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Time flowed on like a river—once gone, never to return.
During those seven days, under Bardock's strict training, Harry, Raditz, and Celari didn't just grow stronger; their horizons and ways of thinking also expanded far beyond what they'd known before.
Of course, for Harry, his growth was more in technique than in raw power. His battle strength hadn't increased much—he'd been carefully keeping his true energy suppressed below 400 the entire time. Any "improvement" Bardock saw was just Harry releasing a bit of the power he'd been hiding.
As Harry himself put it, he was just going with the flow.
What really stood out, though, was Celari's potential. Under Bardock's guidance, her strength jumped from 180 to 240 in only a week—an insane rate, nearly ten points a day. For a Saiyan, that kind of progress bordered on monstrous.
Raditz's improvement looked modest by comparison, going from 550 to 580. But thirty points in a mere seven days was still impressive, especially at his level.
It was noon at the Bardock household. Everyone sat around the table, eating Gine's home-cooked meal.
The mood was different from the past few days. The special training had ended, and Raditz was about to leave for the royal palace to officially report in. The air felt heavier—no one said much.
Goodbyes were always hard.
Still, for Saiyans, partings like this had long since become normal. Over the past couple of decades, warriors leaving for missions had become routine—just another part of life.
It was no different, really, from how ordinary people in Harry's previous world left home to earn a living.
The only thing that was different was that this would be Raditz's first real mission—his first time truly leaving Planet Vegeta. His first time setting out into the universe on his own. Naturally, his family's worry ran deep.
"Next time we meet, you'd better be stronger, Harry!" Raditz grinned, half challenging, half sincere. "And when I come back, I'll be even stronger than you. Then we'll have a proper fight!"
Harry smiled faintly at his words, but something inside him tightened.
If things followed the original story, and if he hadn't crossed over into this world—if the old Harry had stayed behind or died on that medium-class planet they were supposed to conquer—they'd never meet again.
But now, everything was different.
Harry had taken the place of the original, and the timeline was no longer fixed.
He believed—no, he knew—he would survive.
Still, when would they actually see each other again?
Unless he sought Raditz out himself, it might not happen until the main events of the story began—when Raditz went to Earth. That would be more than twenty years from now.
"Alright," Harry said with a small grin. "When we meet again, we'll settle it for real, Raditz."
He waved goodbye. Raditz said his farewells to Gine, then to Celari, though she barely responded. Even after a week of training together, the rift between them ran deep—it wasn't something a few days could mend.
I hope my presence here changes things for you, Harry thought silently as he watched Raditz's figure grow smaller in the distance. Don't end up like you did before…
When he turned back, Gine's expression was full of quiet sadness. Harry didn't say anything—some things people had to work through on their own.
Besides, it wouldn't be long before he'd have to take Gine away from Planet Vegeta himself. The real storm of emotion would come when the planet's destruction drew near.
Time passed. When Bardock and Raditz were completely out of sight, everyone slowly returned home.
Gine, resilient as always, soon busied herself with chores, her mood gradually steadying.
Seeing that, Harry and Celari headed to the nearby market to buy supplies.
In the past few days, Bardock had already helped him purchase a medium-sized space pod and even lent him ten thousand merit points to prepare for their journey.
Not a fortune, but far from small change either.
Even if Bardock said he expected double repayment someday, Harry knew the gesture came from care, not business.
Ten thousand merit points—about the equivalent of a million in his old world's currency. To an ordinary person, that would've been a life-changing sum.
Merit points weren't easy to come by, after all. Conquering a low-level planet alone might earn anywhere from one to ten thousand, depending on the planet's value.
Most lower-class warriors couldn't do it solo. They had to team up, which meant splitting the rewards.
In other words—most lower-class Saiyans were broke. Anyone walking around with thousands, let alone tens of thousands, of merit points was basically rich.
Bardock? He was the kind of rich that made other rich people look poor.
To him, spending a hundred thousand merit points on a ship only stung a little. He was basically the Saiyan version of a billionaire buying a fancy sports car.
"Harry, do we really need this much stuff?" Celari asked, watching him load yet another pile of supplies. "Feels like we're packing for a yearlong expedition."
She wasn't wrong. The amount of food alone could've fed them for a year. The medium-sized ship wasn't exactly tiny, but the storage hold was almost full already.
Harry smiled. "Don't worry—we'll need it. And besides you, there's someone else I plan to bring."
"Someone else?" Celari blinked, her curiosity piqued. "Who?"
He nodded. "I'm hoping Gine will come with us—to Planet Aoyun."
"Gine? But what about Kakarot?" Celari asked, genuinely surprised.
"That's why I'm not sure yet," Harry said after a pause. "We'll decide the day before we leave. And don't mention this to her yet, okay?"
Celari frowned slightly, a bit confused, but she didn't push the issue. She simply followed him as they continued shopping, her thoughts wandering.
By the time they were done, Harry's funds were down to just a few hundred merit points.
Still, he didn't regret a single purchase.
Before leaving Planet Vegeta, it made no sense to hoard currency that might soon mean nothing at all.
If anything, he thought with a faint grin, he'd spent it wisely—especially on those five Saibaman seeds and the healing fluid.
Those could end up saving lives.
"..."
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