The energy sphere, preemptively placed in the sky, erupted with a blinding flash under the Saiyans' control!
After fully fusing with oxygen, once the light faded, what floated in the sky was an artificial moon.
Though its glow paled in comparison to the real moon, it emitted Blutz Waves exceeding 17 million degrees—precisely the condition needed for the Saiyans' transformation!
"ROAR—!!!"
In the next moment, furious roars erupted one after another. The Saiyans, already prepared, instantly transformed into countless towering Great Apes.
Beep beep beep beep—
The shrill alarms from the Scouters worn by Frieza's soldiers blared wildly before abruptly exploding!
The Saiyans, whose combat power had already reached several thousand, saw their strength multiply tenfold after transforming into Great Apes, becoming formidable forces with power levels in the tens of thousands. Though the cost was a partial loss of rationality, in the face of Frieza's elite forces, trading some sanity for such overwhelming power was a worthwhile deal.
With too many combat powers exceeding 20,000, the constantly activated Scouters all shattered simultaneously.
"These bastards were prepared all along!"
One of Frieza's soldiers, witnessing this, felt his heart pound violently. His combat power was 9,000, allowing him to handle most Saiyans with ease. But now, among the Great Apes before him, even a casual glance revealed beings with power levels surpassing 10,000. Even if their rationality was diminished, they were far beyond his ability to handle.
There was only one thing he could do now.
"Destroy that artificial moon!"
Unsurprisingly, many of Frieza's forces shared the same thought—countless energy blasts immediately surged toward the distant artificial moon!
Though the artificial moon consumed a vast amount of the Saiyans' "ki" to create, its structural integrity was remarkably fragile. Infused with oxygen, it was even more delicate than the original energy sphere and could easily be destroyed.
Once the artificial moon was gone, the Great Apes would revert to their Saiyan forms, making them far easier for Frieza's army to deal with.
The Great Apes, seeing this, rushed toward the artificial moon, desperate to protect it. But their speed was no match for the energy blasts, and they could only watch helplessly as every single attack struck the artificial moon.
Yet... the artificial moon remained completely unharmed!
"Huh...?!"
Frieza's soldiers were stunned. How had so many energy blasts failed to destroy it?
The reason was simple—an invisible figure stood beside the artificial moon, shielding it from all attacks.
It was "Blacbird Requiem"!
Seeing the artificial moon intact, the Saiyan Great Apes halted their charge and, as one, turned their furious gazes toward Frieza's forces.
In the next instant, they lunged forward, launching a brutal massacre!
Like their tails (a known weakness), the Great Ape transformation could be controlled through training—though some rationality was still lost, their actions remained largely deliberate.
In the Dragon Ball Super manga, the Saiyan Great Apes on Planet Cereal acted with clear purpose, even protecting the moon. Aside from losing speech, their behavior was far from mindless.
While Dragon Ball GT claimed only the royal bloodline could retain full rationality as a Great Ape, in this "canon" world where Zuke existed, that wasn't the case.
So why didn't Zuke transform into a Great Ape? Simply put—he hadn't trained for it.
Having only been in the Dragon Ball world for a short time (three weeks at most), even if he had dedicated all that time to mastering the transformation, it was uncertain whether he could have succeeded.
Yet in those same three weeks, he had reached a level where he could confidently take on Frieza alone—proof that the effort-to-reward ratio of Great Ape transformation wasn't necessarily favorable.
Moreover, while ordinary Saiyans could retain some rationality after training, they still lost the ability to speak.
As for why Vegeta in the original story could remain perfectly rational... that was unclear. Perhaps bloodline played a role? Akira Toriyama never elaborated further.
Just then, Zuke, observing from a distance, noticed something—among the Great Apes, one slightly shorter than the rest charged straight toward Frieza's strongest warrior, Zarbon, overwhelming him in battle.
That was Vegeta.
Unlike his father, he was a warrior with true fighting spirit.
Behind Zuke, Bardock stepped forward, his eyes fixed on the smaller Great Ape.
"That's the prince."
Zuke understood—that was Vegeta.
In the original story, Vegeta had personally killed Zarbon. Now, he was targeting him again... Was it fate?
"Aren't you joining?" Zuke glanced back at Bardock.
Bardock hadn't transformed because of a strange iron ring-like device clamped around his tail—an inhibitor that suppressed the Great Ape transformation.
"I want to see your fight with Frieza. If I transformed, I'd lose too much rationality."
Bardock grinned, then glanced at Zuke's backside—not out of any peculiar interest, but because he noticed Zuke had no tail at all.
To avoid losing control in battle, Zuke had ripped his tail off entirely.
"So you're confident you can beat Frieza without transforming?"
"Beat him? No—I'm going to kill him."
Zuke smirked, narrowing his eyes as he looked toward the sky.
"Frieza's coming."
As if on cue, a small pod descended from the mothership—a half-sphere resembling a split baseball, carrying a visibly furious Frieza.
And why wouldn't he be? His elite forces were being slaughtered by the Saiyan Great Apes, and Zarbon—despite his power level skyrocketing past 20,000—was still helpless against that smaller Great Ape, whose strength had already exceeded 100,000.
From his ship, Frieza had recognized that smaller Great Ape—it was Prince Vegeta, the son of the late King Vegeta.
"Damnable monkeys..."
Frieza raised a finger, aiming at Vegeta's Great Ape form, his eyes gleaming with malice.
A deadly laser shot from his fingertip—straight toward Vegeta's heart!
To be continued…
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