“Gokai…” She closed her eyes, and with every last ounce of her strength, screamed out that name in a sob: “Son Gokai!!!
If you don’t come now, everyone’s going to die!!!” “You bastard!
You promised you’d protect me!!” The desperate, sobbing cry echoed across the deathly silent ruins.
The Great Demon King Piccolo let out a cold laugh.
“Scream all you want, you can scream your throat raw and no one’s coming to save you.” “Whoosh!” The beam of death fired!
Just at that critical, hair’s breadth moment.
“Thud!!!” As though a meteor had crashed down onto the earth.
The ground trembled violently, dust instantly swallowing everyone’s figures.
The Great Demon King Piccolo’s brow furrowed.
“Hm?
Did I miss?” The dust cleared.
An upright figure, like an unshakable mountain, stood blocking the way in front of Bulma.
He extended a single hand, and that beam of death, powerful enough to pierce through steel, was caught steadily in his palm, as if he were simply holding a toy.
“Crack.” His fingers tightened, and the beam was crushed instantly, scattering into faint points of purple light.
He slowly turned around.
It was a handsome, sharp featured face, black eyes burning with a fury colder than hell itself.
But the moment his gaze fell on Bulma and Goku lying unconscious on the ground, that fury in his eyes instantly melted into deep regret.
“Sorry.
I lost track of time.
I’m late.” Bulma stared at him blankly, and then burst into loud sobbing tears, all the grievance and fear pouring out of her in that single moment.
“You finally came…
waaah…
you huge idiot!!” Son Gokai gently patted her head, then stood up straight.
He turned around, facing the Great Demon King Piccolo.
The once peaceful energy around him vanished completely in that instant.
In its place rose a terrifying, oppressive pressure, like some ancient primeval beast, one that made even the Great Demon King Piccolo’s very soul tremble.
“Piccolo.” Son Gokai’s voice was quiet, yet it carried clearly across the entire ruined plaza.
“You hurt my little brother, beat my teacher, and tried to kill my woman.” “Are you ready…
to go to hell all over again?” Above the ruins of Papaya Island, the sea breeze carried the scent of gunpowder smoke, brushing across every face present.
The air seemed to freeze solid.
Son Gokai stood there, his posture straight as a pine tree, his white training uniform snapping in the wind.
He did not immediately unleash any earth shattering display of power, his entire being appearing as calm as a bottomless lake.
Across from him, hovering in midair, the Great Demon King Piccolo’s once arrogant expression now flickered with a trace of unmistakable unease.
‘What is going on…’ Piccolo’s sharp ears twitched faintly, a bead of cold sweat forming on his brow.
‘This guy…
he has absolutely no ki at all?’ In his senses, this man called Son Gokai standing before him felt like a stone, a piece of vegetation, with not the slightest trace of any life energy fluctuation whatsoever.
And yet, that strength which had just crushed a beam of death with a bare hand was undeniably, unmistakably real!
This enormous contradiction stirred an instinctive unease in him, demon that he was.
“Hmph!
Empty bluster!” To mask that faint trace of panic within him, the Great Demon King Piccolo was the first to break the silence, his voice cold and piercing.
“Son Gokai, is it?
Quite the big mouth on you.” “Judging by your appearance, you must be some kind of martial artist too.
Since you managed to stop a casual strike of mine, that shows you’re a little stronger than this pile of garbage here.” “But!” The Great Demon King Piccolo spread both arms wide, that terrifying purple demonic energy behind him surging skyward, staining the sky an eerie color.
“In the face of my invincible power, restored to its youthful prime, you’re still nothing but…” “A slightly sturdier ant, that’s all!” Facing the Great Demon King Piccolo’s taunting and that terrifying pressure, oppressive enough to crush an ordinary person.
Son Gokai acted as though he hadn’t heard a single word.
He even turned around, leaving his back exposed to this so called “Great Demon King.” Piccolo’s expression froze instantly, a look of stunned humiliation at being so thoroughly ignored.
Son Gokai walked straight toward the group lying in pools of blood.
The scene before him was too terrible to look at.
Krillin’s chest was caved in, his breath so faint it seemed on the verge of stopping entirely.
Master Roshi was covered head to toe in blood, unconscious.
Goku, though still conscious, had clearly reached his absolute limit.
“Good, no one’s dead.” Son Gokai let out a soft breath of relief, a flicker of gratitude passing through his eyes.
As long as there was even a single breath left in them, in the face of his Horse Talisman, not even the Lord of the Underworld could take them away.
He crouched down, going first to Krillin, whose injuries were the most severe, and reached out his right hand, gently pressing it against Krillin’s chest.
“Hmmm.” A gentle, warm, radiant white light, filled with a sacred aura, glowed from Son Gokai’s palm.
That was the power of the Horse Talisman, healing.
“What is that?” In the distance, Bulma and the still conscious Tien Shinhan both stared, eyes wide with disbelief.
Under their incredulous gazes, a miracle unfolded.
Krillin’s caved in sternum visibly rose back up and restored itself before their very eyes.
His deathly pale face rapidly regained its healthy color.
His breath, once as faint as a thread, instantly steadied and grew strong once more.
Only three seconds passed.
“Cough, cough!!” Krillin, who had already been given up for dead, suddenly coughed twice, and to everyone’s shock, sat straight up, touching his own chest with a dazed expression.
“Huh?
I…
I’m not dead?
And…
it doesn’t hurt at all anymore?” “Don’t move around, you were just patched up.” Son Gokai patted his bald head, smiled, and stood up, heading toward his next target, Master Roshi.
Up in midair, the Great Demon King Piccolo’s face had turned green.
Truly green, greener even than his own skin.
“You…
you bastard!!” “How dare you ignore this Great Demon King!!
And save people right in front of my face?!” That feeling of being treated as thin air shattered whatever remained of Piccolo’s composure instantly.
“Die for me!!” He raised his right hand, index finger aimed at Son Gokai, who was in the middle of treating Master Roshi, and gathered an extremely concentrated beam of death at his fingertip (an enhanced version of the Special Beam Cannon).
“Whoosh!!” The beam tore through the air with a piercing shriek, aimed straight at the back of Son Gokai’s head!
“Gokai, watch out!!” Bulma screamed in terror.
However.
Son Gokai didn’t even turn his head.
He simply waved his left hand backward, as casually as if he were swatting away an annoying fly.
“Smack.” A crisp, sharp crack rang out.
That beam, powerful enough to punch through a tank, was knocked clean away by the back of his hand!
“Boom!!” The beam deflected up into the sky, blasting apart a dark cloud.
“You’re being loud.” Son Gokai continued channeling the power of the Horse Talisman into Master Roshi, saying flatly: “Can’t you see I’m busy?
Go play somewhere else.” “Wha…
what?!” The Great Demon King Piccolo’s pupils shrank to pinpricks, his entire body trembling uncontrollably.
‘A casual backhand slap?
Knocked away my ultimate attack?’ ‘And he didn’t even look at me?’ ‘What…
what kind of monster is this guy?!’ Fear, for the very first time, crept up into the demon king’s heart like a venomous snake.
For the next several minutes, for the Great Demon King Piccolo, it was nothing short of pure torment.
Refusing to accept it, he attacked in a frenzy.
Energy blasts, chained bursts of light, eye lasers.
“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, boom, boom, boom.” Yet no matter how he attacked, Son Gokai always managed to deflect it with the most effortless, dismissive motions.
Sometimes it was a slight tilt of the head to dodge, sometimes a casual wave of the hand to bat it away, sometimes even just a burst of ki to scatter it entirely.
The entire time, Son Gokai never once moved his feet, remaining fully focused on healing everyone.
Soon, Master Roshi woke up, Goku stood back up, and Tien Shinhan and Yamcha were both back on their feet, full of energy.
I found this one intresting