Chapter 35: Departure!

"How about that, do I qualify to be your captain now?" Xavier spoke with a grin, his smile radiating the aura of a victor, dazzling in the eyes of all the Saiyans present.

Shakda shook his head to clear it and then gazed at the scarred, uneven terrain, especially the deep crater, his mouth twitching into a bitter smile. "I always thought I was one of the best among my peers, nearly on par with older Saiyans. It turns out I was really just looking at the sky from the bottom of a well."

Reflecting on the lightning-fast events that had just unfolded, Shakda sincerely admitted, "If even you don't qualify to be the captain, then who does?"

Xavier laughed heartily, clapping Shakda on the shoulder, "Hahaha, I'm Xavier, and from now on our squad will be known as Team Xavier. You're all members, but let me be clear—if you join the team, you must follow orders, or don't blame me for being harsh!"

"Rest assured, Captain, we will follow your orders!"

Shakda and the others exchanged glances, nodding vigorously. It was natural for Saiyans to follow the strong—as long as the orders didn't explicitly send them to their deaths, they would execute them strictly.

They also felt a surge of excitement; with such a powerful leader, how could they not relish the joys of battle? Thinking this, mad grins spread across the faces of the Saiyans.

Any dissatisfaction in Shakda’s heart had completely dissolved.

Saiyans were known as a warrior race not just because of their innate love for battle, but also their impressive execution capabilities.

Saiyans are natural mercenaries, able to complete assignments well, not for money—which was useless to them—but for the sheer thrill of the fight.

This was the conclusion Xavier reached!

Sometimes he wondered, if Saiyans weren't employed by the Frieza forces but took on missions from legitimate galactic entities like the Galactic Patrol, would they still have such a notorious reputation?

Shaking off his impractical thoughts, Xavier turned serious. "Next, I'll explain our mission. As you might already know, our destination is Planet Dadoria."

As Xavier mentioned the name of Planet Dadoria, Shakda and the others stiffened, their expressions becoming grave.

"This planet is nearly a mid-level one, which means that accidents can happen at any time. If that's the case, aside from me, Celine, and Shakda, the rest of you may face significant risks, especially Rida and Belit, whose battle powers are the lowest. Be extra careful!"

"Understood!"

"Captain, we'll be cautious," they assured.

Pleased with everyone's attentive response, Xavier pointed towards Celine and introduced her to the group: "By the way, this is my sister Celine, also a squad member. And her battle power is no less than mine!"

Of course, this was after suppressing their battle powers.

The gazes of Shakda and the others turned to Celine, filled with admiration, especially from Atasya and Jelin. As fellow female Saiyans, they were particularly envious of Celine's high battle power.

Atasya, the tall, twelve-year-old who had already entered puberty and had the most mature appearance among the Saiyans, asked, "Um... Captain, how old are you and Celine, and what exactly are your battle powers?"

With a cute smile curving her lips, Celine's clear voice rang out, "Xavier and I are almost nine years old. My battle power is 970, and Xavier's is 1000."

During their recent days back on Planet Vegeta, they had managed to increase their battle powers by several points.

Though Celine spoke softly, the shocking figures of their battle powers reverberated like thunder, stunning Atasya and the others.

1000 and 970 battle power!

And they are only... nine years old?

The Saiyans looked at them incredulously, but the memory of the terrifying power displayed earlier forced them to accept the reality of these claims.

"With such battle powers at only nine years old, are you really just intermediate fighters, or could you be advanced fighters?" Belit exclaimed exaggeratedly, feeling somewhat embarrassed as he had the lowest power among them at twelve years old, only achieving 738.

"It's more than that. I doubt even some advanced fighters could boast such figures..."

Rida lamented, sympathizing with Belit's plight.

Actually, their current strength wasn't bad at all. Upon reaching puberty, their power was expected to surge dramatically, and by adulthood, they could easily exceed a battle power of 2000, placing them solidly in the middle rank among intermediate fighters.

But compared to some extraordinary talents, it still felt somewhat disheartening.

Shakda gave a rueful smile, "I thought reaching over 900 battle power at twelve was impressive, but compared to you two... well, there's no comparison."

Atasya and Jelin nodded in agreement, deeply resonating with Shakda's sentiment.

Unnoticed, the relationships among the Saiyans had significantly tightened. With Xavier and Celine acting as formidable "walls" of strength, the minor differences among them seemed trivial, and they quickly united against common challenges.

Subtly, they had begun to view Xavier as a prodigy on the level of Prince Vegeta.

"Alright, it's time for us to head out. I believe the spaceport has our spacecraft ready," Xavier announced with the authority of a captain.

"Right, we should be on our way."

"Let's go, I can hardly wait."

The Saiyans chuckled and soared into the air, heading towards the spaceport. Half an hour later, the seven of them entered the spaceport area, landing and then following a guide to where their spacecraft were parked.

On a cleared platform, seven spherical spacecraft, each two meters in diameter, were neatly arranged in the indented landing spots.

They opened their respective craft and climbed inside.

After the hatch doors closed, Xavier's voice came over the communicator, "Let's set off then. Best of luck to Team Xavier on our first mission!"

"Departure!"

"Departure!"

Echoes of their voices filled the communicator, and then the seven white spheres glowed briefly before accelerating away from Planet Vegeta, embarking on a month-long interstellar journey.