However, Nappa couldn't hold it in any longer and blew his f*cking lid. Nappa's forehead veins pulsated as he pointed an accusatory finger at Piccolo, launching an expletive-laden tirade at Piccolo.
"What the F*CK, Namekian! Look at this bullshit! He just got humiliated by a Saibaman! What kind of useless shit are you teaching Gohan?! You're just wasting his potential!"
Piccolo's antennae twitched with irritation as THE Piccolo Button was pushed, and he shot Nappa an affronted and utterly offended look in response to the blatant disrespect. "Excuse me?! What did hell did you just say to me!? I'm what?! I dare you to say that again!"
"You're wasting his potential!" Nappa spat out through gritted teeth, "Look at him! Where's the ferocity of a Saiyan? He's being so pussyfooted because all he does is try to dodge! A Saiyan should be relentless and overpowering, not dancing around like a scared rabbit!"
"Dodging is an important skill!"
"Not if that's all he does, Namekian!"
"What the hell do you know?!"
"I know that you can't win a fight by only dodging!" Nappa's voice boomed, reverberating across the battlefield.
Their argument escalated, reaching a fever pitch that drew the attention of the other Z Fighters. Tien exchanged a glance with Krillin, both uncertain of whether they should intervene or let the two hash out their differences.
"Spoken like a person who doesn't know how to!" Piccolo shouted back in response. "You listen here, you oversized brute! Gohan is young and is in the process of developing his unique fighting style. Combat is not solely about raw power! Maybe if you understood something beyond pounding your opponents into the ground, you'd get it!"
"That's because you're not using enough brute force! And you think you can talk down to me, Namekian?! I've crushed stronger opponents than you in my sleep, you d*ck-less photosynthetic slug!"
Piccolo reared back; another nerve touched. This freaking Saiyan is managing to push all of his buttons at the same time today! "I don't want to hear that coming from you, you compensating, room-IQ ape!"
While Nappa and Piccolo were engaged in their heated exchange, Alpha grew tired of the melee exchange and decided to change tactics. With a sudden burst of speed, it created some distance between itself and Gohan and unleashed a ki attack.
Caught off guard by the abrupt change in strategy, Gohan momentarily froze, revealing his inexperience. The Ki blast barreled into Gohan and the resulting explosion resonated through the air. Gohan, taking the blast head-on, was sent tumbling backward from the force of the explosion.
Piccolo, alerted by the sound of the explosion, whipped his head towards the ongoing battle. "Goddamn it, Gohan! Dodge!"
"And now he's not dodging when he is supposed to!" Nappa angrily pointed at the result, shaking in rage.
"Oh, so now dodging is important?!"
"Dodging is important but you're teaching him to dodge at all the wrong moments! If he was fighting like a Saiyan, this wouldn't have happened!"
"When he started, he wouldn't dodge at all!"
"That's because you're just a SHIT teacher!!" Nappa bellowed, his entire frame trembling as he shook his fist, unaware that he had just pressed THE Piccolo Button a second time.
Piccolo ground his teeth, a surge of sheer fury coursing through him. "I'M a shit teacher?! Considering I had to start from scratch, and a year later, he's surpassed Raditz, I'd say I did a pretty DECENT JOB!"
"The credit goes to the kid's potential, not you! It's a miracle he got as strong as he did in spite of you rather than because of you! And let's not even talk about Raditz because, as far as talent goes, his was shit!"
"Like you can do any better!"
Nappa could viscerally feel his blood pressure rapidly rising, and due to his lack of hair, the pulsing veins that had spread from his forehead to his entire head were prominently displayed. He growled, taking a menacing step forward, his massive frame casting a large shadow that reached Piccolo's foot.
"You know what? Screw you! The hell I can't!"
Cupping his hands around his mouth, Nappa bellowed across the battleground, cutting through the chaos of the fight above. "Hey, Alpha! Gohan! Stop your playground squabble and get over here!"
Due to Nappa and Piccolo's argument, no one noticed Alpha and Gohan's fight had devolved precisely into what could only be described as a playground squabble. Up in the air, Alpha could be seen pulling on Gohan's hair while a somewhat singed Gohan had Alpha locked in a debatably effective chokehold as he continuously slapped the Saibaman's face. At the moment of Nappa's authoritative holler, both abruptly stopped, their attention drawn downward with mirroring expressions of bewilderment.
Their gazes shifted from Nappa to each other, silently querying if the other knew what was happening. Alpha responded with a nonchalant shrug before smoothly descending to Nappa's side, while Gohan followed suit toward Piccolo's position.
Nappa gestured emphatically towards Gohan, his face contorting with anger as he addressed the Z Fighters collectively.
"You see this kid? Even with no combat experience, he's already stronger than Raditz! That's what you call potential!" The Saiyan's voice was filled with exasperation as he shook his head in disbelief and disappointment. "And look at what you chuckleheads are doing! Not letting a Saiyan battle? All of his instincts and edge would've dulled if you delayed any longer! You—YOU—!"
Nappa shouted into his scouter in frustration.
"Hey, scouter, calling a person what animal on this planet means the closest to incompetent dumbasses?" The small device softly mumbled its response, relaying information directly into Nappa's ears. He absorbed the input with a nod before resuming his tirade without missing a beat. "–YOU BUNCH OF F*CKING DONKEYS!"
Krillin, greatly annoyed, yelled straight back at Nappa. "Gohan is not a savage like you Saiyans!"
"He IS a Saiyan! It runs in his blood! Just look at his tail! Look at– look at…" However, in a sudden shift, Nappa's emotion transformed from overwhelming anger to frightening calm eerily abruptly. "Where in the seven shits is his tail?"
Krillin just couldn't resist. The opportunity was so great. "Maybe he misplaced it somewhere like Goku did."
At the exact same time as Krillin, Piccolo stated matter-of-factly. "I ripped it off."
A myriad of expressions flickered across Nappa's face, none of them pleasant.
While it might be an exaggeration to claim that a Saiyan's tail is their very life, it certainly wasn't to say that it was a major source of their pride. A Saiyan's tail is of utmost importance as it was the source of their deeply ingrained strength and pride: their greatest transformation, the Oozaru.
The loss of one's tail due to combat was an acceptable outcome, as it was a sign of a warrior's mettle and a mark of a hard-won battle.
However, in the annals of Saiyan history, the deliberate removal of a tail during peacetime carried with it a great symbolic significance. To strip a Saiyan of their tail outside the crucible of battle was, in the eyes of Saiyan tradition, an act of unparalleled dishonor– a fate reserved for traitors, deserters, backstabbers, or king-slayers. It represented eternal exile. To witness Gohan bearing the marks of the disgrace of the greatest order from someone Nappa knew the boy regarded to be a mentor was just… absolutely f*cking unacceptable.
The storm of emotions that had roiled across Nappa's face finally froze, crystallizing itself into unrestrained anger. His once-booming voice was silenced, replaced by a guttural, primal scream of rage that ripped out of the Saiyan General's throat and resounded through the desolate wasteland and beyond.
"WWRRRRRYYYYYAAAHHH!!!!"
As the echoes of Nappa's enraged scream slowly dissipated into silence, an unsettling calm settled upon Nappa. His visage, once twisted by fury, transformed into a mask of emotionless Zen, as if the tempest within him had been utterly tamed.
With measured composure, Nappa turned his gaze back to Vegeta, who had been silently observing the conversation since time unknown. Nappa is deeply familiar with Vegeta, thanks to knowing the stoic prince all the way back to a time when Vegeta had yet to be capable of formulating a single coherent thought. As far as he's concerned, he's a pretty good judge on Vegeta's emotional nuances.
Without a shadow of a doubt, Nappa can confirm that Vegeta's gaze had grown colder and more glacial than any recollection in recent memory, eclipsing even what it had been during that smartass's execution.
They made eye contact.
Vegeta gave a casual wave of his hand, a gesture of nonchalant dismissal reminiscent of swatting away an annoying fly. Fortunately, Nappa could translate Vegeta-miese and understood Vegeta's unspoken directive. His Prince had just granted him full authority to take rein and handle the situation however he saw fit. He'd expected that because Vegeta knew exactly how personal this issue was with him. Cruel he may be, but Vegeta had always been one to allow his subordinates to do whatever was necessary to restore their honor.
Despite having Vegeta's permission to act as he wished, Nappa knew that Vegeta would skin him alive with a blunt fruit peeler if he killed the slug without first extracting every detail about the Dragon Balls out of him. After all, that worthless, honorless slug had a direct connection with the Dragon Balls that still eluded both him and Vegeta, and he would not be forgiven if immortality slipped through their fingers like this.
It's iconic, Nappa thinks, that the person he wants to kill the most is also the sole individual he couldn't readily target.
In a stern yet controlled tone, Nappa addressed Alpha, issuing a command that resonated with authority. "Step aside, Alpha. Move somewhere else. I'll revert you to your seed form later."
At the command, Alpha's face scrunched in disgust like someone who had unwittingly stepped into shit. After a moment of hesitation, Alpha's face morphed into a displeased grimace as he begrudgingly complied moving to a nearby spot. Clearly, the prospect of being sidelined and returning to a dormant state did not sit well with the Saibaman.
Choosing a designated location, Alpha hesitated and reluctantly kicked at the ground petulantly. Soon after, it burrowed into the earth, its form vanishing beneath the soil as if the very ground itself was swallowing it whole. The displaced dirt writhed for a brief moment after enveloping the Saibaman, and then the soil grew still.
Observing Alpha's compliance, Nappa redirected his attention to Gohan with a renewed sense of purpose.
"Alright, Gohan. You've shown promise, being able to match Raditz, a grown-ass man, at such a young age. You definitely have potential in you." Nappa's tone softened as he addressed Gohan. "I'll teach you the art of fighting. I'm going to demonstrate to you exactly how a Saiyan would approach combat."
Gohan looked extremely uncomfortable at the situation but sensed that Nappa was treating him differently compared to the others. With the intuition only a child would have, Gohan pleaded his case.
"Could you not hurt anyone, Mr. Nappa? Please?"
"You're not even aware of the atrocities they've committed against you, kid."
"I'm fine with it, really!" Gohan reassured, offering a bright smile while attempting to downplay whatever it was Nappa found so offensive. He wasn't entirely sure what the big deal was or why Mr. Nappa seemed so angry on his behalf, but he hoped to talk Mr. Nappa out of his murderous rage.
To Gohan's relief, Nappa's fury deflated.
"I've heard that before." Nappa's face drooped with sorrow, stirred by a distant memory. "But I'm not okay with it, kid."
Taking a moment to regain composure and clear his emotions, Nappa closed his eyes. He knows he cannot allow anger to cloud his judgment in battle. When he opened his eyes again, there was only calm and focus within them. A beat later, Nappa reverted to the state he was in when he first landed with Vegeta in the wasteland, whatever that had just affected him already suppressed and in the past.
"Now, you lot get to face the real deal. I'll enjoy taking you all apart."