For a moment, Ethan considered whether he should develop a transformation technique. Techniques like the Kaio-ken were not something he had never experimented with before. If he wanted to, developing such moves would not be difficult.
However, after thinking it over, he put the idea aside. He preferred to grow stronger steadily. As for burst-type techniques, if he really needed to go all out, Ethan could even create one on the spot. The only issue would be possible unknown side effects, but with Senzu Beans, he was not worried about that.
"Let's focus on training first!"
Shifting his attention back to his daily training, Ethan continued pushing toward one hundred times gravity. After a period of rest, he felt he was in excellent condition and adapted to eighty times gravity with little effort.
By now, only Goku's rate of improvement was comparable to his. Yamcha was stuck at thirty times gravity, while Krillin and Tien were working toward fifty times gravity.
Yoruichi was currently in the second tier, having already adapted to sixty times gravity and now pushing toward seventy.
"Let's just increase it straight to one hundred times!"
Only a madman like Goku would suggest something like that, and Ethan, who also wanted to improve his strength quickly, agreed.
"Alright, one hundred times it is. That's the fastest way to squeeze out our potential!"
The Saiyans' potential seemed inexhaustible. No matter how much it was pushed, it just kept going. This kind of endless training suited them perfectly.
Although Ethan's potential was not limitless, fully drawing out the potential hidden within his body was still far from easy.
When he turned on one hundred times gravity, he once again felt how difficult it was to even take a single step.
But this time, both of them adapted quickly. In just a few days, they could move freely under one hundred times gravity. Then came the grueling training. Even after a month, they could still feel the pressure brought by the one hundred times gravity environment.
"It looks like the one hundred times gravity environment can be used for a long time."
Training in the gravity chamber did not become useless just because you had already "cleared" it. Continuing to train in a high-gravity environment was still more effective than training outside.
Even if the gravity chamber could not be upgraded further and could only maintain one hundred times gravity, it was still the best choice for training.
Goku and Ethan had entered the sparring phase, constantly fighting in the hundredfold gravity environment and coming close to life-threatening situations several times.
Fortunately, they had Senzu Beans on hand, so no major problems occurred. This dangerous kind of training consumed quite a few Senzu Beans, but in return, their strength increased rapidly.
Several years passed in the blink of an eye. Estimating that Raditz's arrival on Earth was getting closer, Ethan took the initiative to stop the high-intensity training and had everyone else pause their training as well.
After several years of hard training, everyone's strength had advanced by leaps and bounds, making them without question the strongest group of people on Earth at the moment.
Ethan estimated that even the weakest among them, Chiaotzu, had a power level of several thousand. This was entirely because he had been dragged along by the others. Training every day with a group of monsters meant his strength could not possibly remain weak.
Even Chi-Chi's strength had increased significantly. After all, living with a monster like Goku meant that being too weak could easily lead to accidents.
In other words, not only could Raditz not defeat Ethan and the others, but even Chi-Chi could easily deal with him.
"You're not going to keep training?"
"We will, but we need to relax for a while."
Bulma noticed that Ethan had not been training as intensely as usual recently and thought he had finally gotten tired of it.
"No matter what you do, endlessly repeating it can easily become frustrating."
In reality, he was out keeping watch for Raditz. With his current strength, and by paying close attention, he would notice Raditz's spaceship the moment it approached Earth.
Goku had also stopped his gravity chamber training and appropriately headed to Kami's Lookout. If Ethan's judgment was correct, Kami, who had nothing left to teach Goku, might send him to the entrance of Snake Way.
With Goku's current strength, crossing Snake Way would not take long, and learning the Kaio-ken and Spirit Bomb should not take much time either, so he might return soon.
It was clear that Kami had not given up on the idea of Goku succeeding him. In his view, Goku was the best candidate to become the next Kami.
Just as Ethan had expected, Goku returned after only two months and described King Kai to everyone.
Everyone was already used to the strange things Goku encountered, but they were still somewhat curious about the so-called Kaio-ken.
"Let's all have a look!"
Besides the gravity chamber, there was also a specially built training hall.
This hall had no special feature other than being durable.
Even so, it could only withstand the excess energy released during their battles. If they struck it directly, it could still be easily destroyed.
Still, everyone was very careful. After all, no one liked wrecking their own home.
"Kaio-ken!"
Everyone ran over to watch the excitement. Ethan, the only one who could train and spar with Goku, stood opposite him.
Both of them released a bit of their energy. There was no earth-shaking storm, but the people watching could still clearly feel the immense aura they gave off.
As Goku unleashed the Kaio-ken, the normally invisible energy became clearly visible. A reddish aura, like flames, erupted from his body and stirred up gusts of wind.
"Such powerful energy!"
"Goku's power has increased by at least two times!"
After using the Kaio-ken, Goku began explaining the newly learned technique.
"This is a technique created by King Kai. It can multiply my power, speed, and defense..." Hearing Goku's explanation, everyone exclaimed that it really was a powerful technique. However, what shocked them even more was what he said next. "I'm still not skilled enough with the Kaio-ken. Right now, I can only use Kaio-ken times ten!"
"Times ten..."
Ethan listened to Goku's explanation and asked the question everyone wanted to ask.
"Does Kaio-ken times ten mean... increasing your own power, speed, and defense by ten times?"
"That's right!"
"..."
Hearing Goku's confirmation, Tien and Krillin were stunned.
In their eyes, Goku's current strength was already terrifying, so how overwhelming would that power become if it were multiplied by ten?
But including Tien, they all noticed that both Goku and Ethan remained very calm, and Goku did not seem especially proud of it.
"Is this strength enough?"
That question left everyone a little confused. Krillin, the quickest to react, was the first to realize something and understood why the two of them were so calm.
"So that's how it is... but with such incredible strength, we should be able to deal with that big villain called Frieza, right?"
As Krillin said this, he turned to look at Yoruichi beside him. He had originally expected to see a happy expression on her face, but instead found that she, like the two people in the arena, was also very calm.
"Could it be..."
Actually, Yoruichi had no clear concept of Frieza's strength, but Ethan had specifically explained to her just how powerful Frieza was.
If a sturdy adult human carrying a weapon had a power level of about five, then the young Piccolo she had seen at the World Martial Arts Tournament had a power level of around three hundred.
And the Frieza they were going to face had a maximum power level of one hundred twenty million.
Although they did not have scouters and could not determine everyone's exact power level at the moment, Ethan had made a rough estimate. After completing one hundred times gravity training, their power levels should be around one hundred thousand.
If they were given enough time to keep drawing out their potential, they could reach several hundred thousand.
Even if Ethan and Goku had already drawn out a large portion of their potential and reached several hundred thousand, adding Kaio-ken times ten would still only bring them to a power level of a few million.
Compared to one hundred twenty million, the gap was simply far too great.
"So... it's still not enough?"
There was no need for a spoken answer. Goku already knew the answer from Ethan's expression.
"He's actually that strong!"
He deactivated the Kaio-ken. This technique placed a heavy burden on the body, and even lower levels of Kaio-ken still put a lot of stress on it.
"Yeah, that's why I've been training so hard."
With such a powerful enemy out there, there was no way he could afford to slack off. Just as Goku was about to ask something else, he suddenly sensed an evil presence approaching Earth.
What felt strangest to him was that besides being filled with evil and chaos, this presence also carried a trace of familiarity.
"This is..."
Ethan also noticed the approaching presence. He looked up and sensed that there was only one person, and that person was rapidly approaching Earth.
He glanced at little Gohan, who was being held by Chi-Chi on the side. Gohan was four years old this year.
"It looks like it's Raditz, no doubt about it."
He had trained hard for several years, all for this day.
Raditz was not the problem. His appearance simply meant that they were getting closer and closer to Frieza.
"Is it an alien?"
Their reaction also caught Krillin and the others' attention, and soon everyone sensed the presence approaching Earth.
"This presence is very evil. Should we go take a look?"
"Of course we should."
Goku was still wondering why this presence felt somewhat familiar, while Ethan was already walking toward the door.
They were usually dressed in their training clothes anyway, so there was no need to change. They could leave directly from the training ground.
Everyone who could fly got ready to go take a look, but Bulma was jumping up and down below.
"Hey, how can you leave me behind when you're going to see an alien?"
"..."
Left with no choice, Yoruichi picked Bulma up and released a barrier of energy around her to protect her from being injured during high-speed flight.
Chi-Chi did not join in. Holding Gohan, she reminded them, "Come back early for dinner!"
"Got it!"
This presence was evil, but not strong. Even if it was an enemy, they could resolve it quickly, so everyone felt that it would not take too long.
(To be continued.)