"Um… shouldn't we be… like… a bit more worried if he can switch bodies?" Bulma spoke to me dryly, glancing over at Shin, or Ginyu-Shin more specifically, as he casually sat at one of the many dinner tables in my spaceship's cafeteria - yes, the ship was actually so big that there was a literal cafeteria, fit with aliens specifically 'hired' to cook, so we could feed the massive staff of soldiers that traveled with me - and bit into a steak.
"Nope. If anything, I'm hoping he will switch bodies," I shook my head lightly, narrowing my eyes at Ginyu-Shin in annoyance, which caused his back to stiffen as he stopped chewing the steak and gave me a stiff salute across the cafeteria, "That's the most annoying bastard possible to be in that body. If it were anyone else, then it wouldn't be that big of a deal, but the fact that it's him…"
Truly, Ginyu was, without a doubt, one of the most annoying people possible to be in Shin's body. That didn't just come from the fact that he was Ginyu, and thus his presence alone was annoying as hell, but more so because of his body-swapping ability.
If someone else was in Shin's body, then even if they were annoying, I wouldn't really care - the body was pretty strong, and I couldn't kill him because his lifeforce was tied with Beerus, but overall, it wouldn't have mattered. They wouldn't be able to pose a threat to me, and at worst, I could just tie them up, chuck them into a cell for their own 'safety,' and leave a Zarbon to ensure they didn't die.
But Ginyu was one of the few people in this universe who was genuinely a threat to me. It was a strange situation where somehow, someway, the annoying, YMCA-posing, and frankly stupid alien was just as threatening to me, if not more threatening to me, than the literal God of Destruction himself. His body-switching ability was just that annoying.
Luckily, I was so much stronger than he was that he couldn't take my body easily, but the fact that I had to leave him alive in the first place was a risk. I had to take precautions now, ensuring that I never slept, or even relaxed, without guards stationed outside my bedroom. As long as I was awake, there was no chance that Ginyu's change-beam, which was very slow to my very, very, fast self, would hit me, so the only risks came in being caught off guard.
At first, I had considered just ignoring Ginyu - leaving him in Shin's body to do whatever the hell he wanted in Otherworld, and just getting as far away as possible to protect my own body. However, after considering it more, I had quickly decided against it, mainly because it was Ginyu. The less-than-intelligent alien would probably end up getting himself killed, and thus getting Beerus killed, or even worse, eventually taking Beerus' if he ever came into contact with the God of Destruction. Even if he didn't end up dying, I didn't want to imagine the mayhem he could cause in Otherworld as he lived as the Supreme Kai. A world where Ginyu was the boss wasn't a world I wanted to live in.
Overall, Ginyu was a huge risk, both to my life and his own. As such, I had enacted a pretty genius plan - the plan to trick Ginyu into switching bodies again! I hoped that this situation could just be resolved with the Dragon Balls, but I wasn't sure if they had the power to do so now, since Ginyu was in the Supreme Kai's body - a body that surpassed the power of any of the dragons. Either way, until I could make another wish with the Namekian Dragon Balls once I found a suitable Namekian to train, and thus make him customize the Dragon Balls, my plan for the moment was to try and get Ginyu to switch bodies on his own.
"A-Ah… Ginyu… It's so wonderful being strong, isn't it?" Which, as Cooler sat down beside Ginyu, his face strained as he spoke, wasn't going so well at the moment, "My body can train so quickly that I'll be far stronger than yours soon! Ah, this body is so amazing! So powerful!"
Essentially, I left both Cooler and King Cold alive, and the plan was to bait Ginyu into switching into one of their bodies. I had been a bit wary about leaving my two family members alive at first, but in the end, their being alive benefited me in two ways - the first was to try and manipulate Ginyu, and the second was to get two strong training partners.
Those benefits actually went hand-in-hand, as I needed to make Cooler and King Cold stronger for one simple reason-
"I'm sorry, Lord Cooler, but if I took your body, then I would die," Ginyu replied to Cooler's words dryly, easily seeing through my brother's attempt, as Ginyu might've been stupid, but he wasn't a complete moron. My words in hell, along with them having already interrogated Shin before I arrived, meant that Ginyu was very aware that he was only alive for one reason - his body.
So, when there's a man who knew he would die when he switched bodies, how do you convince him to swap bodies? You have to convince him that whatever body he's taking is stronger than not just his own, but stronger than mine. Right now, Ginyu knew I would kill him if it wasn't for the body he was in, so the only body he would even consider switching to was my own.
But if I trained the hell out of Cooler and King Cold, then, along with a bit of manipulation, I could solve this problem pretty easily. Make Ginyu think that either of those two was stronger than myself - or even just strong enough to the point that I couldn't kill them easily - and he would be goaded into making the swap. The appeal of a body nearly as strong as my own would be too appealing to the power-hungry alien, and I didn't doubt that he'd jump at the chance. Then, either King Cold or Cooler in Shin's body wasn't nearly as concerning because there wasn't the constant looming threat of them trying to take my body.
Beyond that, training Cooler and King Cold would be great for my own growth. I grew in power much faster than they did, so I didn't have to worry about them catching up or surpassing me while also having good training partners. Training alone had definitely given me a lot of power, but I was reaching a limit - I was simply too strong. No planet had strong enough gravity to make me struggle, and even Bulma couldn't design a gravity chamber that could go high enough - mainly because the chamber itself would crumble under that much gravity.
I was getting diminishing returns with my solo training, and while neither King Cold nor Cooler was even close to giving me a real challenge right now, it wouldn't take them long to become at least decently helpful. Training with someone so much more powerful than yourself, which was me in this case, would allow them to gain a lot of power quickly, and thus be able to give me a better challenge.
"Ah… my son, isn't it nice having such a strong body? After training with Frieza, I feel stronger than ever! I think I might even be able to beat him!" I watched dryly as King Cold walked up to the table Ginyu and Cooler were at, his expression strained as he did some of the worst acting I had ever seen.
"With acting like that, I think you'd be better off trapping him somewhere," Bulma suggested to me, also watching the exchange with a bland expression, "You can't just, like… put him in a jail cell somewhere?"
"Unfortunately, that body he's in is much stronger than any jail cell can hold," I shook my head lightly, "But the actual Supreme Kai is looking into seals."
My initial thoughts to get through this situation were even simpler - just seal Ginyu, and be done with it. Unfortunately, the subject of the Supreme Kai's life being tied to the God of Destruction's wasn't something that was thoroughly explained, and even Shin wasn't completely sure how it worked. Old Kai had been sealed when his lifeforce was attached to Beerus, but when that had happened, there had been more Supreme Kai's that Beerus was also tied to.
Right now, there was only Shin, so if I sealed Ginyu-Shin, there was the risk that Beerus would just die without another Kai tied to his lifeforce. I had also ordered Shin to find the Z-Sword so I could free Old Kai and have another Supreme Kai for more safety, but Kibito-Shin was apparently… really incompetent.
Which, I should've expected as much, as despite being the Supreme Kai and the 'highest authority in the universe,' he had done about as much in the Buu arc as Yamcha did. He didn't know where the Z-Sword even was, so he had gone to find Kibito's soul and figure it out with him.
"It's an annoying situation to be in," I told Bulma with a sigh, and I wasn't lying. The whole 'conquering and improving the universe' had apparently been going too well lately, and the world had to give me some obstacles.
To be fair, I was definitely due for some trouble, as my biggest hurdles so far had been Cooler - who I defeated effortlessly - and paperwork as I developed planets around the universe. It was almost nice to have a bit of risk for once, but I would've really preferred if that risk wasn't involving a body-swapper.
"But, right now, I have a different situation I need to deal with," I hummed, turning as I started to stride out of the cafeteria, and Bulma quickly followed me.
"A different situation?" She asked curiously, and I simply nodded.
"The Saiyans."
We had just arrived on Planet Frieza roughly an hour ago, and I had Zarbon round up all the Saiyans so they could greet me upon my return. Now, it was time to ensure they bent the knee again, and that there were no hard feelings over the whole 'blowing up their planet' thing.
"Sounds… like your problem," Bulma said with a slight grin, promptly turning as she split off from me and headed in the direction of the laboratory on the ship, "Good luck!"
"I won't need it, but thanks," I chuckled, and then promptly vanished - reappearing in front of a still-sulking prince.
"Damn it… I didn't want to be a Super Saiyan anyway…" I looked down dryly at Vegeta as he sat in the corner of the training room, his face twisted with a mixture of anger and depression, "Fuck! I don't care about Kakarot anyway! Who gives a damn about a low-class bastard like that?!"
"You seem pretty down, princeling," I said down to him dryly, which was proven as Vegeta jolted, jumping to his feet as he hadn't even noticed my arrival in his depression.
"I-I am not! Saiyans do not get sad! We are a proud warrior race, and I'm the prince of all Saiyans!" Vegeta huffed, glaring at me as I caught him in his vulnerable state, "I was simply… resting! Resting is an important part of the training process!"
"Right…" I responded dryly, definitely not buying his excuse, "Anyway, I have something that might cheer you up a bit. In fact, I think it'll cheer you up a lot. Where's Nappa?"
"In the med bay," Vegeta grunted, and I assumed he had been taking out his anger on Nappa, "But… what do you mean?"
"You hate me because I killed your dad, and… probably your mom, any brothers or sisters you had, all your friends, and the entirety of the Saiyans, right?" I asked, causing Vegeta to instantly stiffen as he glanced away, clearly trying to hide the rage that built up in his eyes at the mention, "Well, they're alive now. Happy birthday."
The revival of the Saiyans definitely wasn't really a birthday present for Vegeta, as I didn't even know when the man's birthday was, but if I was going to have to deal with the entire race of warriors being brought back to life, then I should at least get some goodwill with Vegeta out of it, right? He, along with Goku, would eventually be pretty big powerhouses in this world - to keep increasing the Mortal Level, and to have allies in the future, I would need to keep the Saiyan Prince both alive and close by.
"W-What?!" Vegeta jerked his gaze back, staring at me with wide eyes, "W-What the hell are you talking about?! Is this some kind of sick joke?!"
"As much as I love making fun of you for being the 'Prince of a dead species,'" I shook my head lightly at his words, "I'm not messing around this time. When we were on Earth, the Dragon Balls were used to revive not only your father, but all of the other Saiyans as well."
Well, 'all of the other Saiyans' was probably a bit of an exaggeration, as to have your soul not be recycled in the first place, you needed to be evil enough to be sent to hell. I imagined that most of the Saiyans definitely fit that criteria, considering their whole species was constantly fighting and sending literal infants to exterminate all lifeforms on entire planets. But, most didn't mean all, as I was sure there were a couple of Saiyans here and there that never reached that level of evil - granted, that was probably because they died young, and not from a lack of trying.
"Y-You… you better not be… lying about this," Vegeta finally ground out, staring at me with a strange look on his face, as he seemed to be stuck between grateful, happy, disbelief, and anger, "I-If you… if you dare to lie about this, I will-"
"Just follow me, and you'll see for yourself," I interrupted him, looking at the prince dryly as I didn't really want to go through this whole routine. That was more so for his sake than mine, as even if he was in a very emotional state right now, and definitely not thinking straight, I wouldn't be able to easily overlook whatever threat he was about to throw at me.
I promptly turned around, not giving him a chance to respond as I left the training room, and I heard him hurriedly run after me from behind. We strode through the spaceship in silence, Vegeta clearly still conflicted on how to feel, until we reached the exit of my ship after only a minute.
"They have all been assembled, just as you ordered, Lord Frieza," At the ramp, Zarbon was waiting for us - the real Zarbon - and he quickly dropped down to one knee.
"Good work, Zarbon," I said simply, stepping past him as I stared down the long ramp, and took in the sight of the people awaiting me. And, honestly, the crowd there was a lot bigger than I expected.
Rows upon rows of muscular men and women stood there, all decked out in Saiyan armor - which I assumed Zarbon gave them, but I guess they could've been revived with it? I doubted it, but death was a bit random in this world, and I definitely wasn't an expert on it - as they stared at me with varying emotions. I saw some eyes filled with anger, as fists were clenched, and some of the Saiyans looked like they wanted nothing more than to attack me right now. However, in the eyes of others, I could see fear, and some of the 'proud warriors' were even staring at their feet - unable to bring themselves to even look at their killer.
But, the most attention-grabbing of them all was at the front of the crowd, as a very familiar-looking man stood - mainly, because he looked damn-near identical to his son. King Vegeta had the same spikey hair Vegeta did, the same widow's peak, and the same face, if you ignore his facial hair. It was as if I were looking at an older Vegeta.
"W-What?!" Vegeta spat out as he walked next to me, his eyes as wide as saucers as he stuttered, scanning over the crowd of Saiyans in front of us, "T-They're… they're really… F-Father…"
"S-Son? Is that you?" King Vegeta also stuttered, his eyes going wide as he took in the sight of Vegeta, who had probably been a small child the last time he had seen him. I glanced over at the prince and could see a cascade of emotions running over his face, as he definitely wasn't certain how to act.
I couldn't really blame him - his entire race, who he had long since accepted were dead, were suddenly right in front of his eyes. Not only that, but his own father was alive and standing at the bottom of the ramp.
But, at the same time, he was still a Saiyan - a proud warrior, and even amongst the prideful race, Vegeta's pride was on a whole different level. He'd never allow himself to rush down the ramp and hug his father or anything, which left us in this situation, where Vegeta was awkwardly standing at the top of the ramp. He stared at his father with uncertainty, and with an emotion in his eyes that I couldn't quite read.
Not that I needed to, because I was just bringing him here to be nice to the Saiyan prince. He had no role in this conversation.
"As you all probably noticed, you're not in hell anymore. Congratulations," I called out, smirking as I strode forward, causing many of them to tense as I walked down the ramp, "I decided that eradicating all of you might've been a minor overreaction on my part, so I've brought you all back to life. The whole 'dying' thing was probably a bit jarring, so I'll give you all… a week? You can have a week before going back to your usual missions."
Hey, just a week might've been a bit harsh, but they just had decades to relax in hell! Granted, they were in hell, so it probably wasn't all that relaxing… but they also had the past few days, as I was dealing with the clones and the Otherworld situation! A week was more than enough time to be ready to work again! Plus, their 'missions' would be a lot easier than the past ones - which I assumed had usually been to conquer planets - since my Empire ran a lot differently than it did with former-Frieza.
"A… minor overreaction?" I blinked as King Vegeta's face shifted, his eyes becoming filled with anger as he glared up at me, "You killed us all! You destroyed our home! We did everything you asked for years, and that's how you repay us?! You call that a 'minor overreaction?!'"
"Okay, maybe an 'above-average overreaction,'' I corrected, still smirking as it only made King Vegeta angrier, "That was all in the past, so let's forget that happened, alright?"
"Forget… you want us to forget something like that?" King Vegeta spat out, his hands clenching into fists, "You want us to go back to being loyal dogs after what you did?! You're an even bigger fool than I used to be, Frieza! Things are different now! We spent decades in that dry wasteland… and we're stronger because of it!"
He wasn't lying, as I could easily sense that his power level was much higher than I expected. Compared to the roughly ten-thousand power level he had before his death, King Vegeta had definitely improved a lot from spending so long in hell. It seemed that when you were in a dry, desolate wasteland with nothing to do, training was likely the main form of entertainment.
"We lived in fear of your power before, but no longer!" King Vegeta shouted dramatically, his Ki flaring to life around him, and the Saiyans around him all tensed, "We won't let you do as you please any longer, Frieza! You'll regret bringing us back to life!"
Ah, he was just as fiery as I imagined. I had ordered the Zarbon's here not to rough them up too badly when they were teleported here, because I wanted to deal with them personally.
"F-Father, don't-" Vegeta started to say, but I casually grabbed his shoulder, squeezing it lightly to stop him. I simply stared down at King Vegeta, my amused eyes locked with his rage-filled ones, and I grinned.
"Trust me, I understand your anger, but… I don't care." My smirk just grew wider, my own Ki starting to rise as King Vegeta's eyes flashed with angry disbelief, "I'm strong, and you're weak, so I'll do whatever I want with you. I'll work you to the bone if I desire, and if I feel that you're useless, then I'll throw you out without a care. I'll kill you, revive you, and do whatever the hell I want!"
It was harsh, but when you were dealing with a prideful, furious group of Saiyans, this was how I had to respond. They were a race that respected power above all else, and a race that lived by fighting. There was no politicking to be done here, nor any soft-spoken apologies that could win them over. They were a warrior race, and there was one thing they knew better than anything else - fighting.
So, we would fight.
"If you want to change that, then…" My eyes bored into King Vegeta's, my ki rising higher and higher as a weight started to press down on their shoulders. Beside me, even Vegeta started to shake lightly, unable to handle the weight of my oppressive power on his shoulders.
"Come at me."
It was time to remind these warriors who their owner was.
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AN: Thanks for reading! The next chapter will be posted in around a week!
Or, there are 20 more chapters posted on Patreon.com/Koyon ! Up to chapter 53 is on there!