Chapter 25: The Only Path
The wind on the peak howled its empty lament, but Kakarot no longer heard it. The vast, star-dusted blackness above offered no answers, only a crushing reminder of his own insignificance within it. The momentary void, the lack of purpose after his explosive freedom, had been worse than any physical pain. It was a yawning chasm of irrelevance. But now, that void was filled. Not with hope, or compassion, or some grand plan for kingship. It was filled with a cold, brutal, and terrifyingly clear assessment of reality.
He ran the numbers in his head, a grim calculus of power he'd been forced to learn since infancy.
His power level. Even now, thrumming with this new, hard-won strength that felt so immense… it was nothing. A gnat buzzing at the heels of giants. He was stronger than he'd ever been, yes. The near-death healing had granted him that. But his best, most optimistic estimate barely scraped the lower end of a thousand. Maybe twelve hundred if he truly raged.
It was a pitiful number.
Raditz, his own brother, his constant tormentor, operated at a comfortable fifteen hundred. More than a quarter stronger.
Nappa was a walking earthquake, his power a staggering six thousand. Five times his own. A single backhand from the giant would have shattered his newly healed bones.
Prince Vegeta. The name was a poison in his mind. The Prince's power was a mountain he couldn't even see the peak of. Fifteen thousand. At least. Fifteen times his own. The difference wasn't just quantitative; it was categorical. Vegeta existed on a plane of power Kakarot could barely comprehend.
And they were the small fish.
Cui. A vile, frog-faced lackey of Frieza's who looked down on Vegeta. Stronger than the Prince.
Zarbon and Dodoria. Frieza's personal attendants. Their power made Vegeta look like a child throwing a tantrum. They were the true enforcers, the ones who handled problems the Saiyans couldn't. Their levels were rumors, whispered horrors in the thousands.
Then there were the Ginyu Force. The memory of their casual, flamboyant power made his gut clench. Recoome was a joke, but a joke that could vaporize him with a stray thought. Burter was the fastest, his speed a universe away from Kakarot's own. Jeice and his crimson skin, powerful enough to mock them all without fear.
And Guldo. The weakling of the group. The one who could stop time. The very concept was a nightmare. He could be frozen, helpless, while the little freak planted explosives in his mouth.
But the most terrifying, the figure that had haunted his dreams since childhood, was Captain Ginyu. His power was an abyss. It was said he was stronger than five Vegetas combined. His mere presence on a battlefield was a death sentence for entire systems. He was the ultimate weapon, and he served Frieza with a fanatical loyalty.
Frieza himself was a number so large it was abstract, a theological concept of absolute power.
Raw Saiyan strength was not the answer. He could train until his muscles turned to dust, he could chase Zenkai boosts into oblivion, and he would never close that gap. Not in a hundred lifetimes. The math was absolute, and it declared him eternally, pathetically weak.
He needed more. He needed something different. Something they didn't have. Something they wouldn't see coming.
The thought was a lightning strike in the darkness.
The Namekian.
None of their scouters had ever picked him up. Not during the initial planetary survey, not during the cleansing. Frieza's own long-range bioscans, the most advanced in the galaxy, had missed him completely. He was a ghost. A statistical error.
And the rumors… whispered tales in dank spaceport bars, stories dismissed as the fantasies of drunk traders. Namekians. Beings who could create miracles from nothing. Who could heal mortal wounds. Who could sense the energy of others across vast distances without machines. Abilities that sounded less like science and more like magic.
Myth. Folk tales.
Yet, here one was. In the flesh. Not a myth. A tool. An uncharted path.
His mind was made up. The purposelessness was gone, incinerated by a new, desperate, and ruthless ambition.
He shot into the sky, not with a roar, but with a silent, focused intensity that tore the air apart. The sonic boom that followed him was an afterthought. He was a bullet aimed at the Southern Continent, at the cavern that was the closest thing he had to a home.
He didn't slow down. He didn't announce his arrival. He simply aimed for the hole he had blasted hours earlier and flew through it at a speed that was a blur even to his own heightened senses.
He landed in the center of the main cavern with a ground-shaking THUD that sent cracks spiderwebbing through the stone floor. Women and children screamed, scattering like leaves in a hurricane, tripping over each other to get away from the sudden, terrifying apparition.
His eyes, burning with a frantic, predatory light, scanned the chamber. He ignored the cowering forms, the cries of the children. He was a hunter, and he had only one scent.
"NAMEKIAN!" The word wasn't a shout; it was a raw-throated snarl that echoed off the walls like a physical blow. "SHOW YOURSELF! NOW!"
He took a step forward, his ki radiating from him in a hot, oppressive wave, making the air shimmer. "I know you're here! Your little energy trick doesn't work on me when I'm looking for you! COME OUT!"
From the shadowed entrance to one of the deeper tunnels, Moori emerged. He did not hurry. He did not cower. He walked with the same infuriating, placid calm as before, his hands tucked into the sleeves of his robe.
"I was not hiding, Saiyan," Moori said, his deep voice cutting through the panic. "I was tending to a child whose nightmares your return has undoubtedly worsened."
Kakarot stalked toward him, stopping a few feet away, looming over the shorter being. "Your games are over, slug. You're going to train me. You're going to teach me your abilities. All of them."
The bluntness of the demand, the sheer audacity, left a stunned silence in its wake.
It was broken by Kael. She stepped out from behind a stone column, the Saiyan-metal-tipped spear held tight in her hands, its point aimed at Kakarot's back. Her face was pale, but her eyes were fierce. "You will not command him! You will not command anyone here!"
Shera and Lyra moved to flank her, along with two other older females. They held sharpened bones, a heavy rock, their faces masks of terrified defiance. "He is our elder!" Shera shouted, her voice trembling with a mix of fear and rage. "The only one left! We will not let you take him!"
Kakarot slowly turned his head, his gaze sweeping over them as if noticing irritating insects for the first time. "You will 'let' me? You think you have a choice?" He took a step toward them, and they flinched back as one. "I could turn you all to ash with a thought. Your weapons are toys. Your defiance is a joke. Step aside."
"Why?" Kael demanded, holding her ground, though the spear shook. "So you can learn his tricks and then kill us all with them? So you can become a better monster? We would be fools to help you!"
"You are fools if you don't!" Kakarot shot back, his patience evaporating. "Do you think my comrades are just going to forget about this planet? Do you think Frieza's buyers will be kind? You are living on borrowed time, and I am the only reason you're still breathing! My strength is your only shield! And it is not enough! I need *more*!"
He turned his furious gaze back to Moori. "They don't understand the universe. You do. You've seen it. You know what's out there. You know what's coming. You can hide, yes. You can make others hide. But can you fight? Can you stop a Ginyu Force? Can you stop Frieza?"
Moori's large, dark eyes held his. "No. I cannot."
"Then your path leads to death. A quiet, hidden, meaningless death," Kakarot snarled. "My path leads through them. I will fight. I will become strong enough to fight. And if I have to use every tool, every trick, every ounce of power I can steal, find, or learn to do it, I will. Your abilities are a tool. And I will have them."
"And what do we get," Lyra spat from behind Kael, "when you have your new power? A quicker death?"
Kakarot's eyes narrowed. "You get to live until I decide otherwise. That is the only promise in this universe. That is the only deal on the table. Train me. Make me stronger. And you earn another day. Hinder me…" He let the threat hang in the air, his ki flaring menacingly. "…and you earn nothing."
He looked at Moori, a silent, ultimatum delivered not just with words, but with the raw, terrifying potential of violence that radiated from him. The cavern held its breath. It was no longer a negotiation. It was a demand from the devil himself, and the price for refusal was the annihilation of their entire world.
[A/N: Can't wait to see what happens next? Get exclusive early access on patreon.com/saiyanprincenovels. If you enjoyed this chapter and want to see more, don't forget to drop a power stone! Your support helps this story reach more readers!]