"No need!"
Hearing Rhode's command, a flicker of irritation crossed Aira's face, but the lingering thrill of the fight was already fading. A cold smirk twisted her lips as she addressed her battered opponent. "Sorry. You were fun, but this ends now."
"What?!" Simoreka's heart, already chilled by the sight of Yunba's swift annihilation, plummeted into an abyss of pure despair. He wanted to beg, to grovel, but the look in Aira's eyes offered no quarter.
"Be on your way!"
Ignoring the dawning horror on his face, Aira brought her hands to her waist in the classic pose. Blue-white energy crackled and roared to life between her palms, swelling into a fully-formed Kamehameha.
Whoosh!
The moment the energy peaked, she vanished. In the next instant, she was directly in front of the stunned Simoreka, the point-blank Kamehameha already erupting from her hands.
"AHH—!"
The scream was swallowed by the torrent of raw power. Simoreka had no time to block, no time to flee. His form was engulfed, disintegrated, and utterly erased from existence in the span of a single, roaring breath.
BOOM.
The beam carved a smoking trench into the distant stone before dissipating.
"Phew…" Aira let out a long, weary exhale.
She was a mess. Her battle suit was in tatters, stained with her own sweat and the alien blood of her foes. Her energy fluctuated wildly from exertion. Yet, her eyes—sharp, clear, and blazing with undiminished fire—betrayed the profound satisfaction thrumming through her veins.
Since leaving Laina Star, her life had been one of relentless, isolated training, especially during the subjective year in the Time Chamber. Her warrior's heart had been caged. Rhode was the ultimate benchmark, but facing him in earnest meant instant, humiliating defeat, devoid of the life-or-death thrill she craved. Today, against a powerful, desperate foe, that primal hunger had finally been sated.
Whoosh.
She flashed to Rhode's side, her disheveled state contrasting sharply with her vibrant energy.
"Did he give you a hard time?" Rhode asked, a hint of amusement in his tone as he took in her battered appearance.
Uncharacteristically, Aira didn't snap back. A trace of sheepishness crossed her face. "It's been too long since a real fight. I got… carried away." Seeing his unimpressed expression, she quickly changed the subject, her eyes glinting with new interest. "These pirates were part of a gang, right? Are there stronger ones behind them?"
Rhode noted the shift in her demeanor—calmer, more measured than her former volatile self. He tossed her a Senzu Bean. "Eat this." As she crunched down, instantly revitalized, he relayed the information he'd gleaned about the Saganbo Pirates and their leader.
"So this 'Zarbon' is very strong?" Aira asked, picking up on the subtle mix of gravity and anticipation in Rhode's demeanor.
"He should be. Even if I went all out now, I likely wouldn't be a match for him."
Aira's eyes widened. She had a clear understanding of Rhode's true power after their year together. "He's that strong?!" Her earlier thought—that with her power now in the hundreds of thousands, even Frieza might not be a concern—suddenly seemed dangerously naïve.
Aira absorbed this new reality. Beings existed in the universe who could overpower even Rhode at his fullest. The narrow, arrogant worldview she'd held was crumbling, replaced by a humbler, hungrier understanding. Her pride remained, but it was now tempered by the knowledge of true scale. After a year of grueling self-improvement, her drive was no longer just about raw power, but about transcendence and testing herself against ever-greater peaks.
"The universe is vast," Rhode said, his tone matter-of-fact. "It's not unusual for a forgotten corner to spawn a terrifying existence." For someone like Zarbon, who didn't even register on King Cold's tier, Rhode felt no true dread. As a transmigrator with knowledge of Super Saiyans, Gods, Angels, and beyond, his sights were set on horizons these cosmic pirates couldn't even conceive of. He had the confidence—and the path—to leave them all in the dust.
Aira's thoughts, however, took a more immediate turn. "If Zarbon is that strong… then what about Frieza, the 'Emperor of the Universe'?" Her voice was laced with newfound skepticism. King Cold was an abstract legend, but Frieza was a tangible, hated figure. Now, faced with these revelations, his title felt hollow.
Seeing her doubt, Rhode shook his head, his expression turning serious. "The Frieza we saw had a battle power of 530,000, yes. But that was a fraction—a tiny, suppressed fraction—of his true power. He is hiding an ocean behind that pond."
"Hiding power?" Aira mulled it over. Even if he was hiding some, how much could it really be? A hundred thousand more? Two hundred?
"What, you're thinking of making a move on Frieza?" Rhode guessed, reading the combative glint in her eyes.
Aira's confidence was palpable. "My power is over 600,000 now. I've learned real cultivation. My control is sharp. And Frieza… he doesn't train, does he?" At Rhode's confirming nod, her grin turned fierce. "Then it's only natural to take him out. Eliminate the threat."
"You're not wrong," Rhode agreed, a contemplative look in his own eyes. In fact, he'd been having similar thoughts. Aira wanted to test her newfound might against the tyrant. But Rhode's calculation was more precise, more audacious. He wanted to see if his current power, refined and focused to a razor's edge in the Time Chamber, could achieve something far more definitive: instantly overpowering Frieza in his first form, before the tyrant had even a moment to process the threat and unleash the monstrous transformations beneath. It was a gamble of speed, power, and perfect execution. The thought was dangerously tempting.
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