Raditz looked at them with open disdain as they whispered together, and let out a booming laugh.
“Hahahaha, what are you two scheming about, whispering like that? You don’t actually think some petty little trick is going to beat me, do you?”
The words had barely left his mouth when Goku suddenly surged forward, fists and palms flying in a wild, chaotic barrage—the kind of reckless assault people say could overwhelm even a grandmaster through sheer volume alone.
Raditz’s brow furrowed slightly as he blocked the blows, sneering.
“Kakarot, what are you doing? You don’t think this is going to beat me, do you? Let me tell you something—no technique can bridge the gap between our Power Levels…”
With that, Raditz threw a contemptuous punch straight at Goku’s face.
He expected to send Goku flying—instead, his fist tore through nothing but an afterimage.
Raditz froze in shock.
He’d been careless.
It was just an afterimage.
“Where’d he go?”
As he searched around for Goku, a wave of weakness suddenly hit him.
Goku had grabbed his tail.
A triumphant grin spread across Goku’s face.
“You got careless!”
Sweat broke out on Raditz’s forehead.
“You little—going after my tail…”
Goku called out at once, “Piccolo, hurry! Use your finishing move, now!”
Piccolo, fingers still pressed to his brow, was gathering energy for his Special Beam Cannon.
“Almost there—don’t let go, Goku…”
The Scouter on Raditz’s face suddenly began to chirp—beep, beep, beep.
Cold sweat poured down Raditz’s face.
“What… his Power Level’s already climbed to a thousand, and it’s still rising…”
He looked over at Piccolo—his whole body surged with energy, veins bulging, and the hand pressed to his brow glowed gold, clearly charging something devastating.
A shadow of death fell over Raditz.
He forced himself to turn and look back at Goku.
“Kakarot, are you really going to kill your only brother?”
Goku snapped, “Enough talk! I told you—I’m Son Goku. I don’t have a brother like you…”
The Scouter’s numbers kept climbing—any moment now, they’d be enough to kill Raditz.
Sweat beaded on Raditz’s forehead as he blurted out, “Kakarot, spare me! I only meant to scare you into coming with me—I never meant to kill you. Let me go, and I’ll withdraw from this planet without a fight, after all, we’re brothers by blood…”
Piccolo cut in urgently, “Don’t fall for it, Goku! He’s obviously making it all up…”
“Kakarot, are you truly going to kill your own brother? If Mom and Dad knew, it would break their hearts. I haven’t hurt your son at all—I only locked him inside the ship…”
Hearing that Gohan was safe, Goku’s resolve wavered at once.
Thinking back carefully over everything that had happened that day, he realized that even though Raditz’s strength far outmatched his own, the man had been holding back against him and his friends the whole time.
He hadn’t killed Krillin, and he hadn’t killed Lunch, who’d shot at him—in fact, he hadn’t killed anyone at all so far.
Goku’s grip loosened slightly, though not enough yet for Raditz to regain his strength.
Raditz watched the Scouter’s reading climb past fifteen hundred.
This time, his life was truly in danger.
“Special Beam Cannon!”
Piccolo’s signature technique finished charging and blasted toward Raditz.
“Kakarot!!!”
At the same moment, Raditz screamed out in something close to despair, and Goku’s heart softened even further.
He let go.
In that split-second, Raditz’s strength returned, and he twisted sharply aside, dodging the vital spot.
The Special Beam Cannon grazed his shoulder armor to shreds before slamming into a distant mountain.
The mountain was instantly bored clean through, sending up billowing clouds of dust and debris.
Raditz stared at the spot on his shoulder where the armor had simply vanished, cold sweat breaking out all over him.
“That was close…”
Goku let out a breath and said to Raditz, “Just go. Don’t ever come back to Earth again!”
But without the slightest hesitation, Raditz drove an elbow into him, sending Goku flying, then stomped a foot down on his chest.
“To think I have an idiot little brother like you—it’s infuriating! You’re not my brother anymore. I won’t go easy on you again!”
With that, Raditz ground his heel hard into Goku’s chest.
Goku howled in pain.
Raditz laughed uproariously.
“Hahaha, die in agony, my dear departed idiot brother…”
Piccolo, gasping for breath, roared in fury, “Goku, you idiot! You actually let him go…”
Hearing Piccolo’s words, Raditz kept his foot planted on Goku and turned to look back at him.
“What, not going to keep fighting? Why not try that move again while I’m busy tormenting my idiot brother?”
Piccolo knew perfectly well that if the enemy was on guard for it, the attack would never land.
He glanced back—still no sign of Oryon—but he could faintly sense his ki drawing steadily closer.
He’s supposedly so strong—so why is he flying so slowly?
Piccolo grumbled inwardly: the Flight Technique really was a garbage way to fly!
Raditz stomped down hard on Goku’s chest again.
“Waaugh… ugh…”
Goku’s howl of pain rang out across the sky once more.
“You rotten little brother—still not ready to beg for mercy?”
Goku gritted his teeth.
“Even if it kills me, I’ll never go do evil alongside you!”
Raditz’s face darkened with rage.
“You really don’t know a good deal when you see one! Fine—then I’ll just have to send you to your death!”
He raised his foot and stomped down on Goku again, hard, and Goku let out another howl.
Suddenly, a ki blast came screaming through the air toward Raditz with a sharp whistle of wind.
Raditz’s form blurred as he dodged it with ease.
The blast slammed straight into a distant mountain instead.
The mountain exploded instantly, dissolving into billowing clouds of dust.
The next instant, Oryon landed beside Goku.
“You all right, Goku?”
Goku pressed a hand to his chest and struggled to his feet, giving a bitter smile.
“Sorry—we didn’t wait for you. I thought Piccolo and I could beat him together on our own strength, but… barely a minute in, and we’d already failed.”
Oryon glanced over at Piccolo—one of his arms was gone too.
He shook his head slowly.
“Both of you rest. Let me handle him.”
Goku nodded.
“I’m counting on you!”
Piccolo nodded to Oryon as well, but he made no move to heal his arm—just in case Oryon couldn’t finish the job, he wanted to keep one more Special Beam Cannon in reserve.
Oryon walked toward Raditz.
Raditz sized him up through his Scouter and sneered.
“Heh. You want to fight me one-on-one? You don’t know your own limits.”
Oryon smiled.
“A number on the surface means nothing to Earthlings!”
“What do you mean?” Raditz asked, curious.
Oryon rolled his shoulders and said, “Keep your eyes on that Scouter. Watch my Power Level.”
With that, Oryon let out a sharp shout, and ki erupted from his entire body.
Raditz’s Scouter began to beep wildly.
Raditz’s pupils contracted.
“Th-that’s impossible?”
“Your Power Level—it’s rising?”
Three hundred.
Five hundred.
The Scouter’s numbers kept surging upward, and Raditz’s jaw dropped, disbelief written across his face.
Eight hundred.
Twelve hundred.
In the end, Oryon’s Power Level settled at fifteen hundred.
Raditz’s eyes went wide.
“How is this possible?”