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"Humph! What a big mouth. Look down on us Saiyans, and you're gonna pay for it." Vegeta crossed his arms, trying his hardest to look cool.
"Heh, is that so?" Slug sneered. He raised a hand toward Vegeta, firing a rapid barrage of energy blasts.
As Vegeta dodged with everything he had, Slug suddenly flashed behind him and launched a massive ki blast straight at his back.
"Vegeta! Behind you!" Goku shouted, alarmed.
"What?!" Vegeta spun around instantly, crossing his arms to block. He managed to guard most of the blast, but the impact still sent him reeling.
Enraged and humiliated, Vegeta lunged at Slug. For a brief moment he held his ground—but only for a moment. Within seconds he ended up exactly like Goku a few minutes earlier.
After a brutal beating, Vegeta was sent flying straight toward Goku, who barely managed to catch him.
"To think… I, the Prince of all Saiyans, lost again… Damn it! I refuse to accept this!" Vegeta clenched his fists. But this time, he seemed a bit calmer—maybe he was getting used to the beatings.
Just as Slug moved in to finish off Goku, Piccolo, and the others, a tall figure suddenly stepped between them.
A man stood there with two fingers pressed to his forehead. Long, sleek black hair. A white-and-red weighted training suit. Heavy metal gear wrapped around his neck, wrists, waist, and boots—equipment forged from special alloys.
It was Broly—the one Chi-Chi had begged to go help them.
"Broly! As much as I hate saying this… we've gotta rely on you again." Goku forced himself up just enough to look at him. "That guy's strong. Really strong. So be careful…"
"Heh… So you're the one who was talking big about Saiyans, huh?" Broly glanced at the battered fighters behind him, then turned toward Slug with a cold smirk.
"Tsk. You Saiyans are like cockroaches. But I guess this saves me the trouble—I'll just wipe you all out at once and—gah!"
"You talk too much." Broly appeared right in front of Slug before he could finish.
Slug tried to dodge on instinct, and although he could see every move Broly made, his body simply couldn't react in time.
Broly's fist slammed into his gut—solid and heavy like steel—caving Slug's abdomen in as if it were soft clay.
"Kh—! Heh… Heheh… So you're much stronger than those other two Saiyans. Out of respect for a worthy opponent, I'll show you my true power!"
Clutching his nearly pierced abdomen, Slug forced himself upright. With a roar, his crushed stomach slowly pushed back into place.
He ripped off his wrist guards and helmet, revealing features eerily similar to Piccolo's.
"What?! You… you're a Namekian too?" Piccolo and the others stared in disbelief.
"Namek, huh? Yeah… somewhere deep in my memories, that name exists. But who cares? What matters is that I use everything I've got."
Slug's aura exploded outward. His body swelled rapidly, growing larger and larger until he towered tens of meters high. His power shot up into the tens of millions.
Next to the giant Slug, Broly looked tiny—fragile even. But there wasn't a hint of fear in his eyes. If anything, he was thrilled.
Slug was the first opponent Broly had ever faced whose power level broke eight digits—a massive leap far beyond anything before. The sheer challenge made Broly tremble with excitement.
Caught up in that battle hunger, Broly didn't even notice the legendary Super Saiyan energy inside him beginning to gather and intensify.
"What's wrong? Did my true power scare you stiff?" Slug taunted, seeing Broly standing silent and focused.
"Scared? That word doesn't exist in my vocabulary." Broly burst forward, activating a 20x Kaio-Ken as he slammed into Slug. The two monsters collided, exchanging brutal blows.
But there was something strange about the clash—every one of Slug's hits was partially deflected by the way Broly's body shifted, causing most of the excess force to blast outward and tear apart the surrounding landscape. Broly's strikes, in contrast, were focused and direct, wasting almost no power.
Even with a power level around forty million thanks to the 20x Kaio-Ken, Broly was still slightly weaker than giant Slug. But Broly's power was increasing with every exchange, boosted by his Saiyan bloodline and the divine healing enhancement he'd received from Kibito.
After enough time trading blows head-on, even Slug began to struggle.
"Now this is a fight!"
The more hyped Broly became, the more violently his energy surged. And then—
Crack!
A sound like shattering glass echoed through his mind. Something inside him—some hidden limitation—broke open.
Broly's aura flared explosively, turning golden in an instant.
But his hair and eyebrows didn't turn gold. They shifted into a strange blue-violet instead. His pupils didn't vanish—they faded into a stormy gray.
The form was unmistakable.
A pseudo-Super Saiyan.
Not quite the real transformation, but the transitional stage leading toward it—the earliest form of Super Saiyan.
"....."