Son Goku said, “Piccolo, let’s just let him go…”
“Son Goku, you idiot!” Piccolo snapped, fuming.
Son Goku and Piccolo started arguing.
Whatever they decided, Oryon didn’t much care either way.
He felt nothing much toward Raditz — the man wasn’t exactly good, but he still held onto some brotherly feeling for Son Goku.
After all, he’d barely killed anyone on Earth.
Especially yesterday — even back when he’d still been weak, he hadn’t killed Lunch after she shot at him.
So he just stood there, watching Son Goku and Piccolo argue.
Suddenly, a sense of danger surged through him.
“Die!”
Oryon spun around just in time to see Raditz gathering a blast of ki in both hands and firing it straight at him.
“Oh no!” Goku and Piccolo both cried out in alarm.
Oryon had actually already known Raditz probably wouldn’t accept defeat so easily.
So he’d been prepared.
In a flicker, he appeared in front of the other two, crossed his arms, and gathered the ki of his whole body in front of him.
“Boom!”
The Ki Blast slammed into Oryon, and a violent explosion erupted at once.
Goku and Piccolo shielded their eyes against the shockwave.
Raditz burst out laughing.
“Got him! Hahahaha…”
“Oryon!” Son Goku shouted, his face draining of color.
A breeze drifted past, the smoke cleared, and Oryon still stood there, arms crossed.
His clothes were a bit torn, but when he lowered his arms, he was completely unharmed.
“Thank god, you’re okay!” Goku said, delighted.
Oryon turned a cold, hard gaze on Raditz.
“I gave you a chance. You brought this on yourself.”
“Whoosh!” Before Raditz could say another word, Oryon flickered forward and drove a fist into his gut.
He put everything he had into that punch, and its destructive force was staggering.
Raditz felt his organs shatter inside him; he spat out a mouthful of dark blood mixed with chunks of flesh and crashed hard to the ground.
Raditz glanced down at his caved-in chest and knew he wasn’t going to survive.
He looked at Oryon, then at Goku, then at Piccolo.
He said, halting between breaths, “You…
you’ve killed me.
My…
comrades won’t let this go…
“Their strength is more than ten times mine. When they… when they arrive, they won’t just… kill every last one of you — they’ll raze Earth flat.” Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
“What? Ten times stronger than you? Is that even real?” Goku asked, sounding incredulous.
Piccolo swallowed hard.
“You’re kidding, right? How could anyone in this world be that strong…”
But Oryon nodded readily.
“He means Vegeta and Nappa. Vegeta really is more than ten times stronger than Raditz…”
Piccolo and Son Goku both flinched at once, terror flashing across their faces.
Raditz looked at Oryon and laughed.
“Hahaha…
“…seems like you’d already heard the legend of Vegeta, the prodigy, before you ever came to this planet…”
Sweat beaded on Piccolo’s forehead.
“When are those two coming?”
Raditz laughed.
“A year.
It’ll only take them a year to arrive.
“Hahahaha… enjoy what’s left of your year…”
Still laughing, Raditz failed to draw another breath — and died.
A moment later, Bulma arrived, flying everyone in on her aircraft.
The moment it touched down, Chi-Chi was the first one out, running.
“Gohan, my Gohan…”
She covered the ground in half the strides it should have taken, rushed straight to Goku, and swept Gohan up into her arms.
She pressed her cheek tight against her son’s, tears splattering down.
“Gohan, my precious Gohan, Mommy was worried sick!”
“Are you hurt? Does anything hurt? Did that bad man hit you?”
Gohan, nearly squeezed breathless, shook his head quickly.
“No, Mommy. The bad uncle just locked me in the ship — he didn’t hit me.”
“Did you eat yesterday? Are you hungry?”
Gohan shook his head again.
“I’m not hungry. He gave me a piece of roasted meat yesterday…”
Chi-Chi looked him over from head to toe, and only after confirming her son was unharmed did she finally let out a breath of relief.
Krillin glanced at the torn front of Goku’s shirt and asked with concern, “Goku, are you all right?”
Goku grinned, baring his teeth.
“I’m fine, just a scratch.”
Seeing Goku’s bright grin, Krillin relaxed.
Blue-haired Lunch got off the aircraft and made straight for Oryon.
Her hand brushed over the ragged front of his shirt, her eyes rimmed red.
Oryon quickly wiped at the corner of her eye.
“I’m fine, Lunch. The clothes just got torn by a Ki Blast — I’m honestly not hurt at all.”
Lunch’s big eyes blinked at him.
“Don’t lie to me. Are you really okay?”
“Really, I’m fine!”
Oryon answered her gently, stroking her hair.
Lunch pressed her lips into a smile and melted softly into his arms, wrapping both hands around his waist.
“I just knew you’d be fine.”
A few steps away, Bulma watched Lunch and Oryon holding each other tight, a sour pang twisting inside her.
Master Roshi looked over at Raditz’s now-lifeless body and sighed.
“On the way here we were actually still discussing —
“if you two ended up losing, we’d hide right away and gather the Dragon Balls to bring you back.
“Thank goodness you two teamed up and beat him. Everybody worked hard.”
Right then, Gohan, still in Chi-Chi’s arms, spoke up.
“That’s not right. Uncle Oryon beat the bad man all by himself.”
“What?”
Goku quickly explained, “Right, we didn’t beat Raditz together.
“It stings to admit, but even with Piccolo and me fighting side by side, we couldn’t lay a finger on Raditz.
“Oryon showed up and beat him single-handedly.”
Everyone turned to look at Oryon.
“What?”
Master Roshi reflexively pushed up his sunglasses and swallowed hard.
Krillin marveled, “You… you really beat him all on your own? That’s incredible!”
Oryon laughed and scratched his head.
“It really wasn’t a big deal.”
Lunch, still in his arms, heard the truth and lifted her head at once, stars of admiration sparkling in her eyes.
“Oryon, you’re amazing! I knew the moment you got here that you’d pull it off…”
As she spoke, she threw her arms tight around his neck and planted a hard kiss on him.
Bulma had been about to move closer to Oryon, but Lunch’s kiss instantly knocked over her jealousy.
Regret churned inside her, over and over: “I’m such a damn idiot — giving away a boyfriend that good. I’m not going to sleep a wink tonight…”
____
👻🔥Walnut-chan 😉 —