Another two months passed.
Amidst the roars of exertion, beads of sweat, and the humming of the gravity room, time slowly trickled by.
For Whitley, training was not an ordeal, but a tangible measure of his growing strength.
The wildly fluctuating pressure in the crude gravity room became his best whetstone.
Each time he broke through a limit, a sliver of the dormant potential within his Saiyan bloodline was brutally awakened.
Boring? That didn't exist!
He could feel his muscle fibers growing tougher through a cycle of tearing and regeneration, feel the surging "ki" within him becoming more condensed and powerful.
This visible, tangible process of becoming stronger filled him with an almost pathological sense of fulfillment.
"Ha—!"
Under three times the gravity of Planet Vegeta, Whitley's movements were so fast they left afterimages. His heavy fists and feet slammed into a specially made alloy target, producing a dull, thunderous boom.
The surface of the target was already covered in web-like cracks and deep fist marks. Sweat flowed like a stream, pooling at his feet before being instantly evaporated into mist by the high temperature.
VMMMM!
The gravity room let out a strained groan, completely shutting down. Wisps of acrid blue smoke rose from its control panel.
"Tch! It broke again..." Whitley stopped, panting heavily. He looked at the number on his lens, which had finally stabilized at 13,000, and shook his head helplessly.
This rudimentary device could no longer keep up with his current strength and training demands.
He had already submitted a request to the low-ranking aliens on Planet Vegeta responsible for logistics and research:
Build a mature, stable, and more powerful gravity room! The core requirements were stability and adjustable gravity multipliers, with the multiplier being as high as possible.
The reply came a week ago.
It was possible, but limited by Planet Vegeta's backward gravity technology, the maximum they could achieve was ten times the planet's gravity.
"Ten times?"
Whitley frowned at the time; it was far below his expectations.
In the original story, Bulma's family could build one that went up to five hundred times!
But on second thought, he figured it didn't matter, as his time here was only temporary.
"Fine, ten times it is. It's better than nothing. As long as I can get it in a week."
He nodded in agreement, his mind racing with calculations:
"I won't be staying in this godforsaken place for too long anyway. Once I get to Earth and get help from that genius girl at Capsule Corp, won't building a gravity room with a multiplier of several hundred be a piece of cake?"
Just as he was thinking about how to use the new gravity room to reach even greater heights, there was a knock on the door of his residence, carrying the distinct, unquestionable rhythm of the royal palace.
When he opened the door, a Saiyan warrior in a standard-issue battle suit stood outside, his face devoid of expression.
He spoke with a cold gaze, "Elite Warrior Whitley, by order of King Vegeta, proceed immediately to the square in front of the royal palace to assemble and await the arrival of King Cold!"
King Cold?!
Whitley's heart skipped a beat! The name instantly pulled his mind back to the memorable figure from the anime.
Frieza! King Cold... Frieza's father! Why are they coming at this time?
"Late Age 731... Frieza's first official visit to Planet Vegeta?"
Whitley quickly searched his mind for the blurry timeline.
That's it! According to the original story's trajectory, it was during this period that Frieza, as the heir to the empire, first inspected the forces under his command and brought new scouters to the Saiyans!
"Dammit! The scouters!"
Alarm bells instantly went off in Whitley's head. The scouters Frieza brought were not the old relics of Planet Vegeta!
They had higher precision and might even have more complex eavesdropping and tracking functions!
He glanced down at the old model scouter he always wore on his ear, then felt the ki he had deliberately suppressed to around three thousand.
"From now on... I must use these things with caution! Under Frieza's nose, not a single anomaly can be exposed!"
"Yes, I will head there immediately."
Whitley suppressed the thoughts in his mind and replied calmly.
He followed the messenger out of his residence, his body levitating slightly as he flew towards the royal palace.
His speed was neither fast nor slow, his ki steadily maintained at a normal level befitting a genius elite warrior who had only recently awakened.
Low profile! He had to be as unnoticeable as a drop of water in the ocean!
When Whitley landed in the huge square in front of the royal palace, it was already crowded with people.
Almost all the mid to high-level Saiyan warriors on the planet had gathered there, and the air was filled with a repressive solemnity and a faint sense of unease.
At the very front of the crowd stood King Vegeta. His face was stern, but deep in his eyes hid a barely perceptible gravity.
Whitley's arrival caught King Vegeta's attention.
Those serious eyes scanned over, lingering on Whitley for a moment with a hint of scrutiny.
Whitley took a few steps forward and respectfully knelt on one knee. "Whitley pays his respects to my king!"
King Vegeta narrowed his eyes slightly. His scouter beeped as it scanned Whitley's ki, which was stable at around nineteen hundred. A curve that couldn't quite be called a smile formed on his lips, and his voice carried a condescending approval:
"Mm. Rise, Whitley. Truly Met's child. It's only been a few months since you awakened, and your power level is already approaching two thousand. You haven't shamed your father's name. Very good. Continue to work hard and serve Prince Vegeta well in the future."
"Thank you for your praise, my king! Whitley will certainly do his utmost!"
Whitley replied in an "excited" tone, but his heart was completely calm.
Like hell I'll serve that eternal number two.
"Stand at the back," King Vegeta waved his hand, his tone returning to indifference. "King Cold is about to arrive. Do not offend our honored guest."
"Yes!"
Whitley was secretly delighted; this was exactly the position he wanted!
He quickly got up, bowed his head, and walked briskly to the very back of the crowd, perfectly blending in and becoming part of the background.
King Vegeta's move, which seemed like encouragement but was actually intended to push him away from the core, was exactly what he had hoped for!
Time passed in oppressive silence.
After an unknown amount of time, a suppressed shout suddenly came from the crowd: "They're here!"
In the distant sky, a dense swarm of circular spaceships approached like a plague of locusts, carrying a devastating momentum!
They completely disregarded Planet Vegeta's architectural rules, their massive hulls brutally smashing through towering buildings in their path. The sounds of explosions and the dying groans of buildings rose and fell!
From below the palace, the faint cries of civilians and sounds of commotion could be heard.
Swish!
In the square, all the Saiyans, including King Vegeta at the forefront, knelt on one knee in unison!
Their movements were perfectly synchronized, carrying an almost humiliating submissiveness.
Whitley immediately followed suit, half-squatting, leaning forward slightly, and burying his head even lower.
He locked his ki dead at the two-thousand mark, making himself like an inconspicuous stone. Now was not the time to attract Frieza's attention.
"All hail King Cold—!" A deafening wave of shouts soared into the sky, filled with awe and... fear!
The extraordinarily tall and burly King Cold, with deep purple skin and two horns on his head, slowly flew out from the largest ship.
Next to him, the disproportionately small white figure of Frieza was particularly conspicuous!
"Hahahaha! King Vegeta, it has been a long time!"
King Cold's laughter was like rolling thunder, making everyone's eardrums ache.
"All hail King Cold! All hail Lord Frieza!" King Vegeta was the first to stand, his posture extremely low, his tone respectful to the point of being fawning.
King Cold landed slowly with Frieza.
Just as their feet were about to touch the ground, Whitley caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye of a group of strangely shaped figures with exaggerated movements who had appeared in the open space at the front of the square—the Ginyu Force!
They were striking their iconic, cringe-inducingly bizarre poses!
"..." Whitley's mouth twitched imperceptibly, and he quickly lowered his head, afraid he wouldn't be able to stop himself from showing a reaction.
Those clowns, they never forget to show off wherever they go.
"Ohohoho, King Vegeta, there's no need for such formalities."
Frieza's unique, teasing, and cold voice sounded. He sized up the Saiyan king before him with great interest. The aura emanating from his small body caused the temperature of the entire square to plummet.
"Yes, Lord Frieza." King Vegeta lowered his posture even further.
King Cold, watching from the side like a spectator, spoke with a smile:
"King Vegeta, from this day forward, your Saiyan race will be under the full command of my son, Frieza. The Cold Force will also be officially renamed the Frieza Force!"
His voice carried an unquestionable authority.
"You'd better be on your toes. Frieza... is even more ruthless and cruel than I am."
Before King Cold could finish, Frieza gently raised a hand, interrupting his father.
His small body leaned forward slightly, his crimson eyes sweeping over the mass of kneeling Saiyan warriors below, a chilling smile on his face:
"Saiyans~"
His voice, clear and carrying a child-like glee, reached everyone's ears, yet it contained a chill that could freeze the soul.
"From today, I am your new master. Personally, I am very, very much looking forward to your performance... I hope you won't disappoint me, ohohoho."
As soon as he finished speaking, Frieza nonchalantly raised his hand, took a smaller, more streamlined scouter from a box held by an attendant, and casually placed it on his ear.
His crimson eyes slowly scanned the crowd in the square through the scouter's lens.
Every Saiyan his gaze passed over felt as if they were being stared at by a venomous snake. They couldn't help but press their bodies lower, not even daring to breathe.
"Oh my?"
Frieza suddenly let out a frivolous sound of inquiry, as if he had discovered something interesting. He pointed his thin, white finger towards the top of a tall building behind the palace.
"It seems we have some not-so-friendly little bugs."
Zing! Zing! Zing!
Several thin but extremely condensed crimson energy beams, like the Reaper's scythe, shot out from his fingertip in an instant!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The sturdy alloy buildings were easily pierced, torn apart, and blown up as if they were made of paper!
Flames shot into the sky, and thick smoke billowed! The figures at the top of the building, holding weapons and seemingly trying to observe in secret, only managed to let out half a scream before being turned to cosmic dust in the violent explosions!
The shockwave even reached the edge of the square, causing a wave of suppressed gasps and commotion.
Whitley kept his head down in the crowd, cursing inwardly, "This bastard... showing off his power right after arriving!"
He quietly raised his eyes and glanced forward. He saw that King Vegeta's head was bowed even lower, his broad shoulders seeming to tremble slightly.
Only amused scorn remained in Whitley's heart. "The King of the Saiyans? Heh... in the face of absolute power, he's nothing more than a dog. How... utterly laughable."
It seemed Frieza found the boring slaughter tasteless.
The smile on his face disappeared, replaced by his usual lofty indifference.
He casually tossed the new model scouter onto the ground in front of King Vegeta, making a crisp sound on impact.
"Here, Saiyans. This is a 'little gift' for you. The latest model power scouter, five hundred of them. As for the functions... they're a bit complex, figure them out yourselves."
He left them with one last light-hearted sentence, "If you run out, you can always ask me for more, ohoho~."
With a laugh, he stopped looking at anyone and leisurely flew back to his ship.
King Cold followed closely behind with a hearty laugh.
The massive fleet, just as it had arrived, once again turned into a cloud of destruction, brutally pushing through the atmosphere and disappearing into the dim sky in the blink of an eye.
A meeting filled with intimidation, slaughter, and humiliation ended so anticlimactically.
A deathly silence fell over the square.
After a long time, King Vegeta slowly stood up, his face ashen and his fists clenched so tightly his nails were about to dig into his flesh.
The high-ranking officials around him immediately swarmed up, discussing something in low voices.
Whitley had no interest in staying.
He just wanted to immediately return to his small house and continue to temper his strength.
In his opinion, rather than indulging in impotent rage or discussing futile countermeasures here, it was more practical to throw a few tens of thousands more punches and raise his power level a little.
However, just as he was about to turn and leave, a hurried palace official stopped him.
The official seemed to be in a rush to report back and spoke to Whitley extremely quickly:
"Whitley! Go back and prepare! Next month, His Highness Prince Vegeta will awaken from the incubation pod! At that time, your duties as the prince's guard will take effect immediately! You must guard His Highness at all times, without fail!"
"What?!"
Whitley was shocked and blurted out, "Didn't you say there were still six months?!"
The official glared at him impatiently, his tone reprimanding:
"Is the time of His Highness's awakening something you can question? This is King Vegeta's order! Go back and prepare, and await the formal notice!"
After speaking, he ignored the stunned Whitley and hurriedly turned to rejoin the stream of people returning to the palace.
Whitley stood frozen, watching the official's receding back and the oppressive silhouette of the palace, feeling a chill crawl up his spine.
Vegeta is waking up six months early?!
Frieza had just left, and Vegeta was awakening ahead of schedule... This was no coincidence!
King Vegeta felt an unprecedented sense of crisis. He desperately needed his son—the "hope" he believed in—to grow up as quickly as possible to cope with the terrifying pressure brought by Frieza!
And Whitley, the "guard," had naturally been forcibly strapped to this war chariot that was accelerating towards a cliff!
"This is trouble..."
Whitley's brow furrowed tightly. Guard Vegeta? That proud, cruel prince who treated human life like dirt?
His hidden power level of two thousand was nothing in front of him!
The slightest misstep could result in him being cleaned up like trash by other guards. It was best for him not to expose himself right now.
Moreover, staying by Vegeta's side meant the risk of exposing himself to the inner circle of the Frieza Force would increase dramatically!
The use of the scouter had to be even more cautious, and the skill of hiding his ki had to be cultivated to the extreme!
He took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the chaos in his mind.
Panicking wouldn't solve any problems!
"Forget it!" A ruthless glint flashed in Whitley's eyes.
"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it! So what if it's early! If Vegeta wakes up early, the opportunity for me to escape to Earth can also come earlier! It might not be a bad thing!"
As for the orders of the royal family? Heh.
The only thing he could truly rely on was the power clenched in his own fists!
"Thirteen thousand... it's not enough! Far from enough!"
He turned around, no longer looking at the oppressive palace, his gaze firmly fixed on the direction of his own small house.
The new gravity room would be ready in a week. Ten times gravity would be his new starting point!
"Now... back to do another thirty thousand push-ups!"