The ocean was quiet.
Too quiet.
For several seconds, neither fighter moved.
Brian hovered barely a meter above the water, droplets sliding from his hair and shoulders before evaporating against the heat of his aura. His breathing was controlled, but every inhale was deeper than the one before it.
Thirty meters above him, Frieza floated motionless.
His arms hung loosely at his sides.
His tail curled behind him.
Neither looked away.
The wind pushed the mist sideways between them.
Brian's eyes narrowed.
He's waiting.
Frieza's eyes narrowed in return.
So is he.
Far beyond Namek, on a tiny world that suddenly felt much too small for the amount of tension inside it, King Kai stared into his crystal ball.
His antennae trembled.
"Why aren't they moving?"
Goku sat cross-legged beside him.
He wasn't smiling anymore.
"Because they're thinking."
King Kai glanced at him.
"Thinking?"
Goku nodded.
"Yeah."
His eyes remained fixed on Brian.
"Brian's dangerous when he starts thinking during a fight."
King Kai swallowed.
"You say that like it's a good thing."
Goku scratched his cheek.
"I don't know if it's good."
A pause.
"But it's definitely him."
For a moment, Goku's mind drifted backward.
Earth.
A much younger Brian.
The Dragon Radar.
Goku remembered the confusion of that encounter—the sheer nerve it took for Brian to take something directly from him and get away with it. There hadn't been anything straightforward about the kid.
He hadn't acted like someone who simply wanted power.
He'd wanted to understand things.
To see what happened.
To test boundaries.
To figure people out.
Goku looked back into the crystal ball.
"He's always been like that."
King Kai frowned.
"Like what?"
"He's always looking for the trick."
On Namek, Brian slowly raised his hands.
Frieza smiled.
"You've finally decided to attack."
"No."
Brian's fingers flexed.
"I'm deciding where."
Frieza's smile disappeared.
Brian dropped.
Not toward Frieza.
Toward the ocean.
His feet touched the surface for less than a second.
Then—
BOOM!
Brian launched himself sideways.
The water exploded behind him as he skimmed across the surface at an angle, traveling parallel to the shoreline.
Frieza immediately followed.
But Brian wasn't trying to escape.
He was measuring.
The distance between them.
The angle of Frieza's pursuit.
The speed at which Frieza corrected his trajectory.
The amount of time it took him to close twenty meters.
Frieza noticed.
"You are measuring my movement."
Brian grinned.
"Finally caught on."
Frieza accelerated.
Brian abruptly cut upward.
Frieza followed.
Brian reversed direction.
Frieza followed again.
Then Brian dropped.
Frieza's eyes narrowed.
There.
Brian was intentionally repeating the same sequence.
Left.
Up.
Down.
Left.
A pattern.
Frieza's mouth curled upward.
"You are becoming predictable."
His right hand opened.
A thin red beam formed at his fingertip.
Brian saw it.
His expression changed.
He's expecting me to dodge.
The beam fired.
Brian didn't move.
At the final instant, he twisted his torso sideways.
The beam passed between his ribs by less than an inch.
Brian felt the heat tear through his clothing.
But Frieza was already there.
His knee drove into Brian's stomach.
THOOM!
Brian folded around the impact.
Frieza grabbed the back of his head.
Instead of throwing him away, Frieza pulled him downward.
Brian crashed face-first into the ocean.
The impact created a crater in the water.
Frieza followed him.
He plunged beneath the surface.
For a moment, the ocean swallowed both fighters.
Then—
BOOOOOOM!
A column of water erupted hundreds of meters into the air.
Frieza shot out first.
Brian followed immediately afterward.
Brian's eyes snapped open.
He understood.
Frieza had deliberately allowed him to establish a rhythm.
Then he'd waited for Brian to believe he'd identified his pattern.
"You're learning fast."
Frieza hovered above the water.
Brian wiped blood from his nose.
"So are you."
Frieza raised one hand.
Dozens of thin beams appeared.
Brian's eyes widened.
The beams fired.
Not at him.
At the ocean.
ZAP. ZAP. ZAP. ZAP.
The water erupted around Brian.
Every beam struck the surface at a different angle, creating pillars of steam and explosions that filled the battlefield.
Brian couldn't see.
He couldn't sense Frieza clearly through the turbulence.
He closed his eyes.
Don't look.
He listened.
The explosions.
The wind.
The movement of water.
And then—
Silence.
Brian's eyes opened.
Frieza was directly behind him.
A fist came toward his spine.
Brian twisted.
The punch grazed his side.
Brian caught Frieza's wrist.
For the first time in several exchanges, Frieza's eyes widened.
Brian pulled.
Instead of pulling Frieza toward himself, he used Frieza's momentum to rotate around his arm.
Brian swung beneath Frieza's shoulder, kicked off his chest, and launched himself backward.
Frieza stabilized instantly.
Brian landed on the surface of the water.
He didn't attack.
He stared at Frieza.
Then he smiled.
"I got it."
Frieza's expression hardened.
"What?"
Brian tapped his temple.
"You don't have one pattern."
Frieza said nothing.
"You change your pattern based on mine."
Brian's smile widened.
"So every time I adapt..."
He lowered his stance.
"...you adapt to the adaptation."
Frieza's eyes narrowed.
"Obviously."
Brian laughed.
"That's actually pretty cool."
Frieza's expression twisted.
"Do you think this is amusing?"
"Honestly?"
Brian's aura surged.
"Yeah."
The ocean around his feet began sinking.
Not exploding.
Sinking.
A massive circular depression formed beneath him as his ki pressed downward.
Frieza watched carefully.
Brian's aura changed.
The wild edge disappeared.
The flames became compact.
Dense.
Almost motionless.
Goku leaned toward the crystal ball.
"He's changing how he uses his power."
King Kai stared.
"Into what?"
"I don't know."
Goku smiled faintly.
"But Brian probably does."
Brian inhaled.
His muscles tightened.
His eyes became sharper.
Ikari.
The transformation didn't erupt outward this time.
It compressed inward.
His body seemed heavier.
Denser.
More grounded.
Frieza's tail flicked.
"Another transformation?"
"Not exactly."
Brian vanished.
Frieza immediately raised his arm.
CRACK!
Brian's fist slammed into Frieza's forearm.
But Brian didn't follow with another strike.
He twisted his hips and drove his shoulder into Frieza's chest.
Frieza was pushed backward.
Only a few meters.
Brian followed.
Frieza swung his tail.
Brian ducked beneath it.
Frieza's knee came upward.
Brian caught it.
Frieza's other leg swept around.
Brian released the knee and leaned backward.
The foot passed inches above his face.
Brian planted one hand against the water.
His body rotated horizontally.
His heel struck Frieza's jaw.
BOOM!
Frieza spun.
Brian immediately pursued.
Frieza recovered in midair.
Their fists collided.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Then Frieza stopped trading.
He opened his palm.
A sphere of energy formed between them.
Brian's eyes widened.
Frieza smiled.
"You're not the only one capable of improvisation."
The sphere detonated.
Brian disappeared inside the explosion.
"BRIAN!"
King Kai jumped to his feet.
Goku remained seated.
But his expression had changed.
Smoke rolled across the ocean.
Nothing moved.
Then a hand emerged.
Brian pulled himself out of the smoke.
His left arm hung at an awkward angle.
Blood ran down his side.
His regeneration immediately began working.
Bone shifted.
Muscle tightened.
The arm straightened.
Brian breathed heavily.
Frieza hovered above him.
"You see?"
Frieza's voice was calm.
"You adapt."
He slowly raised his hand.
"But so do I."
Brian looked up.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he smiled.
"Good."
Frieza paused.
Brian's damaged arm clenched.
"Because I was getting bored."
His aura exploded.
The ocean beneath him dropped away.
A gigantic ring of water rose around the battlefield.
Frieza looked around.
The walls of water towered hundreds of meters above them.
Mist filled the space.
Frieza's eyes narrowed.
"You are attempting that trick again?"
"No."
Brian raised his fist.
"This time I'm not building an arena."
The water began moving.
Not randomly.
Every wave curved.
Every stream shifted.
Every falling droplet changed direction.
Brian was controlling the battlefield with microscopic ki pulses.
Frieza's eyes widened slightly.
Brian pointed upward.
"I'm taking away your clean sightlines."
The water walls collapsed inward.
Frieza immediately fired dozens of beams.
Brian moved.
The beams struck the moving water.
Every impact created more steam.
Within seconds, the entire battlefield disappeared into a boiling white cloud.
Frieza couldn't see Brian.
Brian couldn't see Frieza.
But Brian smiled.
Because that was the point.
He closed his eyes.
Now we're even.
Somewhere inside the mist—
Frieza smiled.
No.
His tail curled.
Now the real fight begins.