The island was quickly cleared, leaving only the two men of the same race. Goku clenched his fists as he slowly walked toward his older brother. Raditz simply extended his arms slightly, as if welcoming an old friend.
"This is the first time we've interacted directly, Kakarot. How interesting that it's with a fight! Come on. Show me what you've learned during your time on this boring planet," Raditz commented. He boiled his bloody aura, causing a terrible pressure to surge from his body.
This was no mere sensation; it crushed the smallest plants on the island and fragmented the tiniest rocks, turning them to dust. An impulse filled with murderous intent and bloodlust surged from the Saiyan, accompanied by an ominous feeling.
"Then get ready. I'll show you the power of a Saiyan raised on Earth," Goku replied. His crimson aura clung calmly to his body, in stark contrast to the commotion displayed by his older brother.
The impulse he released was different: peaceful yet filled with an unusual arrogance that seemed to reign supreme. The two impulses collided, plunging the island into an invisible confrontation before the actual combat began.
To anyone sensitive to Ki, it looked as if the mass of earth was divided into two shades of red: one crimson and the other blood red. One was pure, and the other was unusually malicious.
Goku stopped just three meters away from Raditz. He was shorter, so he had to look up slightly to maintain eye contact. However, this was broken when the fighters' figures disappeared in an instant.
Soon, they reappeared in the sky above the island, and Goku's and Raditz's fists collided. Due to the force of the blows, their bodies were pushed back before flying toward their opponent.
You could see the difference in their fighting styles here. While Raditz's movements were disorganized and savage, always looking to hit vital points, Goku's movements were short, precise, and fluid.
Goku knew that no matter how strong he became, he should never dismiss punching, kicking, or releasing bursts of ki. Everything he had learned during his weaker days remained valid as he gradually grew stronger.
He may not have had as much combat experience as his older brother, but trying to surpass him in that regard would be an illusion. In this fight, however, quantity could not overcome quality, something Goku possessed but Raditz did not.
Kakarot managed to evade his older brother's insidious attacks and hit him with his own. However, he realized that his opponent's clothing was unusually resistant.
Goku chose to separate himself from the fight, moving away from Raditz at high speed. He looked at his hands and noticed that his knuckles were red and sore. Then, he heard his brother's laughter and saw him wipe the corners of his mouth with his hand, cleaning away some blood.
"Kakarot! Only a fool would strike the armor worn by a soldier of the Army of Frieza like that! This armor has been tested on thousands of different worlds against technologically advanced civilizations, planets full of monsters, and individuals with remarkable power." Raditz patted his chest as if to wipe the dust from his armor.
"Then I just have to use a little more force. No protection is perfect," Goku declared. Raditz nodded as if he truly recognized his younger brother's words. However, a sinister smile appeared on his face.
"No, Kakarot, you've already hit me plenty of times. Don't you know it's the older brother who hits the younger brother? I'll show you some of my strength!" Raditz declared as he took flight and positioned himself high above Goku. He pointed at Goku with his right hand.
A large amount of reddish energy accumulated between his fingers. Soon, he fired a thick beam of ki that pierced the space between him and Kakarot. However, the latter did not stand still. He managed to move aside, letting the ki attack fall on a hill on the island and destroy its tip.
This attack was unsuccessful, but it initiated a continuous barrage of energy beams from Raditz. It was as if he wanted to overwhelm his younger brother with hundreds, even thousands, of Ki blasts.
The island on which they were fighting was brutally bombarded by these energy attacks, which filled it with craters. The island's landscape was completely devastated, and some attacks penetrated deep into the ground, causing seawater to seep through the subsoil.
However, despite demonstrating this level of power, Raditz did not have a cheerful expression, but rather a serious one because he could sense it: Kakarot had easily dodged all of his attacks!
Goku quickly discovered the weakness of this saturation attack, which made no sense to him. He took advantage of the many gaps to evade the energy beams.
His figure blurred due to his speed; his body flashed constantly, and his limbs twisted smoothly. In essence, he wasn't touched by this unnecessary display of power.
'Could he only have fought foolish or weak creatures? An attack like this could only defeat the inexperienced or ignorant. Whoever taught him this saturated form of attack must be an idiot,' thought Goku, dodging the rain of energy and feeling slightly uncomfortable about the destruction of the natural environment.
He grew up with a deep respect for the world. His older sister was closely connected to nature. He learned from an immortal. He understood the perspective of the planet's god. Lapis taught him even more about ecosystems. He was an entomologist himself!
He began to get angry. Although Bulma had given him instructions and things to keep in mind during the battle, she had set a limit: he could not kill Raditz, only teach him a lesson.
Goku began to secretly accumulate energy, causing the signal from this process to mix with the continuous energy shots fired by his older brother. This was another disadvantage of this form of saturated attack.
When he was ready, the Saiyan transformed into a projectile with a red aura, unexpectedly appearing in front of Raditz, who was caught off guard.
Goku's right fist was covered in red energy, and he struck the area of armor protecting his older brother's solar plexus with force, causing a small sonic boom.
Just as Raditz was about to counterattack, confident in his sturdy armor, he felt Kakarot's energy penetrate his body. It wreaked havoc inside him, and he was sent flying at high speed into the distance.
Raditz bounced fiercely on the water several times before his body sank into the ocean. Goku then formed a red energy ball in his hand and threw it directly at his brother.
The resulting explosion expelled a large amount of water, and the droplets refracted the light to form a rainbow. However, Goku did not let his guard down, knowing that his opponent would soon reappear.
Sure enough, Raditz soon emerged from the sea. His breathing was agitated, and his body's aura flickered constantly. His hand rested on his chest, and his fingers barely covered cracks in his clothes from that punch.
A grimace of pain crossed his face. He never expected Kakarot to circumvent the defense of his combat armor so easily or to attack his internal organs so insidiously.
Fortunately, he reacted in time, isolating the invading energy and externalizing his own to defend himself from the ki attack sent by his younger brother. However, the small bloodstains on his body showed that he had been slightly injured.
Any trace of arrogance disappeared from the experienced Saiyan now. Only seriousness remained in his eyes as he watched Kakarot float in the air with indifference.
"How did you do that?" Raditz asked instinctively, but then realized it was silly. No one in the cosmos openly explained their abilities like that. After all, information was as important as power.
Everyone knew to keep their true strengths secret, so when that factor of ignorance was lost, it was necessary to find other methods, or one could not survive in the universe.
In the Northern Galaxy, for example, it was widely known that Saiyans could not be allowed to see the full moon or create one artificially. This prevented them from transforming into their most powerful forms.
However, only the Saiyans knew about their tail weakness, and they actively trained to prevent it from becoming a weak point. It was not known that cutting off this limb would cause them to lose the ability to transform.
Had this been known decades ago, when the Saiyans were rampant throughout the universe, they would have probably had a harder time achieving their famous conquests and feats.
"I just applied martial arts concepts to Ki. We don't seek to destroy defenses; we seek to circumvent them because it's easier. That's one of the precepts of martial arts," Goku replied, as if he didn't understand why his older brother would be unaware of this.
For Goku, the refinement of strength, or Jin, was more important than mere strength. He didn't rely solely on his muscles to generate force; he also contracted and relaxed all the connective tissues in his body, as if he were a bow.
This approach not only improved his ability to generate impact and destruction, but also his ability to penetrate force. After all, it's easier to make something crumble from the inside than from the outside.
Yamcha was actually much better at this than Goku, and his Ki seemed to have an affinity for slipping inside other people's bodies, proving more effective at causing internal damage than normal Ki. However, this concept was so basic that Goku hadn't considered that Raditz might not know about it.
"Huh? Martial arts?" Those ridiculous dances performed by the weak races of the universe? You learned that rubbish?" They may have some merit, but they can't compare to the refined movements on the battlefield," Raditz said dismissively. However, there was a glimmer of interest in his eyes, which he hid behind a renewed expression of arrogance.
"But I hurt you with that ridiculous dance, didn't I?" Goku retorted.
Raditz clenched his teeth tightly before bursting out laughing.
"Because I underestimated you! I thought that, since you grew up in a world of weak, backward people, you would be weak and backward like them. But no, Kakarot, you turned out to be very skilled. Worthy of being the son of our father, Bardock." When Raditz mentioned his father's name, Goku narrowed his eyes, and his black hair fluttered in the wind, making him look more menacing.
"So you're finally going to fight seriously, 'big brother'?" Goku asked, placing heavy emphasis on the final title. Raditz nodded, and then the change happened.
Raditz's figure disappeared, then suddenly reappeared in front of Kakarot. Kakarot was barely able to mount an effective defense before Raditz kicked him into the water at high speed.
Before he could fall into the ocean, however, Raditz appeared beneath him and hit him with his elbow, sending him toward the island. There, Goku released a burst of ki throughout his body to cancel out the force that had sent him there.
Goku floated and looked apprehensively at his brother, who had suddenly turned the fight around. Although his body ached, a smile appeared on the Saiyan's face. Perhaps it was because he had grown up on Earth, received a normal education, and had a job, a family, and a child.
However, since training with Karin, he no longer suppressed his wilder side. His Saiyan heritage made him eager for a good fight. However, he was no longer dominated by this thirst. He maintained his normal mental state and did not allow himself to become addicted to that pleasurable sensation.
He felt pain, but finally, he was happy because the real fight had just begun. Goku descended to the crystallized ground of the island and adopted a fighting stance, waving his hand twice in a gesture of invitation.
Raditz undoubtedly understood and accepted this gesture, as he descended to the island and adopted his own fighting stance. Their bodies were covered by two red auras whose tones reflected their different life experiences, personalities, and appearances. Yet, they shared the same origin. They were unmistakably brothers, sons of a legendary warrior.