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Currently on chapter 35.
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When that incredibly awkward situation was finally resolved—with Vegeta giving up and refusing to say another word, and Piccolo pretending to be very interested in a rock on the ground to avoid Gohan's questions—Zaiko sighed and continued telling everyone about his life.
Mostly, the conversation flowed between Zaiko, Goku, and Gohan. Father and son asked the vast majority of the questions, driven by curiosity, while Vegeta, Piccolo, and Trunks simply limited themselves to listening in silence.
That was how the group learned of Lila's dark intentions in Zaiko's timeline.
Zaiko explained to them that the West Supreme Kai, Lila, had created and raised him in the shadows solely and exclusively for the purpose of ruling the entire universe, using him as a weapon to mercilessly eradicate anyone who opposed her reign.
Of course, Zaiko tried not to portray himself, while telling the story, as a victim... although he quickly realized, from Goku and Gohan's looks, that it was impossible.
He told them how Lila had manipulated him for as long as he could remember so that he would travel to Earth with the goal of eliminating the Z Fighters, taking advantage of a moment when Goku would be absent, in order to claim the planet as his first conquered territory.
Of course, when Gohan asked with concern where his father had gone, Zaiko dodged the question. He didn't go into details about Goku's absence—he wasn't going to mention anything to them about Goku's departure to the Dragon Realm—arguing that knowing the future to that level of detail would be dangerous for their timeline.
As he listened, Goku's expression became unusually somber. Goku, who always tried to see the good in people, discovered that his son had been raised completely away from him. Due to his Saiyan nature and free spirit, he usually prioritizes training and martial arts, but that doesn't mean he doesn't value his family and love them in his own way.
Zaiko knows that although by human standards Goku is considered a father with notable absences or peculiarities, he is a man who wouldn't hesitate to give his life for them to guarantee their safety.
For this very reason, he wasn't surprised to see his expression, which mixed disgust and sadness.
Zaiko narrated to him how he was forced to grow up in an environment completely isolated from the rest of the universe to prevent any peaceful or kind influence from corrupting him. Goku clenched his fists upon hearing that Zaiko had been psychologically manipulated since birth, subjected to extreme and torturous training aimed at destroying any trace of empathy, with the sole purpose of unleashing in him the maximum cruelty and arrogance possible.
And what impacted Goku and Gohan the most was discovering the image Zaiko had of his father when he was a child.
Zaiko confessed to them that he grew up knowing about Goku solely through the stories and lies his mother told him. To him, Son Goku wasn't the noble, pure-hearted hero everyone knew, but a ruthless conqueror and the most bloodthirsty warrior in the universe.
Zaiko, using everything he remembered from his readings of Dragon Ball AF in his past life, faithfully recounted to them the story of the original Zaiko as if it were his own life.
He explained to them that since he was little he had always solely and exclusively respected power, since Lila had burned into his mind the idea that Goku was the Ultimate Warrior, a being who stood above any god or mortal and that his destiny was to surpass him. Far from hating him for not being present, Zaiko felt deeply proud to inherit his powerful blood.
In his mind, he thought Goku operated as an emperor or dictator of the universe.
"To me, your journey through space wasn't training or an adventure," Zaiko told them, looking straight into Goku's eyes. "I saw your travels as a brutal conquest campaign. And, because of the brainwashing my mother subjected me to from the moment I first opened my eyes, I considered myself your one and rightful heir. I firmly believed I was the only one of your children with the right to inherit absolute control of the universe. My sole objective was to travel to Earth, crush my weak brothers, and claim the throne of the strongest to satisfy my mother's sick desires."
While uttering those words out loud and seeing the expressions of sadness and horror on Goku and Gohan's faces, Zaiko fell silent for a moment, deep in his own thoughts.
Deep down, he realized that he felt quite sorry for the original Zaiko from Dragon Ball AF.
Zaiko had been nothing more than a broken child, a tool molded by the hatred and desires of a deranged woman. Thinking about it made him reflect on what could have been. If the original Zaiko, somehow, could have been raised directly with Goku on Earth... his life would have been completely different. He would have lived a peaceful life in the mountains of Mount Paozu, surrounded by a loud but loving family, training for fun alongside a father and having two older brothers, Gohan and Goten, to play and have fun with.
An imperceptible sigh escaped his lips. After talking so much about the subject, even he, who had simply been pretending and taking the story as his own, was starting to feel a very real and deep resentment beating in his chest toward the West Supreme Kai.
A resentment that soon disappeared when he reminded himself that he wasn't the real Zaiko.
"Wait...? Did you say brothers?" Gohan suddenly looked up and observed him in surprise.
Zaiko scratched the back of his neck awkwardly as if he had made a mistake, although he had done it intentionally.
"I'm sorry to ruin the surprise for you but... right now Chi-Chi should be pregnant."
As Goku and Gohan processed the revelation, a harsh, impatience-laden voice cut through the atmosphere.
"Enough!" Vegeta grunted, taking a step forward.
The Prince of all Saiyans stood with his arms crossed, his brow deeply furrowed, and clearly in a very bad mood.
"I don't care at all about your tragic and sad childhood story," Vegeta snapped at him coldly. "Everyone present here has had horrible childhoods and sad pasts, and we don't go around sharing them with the first person we run into out of pity."
Zaiko snorted in amusement. Vegeta wasn't wrong.
Vegeta looked away for a second, gritting his teeth, and a noticeable trace of frustration crossed his face. It cost him an awful lot to swallow his pride, but he finally let out what he had been holding in for a while.
"If I've been keeping quiet until now and endured listening to your whole stupid tale... it's solely because I need your help to learn how to use that damn Divine Ki."
Zaiko blinked, surprised by the bluntness, and looked down at him. Bringing a hand to his chin, he formed a small, enigmatic smile.
For an instant, in the back of his mind, Zaiko couldn't help but feel exactly like that internet meme where a monkey brings its hand to its chin thoughtfully, pretending to be immersed in the deepest and most philosophical thoughts in the universe, when in reality it's thinking about something completely absurd and irrelevant.
Vegeta raised an eyebrow, staring at him seeing him adopt such a serious and thoughtful posture.
Zaiko simply widened his smile until his teeth showed.
"I'm not going to help you," Zaiko replied bluntly. "I get absolutely nothing out of doing it."
"What did you say, you damn insect?!" Vegeta exclaimed angrily. His aura erupted violently around him, kicking up debris, while Trunks quickly ran toward him, stepping in between and trying to persuade him not to do something stupid like attacking him.
None of them had yet forgotten the ease with which Cell had been defeated.
At that moment, hearing Zaiko, Goku snapped out of his own thoughts. He quickly approached him, pointing to himself with his thumb.
"Hey, Zaiko! Do you think you could teach me how to use Divine Ki?! Please, please, I'm begging you, please!"
Goku pressed both hands together in front of his face in a pleading gesture, begging him.
It seems he has recovered quite quickly from the news that he is going to have a second child.
Seeing the scene, Vegeta calmed down a bit. Although he still looked at Zaiko with annoyance, he snorted with an arrogant and amused smile.
"Hmph... don't think so highly of yourself, Kakarot," Vegeta mocked, closing his eyes smugly. "If that guy even rejected me, it's highly likely that he'll also tell you, a simple low-class warrior, to go to..."
"Sure, no problem," Zaiko answered him, nodding and giving him a thumbs-up.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Vegeta roared. His anger exploded with twice the force as before, and a crater formed beneath his feet.
Before Vegeta completely lost his mind, Zaiko raised a hand to calm them.
"Actually, to enter the territory of the gods and reach the transformation I call Saiyan God, there is a ritual," Zaiko explained to them, adopting a more serious tone. "It is a ritual that can only be performed by six pure-hearted Saiyans who illuminate the soul of one of them."
He paused briefly, glancing out of the corner of his eye at the infuriated Vegeta.
"Of course, that state can also be achieved through extremely hard training... but the ritual is the easiest path."
Vegeta clicked his tongue with evident annoyance, immediately noticing the problem with that damn ritual.
"There are only three pure-blooded Saiyans left alive in the whole damn universe," Vegeta declared, crossing his arms again.
Trunks, who had been listening in silence, intervened, looking between his father and Mr. Goku, genuinely confused.
"Wait a minute... Who is the third one?" he asked.
Even Goku tilted his head and looked at Vegeta with deep curiosity.
Vegeta kept his arms crossed and closed his eyes, letting out a snort of disdain.
"I have a younger brother named Tarble," Vegeta revealed with total indifference. "He was exiled from Planet Vegeta by our father when he was a child because he had a ridiculously low power level. He was a simple low-class Saiyan... a total disgrace to Saiyan royal blood... I don't know where he is currently."
Goku widened his eyes, taking a step back in surprise.
"Whaaaat?! Vegeta, you never told me you had a brother before?!" Goku complained to him, gesturing with his hands.
"I had simply completely forgotten about the existence of that useless guy," Vegeta answered him.
A few steps further back, Future Trunks blinked several times, taking in the discovery.
«I have... I have an uncle?», Trunks thought to himself, completely astonished. He was more than sure that not even his mother, Bulma, knew about his existence. «Maybe I should try looking for him when I go back to my timeline?», he wondered. «Of course, after eliminating the androids, naturally.»
Zaiko coughed softly to regain their attention.
"For the ritual, they don't necessarily have to be six pure-blooded Saiyans. Hybrids count too," he clarified.
Vegeta went on the defensive immediately, frowning as he did the math.
"Even so, that would leave us being five in total, counting myself, Kakarot, the Gohan brat, and Trunks... and I suppose you would be the fifth."
"Actually, there are six," Piccolo corrected him with crossed arms, staring at Vegeta. "You are forgetting to count your newborn son, baby Trunks who is with Bulma."
"I refuse!" Vegeta yelled instantly. "I will not allow my newborn son to participate in a dangerous ritual!"
"It's not dangerous..." Zaiko muttered under his breath.
"Even so, I refuse! He's just a baby!"
Goku brought both hands behind his head and burst out laughing with his characteristic, carefree laugh.
"Heh heh heh! Wow, Vegeta, I didn't expect you to be such a protective father at all," Goku mocked.
Vegeta, feeling embarrassed, yelled at him while pointing a finger: "Shut up, you idiot! At least I am a good father!"
Goku frowned, feeling genuinely offended. He walked over to Gohan and gave him a friendly and somewhat rough pat on the back, pushing him forward a little.
"Hey, that's not true! Look at him, my son has grown up very healthy, very strong, and he is a good kid! I am a good father!" Goku defended himself.
Gohan, suddenly finding himself in the center of attention, simply laughed nervously and scratched his cheek.
Piccolo, observing the scene, looked at Goku with a frown. «Yeah, right... Who the hell does this idiot think raised and protected Gohan after he died?», Piccolo thought to himself, shaking his head.
Only then, a loud roar of laughter echoed among them. Zaiko was laughing out loud, genuinely enjoying the ridiculous argument.
"Don't worry," Zaiko told them when he managed to calm his laughter, raising his right hand and holding up two fingers. "There are still two other pure-blooded Saiyans alive in this universe."
Ignoring the surprised faces—especially Vegeta's look—Zaiko slowly lowered his first finger.
"One of them is Colonel Paragus, King Vegeta's former right-hand man... and coincidentally, my father-in-law," Zaiko revealed quite naturally.
Hearing the word father-in-law, Piccolo remembered the Saiyan woman Zaiko was with when he first met him.
Right after, Zaiko lowered his second finger.
"And the other person is his daughter, Broly... my girlfriend. The beautiful woman I am going to make my wife very soon."
The silence only lasted for a second.
And then, grabbing his hair with both hands and with his eyes almost popping out of their sockets, Goku broke the silence with a shout that echoed everywhere...
"HHHUUUUUUUUH?!!!"