"W-What are you talking about?!" Kami hissed, the elder Namekian glaring at me as I casually stood on the Lookout, staring him down.
"It's exactly as I just said," I told him bluntly, not wavering even a smidge at his anger, "You're relieved of your duties as Guardian of Earth."
"Y-You can't just do that! I've protected this planet since far before you were even born!" Kami shouted, glaring as his body shifted into a fighting stance, "If you think I'll let you do whatever you want, you're sorely mistaken-"
"You already did, old timer," I said dryly, vanishing as I appeared a few feet ahead, standing next to him as I casually placed a hand on his shoulder, "I killed your students, took over this planet as the king, and can kill you whenever I please. I can quite literally do whatever I want!"
I squeezed his shoulder lightly, but that 'lightly' was enough for him to yell in pain, falling down onto his knees in a pained gasp. I looked down at the Namekian as he gasped in pain, clutching at his shoulder, and then decided to give him the good news.
"But, I'm not going to kill you or anything. Instead, you'll serve as a mentor for the next guardian," I told Kami, causing him to look up at me confusedly, "I don't really care about the whole 'Guardian of Earth' thing anyway, but the Dragon Balls need to be updated."
I was being honest - I didn't give a shit if Kami was the 'Protector of Earth' or the 'Guardian of Earth' or anything else to Earth, but he was the creator of the Dragon Balls, and it'd be a waste not to improve them. I was already allowing the next wish to be for the Z-Fighters to be revived, but past that, I'd be making the wishes again. I had some in mind, but beyond that, I more so just didn't want anyone else having them.
"U-Updated?" Kami asked, his body relaxing a bit as he stared at me blankly, "What do you mean?"
"Updated, refurbished, improved," I waved my hand casually, "The balls are limited by the power of their creator, and to be frank, you're not very strong. I've brought a stronger Namekian to take over."
My two options had been to either train Kami to become far stronger and thereby improve the limitations of the Dragon Balls, or to simply replace him. Unfortunately for Kami, he wasn't the most trustworthy of people - which was understandable, considering I was conquering the planet he swore to protect, and killed his students in the process - as he had no sense of loyalty to me beyond fear. He truly cared about Earth, and he knew that I could destroy it at any moment - for that reason, we would always be at odds.
But, you know who wasn't at odds with me?
I vanished in front of Kami, causing him to yelp lightly at my abrupt exit, but then reappeared a moment later after a quick trip to my spaceship.
"This is Dende," I said casually, patting the shoulder of the figure next to me, which was a much smaller and much younger Namekian, "He's going to fix the Dragon Balls, but you can teach him about becoming the 'Guardian of the Earth' and whatever other shit you want. I don't really care all that much."
While Kami would forever be at odds with me, Dende was different. I had swung by Namek roughly a month ago, picking up Dende in the process, as I started to train him for this role. He was one of the few Namekians on Namek who didn't really hold a grudge against me, as while neither I nor any of my soldiers had ever killed any Namekians, they still didn't like the whole 'threatening to eat the children if you don't give Frieza the Dragon Balls' thing that Dodoria did. And, being pushed around and forced to obey a new leader, even if I was a pretty nice one as far as tyrants go, wouldn't sit well with anyone.
Dende was just one of the choices, as the elder Namekians had wisely kept the situation at hand out of sight of the children in order to protect them. Dende didn't know anything about me, except for the fact that his father, one of the village Elders, had very 'willingly' and 'generously' offered him up for a greater purpose - to assist the ruler of the universe, and to protect his people in the process! It was a great honor for him to be chosen!
At least, that's what Dende believed, and that was showing as Dende stiffened his back, giving a light bow to Kami. In reality, Zarbon just said he'd send not just one Dodoria, but a dozen Dodorias, to Namek if they didn't give me Dende. Sufficient to say, the Elders were very willing to sacrifice one child to keep an army of ugly, pink, man-eating monsters away.
"I-It's nice to meet you, former Guardian! I am Dende! I'm grateful to be given this opportunity!" Dende said a lot louder than he needed to, lowering his head further in front of Kami, "Please teach me everything you know, and I'll do my best to learn!"
"A-Ah, right, it's good to meet you as well, young Dende," Kami stuttered, caught off guard by the abrupt experience of meeting another Namekian, and a much younger one at that, "B-But, this doesn't make any sense! If you want a stronger set of Dragon Balls, then the creator must be stronger, and this is just a child! If you really want me to improve them, then I will train-"
"Take him down, Dende," I interrupted Kami bluntly, and Dende's head snapped up, his eyes narrowing.
"Yes! I will pass the Test of Strength and prove I am worthy!" Dende shouted, and then abruptly lunged at Kami.
"W-What are you talking about-ah!" In less than two seconds, Kami was on his back, his chest pressed to the floor as Dende twisted his arm behind him and pressed his foot on the elder Namekian's back to hold him in place.
"Good work, Dende," I hummed, nodding approvingly, as the little green child had become quite the monster as of late.
I needed a powerful Namekian to improve the Dragon Balls, but I couldn't just take someone like Nail, both because they wouldn't be loyal and because they had to be a creation-type Namekian, and not a warrior one. Most of those creation-type Namekians were pretty weak overall, but luckily, I had a way to get around weakness.
Mainly - training the shit out of Dende for the past month. Not that I personally did it, as I had better things to do with my time than train a child to 'fulfill his destiny,' so instead I gave Dende's training to Zarbon - one of the Zarbon's, at least. The excuse had been that to become the Guardian of Earth, Dende would need to defeat the former one - a blatant lie, but one that Dende genuinely believed.
As such, he had trained his ass off under the tutelage of the Zarbons, determined not to fail the 'Test of Strength' when his elders had put so much 'trust and hope in him fulfilling this honorable position.' As a result, Dende was far above Kami's roughly one thousand power level - which was actually stronger than I expected, as it seemed my presence had caused him to train a bit harder as well - and he could take down the elder Namekian easily.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that Dende had a fair bit of potential, and he grew in strength a lot faster than I expected. Even if he didn't, Zarbon would've been able to shove a couple thousand power level worth of strength into him just from how intense the training was, but Dende had gone above and beyond that expectation. Now, his strength was nearing twenty-five thousand.
Which was odd to think about, because that meant he was around how strong Goku was when he fought Vegeta. Kaio-Ken using, Kamehameha blasting, and all-around bad-ass Goku from not even a year ago was equivalent to the small, muscleless Namekian in front of me. Power levels really were something, huh?
"D-Damn you," Kami hissed, trying to push himself to his feet, but failing as Dende held him in place, "I've been the Guardian of Earth for decades, and now you'll do this to me?!"
"Y'know, that dog-king said the same thing," I chuckled, casually walking forward as I crouched down, staring into Kami's eyes as he glared up at me, "But, when you're powerless, you have to adhere to the rules of those with power - and, I happen to have the most power on this planet right now. So, mentor the kid, or I'll just kill you and give him free rein to learn on his own, alright?"
Kami glared at me for a moment more, not backing down. But then, he seemed to realize just how helpless the situation was, and he gave a begrudging nod.
"Fine," He grunted, not sounding happy about it, "I'll guide him."
Good - I figured this would happen, as Kami was a pretty smart guy. He had realized that his options were dying as I continued with my plan anyway, or giving in and living while trying to influence my plans however he could.
Very soon, the new and improved Dragon Balls would be made on Earth, and Kami would silently wish he had just died in this moment.
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"Alright! So, if I do this, then… they won't break… and…" Dende muttered, his face twisted in focus as he stared down at the set of Dragon Balls. His hands glowed as a green light surrounded them, then moved down to the Dragon Balls.
"There! Now, you can make 2 wishes instead of one!" Dende said, grinning widely as he glanced up at me, "I did it!"
"Good job," I hummed, casually patting him on his head, which made him look far more proud than he should've been. Did he know that I wasn't a proud parent, and instead the man who had pretty much enslaved his entire planet to do my bidding, which he was doing right now?
Well, whether he did or not, I wasn't going to tell him otherwise.
"Now, can you make it three?" I asked, raising an eyebrow down at him, and to the side, Kami stood up in a huff.
"T-The Dragon Balls aren't just something to customize however you want! They're legendary balls, which are only fit for those with the strength and courage to gather them!" He huffed, crossing his arms as he stood over the seven balls, "One wish is a reward for those with that strength, but also a way to ensure they are deserving of them! If they fell into the wrong hands and had multiple wishes, then the Earth could be completely destroyed!"
"I don't know if you've realized, but they're already in the wrong hands," I told him dryly, clamping a hand on Kami's shoulder and squeezing it just enough to make him shift uncomfortably, "These are my Dragon Balls now, alright? They're tied to my lifeforce, so I get to do whatever the hell I want with them! And, right now, I want to customize the hell out of them, Dende! Add a third wish! Hell, fuck it, add a fourth too!"
"A-Ah, a fourth will be more difficult, but…" Dende steeled his face, resolve filling his eyes as he stared down at the Dragon Balls, "Even if I have to die for it, I'll do it!"
Well, that was a bit dramatic for a job that just entailed staring really hard at some magical balls, but I wouldn't complain. The more determined Dende was, the better. Slowly, my lips twitched up into a large, slightly greedy grin.
"Well then, while you're at it, shorten the cooldown a bit. Oh, and remove that limitation about only reviving someone with them once," I ordered, and Dende's determined face started to falter a bit at my list of demands, "Oh, and make it so they don't scatter after you use them anymore! On top of that, add…"
Dende's face fell more as, for the next few hours, I continued listing off more and more changes to the Dragon Balls. Slowly, the reality of how difficult being the 'Guardian of Earth' would be under my rule sank in, and a boy became a man.
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"Wait, seriously?! He can do that?!" Goku spat out, his eyes wide with shock as he glanced at me, then over to Dende, "Woah! Good job, Piccolo Junior!"
"U-Um, my name is Dende…" Dende tried to correct him, but I brushed past the issue.
"Surprisingly, when you actually try to optimize the Dragon Balls, and not make them 'legendary' and 'mysterious' balls that you chuck around the world, you can do some amazing things," I nodded, blatantly throwing shade at Kami, who glanced away at my words.
Goku's shock was in regard to the new limitations of the Dragon Balls - or, more specifically, the new lack of limitations for them. There were still some, as Dende wasn't super powerful or anything, but the little green Namekian had still made a lot of changes. The length between each wish was shortened to just four months, the Dragon Balls could bring back someone who had already been revived before, and there were various other less important and more specific improvements.
And, one large, very important improvement, but we would get to that soon enough.
"Alright! Then let's do it!" Goku grinned, walking over to the Dragon Balls as he started to say the summoning incantation, "Come on out, Shenron!"
I stared at him blankly for a moment, remembering that Goku wasn't the brightest. The real incantation was much more dramatic than that, so there was no way-
The sky turned dark, and light shot upward out of the balls as the form of Shenron materialized, floating far above as the green serpent-like dragon stared down at us. I stared dryly as the legendary Eternal Dragon was summoned by a simple 'come on out!'
"Hey, Shenron! Long time no see!" Goku called out cheerfully as if he were friends with the dragon, to which Shenron blatantly did not share that same sense of friendship.
"I am Shenron, the Eternal Dragon! I will grant you four wishes," Shenron called down, his voice booming over the Lookout, "Speak your wishes, and I shall grant them!"
I winced at how loudly he was yelling, and idly wondered how none of the normal Earthlings ever found out about Shenron. Like, right now we were on the Lookout, so we were pretty damn high to begin with, but if you summoned him on the ground? No one noticed that the sky suddenly became dark and cloudy, or, more importantly, that a big-ass dragon was shouting for everyone in a hundred-mile radius to hear?!
"Four? You weren't messin' around," Goku grinned, nodding appreciatively at me, "Then, for the first one, bring everyone who was killed by Frieza back to life!"
That one was expected - Goku had originally planned to use the singular Dragon Ball wish to bring the Z-Fighters back to life, so I figured he'd use the first one for this. It hadn't been the full year yet, but after seeing Goku achieve Super Saiyan 2, I decided that just training with him would benefit the Z-Fighters more than whatever King Kai could teach them. I assumed he'd use the second one to wish them here from Otherworld, as I had decided to give him one run-through of the Dragon Balls since I did the whole 'killing all your friends' thing. A small apology to make up for, y'know, murdering his friends, kicking his ass, kidnapping his other friend, and siccing dangerous androids on his ass for a few months.
But, if he didn't have any other important wishes after that, then I had some ideas for the next two-
"W-Wait, don't fuckin' do that!" I shouted abruptly, my brain catching up with what Goku had said as I realized what was happening, "Cancel that wish, you damn dragon! Cancel! Go back!"
"Too late. It has been done," Shenron said simply, his eyes shining as they glowed, and then he continued onward as if nothing had happened, "I will grant 3 more wishes. State your next wish."
This fuckin' bastard! If his life wasn't connected to mine, then I would've blown him the hell up for that!
"Fuck… Goku, you fucking moron," I groaned, reaching up and rubbing my face with a sigh. I was about to have a lot more work to do.
"Huh? What are you upset about?" Goku asked, looking at me innocently, "I thought you did all this so I could wish them back!"
"So you could wish back your friends!" I hissed, annoyance dripping from my voice, "As in, the people I killed on Earth! Not everyone I killed!"
Did this idiot know how many people I had killed? The Z-Fighters were just the start of it! Frieza had been killing entire planets for decades before I took over his body, and while I wasn't as murder-hungry, I had still killed my fair share!
"W-Well, the Dragon Balls can only bring someone back if they haven't been dead for more than a year!" Goku justified, chuckling nervously as he scratched the back of his neck, "And, you're a good guy now, so that can't be many, right?"
Goku was almost right - usually, the Dragon Balls had a limit for how long someone could be dead before they were brought back, but-
"I just removed that," I groaned, reaching up and rubbing my face again, "I was customizing fuckin' everything, so I just removed it!"
In retrospect, maybe I had been too harsh on Dende with all the customizations, but it was fun! I was just adding helpful things - reducing the time limit, expanding some of the restrictions, adding extra wishes, stuff like that! Things that could only benefit me, and I had thought, 'Well, what if I want to revive Raditz or something? It's been more than a year, so I should just remove the condition! Problem solved!'
"It's my fault," I sighed, pushing away my annoyance as I had no one to blame but myself - well, technically, it was entirely Goku's fault, but it was my fault for letting Goku make the wish in the first place. I was the idiot for trusting Goku of all people to not mess this up.
I had purposely made the Dragon Balls more powerful because I planned on hoarding them for myself - thus, no one could use these more powerful Dragon Balls against me. I had let Goku make this wish because I didn't think he would try anything stupid, and he hadn't - not intentionally, at least. Instead, by a complete accident, Goku had not only revived my father and brother that I had killed, but a much, much larger group of people as well.
"I can't call Vegeta the prince of a dead race anymore, huh?"
Goku had revived the Saiyans.
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AN: Thank you for reading! The next chapter will be posted in around a week!
Or, you can read the next 20 on Patreon.com/Koyon ! There's up to chapter 49 posted there!