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Saitama blinked. The crushing pressure vanished instantly.
Only then did he notice the state of the room. Every S-Class hero looked like they'd just crawled out of a pool—soaked in sweat, gasping.
He scratched his bald head awkwardly and pulled his power completely back in.
"Ah… sorry. Got a little excited."
As the soul-crushing aura disappeared, the heroes finally breathed again. But the way they looked at him now was different.
They'd always known he was strong.
Today, for the first time, they felt it in their bones.
That bald guy… was an absolute monster.
"Let's keep watching."
Saitama ignored the shock still echoing through the room. His eyes were locked on the glowing screen.
He wanted to see just how far those two "rivals" could push him.
As soon as Goku and Cell finished declaring their "warm-up," it was like some invisible seal shattered.
On the screen, Son Goku roared. His ki erupted skyward like a volcanic explosion. The golden flames around him weren't just light anymore—they were tangible, raging energy.
Crackling golden lightning wrapped around his body, each arc snapping with violent force.
Rubble, dust, even chunks of the arena floor defied physics and lifted into the air—only to be ground into powder by the spiraling storm of energy.
Bathed in blinding gold, Goku's power exploded outward like a supernova.
Boom!!!
In the distance, a towering mountain was caught by the overflow of his aura and detonated as if struck by heavy bombardment. The peak collapsed in a storm of smoke and debris.
Across from him, Cell watched with a chilling smile.
The next second, his own terrifying power burst free.
Darkness flooded outward like hell itself descending. Black energy surged and clashed against Goku's golden blaze.
And somehow… Cell's aura began to edge past Goku's peak.
Across countless worlds, viewers went silent.
This couldn't be real.
How could any living being wield power like that?
Even watching from across dimensions felt suffocating. If you stood at the center of that battlefield… what would be left of the world?
Dragon Ball World.
The apple slipped from Krillin's hand and hit the floor with a dull thud. His eyes were wide and unfocused.
Yamcha. Tien Shinhan. The other martial artists looked pale as paper. More than anyone, they understood how far beyond comprehension that power was.
Goku, oddly enough, looked thrilled. His fists clenched tight. If he didn't know he was watching his own future, he'd have run out the door to start training immediately.
"Th-that's insane… Is that even human?" Krillin whispered.
He couldn't imagine how his friend had crossed such a massive gap.
He glanced at Goku beside him.
When did he get that strong? This defied logic. It was like the world's understanding of martial arts had been shattered.
Krillin did the math in his head.
That golden-haired Goku could probably crush a hundred of him without breaking a sweat.
The screen shifted to show future Krillin and a Super Saiyan Gohan watching from the sidelines.
Krillin's gaze unconsciously dropped to the small, sleeping Gohan in Chi-Chi's arms.
"Wait… could it be…"
His heart pounded.
Then future Krillin's voice confirmed it:
"Gohan… Goku's gotten this strong?"
Everyone at Capsule Corp froze.
Chi-Chi looked from the sharp-eyed teenage Gohan on screen to the tiny child in her arms—and broke down instantly.
"Gohan! That delinquent-looking fighter is my son?!" she wailed. "My Gohan can't grow up into some brawling thug! He's supposed to become a top scholar, not a fighter!"
The room descended into chaos as everyone tried to calm her down.
Only Goku stared at the screen with admiration.
"Oh, that's Gohan? He's gotten big… But that's weird. Why does it feel like that future Gohan has even more power than me?"
He frowned, sensing something deep in his Saiyan instincts.
"Ah!"
It hit him.
He looked at the little Gohan, who'd just woken up and was playing with his own tail.
"So that's how it is…"
A proud smile curved across his face before he turned back to the battle.
On screen, golden-flamed Goku stepped forward, aura roaring around him.
He stopped in front of Cell, eyes calm.
Cell smirked.
"Come on."
Before the word fully left his mouth, Goku shattered the sound barrier.
A crushing straight punch slammed into Cell's abdomen.
Knee strike. Elbow smash. A final kick sent Cell flying like a cannonball.
Yet as he spun through the air, Cell's expression stayed composed.
In the next instant—
Goku vanished in a flash of gold.
He reappeared behind Cell and unleashed a full-power punch into his back. The impact detonated in a burst of golden energy, sending Cell plummeting like a meteor.
Goku landed lightly, eyes wary.
Because—
Cell, upside down in midair, wasn't grimacing.
He was smiling.
"Well done, Goku!" Cell shouted, exhilarated. "This is what I've been waiting for! A real fight only matters when your opponent is your equal!"
He righted himself gracefully and touched down.
"Yeah," Goku grinned. "I couldn't agree more."
Suddenly Goku's face changed.
Cell's presence vanished.
But in Super Saiyan vision, Goku caught it—a black blur slicing toward him at impossible speed.
They collided almost simultaneously.
Goku's left hand caught Cell's punch. Cell's right arm blocked Goku's elbow.
Then Cell unleashed a storm of close-quarters attacks.
Every punch carried mountain-splitting force. The impacts thundered through the sky.
Yet Goku intercepted them all by fractions of an inch.
Then—
Goku dropped low, one hand bracing against the ground, and whipped a scorpion-like sweep into Cell's leg just as his rhythm broke.
Cell grunted.
In raw experience and prediction, he still couldn't match a Saiyan who had battle carved into his bones.
Goku seized the opening and drew back his fist—
Cell vanished.
He reappeared behind Goku and fired an elbow strike.
Missed.
Goku had already read the teleport's trajectory.
Cell didn't panic. He tracked Goku's afterimage and pursued.
They blasted from ground to sky in an instant.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Fists. Knees. Elbows.
Each collision exploded with shockwaves powerful enough to tear apart the atmosphere.
Their speed blurred even for cross-dimensional viewers. The constant tremor of their power made hearts pound in fear.
In a flash, their fists met head-on.
The unimaginable recoil hurled them backward like artillery shells.
Neither gave the other even a tenth of a second.
They twisted midair and rocketed back at each other like twin meteors.
Crash!
Cell crossed his arms to block a flying kick—then countered with a heavy punch to Goku's abdomen.
Goku endured the pain and immediately retaliated with a kick to the side of Cell's head.
Punch for punch. Knee for knee.
Their rhythm was so fast it was like two tireless war machines colliding.
Finally, Cell spun into a high, acrobatic kick and smashed it into Goku's chin—forcing space between them at last.
Goku hit the ground lightly, didn't pause for even a heartbeat, and shot forward again in a streak of blazing gold straight at Cell.
Cell flickered aside, dodging the flying kick Goku brought down from above. He twisted midair and snapped back with a vicious counterkick, heel slamming clean into Goku's cheek.
But Goku vanished.
One second he was there, the next he was gone, reappearing behind Cell like a ghost slipping through space. His elbow whipped back hard, smashing into the side of Cell's head and snapping it sideways with a brutal crack.
Caught completely off guard, Cell had no time to brace. He'd been holding back just a fraction in the flow of battle, and that tiny margin cost him.
His massive body shot backward like a kite with its string cut, skidding and tumbling across the hard ground. Dust exploded into the air as he carved a path through the earth, the shockwave from the impact rolling outward and marking a brief, violent pause in the round.
The giant bio-android surged back to his feet almost instantly. Across from him, Goku landed as steady as bedrock, every muscle in his body coiled into perfect fighting form.
In the present world of the Shinigami, Ichigo Kurosaki's pupils had dilated to their limit.
If not for the all-dimensional broadcast platform capturing every movement at impossible speeds, he would've thought the entire fight was nothing more than a flash of light.
"You've got to be kidding me… Is this even real? This kind of power… it's like mythology."
Rukia Kuchiki's expression froze, horror etched across her face. Her mind raced through the archives of the Soul Society, searching desperately for any being who could match the monsters on that screen.
The answer was cold. Brutal.
Their world didn't have anything that stood above all else like this.
"Hey, Rukia." Ichigo nudged her sleeve. "You telling me there's not a single Shinigami who can move fast enough to turn into an afterimage?"
Rukia shook her head without hesitation, her voice firm and absolute. "Impossible. Even the Head Captain himself couldn't reach the level of power shown in that video."
Ichigo sucked in a sharp breath that didn't even carry spirit particles.
In the Angel civilization of the Super God Universe, Angel Yan stood with her arms folded, staring at the screen. The only thing left in her eyes was exhaustion… and a kind of numb disbelief.
There was a time when she had absolute faith in the might of the angelic legion founded by Holy Keisha. That pride, that certainty, had been crushed to dust by the cruelty of reality.
She could feel it clearly.
The two beings locked in that catastrophic duel possessed enough power to wipe out the majority of the angel army in an instant.
"....."