Chapter 48 – Just One More Makes ALL the Difference…

In the distance, Ajax lurched himself forcefully out of the trajectory of the blast, his chest heaving with exertion. Ajax had deduced that Nappa had no lethal intent with that blast. The distinctive lack of searing heat and its surprising concussive nature sets it apart from your typical Ki blasts. It was clear that Nappa's primary objective was not to inflict harm but rather to have Ajax stay the hell away.

Less damage blast or not, the recent exchanges had exacted a substantial toll on him. While he had been careful to avoid any potentially lethal blows, he had still endured what seemed like an endless series of attacks. Individually, Nappa's strikes may not have been anything to write home about, for him at least, but the cumulative damage was pushing him to his limit even with his body working furiously to adapt to the sustained injuries.

In short, he was f*cking exhausted. At the current moment, Ajax found himself relying more on the power of his ki than the physical strength of his body to move. Also, he had to say, this sh*t was more demanding than running a sub-six-minute mile. Hurts more too.

With the utmost speed he could summon, Ajax soared backward, putting considerable distance between himself and the dissipating blast. Truth was, he had intentionally ridden the beam a bit further than strictly necessary to grant Nappa a few extra precious moments alone with the Z Fighters.

Yes, you heard that right.

Admittedly, the tactic sounded absolutely terrible when voiced out loud, but for events to unfold as he needed them to beyond the Saiyan Invasion, sacrifice was unavoidable. Specifically, he needed Chiaotzu to die. Unfortunately, this was the price that needed to be paid for the sake of ensuring a specific individual's survival.

Ajax had already weighed the relative priorities of each member that Nappa would target. Strategically, Piccolo was relatively secure, as Nappa would likely spare Piccolo until he extracted the crucial details about the Dragon Balls from him. Gohan was also safe, for obvious reasons.

This meant that Nappa would target Krillin, Tien, and Chiaotzu. Of the three, Krillin had been momentarily incapacitated by electricity, rendering him temporarily non-threatening to Nappa and effectively taking him out of the immediate line of fire. Tien, despite his formidable skills, lacked the telekinetic abilities that had proven to be a pain in Nappa's ass.

If Ajax accurately read Nappa's priorities, the Saiyan General would likely focus on neutralizing Chiaotzu first to eliminate the most significant threat. If this is the case, then all Ajax needed to do to accomplish his objective was to provide Nappa with the time he required.

Midway back, Ajax sensed Chiaotzu's energy signature expanding staggeringly, not unlike a star moments before going supernova. In the distance, Ajax saw a tremendous detonation, and as the echoes of the explosion faded into nothing, so did Chiaotzu's energy signature.

Ah… the Crane School's Self-Detonation technique. Sorry Chiaotzu, we'll wish you back with Porunga soon, but your sacrifice was necessary in order for Piccolo to live.

As the battlefield came into view, Ajax immediately observed multiple Tiens valiantly attempting to impede the relentless force that was Nappa. However, their efforts seemed futile as Nappa, like an unstoppable juggernaut, bulldozed through their ranks with sheer brute strength, paying little heed to the barrage of Ki attacks hurled his way. Behind Nappa was a grim trail of dissipating TIen clones.

Ajax's eyes sharpened. Goku was arriving soon, Chiaotzu was gone, and Nappa was also on his last legs—all his objectives had been completed. He had successfully stalled Nappa for long enough. It was time. Nappa's ass was his. Figuratively speaking.

Summoning every ounce of his strength, Ajax accelerated toward Nappa. Surprisingly, even with the chaos around him, Nappa had somehow sensed Ajax's approach and shifted just in time to confront the incoming Ajax.

Ajax's momentum carried him straight into Nappa, his fist colliding fiercely with Nappa's arms. The air trembled as the two powerful forces clashed, each vying for supremacy.

"You arrived a whole seven seconds later than I estimated," Nappa declared smugly. 

Huh, so this guy was timing him? Wow.

"Well, you have weird nipples." Ajax shot back.

"THE F*CK DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?!" Nappa thundered, eyes widening in offense as his temper flared like wildfire.

Ha! Perfect. Let those eyes widen even more. "Solar Flare!"

A brilliant flash erupted, shrouding the battlefield in a blinding burst of light.

"F*ck me!" Nappa cursed, instinctively shielding his eyes from the searing light, caught once again in the same trap. As he reared back, he defensively curled into a protective ball, anticipating a frontal assault.

However, instead of a direct confrontation, Ajax maneuvered behind Nappa. Taking advantage of the Saiyan's temporary blindness, Ajax wrapped one hand around Nappa's tail with an iron grip.

'That won't work!' Piccolo's telepathic scream echoed in Ajax's mind. 'We've already tried that!'

Ajax ignored Piccolo and tightened his grip on Nappa's tail even further, his muscles flexing with calculated strength. He knew that fact better than anyone. In fact, he had known of it long before Piccolo even existed as a notion in Piccolo Sr.'s head.

Besides, he wasn't attempting to paralyze Nappa; rather, he was preemptively neutralizing the possibility of a potentially greater threat. He's permanently removing Great Ape Nappa from the equation before it had the chance to manifest itself.

Exerting tremendous force, Ajax ruthlessly tore Nappa's entire tail from its place, blood splattering across his face as he did so.

Caught off guard by the sudden and brutal amputation, Nappa roared in agonizing pain and fury. Ajax discarded the torn tail and wasted no time assuming a battle stance, his hands gathered at his waist. A radiant blue glow illuminated his face, heralding the arrival of the single most iconic technique within the Dragon Ball Universe.

"Kamehameha!" Ajax's voice resonated with power as the intense blue energy wave shot forth from his hands, barreling forward with incredible force. It struck Nappa's back head-on and carried him downward through the air, crashing violently into the ground.

The battlefield trembled beneath the force of the Kamehameha, with dust and debris swirling endlessly into the air as the beam persisted, keeping Nappa firmly pinned against the ground.

"What the f*ck are you all waiting for?! Blast him! Fire, fire, FIRE!!" Ajax's snapped his command at the other Z Fighters. Though the sheer brutality had left them standing dumbly in stunned silence, Ajax's scream had jolted them into action.

Tien, face filled with hatred and fury, was the first to respond. He roared as two additional limbs sprouted from his back, having activated the Four Witches Technique. With four hands forming two triangles, Tien unleashed his full-powered attack–twice.

"KIKOHO!!"

The other Z Fighters immediately followed suit in synchrony. Energy blasts of varying colors and intensities erupted from their outstretched hands, converging on the fallen Nappa.

"Explosive Breath Cannon!"

"Kamehameha!"

"Masenko!"

The air seared as five brilliant beams of energy converged with impeccable precision, joining Ajax's earlier Kamehameha and collectively homing in on the exact location where Nappa had been forcefully pressed into the ground. As the beams collided with the crater, a mesmerizing kaleidoscope of colors blossomed from the cataclysmic explosion, with vibrant hues of blue, yellow, and white intertwining.

Ajax touched down, sinking to one knee out of utter exhaustion. His body seemed unsettlingly unresponsive, as though it had slipped from his control. In the periphery of his vision, Tien, too, collapsed onto the ground, his Ki levels dangerously depleted. Ajax grimaced.

Tien had always been the voice of caution when it came to the use of the Kikoho. It was Tien who had repeatedly emphasized the importance of not utilizing this technique in prolonged bursts given the overwhelming strain it imposed on one's life force. However, in a great twist of irony, Tien himself had discarded his own advice in the heat of battle, pushing himself to his limit and perhaps beyond it. Although, because of Chiaotzu… Ajax was pretty sure Tien had done it intentionally.

Ajax gritted his teeth as Tien's Ki continued to dwindle and splutter to feeble flickers. Ajax understood with a heavy heart that for the canon to progress into the next arc with the alterations he sought to make, sacrifices were inevitable. Much like Goku's death had been pivotal to ensure the Saiyan Invasion was not a mere game over, Chiaotzu's death played a comparable role–but it weighed heavily on Ajax's conscience nonetheless.

Tien's death, however, was different from Chiaotzu's in that Tien's death was not strictly necessary. As guilt and undercurrents of bitterness overcame him, Ajax averted his gaze, feeling the burden on his shoulders grow heavier. While his heart implored him to aid his mentor, his rationality urged him to prioritize the threat and take acceptable losses as they came. They have the Dragon Balls for a reason, after all. Nevertheless, the bitter taste in his mouth persisted.

Ajax shook his head vigorously, dispelling the swirling thoughts that threatened to cloud his focus. He can't act on raw emotions in battle. It was precisely such impulsiveness that had led Tien to his dire situation in the first place. Nappa's defeat was still unconfirmed, and none of his inner conflicts would matter if the entire team died in the end.

Ajax struggled to his feet, stumbling. While the extended battle had depleted his Ki to almost nothing and his Ki forcefield felt thinner than he would have preferred, he had enough in the tank for one final strike. Thank God Pinpoint Impact relied more on Ki control than sheer Ki expenditure. Silver linings and all that. The remains of Ajax's Ki covered his fist.

Though the smoke and debris still lingered, Ajax could not afford to wait any longer. The Z Fighters needed a decisive victory since there was always the possibility that Nappa was biding his time. And Ajax was not inclined to grant Nappa more time. Ajax charged into the dissipating smoke to deliver the finishing blow. As he entered the dust cloud, Ajax felt Tien's Ki fizzle out into nothing behind him.

Soon enough, Ajax was met with what he had suspected all along: Nappa, against the odds, was still alive. The Saiyan warrior resembled a mere shadow of his former self— one eye tightly shut, an arm dangling limply, body scorched and battered, all while kneeling on one knee. Nappa appeared to be on the brink of collapse, but he hadn't, a testament to his resilience.

Time decelerated to a crawl as Ajax's fist closed in on its target, the promise of victory approaching inch by inch. However, in the fleeting moment before impact, Nappa's mouth opened wide, revealing that the Saiyan General had been amassing a colossal blast within it all along. It was at this precise moment that Ajax realized he f*cked up. Badly.

Nappa unleashed his attack, and the massive Breaker Canon instantly consumed Ajax with great ferocity. The sheer force of the energy not only dispersed any lingering smoke but also propelled Ajax violently away from Nappa. Clenching his fists, Nappa flexed his energy, causing the beam to explode in an earth-shattering display. The ground beneath them quaked for miles on end, and the air became filled with the thick, acrid scent of burnt flesh and smoldering debris.

Enveloped in the literal epicenter of the explosion, Ajax fell bonelessly to the ground, sprawled motionless amid the desolate, scorched battlefield a short distance away. His clothing was almost entirely stripped away, rendering him nearly naked and painfully vulnerable. Second and third-degree burns formed a macabre mosaic across his body like the inkblots of a Rorschach test.

Ajax is fairly certain he's dying. The wave of spreading numbness that left his body completely unresponsive was not exactly a sign of good health. The encroaching darkness on his vision wasn't auspicious either.

In all honesty, the concussive force from the explosion had, in all probability, wrought more havoc upon Ajax than the beam itself. The shockwave had coursed through him like a malevolent force, tearing through his insides and breaking many things that Ajax had preferred intact.

As he teetered on the precipice between consciousness and the abyss of death, Ajax found himself reflecting on the cruel irony that fate had dealt him. Internal injuries. Of course, the damage that would kill him at the end was one of the few things he couldn't develop a resistance to under Kami's tutelage.

Hovering on the brink of death, Ajax strained his dimming sight to focus on Nappa, who was busy charging another destructive blast in his mouth. Nappa, seemingly convinced that Ajax was either dead or incapable of further battle, paid no heed to him. It was a very reasonable assumption, given that Ajax couldn't even determine the target that Nappa was aiming that blast towards.

Even with Death-Sensei resting a hand on his shoulder, Ajax did not panic. He wasn't fearful of his looming death. He was not desperate at his imminent failure to safeguard Piccolo. Ajax was calm, perhaps even unusually so. Why? Because Ajax had lied. He didn't have two Senzu beans on him. He had three.

Ajax bit down into the Senzu bean hidden in his mouth, and he exploded into action with incredible speed. As he did so, the Senzu bean worked its magic instantly, dispelling all injuries and banishing the looming specter of death. Almost immediately, Ajax was fully restored and operating at full capacity.

Nappa, in the middle of charging his attack, caught onto the unexpected movement remarkably quickly and whipped his head around to confront the unexpected threat. Or at least, he tried to do so. As if Ajax would just grant him such a luxury.

There was a reason why Ajax had not utilized his density manipulation to any significant degree throughout the entire battle. He had been withholding that technique as a secret asset precisely for crucial moments like this. Even as he blurred forward, Ajax channeled his energy and instantly transformed the airspace surrounding Nappa into a solid mass as unyielding as stone.

Midway through its turn to confront Ajax, Nappa's head came to a staggering halt, the density forcing the Saiyan General into a temporary stasis. Though Nappa's sheer strength allowed him to break free from the ethereal restraint a scant second later, it was far too late. Nappa's eyes widened, reflecting within them a spectrum of emotions–shock, realization, and finally, horror.

Ajax, now within melee range, punched forward with blistering momentum directly at the just-released, still accelerating energy beam from Nappa's mouth.

"Lesson Four! And!" Ajax triumphantly roared as his punch collided with the energy attack, causing it to detonate mere inches away from Nappa's face. Moments later, in a stance remarkably similar to All Might's iconic United States of Smash, Ajax's fist burst through the explosion and descended upon Nappa, smashing into his jaw with a cataclysmic force that echoed like a thunderclap.

"PINPOINT IMPACT!!"

The explosive momentum and force of Ajax's Pinpoint Impact sent Nappa's head slamming into the unforgiving ground, creating a substantial crater upon striking it. The impact was so powerful that the sheer force generated a mini-tornado as the vortex of energy swirled outward from the epicenter.

As the battlefield shuddered with the impact, Vegeta tensed, rising from his previously leaning position. His eyes narrowed in response to the colossal blow delivered to his comrade. It was evident that even he was uncertain about Nappa's ability to withstand such an attack in his condition.

Slowly, the wind began to dissipate, revealing the outcome of the fierce battle. In the clearing air, Ajax stood over Nappa, his breath heavy with the lingering effects of adrenaline.

Both Vegeta and Ajax shifted their gaze downward to where Nappa lay sprawled on the ground in a spread-eagle position. His eyes were closed, his body covered in burns, and he was unmistakably unconscious. The once-mighty Saiyan General, now battered and broken, lay motionless on the scorched battlefield, with the subtle rise and fall of his chest providing the sole evidence of his life.

Ajax's keen Ki Sense, finely tuned by Kami's rigorous training, confirmed what his eyes perceived—Nappa was utterly defeated, his energy depleted, and his body rendered incapable of further movement.

Though one hand was slightly injured from punching through Nappa's Breaker Cannon, Ajax raised it high in triumph and let his victorious scream echo across the battered battlefield.

As Ajax calmed down from his momentary exhilaration, he bared his teeth in a defiant stance towards Vegeta. Ajax was well aware of the power at Vegeta's command, and despite the hard-won victory over Nappa, he knew that a direct clash with the Prince of All Saiyans would only wipe away the progress he had made thus far.

Vegeta, tilting his head, observed Ajax with an intrigued expression, a spark of curiosity flickering in his eyes.

"Interesting."

***

THE MASTERPLAN: 

Have Chiaotzu die – (COMPLETED)

Keep Piccolo alive – (COMPLETED)