Dragon Ball Roshi

The endless barrage of stones showed no sign of stopping.

In an instant, a bright aura of Ki erupted around Taro, forming a protective shield that encased his entire body. The countless stones hurtling toward him vanished silently into the radiant barrier, gradually sticking to its surface. Stone after stone accumulated until they formed a thick, rocky layer around the shield.

Then, with a sudden burst, the shield detonated, sending every stone shattering into fine debris.

Landing gently on the planet's rugged surface, Taro allowed himself a small smile. He opened his mouth to ask the Kai why he had reached out but quickly realized no sound emerged from his throat. It dawned on him—he was in the vacuum of space, where sound could not travel.

The Northern Kai, evidently aware of Taro's predicament, spoke directly into his mind:

"Just speak in your thoughts; I can hear you. It's been a while since I last checked on you, and I didn't expect you'd already adapted to 500 times gravity!"

Taro strolled across the barren surface of the small planet, its freezing environment no match for his enhanced physique.

"Tell me honestly." the Kai's voice probed again. "what's your current power level?"

Stopping in his tracks, Taro raised his head to gaze at the vast, dark expanse of space above him.

"I'm not entirely sure," he replied internally. "How about you help me figure it out, Kai-sama?"

"Alright then. Try releasing your full energy!"

"Understood."

Meanwhile, inside the spaceship orbiting the planet, the rodent-like figure finished feeding the seven colorful birds and shooed them off to play.

Suddenly, the ship trembled.

"What's going on now? Is it that guy again?"

Muttering to himself, the scientist walked over to a telescope positioned by the ship's viewport. Pressing his eye to the lens, he focused on the planet's surface below.

Sure enough, there he was—Taro, now engulfed in an intense, blazing white aura. Even through the telescope's lens, the rodent could feel the overwhelming presence radiating from him.

Beneath Taro's feet, the planet's rocky surface silently buckled and collapsed under the pressure of his unleashed Ki.

Taro's energy soared to its peak.

"Well, how is it?" Taro asked through his thoughts.

The Northern Kai took a long pause before replying, his voice tinged with astonishment:

"First of all, you're insanely strong now! By universal standards, I'd estimate your power level to be around 200,000. And if you can still use Muken…"

"Fifteenfold," Taro interjected. "I can currently push Muken to fifteen times my base strength."

The Kai audibly gasped in Taro's mind.

"Fifteen? How has it increased again?!"

"Muken stems from my ocular abilities." Taro explained, his tone nonchalant as he strolled along the planet's surface. "My eyes can now reach a multiplier of thirty-two times, but my mental stamina limits how far I can push Muken. I simply don't have the focus to fully synchronize the two yet."

The Northern Kai whistled in amazement.

"At fifteenfold, your effective power is equivalent to a warrior with 3,000,000! At that level, you might not even need to fear those two monsters…"

Taro's eyes narrowed slightly. "Those two monsters?" He recalled the video the rodent had shown him of two individuals annihilating planets with ease.

"You're talking about Frieza's two subordinates, aren't you?"

The Kai hesitated. "Well, let's just say you don't need to worry about them for now. It's unlikely you'll run into those two. But let me warn you, they're formidable—far more trouble than you can imagine."

After a brief pause, the Kai added, his voice still tinged with awe: "If you activate those strange eyes of yours… wouldn't your power spike to 6,000,000 in an instant? That's beyond incredible! A warrior with only 200,000 achieving the might of 6,000,000… If someone were to try that with my Kaioken technique, they'd need to hit thirtyfold! But honestly… who could endure such strain?"

However, even with all that power, the gap between Taro and the tyrant Frieza remained unimaginably vast.

Taro smiled faintly but said nothing.

The Northern Kai's voice carried a mix of doubt and curiosity:

"To be honest, after you left, I meticulously reexamined the Kaioken technique over and over again. I finally discovered its inherent limitation. Beyond the immense physical toll it takes, there's another critical factor: once a fighter's base power exceeds 10 million, Kaioken becomes unusable!"

Taro nodded in understanding. No wonder, in the original storyline, Son Goku never used Kaioken after his battles on Namek.

"What about your Muken?" the Kai asked. "Can it continue to function indefinitely?"

Taro shook his head slightly, replying in his thoughts: "For now, I haven't found its limit… but I have a feeling that Muken—or more accurately, my ocular abilities—does have a ceiling. I just haven't reached it yet."

The Northern Kai fell into a long silence. "Not reached the limit yet? Does that mean the multiplier can increase even further?" The very thought was overwhelming to him.

Raising his head, Taro glanced at the spaceship hovering in orbit. In the next instant, he disappeared from the planet's surface. The 500-times gravity no longer posed any challenge or offered any room for improvement.

Back on the ship, the rodent-like scientist nearly jumped out of his fur when Taro materialized out of nowhere.

"Can you stop popping up like that? You'll scare someone to death!" Fabeli scolded, wide-eyed.

The seven colorful birds, as if sensing Taro's return, fluttered out from a corner of the ship. Chirping excitedly, they flitted around him in circles.

Taking a deep breath of the oxygen-rich air aboard the ship, Taro felt a sense of comfort. He still preferred the natural act of breathing, using his lungs, rather than surviving purely on his enhanced physique. Extending his arm, he allowed the seven lively little creatures to perch on him.

"Prepare for departure." Taro said calmly.

"Where to next?" Fabeli rolled his eyes and turned to head back to the control room.

Taro's calm voice sounded behind him:

"I meant, the journey is over. If you want to return to your home planet, I can take you there right now."

The rodent abruptly turned back to see Taro gently playing with the seven colorful birds perched on his arm.

After a moment of contemplation, Fabeli snorted.

"Go back? To that doomed planet? No way!"

Taro looked at him seriously.

"I truly feel bad for taking you from your home out of necessity. If there's anything I can do for you, just say it. If it's within my power, I'll make it happen."

The scientists rolled his eyes again.

"Sure, be my bodyguard. Would you agree to that?"

"Impossible. I have my own matters to attend to."

"Then stop wasting time. Just find a decent planet for resupply, and go wherever you need to go!" He retorted, heading back to the control room without turning back. "And let me be clear—the ship is mine! You've got that fancy long-range teleportation trick and can survive in space. You don't really need a ship, do you?"

Taro watched him disappear around the corridor and then spoke aloud: "Kai-sama, are you still there?"

"What's up?"

"Tell me the location of the best planet for resupply. I'll teleport the ship there directly."

"Got it. Hold on…"

Taro let the seven birds fly off, then teleported out of the ship. Floating in the vacuum of space, he placed one hand on the vessel's unique metallic hull.

The Northern Kai's voice returned with a thoughtful tone. "Just remembered something… Why is it that after completing 500-times gravity training, your power level only reached 200,000? I just did the math. Even accounting for time, if you'd truly trained under that level of gravity, your power should have at least hit 1,000,000!"

Taro fell silent, glancing at his arm before answering: "I think it's because of my second wish. The wish allowed me to survive in the vacuum of space, likely by giving my body a mechanism to adapt to external pressure changes."

He paused.

"I'm not entirely sure about the specifics, but from my experience, my body now adapts to high-gravity environments much faster than my power level increases. This drastically reduces the efficiency of my training."

The Kai hummed thoughtfully.

"Ah, that makes sense then…"

Suddenly, the Kai's antennas twitched. He recalled the earlier sighting of Frieza's elite special forces. A sly grin spread across his face as an idea formed. If Taro could handle it, letting him clean up some trouble wasn't too unreasonable, right?

He finally relayed the coordinates of a planet: "The one you're facing now, about half the distance to Namek from your current location. Remember the interstellar coordinate technique I taught you? Clear your mind and synchronize with me. I'll help guide you."

"Thank you." Taro said, closing his eyes and placing his hand firmly on the ship's hull as his mind fell into stillness.

---

Meanwhile, in the control room, the scientist was preparing to activate the ship when a sudden thud reverberated through the vessel. The sound startled him. He bolted out of the room and hurried to the hatch, peering through a nearby window.

The sight stunned him.

Outside, lush greenery stretched as far as the eye could see, the sky an endless expanse of vibrant blue. There was no trace of the cold, lifeless void of space they had just been in.