This happened shortly before the clash between Goku and Vegeta. A barrage of ki blasts rained down constantly on the ground. These attacks didn't strike a single spot, though. Instead, they gradually shifted in one direction as if targeting a moving target.
Since no energy attack comes out of nowhere, someone must have been firing these projectiles. Who was it? The unrestrained laughter gave it away; it came from someone accustomed to this kind of tactic.
Nappa was in the air, waving his arms constantly. That barrage of Ki attacks was being fired from them. Though erratic, his aura was clearly much stronger than when his battle with Bulma had resumed.
His laughter stemmed from the effects of the combat stimulant he had ingested earlier, which altered his brain chemistry, producing euphoria while mitigating pain, fatigue, and hunger.
The instability of his aura and the immense power he displayed were also a result of the stimulant, which constantly stimulated his energy. Though he knew the substance's side effects would be terrible once the high wore off, the Saiyan knew he had to take advantage of it to win the fight.
His crude perception of Ki and his sixth sense, honed by thousands of battles, told him that this Earthling was no pushover. He used the stimulant even though he knew it would incapacitate him by the end of the fight.
'I just have to trust in my abilities. I've come out of worse situations, and I'll definitely win this time,' Nappa thought as he concentrated a large amount of ki in his mouth, continuing to attack with his hands.
Then, he fired an energy blast at the ground, causing a massive explosion. Although he was unable to feel fatigue at that moment, his energy reserves were not infinite. Therefore, the Saiyan paused after launching the attack.
"Hehehehehe! I hope you're okay, Earthling. Shields have a breaking point where they'll inevitably give way," Nappa declared, laughing with pride. In his past battles, how many shields had he shattered?
How many fortresses had he breached? How many seemingly indestructible bodies had he reduced to flying ashes? He didn't believe Bulma would emerge unscathed from his attacks.
However, covered in smoke and dust, the blue-haired woman couldn't help but narrow her eyes after hearing the Saiyan's words. Was she really so foolish as to take those attacks head-on? Even if she had created an energy shield, doing so would have been stupid.
Bulma might have been arrogant, haughty, vain, proud, aloof, and had a diva complex. She held a grudge and didn't hesitate to seek revenge. But she could never be considered a stupid woman.
From the moment she repelled the first attack with her hexagon-shaped shield, she knew relying on protection alone would be unsustainable in the long run. So, she did something much riskier yet appropriate for the situation.
She withdrew the shield and began dodging every Ki projectile. Using her agility, she flew just above the ground, moving across the terrain and away from her companions so they wouldn't be injured by the constant attacks.
Using energy sensing, a Ki sword, and a shield for protection, she dealt with the barrage of attacks. The smoke from the explosions and the dust forced her to close her eyes to avoid irritation. The Ki sword? She used it to deflect and destroy many attacks, using the situation as training. If Nappa found out, it might raise his blood pressure, but of course, that might never happen.
She only decided to take an even riskier action when the Saiyan's intentions to attack were palpable, and the massive energy he was gathering could be felt by even a normal person.
Rather than flying away, as one might have expected, or creating an energy shield, as she had done before, she reinforced her ki sword. She channeled energy into it and condensed it, causing the violet-colored weapon to take on such a deep hue that it appeared black from certain angles.
With her weapon in hand, the blurred image of her Plant form emerging behind her, she decided to intercept Nappa's attack head-on with her sword. It was a fleeting moment, but she deflected the attack to the side.
Since it wasn't a sustained blast, the ki beam exploded right next to her. Since the danger wasn't as severe being right beside the explosion, she quickly created a wall of energy. The barrier was destroyed, but it allowed her to quickly move to a safe distance. Dust and thick smoke still swirled around her. Then, she heard the Saiyan's arrogant and confident words.
"I have to teach that bastard a lesson," Bulma thought as she concentrated a large amount of Ki. However, she did something special; she 'vibrated' her energy, making it difficult for others to perceive.
For an expert fighter with excellent Ki training, this would be somewhat disruptive but not a major problem, except in the case of a few well-planned tricks. However, for beings with poor energy perception, like machines such as a scouter, this technique went from being a trick to a lethal weapon.
Nappa wore an outdated but functional scouter. However, it was still technology, and no one on Earth understood technology better than Bulma.
On top of that, the Saiyan was a complete novice when it came to energy perception. He relied more on his talent than on the arduous training required to master this skill. There was hardly any information about energy perception in the universe, so he was unable to sense the deadly attack being prepared against him.
Nappa was ecstatic about the outcome of his actions. He had always preferred to attack brutally rather than overcomplicate things, believing that plans with many steps were prone to failure.
He had learned this lesson through his own struggles and by watching his enemies lament their fate after failing at overly complicated plans ruined by overlooked details.
Suddenly, he felt a gentle breeze on his bald head. His tail bristled, and a chill ran down his spine. His scouter didn't beep, and his senses didn't pick it up, but his sixth sense made him realize the imminent threat coming from behind him.
He tried to turn around and fly away from the danger, but felt a dull thud on his back. Then, he heard the sound of something shattering his aura, piercing his armor, and reaching his flesh.
"Too late," he heard Bulma say as pain overwhelmed him. Something tore through his flesh and bones, pushing his body toward the ground, where he crashed.
His body was covered by a dome of purple energy that didn't explode. It simply spun, slowly grinding the hardened ground of Earth through the wishes granted by the Dragon Balls. All of this happened in less than five seconds.
The culprit was obviously Bulma. The blue-haired woman had generated an energy drill in her hand. Her energy vibrated in a special way, highly compressed, similar to the ki sword she had used earlier.
She flew after Nappa as fast as she could, taking advantage of his moment of inattention. This caused the gust of wind that the Saiyan felt on his bald head. Bulma then stabbed him in the back, shattering his shimmering aura and denting his special armor. She sent the energy blast crashing into the ground.
But not before she took the belt where he kept his belongings. Though they weren't visible, she'd noticed that it used space technology. She confirmed this when she saw the Saiyan pull objects from it, like the Saibamen seeds and those stimulants that caught her attention, and then put them away.
"I thought you were going to make me push myself harder, but I barely used half my power. It's not like I'm going to let you transform. It's time to die, Saiyan. I admit you're strong and resilient, but this is as far as you go." Although Bulma was in the sky and speaking in her normal voice, she had used a ki technique to transmit her voice to her still-alive enemy.
The energy dome had vanished, and the Saiyan lay in a small crater, covered in burns. His tail was gone, his armor was in ruins, and he was missing his scouter. A smoking hole ran through him from side to side.
He fell face-first onto the ground. Since his spine was shattered, he couldn't turn around to see the Earthling who had brought him to this state in his final moments. Nappa then mustered his last remaining strength to speak a few words, even though his lungs were burning.
"Well... played... warrior... tell... Vegeta... not to take... it all... I'm proud to have served under his command all these years!" At first, the Saiyan spoke haltingly and in a low voice, but he shouted that last sentence with force and pride, characteristics of Saiyans even if they were raised on Earth.
"I will. Rest in peace, Saiyan." Bulma had used a technique to hear the dying invader's last words. She was moved by the situation because she could sense Nappa's desire to honor his prince one last time.
She didn't know him; they had been on opposing sides since their first and only encounter. The only information she had about him came from her memories, but they had long since proven to be unreliable. Yet before Bulma, who had descended from the sky to stand before the Saiyan, lay a proud warrior of an even prouder race.
Maybe Nappa was different? Like everything else in this new life. Perhaps there was more to the warrior's actions and attitude. We all have a story, but that didn't matter now, as he was about to be wiped out completely, and she was going to be the one to do it.
The blue-haired woman raised her hand toward Nappa. She didn't drag out the process; she wasn't going to torture the Saiyan. So, very soon, she fired a burst of energy that shattered Nappa's head. Thus, she ended the life of one of the last remaining Saiyans in the universe.
Nappa was an invader of worlds, a destroyer of civilizations, an exemplary fighter, a proud Saiyan, and Prince Vegeta's comrade. He had just fallen in battle on a planet he had underestimated, despite the oddities that surrounded it and the things he had encountered there.
Bulma hesitated for a moment before using her psychic powers to gently move the earth, creating a hole just large enough for her enemy's corpse. She covered the hole with earth again, but didn't leave. Instead, she stood staring at the makeshift grave.
"Someone of your caliber can't end up in an unmarked grave. Let me give you a marker for your resting place," murmured the blue-haired woman as her eyes and entire body emitted a white glow.
Her hair fluttered in the still air. The projection of her plant form appeared behind her, her eyes barely open except for small slits. She took out a capsule that transformed into a briefcase filled with small bags of seeds of many different kinds.
Unlike last time, when she accidentally created a thriving spot in this barren place, she now controlled her special power, which she drew from her other self. She created a circular lawn and grew a massive tree that soon bore red fruit.
Apples. Using grass seeds and an apple tree seed, she had created this place along with an underground aquifer that would soon form a pristine pond. She had transformed nature all on her own just to give the grave of her recently defeated enemy a visual landmark.
Because Bulma was that compassionate.