Vegeta felt the countdown in his bones."This is it," he growled. "If we hesitate, it's over."Broly stared at the Tree, chest heaving. "I can reach it."Vegeta snapped his head toward him. "Don't."
Above them—
VANISH.BOOM.
Frieza and Buu reappeared midair, fists colliding with enough force to rupture the sky itself. Shockwaves tore downward through the planet, ripping continents apart.
VANISH.BOOM.BOOM.
Each impact sent a new fracture racing toward the Tree. The cavern shook violently. A massive root snapped free and crashed into the abyss below. Broly clenched his fists.
"I can get there," he said again.
Vegeta grabbed his arm. "You'll be torn apart. The planet won't let you through!"Broly looked at him—eyes burning, resolved."Then I won't let it stop me."He tore free.
Before Vegeta could react, Broly launched himself straight into the unstable gravity field surrounding the Tree—raw power erupting around him, forcing space apart through sheer will.
The backlash hit instantly.
Broly screamed as gravity crushed inward from every direction, his aura tearing at his own body as much as the planet's defenses.
"DAMN IT—BROLY!" Vegeta roared.
Above—
BOOM.
Frieza drove Buu straight through a mountain range, detonating the planet's crust. Buu bounced back laughing, reforming midair.
"Harder!" Buu taunted. Frieza's aura flared brighter, colder."This ends now."
Below—
Broly's body began to fail. Vegeta moved without thinking. He vanished. Reappeared beside Broly in the heart of the distortion. The pressure hit him like a wall. Bones screamed. Ki strained. Vegeta wrapped an arm around Broly's chest and forced his power outward—not explosive, not reckless—anchoring.
"Idiot," Vegeta snarled through clenched teeth. "You don't do this alone."
With a roar, he slammed his ki into the collapsing field—not to break it, but to cut a path.
The gravity tore sideways.
The two of them were thrown forward—
—and crashed hard at the base of the Tree.
They skidded across fractured stone, stopping just short of the massive roots.
For a heartbeat
Silence.
The Tree pulsed weakly, its glow dim but steady. They made it. Vegeta lay on one knee, breathing hard, blood trailing from his mouth. Broly pushed himself up beside him, shaken but alive.
"…You saved me," Broly said quietly. Vegeta didn't look at him."Tch," he muttered. "Next time, listen."Above them, the planet screamed again. The damage was getting closer.
Cracks raced along the cavern walls, converging on the Tree's core.
And far above, Frieza and Majin Buu vanished again—
VANISH—
BOOM BOOM BOOM
Each impacts shaking the Tree harder. Vegeta stood. Broly stood with him. They faced the ancient trunk together. Whatever choice they made now, there would be no undoing it. The Tree waited. And the planet continued to die.
The Tree shuddered one last time. A single branch cracked free from the trunk and lowered itself—slow, deliberate—revealing one fruit. Only one. Vegeta froze. Broly stared.
"…One?" Broly whispered.
Vegeta clenched his jaw. Of course. Power was never generous. Without a word, Vegeta stepped forward, seized the fruit, and tore it in half. The sound echoed unnaturally loud. The glow dimmed, as if the Tree itself had accepted the choice. Vegeta handed one half to Broly.
—BOOM BOOM BOOM
Death Beams slammed into the ground around them, carving perfect, smoking holes in a tightening circle. The shockwave blasted them backward, fruit still in hand as they skidded across the stone.
Vegeta twisted midair, landing hard. Broly rolled, barely keeping his grip. A familiar, chilling voice echoed through the collapsing cavern.
"Well, well… sharing?"
Frieza hovered above them, aura sharp and gleaming, eyes locked on the fruit—not with hunger, but calculation.
"That," he continued, "looks important."
Above him—
Buu slammed into Frieza like a meteor."FUN FUN FUNNNN!" Buu cackled, hammering Frieza with elastic blows, stretching, snapping, reforming with every hit.
Frieza vanished and reappeared behind Buu, fist buried in his back.
BOOM. Buu's body exploded into fragments—then instantly reassembled, laughing even harder.
"Ooooh! You're serious now!"
The planet lurched violently. Massive chunks of the cavern ceiling collapsed between Vegeta and Broly. Vegeta pushed himself up, eyes flicking between the fight above and the fruit in his hand."They're not stopping," he growled.
Cracks reached the roots.
Frieza blasted Buu point-blank, screaming in fury as Buu wrapped around him like a living restraint.
"I WILL NOT BE TOYED WITH!"
The Tree began to crumble.
And above them, laughter and rage tore the sky apart as the world reached its breaking point.
A cold pressure slid across the battlefield. Frieza's eyes narrowed not in surprise, but irritation.
A familiar silhouette descended through the collapsing sky, aura smooth, controlled, merciless.
"…It took you that long?" Frieza sneered.
Cooler landed beside him, arms crossed, tail swaying calmly as the planet cracked beneath their feet.
"I had business to finish," Cooler replied flatly. "Unlike you, I don't abandon loose ends."
Buu tilted his head, grinning. "Oooh, another shiny one?"Cooler didn't even look at him.
"Handle this freak," Cooler said to Frieza, voice bored. "I want the monkeys."
His eyes shifted—locking onto Vegeta and Broly.
"And whatever they're holding," he added. "It looks… interesting."
Frieza smirked, wiping dust from his cheek as Buu bounced excitedly in place.
"With pleasure."
The ground split wide.
The Tree groaned, its light flickering violently.
Vegeta clenched the half-fruit in his hand, teeth grinding. Broly's aura began to leak…