Chapter 16: The Panther's Grin
Down in the badlands, Nappa was practically foaming at the mouth with rage.
"I am an elite Saiyan warrior!" Nappa roared, his aura flaring like a violent storm as he charged headfirst at nine-year-old Gojo Brief. "I'll turn you into dust, you little brat!"
Gojo didn't even drop his hands from behind his head. He lowered his small dark sunglasses just enough to reveal his brilliant, sky-blue Six Eyes.
"You're too slow, big guy," Gojo smirked.
As Nappa swung a continent-shattering punch, Gojo simply stepped into the attack's path. The massive fist slammed into the invisible, subatomic space of the Infinity Barrier, coming to a complete, dead stop a millimeter from Gojo's nose.
"W-What?!" Nappa gasped, his arm trembling as if hitting an unmovable wall.
"My dad taught me that real power isn't about swinging hard," Gojo murmured, his voice echoing with a chilling, effortless authority. "It's about absolute control."
Gojo raised two fingers, channeling a thread of Kayden's Force Control mixed with his own Lapse: Blue.
BOOM!
A crushing gravitational vortex imploded around Nappa. The massive Saiyan was lifted off his feet, spun like a ragdoll, and hurled straight into Vegeta's boots with enough force to shatter the bedrock beneath them.
Vegeta stared down at his battered comrade, then up at the smiling kid, before his Scouter suddenly exploded from the sheer frequency spike.
"Tch... what an absolute waste of time," Vegeta muttered, his face pale with frustration. Realizing that fighting a kid who could manipulate space and a guy in a mountain-cleaving nanotech suit was a suicide mission, Vegeta grabbed Nappa's collar, slammed the emergency retreat button on his remote, and vanished into his pod, shooting back into space at top speed.
"Hey! You're leaving already?!" Goku yelled, waving his arm. "We didn't even get to do the dramatic standoff!"
Up on his cliffside lawn chair, Ron took a slow, relaxed sip of his lemonade, watching the Saiyan pods disappear into the clouds.
"Well, that was a brief alien invasion," Ron chuckled to himself, folding up his umbrella.
What no one—not Hazel, not Tony, not Gojo, and certainly not Goku or Roshi—realized was just how absurdly powerful Ron had become in secret.
By keeping his profile low-key and letting his kids take the spotlight, Ron had been steadily cultivating his foundation behind the scenes. Between maxing out Pluton's gravitational density, Kayden's Force Control, and Lloyd Saloum's compound mana compression, Ron's base Battle Power had quietly skyrocketed to a staggering 150,000,000.
That was his raw, physical DB-setting Ki and muscle strength alone—completely separate from his Haki, Gojo's Infinity, Frankenstein's dark magic, or Lloyd's infinite spell layers. He had long surpassed Frieza's 100% full-power final form without ever needing to raise his voice or drop his relaxed, dad-style persona.
And his system wasn't done yet.
The Blue Panther Awakens
As the group gathered down below to joke about Vegeta's hasty retreat, a violent, predatory hum resonated deep within Ron's soul.
> [System Alert!]
> Primary Template Integration Triggered!
> [New Template Unlocked!]
> Target Template: Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez (Bleach) — [Synchronization: 35%]
> Acquired Attributes: Panther King Instincts, Hierro (Iron Skin), Descorrer, Cero / Gran Rey Cero, Resurrección (Pantera).
> [Special Mutation Note]: Host's Hollow form is synthesized through Host's living human soul. Hollow Hole is completely eliminated. Resurrección form will manifest as high-density spiritual armor and feline features without physical corruption.
>
Ron felt a surge of wild, blue instinctual energy course through his veins. His teeth felt slightly sharper, his reflexes hyper-attuned to the point of absurdity, and a spark of raw, competitive panther spirit ignited in his chest.
A Hollow transformation with no chest hole, pure sleek power... Ron thought, a sharp, dangerous grin spreading across his face beneath his blindfold.
He looked off toward the deep expanses of space, where Frieza's imperial fleet was currently terrorizing planets.
I'm keeping this one tucked away, Ron mused, tossing his lemonade cup into a pocket dimension. I won't show off Grimmjow's form until that white-and-purple tyrant actually shows up on Earth. Seeing Frieza's face when a guy in a suit turns into a blue-clawed god of destruction... oh, that's gonna be priceless.
Back to the Daily Routine
"Hey, Dad!" Tony called up from the crater, waving his nanotech wristband. "Are we going home now? Mom said she made baked goods!"
Ron instantly dropped his dramatic inner monologue, transformed into his fantastically chubby, orange cat form right on the spot, and floated down from the cliff like a fluffy balloon.
"Meow! (Did someone say baked goods?! Last one to Capsule Corp buys the milk!)"
Goku, Tony, and Gojo laughed aloud as the fat cat zipped past them at hypersonic speed, leaving a trail of golden lightning in the sky.