The Warrior of Pure Heart | Dragon Ball Z

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13

Just an instant before that sphere of energy hit her, a third party's quick and agile figure on the scene lunged at Chi-Chi, tackling her out of range of that deadly attack. Their bodies lurched to the side, and Piccolo's sphere went on, hitting the ground right where Chi-Chi had been a second ago, destroying it and leaving a large smoking hole in its place.

Chi-Chi quickly opened her eyes, confused and dazed. She was alive, that was clear... But what had happened?

As she could, Chi-Chi looked up to try to understand what had happened. She was sitting on the ground, but someone held her with an arm behind her. And upon resting her gaze on that person's chest, the first thing her senses could notice was the reddish keikogi, with the symbol of the turtle on one side of the chest.

That made Chi-Chi's heart skip a beat in her chest.

Goku! She thought in astonishment and quickly looked up to see that person's face. However, this was obviously not the person she believed.

"Krillin," she whispered slowly as she recognized the distinctive face of her savior.

The bald-headed youth was not looking at her but instead had his nervous expression directed at Piccolo. The demon, in turn, did not take long to realize what had happened, and he fixed his piercing dark eyes on them.

"And what are you doing here, Krillin?" Piccolo questioned sternly. "Have you also come to annoy me?"

"No, wait a bit, Piccolo. Please," Krillin exclaimed quickly, holding up a calming hand towards him. "I ask you to have a little compassion... Chi-Chi was just dying of worry for her son..."

"Compassion?" Piccolo pronounced sarcastically, cutting off the young man's words. "You two have not understood how serious the situation is. If you did, you wouldn't be here wasting your time and mine."

"We get it, Piccolo," Krillin replied, trying to sound as confident as possible. "I swear, we do. But understand, Gohan is just a kid. He needs his mother. Please... return him to us, and I promise we will train him so that he can fight in a year with the Saiyans."

"I won't leave something so important in the hands of useless people like you. And if you persist in being a nuisance, I'll eliminate you, too."

Somehow repeating the same threat he had made to Chi-Chi, Piccolo raised his hand again, now in the direction of Krillin and Chi-Chi alike, immediately shaping another sphere of energy... only even bigger than the last.

Krillin stepped back a bit and swallowed nervously. The three of them remained silent for several seconds, almost waiting for the other to make a move or afraid that the wrong one would end up harming them. In the end, Krillin breathed slowly and, as calmly as possible, finally said:

"Okay, Piccolo; you win... We'll leave right now, and we won't bother you anymore. I promise you."

Piccolo watched them in silence without changing his face, still with the ball of energy dancing in his palm, waiting to be launched against his targets. It was impossible from his expression to try to guess what was going through his head or if Krillin's plea made any sense regarding the terrible demon he was. Perhaps the best option would be to take Chi-Chi and fly out of that place as fast as possible before he decided not to allow them.

Suddenly, to the astonishment of both, the sphere in Piccolo's hand vanished, and the green-skinned man lowered his arm the next moment.