storm.
Rain hammered against the towering mushroom cloud, wearing it away bit by bit.
Their fight had literally altered the polar climate.
In a place where it hadn't rained in hundreds of thousands of years, it was suddenly pouring.
All thanks to the insane heat from their energy clash. Still, given time, the region would recover.
It took a full hour before the dust finally settled.
The clouds thinned and drifted away. Blue sky returned.
Temperatures began to drop again. New ice crept cautiously back over the exposed ground.
Only the very center of the blast zone still steamed, the earth scorched black. Certain exposed rocks glowed faintly red, the heat still intense enough to cook steel.
"Looks like Earth needs another upgrade. Otherwise it won't keep up with your kind of 'sparring' for long," Gohan sighed.
"Heh… I just got a little carried away," Goku said, scratching the back of his head, embarrassed.
"Hmph. Son Goku, this time, you win," Piccolo snorted, chin tilted high.
Goku chuckled. "Call it a draw. I was down for the count too."
"Hmph."
Piccolo turned away, choosing not to argue.
Clap, clap, clap.
"All right. Next round who's up?" Gohan clapped his hands and looked around.
"Raditz. Come on. Let me see how strong you really are," Nappa said, unable to hold back any longer.
"Heh. Bring it," Raditz answered with an easy smile, stepping out from the spectator line.
Nappa lunged, thigh muscles bulging as he swung a heavy kick at Raditz's side.
Raditz simply raised a hand, caught Nappa's ankle, and twisted, flinging him away in a single motion.
"Ha!"
Nappa slapped a palm into the ground to steady himself, then let out a roar that shook the air.
Boom!!
As the shout faded, a vicious golden aura erupted from his body, blasting the air back like a tidal wave.
Nappa didn't bother playing around. He jumped straight to Super Saiyan 2. His muscles bulged like chiseled stone.
Dense bolts of lightning crackled around him, and even his eyebrows and mustache turned gold.
His battle power spiked to 150 billion.
Watching this, Gohan suddenly felt an unholy curiosity rising in his chest. His gaze drifted… downward.
He quietly wondered if that part would also
Ahem.
On Raditz's side, the sight of Nappa's aura didn't faze him at all.
"Haaa!"
His waist-length hair flared as he transformed into Full Power Super Saiyan.
Two jets of golden ki flamed around them, comparable in scale just without the lightning dancing over Raditz's body.
On the surface, his presence looked a little weaker.
In reality, his power was anything but.
Raditz's Super Saiyan Full Power sat at a solid 160 billion.
Which meant his base battle power had already surpassed Nappa's, climbing to at least 20 billion.
And his ki felt completely calm none of the wild savagery that used to cling to him.
"Impossible… Raditz?!" Nappa blurted, eyes wide in disbelief.
Vegeta and Goku were just as shocked.
They knew exactly how hard Nappa had been pushing himself with them in the Galactic Patrol. The man hadn't slacked off for a single day.
"Nappa, think for a second," Raditz said quietly. "If Kakarot could grow this strong on Earth, you really think Earth's martial arts are weak? Maybe we outclass them in raw power, but in terms of technique and refinement, they're worlds ahead."
"Don't you dare talk down to me like that. We'll see who's 'ahead' once I beat you into the ground! Hyaa!"
Nappa surged forward on a storm of ki and swung a heavy punch at Raditz.
Raditz met the fist with an open palm, absorbing the impact, then slipped inside Nappa's guard and drove a brutal elbow straight into his chest.
Thud!
"Guh !"
Nappa's breath vanished. He staggered back in a series of flipping retreats, barely getting out of range to catch his breath.
Raditz didn't chase.
He waited, letting Nappa steady himself.
Once Nappa's breathing calmed, Raditz moved first.
A single high-speed step and his figure vanished.
Nappa's muscles tensed. "Found you!"
He kicked back without looking, heel scything through the air
Whoosh!!
He didn't hit Raditz, just a flickering afterimage.
Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh!!!
Nappa went all out, striking in every direction, but everything he hit dissolved into another afterimage.
"Raditz! Stop running around like a coward and fight me head-on!" Nappa shouted, flushed with anger and embarrassment.
"Fine. Then come," Raditz replied, still serene.
The real fight was about to begin.
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