Synopsis: Gohan and Kuririn stay hidden and watch from atop a cliff as Freeza's men force a group of Namekians (three old men and two children) out of their house. As Kuririn wonders what they're going to do to them, Gohan asks if everyone down there is a Saiyan, and Kuririn says that they're not though they are all wearing the same clothing. He surmises this must be some of the aliens the Saiyans were in league with, but he notices that Vegeta isn't anywhere to be found and wonders if he's off looking for another Dragon Ball somewhere else. The eldest Namekians react with shock then anger when they see four of the Dragon Balls being held by Dodoria and Zarbon. Freeza introduces himself and explains that he's collecting the Dragon Balls, and asks where the other Namekians have gone as they know that there were ten of them here before. When the Namekians don't respond at first, Freeza says they'll have to kill them if they won't talk, so one of the elders speaks but in the Namekian language. Freeza tells him that they know they can speak in a language everyone present can understand, so asks him to do so. Scowling, the elder Namekian explains that the others left to go work in the fields and that only the elderly and the young stayed behind. Freeza praises the Namekian for cooperating at last, and says that as long as he keeps that up, everything should work out fine. Freeza next asks them where the Dragon Ball they're keeping is, and the elderly Namekian tries to claim they don't have one. Freeza merely laughs in response, and speaks with Dodoria about what the second Namekian they killed said before he died – that Namekian had claimed they could only give the Dragon Balls to great heroes, and refused to cooperate. Once they killed another Namekian to force his hand however, the Namekian explained many more things – how the Dragon Balls were made by the Grand Elder of this planet, and how all seven balls were dispersed across the planet to different villages and elders, and how anyone wishing to gather the balls must pass a test of wits or strength, or explain the reason for the wish they desire. Freeza said he tried to do as was instructed, but the Namekian had refused to ever give him the Dragon Ball. Freeza said he was forced to kill him and as a result, it took some time to gather that first Dragon Ball, but after that, the other three Namekian villages they visited were 'quite happy' to hand over their Dragon Balls. Listening in on this conversation via his scouter, Vegeta smirks. The elderly Namekians are outraged and accuse Freeza of lying, as they know they must have killed the other Namekians to get the Dragon Balls in their possession. Freeza says they really did hand them right over however, as soon as they 'did this'. He asks Zarbon to demonstrate, and Zarbon leaps into the air before landing behind one of the three elderly Namekians and breaking his neck with a kick. Outraged, one of the other elderly Namekians tries to attack Zarbon with a ki blast, but Zarbon dodges (the blast instead hitting another soldier) and leaps into the air, blasting and killing the elderly Namekian before landing back on the ground. Kuririn and Gohan are horrified by what they've just seen, and Freeza asks the last remaining elderly Namekian if he's feeling more agreeable now. The elderly Namekian asks Freeza what he wants to wish for, and Freeza answers him simply: immortality. Kuririn is confused as he thought that was what Vegeta wanted for himself as well. Gohan wonders if Vegeta's not actually working with these other aliens anymore. The elderly Namekian tells Freeza that he can't give someone like him the Dragon Ball, not even at the threat of losing his own life. Freeza laughs and remarks that people on Namek are so stubborn, but he questions if he'll still feel that stubborn when faced with the death of the children. The Namekian is horrified and says that surely not even they are evil enough to murder children, and as Kuririn and Gohan listen to this, Gohan's rage begins to build. Just then, Dodoria's scouter picks up on a high power level, but it isn't Gohan – in the sky, three adult Namekians fly down, much to the delight of the elderly Namekian. Review: If there's one thing this chapter does very well, it's driving in just how monstrously cruel Freeza and his men can be. We haven't even seen Freeza do anything yet, he just floats around in his chair and spouts refined dialogue, but this chapter makes sure the audience understands how dangerous he is, and in a more direct manner than what has been done already. In the past few chapters, Freeza has been built up as being incredibly strong and having a lot of forces at his disposal – here we see that the truly scary thing about him however is just how far he's willing to go to get what he wants. Try as he might, the poor elderly Namekian (the main one that we deal with in this chapter) just doesn't stand much of a chance of outwitting Freeza either. He tries pretending to only speak Namekian, he tries claiming they don't have a Dragon Ball – nothing works, and while Freeza remains calm, that's actually just more proof of how in control of the situation he is and how cold-hearted he is as well. The elderly Namekian tries to keep one of the other elders from fighting back once Zarbon kills the third elder, but it's too late – the situation has already escalated to a point that there's no going back from. Freeza's dialogue and actions make it clear that he pretty much already knows the answer to everything he's asking the old man about and is just screwing with him because he thinks it's fun, and there's really only one question he actually wants the old man to answer – where is the Dragon Ball? Amidst all of this, Gohan and Kuririn are watching things go down and slowly putting two and two together as far as Vegeta's place in all of this goes. For his own part, Vegeta is listening in and getting some intel on how finding the Dragon Balls works too, and is no doubt making plans of his own based on what he's learned. This is all setting up a great set piece of character writing we've yet to see from Toriyama – there's not just one villain or group of villains for our heroes to contend with, there's two, and that second villain (Vegeta) is only out for themselves and won't hesitate to screw up the plans of either side against them. The closest we came to having this sort of setup before now was the brief moment that Pilaf was searching for the Dragon Balls opposite Goku and the Red Ribbon Army, but Pilaf being Pilaf...yeah, that didn't last very long. Here though, Vegeta has more than enough power to make himself a viable threat to either group. Just when it looks like our characters' cover may be getting blown due to Gohan's rising anger however, the day is seemingly about to be saved by some returning Namekians! Surely they'll be able to fight off these threats to their planet, the same as our characters have done so many times before for theirs, right? …Hmm. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: The Namekian cavalry arrives!
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About the AuthorAspiring author and big anime/manga fan, just trying to do my best in the world. For more details, go to About Me. Archives
September 2022
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