Amidst everyone's shock, Ethan described what the timeline where "he didn't exist" would look like.
When the Saiyans invaded Earth, everyone fell into a bitter struggle, and in the end, only Krillin, Gohan, and Goku survived. Goku was severely injured, with multiple broken bones. Without Senzu Beans, he needed a long time to recover, waiting for new Senzu Beans to mature.
To revive everyone, Krillin, Gohan, and Bulma took the spaceship left by Kami to Planet Namek, hoping to ask the Namekian Dragon to help revive Earth's warriors.
Then, on Namek, they encountered the galactic emperor Frieza, who was also after the Dragon Balls.
Without Ethan's influence, everyone's power levels were much lower, and the strongest, Goku, was still recovering on Earth.
Krillin and Gohan, at an absolute disadvantage in power, used almost every method they could on Namek, even teaming up with their former enemy Vegeta, just to successfully use the power of the Namekian Dragon to revive Piccolo, and incidentally revive Kami and the Dragon Balls on Earth.
Subsequently, during the great battle with Frieza, Goku successfully transformed into a Super Saiyan and defeated Frieza. After returning to Earth, he met Trunks, and then fought against the androids.
Upon hearing this, everyone held their breath, afraid of missing any detail.
The earlier events sounded very special, but they were ultimately in the past. After accepting Trunks as a visitor from a parallel timeline, it became easy to understand why Ethan said he was from another world, and this also explained why Ethan was always "urging" everyone to improve their strength, because he knew they would encounter very strong enemies.
The battle with the androids was just the prelude. Cell from a parallel timeline was the real enemy this time. Cell killed the future Trunks and traveled to this world in a time machine, with the ultimate goal of absorbing Android 17 and Android 18.
"He succeeded!"
Ethan then recounted the events of the Cell Games, including how Gohan ultimately broke through the Super Saiyan limit, and how Goku sacrificed himself to save Earth from being destroyed by Cell, hiding nothing. As for some personal life details, those were omitted...
"Ah! Goku... died?"
"Didn't he get revived?"
Only Piccolo remembered the details. "Because in 'that world,' Goku had died once before, so the Earth's Dragon Balls couldn't revive him... Why didn't they use the Namekian Dragon Balls?" Ethan had mentioned the characteristics of the Namekian Dragon Balls.
"New Namek being too far away was one reason, and only Goku himself had Instant Transmission... Also, Goku felt it was better not to be revived."
The real reason was that someone did not want to draw anymore and decided to just kill off the protagonist. However, it was not as if he could just stop drawing because he wanted to. Besides the publisher, there were many companies that relied on this story for their livelihood. How could you, as just one author, decide not to draw anymore?
So...
However, this reason could not be told to them, so Ethan just vaguely brushed it off.
Listening to Ethan finish recounting the events that were supposed to happen next, everyone felt very strange. These were matters intimately related to them, yet there was a bizarre sense of unreality.
They suddenly understood how Goku felt years ago when facing Trunks.
"So, what is the purpose of you coming to this world?"
Piccolo was still good at grasping the main point. What was important to everyone now was not what would happen in the future, but why Ethan came to this world.
Trunks came to warn them of the future crisis and also wanted to know how to solve this crisis to save his own world.
What about Ethan? Why was he doing all this?
"To go home!"
This was the truth. Everything Ethan did was to leave this place.
"The specific situation is quite complicated. I can only say that to return to my own world, I must become strong enough."
"Strong enough? Isn't your current strength sufficient?"
Ethan shook his head and revealed a little more information.
"Not enough yet. At the very least, I need to be able to defeat Goku in his Super Saiyan 3 state."
"Super Saiyan... 3?"
In Ethan's account, he had mentioned the Super Saiyan 2 state. That was a level beyond Super Saiyan, capable of easily defeating the terrifyingly strong Cell. From Ethan's description, they already knew that even at full power, the current Goku was no match for Perfect Cell.
Cell's strength was already terrifying, and Super Saiyan 2 was an even higher level, yet Ethan's goal was Super Saiyan 3?
Judging by the name, it should be a state even stronger than Super Saiyan 2, right?
"Yes, Super Saiyan 3... but talking about that is still too far off. Let's focus on the present."
"Uh, Ethan is right."
Cell's origin was clear, and everyone knew the future that should have happened. So, what should they do next?
"No matter what, we absolutely cannot stand by and watch Cell harm innocent people everywhere!"
Cell's method of gaining strength was extremely brutal. He constantly absorbed life, meaning he used humans as nourishment. To gain the power to suppress Android 17 and Android 18, Cell had killed who knew how many people. This was something Krillin, Tien, and the others absolutely could not accept.
"As long as we stop Cell from getting stronger, he won't have enough power to absorb 17 and 18, and then we won't have to worry about Cell becoming Perfect."
"Unfortunately, Cell must become Perfect."
Krillin initially thought the Cell problem was easy to solve, but Ethan would not agree. His words also made the two androids nearby very nervous.
"Why?"
"Because he must become Perfect, and then be defeated by me."
Krillin suddenly remembered something. When Ethan fought Frieza back then, he had also waited for Frieza to use his full power before truly making a move.
"Do you have a reason why you must do this?"
"Yes!"
"..."
Tien and the others stopped speaking. Looking at Ethan's expression, they knew he was serious, and his refusal to explain meant he either did not want to or could not say. As comrades, they would not keep asking.
Android 17 and 18 nearby had already taken a stance. They felt they were in great danger now.
But Ethan told them not to be nervous.
"Although Cell must absorb 17 and 18 to evolve into his Perfect form, and I need Cell to evolve into his Perfect form, that doesn't mean you two have to be sacrificed."
"What do you mean?"
Everyone was confused. Only Trunks seemed to have thought of something.
"Mr. Ethan... do you mean...?"
"Exactly. Cell only needs 17 and 18 as two special life forms. The two androids in Trunks' world weren't good people, so there's nothing wrong with throwing them to Cell to absorb, right?"
"Uh..."
Everyone looked at each other. Indeed, there seemed to be nothing wrong with doing that.
"That's a really good idea, and it can save both Trunks' world and this one... But how are you going to get there? Using Trunks' time machine?"
"I might need to study Trunks' time machine... Trunks, you don't need to worry about me breaking your machine. After all, in this current world, besides the one you have, there's another one."
"The one Cell used!"
"Exactly!" However, Ethan thought it would be best to directly modify Trunks' time machine to avoid accidentally jumping to the timeline where Trunks was killed. "But the priority is still the one you used, because I'm going to your timeline. The timeline Cell came from probably no longer has 17 and 18, otherwise he wouldn't have needed to come here."
This was Ethan's backup plan: throw the evil parallel world androids out. The androids in this world, who had not done bad things and were not inherently evil, would not have to become Cell's nourishment, although the plan was originally made to prevent any accidents happening to the two androids.
Everyone was silent. Ethan's plan sounded highly feasible and could solve the crises in both Trunks' world and this world at once.
"But... why are you doing this?"
It was Android 16 who asked. He was very curious about Ethan's reason for doing this. He concluded from Ethan's words that to leave this world, Ethan had to face Perfect Cell, so it was necessary to ensure Cell evolved into his Perfect form.
In that case, he just needed to control 17 and 18 and directly throw them to Cell to absorb. Why go through the trouble of catching another 17 and 18 from another timeline?
"Because... you guys aren't bad people, right?"
"..."
Android 17 and 18 felt strange. They were created as "weapons" for the Red Ribbon Army, and now, because they were not inherently evil, they had avoided a major crisis.
"Tch, are you mocking us?"
"No, if I were mocking you, believe me... you'd feel it instantly."
"..."
He said it as if it were something to be proud of. After Ethan finished saying what needed to be said, he immediately started getting busy.
"What are you doing?"
"Moving these things."
He planned to take everything, including Dr. Gero's research data, the various equipment here, and the embryonic Cell.
Watching the busy Ethan, everyone except Piccolo started helping out confusedly. Coupled with the magical Capsule Corp items, they quickly emptied the secret lab.
After clearing it out, everyone left the underground lab and returned outside. Piccolo suddenly flew off without saying goodbye. Ethan looked in the direction he flew, guessing he was going to Kami's Lookout to find Kami.
"What should we do next?"
"First, return to West City. I need to modify Trunks' time machine... then go to his world."
"Uh..."
Trunks was a bit stunned, unsure whether he should be happy or worried. If Ethan went to his world, those two androids would definitely no longer be a problem. His worry was, would doing this really not cause problems?
(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.)