The brutish, hulking Saiyan warrior named Nappa barreled toward Goku's son and best friend. Despite Goku's advantage in speed and power, the sheer resilience and hardiness of Nappa had allowed the fight to drag in. Until Vegeta had decided enough was enough, that is. But Nappa hadn't had enough yet. He wanted to inflict even more pain and suffering. What better target than Gohan and Krillin? As Nappa closed in on the frightened, cowering duo, a flash of red ki appeared and suddenly, Goku stood on the ground, holding Nappa above his head. He threw the now crippled Saiyan toward Vegeta, who looked down at his fallen comrade with disdain.
Vegeta looked down at Nappa's broken body with a scowl etched across his face. Taken down by some low class trash like Kakarot. You've brought shame to the Saiyans. Nappa reached out his hand toward Vegeta, hoping the prince would help him. Though Vegeta was disgusted that Nappa had lost, he decided to take mercy on him. Nappa had practically raised the prince after King Vegeta had died. Vegeta valued strength above all else, but he was not without a sense of honor. Nappa and he had waged many wars over the decades and that built a respect Vegeta could not betray.
Vegeta took Nappa's hand and tossed him twenty feet off to his right. Nappa hit the ground with a thud, crying out in pain. "Vegeta, why?!" He exclaimed. "Shut up, Nappa!" Vegeta replied. "You're lucky I didn't kill you for losing to trash like Kakarot. Now get your pathetic, frail body out of here. I'll deal with Kakarot." Vegeta quickly made his way over to Nappa's armor, which he had discarded earlier, to fetch the remote control for Nappa's space pod. Goku was shocked at Vegeta's speed. Vegeta tossed the remote over to Nappa, who pressed a few buttons even as his every move he made put him in agonizing pain.
"Don't you concern yourself with him, Kakarot. He is no longer a factor. Your only concern is with me now, now." Goku glared at Vegeta as he said this, his hand curling up into a fist. "Fine, but we ain't fighting here. I don't want anything happening to my friends' bodies. And Gohan and Krillin are gonna stay outta this." Vegeta just smirked as he listened to Goku's conditions. "Fine, have it your way, Kakarot. But just remember. When you're as broken as Nappa, that's when I'll be going after your son." Just then, Nappa's pod appeared out of the sky and landed a few feet from him. Nappa slowly crawled into the pod. Even with a broken back, he still wouldn't give up. Goku couldn't help but admire his tenacity.
With Nappa gone from the battlefield, Goku and Vegeta fled to another location and began their battle. Vegeta had the early advantage, forcing Goku to use a Kaioken x 3. Goku severely wounded Vegeta's pride, eventually blasting the Saiyan prince away with a powerful kamehameha, augmented by a Kaioken x 4. This prompted Vegeta to produce an artificial moon, causing him to turn into an Oozaru, the great ape form of the Saiyan race. Goku attempted to use the Spirit Bomb on Vegeta, but Vegeta was able to blast Goku before he could.
Eventually, Gohan and Krillin returned to help Goku, but it was Yajirobe who cut off Vegeta's tail, resulting in him shrinking down to his normal size. Not long after that, Goku transferred the remaining energy of the spirit bomb to Krillin. Though Vegeta initially dodged the spirit bomb, Gohan reflected it back at him. But Vegeta refused to die and even managed to survive the spirit bomb. Goku had to resort to the desperate measure of telling Gohan to look at Vegeta's artificial moon and become an Oozaru as well. After a desperate struggle in which Vegeta cut off Gohan's tail, Gohan crushed Vegeta as he fell to the ground, leaving the Saiyan prince nearly as broken as Nappa had been.
As Vegeta tried to make his escape, Krillin took Yajirobe's sword, determined to Kill Vegeta for all the pain he and Nappa had inflicted. But Goku pleaded with Krillin to spare him, admitting that he had a selfish desire to fight Vegeta again. Krillin reluctantly allowed Vegeta to escape as he did not want to betray the wishes of his best friend, Goku. Thus, Vegeta blasted off into space to reunite with Nappa, who was headed for Planet Freeza 79. Goku, Gohan and Krillin spent the next few months recuperating and making preparations to head to Planet Namek. However, Vegeta and Nappa were also making plans for their own arrival on the Namekian homeworld.