Dragon Ball Z: Paradise Found

The Legend of Nail

The village elder gulped down in fright when Piccolo and Chayote lowered to the busted-up village and approached the elder. Despite the fact that the female Saiyan looked quite nonchalant and uninterested in this entire affair, Piccolo had a scowl that was tough to stomach without confidence in one's own strength. The remaining warriors that valiantly stood before the enemy before still brimmed with the will to protect the village but were too beaten to attack Piccolo immediately.

"You," Piccolo pointed at the elder. "You know what's going on here, right? You're the chief of this village or something, right?"

"That's right..." the village elder nodded. "And you... You look like a Namekian but... You don't feel or act like you're from around here."

"Heh, you could say I'm somewhat of an involuntary prodigal son, of sorts..." Piccolo made a malicious smirk. Chayote's stare fell onto the Namekian children cowering in fear behind the elder's body and gripping into his cloth as if it was the blanket protecting them from nocturnal monsters stalking in the night.

"Hey, you guys, don't you be scared of Piccolo, he's here to help. Don't even worry about that grumpy mug of his, it's stuck that way," Chayote chuckled. Her face shifted from cheer to apologetic joy when Piccolo gave her a mean look but settled on brawling with the Saiyan not worth the effort when he turned his attention back to the village elder.

"She's right, I've returned home. I see that Planet Namek is in trouble and I want to help you guys out. Over my days as the demon plaguing Planet Earth, I got pretty good at roughing people up so it's gonna be what I'm good at," Piccolo cracked his knuckles and stretched his neck out, pulling at the puffy collar of his turban to make some more space for his neck to wriggle in. "What happened here, who are those guys?"

"We will answer your questions, Piccolo, but first there is something I need to know. You mentioned the Dragon Balls, didn't you? Why? What do you know about them?" the Namekian elder asked Piccolo for a sign of trust, a sort of quid pro quo before they entrusted the fate of their planet to him.

"Hmph... There is a set of them on Earth. They're artifacts of Namekian magic, you get a wish of yours granted when you collect all seven," Piccolo shrugged.

"Multiple sets, actually," Chayote pointed out, recalling her time working to collect all seven of the Ultimate Dragon Balls. "Kami was pretty busy perfecting his formula,"

"I see... So, there is a capable Dragon Clan member on Planet Earth, is there?" the elder scratched his chin with hope returning to his eyes.

"Actually, there isn't," for the first time ever, Piccolo didn't look at all excited in extinguishing hope from someone's eyes. "Kami was a split-part of one greater being, a Nameless Namekian. My predecessor, Demon King Piccolo fused with him again and now that he reincarnated into me, our fusion is irreversible and Kami can no longer exist as a separate entity."

"Oh no!" the Namekian elder whimpered. "This is terrible! Our planet is doomed then?"

"What's wrong? I thought that you guys could snap the Dragon Balls into existence, or something..." Chayote wondered. "Also, how why would you need the Dragon Balls to save the planet? I mean... We've already told you we're going to kick the asses of all the bad guys for you, you need to listen to people more when they're talking to you."

"You don't understand..." the Namekian elder replied with a gloomy expression. "Though I suppose, to understand better, you need to know what happened. A few days ago, these aliens have landed on our planet. From what they've let their victims know, they're space pirates, plundering the vastness of the entire universe while evading justice or tyranny from catching up to them. Recently they've got their hands on something called the Divinity Tree, despite what its name suggests, it comes of nothing that's divine. It is a foul parasite that seeps its roots into the planet and drains it into a husk."