"Future Kakarot."
"Past Vegeta."
Their eyes met, and Vegeta and Son Goku smiled at each other.
At this moment, the two of them saw only one another, as if the entire world had faded away, leaving just the two of them standing there.
This was an emotional resonance born across twenty years, between the Vegeta of the past and the Son Goku of the future.
The atmosphere instantly became heavy and oppressive. No one dared to speak, not even King Kai, who could not help swallowing nervously.
In the next instant, a sharp glint flashed through Vegeta's eyes. Like a primordial beast, his body moved, and he threw a punch straight at Son Goku.
This strike contained all of Vegeta's power in his base form.
Since reaching his current level, this was the only time he had truly gone all out.
Not for any other reason.
He wanted to see just how strong this Kakarot from twenty years in the future really was.
BOOM!!!!!
A terrifying, muffled explosion shook space itself. King Kai's planet felt as if it were about to collapse.
As the invisible shockwave expanded and finally dissipated, everything returned to stillness.
Vegeta's fist had been stopped, caught effortlessly by Son Goku with a single hand.
Son Goku calmly gripped Vegeta's punch. There was a hint of seriousness on his face, but the smile never faded.
"So this is your full strength, Vegeta?" Son Goku asked.
Hearing this, Vegeta curled his lips upward. He did not press further and naturally withdrew his hand.
Son Goku released him and continued.
"Incredible. I never imagined that you, twenty years ago, could reach this level. Compared to you, I am far behind."
"Spare me that nonsense," Vegeta snapped sharply.
"You think this kind of humility makes you polite? Even in the future, you are still just as self righteous."
For some reason, whenever Kakarot spoke like this, Vegeta could not stop himself from wanting to put him in his place.
Hearing that, the mature expression Son Goku had been wearing immediately vanished. He scratched his head awkwardly and laughed.
"Figures. You are the only one who can make me feel like this."
"What feeling? Like you are asking to get beaten up?" Vegeta chuckled, narrowing his eyes.
The tense atmosphere instantly dissipated through their exchange, and everyone around finally let out a sigh of relief.
They had nearly thought something terrible was about to happen. Vegeta's opening strike had not been a bluff. That was a genuine attack.
It was just that their strength was far too low to perceive it properly. Son Goku, however, had immediately understood. It was a test.
"Vegeta from the past," King Kai finally seized the chance to speak.
"May I ask what your purpose is in coming to my planet?"
After all, this involved crossing the boundary between life and death. It was no small matter.
If Son Goku had been alive, King Kai might have permitted it. But Vegeta's case was different. This was an unauthorized crossing and should not have been allowed under normal circumstances.
"Since you already know of my existence, why ask such pointless questions?" Vegeta replied coldly.
"What I really want to know is this. How did Earth in the future end up like that?"
He swept his gaze across everyone present.
"Where were all of you? At the very least, you, King Kai, could have contacted Bulma through some means and told her the exact coordinates of Namek so she could revive everyone with the Dragon Balls."
His voice grew sharper.
"But instead, for fifteen years, Bulma could not find Namek. Gohan and Trunks struggled desperately to protect Earth from the androids, while you all hid here."
Vegeta locked eyes with Son Goku.
"So tell me. Was it because you could not help, or because you would not?"
As Vegeta finished speaking, everyone froze.
There was no doubt about it. This was an interrogation.
While Bulma bore all the suffering, these people had been living in peace here.
"That was my decision," Son Goku finally spoke, his voice subdued.
"After thinking it through again and again, I asked King Kai to keep it hidden."
He hesitated before continuing.
"You might not understand, but I realized something. Almost every disaster Earth has faced was connected to me. Bulma once said that most of our enemies appeared because of me."
"So I thought that maybe if I stayed dead, Earth would."
Vegeta's eyes darkened.
"Stayed dead?" Vegeta sneered.
"Kakarot, so you really believed that if you died, Earth would return to peace?"
His voice rose with fury.
"You caused the crisis, then chose to escape it. You dumped the future onto a Gohan who had not even grown up yet."
Vegeta's aura flared.
"If I had not come, he would be dead. Bulma would be dead. My future son would be dead, all paying the price for your decision."
"Unbelievable."
Vegeta's power surged again, pressure crashing down on everyone.
If these people had already reincarnated, then Earth's fall might have made sense.
But no. They had all been sitting safely on King Kai's planet, watching Earth march toward destruction.
Son Goku fell silent, utterly unable to refute him. His face was filled with bitterness and regret.
"I know. It was my fault," Son Goku said softly.
"I should have waited until I became strong enough, then asked King Kai to contact Namek and revive us."
Hearing that, Vegeta was stunned for a split second, then even angrier.
Right.
He had almost forgotten.
King Kai could directly contact the current Grand Elder of Namek.
It could have been solved with a single message.
Yet somehow, things had spiraled into this nightmare.
If Kakarot had revived, even Androids seventeen and eighteen would not have mattered. Even Lightning Cell would have been nothing to him.
That punch earlier.
Vegeta had seen it clearly.
Son Goku's battle power had reached nine digits, over one hundred million in base form.
Base over one hundred million.
Vegeta did not believe for a second that future Kakarot had not reached Super Saiyan Second Grade.
He might have even reached Super Saiyan Third Grade.
"Right now," Vegeta growled, glaring at him,
"I really want to beat the crap out of you."
"It is not entirely Goku's fault," Krillin stepped forward at that moment.
"At first, all of us trained here under King Kai, planning to get strong fast, revive, and defeat the androids."
"But over time, we realized something. As the dead, reviving recklessly might cause even worse, unpredictable consequences in the future."
"So we made this choice together."
Krillin paused.
"And the Vegeta of this timeline agreed with it too, before the world completely collapsed."
That made Vegeta pause.
He was genuinely surprised.
But after thinking about it, it made sense.
This timeline's Vegeta had died before even reaching Super Saiyan. Sent to Hell, he lost all chance of growing stronger.
Even if King Yemma showed mercy, he was still truly dead.
Unlike Son Goku and the others, who still had the chance to improve.
Perhaps that Vegeta had accepted his failure.
Perhaps he had chosen to entrust the future to Kakarot's son, and his own.
As for himself, he had not even chosen reincarnation, preferring to fade away entirely.
"Enough," Vegeta finally said, restraining his emotions.
"There is no point dwelling on it anymore."
He looked at everyone, then back at Son Goku.
"I came here just to confirm a few things. Now that I understand the situation, my doubts are settled."
Son Goku's expression was dim, filled with remorse.
He was clearly regretting everything.
"Seeing you arrive," Son Goku said quietly,
"made me realize something."
"It is not true that disasters stop just because we die. We kept thinking about what we might cause if we acted, never considering that the world does not revolve around us."
He looked at Vegeta.
"Even if we did nothing, you still crossed time itself and came here."
His words fell like icy water over everyone present.
Yes.
Was this not exactly why they had made that decision in the first place, out of fear that the future might become even worse?
~~~~~~
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