Dalles shifted his gaze, his eyes meeting Maki’s bewildered stare.
He could clearly sense the sheer astonishment in her eyes.
‘Why does it feel like my face is so highly recognizable across the universe?’ he wondered.
“A Saiyan?” Maki’s voice broke the silence.
Dalles gave a faint nod.
“Are you with the Heeters?”
Maki finally snapped out of her daze.
She glanced down at the candy she had dropped in the sand and her mouth twitched.
“Tch, what a waste.”
Kicking the ruined candy aside, she planted her hands on her hips, putting her half-baked arrogant facade back on.
“That’s right, the Heeters.” She waved a hand near her face.
“I’m Maki, the liaison.”
She stared at Dalles for another moment before making a decision.
“Well, you guys wait here for a second.
I need to go explain the situation.”
She turned to leave but was stopped by Dalles.
“What?
You still need to report this?” Dalles frowned.
What was this nonsense?
Did he really need an appointment just to meet these nobodies?
However, deciding to respect his hosts, Dalles couldn’t be bothered to argue over such trivial matters.
He simply waved his hand impatiently, urging Maki to hurry up.
Watching Maki walk away, Armond turned to Daiz and whispered, “These people from the Heeters don’t seem like anything special.”
“Their power levels feel pretty weak,” Daiz agreed.
“Do these guys really have a way to help us complete the mission?”
Dalles actually shared their sentiment.
However, combat power was a secondary concern to him.
If the Heeters were highly valued by the Frieza Force, it meant they had to bring something significant to the table—likely excelling in the brains department.
Meanwhile, Maki returned to the rest of the Heeters with a heavy heart.
Seeing her uneasy expression, Elec curiously asked what had happened.
“Brother, the guy who showed up is a Saiyan…
and I have a feeling he might be connected to that Saiyan from over twenty years ago.
We better mentally prepare ourselves before meeting him.”
As she said this, Maki pointedly glanced at the youngest of their group, Gas.
Hearing this, Elec and the others immediately turned their heads, especially Gas.
He had once been defeated by the very Saiyan Maki mentioned from over two decades ago.
That event had haunted him like a nightmare, constantly driving him to train desperately.
Elec noticed that Gas’s emotions were already spiraling.
He stepped forward and patted Gas on the shoulder.
“It seems you still haven’t moved on from what happened back then.
Don’t force yourself.
You are no longer the same person you were.
I believe that if you fought him again, you absolutely wouldn’t lose.”
Comforted by his older brother, Gas seemed to calm down.
He gave a firm nod.
Relieved, Elec said, “Let’s go.
We should welcome the warriors of the Frieza Force.”
Maki led the way, her twin tails whipping wildly in the wind.
The group stopped in front of the last weathered rock pillar.
She stepped sideways, clearing their line of sight.
Elec stepped out from behind her.
His gaze swept past Maki’s shoulder and landed on the massive spaceship parked on the high ground, bearing the Frieza Force insignia.
Even though Elec had mentally prepared himself, the moment his eyes locked onto Dalles’s face, he froze mid-step.
‘Might be connected?’ he thought.
‘That’s the exact same face!
The Saiyan who defeated Gas on Planet Cereal over twenty years ago!’
Thanks to years of maintaining a calm and composed demeanor, Elec quickly adjusted his expression.
But Gas could not.
Gas’s body swayed violently.
Memories flooded his mind uncontrollably: the shattered ground, his own blood, and that face staring down at him from above.
His chest began to ache again.
The wound that had healed over two decades ago suddenly felt as sharp as if it had just been torn open.
His hands began to tremble, and the shaking quickly spread through his entire body.
The inhibitor headband on his forehead emitted a faint, high-pitched hum.
This reaction immediately caught Dalles’s attention.
He shifted his gaze toward the small figure, keenly catching the hostility in Gas’s eyes—an intense emotion that seemed to be a volatile mix of resentment and fear.
Even without using a scouter, Dalles quickly deduced that this short figure was likely the strongest among the Heeters.
Dalles didn’t say a word.
He simply stood there, staring back at Gas with an expressionless face.
Being stared down like that only seemed to agitate Gas further.
“Gas,” Elec said, placing a hand on Gas’s shoulder once more.
The humming from Gas’s headband finally began to weaken, dropping from a piercing whine to an almost inaudible buzz.
Dalles shifted his gaze away from Gas and looked at Elec.
Elec met Dalles’s eyes.
“That’s right.” He took a step forward and extended his hand.
“I am Elec.
I am in charge of the Heeters.”
Dalles glanced at the outstretched hand, gave it a brief shake, and quickly let go.
“Dalles.
Lord Frieza assigned me to coordinate with your operation.
You’re the one in charge of the Heeters?”
Elec tried to explain the previous scene.
“My apologies, gentlemen.
My younger brother is feeling a bit unwell.”
“Unwell?” Dalles didn’t buy it for a second.
He replied coldly, “I’m not blind.
He’s hostile toward me.
Have we met before?”
“My brother does indeed have an old illness that flares up occasionally.
It has nothing to do with you, Mr.
Dalles,” Elec maintained his lie.
Dalles let his gaze linger on Gas for a moment longer.
He obviously didn’t believe the excuse.
His mind naturally connected the reaction to Bardock, as that was the most logical explanation.
However, he had no intention of pressing the issue for now.
Dalles lowered his arms.
“Let’s get down to business.
What do you need us to do?”
Hearing this, Elec briefly evaluated the group, his eyes eventually settling back on Dalles.
He needed to assess the combat power of these reinforcements before the actual operation began.
Obviously, he couldn’t gauge their exact power levels just by looking at them.
But based on his understanding of Saiyans, their strength was practically guaranteed.
Even low-class Saiyan warriors possessed world-destroying power once they transformed into Great Apes.
Aside from its highly advanced civilization, Planet Caren also boasted quite a few powerful warriors.
The strongest among them reportedly had a power level exceeding 10,000!
If that weren’t the case, Frieza wouldn’t have bothered sending Dalles, whose power level was nearing 40,000, to handle this trip.
Even Gas, the strongest among the Heeters, couldn’t suppress Planet Caren by force in a short amount of time while in his base form.
Furthermore, the Heeters were never meant to participate in the actual fighting.
Therefore, the military support sent by the Frieza Force—Dalles and his crew—needed to possess the strength to subjugate Planet Caren as quickly as possible.
Relying on his long-standing knowledge of the Frieza Force, Elec chose to trust their arrangement.
When it came to sheer military might, the Heeters simply had no right to question the Frieza Force.
“Mr.
Dalles, I understand…”