"Well done, Number Nineteen!"
The plump, round Nineteen's already small eyes were now nearly invisible from smiling. His fleshy face kept trembling with laughter, clearly showing his smugness.
"What?"
Goku and the others did not understand what these two androids were so happy about. They could already tell that Number Nineteen was not particularly strong. What good would capturing Ethan with that level of power do? Did they have some special move hidden?
Because Yamcha had not been ambushed, no one knew that these two androids could absorb energy.
But Ethan was definitely not among those who did not know. He had known long ago that the greatest characteristic of Nineteen and Twenty was their ability to absorb other people's energy.
Knowing this, yet still being captured so easily by the opponent, had Ethan underestimated them?
Of course not!
It was because he simply did not care about being caught by his opponent.
"Hahaha, hand over your power!"
Nineteen was so caught up in his triumph that he no longer cared about exposing his greatest trump card to everyone. After he absorbed this guy's energy, that group would figure out what was going on anyway, so there was no need to keep this killing move hidden.
Besides, after absorbing Ethan's power, he would become even stronger, and dealing with that group would be a piece of cake. What did it matter if they knew?
He was calculating furiously in his mind, but after a few seconds, he suddenly realized something was wrong.
"Slowpoke, did you finally notice?"
Ethan had been held by Nineteen's arm the whole time, with no intention of struggling. Nineteen had thought it was because he was absorbing Ethan's energy, making Ethan too weak to resist, but...
"What's going on? Why can't I absorb your energy?"
"As a martial artist, you must have perfect control over your own power. How could my power be taken by you so easily?"
Ethan's control over his own power was extremely strong. It was not something the android Nineteen could easily extract. In other words, if Ethan did not want to, no one could absorb his power.
"How is this possible?"
Nineteen was still making futile attempts. He could not believe that he could not absorb Ethan's energy. He thought Ethan must have used some strange trick, or was only pretending to be strong, and that he would succeed as long as he tried a little harder.
"Stop talking nonsense. How could such a thing be possible?"
Unfortunately, Ethan no longer wanted to play with him. The only reason he had not killed Nineteen outright was to confirm the true strength of these two androids.
Now he had his conclusion. They were trash! This was not very advantageous for his next move. How could he reasonably let Dr. Gero escape so he could activate Seventeen and Eighteen?
Seventeen and Eighteen absolutely had to be activated so Cell would have the possibility of absorbing these two androids and evolving into his perfect form!
After all, Ethan's mission objective this time was to defeat Perfect Cell.
"Do I have to use some strange maneuver again?"
Random thoughts filled his mind, but they did not delay him from dealing with Nineteen.
The gap in power was too great. Ethan did not even need to break free from the arm holding him. He simply let the opponent keep gripping him tightly. Then he raised his arm, easily lifting Nineteen's heavy body into the air, twisted around, and slammed him back down.
Nineteen, still clinging tightly to Ethan's arm, was swung around by Ethan and smashed hard into the ground, his fat head burying directly into the earth.
Despite the heavy blow, Nineteen still did not let go. Ethan looked at Nineteen, who was still trying to absorb his energy, and felt a little annoyed.
Anyone would be annoyed if someone held on so tightly and refused to let go. Ethan yanked his arm free and kicked out at the same time, striking Nineteen directly in his round belly.
The thick layer of fat provided no defense for Nineteen. The heavy kick sent him flying a great distance. After landing, he rolled backward across the ground, continuing for a long way before finally stopping.
Ethan shook the arm that had been held for so long. After taking a heavy blow, Nineteen finally could not hold on anymore. Free from the entanglement, Ethan lightly leaped, crossing a long distance to reach Nineteen, who had yet to get up. He stomped down hard, then lightly jumped aside and landed beside him. He extended his foot and kicked Nineteen, who had suffered consecutive heavy blows and could no longer move, into the air. Then he aimed his right hand at Nineteen's back and released an extremely fierce energy blast.
Cleanly and thoroughly, Ethan finished off Nineteen and looked back toward Dr. Gero.
Dr. Gero was completely terrified by the one-sided battle. He felt very panicked. The turn of events had gone far beyond his expectations.
"Damn it, why is this guy so powerful?"
Compared to Dr. Gero, Krillin and the others were completely relaxed. Their relaxed appearance did not make it look like they were facing a terrifying enemy who had nearly destroyed the world, but rather like they were out on a spring picnic.
"Hahaha, Ethan is amazing! That android was no match for him at all."
The android had been easily defeated, and the heavy mountain that had weighed on their hearts for more than three years was finally lifted.
"Thanks to Trunks. Because of his warning, we were able to prepare in advance."
Everyone felt that Trunks' warning had allowed them to make proper preparations, enabling them to defeat the android so easily.
Piccolo and Goku, however, remained silent. They felt something was strange.
"Goku, you think it's strange too, right?"
"Yeah!"
Their conversation was not whispered, and Krillin, who was nearby, heard it clearly.
"What's wrong? Goku? Is something off?"
"Hmm!"
Goku rubbed his chest. Although it no longer hurt, there was still a strange feeling of weakness. Even so, he felt that if he fought now, he could also defeat these two androids.
"What's the problem?"
"Are these two androids... a little weak?"
"Weak?" Krillin looked back, carefully recalling the details of the battle. Although Nineteen had not had many ways to deal with Ethan, his speed was no joke. If it had been Krillin, he might have been defeated or even killed by the opponent. "Maybe Ethan is just too strong?"
"..."
Goku did not know what to say, but Piccolo had no such reservations.
"What Goku means is that these two androids are not strong enough to kill a Super Saiyan."
The information Trunks had provided clearly mentioned that Gohan, who could transform into a Super Saiyan, had died at the hands of the androids, and Trunks, who could also transform into a Super Saiyan, had also been helpless against them.
Based solely on the strength Nineteen had displayed just now, Piccolo did not think they could kill Gohan, who could transform into a Super Saiyan, or force Trunks to come to their world for help.
"Ah... Is that so?"
Krillin turned to look at Goku, who nodded with a wry smile.
"I'm afraid the situation isn't that simple!"
"The most important thing now is to capture Dr. Gero first. We should be able to get some information from him."
Piccolo was very calm. They had too little information. He needed to gather more information for analysis, and there was a suitable target right in front of them.
No matter what changes occurred, as long as they could capture Dr. Gero, many questions would be answered.
However, Dr. Gero was much more timid than they had thought. Piccolo and Goku habitually treated enemies as powerful warriors, and their thinking was focused on how to capture the opponent alive as much as possible in the upcoming battle with Dr. Gero.
This did not seem difficult!
But Dr. Gero was not a warrior. Seeing Nineteen, whom he had created, killed so easily, his first reaction was to leave!
Before anyone could react, Dr. Gero had already turned around and sped away.
"This..."
"Not good, chase him!"
Piccolo immediately chased after him, and Ethan took to the air almost simultaneously.
With Ethan's strength, being half a step behind did not matter. The distance between him and Dr. Gero was shrinking at a visible rate.
At this speed, he would catch up to the enemy in less than half a minute. If Ethan's judgment was correct, Dr. Gero would use Solar Flare in this situation to buy himself time to escape.
"Solar Flare!"
Although Ethan closed his eyes beforehand, he still covered his eyes and stopped. Piccolo, who was close behind, was also blinded by Solar Flare and could not open his eyes. By the time their vision recovered, Dr. Gero was no longer in sight.
"Damn it!"
Androids had no energy, so tracking them by energy would not work. Searching with the naked eye made it difficult to find them quickly. Even if he only moved on the ground, using various obstacles for cover, Dr. Gero's speed would not be slow given his power. In this situation, before they could finish searching the area beneath them, Dr. Gero would already have gotten far away.
"What do we do?"
Everyone had caught up and felt somewhat helpless about the situation. Only Ethan inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed Seventeen and Eighteen could be successfully activated now.
"Let's look around first. Everyone, try not to drop to a low altitude, to avoid being suddenly ambushed by that guy!"
Everyone spread out and searched back and forth for a while. Just when Ethan felt that enough time had passed, and that he had deliberately slacked off long enough to give Dr. Gero enough time to escape, he called everyone back.
"We haven't found that guy after searching for so long. He's probably already gotten far away."
Just as Ethan was about to reveal the information about the laboratory, he sensed an energy moving toward them at high speed.
"This energy... is it Trunks?"
After seeing him once, everyone remembered Trunks' energy. What surprised everyone was that Bulma, piloting a hovercar, was coming with Trunks.
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)