Vegeta's eyes widened.
He slowly turned his head.
"…My arm—"
Where his left arm should have been, there was nothing. No blood. No torn armor. Just space, as if it had been erased cleanly from existence.
His breath caught.
"No way…" he muttered, flexing his shoulder out of instinct. Nothing answered. And yet—
"…I don't even feel pain."
The water around him didn't ripple. It didn't react. It was as if the world refused to acknowledge what had been taken.
Vegeta clenched his remaining fist, expecting agony to finally crash into him.
Nothing.
No shock.No burning.No weakness.
Only a strange, hollow calm.
"Tch… so this is it?" he growled, teeth grinding. "Some illusion? Some mind trick?"
But deep down, he knew better.
This wasn't damage.
This was removal.
The voice returned, closer now—quiet, almost curious.
"Pain is for the living body."
Vegeta's eyes snapped forward."What are you saying?"
"You are not fully here."
The water beneath his feet shimmered, and for a split second, Vegeta saw himself reflected—not as he was, but fractured. Versions of him layered over one another. Whole. Broken. Victorious. Dead.
His missing arm flickered in and out of existence between reflections.
"…This place," Vegeta said slowly, rage simmering beneath his composure, "what did you do to me?"
A pause.
Then—
"I showed you what can be taken… without killing you."
Vegeta laughed—
"Hah… you think this scares me?" His aura began to rise, uneven but fierce. "I've lost everything before."
The water trembled for the first time.
"Then step forward, Prince of Saiyans," the voice said."And decide what you're willing to lose next."
Ahead of him, the water parted again—revealing a path deeper into the endless blue.
Vegeta took a step forward.
"One arm or not," he snarled, "I'm still standing."
And the ocean seemed to smile.
Vegeta took another step.
The moment his boot touched the path, the world shifted.
The water dropped away—not falling, not draining, but peeling back, like a curtain being pulled from reality. The sky darkened into a deep, endless blue, and the path beneath his feet became something else entirely: smooth, glass-like stone, reflecting countless versions of him.
One-armed. Whole. Broken. Victorious.
The grin was everywhere now, stretching across every reflection.
"You walk forward without hesitation," it murmured."Even incomplete."
Vegeta scoffed. "Spare me the lecture. If you're going to finish me, do it."
The reflections suddenly moved.
One stepped out.
It was Vegeta—uninjured, whole, arms crossed, eyes cold with familiar pride.
"You'd lose an arm and still pretend you're untouched," the reflection said. "That arrogance is why you keep suffering."
Vegeta's remaining fist clenched. "And you're still standing there talking. So what does that make you?"
The reflection smirked.
Then it ripped its own arm off—clean, painless—letting it fall into the void below.
"I let go," it said calmly. "You cling."
The grin in the world widened.
"This is the trial."
The reflections struck.
Not with fists—but with memories.
The first one reached him and suddenly Vegeta was back on Planet Vegeta, watching it burn, hearing Frieza's laugh echo through space. His knees buckled for half a second.
"Get out of my head!" Vegeta roared, blasting the reflection apart with a burst of ki.
Another stepped in.
He was kneeling before Frieza. Broken. Obedient.
Vegeta screamed and drove his fist through its chest. It shattered like glass, dissolving into the blue void.
More came.
Failure.Loss.Pride twisted into regret.
Each reflection tried to take something—his rage, his hatred, his will. With every one he destroyed, the pressure where his missing arm should be grew stronger, hotter, heavier.
The grin finally spoke again, slower now.
"You fight what you hate… but not what you fear."
The last reflection stepped forward.
This one didn't attack.
It stood calmly, missing the same arm Vegeta had lost.
"No throne," it said. "No enemy. No rage."
Vegeta froze. "…What are you?"
"I'm you," the reflection answered. "After you stop proving yourself."
Vegeta's aura flickered wildly.
"Lies," he snarled. "I am nothing without my strength."
The reflection shook its head. "Then why are you still standing?"
Silence.
The pressure exploded.
Vegeta screamed—not in pain, but in defiance.
"RAAAAGHHHHH!!"
The void cracked. The water-world shattered like glass. The grin recoiled for the first time, stretching, distorting.
"Impossible…"
Vegeta's missing arm reformed—not flesh, not energy, but something denser. Calmer. Controlled.
power.
Vegeta straightened, breathing hard, eyes burning brighter than before.
"I don't need anything taken from me," he said coldly."I decide what I want."
The grin faded into the depths.
The world collapsed into white light—
—and Vegeta's eyes snapped open.
He was back on solid ground.
His arm was there.
And somewhere far away, something ancient had just learned a dangerous truth:
The Prince of Saiyans does not break.
The presence faded completely.
Silence.
Vegeta exhaled slowly, his aura settling, boots grinding against solid rock. The battlefield had returned—cracked earth, scorched air, the distant echo of destruction. For a moment, it almost felt unreal, like the ocean world had been a dream.
Vegeta looked down at his arm.
Whole.
Real.
He clenched his fist, feeling the power respond instantly.
"…Hmph," he muttered. "So that thing wasn't just playing games."
A familiar, overwhelming ki suddenly flared in the distance—wild, furious, uncontrollable.
Broly.
Vegeta's eyes snapped up, a sharp grin spreading across his face.
"Tch… figures," he said. "I disappear for a moment and everything goes to hell."
He shot into the sky—
VROOM—
As he flew, far beyond sight, the ancient presence stirred once more.
"Grow stronger, Prince of Saiyans…" it murmured."The storm hasn't even begun."
Vegeta accelerated, tearing through the clouds toward the chaos ahead—
Vegeta slammed to a halt mid-air.
The sky ahead was ripping itself apart.
Broly's aura raged like a living storm, green lightning tearing through clouds as explosions bloomed one after another. Below, the land was unrecognizable—flattened, melted, carved by pure fury.
Vegeta cracked his neck.
"…Good. I was hoping you weren't done."
Before he could move, Broly vanished—
VROOM—
—and reappeared inches from him.
Their fists collided.
BOOOOM!
The shockwave shattered the clouds for miles. Vegeta was hurled back, skidding through the air, boots digging in as he stopped himself.
Broly roared, eyes wild, power still climbing.
"RAAAAGHHHH!!"
Vegeta wiped blood from his lip and grinned.
"So that's where you're at now," he said. "Fine."
His aura ignited—sharper, denser than before.
They vanished again.
VROOM—VROOM—VROOM!
Punches traded faster than sound. Elbows. Knees. Headbutts. Every hit landed like a meteor, neither backing down. Broly's raw power pressed forward—but Vegeta didn't give ground.
Far away, unseen, the ancient presence watched.
"…Yes," it murmured softly."This is the moment."
Back in the sky, Vegeta locked Broly's punch with one hand.
"Listen," Vegeta growled, eyes blazing. "If you lose yourself now—someone else will finish this for you."
Broly hesitated.
Just for a fraction of a second.
And in that pause—
something else moved.
A cold, familiar ki sliced through the battlefield.
Vegeta's eyes widened.
"…Don't tell me."
From the far horizon, a sleek white shape drifted forward, calm, effortless—
Frieza.
And he was smiling.
The air cracked like glass as Frieza descended from the clouds, hovering effortlessly, aura glowing like molten white lightning.
Vegeta's eyes narrowed. "Tch… you just had to show up, didn't you?"
Broly roared, his green energy flaring even higher. "RAAAAGHHH!!"
Vegeta shot forward, skidding alongside Broly. "Focus, Broly! That's Frieza! Don't let him control this fight!"
Broly growled, but rage still clouded his mind. He continued smashing through mountains and sky alike, tearing everything in his path instead of aiming at Frieza.
Frieza's eyes gleamed with cold amusement. Slowly, deliberately, he raised his hand. Purple and white ki gathered into a massive sphere, spinning, expanding, pulsing with raw destructive force.
"Ah… this is going to be fun," Frieza murmured.
Vegeta barked at Broly again, trying to redirect his fury, but Broly was just too lost in anger. Punches collided with empty air. The world itself trembled.
Then Frieza stuck out his palm and a small beam exploded outward like a miniature supernova. Vegeta and Broly screamed as the shockwave tore through them, hurling them violently in opposite directions.
For a heartbeat, the world froze.
And then… silence.
Frieza drifted down to where the dust settled, smiling. Both Saiyans were alive—but barely. Weak, bruised, and bound in restraints of golden energy that seemed impossible to break.
"you fought well, for monkeys." Frieza said, tilting his head.
Vegeta struggled against the restraints, fury blazing in his eyes. "Y-you'll pay for this, Frieza! Both of us—"
Frieza waved a hand lazily. "Oh, no. Don't worry. You'll live… for my entertainment."
Broly growled low, green energy flickering. He swung, missed, bounced off the energy bindings, and snarled.
zarbon," he said codlyy, not even looking back at the Saiyans. "Take these two monkeys. Put them into an extra pod and release them into the prison cell."
Zarbon bowed slightly. "Yes, Lord Frieza."
Frieza turned his head just enough for one crimson eye to glance at the ruined world below.
"And after that…" he added, voice flat and bored, "…exterminate the planet."
"Yes, Lord Frieza," Zarbon repeated without hesitation.
Frieza's golden armor caught the dim light of distant stars as he floated effortlessly into the endless void of space.
The blackness stretched in every direction, silent and infinite, but he moved with the calm certainty of a predator. His crimson eyes scanned the cosmos, bored yet calculating, always searching for the next source of amusement.
"Monkeys…" he murmured, voice low and venomous, "so stubborn… so predictable…"
Behind him, the remnants of the destroyed planet smoldered, a tiny, dying echo in the vastness of space. Yet Frieza paid it no mind—his thoughts were already on the next hunt, the next entertainment, the next spark of chaos to feed his boredom.
Stars streaked past as he drifted farther, tail curling lazily, aura flickering faintly like fire in the void. Silence enveloped him, but inside, his mind buzzed with plans, malice, and amusement.
"…Yes," he whispered, lips curling into a cruel grin, "this will be very… interesting."
The endless void swallowed him entirely, leaving only the faint glimmer of a golden predator drifting between the stars.