Chapter 19: The Weight of the Stars
The sleek, domed hull of the custom Capsule Corporation starship pierced Earth's upper atmosphere, leaving the blue planet behind as a sparkling sapphire in the infinite starry void.
Up in the cockpit, Bulma set the autopilot coordinates toward Sector 76—Planet Namek.
"Alright, everyone," Bulma called out over the intercom. "We are officially out of the solar system. Destination: Planet Namek. Arrival time: six days. And please try not to break the ship! My dad put his heart into this design!"
The Question of Piccolo
Down in the ship's lounge, Goku, Krillin, and Gohan were sitting around the kitchen counter, enjoying a bowl of fruit provided by Hazel.
Gohan looked over at his father, his brow furrowing slightly with concern. "Dad... where's Mr. Piccolo? I thought he'd come with us to Namek."
Goku scratched the back of his head with a quiet sigh. "Piccolo's staying on Earth for now, Gohan. Since he and Kami are connected, if anything happened to Piccolo out in space, Earth's Dragon Balls would vanish forever. Kami needs to stay safe on his Lookout, so Piccolo decided to train on Earth and keep watch over the planet while we're gone."
"Makes sense," Krillin nodded, taking a bite of an apple. "Plus, if these alien Namekians are as strong as Piccolo was when he was evil, they can probably take care of themselves until we get there."
The 50x Gravity Workout
Down in the spherical, reinforced gravity chamber at the back of the ship, the digital display flashed red:
GRAVITY: 50x EARTH NORMAL
Inside, the floor felt like a crushing magnet.
Goku was sweating through his orange gi, doing single-arm handstand push-ups while Krillin was on his hands and knees, gritting his teeth as sweat dropped like lead weights onto the metal floorboards. Little Gohan was sitting in a lotus position, channeling his latent half-Saiyan Ki to form a steady, protective white aura around his body.
Beside them, twenty-year-old Tony Brief was standing upright in his sleek, white-and-gold Mark IX Nanotech suit. Using his newly learned Iron Ki Body breath control, Tony effortlessly absorbed the 50x gravity, his suit's nanotech processors adapting instantly to the structural stress.
Meanwhile, ten-year-old Gojo Brief was casually floating upside down near the ceiling, reading a comic book. Thanks to his paper-thin Infinity Barrier and perfected breath suppression, the 50x gravity couldn't even touch a single strand of his hair.
"Man!" Krillin wheezed from the floorboards, looking up at Gojo in utter disbelief. "Gojo, how are you floating like that in 50x gravity?!"
Gojo pushed his small dark sunglasses down his nose, flashing a cocky smirk. "It's all about space manipulation, Uncle Krillin. Gravity is just bent space. If you control the space, the weight doesn't exist."
Goku flipped back onto his feet with a heavy, booming thud, wiping sweat from his forehead with a huge, excited grin. "That's awesome! Hey, Tony! Gojo! Let's do a multi-way sparring match! 50x gravity is the perfect warm-up!"
"You're on, Goku!" Tony grinned, his suit's gauntlets humming with golden Force Control lightning.
The Captain's Privilege
While the boys were practically turning the gravity room upside down with high-level sparring, Ron was in the ship's master suite upstairs.
Looking every bit the tall, strikingly handsome head of the family, Ron was clad in a simple black silk shirt, leaning against the window as he watched the stars streak past at faster-than-light speeds.
In secret, his 150 Million Battle Power was completely sealed, folded away behind Lloyd Saloum's compound magic layers. To anyone sensing Ki, he was just a regular human.
Frieza, the Ginyu Force, Zarbon, Dodoria... Ron mused with a sharp, dimpled smile touching his lips. Namek is going to be a fun playground.
"Honey?" Hazel called out from the doorway, holding a tray of iced tea and lemon tarts. "Are you going to join the boys for training, or are you going to take a nap?"
Ron looked over at his wife, his dark eyes sparkling with playful warmth.
"Training is for people who haven't maxed out their stats, babe," Ron chuckled smoothly. "I'm on vacation."
POOF!
In a tiny cloud of white smoke, the tall, handsome martial artist vanished. Sitting on the plush silk lounge chair in his place was a fantastically chubby, oversized orange-and-white cat wearing his signature tiny black bowtie.
The fat cat let out a long, luxurious yawn, curled into a furry orange ball, and instantly started purring like a gentle engine under the warm ambient lights of the ship.
Hazel giggled, setting the tea tray down and gently scratching the fat cat behind his ears. "So you're staying in cat form for the entire six-day flight?"
"Meow... (Only when I'm eating, sleeping, or being completely lazy, my love)," Ron's voice echoed purr-fectly in her mind. "When we hit Namek, I'll step out in style. Until then... wake me up when it's lunch time."