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Just as Broly was about to kiss Bulma's soft, beautiful, oh-so-tempting lips, the king of third-wheeling himself—Son Goku—blurted out from behind them.
"What are you guys doing? Bulma, are your eyes messed up?"
Broly froze. In his heart, it felt like ten thousand raging beasts stampeded through him. He'd been this close. This close. Right now he wanted nothing more than to drag Goku outside and flick his little tail until he died.
"Ahhh!" Bulma let out a shriek. "Goku! It's you again!"
It wasn't only Broly about to lose his mind. Ever since they left Mount Paozu, every romantic moment along the way had been ruined by clueless, pure-as-white-rice Goku, whose emotional intelligence was practically in the negative. He had no idea why Broly and Bulma were constantly grinding their teeth at him yet still couldn't bring themselves to blame him.
Swallowing a bit of regret, Broly and Bulma continued toward the location of the next Dragon Ball. The temperature climbed higher and higher the farther they went. As they drew closer, they finally saw the source: an entire mountain wreathed in blazing fire, burning so fiercely that the surrounding air felt like it was boiling.
This had to be Frying Pan Mountain, home of the Ox-King. The sixth Dragon Ball should be inside that castle at the peak. Once they had it, all they'd need to do was hunt down those three unlucky extras, steal the final Dragon Ball, and then they could summon Shenron and unlock Broly's new point-earning system.
As for whether the Ox-King would agree to hand over the Dragon Ball… that wasn't really something Broly cared about. He respected the Ox-King as Master Roshi's student, so he'd give the guy a little face. If the Ox-King didn't appreciate that goodwill, Broly would just take it by force. And if he resisted, well, Broly would beat him until he didn't. Now that Broly was fully used to his weighted gear and his power level had reached 436, crushing the Ox-King would be easy.
Just because Broly was always gentle with Goku, Bulma, and Master Roshi didn't mean he was easy to deal with. He treated them kindly because they were people he liked. Anyone else, though? Good luck.
The Ox-King wasn't evil, exactly, but he wasn't a saint either. Taking something that meant nothing to him wouldn't cause Broly the slightest guilt.
As in the original story, Goku saw the flames blocking their way and immediately volunteered to fly up using the Nimbus. Unfortunately, his tail caught fire, he shrieked in pain, and the Ox-King came rushing out.
"Bulma, look out!" Broly shouted. He grabbed her by the waist and leapt aside just as a giant axe swept through the air. Luckily, the Ox-King had only meant to warn them and hadn't intended to kill. Otherwise, a furious Broly might have turned him into dust on the spot.
After Goku wrestled around with him for a moment, the Ox-King noticed the Nimbus and the Power Pole on Goku's back. He realized the group must be connected to Master Roshi and Grandpa Gohan. After talking for a bit, he turned toward Broly.
"Young man, you must be the new disciple Master Roshi took in—Broly, right? If you're Master Roshi's student, could you and Goku go find him and borrow the Bansho Fan? I need it to put out the fire on this mountain." The Ox-King's tone softened. He was desperate, and now that he knew they were fellow students, he tried appealing politely.
"No need for all that. And besides, the Bansho Fan's long gone. The old man probably lost it who-knows-where," Broly said casually. "I'll just use a simpler, rougher method to fix this."
"What? The Bansho Fan is gone? Then you… wait… don't tell me…" The Ox-King's frustration froze halfway. His eyes flew open, shock written all over his face. If Broly meant what he thought he meant, this kid was a monster.
Broly didn't waste more time. He turned to Goku.
"Goku, watch closely. I'm going to show you one of the core secrets of the Turtle School. Whether you can learn it is up to you."
He wasn't planning to teach Goku the Kamehameha step by step. Instead, he wanted to demonstrate the upgraded version he'd perfected, hoping Goku could develop his own technique after seeing it.
"Yes!" Goku knew Broly was insanely strong and fell silent, locking his eyes on every movement and every shift of ki.
Broly floated up into the air. He swung both arms outward—left toward the lower right, right toward the upper left—each making a half-arc. His palms faced outward before he brought his hands together in front of him, then drew them to his right side near his waist.
Ki surged. Between his hands, a blue ball of energy formed, growing brighter and larger.
"Kame… hame… ha!"
A brilliant blue beam shot toward the roaring fire on Frying Pan Mountain.
Anyone watching up close would notice something unusual. Broly's Kamehameha rotated as it shot forward, and inside it were layer upon layer of energy spirals, like a mille-crêpe cake of ki. Each layer spun in the opposite direction of the ones beside it. The resulting drilling and shredding force was terrifying.
If a beam like that hit an enemy with enough power and area, forget destroying cells—there wouldn't even be atoms left.
Broly had invented this move after getting inspiration from anime in his past life, adding his own ideas, then testing it over and over. He named it the Void Annihilation Cannon. Its purpose was simple: anything it hit would be shredded into nothing.
And it wasn't limited to the Kamehameha. Any ki blast could be modified into this form.
Broly carefully controlled the blast's target. Wind roared outward and blinding light spread through the area.
A shrill, childish scream rang out.
Broly's expression changed immediately. He hadn't noticed someone was still nearby. He rushed toward the source of the scream and emerged a few seconds later holding a little girl in his arms.
When the light finally faded, everyone stared in shock.
The fire on Frying Pan Mountain was gone. Completely extinguished. But everything else—including the castle—had been reduced to rubble. Fortunately, Broly had held back a lot of power. Otherwise, even the rubble wouldn't have survived.
"....."