Mojito ignored Majin Buu and politely walked up to Bardock.
"This must be Mr. Bardock, right?" Mojito said with a courteous smile.
"I'm Bardock," Bardock nodded.
"Pleased to meet you. If you don't mind, I'd like to invite you to become Universe 9's God of Destruction." Mojito extended his hand, sneaking a glance toward Ken.
Ken's expression didn't change much.
You finally picked the candidate I was trying to hand you.
"Please take care of me," Bardock immediately replied, returning the handshake.
"Since the choice has been made, I'll leave the rest in your hands, Mojito," Ken smiled.
"Ken, you're too kind. I should be the one thanking you—for providing me with a new God of Destruction," Mojito said with a bright smile, finally able to relax a little.
But after a few polite words, something suddenly felt off to him.
Hold on a second…
Isn't the reason Universe 9 lost its previous God of Destruction mostly… your fault?
Mojito was honestly speechless.
How did it turn into me owing you a favor?
"The Grand Priest said he'll arrange a suitable Supreme Kai to take the post," Ken added.
"Actually, we can bring back the Supreme Kai who disappeared," Mojito admitted. "Strictly speaking, the one who died back then wasn't the Supreme Kai himself, so right now he's still in the Other World, halo over his head and all… When I get a chance, I'll go pick him up."
"So when the Grand Priest said he'd 'help find a suitable Supreme Kai'… he really meant 'I'll just resurrect the old one', huh?" Ken sighed deeply.
As expected of the Grand Priest. Foxiest man in the whole timeline.
"More or less," Mojito nodded. "Cultivating a new Supreme Kai isn't easy. As long as the previous one didn't commit some unforgivable crime, the usual approach is to resurrect him."
"I haven't seen the Grand Priest rushing to revive those missing Supreme Kai from Universe 7," Ken muttered.
"You'll have to ask the Grand Priest yourself about that," Mojito quickly washed his hands of it.
Ken: "…"
"All right, since that's settled, we should head for Universe 3 next," Ken said, about to take off.
"Please wait, Ken." Bardock suddenly stepped forward.
Ken paused mid-air and glanced back at him.
"When can I see Gine again? And my two sons? You promised you'd let me meet them," Bardock said directly. "That's the main reason I agreed to become a God of Destruction."
"Beat any one God of Destruction, and then we'll talk," Ken tossed back, and immediately took Broly and the others skyward.
Bardock watched Ken disappear into the distance, his expression growing heavier and heavier.
So I just have to defeat any random God of Destruction?
"Excuse me, but… who's the weakest God of Destruction?" Bardock asked urgently. He couldn't wait to see Gine and his sons again.
"That would be you, Bardock-sama," Mojito sighed.
Bardock: "…"
"Ah, ah, just a joke, just a joke," Mojito waved his hands. "The weakest God of Destruction… used to be Universe 3's Mosco, but he's already dead. These days, the weakest is probably Universe 6's Champa-sama."
"Champa? That big fat cat?" Bardock immediately pictured him.
"Yes," Mojito nodded.
"I'll surpass him as fast as I can," Bardock said, eyes firm, full of longing and determination.
As long as I defeat even the weakest God of Destruction, I can see Gine again.
I'll be able to return to Earth and search for Kakarot.
He should be living there under the name Son Goku.
"So… how do I become a God of Destruction?" Bardock turned and asked Mojito.
"Did you see that inverted triangle when you arrived?" Mojito asked.
Bardock nodded and pointed down at the ground below.
"Bardock-sama just needs to fly to the point in the sky directly opposite that triangle," Mojito explained, pointing straight up toward the center of the God of Destruction Realm.
Bardock didn't hesitate, shooting up into the air.
"Higher… a little lower… okay, just a touch higher… there. That's the spot," Mojito nodded. "The investiture ceremony for the God of Destruction… begins!"
He raised his staff high.
Starlike streams of light burst from the top of the staff and poured over Bardock, bathing his body in divine power.
Bardock's expression relaxed into something almost blissful, like someone was giving him a full-body massage.
Gradually, a God of Destruction's outfit materialized around him.
Bardock looked down at his changing clothes, but his face stayed calm throughout.
Over an hour later, Mojito finally finished cleansing Bardock's body with his angelic power.
Bardock slowly descended, now wearing the garb of a God of Destruction, a gold ear-piece clipped to his ear, his tail still wrapped tightly around his waist.
"Congratulations on your appointment, Bardock-sama. Welcome as the new God of Destruction of Universe 9," Mojito said, bowing.
"It doesn't feel all that different… I don't think my power went up," Bardock said, shaking his head slightly.
"That part is up to you, Bardock-sama—through your own training," Mojito replied. "I'll teach you how to use the Destruction energy itself."
Bardock nodded solemnly.
There was a brief silence.
"The ground on this planet feels tougher than before," Bardock noted, stomping lightly.
"That's right. Now that our God of Destruction and Supreme Kai are back, Universe 9 is slowly regaining its vitality," Mojito said with a smile.
…
Universe 3, God of Destruction Realm.
Ken arrived with Broly, Majin Buu, and Ai, landing on the planet.
On the way, he couldn't help feeling a bit impressed.
So this is a high-tech universe, huh.
He almost didn't trust his own eyes.
On the flight toward the God of Destruction Realm, Ken spotted a gigantic mechanical head drifting through space.
It looked exactly like Unicron from Transformers.
As he remembered it, Unicron used to be a planet-sized Transformer who tried to devour some energy module, got blown to pieces, and was left with only his head.
Ken even flew over to ask the massive metal head if it was Unicron.
But it seemed to be in a dormant state and didn't answer.
He also discovered a planet that looked suspiciously like Cybertron.
Universe 3 really was bizarre.
But that wasn't important right now.
Just like in Universe 9, Universe 3's angel Campari was standing with his staff raised, quietly radiating angelic power to sustain the life of the universe.
The moment he sensed Ken and the others arrive, Campari opened his eyes and came over to greet them.
"Ken, I've been waiting a long time," Campari said, smiling as he immediately looked over at the three behind him.
Ken nodded and swept his hand out grandly. "These are the candidates I brought you. Feel free to choose your God of Destruction."
Campari: "…"
"Heh heh… Mojito already told me," Campari gave a dry chuckle.
"Big mouth. He gossiped all the way to Universe 3," Ken muttered.
Campari was at a loss for words.
After a moment of silence, he said, "In that case, I'll ask Miss Ai to serve as Universe 3's God of Destruction. She was modified from Mosco's body, after all."
Ai had been mentally prepared for this. She took a few steps forward, but kept glancing back at Broly with every step.
"Then that's settled," Ken nodded.
"Would you like to stay and watch Miss Ai's investiture ceremony?" Campari asked.
"Sure, why not," Ken agreed easily.
Just like in Universe 9, Ai flew up to the focal point directly above the inverted triangle at the center of the Realm.
Campari unleashed his angelic power, bathing Ai's body in divine energy.
This time, the whole process took less than two minutes.
After all, her body had already been a God of Destruction's vessel. This was just a system swap.
With a crisp snap, a full God of Destruction outfit wrapped itself around Ai, and a golden ear-piece appeared on her ear.
Ai floated back down and walked straight toward Broly.
Broly said nothing.
"Aren't you going to congratulate me, Broly?" Ai blinked up at him, eyes a little red.
"Con… congratulations," Broly murmured, nodding.
"A real man should be strong. Broly, I'll be waiting for you to become the strongest God of Destruction," Ai said softly, gaze full of emotion as she fought back tears.
Broly gave another heavy, serious nod.
This time, Ai's eyes were full of reluctance. Tears spilled over, rolling down her cheeks like broken beads.
Broly still didn't quite understand what love was. With a naïve heart, he simply flew away.
On the way back, Ken first took Broly and Majin Buu to Universe 7's Galactic Patrol Headquarters, where they shamelessly freeloaded food for quite a while.
Once Bulma had had enough fun with her sister, Ken brought her home as well.
They returned safely to Earth.
Majin Buu went off to play with Mr. Satan again.
Ken and Broly continued staying at Bulma's place.
With that much good food around, it was a pretty great life.
And Amarella loved the cuisine at Bulma's house just as much.
As for Krillin, Yamcha, Tien and the others, they'd gone up to the Lookout under the Kami's arrangements and were training hard there.
Days passed.
Half a year slipped by in a flash.
"Without realizing it, six months have already gone by. How's Goku's training coming along?" Bulma asked Ken.
"They're fine. Don't worry," Ken smiled, not even bothering to check.
There was no need.
The fight between Goku and Vegeta was just going to be an appetizer.
Whether Goku won or lost didn't really matter.
Ken planned to use that battle to create a training program for Goku and Vegeta—
A training regimen tailored specifically to them.
…
Universe 6, Earth, on a rocky plateau.
Son Gohan grabbed a handful of fruit and stuffed it into his mouth, eating happily.
Just then, that huge dinosaur appeared again, meeting Gohan head-on. The boy and the beast stared at each other.
There was no trace of fear left in Gohan's eyes—only calm.
"You still haven't learned your lesson, huh?" Gohan said, munching as he looked at the dinosaur.
The dinosaur roared in rage, opened its massive jaws, and bit down at him.
Gohan hopped and skipped lightly around the ground, dodging each attack with ease.
He even turned back and made a face at the dinosaur.
"I'm over here!" Gohan waved.
The dinosaur's fury exploded. It sped up, lunging forward.
Gohan leapt high into the air.
The dinosaur plunged headfirst into a rocky cliff, seeing stars as it collapsed in a heap.
"Meat's back on the menu!" Gohan cheered, swinging his sword down from mid-air and slicing off a small chunk of the dinosaur's tail.
He speared the bit of tail meat on his sword.
It wasn't much, but it was still a pretty generous hunk of prime meat.
"At this rate, your tail's going to be gone," Gohan grinned.
He'd eaten that dinosaur's tail more than a few times already.
With a blast of ki from his left hand, he lit a wooden stake on fire.
Gohan held the sword over the flames, slowly roasting the meat.
The smell of grilled meat drifted out, thick and rich.
Up in the sky, Piccolo watched him from above, a satisfied smile tugging at his lips.
After Gohan finished eating, Piccolo finally descended in front of him.
"Ah! Piccolo-san!" Gohan wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"You didn't let me down. From now on, I'll teach you how to fight," Piccolo said.
Gohan nodded vigorously, eyes full of expectation.
"Attack me with everything you've got," Piccolo beckoned. "You just ate, so don't tell me you're out of energy."
"Then I won't hold back," Gohan replied, immediately kicking toward Piccolo.
Piccolo raised a hand and effortlessly blocked the strike.
Gohan followed with several more kicks, but Piccolo brushed them all aside.
Gohan landed, pushed off with his right foot, and lunged with a punch.
Piccolo vanished from where he'd been standing.
Gohan's eyes flew wide.
He was gone. Where did he go?
"Behind you."
Piccolo's foot crashed into Gohan's backside, sending him sprawling.
"You're so fast… I can't see you at all," Gohan said, climbing back up and scratching his head.
"You have to feel it. Don't rely on your eyes," Piccolo lectured.
"That's easier said than done…" Gohan muttered under his breath as he dusted himself off.
Electric sparks flashed in Piccolo's eyes and zapped Gohan.
Gohan's hair stood completely on end as he collapsed, wisps of smoke curling off his body.
"I don't have time to stand around chatting. Get up and train. Hard," Piccolo snapped. "We've got, at most, four months before the Saiyans arrive on Earth! From now on, except for eating and sleeping, you'll be fighting me. Got it?"
"Four… four months? I'm gonna die," Gohan trembled all over, nearly in tears.
"That's the only way you'll grow strong enough to beat those Saiyans," Piccolo snorted.
…
Universe 7, Other World.
Snake Way.
Son Goku was utterly exhausted.
"This is bad… I'm out of senzu beans. I feel like I'm going to starve to death," he panted, barely able to keep going, forcing himself forward step by step. "I can't anymore… When does this road end? At this pace, who knows when I'll meet that Kai Ken told me about?"
After slogging on for a while longer, he suddenly realized there was no road ahead.
"It's the tail of Snake Way… So I finally made it to the end?" Goku said excitedly. "Ken said there was a planet at the end of Snake Way… but there's nothing here."
He glanced around. When he looked up, he spotted a small green planet floating in the sky.
"Is that it?" Goku's eyes lit up. "I did it!"
He sprang into the air and shot toward the green planet, hovering above it.
"This has to be King Kai's planet, right? There's even a house on it," he said, looking down.
Suddenly, Goku felt a tremendous force drag him downward.
What the—?
He slammed face-first into the ground.
"What's going on? My body feels super heavy…" Goku groaned, forcing himself up. "It's like something's pinning me to the ground."
Just then, he saw a black chimpanzee walking toward him.
The chimp and Goku stared at each other.
"Hey, are you King Kai?" Goku greeted him. "You must be, right? Korin's a cat, so a chimp for a Kai isn't that weird."
The chimp, Bubbles, said nothing.
Where did this idiot come from?
"Nice to meet you. I'm Son Goku. Please teach me how to train," Goku said with his hands together, bowing respectfully.
Bubbles raised both arms above his head, turned around, and started walking off, grinning.
Goku blinked, then muttered, "So this is the first exercise? Just copy that?"
He lifted his arms over his head and trudged after Bubbles, step for painful step.
"King Kai, what's with this ground? This pose is exhausting," Goku asked.
"Heh heh heh! Heh heh heh!"
Bubbles just kept chuckling.
Goku chuckled along with him, "heh heh"-ing with a serious face, sweat beading on his forehead.
The real King Kai walked over from not far away. When he saw Goku doing that, he couldn't help asking,
"Hey, what are you doing?"
Goku froze, turning to look at him.
"Uh, you are…?" Goku squinted at him.
"I'm… heh heh… I'm King Kai," King Kai said, dropping a pun he found absolutely hilarious.
"And him?" Goku asked, pointing at the chimp instead of laughing.
King Kai: "…"
No sense of humor at all!
"He's my pet, Bubbles," King Kai explained.
"Ohhh, that makes sense. I thought something felt off," Goku said, scratching his head, embarrassed.
"You're what's off," King Kai grumbled. "You didn't think my pun was funny? Don't be so stiff. Go ahead and laugh."
"Uh… what?" Goku just looked confused.
"You don't need to be so tense…" King Kai sighed, exasperated. "Fine, let me give you another joke."
He picked up an imaginary phone, holding it to his ear.
"Hello? No one's picking up?" King Kai delivered the punchline and burst out laughing at his own joke.
Goku: "…"
He still didn't laugh. He just couldn't understand what was so funny.
King Kai: "…"
He felt personally attacked.
"What did you come here for?" King Kai asked, face darkening.
"Oh, I wanted you to teach me how to train," Goku said, bowing again.
"Go back. If you can't appreciate a brilliant pun like mine, your personality's no good. I'm not teaching you," King Kai snorted.
"Hahaha! That was hilarious. As expected of King Kai, that joke was amazing!" Goku suddenly forced out a big laugh.
"…Your reaction time's way too slow," King Kai wiped away sweat.
"So can you train me now?" Goku asked.
"I can—if you pass my test," King Kai said, nodding. "Can you make me, the pun genius, laugh?"
"Me? Tell jokes?" Goku grimaced.
"Scared, huh? If your joke isn't top-tier, I won't laugh," King Kai said smugly.
Goku fell into deep thought.
"You might as well give up and head back," King Kai waved him off.
"I don't want to raise a dog or a cat. I want to raise you," Goku said.
King Kai: "???"
"Kid, I'm a man! What the hell are you saying?" King Kai barked.
"Well… raising pigs is the quickest way to get rich," Goku added.
King Kai froze in shock, then burst out laughing.
"You laughed! King Kai laughed!" Goku cheered.
"Crap… you're pretty good. Are you a pro comedian or something?" King Kai wiped more sweat away.
"Uh… Krillin told me that one," Goku said sheepishly.
"Hang on… why does it feel like you just insulted me?" King Kai frowned.
"No, no, I was talking about Krillin," Goku quickly dumped the blame on his friend.
"All right, all right. I'll train you. I'll teach you the finest methods of making people laugh," King Kai said with a straight face.
"I don't want comedy. Please teach me martial arts," Goku replied.
"Martial arts? Why didn't you say so earlier?" King Kai blinked. "Fine. Attack me with everything you've got. Let me see what you can do."
"King Kai… something feels off. This place is really heavy. My body feels like it's full of lead," Goku said, pointing at the ground.
"You're from Earth, right?" King Kai asked.
"Yeah," Goku nodded.
"Then of course you'll feel heavy. This planet might be tiny, but its gravity is ten times Earth's. So your weight, and everything else, is multiplied by ten," King Kai explained. "Try jumping with all your strength."
"Okay." Goku crouched and jumped as hard as he could, managing only a little over ten meters.
He crashed back down.
"No good… that's as high as I can go," he said, shaking his head.
"Not bad. Being able to jump that high under ten times gravity means you've got potential," King Kai nodded in approval. "In that case, let's begin training… By the way, how long are you planning to stay?"
"I don't know how long it took me to run all the way down Snake Way… but I'm sure I don't have much time left. Two Saiyans are on their way to Earth, so I need to get strong fast," Goku said.
"Saiyans, huh? Their power is no joke," King Kai said, the antennae on his head twitching as he turned around. "Let me see when they'll reach Earth."
He focused, and soon saw the two spherical pods streaking through space.
"They'll arrive on Earth in exactly 128 days…" King Kai said, then glanced toward Earth.
The moment he did, he froze.
Earth… what happened to Earth?
He'd stopped watching Earth for a while—and now the planet looked like a dead, lifeless rock.
What in the world had happened?
"Wow, that's amazing. As expected of King Kai… Only 128 days left, huh…" Goku said in awe.
King Kai: "…"
"Wait a second… where's your halo?" King Kai suddenly noticed something else. He stared at Goku's head and saw no golden ring at all.
"My halo? You mean the ring thing around Ken's neck?" Goku asked, pointing to his own throat.
King Kai: "???"
"Hold on—you're still alive?!" King Kai shouted, eyes bulging.
"King Kai, what are you talking about? You make it sound like I'm already dead," Goku said, half laughing, half exasperated.
(End of Chapter)
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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