While the group of warriors rested as much as they could, one hour ticked by as if it were sixty. Roshi, Krillin, and Piccolo sat in close proximity, engaged in a telepathic conversation, while Gohan looked off into the distance, searching as best he could for his father's ki.
"Alright, so if all else fails, I've got this new technique I've been trying out, called the Kienzan. If it works, it just might be able to do something," Krillin began.
"Where even my greatest attack failed?" Piccolo replied. "Why didn't you use it before?"
"Well, I, uh...haven't actually succeeded in making it work yet," he admitted sheepishly. "Plus, I didn't get too many openings to use it, and it moves pretty slowly and takes up a lot of energy."
"Fair, I suppose, but this Vegeta character is far smarter than that brute. He'll likely recognize it as a threat, especially with that device of his. And I still have my doubts that a weakling like you could fare much better than me."
"Hm...oh! I know! If you find a way to get behind him and stretch out your arms to trap him, I can throw the Kienzan at him from the sky. I mean, sure, I might accidentally take off your arms again, but-"
"Save it. If it kills that fool, I couldn't care less. But somebody will need to distract him so that I can get into position."
"Leave that to me," Roshi replied.
"M-master, are you sure you can hold up against him for that long?"
"I'll manage. You just focus on getting into position."
"Of course, if we fail, the two of you will likely perish."
"Well, that's where my ace in the hole comes in, then," Roshi replied.
"Wait, you don't mean-?" Krillin began as both he and Piccolo were shocked.
"I prepared a rice cooker for the task a few days ago and placed it into a capsule. I couldn't be sure that it would affect these Saiyans at all, but I figured it paid to have something like that in reserve just in case."
"B-but master...with all the energy you've expended, if you use that technique..."
"Oh, yes, my odds are not looking good on that. But...I'm willing to bear that sacrifice if it means this threat is ended."
Piccolo was silent as Krillin continued. "M-master..."
"Please. I'm an old man who's lived a good, long life. Better that I die my final time than any of you youngsters, like poor Chiaotzu. Now...let me rest. I need all of the energy I can muster if this plan is going to work."
Krillin nodded somberly, and began walking towards Gohan as Roshi began to meditate, preparing himself for the battle ahead.
Almost two hours later, within the great Lord Yemma's chamber in the Other World, Kami began pacing nervously back and forth, anxiously casting his glance towards Snake Way, the long winding road which led directly to the home planet of King Kai, the Lord of the Worlds. Eventually, after approximately 15 laps across the floor of the chamber, Kami sensed a powerful ki approaching from the direction of Snake Way. Mere seconds later, Goku suddenly appeared faster than anyone in the room could perceive, included Yemma himself. He appeared to be both tired and frantic, evidently having pushed his body to the limit to arrive in time.
"Goku!" Kami cried out joyously before once again realizing the stakes. "We must hurry! Take my hand!"
Goku hurriedly did so, and the two disappeared from the chamber in a blur of light before reappearing in the center of the Lookout.
"Thanks, Kami!" Goku said hurriedly as he moved to jump off the Lookout.
"Wait!" Kami said suddenly, giving Goku pause. "Now that you're here...there's something that you need to know."
Vegeta looked up as he heard two voices arguing, followed by a small beep from his own scouter.
"I protest-I am not some petulant coward who needs coddling from the likes of you!" Piccolo began.
"Look, I don't like it either, but if you die, then the Dragon Balls disappear! If Tien or Yamcha end up dying from their injuries, we may need them!" Krillin replied.
"And that concerns me how?"
"You really sure you want to push this? Between your injuries and that giant attack earlier, I'm fairly confident I could force you to go if I wanted."
Vegeta, having heard enough, promptly vanished, appearing right in front of the pair of them and kicking Piccolo into a nearby mountain.
"Actually...he's not going anywhere," Vegeta responded. Krillin simply shuddered in response.
"Good, he bought it," Roshi thought as he observed the exchange. "So, are we all clear on the plan? He felt a pause. "Great. Now, get ready, because if I'm not mistaken-"
"Your three hours are up," Vegeta stated, sneering at Roshi, Krillin, and Gohan. "I guess Kakarot was more of a coward than I realized."
"M-my daddy's not a coward!" Gohan responded, fuming slightly.
Roshi put a hand on his shoulder. "Just ignore him."
Vegeta smirked slightly. "Now, if I remember correctly, I believe I settled on targeting the strongest first." With that, he began to step towards Krillin before Roshi leapt into the way, assuming a combat stance.
"Not so fast. If you want him, you'll have to get through me."
"Not a particularly challenging feat. But if you're that anxious to die, old man, then I will accommodate you!" With that, Vegeta swung at Roshi with a left hook, but to his shock, the old man managed to leap out of the way the instant it began. He then tried a kick with his right leg, encountering similar results.
"What the-?! How are you-?" Vegeta began before scowling furiously as the realization hit him. "AAGHH! This mind reading tactic is getting REALLY OLD!"
"It's more than just that old trick," Roshi replied as he dodged another left hook. "You may not consider it to be of much merit, but I have been training in the ways of martial arts for almost 300 years." Another sidestep allowed him to dodge a right hook. "I've fought beings who utilized all manner of fighting styles, and developed means of countering any one of them at any given moment." He leaned to the left to avoid a kick. "It's almost automatic, adapting to any given style and responding without much conscious thought at all."
He narrowly sidestepped a sweeping jab. "And I recognize your variety all too well, Vegeta." This time, he leaped over a sweeping low kick. "It's the style of a man who's never been defeated in his life." He ducked under a jab. "A man so confident in his own strength that he underestimates his opponents." He sidestepped another one. "Just as you're doing now."
"GRAAAH!" the prince roared as he swung at Roshi with a powerful haymaker, intending to take the old man's head off. Although Roshi anticipated the move both from his experience and Vegeta's thoughts, he nevertheless only barely avoided it, getting hit with a glancing blow of such force that it took off a portion of his shoulder. He winced in pain as he landed onto the ground, the prince standing above him triumphantly.
"Ha! Your power is far more impressive than I realized, old man, but it's still nothing compared to mine!"
Roshi chuckled weakly. "'Power,' huh? You still don't understand, do you?" Vegeta glanced down, confused, causing Roshi to elaborate. "No, I imagine you don't, with all of your talk about 'power levels' and 'scouter data' and all that nonsense. You live in a world of numbers, basing your opinions of others on little more than a reading on a tiny screen." He began to lift himself onto his feet, but only managed to get up onto one knee. "You mocked poor Raditz every day of his life for his supposed weakness, even as entire worlds were laid low by his hand. You were more concerned about an insult to your pride than the death of your lifelong comrade and servant." He chuckled slightly as another memory of Vegeta's rushed to the surface of his awareness. "You even scoffed at your own father, once your power grew to surpass his."
Vegeta growled slightly. "Get out of my head, old man," he muttered threateningly.
Roshi simply laughed. "Oh, and don't even get me started on your poor mother-!"
"I SAID GET OUT!" Vegeta shouted, sending out a massive kiai that knocked Roshi back to the ground. He began angrily walking towards Roshi, but was caught off guard as his scouter registered a new reading.
"What the-?! A power level of 5,000, 4 minutes away?! It...it must be him! But how did he-?"
His train of thought was interrupted as another figure flew towards him and kicked him in the chin.
"GET AWAY FROM THEM!" Gohan cried out as he landed blow after blow upon Vegeta, sending the prince back a few paces.
"Remember, Gohan, don't hold back. Think about what will happen if Vegeta gets his wish on the Dragon Balls. Think about what happened to Chiaotzu! Yamcha! Tien! Think about what will happen to your parents! To Ox King! To Piccolo! To everyone you care about! Then, let that righteous anger flow through you! Seize upon your hidden power! And MAKE! HIM! PAY!"
At this, Gohan cried out in anger and powered up further.
"I WON'T LET YOU HURT ANYONE ELSE, YOU MONSTER!" he shouted as he began a renewed assault upon the prince.
As the prince blocked each one, his scouter began to fluctuate wildly.
"What the...it's still rising?!" he cried out in astonishment as he continued to dodge the blows, each one faster and stronger than the last. "2,000...2,100...2,200...2,300! Born from a low-class like Kakarot...and but a child, no less...incredible!"
Roshi smirked as he slowly got back onto his feet. "You wanted to see power? There it is."
Vegeta smiled as well. "Indeed," he said before stopping the Saiyan hybrid's rampage by grabbing his face in his left hand, muffling his screams of fury. Without another word, he slammed the child into the ground on his back, leaving him dazed as Vegeta let go. "Now I know I was right not to follow Nappa's recommendation."
Before he could take another step towards Roshi and Krillin, however, he felt two small hands clamp around his ankles, and grinned slightly. He looked down at Gohan, clearly struggling just to hold Vegeta in place.
"And what exactly was that supposed to do, brat?" he said with a chuckle.
Gohan grinned in return, a bit of his residual rage coming to the surface as he observed Krillin's plan coming to fruition. "Made you look," he said simply, before Vegeta heard two sounds coming from behind towards either side of him, similar to the sound of a rubber band being stretched to capacity. The next thing he knew, two rapidly expanding arms wrapped themselves around his chest, proceeding to wrap around his entire body in opposite directions before meeting back in the middle.
As Vegeta's legs became wrapped up by Piccolo's stretched right arm, Gohan let go and moved to the side while the prince fell flat on his face, completely immobilized. When breaking out of the hold through conventional means proved impossible, he took to the sky, intending to drag Piccolo up with him. However, Piccolo simply planted his feet into the ground as Gohan held onto him, and stretched his arms further to compensate. With this plan foiled as well, Vegeta's rage only increased further, and he let out an explosive wave of ki which encompassed the immediate area around his body with such intensity that the bonds that had previously held him were completely atomized.
As Piccolo howled in pain, the light from Vegeta's attack began to dissipate, and Vegeta noticed too late his original target hovering in the air, having hurled a massive disc of yellow ki directly at Vegeta. Even with the disc's slow speed and his own impressive reaction time, Vegeta only had a second to react. He dodged as well as he could, receiving a deep gash in his right side as he tried to twist away from the disc's trajectory. Vegeta cried out in agony as he felt the blood dripping from the wound. He could already feel a portion of his considerable power seeping away, and cursed himself for allowing them to get the jump on him. In a fit of anger, he blasted Krillin away with a ki blast, sending him crashing into the ground before vanishing and appearing right in front of where he landed.
As Krillin struggled to get up, Vegeta readied himself to deliver the finishing blow, when something caught his eye in the fighters' impromptu camp site. He saw a red device which had been used to heat what appeared to him to be some kind of grain, but upon closer inspection he discovered that a small piece of paper had been placed on one side with a singular phrase written on it. Not knowing any of Earth's native languages, Vegeta could not translate the seal, and would have otherwise dismissed it entirely had he not heard Krillin chuckling. He turned around just in time to find Roshi standing behind him, his body tensed up for the strain it was about to endure.
"MAFUBA!"
Vegeta began to feel a howling gust of green wind form all around him. Vegeta screamed in pain as he felt his body being compressed into a small ki sphere by some strange force, and hurriedly powered up as much as he could to try and escape. However, his efforts were for naught, and he soon found himself being pulled inexorably into the sky before crashing down towards the rice cooker. With one last howl of rage and agony, the compressed streak of ki containing his body and spirit was sucked into the rice cooker's open slot, which was in turn sealed shut by the force of the winds around it.
With a shuddering breath, Roshi fell to the ground, the strain of the technique bringing him to the brink of collapse and leaving the others to fear the worst. However, after a series of hacking coughs, Roshi's breathing began to stabilize.
"Hah...guess...that training...paid off...in...more ways than..."
"Hey, take it easy, Master Roshi," Gohan replied wearily as he lifted him up onto his feet, carrying him towards where the rice cooker was located. Meanwhile, Krillin and Piccolo shakily got up as well and assessed their respective injuries, Piccolo's arms taking a longer time to regenerate than usual.
"Did...did we just...win?" Krillin said incredulously. When Roshi and Gohan nodded slightly, Krillin began to laugh heartily. "Ha ha! We did it! We're alive! We WON!" Krillin's teary-eyed laughter was ultimately contagious, and everyone involved, Piccolo included, began to laugh to varying degrees.
"Heh...heh...whoo, boy. I really am...getting too...old for this," Roshi said, slurring his words slightly as a result of the pain. He picked up the rice cooker and held it in his hands. "We can't let...anything happen to this. If even...the smallest crack develops..."
"Hm...maybe Bulma could build some kind of rocket?" Krillin suggested. "Launch the guy straight into the sun?"
Piccolo scoffed. "The coward's way out. If that Vegeta character is to die, it shall be by my hand, once I have grown to surpass him." He chose not to think about the obvious problems with that ultimatum.
"Well, no matter what we do, we probably shouldn't keep it around here," Krillin said resolutely. "As soon as we can all fly, we should get this to Capsule Corp. Bulma will figure out how to keep it safe."
Gohan sighed. "I'm just glad it's finally over..." to the assent of everyone involved.
The Saiyan elite struggled to open his eyes as he took in the all-encompassing darkness of his tomb. He could make out a distant light source, but it might as well have been on another planet in his current situation. While he lay there, he felt a curious mixture of numbness and excruciating pain, with his body both feeling like it wasn't there and continually flaring up as a result of his circumstances. He cursed the weak fools who brought him to this point, cursed his own weakness for not being able to eliminate them when he had the chance, and cursed the universe for its mistreatment of him. It had taken away his family, his race, and left him with a life of servitude, at the beck and call of a tyrant with no right to claim authority over him other than his own fearsome power.
He heard voices. Four of them; evidently the aforementioned fools. They were saying something about a prince and a sealed rice cooker. He couldn't make out much more than that even in spite of his keen senses. But, nevertheless, he could tell that whatever they were talking about was important somehow.
Thus, even as every cell of his being screamed in protest, the Saiyan got to his feet and began to exercise his ki, lifting off the ground shakily but increasing in speed, getting ever closer to the light source before his ki faltered and he tumbled back into the darkness. In anger, he tried again, getting a little further before succumbing to the same result as before. At last, he threw everything he had into one last attempt, pushing his body past its current limits as he rocketed towards the light.
Meanwhile, the group heard a crash of air and felt an enormous ki as a solitary figure landed on the grass next to them while a yellow cloud zipped past him and settled nearby. The man's appearance brightened the spirits of everyone involved, save for Piccolo, who simply grumbled at the sight of his lifelong rival.
"Daddy!" Gohan cried out in joy as he moved to hug his father. In response, his father smiled, happy to see his son and friends again after almost a year. After splitting a Senzu bean up between Piccolo, Roshi, and Krillin, he voiced his confusion.
"Hang on, I felt a really powerful ki signature up until a few minutes ago, but then it just...disappeared," he said as he looked around, expecting to find a body.
"If I may..." Roshi said, lifting up his hand to Goku's forehead, imbuing him with all of Roshi's memories of the fight.
"Whoa, man! You guys fought a fighter like that?! Wow! ...I'm kinda jealous!" he said with his trademark grin
"Yeah...even our ultimate techniques did little more than cut him slightly. If Master Roshi didn't have that sealed rice cooker on hand, I don't know what we would've done..." Krillin replied.
"And Tien killed the other Saiyan?"
"Yes," Roshi said. "Although the lad is now on death's door, I'm afraid. Yamcha also was wounded pretty badly."
Goku nodded somberly. "So those were the two declining ki signatures I felt on the way here."
"And as for young Chiaotzu..." Roshi continued, to which Goku again nodded.
"He can't be brought back anymore," Goku stated plainly, causing the mood of almost everyone to decline. "Well, at least he made sure Tien stayed safe. Let's...let's just hope he pulls through." As he glanced at the other fighters, he attempted to lighten the mood. "But hey! At least now the Earth isn't in danger anymore!"
"Heh. Yeah..." Krillin said with a slight smile. "We did pretty good, all things considered."
"All that training really did pay off!" Gohan affirmed.
Goku smiled, proud in his own way at how great a fighter Gohan had become since he'd been gone. Of course, he wasn't going to voice it out loud; should Chi Chi get wind of her husband condoning Gohan's participation in the battle, her reproach would be swift and relentless.
"Well, I suppose we're taking this to Capsule Corp. now?" Goku asked, beginning to turn west in preparation for the trip.
"Sounds like," Roshi replied at his side, some of his strength returning due to the effects of the Senzu bean.
"Well, alright then! You all good to fly?" Goku asked. Gohan, Krillin, and Piccolo nodded and moved to stand alongside him, while Roshi stumbled slightly.
"I might need a minute," he said apologetically.
"Hey, no worries. Take as much time as you need, Master. You've certainly earned a little rest."
Roshi chuckled at this. "Yeah...I'll say."
The group chuckled in turn before Goku began to feel something strange in his head. "What the...? Is that...another ki signature? It's really weak...but everyone is already here. Who could it-?"
Before he had time to finish his thought, a beam of crackling, purple ki soared across the landscape too fast for any of them to react, piercing through both Roshi's body and the rice cooker. With a short, strangled gasp, Roshi fell to the ground, his eyes glazing over. Krillin and Gohan rushed to attend to him while Goku and Piccolo looked off towards the beam's point of origin.
Nappa laughed heartily amidst hacking coughs as he held his still-smoking finger aloft, still crackling with the same purple energy. His armor, sturdy by design, was nonetheless melted by the power of Tien's Kikoho attacks, along with significant portions of the surface of his skin. All of his hair was gone, his tail ablaze in places, and what skin remained on his body was matted with ruptured blood vessels and scorch marks. What power he had been able to muster took every bit of life force he had left in him, life force which had only barely managed to sustain his broken body for those last few hours. As this too left him, he continued laughing.
"Kill them all...my Lord. Avenge...me...!"
With that, the life faded from the Saiyan elite, and he fell to the ground dead before Piccolo or Goku could even lay a finger upon him.
Goku turned around to see Gohan trying to keep Roshi conscious, while Krillin clamped down on the holes in the rice cooker as hard as he could, failing to contain the streak of energy struggling to let itself out. Piccolo moved to assist him in this futile effort while Goku simply stood there, still trying to process his master's ultimate fate. Tears came to the corners of his eyes as he cursed himself for not being able to react fast enough, only to hear a voice speaking faintly in his mind.
"Don't...blame yourself...Son Goku."
"M-Master! Please, Master, don't-!" Goku replied, the voice of his thoughts breaking.
"Sshhhh. It's okay. It's okay. I did...all that I could. I'm...I'm okay with this."
"I-I should've been able to stop it, but I was too distracted-!"
"Enough," Roshi communicated as his body shuddered violently. After a few gasps of pain rang through Goku's mind, he continued, "Focus." As he spoke, both Krillin and Piccolo were blown backwards as the streak of energy finally burst out of its cage and took off into the air, beginning to take form only a few meters away. "The seal...has been broken, and I...have not another. Which means that you have to defeat him, Goku! You...can defeat him! I know you can! This, Goku, is...what you have...been training for!"
Goku was silent for a moment, already knowing what Roshi said to be true. As he felt Roshi's life force begin to slip away, he sent one last message to him.
"I'm sorry for letting you down, Master."
Roshi seemed surprised for a second, as if he were focusing on something else. He then heard Roshi chuckle in his head. "Son...you've...inspired me...from the moment...the moment I..."
With a final gasp, Roshi's body ultimately failed him, and the Turtle Hermit departed from the world of mortals. Gohan looked up at Goku, tears forming in his eyes as well, and this sight finally collapsed the floodgates holding back his own tears. He let out a scream of pure, righteous fury as he let out the full extent of his power, its sheer magnitude causing nearly everyone to collapse. As the waves of ki evaporated his tears, he turned towards Vegeta, who had only just managed to compose himself after continually muttering something about an "endless darkness," with a piercing gaze.
As he readied himself for the fight of his life, heart pounding both in anticipation and anger, Goku sent a single command into the minds of all of his comrades, one which even the stalwart Piccolo wasted no time in obeying to the letter:
"Go."
And thus, the first truly iconic battle of Dragon Ball Z commences in earnest! ...And no, Goku didn't just become a Super Saiyan. You'll know when he does, trust me.
Also, Roshi didn't use Ultra Instinct in this chapter-he's using what I'm going to call Automatic Movement. Basically, just really, really good muscle memory, similar to what he displayed in the Dragon Ball Super manga's adaptation of the Tournament of Power.
And for those who might be upset that Tien didn't kill Nappa, as you can see, he might as well have. He wouldn't have lasted more than a couple more hours anyway.
Anyway, in terms of notes, there isn't really too much to add here, other than the schedule is holding steady for now. Also, I was planning for an additional scene for this chapter, but I decided that it would fit more as an intermission in Chapter 7, so that'll be when you guys see that. And, of course, a minor anecdote: while reading the first three volumes of Dragon Ball, I learned that Launch actually does know about her personality shifting. So, that was a goof on my part, but it's too late now, so I'll stick with what I wrote down for her backstory as far as that goes.
The few people who responded seemed to want a Q&A...but we only got one question last chapter. Still, might as well:
Luke asks: "Why is Vegeta contemplating keeping Gohan alive? Does he need a replacement for Nappa, or something?"
It's mostly a matter of having someone else to interrogate. He can't interrogate Piccolo as harshly as he's accustomed to because he needs him alive for the Dragon Balls, and also, he suspects he won't be one to talk. An evidently scared 5 year old child, on the other hand...
Well, anyway, guess it's time for some power levels(side note: not getting into the Kienzan, because wow, is that thing confusing)
Roshi(post-Mafuba): 175
Goku: 8,000(16,000 with Kaio-ken x 2, 24,000 with Kaio-ken x 3, 32,000 with Kaio-ken x4)
Alright, as always, be sure to leave your thoughts and reviews below. Thank you all for reading, I hope you all have a fantastic day, and take care.