A sneak attack that looked unexpected.
The sand and dust thrown up by the energy-collision explosion still carried rolling heat and firelight.
Ordinary beings couldn't possibly come out of that unscathed—but for someone whose strength had reached a certain level, it wasn't worth mentioning at all.
Right now Logan Crane stood at the very center of the blast and couldn't help coughing twice.
To quote one of Raditz's famous lines: a useless attack can only kick up some dust.
When the aftershock of the blast finally faded, the smoke blew away on the wind.
Under Piccolo and Son Goku's gaze, the last hope in their hearts was ground out.
Not only had they failed; they hadn't even harmed a single hair on the other.
Especially Logan—he had taken the Special Beam Cannon with one hand, then pinched it to pieces. That alone showed how vast the gap in power was.
Even Raditz, who had already been injured, was able to keep himself safe inside that explosion.
"Lo… lost… we lost… d—damn it…!" Son Goku panted and finally toppled, his whole body spread into a big character on the ground.
He had done his best.
That final do-or-die bet had spent all his strength, so now he couldn't even stand up.
He wanted to keep fighting and didn't want to admit defeat, but reality was just that cruel.
On the other side, Piccolo was in the same shape as Son Goku.
Already at his limit, what he had just fired off was everything he had.
With the situation as it was now, he too seemed to sink into an abyss.
They took action—and failed.
"I never thought I, Demon King Piccolo, would one day turn out to be a frog at the bottom of a well… laughable…"
"…Earth… is finished!!!"
Having the courage to face death—such a breakthrough in mindset—was actually a good thing for both Piccolo and Son Goku.
…
Before Logan could say or do anything,
Raditz, excited because his deathblow had been blocked, started swaggering again.
Obviously, having absolute advantage back made him float.
"Heh heh heh heh~~! Kakarot, my foolish little brother, I already said it—your doomsday has come.
"Originally you didn't have to die, because as long as you joined us, you'd be a member of the Frieza Force!
"Now you've thrown away this great opportunity, and you've brought absolute disaster to Earth."
Speaking, Raditz moved closer and closer to Son Goku.
That high-and-mighty posture made it feel like the Reaper was knocking at the door.
Son Goku had no strength to argue; Piccolo was helpless; Son Gohan cried without stopping.
This Raditz really is the type that bullies the soft and fears the hard; it's exactly this dithering personality that ruins him.
Thinking back to the scenes in the original, this guy did coin plenty of pose-striking lines; it was also that same personality that cost him his life.
Seeing Raditz about to trample Son Goku, Logan certainly wouldn't pretend not to see it.
As soon as he truly made a move to kill Son Goku, Logan would stop him in an instant.
As for having been sneak-attacked by Piccolo and Son Goku just now, he didn't take it to heart at all.
To tell the truth, with the enemy's identity unclear, that instant strike just now was a very smart move.
Seize the chance and kill in one blow!
Unfortunately—
"What's wrong? You don't even have the strength to stand? Worthless!"
"Since you're such a muddle-headed father, then go die! I'll take your son away and train him properly for you."
Arriving in front of Son Goku, Raditz's domineering posture looked as if he was afraid people wouldn't notice he had beaten his own little brother.
The weak can only ever find a sense of existence at moments like this.
In front of the strong, a character like Raditz is dispensable.
"S—stop… Gohan… run!!!" Threatened once more, Son Goku somehow found a surge of strength.
Like the last flare of a dying lamp.
The sight startled Raditz again.
Having taken several losses in a row, the instant Son Goku burst he jumped back more than ten meters—he had kept one eye open from the very start, afraid of capsizing in the gutter again.
"Really is a piece of trash! He's in that state and he can still scare you! Those 1500 points of power level on you would be better given to a dog, Raditz!" With that line, Logan had pushed Raditz down to the very bottom.
Honestly, the other guy's combat power right now was probably under a hundred; even if he burst again, what level could he reach?
Even with Raditz injured, he could still put out strength over 1000.
To be frightened by someone whose combat power had already fallen to rock bottom—you might as well hand your life to a dog.
Say what you will, Raditz really was trash to the core.
He clearly had absolutely crushing strength, an opening hand of god-tier cards, and yet he made a mess of it himself and got reverse-killed by Son Goku and Piccolo teaming up.
Hearing Logan, Raditz had no idea what Logan actually meant; he only thought he was being looked down on, couldn't save face, and was as displeased as it gets.
Even though Logan's combat power was indeed 5000, they were all working for King Frieza.
Even if his rank might be one grade lower than the other's, as a team, their three-man Saiyan squad was one of the most capable units under Frieza's hand.
"I don't know who you are or what squad you belong to.
"But as warriors of the same army, there's no need to be so snide, right?
"We look up and see each other, look down and see each other—maybe in the future you'll have a day like this too…"
As he was saying that, Raditz suddenly paused, as if something had happened to stop his words.
Only after a moment did his expression shift; then he said, "Since we met on Earth this time, it's fate. We both serve King Frieza. I'm guessing you came to Earth to survey whether it has invasion value, right?
"As it happens, you're alone—and your combat power is 5000! How about we cooperate?
"Compared to Earth, our Saiyan squad discovered a planet of extremely high value not long ago. I came to Earth this time to seek help from this useless kid brother, just to add one more share of strength so we can hurry up and finish the conquest.
"If you join, I believe we can settle it quickly! When the time comes, we can divide the credit and profits evenly!"
When Raditz finished that long speech,
Logan was, for a moment, surprised by his sudden change.
You had to know he had been insulting Raditz without the slightest bottom line—he wasn't afraid Raditz would fight back; he was afraid Raditz wouldn't fight back!
Otherwise he wouldn't have had an excuse to make a move on him.
And yet—who knew where Raditz had found such calculation—his temperament flipped in an instant, and he said that to him.
No doubt about it: this was trying to recruit him, wasn't it?
Not only did he act like a different person from before, even the look in his eyes had changed.
Logan didn't get it.
But very quickly he saw a faint red blink on the scouter over Raditz's eye, and only then did he realize: it looked like someone behind the guy was passing along a message.
It shouldn't be Nappa. That oaf as described in the original wasn't stupid, but his IQ really wasn't online—and he absolutely couldn't have coached Raditz to say something like this.
So, if it wasn't Nappa, then it was definitely Vegeta.
Who would have thought that, though they were on the far side of the stars, they were still paying attention to what was happening here at every moment.