Vegeta was standing alone in a desolate stretch of land, using his scouter to secretly listen in on the conversation between the two sides.
"So it was that guy Moori who got caught by Frieza," Vegeta snorted. "I hope you won't blame me for standing by and watching you die… Not that I ever intended to save you anyway."
There was a brief silence.
"But once I've more or less mastered Ultra Ego, maybe I can avenge you," Vegeta added with a faint, confident smile.
…
In Frieza's area—
"So you're saying they'll obediently listen to you? That's impossible!" Moori snapped, disbelief written all over his face.
"Yeah, the other elders would never just hand over the Dragon Balls to someone like you!" Delta shouted through gritted teeth.
"I obviously have my own way to tame them," Frieza chuckled, glancing over toward Zarbon.
Zarbon instantly understood, the corners of his mouth lifting. His figure blurred, and in a flash he appeared in the air above Moori and Delta's group.
"Bang!"
Zarbon lashed out with a vicious kick, driving his heel straight into the skull of another old Namekian standing nearby.
The old man toppled to the ground on the spot, neck broken, dead before he hit the dirt.
"You bastard!" Delta exploded with rage and launched a furious attack at Zarbon.
Zarbon casually tossed the Dragon Ball in his hand up into the air, then shot straight up after it.
"Boom!"
An energy blast erupted from Delta's hand, but it only ended up slamming into one of Frieza's henchmen behind Zarbon.
The unfortunate underling let out a horrific scream and died on the spot.
Delta looked up at Zarbon, now hanging in the sky above.
"Shoom!"
Zarbon had no intention of holding back. A sphere of energy erupted from his hand and engulfed Delta completely.
Delta's body smoked, then went limp as he crashed to the ground, dead.
Zarbon descended from the air, raised his right hand, and calmly caught the falling Dragon Ball.
Moori was struck speechless. No words would come.
"What a ruthless bastard…" Krillin hissed through his teeth.
"Too cruel…" Gohan's hatred made his voice tremble as he clenched his jaw.
"Well? Are you ready to behave yourselves now?" Frieza snorted coldly.
"What is your purpose in collecting the Dragon Balls?" Moori forced himself to calm down as he stared at Frieza.
"I just want to make a small wish—grant me an immortal body, nothing more," Frieza answered frankly.
"You can forget it. The Dragon Balls probably can't grant the kind of wish you're thinking of," Moori replied.
"Oh? Really?" Frieza narrowed his eyes, smiling with obvious amusement.
"I'll be honest with you," Moori continued, shaking his head. "There are limits to what the Dragon Balls can do. They can't grant every wish. A wish for an immortal body like yours would be… extremely difficult."
"Of course I know that," Frieza said lightly, chuckling. "I told you already, my horizons are quite broad. I've even seen Dragon Balls as big as Planet Namek itself. The Dragon Balls you made are just the offspring of those giant ones. So it's perfectly normal that your Dragon Balls are limited in what they can grant."
"Y–you… What did you say? Dragon Balls as big as Planet Namek?" Moori was stunned.
"What? You didn't know?" Frieza laughed. "That's what I mean when I say you're ignorant."
Moori was left speechless. For the moment, he couldn't tell whether Frieza was telling the truth or not.
"Even if I can't get an immortal body, then I'll just wish for regenerative abilities—just like that Majin Buu," Frieza snorted, his tail lazily swaying behind him. "A wish like that should be possible, right?"
"I don't know who this Majin Buu you're talking about is, but you can all give up now. No matter what, I will never hand the Dragon Balls over to you," Moori replied coldly.
"You'd rather die than hand them over?" Frieza sneered. "Is everyone on this planet this stubborn? Then what if I kill these two children first? Will you still hold out to the bitter end?"
"What did you say? You'd even lay your hands on children?" Moori roared, utterly enraged.
Hearing those words, Krillin and Gohan also flushed with anger and shame.
"Beep, beep, beep!"
Just then, several signals suddenly pinged on Dodoria's scouter.
"What strong battle power…" Zarbon also checked his scouter and saw the numbers spike.
"The others from the village are back," Dodoria said with a small, cruel grin.
When he saw the three figures appear in the sky, Elder Moori's face finally relaxed into a faint, relieved smile.
"They're Namekians—they've come back to save everyone!" Krillin let out a small sigh of relief.
Arriving on the scene were three young, physically imposing Namekians.
They immediately noticed the two old Namekians lying dead on the ground. Their faces twisted with endless fury.
"I told you I had a bad feeling… and I was right!" the leading young Namekian snarled, his whole body trembling with anger.
"What a nuisance. The Dragon Balls were almost in my hands, and you went out of your way to come here and die," Frieza said with an annoyed snort.
"We heard someone attacked the village to steal the Dragon Balls, and it's all true!" another young Namekian shouted, just as furious.
"I'll never forgive you. You've destroyed the peace of Planet Namek!" the tallest of the young Namekians shouted angrily.
"Be very careful. These guys aren't easy to deal with," Elder Moori warned the three young warriors.
"Oh? You three think you can fight us?" Frieza laughed outright, then glanced over at Dodoria with a smile. "What's their battle power?"
"Let me take a look." Dodoria grinned nastily as he pressed the button on his scouter. "Frieza-sama, you're going to be disappointed. The three of them together barely add up to around 1,000. They're totally unworthy of fighting us!"
Hearing that, Moori suddenly realized something and stared intently at the scouter.
So that's how they keep finding the villages so accurately on this vast Planet Namek…
That device can detect the people and animals on the planet!
"Heh heh heh, don't make us laugh. Three guys with a combined battle power of only 1,000 think they can beat us?" Frieza's underlings burst into rowdy laughter.
"No, those three are just suppressing their ki. They don't know that?" Krillin blinked in surprise.
"I remember now—my bad uncle was shocked by ki hiding too," Gohan nodded, recalling Raditz's astonishment back then.
"Kill them," Zarbon ordered coldly.
Frieza's henchmen all charged at the three young Namekians with murderous intent.
"Bang!"
The lead Namekian drove his foot into the gut of the nearest henchman, sending him flying.
The unlucky soldier slammed headfirst into a rocky outcrop behind him and died instantly.
The rest of the henchmen froze, stunned by the scene, and skidded to a halt on the spot.
Even Dodoria looked a little dazed.
"Raaahhh!"
The three young Namekians closed in on the henchmen in an instant and launched a brutal assault.
These small fry were no match for the Namekians at all; they were beaten like leaves in a storm, one after another.
One of the henchmen, a soldier named Cranberry, was also sent flying and tumbled in the direction of Zarbon.
Zarbon watched him coming, calmly lifted his leg, and punted the unfortunate henchman away.
Cranberry's body arced through the air and crashed into the lake behind them, dead on impact.
…
Universe 6, God of Destruction Realm.
Ken held his staff, using the crystal sphere at its tip to roughly observe what was happening on Planet Namek in Universe 7.
He actually had a pretty clear impression of that Frieza henchman named Cranberry.
In the original storyline, that guy had managed to get lucky and survive.
Back then, after Porunga appeared, the wish that was made was for everyone killed by Frieza and his men to be brought back to life.
Since Cranberry had been killed by Zarbon's kick, he was resurrected along with those Namekians.
After his revival, Cranberry happened to find a Ginyu Force spaceship, and escaped Planet Namek just moments before it exploded.
Later on, Cranberry continued committing crimes across the universe until he was captured by the Galactic Patrol and thrown into the Galactic Prison.
Many years after that, when Moro recovered a sliver of his magic, he escaped from prison with Cranberry's help.
With Cranberry guiding him, Moro was able to find Planet Namek and then wished to have all of his magic restored.
Ken didn't intervene to stop the battle on Namek.
As an angel, personally stepping in to stop a fight like that would be far too small-minded.
Instead, he shifted his gaze toward Broly and the others in Universe 2, saw that they were enjoying a feast together, then dismissed the staff and simply sat with Vados, chatting idly.
…
Universe 7, Planet Namek.
"What's going on? Didn't you say their combined battle power was only 1,000?" Zarbon demanded, turning to Dodoria in surprise.
"I have no idea what's happening. Now the three of them together are reading as 3,000!" Dodoria muttered, pressing the button on his scouter and staring at the new numbers.
The three young Namekians fought more fiercely with every exchange and quickly wiped out all the remaining henchmen.
"Nice! That was awesome!" Krillin cheered for the three Namekians, genuinely happy for them.
Gohan, just as excited, clenched his fists tightly.
"They're not bad at all," Frieza said with a casual smile.
"I get it now—Namekians are a race that can control their battle power," Dodoria said suddenly, as if struck by revelation. "There aren't many races like that."
Moori looked over at the remaining scouters.
Only three were still intact.
If they could just destroy those three scouters, Frieza's group would have no way to track down the Dragon Balls.
"Kids, let go of me for a moment," Moori whispered to the two Namekian children clinging to him.
One of the children, terrified, only tightened his grip on Moori's clothes.
"Hurry," Moori urged in a low voice.
The child quickly let go.
"Damn it, you're saying I have to step in personally?" Dodoria grumbled. He set the Dragon Ball in his hand down on the ground and glanced over at Frieza. "Should I just kill all three of them?"
"Do as you like," Frieza replied blandly.
"Ha!"
Moori let out a shout, pointed his finger, and fired a thin beam of light that instantly struck Dodoria's scouter.
"Bang!"
With a crack and a flare of sparks, Dodoria's scouter shattered on the spot.
Frieza's group paused, momentarily stunned, not quite understanding what Moori was trying to do.
"You bastard! Trying to pull a sneak attack?" Dodoria snarled. "With such cheap little tricks, you can't even scratch me!"
"Pa!"
Moori ignored him. He shot into the air, both hands flashing as he fired two more beams of light, each aimed at a different scouter.
The last two intact scouters were blasted to pieces.
"Elder…"
The three young Namekians froze, staring up at Elder Moori in shock.
"I see now—his target is the scouters!" Zarbon finally understood and shouted out loud.
A satisfied smile spread across Moori's face.
Let's see how you're going to find the Dragon Balls now.
"The scouters?" Krillin blinked.
"Those devices that can detect an enemy's location and battle power?" Gohan's jaw dropped slightly.
"I get it," Krillin said, suddenly enlightened. "They don't actually know the precise locations of the Dragon Balls at all! The scouters only let them search for Namekians. Once that elder realized it, he destroyed the scouters!"
"That bastard! I'll never forgive him!" Dodoria roared. "I'll kill you all! I'll wipe every last one of you out!"
With that, Dodoria launched himself into the air and charged straight at Moori.
Moori's expression changed drastically.
"Elder!"
The three young Namekians cried out in panic, sweating bullets for him.
"Dodoria, wait!" Frieza called quickly. "Kill the three youngsters first!"
Dodoria paused, then twisted in midair and flipped several times before landing in front of the three young Namekians.
Moori fell silent.
"Heh heh heh… I'll finish all three of you in just ten seconds," Dodoria sneered.
"You think we'll just let you do that?" the lead Namekian growled, his expression growing even more wary.
"You seriously think you can win? Don't make me laugh," Dodoria snorted with open contempt. His figure blurred, and in the next instant he appeared behind the young Namekian who had just spoken.
"Schlurk!"
Dodoria's massive hand punched straight through the Namekian's torso, his claws jutting out of the warrior's chest.
The other two Namekians turned pale with shock.
"Pa!"
Dodoria yanked his hand free of the corpse, then opened his mouth and fired a ki blast straight at another young Namekian.
The Namekian didn't even have time to dodge. The blast struck him head-on and killed him instantly.
Gohan, Krillin, Moori, and the two children were all frozen in horror.
Dodoria chuckled darkly, swiping his hand through the air as he lunged at the last young Namekian.
The last remaining warrior snapped to full alert, frantically dodging to the side. He staggered backward in a series of hurried steps, even skidding along the ground a few times as he scrambled to put distance between them.
Dodoria took his time, not rushing in the slightest, steadily closing the gap.
The surviving Namekian thrust both hands up, gathering two massive spheres of energy, then hurled them straight at Dodoria.
"Boom!"
A thunderous explosion engulfed Dodoria's position, kicking up a huge cloud of dust and leaving a giant crater in the ground.
The Namekian allowed himself a brief, triumphant smile, convinced his surprise attack had worked.
But as the smoke slowly cleared, Dodoria walked out of the crater completely unscathed.
The Namekian's face twisted with despair, his whole body trembling.
"This kind of attack isn't going to work," Krillin muttered grimly from his hiding spot.
"Hey!"
Dodoria rocketed into the air and slammed his head into the Namekian's chest, driving him backward and smashing him into a rocky peak behind them.
"Urgh…"
The Namekian's body was covered in blood. He died on impact.
"Ah… ah…" Moori shook with terror, cold sweat pouring down his back.
"Ha ha ha! Now you understand, don't you?" Frieza laughed, looking up at Moori. "Even if you tried to run, it's already too late. Let's talk this out. Come down."
Moori's expression was ashen. He knew Frieza was right. With such overwhelming power, there was no way to run.
He had no choice but to descend slowly from the air and stand in front of Frieza.
"So you've finally decided to submit. That's more like it," Frieza said with a pleasant smile. "You destroyed our most important scouters, so hand over the Dragon Balls as compensation. You understand what kind of people we are now, don't you? If you keep resisting, those two kids won't live long."
The two children clung to each other, faces ghostly white.
Moori couldn't say a word. He was completely shaken by the overwhelming difference in power.
"I'll give you the Dragon Balls," Moori said in a low voice, "but you have to promise not to hurt the children."
"But of course," Frieza agreed instantly, his smile growing even brighter.
There are still idiots this gullible?
Did you really think a promise from Frieza means anything?
"If you'd done this from the start, it would've been so much easier," Frieza said, smiling benignly at Moori.
"Those bastards…" Gohan's face was twisted with rage.
"Gohan, don't lose your temper, and definitely don't release your ki," Krillin warned hastily. "We're not with Goku and the others right now. And Goku said it himself—even he might not be a match for that guy in the pod."
Moori went into his house, took out the Dragon Ball, and handed it to one of Frieza's henchmen.
"Take your Dragon Ball and get out of here," Moori said coldly.
"You've worked hard," Frieza replied with a smile. "While you're at it, why don't you tell us where the other two Dragon Balls are?"
"Stop dreaming. We Namekians would rather die than betray our own people," Moori snapped. "That's all I'm going to say. Now leave."
"In that case, we'll just have to kill you and the children," Frieza said with a helpless look, even shrugging his shoulders.
"Y–you… What did you say? How can you go back on your word like this?" Moori shouted, stunned.
(End of Chapter)
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