"We're finally here!"
Those were the only words Vegeta managed to force out.
More than five days felt like years to him, but they were also a complete transformation.
Unlike Kakarot—who could recklessly train thanks to Senzu Beans healing him from near-death—Vegeta had to push himself without any shortcuts.
Even so, he challenged his limits again and again, breaking through more than ten times.
If he were to estimate his current power level, Vegeta felt he was definitely close to 50,000, if not exactly there already.
He refused to use a scouter to confirm it. That would be asking for trouble.
If he revealed his full power before landing, Frieza would definitely sense it and attempt to kill him immediately.
Until he was absolutely sure he could protect himself, Vegeta would not expose his strength carelessly.
At the moment, only Frieza himself posed any true threat on Namek.
"With my current strength, even Nail—who has a power level of 42,000—wouldn't scare me."
Vegeta spread out his ki and performed a wide-range scan.
Without the intense training of the past few days, he wouldn't have been able to control his ki so precisely.
Before making any moves, he needed to understand the situation on Namek.
Meanwhile — 25,000 km Away
Frieza and his subordinates were in the middle of slaughtering another Namekian village.
Of course, the actual killing was left to his soldiers. Frieza didn't dirty his hands unless necessary.
As long as he got the Dragon Balls, what did the death of a few natives matter?
Especially weak natives who refused to surrender.
"We've found the third Dragon Ball, Lord Frieza," Dodoria said, pulling it from a small mud hut.
Collecting only three in two days was slower than expected.
They could easily detect Namekian locations with scouters, but without a Dragon Radar, they couldn't tell which villages actually held Dragon Balls.
They were forced to raid each one blindly.
"Hmm. On to the next village," Frieza said lazily.
The Dragon Balls were already within his grasp. Even though searching took time, he found the hunt amusing.
If he obtained them too easily, it would feel meaningless.
Unexpected twists made things more entertaining.
"Lord Frieza, a report from the scouters," Zarbon said.
"It seems Vegeta's spaceship has arrived on Namek ahead of schedule. However… the scouters cannot pinpoint his location."
"Oh my? He arrived that quickly?" Frieza's eyes gleamed with amusement.
Only two days ago, he had assumed Vegeta wouldn't arrive until Namek was already reduced to dust.
"I underestimated the Namekians' persistence. Good. Let him struggle a little. Give him hope… and then show him the price of defying me. Ho ho ho~~!"
"Yes, Lord Frieza," Zarbon replied respectfully.
In Space — Approaching Namek
At this time, the spaceship launched from Earth was also nearing Namek.
In the original timeline, Bulma, Krillin, and Gohan should have arrived before Vegeta.
But Vegeta's medium-sized ship was slightly faster than a standard small ship, so he arrived first.
"We're finally here! This time it better not be another fake planet," Bulma said excitedly as she checked the navigation data and stared at the huge green world outside.
This trip had driven her insane.
They had nearly died on a dead star not long ago. After that near-disaster, she was far more cautious.
"It should be correct. And the timing matches. This should be Namek," Krillin said, leaning toward the screen.
He stared at the data for a long time… and understood none of it.
"The coordinates match, Aunt Bulma. This time it's right," Gohan said.
Krillin deflated. "Gohan… you understand this stuff?"
Gohan nodded and pointed to the symbols on the screen.
"It's simple, Uncle Krillin. You just match these symbols to the coordinate sequence. Namek's coordinates are SU83 and 9045XY…"
"That's amazing, Gohan. You're only five years old…" Krillin muttered with a defeated expression.
Bulma smiled proudly. "You'll be an incredible scholar someday. I only taught you the basics—then you learned the rest by yourself."
"Hehe… Aunt Bulma, you're overpraising me," Gohan said shyly.
"Alright, everyone buckle up. We're landing."
Bulma took the pilot controls and began descent procedures.
This Earth-built spaceship was no worse than a Frieza Force ship—possibly better in certain aspects.
Long ago, the Namekians had advanced technology, but over time they abandoned technological development entirely.
The spaceship broke through Namek's atmosphere and landed smoothly.
After touchdown, Bulma immediately ran environmental scans.
She couldn't risk stepping onto an alien world without checking the oxygen levels and atmosphere composition.
But while she focused on the tests… Krillin and Gohan simply hopped out of the ship, ignoring everything she said.