As soon as the tail was cut off, Turles immediately transformed back into his normal human form, his combat power dropping rapidly.
Raditz gave Yajirobe a thumbs up and praised him without hesitation. Without him, this situation might have ended in disaster. Meanwhile, Yajirobe quickly slipped away, acting as if he had nothing to do with what happened, running as far as he could.
"Strike when the job is done, and hide your achievements and fame." Truly a legendary figure.
But what Yajirobe was actually thinking was: God knows if Turles has another trick up his sleeve, and I don't want to take any risks.
In reality, Turles was at the end of his rope with nothing left to do. Although Raditz, Goku, and Vegeta had consumed a lot of stamina, when that strange red light surrounded them, their fighting power would suddenly increase. He knew that would be his end.
At that moment, Kakao crawled out from the ground, finally able to breathe fresh air. Tien had blasted him into the ground but failed to kill him, only managing to shatter his jet pack, preventing him from accelerating his flight and reducing some of his strength.
Having finally climbed out, Kakao went unnoticed. When he saw Lord Turles surrounded, his first thought was whether to escape. Since everyone else had failed, why not run for his life? As a bounty hunter wandering the universe, he knew the importance of self-preservation.
Almost without hesitation, he started to leave, but suddenly looked up to see an aircraft flying toward the Tree.
There was an old man and a pig on the plane, a beautiful woman next to them, and a young blue-haired girl piloting it. Kakao's eyes lit up as he smiled ferociously.
He figured these people must have something to do with the warriors to have found this place so precisely.
So Kakao jumped up, landed on top of the aircraft, held it down with one hand, and rode it close to the circle of fighters.
"Get out of the way! Otherwise, wait for someone to collect your bodies! Turles, I'm coming!"
His loud shout startled the others. Hope appeared in the eyes of the surrounded Turles—Kakao had actually come to save him!
Kakao, who had hijacked the plane, was thinking about the seeds of the Tree of Might fruit. Only Turles had those seeds. If he escaped alone, he might never again have such a good way to enhance his strength, so he decided to take the risk to save Turles.
Besides, with hostages in hand, he had nothing to fear.
"What's wrong?" Bulma suddenly felt the controls become unstable, as if something was pressing down on the aircraft.
Master Roshi sensed a strong aura on the plane and gestured for a landing. "We seem to have gotten too close and been hijacked."
"Ah? What do we do! What do we do?!" Oolong yelled in fright, his face turning pale. "I told you not to come! Now I'm dead!"
"You're so noisy! Didn't you also want to see if there were any beautiful alien women?"
"Old man, that was obviously you!"
"Be quiet! Just look at Goku and the others."
Bulma was about to land but found that the plane was no longer under her control. It was completely controlled by Kakao as it headed straight for Turles. She had originally wanted to see the results of the battle, but the Earth's environment had deteriorated rapidly, with reports coming one after another, which made her feel very disturbed. So, using the location signal left by the detector, she had connected with Master Roshi, Oolong, and Launch who were on Turtle Island, and together they headed to the battlefield to see what was happening.
Who knew they would become hostage?
The plane scraped the ground and came to a slow stop. Kakao and Turles smiled triumphantly when they heard Bulma and Roshi shouting "Goku" inside the plane. Wasn't Kakarot also called Goku? If these people knew Kakarot and the others, this would be much easier.
Turles gasped heavily, holding down the cockpit with one hand.
"Hmph, Turles, you think taking a few Earthlings hostage will stop me from killing you?" Vegeta stretched out his hand, aimed at Turles, and quickly formed an energy bomb in front of his palm.
"Wait, Vegeta!" Raditz quickly moved forward and grabbed Vegeta's wrist. "Our friends are in that plane."
"I don't care!"
"I want to save them. If you want to deal with Turles, wait a little longer." Raditz's tone was equally firm as the two stared at each other, sparks practically flying between them.
"Hmph!"
Vegeta shook off Raditz's hand and turned his back.
"That's it, Raditz. Let us go now, and don't chase after us!"
"Impossible. What will you gain by killing them? Don't push me too hard—consider the consequences!" Raditz knew he had to stand firm, otherwise Turles might make even more extreme demands.
"Then only you can follow. The others aren't allowed to move!" Turles thrust his fingers into the cabin and slowly lifted the plane into the air. "Otherwise, everyone dies together!"
"Fine."
Raditz made a "stand down" gesture to everyone and followed alone.
After such a great battle, Turles had still failed. This tragic ending made him feel somewhat angry, but when he saw from the sky that the Earth had been devastated by the Tree of Might's absorption, he suddenly laughed again.
So what if he lost? The Earth had paid the price—an irreparable price!
I still won, Turles thought.
The three of them arrived at the spaceship's landing site with the plane. It was a huge vessel with its hatch wide open, as if welcoming someone back.
"We've arrived at our destination. Hand them over," Raditz said, spreading his hands and asking for the hostages.
"Don't worry. Let me get on the spaceship first."
"No!"
Kakao made a gesture like he was about to launch an energy wave, looking at Raditz provocatively.
"Don't be impulsive, Kakao." Turles intervened just in time. With a wave of his hand, he dismantled half of the plane's frame and tossed it aside. "The old man, the pig, and that beautiful woman—come down."
Hearing this, everyone scrambled down. But Turles stretched out his hand to stop Bulma. "Not you. Stay in the plane."
As he spoke, his eyes suddenly lit up as he leaned toward Bulma.
Bulma quickly covered herself and exclaimed, "No! Even though I am a beautiful woman, I still—"
"Shut up! If you keep talking, I'll kill you!" Turles withdrew his hand and threatened.
Master Roshi and the others ran behind Raditz and hid, leaving only Raditz to confront the two villains.
"Kakao, carry the plane and continue upward. Wait for the spaceship to start, then let go. If Raditz doesn't want her to die, he'll save her and won't stop us."
While speaking, Turles backed away toward the spaceship entrance. He pointed at Bulma with one hand while his eyes darted between her and Raditz.
Kakao carried the plane higher, not daring to let go until the spaceship started.
The tense confrontation ended with a violent shake as the spaceship's engines successfully ignited, and Kakao let go! In an instant, he entered the spaceship.
This was the opportunity Raditz had been waiting for. With his Kaio-ken, his speed was much faster than the spaceship! He burst forward suddenly, quickly caught Bulma, and threw her to Master Roshi while continuing upward, chasing the spaceship.
Then something unexpected happened—the large spaceship exploded! Smoke and flames blocked Raditz's path as a single-person escape pod rushed out of the atmosphere!
Kakao's shattered body flew in all directions with the explosion, looking horrific amid the flames.
Raditz hadn't expected Turles to kill Kakao!
Turles had known all along that the larger spaceship would be caught if it accelerated slowly, so he never planned to take Kakao with him. In the end, Kakao was just a sacrifice to block Raditz.
"Hahahahahaha..."
Rampant laughter echoed from the one-man spaceship as it disappeared into space.
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