Ch. 63: Nappa's Heart (2)
"I am the elder of this village. What do you want?" The oldest Namekian in the village addressed Nappa. Nappa bowed his head awkwardly, trying to show respect. Instead, he mostly just showed his baldness.
"I'm here to warn you all. There's a powerful enemy tracking down the Dragon Balls, and it's only a matter of time before he finds your village. He's already slaughtered five villages to get their Dragon Balls, and if he finds this village, too, then you'll all be as good as dead." Nappa told the Namekian. There were a lot of gasps from the crowd, as they started murmuring amongst themselves trying to digest that information.
"You just want the Dragon Balls for yourselves! If we don't give them up, you plan on killing all of us!" One of the warriors shouted.
"Elder!" Three Warriors moved in front of the Elder, shielding him from Nappa.
"Tch." Vegeta clicked his tongue, but he didn't move a muscle yet.
"Calm down, all of you!" The elder shouted, getting everyone's attention. The murmurs stopped, but the warriors stayed on guard. "You too, Rise. Let's listen to what these people have to say, first." The warrior in the center of the three clicked his tongue and dropped his hands, but his guard hadn't lowered an inch.
"You overheard our conversation, didn't you?" Nappa asked the warrior that had started the whole thing, "That's fine. You're not wrong. Our intentions here aren't totally pure. I do want the Dragon Ball." Nappa conceded.
"What makes you think that we'll give our Dragon Ball to you freely, warrior?" The elder asked curiously. From his judgement, he could tell that the smaller one was rearing to attack everyone here and finish things, but the larger one was holding him back. He couldn't tell why, though...
"I don't really expect it totally free in clear. I just don't want you to be utterly annihilated by Frieza just like our own race was. I figured that you'd be able to find a cave or something to hide in if I told you about him." Nappa admitted, "but I have met a Namekian before."
"Oh? Someone from another village, perhaps?" The elder wondered.
"No. He lived on a different planet. I honestly don't know him that well. But I know that he was a better person than I am." Nappa admitted, "It's our goal to end Frieza... and we'll stoop to just about any level in order to accomplish that. That's why we want to wish for immortality with the Dragon Balls before Frieza does."
"Nappa!" Vegeta exclaimed. While their wish wasn't a big secret, it wasn't something that he particularly wanted Nappa to reveal to a village full of Namekians.
"I see... you're right. That isn't a noble wish. Not at all. It's rather selfish, as a matter of fact, and I'm not entirely certain that Porunga will even be capable of granting it... but..." The elder paused.
"Elder, you can't be serious! Are you actually considering giving our Dragon Ball to these men who, just moments ago were planning on killing everyone in our entire village?!" The warrior, Rise, asked, shocked and indignant.
"No. I won't give our Dragon Ball up... yet." The elder decided.
"Alright, Nappa-" Vegeta started, but Nappa interrupted him.
"Yet?" He asked.
"You said it yourself. This 'Frieza' already has five Dragon Balls, and it is only a matter of time before he finds our village and takes our Dragon Ball as his own. Under normal circumstances, I'd never even consider giving you our Dragon Ball. I'd toss you out of this village, even if it cost all of us our lives... but the Grand Elder contacted me but a few hours ago. Namek is in for a turbulent future." The village elder explained his thought processes aloud.
"But, Elder!"
"But nothing, Rise!" The elder snapped at the warrior, "You aren't pure of heart. Not in the least, either of you... but you are trying, tailed warrior. I can see it in your eyes, you're determined to find a better path, so I will trust you."
"Thank you, sir!" Nappa bowed again.
"I didn't say that I'd give you the Dragon Ball, though."
"Aargh..." Vegeta gritted his teeth, annoyed. The only thing keeping him from charbroiling the lot of these Namekians was the promise he'd made with Nappa, which he was beginning to regret making.
"Let me finish before you get all angry, boy. Here's the deal. The Dragon Balls cannot be used unless all seven are gathered. Essentially, they're only useful as baubles otherwise. Letting you take off with this one would only ensure my village's destruction once this 'Frieza' finds it. And more importantly, we cannot evacuate from this spot. We have too many young and elderly that cannot be evacuated so easily. So, I have a proposal for you."
"What is it?" Vegeta asked, shoving Nappa aside.
"If you leave the big one here, then I will reserve this dragon ball for your use while you collect the other five." The elder offered, gesturing at Nappa as he said the words 'the big one.'
"And if Nappa can't save you, and you end up dead?" Vegeta asked.
The elder took a piece of parchment out of his pocket and drew something on it. Then he put it back in his pocket. "I have drawn a map to the last Dragon Ball in my pocket. Without this map, you will likely never be able to use the Dragon Balls at all. If an enemy comes near that I suspect that he won't be able to deal with, I will give this man not only my Dragon Ball, but the map, too."
"Elder!" Multiple Namekians shouted out in shock, but the elder had already made up his mind.
"You're a crafty old man, Namekian. I'll agree to your little, proposal, but only under those conditions. If you fail to keep up your own end for some reason, and Nappa refuses to slaughter you all, I will be back to do it myself." Vegeta wasn't so stupid to not expect the Namekians to eventually get found and killed by Frieza, but the only one of Frieza's goons on the planet capable of killing Nappa would have to be Zarbon, whose energy Nappa would immediately recognize. Vegeta suspected that Frieza would eventually send Zarbon out to check after Nappa destroyed a few squads of his goons. Once he detected Zarbon, Nappa would be out of there with the map and the Dragon Ball in hand.