Chapter 18: 1 Year Later

"*Boom*"

"*Boom*"

"*Boom*"

I was laying down motionless. I was warm. Cozy, even. I was comfortable…

I felt like I was having the best sleep of my life, but the faint familiar sound of fists colliding was interrupting.

'Who's making all that noise right now?' I thought to myself as I slowly opened my eyes. At first, everything was blurry. I probably had been unconscious for a while, so it was to be expected, but when my eyes adjusted a few times after blinking, I realized that I was in a dimly lit room that I didn't recognize.

Sitting up, I was slightly alarmed. How could I not be when the last thing I remembered was fighting a giant monster that almost killed me. On top of that, the last time I closed my eyes, I was in hell on the verge of death.

Now, I was in a bed that wasn't my own in a house that smelled different than the one I spent most of my time in.

This wasn't the only thing that bothered me though.

The atmosphere… it was different. The moment I woke up, I sensed powerful Ki signatures… ones that were familiar to me, but seemed far stronger than the last time I remembered them, just beyond the brick walls that surrounded me.

'What the fuck is going on? Why is Tein, Chiaotzu, Yamacha, and Krillen here? And where exactly is here?'I pondered.

There was also another presence approaching me, just outside of the wooden door that seemed to be the only exit in this room. A presence that I had only sensed once, because I had only met him once. Due to his peculiar energy, it was probably one that I wouldn't forget anytime soon.

'King Kai? Is this the inside of his house?'

The furniture around me, it was strangely earth inspired. He had a T.V mounted on the wall, and even had a few gaming consoles connected to it.

There were plants on the window seal, which when I looked out of, displayed a strange pink sky.

The floors were wooden and polished, but had nice rugs atop them.

In total, he had 4 bookshelves, all full of material, and a 5th one that looked like it was purely comic books?

Was I dreaming? No. This didn't feel like a dream. I was 100% certain that the god that I had accidentally killed while in my berserker state was behind the door.

Why was I here? Did I end up dying too? If that was the case, then why were the others here?

Interrupting my thought process was a painful electrical sensation that made my entire body tense up. It felt like a Pikachu head just struck me with thunderbolt.

"Agh." I gritted my teeth at the strange migraine, but then, It suddenly disappeared.

"What was that?" I uttered, taking exasperated breaths.

"*creak*"

The wooden door in front of me cracked open, revealing the small-statured King Kai with 6 strange-looking golden fruits atop a fancy looking plate.

"*sigh* That was me trying to read your mind for the millionth time. Fortunately, for you, I still can't quite crack that memory vault of yours. You got some crazy mental defense going on up there.." He replied rather nonchalantly, tapping his temple.

He then calmly walked to the side of the bed and snapped his fingers, creating a rocking chair and table that he rested his plater on top of gently.

This was my first time seeing magic with my own eyes… it was strange, to say the least. I couldn't make any sense out of it. One moment, nothing was there, then randomly, it just popped up into existence, just like the way Goku did when he used instant transmission.

It certainly was odd and magic did strike my curiosity, but it wasn't the time to question anything. Any more of those, and my head would explode. Especially when my mind was working double time. Still trying to figure out why the fuck Hirudegarn popped up into existence.

Focusing my attention on the person beside me, I greeted my muder victim who seemed to be wordlessly observing me.

"Uh… Hi, King Kai." I uttered, not knowing what else to say.

King Kai was indeed still dead. His halo signified as much. Maybe, this signified that not much time has passed, but I wasn't certain.

Looking above my own head, I sighed in relief, noticing that I still was, in fact, alive.

"Don't worry, kid. You're still living and breathing. The same couldn't be said for everybody else here though." He said, Shrugging his shoulders.

"Everybody else here? What do you mean by that? Are the people outside not alive anymore?" I voiced with concern.

"…"

King Kai didn't answer, which added to the ominous atmosphere and only made my anxiety rise.

"You're probably hungry, right about now, I bet. Go ahead, eat up. I bought you something special for our first meeting." King Kai stated, handing me a golden fruit.

"Ah… thanks." I said, reaching out my hand reluctantly. He would have won the proverbial bet, I was hungry… starving, in fact. I currently felt like my stomach was eating itself. Honestly, when I tried to reach for the fruit, I noticed that I barely had enough strength to do so. My arms were far skinnier than they originally were… I looked like I had some sort of eating disorder.

Slowly, I put the fruit to my lip, smelling its potent perfume-like scent which made me salivate the moment its aroma reached my nose.

With slight discomfort, I opened my dry, and chapped mouth, taking a bite out of the fruit.

"*cruch*"

Upon the juice of the fruit making contact with my mouth, I felt an enormous amount of vitality wash over my body. The fruit… It tasted just like a peach that was grown by a communion of Gods and was specifically catered to the pallets of divine beings.

It was almost too sweet, but not sweet enough to be considered overwhelming. It was tart, but not too overpowering to the point of repulsion. It was juicy and perfect in every way imaginable for fruits of the rose family. And with just 4 bites, I felt like my hunger was being satiated.

"*crunch-crunch-crunch*"

Similar to the way that King Kai's magic worked, the fruit disappeared in my hand. Without asking, I grabbed another, not even noticing that my body was quickly recovering to its optimal state. If I had paid a little more attention, I would've noticed King Kai attempting to reach for the plater, but my mind was somewhere else.

Quickly, he realized that if he had put his arm in the way, he would've possibly gotten his arm eaten.

like a gluttonous pig, I began forcing the remainder of the fruits down my throat and didn't stop until everything except the silver plate was gone.

My stomach was finally full. I felt like my stomach was on the verge of bursting open.

Whipping the juice from my mouth, I realized that King Kai was looking at me with his jaw agape.

"Y-you… do realize that you were only meant to eat one of those, right?" He said, nervously readjusting his glasses.

Taking one last gulp and wiping my sticky hands on the blankets , I bowed my head slightly and apologized for my being inconsiderate.

"Sorry for that… I just didn't realize how hungry I was."

"Hungry… now that's an understatement. They would have to come up with new words to describe how hungry you were, if that's what we're using as a placeholder." He replied.

"Ha… yeah… my apologies again."

"*sigh*"

"Don't sweat it kid. We got a whole farm of em."

"Alright… that makes me feel a little assured."

I uttered.

"Well, personally, I wouldn't be, if I were you."

He said, manifesting a teapot with 2 cups out of thin air.

"What? Why? What did I just eat?" I voiced with concern.

"The fruits are called…" Then, King Kai looked down at the empty platter then shook his head.

"Correction. WERE called, Ensenji. I just call em hell peaches. I gave you one because they have soul strengthening properties which you needed to improve your condition. They have a few effects upon consumption. 1: They can strengthen a weak person up to 3 times of what they were originally, but that effect diminishes the stronger a person is. A person as strong as you probably won't notice a difference … even though you ended up eating 6." He spat.

"…My bad, again. You did kinda bring them to me on a silver platter." I replied, subconsciously trying to get some of the blame off of myself… but King Kai wasn't buying it.

"You're a reeeal smartass, huh? Well mister smartass, they were for everyone here. They can still be consumed, even in an astral body."

"So they have supernatural properties…They won't kill me or anything, right?" I asked, laughing nervously.

"No-no-no. They won't kill you. In fact, because you ate so many, Death is probably the last thing you have to worry about now. You got a new set of problems. Congratulations."

"Uh… when you put it like that, it makes it sound like I just screwed up by eating all of em."

"Oh… no. Don't worry. You definitely did."

"Oh… that's a relief… wait. What do you mean I did?"

I started to get tense at his words.

"Well, assuming you were to hypothetically give up fighting. You're gonna live a long life. And by long, I mean looooooong. It depends on you, rather it's a happy one or not." King Kai said with a slight look of apathy, which was… intimidating to say the least.

In fact, although I could sense that I was stronger than him, throughout our entire conversation, his overall presence was imposing. Way more than I expected it to be upon our first real interaction. In fact, I think that he was the first person who made me feel the way that I did presently. Sensing his Ki was the equivalent to looking at an abstract painting.

"Why… Why'd you extend the word, long, like that?" I asked, 75% sure that I didn't want the answer to my own question.

"Well, that's cause the peaches you just ate will extend your lifespan."

"My life span? By how much?"

Saiyans lived up to 200 years and stayed in their physical prime right up until the ripe old age of 80. I knew this fact when first being born into this world. With that tidbit of knowledge, it was always a concern in the back of my mind that I would eventually run out of things to do, and grow bored with life eventually.

It didn't take long to get over this mentality, but now, with the knowledge that my lifespan had increased, it made me wonder just how much longer I would be in this world.

"Hmm…. Hold on. let me do the math in my head. You ate 6 fruits, right? So let me take away the 3… carry the 8." he then started using his fingers to count, which made everything feel even more eerie.

"Wait. How old are you right now?"

He asked, Tilting his head.

"I'm 17."

"Right… so 18 times 75… but then I have to factor in that you're a saiyan…"

"But I said I was 17." I interrupted. Not acknowledging my words, he continued to work out the solution.

"Alright. I got it. You should reach the end of your natural life span in about 10,826 years."

"Wait… what?!" I exclaimed.

"Hard at hearing or something? And I thought that I was the old one… Anyway, I said 10,826 years. That's your new assumed lifespan. That's of course, not counting the possibility of you dying. It's more of an estimated expiration date. And oh buddy, I gotta tell you, mister smartass: it sure sucks living for that long. That's coming from first-hand experience." He shrugged.

Again, his nonchalant demeanor made me uncomfortable.

It wasn't that I outwardly hated it, the way he spoke felt so raw and unapologetic. Talking to him was like talking to an old man who had seen it all.

'…'

I had no reply in my mind. I was only going off of the first intrusive thought that came to me.

"Can I… can I fix this? Is there any way to reverse the effects?"

"Probably. I don't know. But most likely not, considering the fact that the peaches attach themselves to an individual soul in a symbiotic-like process. Usually they're eaten by the different races and species that reside in this dimension. We have longer life spans than mortals. So that amount of time isn't really much in the grandeur scheme of things."

"But why would you even give those to me in the first place?! Should those fruits even be given to mortals? Doesn't that break some type of rule?"

"First of all kid, lower that tone of yours. That Ki of yours is gonna stink up the place. Secondly, who do you think makes the rules in the section of the universe?"

Even though I had raised my voice, he hadn't even flinched as if he was in complete control of the conversation. He made me realize, getting angry at a situation out of both his and my hands was childish. I realized this as my voice echoed through the room.

"…"

"That little tantrum aside, you're the only reason I even thought about gifting the peaches. You and the others not only played a role in stopping Frieza, but Slug as well. Because those bastards were so evil, in just a few years, they would have thrown the universe off balance, eradicating, and enslaving life on other planets if they remained checked. Perhaps, if you guys had a longer lifespan, you could stop even more chaos from happening in the future. That's why I thought my little gift was fitting."

"*sigh*"

"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to yell like that. I'm just going through a lot right now so forgive me if I'm not 100%. I'm getting mad at you for something that I did myself."

"There ya go. See? Now we're learning. Taking accountability is the first step." He smirked.

"Yeah… I've been lacking in that department for a while now. It's a problem of mine."

"Oh… I know. Trust me, I do. But we'll get to that in a bit." His statement made me raise a brow. It appeared that our conversation was gonna be longer than I thought initially.

"Okay… since I ate the fruits, I'll live longer. I understand that much. But didn't Goku eat one too? Shouldn't his lifespan increase as well?"

"Oh? I'm surprised you know about that. Yemma told me about that a while ago. From what I heard, he only ate 1 while he was trying to find me a few earth years back. He probably doesn't know it yet, nor do I think he cares but his lifespan should be 1/10 of yours. So about 1624 years. Not much for the people here, but still a lot. If he didn't get himself killed so often, he'd probably outlive most mortal beings. Well, that's if he doesn't somehow end up somehow getting a heart disease or something. But that would probably never happen. Saiyans are built pretty tuff."

"…Heart disease?"

"Yeah. I mean, it's not out of the realm of possibility, you'd just have to be incredibly unlucky. The peaches make you live longer and make it harder to die from natural causes, but a person is still a person. They could rather their body fails them or contract some form of super STD."

"Jeeze…" I mumbled. I guess this was the real world, so I wasn't really surprised that King Kai was more explicit, I just didn't expect it.

"Yeah. Make sure you wrap it up, boy. We don't need a army of little yous running around."

"Got it… invest in space condoms." I replied embarrassed.

"Good." Anyway, let's get back to the main topic. You said you were confused why I added 18 instead of 17 in my math problem?"

"Right… I thought you weren't paying attention."

"Kid, it's my job to pay attention. Anyway, I got some bad news for ya, Trunks."

"Well, that's not something people like to wake up to…"

"Yep. It's your reality though. It relates back to the accountability thing."

"*sigh*"

"Alright… shoot." I mumbled, rather hesitantly.

"Ya see… the reason I implied that you were 18 rather than 17 was because you've been unconscious for a real long time. Long time for you, anyway. For a year to be precise."

'A year?!' I exclaimed internally.

Why was I out for so long? All I did was get into one little fight… granted, I almost died, but my point still stood.

The fight… if felt like it happened just a few minutes ago, yet I was just informed that I had truly been unconscious for an entire year. This would imply that earth was possibly in jeopardy. All because of the due the butterfly effect that I created. The Z fighters were here in this realm; most likely because they had all died. If that was the case, then their deaths were my fault.

If the Z fighters were dead… what did that mean for the past version of the people that I cared about? What happened to the other version of me in the period that I was gone? Although I didn't want to admit it, the little shit was my apprentice… even though he didn't acknowledge me as a master yet.

What happened to the tiny version of Gohan? Although I hadn't built a relationship with him yet, I intended on training him, just like the adult version of him trained me. It was the least I could do to honor his memory.

What happened to my mother? One of the main reasons I had come back to the past was so that I could see her face again.

Would I lose my grandparents all over again?

My eyes began to shake intensely as I was slowly starting to lose focus. My heart began to beat violently as a well of emotions began to fill up within me. The most prominent emotion being anger. It was all my fault again. What if I lost everything for a second time because I wasn't prepared!

Who could have caused this? Was it Slug? Was it the Androids? Who would I have to kill to find my answers?

Well, I was losing my composure, King Kai looked at me and took a calming deep breath.

"Calm down. You don't even know what's going on down there right now. Don't jump to conclusions just yet. At this rate, you're gonna blow up my planet again, and if you do, I'm making you rebuild it with your bare hands, dust particle by dust particle."

I hadn't realized it, but my aura began lifting things around me while my body slowly began to increase in size.

"Now I get it. You're a couple of million years younger than me, but that doesn't give you an excuse to lose your temper so easily." He voiced.

With King Kai's help, I caught myself, shrinking back down to my former size.

"*sigh*"

"Okay… okay… please. Tell me what happened. Why was I out for an entire year? And what's happening on earth?"

"Mmm. Well. A year ago, your body was found on one of the many deserts in hell. Before the individuals who brought you to Goku found you, you were missing for weeks. Because you entered Otherworld in an earthly body firstly receiving any privileges, your soul was in the process of evacuation, heeding to the laws of physics of this dimension."

" Because you've dedicated a majority of your life towards training in the arts of spirituality, your soul held on tightly to its visual, as if your Ki was the glue that kept you alive. But as time passed, that glue began to degrade and your soul had entered a state of limbo."

"You yourself had never been judged by a juror, so, if that process continued, your soul would have popped and become fuel for the underworld. Luckily, before that happened, you were brought to me. After I reconstructed my planet, which you destroyed by the way, I spent the remainder of my free time binding your soul back to your physical form. Now, the problem shouldn't occur again, even if you were to be tossed in the hell while alive."

"…Thank you… I appreciate what you did for me."

"You're welcome. It took some time, but now I'm effectively the reason that you didn't get deleted out of existence."

"…"

With the way that he was wording his sentence, I realized that he was completely serious.

"Now, I'm sure you want to know what happened on earth while you were out cold, right?"

"Yeah… I would appreciate that."

I uttered.

"Good. Cause it's also your fault with what's happening down there. Cause oh boy, is it a shit show.

[***]

And for the next 45 minutes, King Kai went on to explain exactly what transpired due to Trunks's tampering with the timeline. That's right, King Kai had deduced that Trunks was a Time Traveler. It was the only logical explanation for his random appearance on earth, how else would a nameless Saiyan appear out of nowhere when assumed race was supposed to be extinct.

He did consider the possibility that perhaps Trunks had just been sent off planet before it's destruction, but that possibility was completely wiped off the board once he realized that the time of Trunks' conception and the time of the Saiyan homeworld's destruction didn't match.

That logic made him investigate Earth for more clues. Once he did, his eyes landed upon an individual that looked remarkably similar to the person that murdered him. Not only that, but their Ki signatures were compatible enough to assume they were related in one way or another. Perhaps brother's?

That was when King Kai took it upon himself to eavesdrop in on conversations involving the supposed sibling of the berserker.

The two shared a similar hair color, they had identical voices… and they both used swords. After listening in on conversation for long enough, the earth sibling mentioned time travel and started to blossom a relationship with the Saiyan, Vegeta. And that was when the stars started to align in the Kai's head.

Time Travel… it was a universal taboo. One that if mentioned could get the entirety of the universe wiped from existence. If not the entirety of the universe, than himself and everyone one who he had ever associated himself with.

It was a secret that he would need to keep with him until his death, but before permanently keeping his lips sealed, he mentioned to his patient that he understood that he was from the future, Which shocked the Trunks of Otherworld.

But King Kai made sure to mention to the boy that his secret was safe with him.

After that, Trunks was relieved, and felt more open and overall less skeptical of him. But that was exactly what King Kai wanted.

He made sure to inform Trunks that in saving his life, a debt was owed. A debt that when paid off, would benefit them both along with all of the people of earth.

King Kai went on to tell a story of an evil psychotic demon by the name of Bojack who long ago attempted to destroy every individual galaxy within the Dormideous Sector of the universe in his quest to become ruler of all.

[***]

"Bojack?"

The moment that name slipped from his mouth, fragmented memories of my childhood started playing in my mind.

In the past, to me, Bojack was nothing more than a cool anime character I used to play in video games… but here, He existed. By now, I had forgotten all about him. Not because of me having some form of dementia, but because he was just that irrelevant in the overarching story of the series.

He was a one off. A filler character that a room full of writers crafted in the hopes to milk the Dragon Ball franchise. I hadn't even watched the movie he was a part of, which I now regret. Now, he was putting my planet in jeopardy.

Heck, if I knew I was coming to the Dragon Ball world in my past life, I would have refreshed myself on everything there was to know, but things just didn't turn out that way for me.

While I was pondering on the name I just heard, King Kai looked at me with crossed arms.

"It appears that the name is familiar to you, judging from your reaction. Did you end up encountering him in your timeline?" He asked.

"Well… that's not exactly the case. Let's just say that I heard the name before, but I don't know much of anything about him."

"I see… then tell me what you do know so I have a general understanding of your knowledge threshold. I've been talking your ears off for a while now."

"If I'm being honest, there's only 2 things that I know about him. 1: His skin is blue. 2: He has a couple of friends that he keeps with him."

"That's it?" Asked King Kai.

"Yeah… that's about all I got."

"Alright then… let me continue then."

He said, as I took the blanket off of my lower body, sitting at the edge of the bed.

I hadn't sat up for a while, so I was slightly dizzy, due to all of the blood rushing to my head, but with the snap of his fingers, King Kai made that sensation go away with his magic.

"Thanks."

"No problem." He replied.

He then leaned forward, taking off his glasses and revealing his eyes to me. To my suprise, they looked human, unlike the cartoonish way I imagined them to be.

"What are you looking so shocked for? Never seen a guy take off his sunglasses before?" He spat.

"Well… it's not that. I was just thinking that your eyes looked a little more… normal than I expected them to be."

"…What did you expect them to look like?"

"I don't know… drawn on, maybe? I mean, you gotta admit it, you look real different. Ya'know… Your body proportions… Their kinda, cartoonishly bulbous.You being the shape the way you are and the fact that you have antennae. All that with the addition to those two dangling tentacle things on your face… I didn't expect your eyes to be normal. "

"…"

The silence was deafening… but I could see him boiling at my thoughtless comments.

"…"

"The fuck is that supposed to mean?!" He screamed so loud that for a minute, I couldn't hear the fighting outside.

"Wait-wait. That didn't come out right. I just meant to say that you're just… You look UNIQUE, I guess. I expected you to have 10 eyes or something. Maybe even just beady black dots on your face with you being an alien."

"How the hell was it supposed to come out?! Unique, Huh?! Unique my ass! What if I said I expected all Saiyans to have fur on their arms cause all of you are apes? That wouldn't feel too good, would it? Oh yeah. We can play this racist body shaming game all day, you little prepubescent chimp."

"B-but… I'm not prepubescent though."

"Get back to me when you reach 1,000. Right now, I have pubes older than you, you tit-drinking over-sized monkey-fetus!"

"…"

"…"

"…Wow. That was a lot." I mumbled under my breath loud enough for him to hear.

After taking a few deep breaths, King Kai calmed himself.

"Alright. My bad. I'm just…sensitive about my frame. I didn't always look this way, ya know. Back before I was King Kai, people used to call me North. In those days, I could even give you a run for your money. I just gained a little bit of depression weight. My body is pretty much my only insecurity."

"Alright… I believe you. And my bad. Won't happen again."

"Good… anyway. Let's just both agree to apologize to each other so I can go on and give you more mission details."

"Mission details?" I said, confusedly tilting my head.

"That's right. Mission. You're gonna fix your screw up. That's the price you gotta pay for killing me and blowing up my planet."

"… I guess that's warranted. Then, I'm sorry for calling you fat indirectly. And also for killing you and blowing up your planet."

"Alright. You're forgiven. And I'm sorry for calling you a monkey-fetus." He said, extending his hand, which I shook without hesitation.

"Alright… Now as I was saying. A couple of million years ago, Bojack was wreaking havoc around the universe. It took all four of us Kais fighting in our primes to stop him. If we hadn't intervened and sealed him within a star at the edge of this galaxy, he would have had the entirety of the universe within his grasp."

"Wait… how strong was he if he was capable of controlling the universe? And how strong would that have made you 4 in your primes?" I asked.

I didn't know how the Z-fighters ended up beating him, but I was certain that he shouldn't have been any stronger than a Super Saiyan 2.

"If I were to tell you the truth… before we sealed him, his power was incomprehensible. We have a guy who should have been able to take care of him, but all he did… Well, all he does is sleep for hundreds of years at a time. And to be honest, he's probably as crazy as Bojack."

King Kai shivered as he reminisced on a particular feline.

"And to answer your questions, Bojack in his prime was probably more powerful than you were back on Earth. Me, on the other hand…I'm not even 1000th a fraction of what I used to be. If I was, then I would have been able to read your mind with ease."

"…"

I was rendered speechless by his words. They were unbelievable… but looking at his eyes, I could see that he meant every word that he said. But the thing was, I wasn't the same person I was back on Earth. Was he not aware of this?

"My planet… before you destroyed it, was the only thing keeping him locked within his prison. Because it was destroyed, he was unleashed. For whatever reason, his first destination upon escaping was Earth. While you were unconscious, he was busy enslaving your world. From what I last heard, there's an unknown potential buyer of the planet. I don't know who it might be, but Bojack for certain has been in talks with him. Allegedly, it won't be sold until everyone's pacified."

"B-but how could earth be enslaved when they have my dad and other me there? How could this screwed up situation happen when the Dragon Balls exist? There should have been precautions to stop something like this from happening."

"Trunks… a whole lot has changed in this past year. Nobody was ready for Bojack when he arrived. Goku, he was still dead when it happened, meaning he never got a shot at Bojack. I don't think I need to tell you what happened to the others considering they were around the same strength when you left… Excluding your father, that is."

"Vegeta… Gohan, Piccolo, and Other Trunks are still indeed alive. The reason he's there is because your counterpart realized that the change in timelines was particularly his fault, so he decided to stay here instead of returning to his own, believing that you would one day wake up, saving the day. With that mentality, he felt like it was his duty to keep this universe's version of your mother alive until your return. So he did just that."

I didn't say anything, but in a screwed up way, I was relieved.

"As for your father… Vegeta… he's been unable to fight the way he used to. He's a different man now. When he ended up fighting Bojack the first time, he was on the verge of claiming victory against the demon… but that was when Bojack revealed a transformation of his own, pushing his limits beyond your old man's."

"So… dad lost? Then why is he still alive then? The Vegeta I know wouldn't have stopped because he lost one fight… not if he still had air in his lungs."

"Well… that's because your old man didn't just lose a fight… he had his left leg torn off brutally and received a spinal injury. With all that damage done on top of having a new born child he had to protect, Vegeta had no other choice but effectively retired, logically seeing it best to pass down all of his combative knowledge to the next generation… that being, Gohan and your counterpart."

"What?!"

"Mmm… yes. It may be hard to believe, but that's the truth."

"Then… What about the Dragon Balls? What happened to them? They could have healed dad. They could have brought us back!"

"There's a reason that the warriors of earth haven't been able to use them… that reason being that Bojack ended up realizing their potential after Yamacha spilled the beans on them."

"… He did what?"

That was the last name I expected. How could someone have fucked up this monumental? How and why would Yamacha do such a thing? I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

'Yamacha, of all people.' I thought in frustration.

"Yeah… He ended up revealing the existence of Dragon Balls. Everyone, including me, was mad about that one. But that wasn't the only tea he spilled. He also revealed to Bojack that if either Piccolo or Kami died, the Dragon Balls would lose all of their magic. To be fair, in doing so, he ended up saving two lives. But in return, he ended up endangering many more. When that knowledge was received by Bojack, he then discovered the location of piccolo. After that, he tortured Yamacha for the location of Kami. Once found, that was when Bojack decided to turn Korin's Tower into his new base."

"…"

I could only grit my teeth at his story.

"I know… it's infuriating. It took some time, believe me…but we all ended up forgiving him."

"Why? Why on earth would any of you do that?"

"Because of the circumstances the kid was put under."

King Kai replied.

"What circumstances could've excused something like that?"

"Trunks… Yamacha was literally the first person that Bojack and his crew enslaved upon arriving to Earth. And he didn't just enslave him… Bojack and a wizard by the name of Bujin broke him over and over again, physically and mentally until Yamcha revealed everything that he knew about the planet. Once they were done with extracting all the information they could out of him, they neutered him like a dog and healed him in a perpetual cycle of pain until they got bored and ended his life."

"…"

"Trunks…"

"Yeah?"

"Yamacha… haven't you noticed something different about him out there?"

Raising my brow, I sensed for the energies I felt earlier. These were indeed the same Z-Fighters that I knew… Something was off about them that I noticed earlier. All of them were much stronger. But the ones who stood out in particular were Goku… and Yamacha?

They were fighting. Goku still hadn't transoremed, but the two were fighting at full power… and Yamacha was holding his own.

"Bojack changed him. Upon his arrival, his entire demeanor shifted. He really means business now."

"I see…"

I then stood up for the first time in a year.

"Everyone's stronger. They're almost unrecognizable now… obviously a result of all their hard work. But I'm still as strong as I was a year ago. With my strength now, I'm sure that I can fix the world… All I need to do is go ahead and learn the instant transmission technique that Goku said he would teach me." I announced.

"Yeah… I heard about the deal you two made… and you could go ahead and learn from him, if you wanted to. Or, you could learn a superior technique from yours truly." King Kai, stated, hopping off his chair and making sure to put back on his shades.

"What do you mean by that?"

I asked with a raised brow.

"Before I answer that question, tell me. Are you good at telling jokes?" He smirked.