The next morning, Raditz slowly woke up, rubbing his eyes as he rolled out of bed sleepily.
Even though everyone thought of Raditz as one of the strongest Saiyans, the leader of the Galactic Justice League, and a ruthless fighter, his private life wasn't much different from anyone else's.
He let out a big yawn, scratched his itchy shoulder, grabbed a glass of water, and poured it down his dry throat. That helped wake him up a little.
After washing up and getting dressed, Raditz had a simple breakfast and headed straight to the gravity room for training. This was his daily routine - he had to get up early every day to train and build his spiritual power. Elder Pybara had helped him develop this habit back on Planet Yardrat.
After some practice, he'd be full of energy and ready to take on the day.
The empty gravity chamber recognized Raditz's authority and let him enter smoothly. As soon as he stepped through the door, he felt the crushing weight of 100 times gravity pressing down on his body, the burden hitting him instantly.
"Huh? Why is the gravity device turned on? Didn't I set it back to zero yesterday?" Raditz frowned as he muttered to himself.
Could someone else be here earlier than him? Usually no one else woke up this early to train.
But then he heard voices and saw the figures of two familiar girls. The two of them were obviously having an intense sparring session and didn't notice his arrival.
"You know, when it comes to fighting, Zangya, you're really strong - even stronger than us!" Zucara dodged Zangya's punch, then swept her leg. "But you better watch out for Instructor Raditz..."
"Why?" Zangya was suddenly startled.
Zucara laughed. "Because he's a total pervert! Haven't you noticed that lately he's been training you a lot and finding all kinds of excuses to tutor you? If you ask me, it's all fake - he just wants an excuse to get close to you!"
"Is... is that true?" Zangya's face turned red as she got flustered.
Zucara got more and more worked up, sharing her observations and the opinions of other Saiyans, which Raditz heard loud and clear. That little brat, talking about me behind my back - she's gonna get it during training!
Suddenly, a booming voice came from behind, drowning out everything else: "Raditz! So you're hiding here!"
Without even asking, there was only one person at the alliance headquarters who would talk to Raditz like that - Vegeta.
Zangya and Zucara were startled by the voice and looked over. Their expressions changed instantly when they saw him. When did Raditz get here?! Zucara's face went pale with guilt, while Zangya's face turned even redder, too embarrassed to look directly at Raditz like a timid kitten.
Raditz was caught off guard too, turning around to see Vegeta's serious expression.
"I need to talk to you!" Vegeta got straight to the point, his face like stone. His aura was intense as always, arms crossed, walking with the force of a hurricane.
The atmosphere suddenly got heavy, and Zucara tugged at Zangya, the meaning crystal clear - when the bosses had business to discuss, it was time to make themselves scarce.
Zangya obviously got the hint and cooperatively followed Zucara out of the gravity room. Before leaving, Raditz shot Zucara a "we'll talk later" look, but she just stuck her tongue out in response.
"Now they're gone."
"Fight me." Vegeta immediately dropped into a fighting stance and said seriously.
"Haven't we fought before?"
"You didn't know about Super Saiyan back then, but now it's different. I want you to fight me in Super Saiyan form!"
Vegeta had known about Super Saiyans for a long time, and he firmly believed he would become one. Even back when he was fighting Frieza, he'd wanted to transform, but never got the chance. Fortunately, he'd seen Raditz's pseudo-Super Saiyan state and had achieved part of it through intense training!
He'd thought he could defeat both Raditz and Kakaro, maybe even smoothly transform into a Super Saiyan, but it had all ended in failure.
And during the time he'd been knocked unconscious by Vidir, he'd vaguely sensed an unusually powerful force - a presence that far surpassed the mimic form, resonating with the Saiyan genes in his body.
Later he realized what it was - a Super Saiyan! Raditz's Super Saiyan!
The proud prince once again felt humiliated and frustrated. He couldn't stand being surpassed like this, so he'd trained hard for half a month under 300 times gravity, but with little to show for it.
After reaching the limit of his normal combat power, he seemed to hit a bottleneck. His hard work brought him closer and closer to that barrier, but it was always within reach yet unbreakable. This feeling of being so close but unable to cross over made him incredibly frustrated. What worried him even more was that Kakarot, far away on Earth, was also constantly working hard to get stronger. If Kakarot managed to break through first, wouldn't that mean being completely surpassed by both brothers?
No way! After thinking it over, Vegeta came up with a plan - find Raditz for a sparring session.
Use Raditz's Super Saiyan state to push out his own potential, or fight him to the breaking point and burst into Super Saiyan power. If Raditz could do it, Vegeta was sure he could too.
"Super Saiyan..." Raditz glanced at Vegeta and said with a smile. "Power up to your maximum and show me."
"Hmph, watch this!"
Vegeta clenched his fists at his waist and suddenly released an incredible aura. Raditz quickly used his power to reinforce the entire gravity chamber - otherwise they'd have another pile of rubble on their hands.
The explosive energy was indeed powerful and impressive. But compared to a Super Saiyan, there was still a huge gap.
"Compared to last time, your power hasn't improved much. To be honest, transformation is impossible like this," Raditz said.
"You think I don't know that? Of course I know!" Vegeta gritted his teeth. "That's why I told you to fight me! I'll definitely be able to break through!"
"Then I'll help you out this once."
Raditz nodded, adjusted his stance, suddenly got serious, and shouted loudly! "HAAA!" Golden flames immediately ignited around his body, and a fierce, dominating aura instantly overwhelmed Vegeta. "Whoooosh—" The flickering light created violent friction against the air.
His long hair stood up proudly, golden and gleaming, with energy waves rolling around him. The space in the gravity room began to distort slightly. If it wasn't for the stabilizing force field he'd created, the entire room would have exploded.
Since his successful transformation, Raditz had been training continuously and had gained new insights, so the transformation was extremely fast now.
What incredible power!
Vegeta shielded half his face, a drop of sweat falling from his forehead as he felt Raditz's terrifying aura - like a monstrous beast about to devour him.
"This... this is a Super Saiyan?"
It was his first time facing a real Super Saiyan, and it was even more shocking than when he'd been unconscious! Vegeta clenched his fists hard, his eyes burning with desire for that power.
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