BOOM!
Their fists collided.
Instantly, a massive shockwave of energy erupted from the epicenter of their clash, kicking up a thick cloud of dust.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
The two fighters drew back and unleashed a rapid-fire barrage of punches at each other.
Every single impact warped the air around them, compressing the very atmosphere with the sheer force of their blows.
At this moment, Goku was holding back, not yet using the full power of his base form, while Tien was pushing his base strength to its absolute limit.
Because of this, Tien quickly gained the upper hand.
He parried one of Goku’s strikes and countered with lightning speed.
Bam!
A flawless punch connected dead-center on Goku’s chest, launching the Saiyan dozens of meters through the air until he smashed violently into a rocky cliff face.
Hovering in the distance, Chiaotzu watched in absolute awe.
‘Tien actually landed a solid hit on Goku!’ Even if Goku was only in his base form, it was still an incredible feat.
Tien didn’t press the advantage.
This wasn’t a fight to the death, after all.
He remained suspended in the air, looking down at the rubble where Goku had crashed, a surge of adrenaline coursing through his veins.
Ever since Goku first transformed into a Super Saiyan on Namek, Tien had stopped dreaming that he’d ever be able to physically knock him back again.
Actually sending Goku flying gave him an inexplicable rush of excitement.
It was as if years of pent-up frustration and feelings of inadequacy had suddenly been released.
It felt amazing.
His mind had never been clearer.
Whoosh!
Goku rocketed out of the dust cloud, stopping at the same altitude as Tien.
He wasn’t hurt at all—in fact, he looked absolutely thrilled.
“Tien, you’ve gotten seriously strong!”
Tien’s confidence surged.
“I haven’t even started yet, Goku!
Come on!”
Goku chuckled, dropping back into his classic Turtle School stance, his eyes locking onto his opponent.
“Haaa!”
He launched himself at Tien.
This time, his speed and power had spiked significantly.
He was now using about half the power of his base form.
Seeing the sudden burst of speed, Tien didn’t dare underestimate him and flew in to intercept.
Bam!
Bam!
Bam!
From afar, Chiaotzu could only see a blur of afterimages; their movements were simply too fast to track.
A few minutes into the fierce exchange, Tien began to lose ground.
He couldn’t keep up with Goku’s relentless assault, and his defense started to crack.
Smack!
Goku threw a heavy punch that Tien barely managed to block.
But right in that opening, Goku followed up with a sweeping right kick that caught Tien completely off guard.
In that split second, a bright ki blast materialized in Goku’s hand.
Realizing he had no room to dodge, Tien crossed his arms to guard.
Boom!
The ki blast detonated at point-blank range, engulfing Tien in a thick cloud of smoke.
Suddenly, Tien’s instincts screamed danger.
He peered through the smoke just in time to see Goku charging at him like a fierce predator, driving a knee right into his stomach.
Bam!
“Gah!”
Tien plummeted from the sky, crashing violently into the rocky ground and carving out a crater several meters wide.
Chiaotzu watched with his heart in his throat, trembling with worry.
Thankfully, Tien quickly pushed himself back to his feet, allowing the little psychic to breathe a sigh of relief.
Tien didn’t immediately take to the air.
Instead, he raised his right hand, pressing his index and middle fingers together, and slowly drew them across his third eye.
Instantly, a blinding white light flared from the eye on his forehead.
Wherever his gaze fell, the very air seemed to ignite, conjuring patches of ethereal flame even across the barren desert rocks.
Hovering above, Goku watched in absolute amazement.
“Whoa, is that a new technique?”
Down below, Tien clenched his fists tight and let out a deafening roar.
“Haaaa!”
His ki exploded upward.
Acting as the eye of the storm, Tien generated a massive, roaring cyclone.
The wind whipped around him like invisible blades, shredding the surrounding landscape.
The tornado expanded rapidly—from a few meters to dozens, then stretching over a hundred meters wide.
Sand and shattered rocks swirled violently into the air, turning the sky a dusty, yellowish-gray.
The raging storm only subsided when Tien’s third eye shifted to a deep, burning crimson.
This was the first stage of the Three-Eyed Celestial Bloodline: the Crimson General state.
Swish!
In a fraction of a second, Tien vanished and reappeared directly in front of Goku.
He raised his hands, radiating absolute confidence.
“Your move, Goku!”
Feeling the sheer intensity of Tien’s new power, Goku’s blood boiled with excitement.
Ever since the battle with Majin Buu, he hadn’t had a proper fight.
He dropped into his stance.
“Bring it on, Tien!”
Before the words even left his mouth, Tien was already on him, moving as fast as light.
Bam!
A devastating punch buried itself deep into Goku’s gut.
“Oof!” Goku gasped, the wind knocked out of him.
But Tien didn’t let up.
He opened his fist into a palm strike, detonating a point-blank ki blast right against Goku’s chest.
BOOM!
Tien frowned.
He could feel that the blast hadn’t actually connected.
Waving his hand to clear the smoke, he saw that Goku had used an afterimage and was now hovering several meters away.
Goku flashed a cheeky grin.
“Haaaa!”
He finally unleashed the absolute peak power of his base form and charged forward.
Clash!
Their fists met again, their bodies blurring into streaks of light as they darted across the sky, leaving nothing but fading afterimages in their wake.
They fought non-stop for half an hour.
Slowly but surely, Tien began to overpower him.
Moving with the unstoppable force of a crushing tidal wave, he drove a heavy fist straight toward Goku’s chest.
The air pressure alone was terrifying, creating a vacuum before the strike even landed.
Bam!
The punch hit its mark, and Tien immediately capitalized on the opening.
He followed up with a vicious second strike to the chest, grabbed Goku by the arm, spun him around like a ragdoll, and hurled him away.
Aiming his palms at the tumbling Saiyan, he fired.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Three rapid ki blasts shot forward, striking Goku dead-on.
Goku plummeted toward the earth, but quickly caught himself mid-air just a few meters down.
He looked up at Tien, his voice trembling with sheer exhilaration.
“Tien, you’re seriously incredible now!
If I don’t use Super Saiyan, I can’t beat you!”
With that, Goku clenched his fists tightly at his sides.
“Haaaa!”
He let out a deafening roar, his aura erupting in a blinding flash.
A terrifying, overwhelming pressure washed over the battlefield as his hair spiked up, turning a brilliant gold.
Super Saiyan.
Even before Goku made a move, Tien could feel the horrifying weight of that golden aura pressing down on him.