The chapter opens with Dango aboard his ship, drifting through the silence of space. It had been six months since his last call with Nikel. He still kept in touch with her, but not as often, and it seemed she was managing well on her own. He continued to train, pushing his body relentlessly, but without proper guidance, his growth had begun to stall. He could feel it, and it irritated him.
Knowing his brother was likely on an entirely different level only made it worse. Determined not to lose again, Dango searched endlessly for someone stronger, someone who could push him further. He found warriors more powerful than himself, but none of them were masters worth following.
Now alone in the void, Dango looked slightly older as he considered his next move. His thoughts were cut short when his ship's system alerted him to two space pods trailing behind. He let out a quiet sigh, completely unsurprised. Vegeta's soldiers. They had been showing up more and more lately. It seemed this Vegeta had taken a particular interest in him.
Annoyed, Dango decided to end it quickly. He redirected his ship toward one of the countless remote planets scattered across space, choosing a barren world to settle things without interruption.
As the ship touched down in a rocky wasteland, Dango stepped out and rose into the sky. Moments later, the pursuing pods tore through the atmosphere, streaking toward him. He barely glanced at them. Their power was insignificant. Without hesitation, he raised his hand and fired two precise blasts. The pods exploded midair, vanishing in flames before they could even land.
As he prepared to leave, Dango suddenly sensed two powerful energy signatures. His eyes narrowed, and he turned just in time to block a pair of incoming punches. The impact sent him flying backward through the air.
He steadied himself, regaining focus, and looked closely at his attackers. They were from the same race as Zarbon, already in their transformed state. Their armor was scorched and cracked from the earlier blast, yet they stood completely unfazed.
One of them scoffed, calling Dango's attack cheap, saying that without transforming, they would have died.
Dango's gaze sharpened as he asked who they were.
They answered without hesitation. They were the elites of Vegeta's empire, twin brothers named Tarpon and Kisco. In their monstrous reptilian forms, with green hair, they looked nearly identical, aside from slight differences in their armor, with Tarpon's hair long and Kisco's cut short.
Then came the demand.
Dango wasn't leaving.
He was going back with them to the empire.
Dango's expression hardened. He had a tournament to prepare for, and they were wasting his time. Slipping into a battle stance, he told them plainly that if they didn't get out of his face right now, he would kill them.
He shot them a cold, lethal stare, forcing both of them to step back on instinct.
Kisco quickly regained his composure and tapped his scouter, surprise flashing across his face. The reading showed only ten thousand, pathetic compared to him and his brother, who measured thirty and thirty-five thousand. Still, Tarpon warned him not to get careless. According to their intel, Dango had the ability to suppress his power.
Both of them tightened their guard.
Then it began.
Dango moved first, bursting forward toward Kisco, identifying him as the weaker of the two. But before he could land a strike, Tarpon intercepted, driving a powerful kick toward him. Dango blocked, the impact echoing through the air, and immediately countered, shifting his focus to Tarpon.
The two clashed, trading blows at high speed, neither giving ground. Fists and kicks collided in rapid succession, the force of each strike shaking the space around them.
Then Kisco reentered the fight.
He appeared above Dango and brought his fist crashing down, smashing him straight into the ground below.
Dango recovered instantly, rocketing back into the air and landing a solid punch on Tarpon, followed immediately by a blast of energy. Before he could capitalize, Kisco intercepted, striking him to relieve the pressure.
The fight continued in the same pattern. Every time Dango had one of them on the ropes, the other would jump in. He realized he needed to separate them to gain the upper hand.
Focusing his energy, Dango powered up, forcing both brothers backward. Their scouters spiked to forty-one thousand, and shock registered on their faces. Seizing the moment, he unleashed a massive ki blast, scattering them for just a fraction of a second. That was all he needed.
Dango rocketed forward, headbutting Tarpon squarely in the face, sending blood flying. He twisted midair and delivered a crushing kick to Kisco's stomach. Both twins reeled, clutching their injuries, stunned by the force.
Wasting no time, Dango grabbed Tarpon by the leg, swung him with immense strength, and flung him far across the rocky terrain, leaving him struggling to recover.
Clutching his nose, Kisco glanced toward his brother, realizing it would take a while for Tarpon to recover. Dango's fist shot toward him. Kisco tried to block, but the strike barely registered.
Before he could react further, Dango's other hand came down in a sharp chop to his neck, making him gasp violently for air.
Dango didn't pause. He launched upward, propelling himself into the sky, and came down with a devastating axe kick that slammed into Kisco, the force reverberating through his body.
Before his spine could fully give way, Kisco collapsed to the ground, groveling in pain. He shouted that he would kill Dango, but before he could act, Dango extended his hand and fired a focused blast. The beam tore through him, vaporizing half his body in an instant.
Tarpon arrived just then, eyes wide with shock at the scene. Without hesitation, he turned and fled, leaving his brother behind.
Dango watched him go, his expression calm. He muttered under his breath, complaining about having to kill, yet he held back. There was a measure of mercy in him, and it was enough to let Tarpon live.
As he watched Tarpon's pod vanish into the distance, Dango froze in confusion. Tarpon suddenly emerged from the pod and shouted that more soldiers were coming, warning him to hope Vegeta still had use for him. Then, without hesitation, he fired a blast straight at him.
The beam streaked toward Dango, but instead of hitting him, it slammed into his ship, obliterating it in an instant. Rage exploded within Dango. He shouted after Tarpon, calling him a stupid lizard, and fired a massive blast in retaliation.
Tarpon didn't wait. He dove back into his pod and sped off, flipping Dango off as he escaped into space.
Dango hovered there, stranded and fuming, wondering why he hadn't finished him when he had the chance. Now he was stuck with no food, and hunger was already creeping in.
Knowing the planet was nothing but a wasteland, he doubted there was anything to eat, but he searched anyway. Days passed, then a week, and still he found nothing.
Eventually, he came across a large puddle of water. He drank deeply, taking in as much as he could. The hunger remained, but he realized he could last far longer without food than he had expected.
That realization unsettled him. His people, the Kottans, could never survive this long.
He looked down into the puddle, staring at his reflection. His hair, his eyes… and most of all, his tail.
For a moment, he said nothing, silently questioning what he truly was.
The words of the countless Vegeta soldiers he had faced over the past year echoed in his mind. One word stood out above the rest, the name they always called him. Some mocked him as a monkey, but most called him a Saiyan, whatever that truly meant.
He pushed the thought aside. There was no use dwelling on it now. He needed to find a way off the planet.
Another week passed.
Dango's hair had grown wilder, his eyes bloodshot, his body worn down by hunger. His mind began to slip. He stared ahead, imagining a massive chicken leg in his hand, and took a huge bite. For a moment, it felt real.
Then the illusion shattered.
It wasn't food.
It was Kisco's remains.
Dango paused, then simply shrugged and continued eating.
Another week passed, then another, and Dango grew weaker by the day. As the sun dipped below the horizon, he lay on the ground, eyes closed, his body drained.
Then he felt it.
Multiple power levels closing in on him, surrounding him. One of them was familiar.
His eyes snapped open just as Tarpon appeared above him, his face twisted with rage. Without hesitation, Tarpon fired a blast straight down.
Dango reacted instantly, flipping backward as the blast struck the ground, leaving a crater where he had been moments before.
Rising to his feet, he looked up.
Nearly twenty soldiers hovered in the sky.
At their head stood Tarpon in his base form, the handsome, pretty boy state he often wore. Then, with a sudden surge of power, he transformed into his monstrous, crocodile-like form.
Tarpon gave the order to charge, intent on breaking Dango while he was already weakened. One soldier rushed in, six more following close behind as they descended on him all at once.
They clashed instantly.
Even as they forced him back, Dango refused to yield. Weak or not, he wasn't about to be overwhelmed. In a sudden burst of speed, he blitzed one soldier, snapping his neck cleanly, then drove his fist straight through another's head.
The tide shifted.
As he pressed forward, the soldiers began to hesitate, slowly backing away. There was something wrong with this kid. He was a monster.
Dango only grew wilder. His tail lashed out, coiling around one soldier's throat as he choked him, while his other hand impaled another. Energy blasts rained down on him from every direction, but he pushed through, relentless.
But it couldn't last.
Mid-fight, his movements began to slow. The hunger, the exhaustion, it was finally catching up to him.
He reached the last grunt, who had fallen to the ground, begging for his life. Dango raised his hand to finish it, but before he could strike, Tarpon appeared.
The kick landed with devastating force, shattering Dango's ribs and sending him crashing deep into the side of a mountain. The grunt thanked Tarpon, relief flooding his voice.
Tarpon didn't respond. Instead, he crushed the soldier's scouter in his hand. Confused, the grunt looked up at him, asking why. Tarpon's face twisted into a devilish grin as he began to explain.
He didn't want anyone listening in.
Tarpon admitted their orders from the emperor had been to bring Dango back alive, but he had no intention of following them. He would report that the boy had taken his own life out of fear of their leader. After all, he wasn't about to let his brother's death go unanswered.
The grunt's expression twisted in shock. He called it treason, warning that if the Saiyans found out, they would both lose their heads.
Tarpon only smiled.
Then he vanished.
In an instant, he reappeared in front of the soldier, hand already buried in his chest. With a single motion, he tore out his heart, his expression turning cold with irritation. Tarpon dropped the heart to the ground.
"Time to tie up loose ends," he said.
Dango, bloodied and furious, launched a high-speed kick. Tarpon twisted just in time, blocking it and shoving him back. Both hovered in the air, locked in a tense standoff.
Their eyes met.
Tarpon's expression was one of pure satisfaction, reveling in the thought of finally finishing his brother's killer. Dango's eyes burned with untamed rage, wild and feral, fueled by nearly a month without food and the relentless struggle to survive. Both were locked in a deadly intent, each determined to end the other.
Tarpon relished the moment, glad he hadn't been finished off before, knowing he could make Dango suffer.
Then they charged.
Dango struck, but Tarpon moved with unnerving ease, dodging to the side and driving a powerful knee into his stomach, sending him staggering backward. Seizing the opportunity, Tarpon followed up with a crushing downward elbow. Dango tried to dodge, but his ribs flared in pain, and weeks without proper food had weakened him. He couldn't evade the strike and was sent crashing into the ground.
Not giving Dango a moment to catch his breath, Tarpon unleashed a flurry of energy blasts, raining them down relentlessly. Dango twisted and dodged as best he could, but a few still struck him, sending jolts of pain through his body.
As the dust settled, Tarpon smirked, hoping he hadn't killed Dango. He wanted him to suffer, to feel every bit of the pain he had caused. But when he scanned the battlefield, Dango had vanished.
Before he could react, Dango reappeared behind him, delivering a hard kick into his back. Tarpon's eyes widened in surprise. He still had fight left. His grin darkened as he looked at Dango's face, still carrying hope, still daring to believe he could get out of this. That didn't sit right with Tarpon. He vowed to crush that spirit, to beat the hope out of him.
The two clashed violently, exchanging rapid jabs and kicks. Tarpon struck with ruthless precision, a swift chop to Dango's throat nearly breaking it, followed by a backward spin kick to the back of his head.
Dango gritted his teeth, pushing through the pain, but Tarpon was not finished. He grabbed Dango's face, rocketing downward and slamming his head into the ground, carving a crater into the earth.
As he rained blows on the battered fighter, he sneered, calling him names, a dirty monkey, worthless, pathetic. Blood sprayed across the ground, and Dango's vision began to blur. He was close to death.
But he refused.
There was too much left unfinished. Too much to fight for. He had not even won the tournament yet. He would not die, not here, not now.
Taking in the sight of the moon, Dango realized it was strange that he had never seen it in full before, since planet Kotta only ever showed half of it. Then it hit him like a train.
Dango's pupils flashed crimson as a primal surge erupted through him. His body swelled, and Tarpon's eyes widened in terror. It had been so long since a Saiyan had done this that he could hardly believe it. He stopped, opting to flee, but Dango transformed in an instant. Thick brown fur burst across his skin, muscles exploded in size, and his fangs lengthened.
Leaping into the air, he had become a mighty Oozaru. Though he had no control, firing mouth beams at random, he spotted Tarpon as he tried to escape into a pod. Something deep within Dango's mind told him he had to finish the job.
Instantly, Dango fired a massive beam, but Tarpon barely escaped, terror still blazing in his eyes as his pod zipped into space.
Dango rampaged through the night, a storm of fury and destruction. By morning, he returned to base, battered, naked, and covered in deep wounds. His memories were gone, leaving only instinct and pain.
He awoke quickly and spotted a random soldier's space pod nearby. Weak and losing blood fast, he climbed inside and pressed random coordinates. The pod launched, hurtling through space, and a month later, it finally brought him to Namek.
When the pod crashed, the villagers gathered around, murmuring and arguing among themselves. Some believed it was an invasion, thinking it had come from the Vegeta Empire, while others insisted it was just a child.
As the confusion grew, a familiar figure stepped forward, demanding an explanation. The villagers fell silent as the figure approached Dango. It was Elderly Moori, and his gaze settled on the battered warrior, bringing the chapter to a close.
To Be Continued!