After several minutes of everyone loading onto Zenith and looking around excitedly, Alex took his place at the helm and shouted,
"Cast off!"
Immediately they began rising into the air, once again drawing the gazes of the people below them as they rose higher and higher. Meanwhile the majority of Alex's passengers were excitedly looking around as, even though they could all pretty much fly on their own or owned flying vehicles, this was the first time they had ridden on such a 'unique' vehicle.
"So what exactly is this thing?" One of the Bulmas asked as they quickly soared high enough that they left the Earth's atmosphere.
"Like I said, this is Zenith, my familiar. Through our link we share my power, so the stronger I become, the bigger and more powerful she becomes as well." As he said that Alex patted Zenith's railing once again, remembering how she used to be the size of a toy when he got her, and now was larger than even the the greatest of galleons that had built throughout history.
By this point though Alex kinda hoped her future changes would be mostly cosmetic or upgrading any equipment on her, as there was no real reason for Zenith to become even larger than she already was.
Putting such thoughts out of his mind for the moment though, Alex pulled out his Skeleton Key while checking the coordinates for the new planet Namek on the magic compass that they had installed onto her. Once that was done he held the key up, and declared,
"Here we go!" At that moment a beam of light appeared from the key, shooting out in front of Zenith before expanding to create a massive portal large enough for them to fly through. On the other side they could see what was unmistakably the planet Namek, a planet covered in green water, matching skies, and blue plains of grass.
"So this is Namek..." Tien uttered out loud, as for him, Yamcha, Chiaotzu, Launch, Master Roshi, Chichi, future Trunks, and all the others Alex brought back, this was their first time actually seeing it.
Krillin nodded and said with a somewhat bitter tone,
"Yep....good old Namek. Sure brings back some memories, huh?" Despite his bitter tones, a few snickers responded to Krillins words.
After Tien, Yamcha, Chiaotzu, and Piccolo all died during Vegeta and Nappa's attack, Krillin had traveled to Namek along with Gohan, Bulma, and Grant to use their Dragon Balls to bring them back. That however had led to their battle with Frieza, during which Krillin had been killed halfway through the battle between him and Goku, who arrived later after recovering from his battle with Vegeta.
"I'm sure the trip this time will be a lot better Krillin!" Goku said optimistically as he clapped his friend on the shoulder, already knowing that would be the case since he'd actually been here right before the Cell Games.
While the Dragon Team were reminiscing, Alex's peerage were having their own reactions.
"Finally we can see something that's actually like 'another world'!" Shia exclaimed excitedly, to which the rest of the girls nodded in agreement.
While each world they had been to did have its own unique characteristics, they had all seemed like similar world's with different time periods or cultures. Namek would be the first world they'd travel to that was completely different. Different water, different landscapes, different flora and fauna, and even different people entirely.
With nearly everyone's excitement to see Namek rising, Alex readily brought them closer as he zeroed in on the current Grand Elder of the Namekians.
Locating the largest of the few settlements on the planet, Alex directed Zenith towards it as they began their rapid descent. As before on Earth, they caused quite the commotion as the Namekians watched them descend, briefly thinking they were invaders, until they noticed Goku and the others from Earth happily waving at them.
"Hey guys!" Goku cried out at them, making the Namekians show relieved expressions that it wasn't another invasion.
"Greetings Goku! It is a pleasure to see you again!" Cried out an elderly looking Namekian with darker green skin than the rest. Once they landed though, he immediately asked,
"Is everything alright? We felt the power surge from here and were worried. Nothing happened to Dende did it?" Immediately asking after their fellow Namekian, who had gone to Earth in order to become its guardian, the Grand Elder was worried along with the rest of his people when they felt Alex and Cell's auras clashing a week and a half earlier.
Goku however waved away their concerns and said,
"Yeah, everything's fine and Dende is ok! We just stopped by for a quick visit to see if you'd let us use your Dragon Balls real quick Moori." Punctuating his request by putting his hands together to make 'pretty please' pose, Moori looked at the group with confusion before smiling and saying,
"Well if that's all then it's fine, after all we still owe all of you a debt of gratitude." With the rest of the Namekians gathered with Moori voicing their agreements, and everyone else disembarking Zenith as well, Alex stepped forward and said,
"Thank you for your generosity, I really appreciate it." Though the Namekians looked at him with confusion, not knowing who Alex was, he still bowed his head at them respectively since they didn't need to let him use their Dragon Balls.
Though the Namekians were about to tell him not to mind it, and to raise his head, but before he could there was a sudden explosion of energy behind them as a furious voice roared,
"I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!!!"
Everyone immediately jumped out of the way as Vegeta Jr went Super Saiyan, his energy arcing in every direction as he directed a furious glare in Alex's direction.
"You're no emperor, YOU'RE A DISGRACE TO EVERY SINGLE SAIYAN WARRIOR THAT EVER LIVED! WHERE IS YOUR PRIDE!?!"
Raising his head, Alex glanced in Vegeta's direction with a furrowed brow and asked,
"What's your problem now?" That just pissed Vegeta off even more as he demanded,
"'What's my problem'? 'WHATS MY PROBLEM'?! YOU'RE MY PROBLEM!" Alex however just cocked his head to the side as if he were confused, to which Vegeta shouted even more,
"AT EVERY TURN YOU'VE BEEN SHAMING THE SAIYAN NAME! AND NOW, ON TOP OF EVERYTHING ELSE, YOU JUST LOWERED YOUR HEAD TO A BUNCH OF LOWER LIFEFORMS LIKE IT WAS NOTHING!"
Nostrils flared, veins popping, and eyes bloodshot, this was obviously the most furious Vegeta had been in his entire life...and that was saying a lot. And even though anyone else would have been terrified to be the source of that fury, Alex didn't even flinch as he replied as if it were obvious,
"Well yeah, I came here to ask them for a favor. It's only natural that I show them respect in return." Again however, that only served to make Vegeta even angrier as he shouted,
"YOU SHOULD HAVE JUST TAKEN THEM AND SQUASHED THESE WEAKLINGS LIKE THE WORTHLESS INSECTS THEY ARE!"
Not just Alex, but everyone else was stunned at Vegeta's declaration, as even if it was very slight, they thought he had even been making progress in becoming a better person. However with the numerous recent revelations regarding his lack of strength, Alex's existence, the return of his father and subsequent loss of their royal standing, this seemed to be the final straw.
And while everyone else was still edging away from the ticking Super Saiyan time bomb, Alex's expression was darkening by the second as he asked,
"And is that your final stance on the matter?" The surrounding spectators shuddered from the chill in Alex's voice as he asked that, as until this point, they had never seen him become 'serious'.
And while they all recoiled, Vegeta appeared unfazed as he snorted,
"Don't try and play the tough guy here. You're nothing but a pathetic coward who only plays at being tough, and I'll reveal you for the fraud you are!" With that said, Vegeta suddenly launched himself forward to personally show Alex what a 'true' Saiyan was like.
With the training he'd been doing since the Cell Games, and the rage he currently felt, even Goku was hard pressed to keep up with Vegeta's speed as he rocketed towards Alex like a deadly projectile. However, there was a certain group of people who had no problem following Vegeta's movements, which very much included the very person he was trying to attack.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!*
None of the Dragon Team or surrounding Namekians saw what happened, they only knew that a great concussive force tried to blow them back while the entire planet seemed to shudder from the force of the blow as a massive cloud of dust covered their sight.
"Pathetic."
That was all they heard as the shuddering of the planet came to a stop and the dust began to settle, showing them the scene of Vegeta in the dirt with a clear fist imprint in his face, and Alex standing over him with a clenched fist.
Alex looked down at Vegeta with a stone cold expression, on which they could only make out disappointment, before he began,
"I've been patient with you out of consideration for the life you've lived until now, and the rapid series of changes I've been causing, but that stops now." Surprisingly, Vegeta was able to weakly groan as his body twitched, seemingly in response to Alex's voice.
Wether this was because of his sheer tenacity, or Alex's skill in using such force while minimizing damage, none of them could tell. Those who knew Alex though were well aware that he was purposely leaving Vegeta on the edge of consciousness, especially when he used his 'Telekinesis' to lift Vegeta's twitching body into the air, and continued,
"Your attitude and refusal to let go of the outdated and pointless ideology of how Saiyans are 'supposed' to act brings more shame to us than anything else." Alex then twitched his fingers just ever so lightly, making Vegeta's entire body jerk to confirm he was still conscious.
With that being the case, he continued,
"All around you there are examples of Saiyans who don't possess the same point of view and ideals as you, yet have surpassed you in nearly every way. Goku, Grant, me..... The three of us were born with lower potential than you, less power..... And yet here we are, racing ahead of you while you're still stuck in the past that you've created in your mind. Well that stops now."
His monologue finished, Alex then proceeded to plunge his fist directly into Vegeta's abdomen, making the former prince cry out in pain.
"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
With his cry came blood, while the point where Alex's hand was connected to him began to shine with a magical light.
"W-what are you doing!?!" Goku demanded as, from their point of view, Alex was merely torturing Vegeta right now. Even as he prepared to fight on Vegeta's behalf, Alex calmly replied,
"I'm simply teaching Vegeta a lesson. No need to worry, he's not being injured physically." The words were barely out of Alex's mouth when he drew his hand back from Vegeta's abdomen, and dropped him to the ground.
Once he was finished dealing with Vegeta, Alex turned his attention back towards the Namekians who were watching while horrified, and said while bowing lowly,
"I apologize profusely for the scene Vegeta and I have shown you all. I hope this doesn't lessen your opinions of me." Though he could hear the groaning protests from Vegeta as he lowered his head once again, Alex was stunned when someone else did the same next to him.
"No." Vegeta Sr said to them, before continuing, "The fault in my son's actions and demeanor are mine and mine alone, due to my inability to raise him properly. Please forgive his earlier transgressions, and the disciplinary actions taken by my liege."
Many of the Namekians were shocked to hear that this man was the father of Vegeta, who had even gloated about how he slaughtered the entire population of one of their villages. However, none were shocked more than Vegeta himself as he watched the scene from his position on the ground, and clenched his fist in anger.
"Please! Both of you, raise your heads!" Moori said urgently as he gestured for them to rise, as he was greatly unaccustomed to being regarded so highly. As they did so, Trunks hesitantly asked as he looked down at his still groaning father,
"What did you do to him?" Glancing at Vegeta with a look as if he were looking at trash, Alex answered,
"I sealed Vegeta's energy so that he can't use it anymore. No more powering himself up, energy blasts, or Super Saiyan transformations from him. On top of that I placed limiters on his physical strength, putting him at just above the average human in terms of strength. If he wants his abilities back then Vegeta will have to work his ass off to get them."
Shock filled the group at Alex's answer, as they never even thought such a thing was possible, let alone to someone as powerful as Vegeta." One person however appeared gleeful as he teasingly asked,
"Oh? So that means I'm stronger than even the mighty Vegeta right now?" That earned him the greatest response yet from the former Prince as he glared up at the speaker, Yamcha, hatefully.
"Rather than being happy, shouldn't you feel bad that it took me actually doing that to him for you not to be the weakest reason the team?" Yamcha's earlier glee immediately vanished as he flinched from that remark, followed by him paling considerably as krillin added,
"Plus I wouldn't poke too much fun at Vegeta even now. I mean imagine what he'd do to you once he gets his strength back later?" By this point Yamcha's hands had actually begun shaking as he imagined just that, while for the first time Vegeta's lips curled upwards into his trademark sneer.
It was only for a moment though as his body lost strength once again, as Vegeta had literally never been this weak in his entire life, and that was on top of the damage Alex had dealt to him earlier. Throwing his son over his shoulder, Vegeta Sr. said to them,
"If you'll allow, I'll take my son back to the ship to rest and have some words with him." Alex waved away Vegeta Sr's words as he turned his attention back to Moori to ask more about the Dragon Balls, which he learned were already on their way.
Once Vegeta Sr got his son into one of Zenith's cabins and on a bed, he pulled a vial out of the storage ring he had received from Alex, alongside the rest of his fellow Saiyans, and said,
"Here son, drink this." As he tried to put the vial to his son's lips though, a surge of strength rushed through Vegeta's body as he swatted the vial away, causing its contents to spill all over the bed.
"I-I-I'd rather die...than accept something like that...!" In the face of such resolve though, Vegeta Sr immediately did something that shocked the former Prince to his core.
*SMACK!*
For the first time in his life, Vegeta's father had hit him(outside of training of course). And as Vegeta tried to wrap his head around this, his father suddenly demanded in a harsh voice,
"What do you think you're doing son?! This has to stop!" Vegeta looked up at his father with a blank face, before his expression contorted in anger as he stated,
"What has to stop father? Shaming ourselves at every chance he gets? Trying to hold on to what remains of our pride? Remembering what makes us Saiyans, the strongest race in the entire univ-"
*SMACK!*
A second time, Vegeta Sr smacked his son, stunning him completely into silence, before slowly saying,
"What pride son? The same pride that let us be destroyed by Frieza?" Vegeta noticeably flinched at that, before he was forced to recall the years of borderline servitude he had endured as one of Frieza's lackeys. However his father didn't stop there, as he continued,
"'Strongest in the universe'? We weren't even the strongest in Frieza's army! We were practically a laughing stock unless the full moon was out!" At this point Vegeta Sr slammed his fist against one of the wooden walls around them, holding back of course to avoid damaging Alex's familiar, but it was still hard enough that the ship groaned and rumbled at the impact.
Looking back at his son, Vegeta Sr declared,
"The ideals you're trying to cling to so desperately, the way you or I handled things, are exactly what got our people destroyed to begin with! Think about it! The Super Saiyan transformation was right there, within grasp of not just our family, but all Saiyans! And we completely disregarded it because of our way of doing things! Did you not think son, that maybe we were wrong?"
At this point Sr's expression became sad as all his past failures came back to him, dumbfounding his son as he had never seen his father make such an expression before. He then continued,
"That's why I goaded Alex into a match over the right to rule the Saiyans son. We needed to be pushed into a completely new direction, one that we never even considered before but could push us to never before seen heights! And yet here you are, clinging to very same ideals that resulted in our downfall."
Looking directly at his son once again, all Vegeta could see was disappointment in his father's eyes. He clenched his fist in frustration as he forced his aching body into a sitting position, and declared,
"But that same 'new direction' is one of shame and cowardice! Someone who would readily lower his head like that, doesn't deserve to rule the Saiyans!"
For a moment Vegeta's force eyes locked onto his father's disappointed ones, showing just how strongly he was against Alex's ways of doing things. Eventually, Vegeta's Sr closed his eyes and sighed in disappointment, before opening them to reveal the same fierce gaze that Vegeta recalled from his youth, the look of the King of Saiyans.
"You're right about one thing son, I have never in my life felt more shame that in this one moment." Vegeta Sr then turned his back on him and made to leave the cabin, saying over his shoulder as he did so,
"But it's not our emperor that has shamed me."
...
As the former king Vegeta rejoined them Alex was deep in conversation with Moori regarding the Dragon Balls. They had discussed what he needed to wish for, which earned him some speculation when he said he had recently been cursed to be unable to swim, and were now on the subject on the actual creation of the Dragon Balls themselves.
"I see, I never knew that was how they were made..." Alex said as he nodded his head sagely, seemingly ignoring the numerous people that were curiously pulling on his now rubber body. Grayfia in particular was stretching his ear and cheek out as if to test something, before looking back at the girls and saying seriously,
"We need to learn how to use Armament Haki..." Her comment was met with numerous nods of agreement, while Shia was currently busy testing how Alex's body would respond to being punched. Needless to say the results were fairly frustrating for her.
Yuna however then added with a chuckle,
"I'm sure the children will like their fathers new abilities though." Alex quickly nodded as he stretched his arms out so they were several feet long, and excitedly said,
"Yeah! Now I can hug and hold everyone at once!" His actions were met with a series of either laughter or shaking heads, though those with the latter were smiling wryly as they did so.
Soon however the moment Alex was waiting for arrived as several fully grown Namekians arrived, all of which were holding the golden basketball-sized orbs in their arms as they did so. Within minutes all seven of the Dragon Balls were gathered before him, each one identifiable by the number of red stars within the otherwise completely golden orbs.
"Are you ready?" Moori asked Alex once they were all gathered on the ground before them, to which he nodded while also taking a step back, as the dragon the balls summoned was fairly big.
With Alex's confirmation Moori began speaking in a strange language, which Goku and the others couldn't understand, but Alex and his peerage members could due to the universal translation granted to them by their Evil Pieces. Once he finished the password needed to activate the dragon Balls, they glowed with a golden light that shot upwards suddenly to fill up the sky above them.
Those that hadn't witnessed the phenomenon before oohed and awed at it, while Alex had a large smile on his face as the nostalgia of watching the series hit him like a truck. Next to him Grant smiled knowingly, as he had felt similar things when he first witnessed the Dragon Balls being used.
With another flash of light the figure of the dragon Porunga came into view, who was admittedly fairly humanoid looking compared to other dragons. Unlike Shenron, who appeared like an elongated eastern dragon, Porunga had a humanoid upper body with dragonesque features, such as spikes coming from his shoulders and head, green dragon scales, claws on the tips of his fingers, and a fan running down his back.
"STATE YOUR WISHES."
Porunga demanded in his booming voice while looking down at them, though the moment the words were out of his mouth his gaze focused on Alex specifically. There was something about him that made Porunga want to submit, a feeling that was completely alien and uncomfortable to the wish-granting dragon.
Unaware that he was affecting Porunga with his 'Dragon Emperor' title, Alex then called up to it,
"I wish that I was no longer weak to deep water and dragon slayer attribute." Though one usually needed to speak in the language of the Namekians, that wasn't needed this time due to Alex's built-in translation magic.
As a result, after a moment of being engulfed in shimmering golden light, Porunga boomed down to them,
"IT IS DONE. WHAT ARE YOUR OTHER WISHES?"
Rather than immediately answer, Alex quickly stretched out his arm to confirm he still had Nika's power, before promptly jumping into a nearby lake.
As the water settled from his sudden cannon ball those who were watching began to get increasingly nervous as Alex didn't resurface, while even Porunga watched the scene play out with interest.
"When do we get worried?" Shizuku asked eventually as Alex's absence stretched out, before he suddenly broke the surface of the lake once again.
"Come on in! The waters fine!" Alex called out to them with a smirk, making several of the girls twitch their brows in annoyance at his antics.
"Anyone tempted to wish he couldn't swim again?" Grayfia asked the rest of his wives, to which every single one, sans Lala and Yuna, raised their hands in agreement. However a booming voice above them suddenly said,
"I WOULD PREFER YOU DID NOT DO THAT. NOW WHAT IS YOUR SECOND WISH?" With everyone turning their attention back to Porunga, and Alex crawling out of the lake, he then called up to the dragon,
"My second wish is that I can consume as many Devil Fruits as I want, and then my third one is for the Saiyan race to flourish!" As Alex was once again engulfed in golden light, Porunga boomed to them for the final time,
"IT IS DONE. FAREWELL."
The massive body of the wish granting dragon then vanished, while the seven golden Dragon Balls turned to stone as the magic that made them work vanished alongside Porunga. In four months they would return to normal after they finished recharging though.
After a moment of gaping at the giant round stones though, Shia immediately seized and stretched out Alex's cheek before saying,
"Hey, didn't you think to save any wishes for us? Huh?????????" Alex however appeared unconcerned as he calmly replied,
"What? I made almost all the wishes I can think of that I'd want, and it's not like none of you can't gather up the Dragon Balls once they recharge anyways." Though he still had one wish he was saving for a different set of Dragon Balls, Alex didn't see any problem with using up the rest of the wishes himself since they would basically be able to call upon them as many times as they wanted in the future.
And, if everything went well, there would be another set of Dragon Balls to use really soon.
So, using his 'Telekinesis' to lift the Dragon Balls, Alex returned them to each of the Namekians that had brought them while saying,
"Once again, thank you all for allowing me to use your Dragon Balls." Each of the Namekians bowed respectfully to Alex as they accepted their respective dragon Balls, before taking flight as they returned to their own villages. Moori meanwhile accepted the final stone orb, and replied to him,
"Again, we are happy to provide assistance to Goku and his friends after everything they have done for us." Instead of refuting Moori's sense of gratitude, Alex instead handed him several slips of paper, and explained to the elderly Namekian,
"Use these if the Namekians ever require assistance, and I'll do everything I can to provide it." Shuffling the Dragon Ball to hold it with one hand, Moori accepted the slips of paper while saying,
"Then I will thank you ahead of time, while also saying that I hope we will never have to use them."
With everything they needed to do done, Alex and his group quickly reboarded Zenith so they wouldn't make Kuroka and Kurumu wait any longer. As they began to rise up into the air, Rias asked Alex,
"So do you plan to eat more Devil Fruits in the future since you made that wish?" With the other girls turning to look at him curiously, Alex just shrugged as he answered,
"Not necessarily, but I figured it'd be better to be prepared in case I came across one that I really wanted to eat. Hopefully I won't find another one that will choose me though." As he said that Alex resumed testing his newfound powers since it was truly trippy seeing his body move in such ways.
As he was doing that another certain group approached Alex, and Raditz demanded,
"And by the way, what was up with that last wish of yours?" Alex looked up at the Saiyans to see they were giving him weird looks, to which he replied,
"Nothing, I just thought I'd make a wish to help our small number of people prosper in the future. Well, it was mostly for my children since they're all Saiyans as well." As Alex said, there was a very small handful of Saiyans left in the entirety of Universe Seven, only one of which was a female. Though he would (hopefully) live for a much longer span of time, all it would take is a few generations after the current Saiyans passed away for them to fade into obscurity.
Alex's final wish was an attempt to prevent that from happening since he didn't have any intention of reviving all of those who had been killed by Frieza, as conforming a handful of Saiyans from their 'evil' ways was easier than the entire former populace. It was when Alex wistfully thought to himself 'if only they were more like the Saiyans of Universe Six' that an idea came to him, and an evil smile formed on his lips.
"What are you thinking about?" Vegeta Sr asked hesitantly at the look on Alex's face, but nothing could prepared him for the next words to come out of his mouth as Alex replied,
"Oh nothing, I just happened to recall a large population of Saiyans that still exist, and was thinking about paying them a visit in the near future." As could be expected, all of the Saiyans on deck, including Goku and even Vegeta below deck when Alex's words carried to him, jolted in shock as the former king Vegeta even seized his shoulders and demanded,
"Are you serious! There's more Saiyans out there!?!" Though he could technically take offense to being manhandled by one of his vassals, Alex ignored it as he replied,
"Yes and no. They exist, but not in this universe." Alex then went over the twelve universes that existed in this corner of existence, as well as Universe Six, which was the mirror to this Universe Seven.
As could be expected, the moment Alex finished speaking Goku excitedly exclaimed,
"So there's even more universes with strong people to fight out there?! I can't wait to meet them!" Aside from Goku's excitement though, the former king slumped to the deck as he uttered,
"Unbelievable.... There's still an entire planet of Saiyans out there... And they're even living on planet Sadala...." Even Bardock, Raditz, and Gine were all reacting to learning there were more Saiyans out there, as it meant they weren't truly the only ones left.
Leaving the former king and other Saiyans to their thoughts, Alex turned his attention to the most pressing thing, meeting with Kuroka and Kurumu. So, once again wielding the Skeleton Key, he held it up and focused on the mischievous cat and succubus before turning it to open the gate.