Goku successfully broke through to Super Saiyan 2, but he was not satisfied with this. He dragged Ethan along for training every day, even wanting to develop the full-power state of Super Saiyan 2.
"This... I don't think there's much hope."
Super Saiyan 2 consumed far more energy than Super Saiyan 1, essentially pushing further down the path of emphasizing explosive power. Super Saiyan Full Power, on the other hand, achieved a balance in the Super Saiyan state. Breaking through to Super Saiyan 2 itself meant breaking that balance.
"That's too bad, but never mind that for now. Let's have a good fight!"
Having broken through to the Super Saiyan 2 state, Goku could not control his excessive excitement and warlike emotions, and he pulled Ethan along, demanding a fight of several hundred rounds.
In the past six months of training, Ethan had not focused on increasing his combat power, but he did not refuse and readily accepted Goku's challenge.
The scenes of their battle from six months ago frequently reappeared in the vast white space, except this time, it was the much stronger Goku who had the upper hand, not Ethan.
To contend with Goku's immense power, Ethan had to increase the amplification multiplier of his Jagan Ensatuken. Only then could he exchange blows with his opponent.
Otherwise, Goku, who had transformed into Super Saiyan 2 and effectively doubled his combat power, could instantly defeat him with the power unleashed after transforming.
Ethan did not unleash more power because he was no longer solely pursuing explosive increases in combat power. Furthermore, he planned to use the pressure Goku exerted on him to accelerate his body's "upgrade."
Ethan was not a masochist, but under high pressure, it was indeed easier to squeeze out potential, which helped him recover his abilities faster.
The effect was very noticeable. After the planned one year of training ended, Goku's strength had increased significantly, and Ethan had also taken a big step toward his goal.
His body was gradually leaving the level of ordinary humans and evolving little by little toward a divine body.
This change was not obvious and did not provide as direct a boost to combat power as transformation, but Goku still noticed the difference.
"I always feel like I might have trained in the wrong direction."
"Not really. You could just say we took different paths, and the path that suits me might not necessarily suit you."
"Maybe."
Staying inside for a year while only a day passed outside gave Ethan a strange sense of familiarity with this temporal dislocation.
He had experienced this many times in the past, but as he grew stronger and countless worlds synchronized, he rarely encountered such situations anymore.
"Next up is dealing with Cell!"
Ethan, who had originally taken this matter very seriously, now felt no enthusiasm. He just wanted to resolve the Cell issue quickly, even if he was not the one who defeated him. It did not matter. Once it was resolved, he wanted to go back into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and stay for another year.
If possible, he hoped to complete the initial optimization of his body and then strive to regain his divine body before Buu was resurrected, even if it was only a low-level divine body.
Once he evolved into a divine body, the potential within him could be unleashed more quickly, and the speed of recovering his strength would also increase.
With his mind solely focused on recovering his strength, Ethan did not seem particularly concerned about Cell, which made Goku feel a bit strange.
"Aren't you worried about Cell?"
"There's no need to worry anymore. He's definitely no match for you."
Cell's strength was only slightly greater than theirs "a year ago." He was no match for Goku now.
"Oh? I'm really looking forward to fighting Cell."
"Just make sure you don't go easy on him."
"Haha, I'm not entirely sure about that either."
Goku's biggest problem was that he always went easy on enemies he should not have. His kind heart was always applied in the wrong places.
He knew this problem himself, but he felt it was hard for him to change.
Chatting all the way back to the upper level of the Lookout, Piccolo was still confronting Kami there. It seemed Piccolo's desire to fuse was not going smoothly, especially since there was not such an urgent crisis forcing Kami to fuse with Piccolo.
In such a situation, who would not want to live?
Piccolo was quite helpless. He probably had to spend a few more years wearing Kami down. Perhaps Buu's resurrection would be an opportunity?
"Let's deal with Cell first!"
Cell had to be dealt with. For every extra day he lived, who knew how many people would be killed? Even with the Dragon Balls, there was no guarantee that none of those people were unlucky souls who had already been revived by the Dragon Balls.
The process of dealing with Cell was incredibly simple.
The plan had already been decided. Goku specifically asked King Kai to find a suitable desolate planet. The only issue was that Cell's current power level was quite high, and Shenron might not be able to transfer him successfully to the target location.
"That's not a problem. If Shenron can't transfer Cell, then have Shenron send me to Cell. I'll grab him and use Instant Transmission to take him there."
In Future Trunks' world, Cell had not grown into his perfect form yet, so Shenron could pull the growing Cell before them.
However, for two people who had mastered Instant Transmission, this was really not a problem, and they easily came up with an alternative plan.
With that, the Cell hunting operation officially began.
Goku went to the desolate planet to wait first. Android 17 and 18 from the future timeline were also with him. Actually, since Ethan did not care about personally defeating Cell, "feeding" Cell the androids was no longer necessary.
However, Goku wanted to fight Perfect Cell, and these two androids from the future timeline were also bad guys who needed to be eliminated, so they might as well be dealt with all at once.
Besides them, a large group of onlookers, including Bulma, also waited on that desolate planet with Goku, ready to watch a big show.
Finally, only Ethan remained. Once everyone confirmed they were ready, he would summon Shenron and "send" Cell to Goku.
Soon, he received a message from Bulma and the others, saying everything was ready.
Ethan summoned Shenron and wished for Cell to be transferred to the planet where Goku was, without Cell knowing.
After getting the answer from Shenron that it was likely to fail, Ethan changed his wish to be sent next to Cell instead.
"That's easy!"
The next second, Ethan was sent by Shenron to a desolate wilderness, and right beside him was Cell.
"What?"
Cell, still in his first form, never expected someone to suddenly appear beside him. For a moment, he did not know how to react, and those brief few seconds of shock were enough for Ethan to "capture" Cell and take him to the target planet.
What was used this time was less Instant Transmission and more spatial transfer.
Ethan did not touch Cell's body but directly brought everything around Cell to this planet.
"Where is this?"
Cell finally came to his senses and found himself in another place.
"This is a desolate planet very, very far from Earth. The gravity is about 1.5 times that of Earth, and the atmospheric composition is not suitable for most life forms... In other words, there's nothing here but rocks."
"What?"
Cell's first reaction was disbelief, but then he noticed Android 17 and 18 not far in front of him.
The two androids lay on the ground, seemingly unconscious. Cell's head was full of questions. "Why are 17 and 18 here? What is going on?"
Actually, in the distance where Cell could not see, there was another Android 17 and 18. These two androids had also come to watch the show. They all wanted to see with their own eyes what kind of being had set its sights on them and what it wanted to do to them.
Although Ethan had described it in detail, the two androids did not fully believe what Ethan said.
"This is Cell? He doesn't look very strong."
"What an ugly monster!"
Only Android 16 did not underestimate Cell. Android 16, equipped with a detector, could understand Cell's power more clearly, and he could tell that this Cell had not yet released his full power.
At this moment, Ethan, who was in the arena, pointed at the nearby Android 17 and 18, then spread his hands toward Cell. "Welcome to the Cell Games. These two androids are a little bonus for you."
"What?"
Cell was completely confused now, and he was even more wary of this complete stranger, Ethan, whom he did not recognize at all.
"Cell Games? What's that?"
"Simply put, it's a game specifically organized for you..."
"..."
Cell felt like the other party was making a fool of him, but the Android 17 and 18 nearby did not look fake. Could something have been added to them?
"Are you worried that something has been added inside these two androids? Don't worry, other than the bombs Dr. Gero himself placed, I haven't added anything strange."
"Then why are you doing this?"
Cell could not figure out the purpose of this person's actions at all. What made it even more frustrating was how this guy knew about him in the first place. And why did he know that he needed to absorb 17 and 18?
"To help you evolve into your perfect form."
"What?"
Cell never expected such an answer.
"Could it be... you are Dr. Gero's assistant?"
This person definitely was not Dr. Gero, so why would he do this? Thinking it over and over, only one possibility came to mind. This person was someone who had inherited Dr. Gero's will!
But how did he know about him? The him of this timeline should have just started forming as an embryo.
There was no information about this person in his memories, and considering that he could appear beside him without a sound and bring him to this place, this person must possess considerable strength. It was impossible for such a master to be missed when collecting cells and data from strong individuals.
Thinking about it repeatedly, there seemed to be only one explanation.
"You're also from the future?"
(To be continued.)