Cranberry's scanner suddenly shrieked as a massive battle power closed in from behind. Across the village, the elder spotted a golden streak tearing through the sky, and for the first time since Moro's arrival, hope returned to his face.
The warrior carried the power of dozens of Namekians who had fused together along the way. He came straight at Moro's back, pouring everything that remained of their people's resistance into a single punch.
He never got the chance to land it.
Without even turning around, Moro swept an arm behind him and drove his hand straight through the Namekian's abdomen. The warrior's charge stopped dead as blood ran down Moro's arm, and the villagers who had been waiting for their savior could only watch in horror.
Moro finally glanced over his shoulder at the dying Namekian hanging from his arm.
"This is the savior you were so proud of?"
He pulled his hand free and casually tossed the warrior aside, leaving him bleeding heavily on the ground.
"My apologies. I killed him before I even got a good look at his face."
The news reached Moori almost immediately.
Inside the hidden cave, the Grand Elder sank to his knees as the life force they had placed all their hopes in disappeared. "How could this happen? He was our last hope."
Vegeta could feel the answer. Moro's power had climbed far beyond what they remembered from their own battle, and the realization only made his helplessness harder to stomach.
"He's gotten stronger."
"He must've drained more people while we were unconscious," Goku said. "That would explain it."
Vegeta drove a fist into his palm, furious that they were still confined to this room while Moro slaughtered people outside. "So we just hide here because we're too weak to fight?"
Eska looked down. "I'm sorry. If my healing were stronger, maybe I could—"
"Hey, don't blame yourself," Goku interrupted. "If you hadn't helped us, we'd already be dead."
That did little to improve the situation. Delta quietly confirmed that the latest village had fallen, which meant Moro now possessed four Dragon Balls.
Goku frowned at that. "How is he finding them so quickly?"
Vegeta had already worked it out.
"He isn't searching for the Dragon Balls themselves. He's searching for the villages. Frieza did the same thing back then—find a Namekian settlement, attack it, and take whatever Dragon Ball they were protecting."
"Right... and Moro can sense ki."
That gave Goku an idea. If Moro was following the Namekians rather than the Dragon Balls, then there was no reason to leave the final one anywhere near a village.
"We should move the Dragon Ball we have here somewhere else. And tell everyone who's still alive to abandon the villages and scatter. If they stay together, Moro can just keep finding them."
Moori immediately began contacting the surviving Namekians, while Goku suggested that he and Vegeta suppress their own ki as well. Vegeta clearly hated the idea of hiding from an enemy, but with both of them barely able to stand, drawing Moro's attention would accomplish nothing except getting themselves killed.
At the village Moro had just destroyed, the search for the Dragon Ball was already underway.
Nothing moved among the houses anymore. Moro had killed the villagers and drained their remaining energy, leaving Cranberry to search the abandoned buildings one after another.
"Damn it! Not one of them would say where they hid the thing!"
Moro barely paid attention to his complaints. His senses swept across the ruined settlement until they settled on one particular house.
"Look in there."
Cranberry hurried inside and returned moments later carrying a Dragon Ball. "How did you know?"
Moro's smile made the answer obvious enough.
Cranberry stared at the Dragon Ball in his hands. "You can sense these things now too?"
That was a worrying development. If Moro no longer needed a scanner—or Cranberry—to locate them, then Cranberry's usefulness was disappearing very quickly.
Moro had already turned toward the horizon.
"I found another one."
He launched himself into the sky and soon caught sight of a Namekian fleeing with a Dragon Ball. The poor man never had a chance. Moro dropped on him from above, killed him with a single blow, and took the Dragon Ball before continuing his hunt.
It wasn't long before six Dragon Balls had been collected aboard Cranberry's spacecraft.
"You really are incredible, Moro," Cranberry said, forcing as much enthusiasm into his voice as he could. "Six already."
"The final one is near the place where we first landed."
"The first village?" Cranberry hurried back to the controls. "I know where that is."
The spacecraft changed course.
Back beneath the ruins of Moori's village, Goku and Vegeta were trying to prepare for a fight they both knew they were in no condition to win.
Moori had managed to replace their destroyed clothes, even reproducing the Galactic Patrol insignia. Goku was perfectly happy with the result, while Vegeta immediately pointed out that the emblem had been unnecessary.
More important was the tiny amount of ki Goku had recovered.
"I'm close," he said, concentrating. "Just a little more and I should be able to use Instant Transmission. Once I can do that, I can go back and get some Senzu Beans."
Before that could happen, both Saiyans felt Moro approaching.
Goku's attention snapped toward the surface. "He's coming here."
Moori stiffened. "Here?"
"Did he find our ki?" Delta asked.
"No." Goku shook his head. "There are still survivors elsewhere. If he was just following ki, he wouldn't be heading straight for us."
Vegeta's face darkened as the only remaining explanation became obvious.
"He can sense the Dragon Ball now."
That destroyed the last advantage they thought they had. Hiding the Dragon Ball somewhere else would make no difference if Moro could simply track it directly.
Delta looked toward Goku again. "Ken really isn't coming?"
"He should still be in Universe 6," Goku said as he finished dressing. "I don't think he's coming."
He headed for the door and told the Namekians to stay hidden. Moori tried to stop him, pointing out that neither Saiyan had recovered enough to fight, while Eska looked equally worried.
Goku knew they were right. It didn't change anything.
"We can't keep hiding while he comes straight to us."
Vegeta pulled on the rest of his clothes and followed him outside. "We'll deal with him somehow."
They climbed onto a high cliff overlooking the surrounding landscape and waited for Moro's ship to appear. Neither of them had enough strength left for a proper transformation, much less another prolonged battle.
Vegeta broke the silence first.
"Kakarot, if you survive this, restore New Namek."
The request caught Goku off guard. Coming from Vegeta, it sounded uncomfortably close to a final wish.
"Yeah. I will."
Vegeta gave a faint laugh. "Of course, with the shape we're in, either one of us surviving would already be a miracle."
"Probably," Goku admitted. "Still gotta try."
Moro had already sensed them aboard the approaching spacecraft.
"So they survived after all."
Cranberry looked toward the distant cliff. "Vegeta and Goku? Those two really are hard to kill."
"They've been hiding all this time like frightened Galactic Patrolmen." Moro's amusement faded into irritation. "I'm tired of them getting in my way. This time, I'll finish them properly."
The spacecraft soon came into view.
Goku and Vegeta gathered what little ki they had left. There was no strategy left to discuss and no reserve of power waiting to save them; if they attacked now, they would be gambling their lives on whatever strength remained in their battered bodies.
They went anyway.
The two Saiyans had barely left the cliff when a much larger spacecraft roared overhead, passing directly between them and Moro.
Goku recognized the Galactic Patrol ship at once, but what really caught his attention was the figure standing on top of it. Merus stood against the rushing wind with a blaster in hand, already taking aim.
"Merus!"
Cranberry spotted the insignia a second later. "The Galactic Patrol?!"
Merus fired twice.
Both shots struck the wings of Moro's spacecraft, tearing them apart and sending the ship into an uncontrolled dive. Moro abandoned it before the crash, rising into the air while Cranberry desperately fought with the controls.
"Irico, take us up!" Merus called.
Irico pulled the Galactic Patrol ship into a steep climb after Moro.
A barrage of energy blasts came down to meet them, but Merus didn't retreat. He jumped from the hull and used the incoming blasts almost like stepping stones, touching down on one after another just long enough to propel himself forward. By the time Moro realized what he was doing, Merus was already within striking distance.
A nozzle extended from the device around Merus's wrist.
Moro barely had time to look at it before a stream of liquid sprayed across his body. The substance spread instantly, hardening around his arms and torso until his entire body was locked in place.
"What is this?"
Merus seized the restraint and dragged Moro down with him, slamming the ancient wizard into the ground hard enough to crater the surface. Moro immediately flooded his body with power and tried to tear himself free, but the material refused to give.
"We developed this specifically to capture you," Merus explained as he landed nearby. "You won't break it that easily."
"You damn Galactic Patrol!"
Goku and Vegeta landed beside him, both visibly relieved.
"Merus! You came at the perfect time!"
"I'm glad you two are still alive," Merus said.
Goku looked at the immobilized Moro. "So can we just take him back to prison now?"
"Unfortunately, no. This won't hold him forever. It only gives us a little time."
Merus immediately looked toward the ship overhead.
"Ken! Now!"
Goku's eyes lit up. "Ken's here too?!"
Something pink dropped out of the spacecraft before Ken answered.
Majin Buu hit the ground with a heavy thud.
Goku's relief grew even stronger. "Buu! Then this should be easy!"
"Not yet." Ken descended beside Jaco and glanced at the motionless Majin. "He's asleep."
Goku looked from Ken to Buu. "He's asleep now?"
Ken raised his staff.
"It's time to start separating the Grand Supreme Kai from him."
"The Grand Supreme Kai?"
Before Goku could ask anything else, Ken pointed the staff at Buu and released a pulse of power.
Buu immediately sat upright.
The body was still Majin Buu's, but the moment his eyes settled on Moro, there was no trace of Buu's usual childish personality in them. Something far older had awakened inside him.
The Grand Supreme Kai stared at Moro as memories buried for millions of years returned all at once.
"Moro..."
Recognition hardened into anger.
"I remember you. You're the criminal I captured."
Moro stared back in disbelief. "Grand Supreme Kai? You're still alive?"
"You killed so many of my friends!"
Buu's body reacted to the Grand Supreme Kai's fury, steam blasting from the vents on his head as his ki rose sharply.
Moro's shock turned into hatred just as quickly.
"You bastard! I've waited ten million years for this!"
His power surged hard enough to finally rupture Merus's restraint.
As Moro tore himself free, Merus retreated to Ken's side.
"What now?"
"We let them fight," Ken said calmly. "The Grand Supreme Kai has only just awakened. Give him a little time to recover."
Merus nodded, although his attention soon returned to something Ken had apparently told him earlier.
"Ken... about that method you mentioned. I really can use it to increase my Angel power?"
Ken glanced at him with a smile. "You don't believe me?"
"I do."
There was no hesitation in Merus's answer.
Nearby, the Grand Supreme Kai was still staring down the enemy who had haunted his memories for ten million years.
"I haven't forgotten what you did, Moro. I won't let you rampage through the universe again!"
His ki surged through Buu's body, but Merus immediately noticed something wrong.
"That's unfortunate. He can barely access Buu's real power."
Ken nodded. "That actually makes separating them easier. Leaving the Grand Supreme Kai buried inside Buu forever wouldn't make much sense."
The Grand Supreme Kai could hear them, but he was more surprised by what he was feeling inside his borrowed body.
Majin Buu had become absurdly powerful.
The reserves buried inside him were far beyond anything the Grand Supreme Kai remembered, yet whenever he tried to draw on that strength, only a tiny fraction answered. It was like standing beside an ocean and being allowed to scoop out a single cup.
So Buu has become this strong...
And this is all I can use?
There would be time to understand it later.
Moro was already waiting.
The Grand Supreme Kai charged, and Moro answered by ripping another wall of fire from beneath New Namek. Flames exploded across his path, but the Grand Supreme Kai never slowed. He drove straight through the burning wall, crossed the remaining distance in an instant, and buried his fist in Moro's face.
The blow launched Moro backward across the battlefield.
After everything the ancient wizard had done to New Namek, someone had finally hit him hard enough to wipe the smile off his face.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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