Ox-King roared, clawing his way from the rubble, and charged again. Ginyu met him head-on, a master pummeling a novice. The gap in speed and skill was a chasm; the enraged Minotaur couldn't land a single blow.
"The Boss is getting slaughtered! We have to do something!" Ox-King's crew, loyal to a fault, abandoned their fear and swarmed toward Ginyu in a desperate, clumsy rush.
"You garbage will not interfere with the Captain!" Guldo stepped forward, his beady eyes glowing. "BIND!" The charging Minotaurs froze mid-stride, paralyzed by his psychic power. With a contemptuous sweep of his arm, Guldo sent a wave of telekinetic force crashing into them, flattening the entire group in one move.
Ox-Sage looked at the Elder, his face pale. "Elder… they're too powerful. Not even a Berserker Warrior can stand against them. We must surrender. For the sake of the clan."
The Elder watched Ox-King being mercilessly beaten, his heart heavy. He let out a long, weary sigh. "Enough! Cease fighting! We… surrender." For the Minotaur people, survival often meant bowing to a greater strength. There was no shame in yielding to the undeniable.
"Hoh? More reasonable than you look," Ginyu remarked, bored. He delivered one final blow that sent Ox-King skidding back toward his people, a broken, heaving heap. The fight hadn't even been a warm-up.
The Minotaurs rushed to their fallen champion. The Elder helped prop him up. "Ox-King… let it go. We yield. They are… beyond us."
"Yield? NEVER!" Ox-King bellowed, shoving his kin aside with a surge of stubborn fury. His will was as immovable as the mountains. He gathered himself for another suicidal charge.
"Stubborn to the end. Admirable, in a pathetic way," Ginyu said. He didn't even move. A whip-fast kick lashed out, catching Ox-King in the chest and sending him cratering into the earth once more.
"Since you're so eager to die, I'll grant your wish." Ginyu raised a hand, a sphere of crackling violet energy coalescing above his palm. He took aim at the motionless form in the pit. "Farewell."
"BOSS!" his men screamed, but they were broken, helpless to intervene.
Ox-Sage and his followers turned their heads away, their spirit shattered. Resisting was unthinkable.
The energy blast shot forth—and was casually batted aside.
A figure had appeared in front of the crater as if stepping from the air itself. The deflected blast shot skyward and detonated kilometers away, its distant thump shaking the ground.
"Who… are you?" Ginyu stared, his scouter flashing a reading of 8,000. Impossible. No one at that level could swat his attack away like a bothersome insect.
Son Goku dusted off his hands. "Just a traveler. But I've taken a liking to this big lug. Mind letting him live?"
"Give you face? We're not acquainted," Ginyu retorted, his pride bristling. "And why should I?"
"Is that so? Pity." Son Goku sighed—and vanished.
He reappeared directly in front of Ginyu. There was no flashy technique, no gathered energy—just a simple, straight punch to the gut.
WHUMP.
Captain Ginyu's eyes bulged. All the air left his body in a pained gasp. He dropped to his knees, clutching his abdomen, his face a mask of agony and utter disbelief. "N-no… impossible… Your power is only eight thousand… How? Can you… suppress your battle power like I can?!"
Recoome, Jeice, and Guldo went pale. "He… he took down the Captain in one hit…" Jeice whispered, terror dawning. "Is there really someone besides Lord Frieza this strong?"
"Suppressing your power isn't your exclusive trick," Son Goku said, his voice calm. "And trash like you bores me. Go fetch Frieza. He's the one I'm looking forward to fighting."
"Hah! Arrogant fool!" Ginyu spat, blood on his lips, though his eyes still burned with fanatical loyalty. "You're strong, but you will never defeat Lord Frieza! He is the ultimate power in this universe! Only those who have witnessed his glory can understand!"
Son Goku ignored him and walked over to the crater. Ox-King was struggling to push himself up. "Hey. You alive in there?"
Ox-King looked up, his brutish face transforming into an expression of pure, dog-like admiration. He scrambled forward and wrapped his massive arms around Goku's leg. "Boss! New Boss! Let me be your follower! I'm great at smashing things, fighting, and chasing skirts!" He tried to wipe his bloody nose on Goku's pant leg.
"Get off!" Goku kicked him away lightly. "Don't get snot on my clothes, you oaf!"
Ox-King stood up, suddenly serious. "Boss, I respect you. And thank you for saving me. But don't call me an oaf. I'm just… a bit slow. Not stupid!"
Before Goku could reply, a triumphant, hacking laugh came from behind him.
"Ignoring the Captain has its price, you careless fool!"
Ginyu had used the distraction to flutter unsteadily into the air nearby. He spread his arms wide, his aura flaring erratically. "HAAAAAA—!"
The ground trembled. "BODY CHANGE!"
A translucent, ghostly version of Ginyu shot from his physical form, streaking toward Son Goku.
"Hm?" Goku froze, a strange, invasive pressure locking his limbs and seizing at his very core, as if trying to tear his spirit loose.
"The Captain's secret technique!" Jeice gasped, a flicker of hope returning.
"A body-snatching trick?" Son Goku's eyes narrowed. "You think you can steal this?"
He didn't struggle against the pulling force. Instead, he took a breath and roared. His suppressed power didn't just unlock—it detonated.
RUMBLE—BOOOOOOM!
An aura of golden light erupted from him, not in a controlled flare, but in a cataclysmic, continent-shaking explosion. The ground for miles around shattered and heaved. Mountains in the distance sheared apart and collapsed. The very sky seemed to recoil.
Against that sheer, volcanic eruption of power, Ginyu' ethereal form met an immovable wall. The Body Change technique, designed to overwhelm a weaker spirit, shattered against Goku's indomitable will and boundless energy like a wave against a cliff.