Piccolo descended from the sky at high speed, landing firmly on the grass a few meters in front of Zaiko and Broly.
His gaze immediately focused on inspecting Zaiko.
Seeing his imposing size, his bulging musculature, and that strange silver fur covering a large part of his body, Piccolo immediately thought he was the stronger of the two.
However, upon trying to measure his strength and not sensing a single drop of Ki coming from him, he quickly discarded him.
It was then that he fixed his gaze on Broly.
Unlike the man beside her, the Ki emanating from the woman was... monstrous.
Despite this, his instincts kept making him turn his gaze back to the man.
The pressure his presence exerted, making his instincts flare up, put him on alert instantly.
While watching them with extreme caution, Piccolo's eyes dropped and he noticed that both had furry tails, which were intertwined with each other.
«Saiyans!», Piccolo exclaimed in his mind, tensing up completely. «What are two Saiyans doing on Earth?»
Quickly, Piccolo's gaze shifted to the sky, toward Zen-Long.
«Have they summoned this Divine Dragon?», the Namekian wondered, clenching his fists and putting up his guard.
"Who are you and what are you looking for on this planet?!" Piccolo exclaimed, getting into a combat stance and demanding an answer with a severe tone.
Hearing his defiant tone, Zaiko simply snorted in amusement.
With a smooth motion, his silver tail uncoiled and pulled away from Broly's.
Broly, for her part, simply gave a small pout seeing him pull his tail away and distance himself from her.
With his arms crossed and a smile on his face, Zaiko took a few steps forward, walking calmly in the Namekian's direction.
With his thumb, Zaiko pointed over his shoulder toward the two large houses visible in the distance.
"We have decided to temporarily settle on Earth, Namekian," Zaiko answered him with a markedly condescending tone. "Is that a problem for you?"
Deep down, if Piccolo had approached them and properly asked why they were on Earth, without that cautious and defiant tone, already preparing to fight, Zaiko would have had no problem being friendlier.
After all, in his past life, Piccolo had been his favorite character in all of Dragon Ball.
Almost everyone always said Goku was their favorite, while others preferred Vegeta.
There was also a small portion of fans who preferred Son Gohan... but him?
He had always preferred Piccolo due to his incredible evolution from villain to hero, his fundamental role as Gohan's mentor and father figure, and his unbreakable determination to get stronger despite the ever-growing power gap with Goku.
Piccolo had gone from being the reincarnation of absolute evil, Piccolo Daimaoh, to becoming one of Earth's most loyal and noble defenders.
He had taught Gohan how to fight and survive, even sacrificing his own life for him, being considered in many aspects a better father to the boy than Goku himself.
Furthermore, unlike the meatheaded Saiyans who relied purely on brute force, Piccolo was analytical, strategic, and rational, often being the "brains" of the group.
And, as if that weren't enough... His aura was always Level 999!
The truth is that Zaiko was extremely excited to meet Piccolo in person, but he couldn't show it openly.
Not only because it would be embarrassing and extremely weird to start acting like a fanboy in front of him, but because this world was no longer an anime with fictional characters drawn on paper or from a series.
Now it was HIS world, and these "characters" were real living beings.
Zaiko turned his head slightly and looked at Broly for a few moments.
Even she... was no longer simply a character.
She was a real woman, of flesh and blood, with her own thoughts, traumas, and feelings.
When he first met her on Vampa and discovered she was a woman, he simply thought about taking her and bringing her along as a trophy.
However, now, after spending these days by her side, he had truly begun to feel a real and warm appreciation for her.
He could no longer simply treat her like a simple anime character...
Piccolo, oblivious to Zaiko's deep thoughts, clicked his tongue upon hearing they had settled on Earth.
"Earth is in serious trouble right now," Piccolo warned them harshly. "If you want to stay and live here, you'd better not cause more problems than there already are."
"Relax. I assure you we won't cause any problems," Zaiko guaranteed him, turning his gaze back to him. "We are very different from other Saiyans you have met."
Piccolo looked him in the eyes and, noticing that they indeed did not give off the same bloodthirsty and cruel nature as Goku's brother, Raditz, or Vegeta himself when he first arrived on Earth, nodded to himself, satisfied with the answer.
Noting that, at least for now, they weren't his enemies, Piccolo looked out of the corner of his eye at the immense Divine Dragon still floating in the sky.
"Were you the ones who summoned this Divine Dragon?" Piccolo asked, narrowing his eyes. "And more importantly... How did you do it?"
Piccolo, who had recently assimilated with Kami, possessed all the knowledge of his counterpart.
He didn't have any kind of information in his mind about the existence of such a Divine Dragon, which should be absolutely impossible if it had been summoned using Dragon Balls on Earth.
Zaiko opened his mouth slightly, ready to answer his questions and explain the creation of Zen-Long... but then he stopped, realizing something.
Why the hell did he have to obediently answer all his questions?
Yes, he didn't want to make enemies out of him or the other Z Fighters for no reason, but he wasn't going to stoop to simply obeying, staying quiet, and giving explanations like a subordinate every time they asked him something either.
He had answered enough for today.
"Mind your own business, Namekian," Zaiko cut him off suddenly, crossing his arms. "If you want to know more about us, you can wait to find out during the Cell Games."
Piccolo simply ignored the fact that he hadn't answered his question.
Instead, he widened his eyes in evident surprise upon hearing the latter.
"Are you guys... going to participate in the Cell Games?" Piccolo asked.
At that precise moment, high in the sky, Zen-Long, who was now sweating profusely from the effort, finally spoke in the Divine Language.
"MY CREATOR...!" Zen-Long pleaded, his voice trembling slightly. "I DON'T THINK I CAN HOLD ON FOR MUCH LONGER! PLEASE, TELL ME YOUR THIRD WISH AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!"
Zaiko looked at Piccolo at that exact moment.
"We will see each other again at the Cell Games," Zaiko told him with a firm voice, cutting off any attempt to continue the conversation and, basically, inviting him to leave once and for all.
Piccolo, getting the message loud and clear, grunted to himself in evident frustration. He knew he wouldn't get anything more out of them right now.
Turning around, he took flight and began to fly away quickly, not before turning his head to look at the Divine Dragon above them one last time, with intrigue eating away at him inside.
Zaiko, seeing that Piccolo was finally leaving and his Ki signature was fading into the horizon, let out a long sigh.
He turned back to the sky, staring intently at Zen-Long to make his wish.
Right now, if he thought in a cold and calculating way, the only logical wish was to desire to unlock the rest of his hidden potential...
But, considering that he could now summon Zen-Long at any time...
There was a wish he had wanted to ask for quite a while now!
A wish that would completely satisfy his curiosity!
But also a wish that would immensely help his ultimate goal of becoming the strongest warrior of all!
Smiling with anticipation, Zaiko looked up at Zen-Long.
"I want an indestructible physical book containing absolutely the entire history of the Saiyan race since its creation, along with all the detailed knowledge and the best training methods to achieve each and every one of the existing transformations," Zaiko demanded firmly, speaking in the Divine Language.
The wish was simple and direct, but the intention behind it encompassed absolutely everything he had in mind.
Zaiko felt that this was almost like wasting a wish, but knowledge was also power.
In this book, Zaiko hoped to find documented the true story about the birth of the first Super Saiyan God, Yamoshi, and his fight against the Evil Saiyan, Cumber, where both would die on Planet Sadala, leaving Shallot and Giblet as their only descendants.
He didn't really know how true all this was, but according to Akira Toriyama, Yamoshi was the first Super Saiyan God who fought against evil Saiyans on the original planet Sadala to try and stop their savagery, but was outnumbered and defeated.
Taking Cumber's existence into account, this theory could very well be true.
He also hoped to find the story of Planet Sadala's destruction and the subsequent conquest of Planet Plant, which would be renamed Planet Vegeta.
But all of this was simply entertainment material he wanted to read to keep himself amused until the Cell Games began; what was truly important was the information on the transformations.
This would show him the path to go beyond his current limit and reach Super Saiyan 6, 7, 8, and 9, all the way to Infinity Super Saiyan.
Only in this way would he achieve absolute power, positioning him as a cosmic entity with omnipotent capabilities superior even to Zeno-sama.
Just thinking about it, Zaiko couldn't help but get excited, looking at his own fist and clenching it with all his might with a smile on his face.
Broly, by his side, simply tilted her head, looking at him in confusion.
At that moment, Zen-Long spoke.
"THAT IS A VERY PECULIAR WISH... BUT IT IS WITHIN MY CAPABILITIES!" Zen-Long roared, relieved to finally be able to fulfill the last wish. "YOUR THIRD AND FINAL WISH HAS BEEN GRANTED!"
Zen-Long's red eyes shone intensely.
Right in front of Zaiko and Broly, a book began to materialize out of nowhere, falling heavily onto the grass with a dull thud that slightly shook the ground beneath their feet.
It was exactly what Zaiko had imagined.
An extremely large and absurdly thick book, being almost the same height as Zaiko himself in his current Super Saiyan 5 state.
On the cover of the book was the silhouette of a Saiyan with extremely long silver hair, similar to Super Saiyan 3 but more exaggerated, with a red infinity symbol on his chest.
"MY DUTIES HAVE CONCLUDED. I WILL BE WAITING FOR YOUR NEXT CALL, MY CREATOR," Zen-Long announced.
With one last deafening roar, Zen-Long's enormous body shone intensely before vanishing into thin air.
The black clouds dissipated immediately, and the deep blood-red color of the sky disappeared, returning Earth to its usual blue hue.
The seven Black Star Dragon Balls, now black with silver stars, flew toward space, scattering throughout the universe.
Before they flew too far away, Zaiko extended a hand toward them and called them, returning to him in just a few moments.
-----------------
Have I gone mad in this chapter? Probably.
I've been thinking a lot about whether to recreate all the transformations from Dragon Ball AF, except for Super Saiyan 5, which I already did, but I've finally decided to go for it.
And out of curiosity... who is your favorite character from all of Dragon Ball? It doesn't matter if they're not canon.