"...Lord Frieza… thank you… for… so graciously… bringing us back… to life…" A short man bit out in front of me, on his knees as his head remained bowed, and his eyes were glued to the floor of my throneroom on Planet Frieza. His words were strained as they came out, and the venom in them was easy to hear, as he definitely wasn't enjoying the position he was in.
"You were all very fine soldiers. I believe it was a bit of an overreaction to eradicate your entire race," I responded casually, staring down at Dog-Vegeta. And, to be honest, destroying Planet Vegeta was definitely an overreaction on Frieza's part.
"I hope your people will continue to serve me faithfully," I continued, staring down at the kneeling former monarch, "The universe has… changed a bit, since you've last been alive. Your job will be a bit different than before."
"Whatever it is, we will do it, Lord Frieza," King Vegeta intoned, and I looked dryly as his hand clenched into a fist at his side, "Whoever you want us to kill… we will do it."
"Father…" To my side, Vegeta gritted out the word, looking at his kneeling father with a mixed expression. Overall, there were a lot of people on Planet Frieza who were pissed right now, and I might've been the sole person happy with the current predicament.
That predicament being the Saiyans falling under my shadow again, and serving my empire. Since the beatdown of the Saiyans earlier today, there had been a flurry of movements as the Saiyans all slowly followed their King's lead, even if they weren't happy about it.
In the case of King Vegeta, and many of the other Saiyans on Planet Frieza right now, being pissed was apparently very good for training. Whereas King Vegeta's power level was probably around ten thousand, and at most close to twenty thousand, when he died, it was much higher now - sitting at roughly two hundred thousand. Suddenly, I could understand his blind attempt to get revenge on me, and I almost felt bad for the man.
He'd been suffering in hell for decades, training tirelessly to get revenge on me, even as he would never be able to escape the fiery pit - which wasn't actually that fiery, as instead it was really just… dry - to fight me. Now, he gets revived, teleported to Planet Frieza, and is given his chance at taking me down.
After decades of training and multiplying his power by more than 10x, I was sure he was confident in his abilities. Then, when the subject of his fury is right in front of him, he… gets his ass kicked. He got his ass kicked, and not only that, but in embarrassing fashion, and in front of his own son, along with the rest of his 'subjects.' That would definitely sting his pride for an entire lifetime. But, to be honest, I didn't care much.
"Then, for your first job…" I trailed off, smirking as Dog-Vegeta glanced up at me, his eyes meeting mine. His expression was steeled, and his eyes stony - no matter what I ordered him to do, he would do it. And, as his eyes bored into mine, I could tell that he thought he had some unpleasant work ahead of him - probably along the lines of massacring entire planets.
Unfortunately for him, I had something much, much worse in store.
"Do this paperwork," I vanished, disappearing for a split second before I appeared again, this time with a stack of papers in my hand. I promptly dropped them on the floor in front of Dog-Vegeta, and the man blinked at the stack.
"W-What?" He stuttered out, looking in disbelief at the pile of papers, which was easily multiple feet tall, and then back up to me.
"The paperwork," I repeated bluntly, as if I was just giving him a normal order - which, compared to telling him to take over an entire planet, this order was pretty damn normal! - as I looked at him dryly, "It's not easy incorporating an entire race back into my empire, y'know? Even if your numbers are only in the high thousands, that's still a lot of work to do."
"Wha… what?" Dog-Vegeta just repeated, looking at me like I was speaking a different language. In response, I just sighed.
"Health insurance, benefits, vacation days, census data, taxes-" I waved my hand in the air lazily, "We need to keep track of all these things, but I'm sure as hell not doing it. Each of these papers is an identification form - ensure that every Saiyan fills one out, so we have their proper data."
I felt like I had explained his task pretty simply, but considering how Dog-Vegeta was still staring at me in disbelief, maybe I was overestimating myself.
"H-Health… insurance?" Dog-Vegeta finally stuttered, staring at me with wide eyes, "Are you fucking with me?"
"'Are you fucking with me, Lord Frieza?'" I corrected him, causing the man's back to straighten as my power rose up a bit, "But, no, I'm not 'fucking with you.' I told you that things had changed a bit while you were dead. Did you think I was lying?"
To say things had changed 'a bit' was a harsh underestimation, so I couldn't fault the former Saiyan King for being shocked right now. Previous Frieza just treated the Saiyans as lower, inferior beings that would do his dirty work. Dog-Vegeta probably didn't even know what health insurance was, but he was about to learn. I'd improved my empire a lot since taking over, and the living conditions of my people weren't something I overlooked. Honestly, I might not have put this much effort into improving the lives of the countless aliens under my rule, but it was just… so easy. So damn easy that I would've felt guilty if I wasn't putting at least a bit of effort into it!
Having a system in place made pretty much everything ruling-related easy, as the intelligent aliens that I let manage groups of planets would do most of the work for me. All I had to do was give out orders, and even a lot of those orders came from ideas Bulma had, as having a supergenius by your side constantly was definitely helpful. I wouldn't say that my empire was a utopia or anything, as its constant growth came through forceful conquests, but compared to most planets? Honestly, compared to even Earth? It was pretty damn good. Unless you were the unlucky few top-ranking lifeforms on each planet, who were being trained and incorporated into my army, there were only benefits that came from being under my rule. Most beings on conquered planets lived pretty normal lives, just with a bunch of flags with my face on them being spread around their planet.
"A-Ah… of course not, Lord Frieza, I just…" Dog-Vegeta stuttered back, staring doubtfully at the stack of papers, "P-Paperwork? I… ah… I'm not sure if I can…"
"I'll send someone to assist you," I waved my hand at him a bit boredly, referring to one of the intelligent governing aliens within my empire, then rising from my throne as both he and Vegeta stiffened, but I just walked past the kneeling man, "Have it ready within five days. I have more important matters to handle now."
I'd spent enough time recently dealing with the ramifications of Goku's wish, and now, it was time to get back to training. I had two new training 'partners' in Cooler and King Cold to assist me, so I was hoping to make new strides of progress, and to hopefully become much stronger than before. Right now, I was stronger than damn-near anyone in Universe 7, but 'damn-near' wasn't enough.
I needed to be stronger than Beerus. I could make all the complicated plans I wanted - building an empire of subordinates, empowering Goku and Vegeta, creating new technology, or connecting the Dragon Balls to different lifeforces to protect them, but in the end, there was only one guaranteed way to protect my own life.
Power. As long as I had more power than anyone else, any failure within my empire would be fixable and would pose no threat to me. I had thought I would have decades to train while Beerus slept, but with the recent events in Otherworld, I wasn't so sure anymore. The Butterfly Effect was a real, dangerous threat to my existence, and I needed to be prepared.
But I wasn't the only one who needed to be prepared. While focusing on my own growth was the most secure method, I still needed to ensure those under my command became stronger as well.
"But, after you're finished with that, focus on training," I called back to the two Saiyan royal family members behind me, "Don't forget about your defeat at Kakarot's hands, Vegeta. If you can defeat him next time we visit Earth, I'll allow you to use the Dragon Balls for whatever you desire."
Obviously, Vegeta was never going to beat Goku. One was already 2 stages of Super Saiyan in the lead, which was a gap I doubted Vegeta could close, but this would be some good motivation for the prince.
"Y-Yes, Lord Frieza," Vegeta quickly gritted out as his father looked at him curiously, but I ignored the two. I simply walked forward, leaving the throne room, as I got ready to throw myself back into training.
It was time to grind.
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"I've been meaning to ask you something… father," I said the last word gingerly, still feeling weird as I said it. As I spoke, I tilted my head, and a punch brushed past my face, hitting nothing but air.
"G-Gah!" Cooler grunted, being flung backward as I casually batted him aside with my hand. A moment later, my 'father' opened his hand, and a flurry of Ki blasts launched towards me.
"Is 'King' part of your name? Or is it just a title?" I finished my question as my hand blurred, sending the Ki blasts launching away from me in various directions. They continued outward and downward, forming craters on the already cratered surface below us.
Right now, I was doing some training with Cooler and King Cold on one of the various higher-gravity planets within Universe 7. I had long since stopped getting huge gains from gravity-increased training, but it was the best I could get at the moment. This particular planet had a gravity level 200x that of Earth's, and it was my regular training ground, even if the gains weren't massive.
While I had spent the past months training my ass off, I felt like I was waiting more than anything else - specifically, waiting for the Dragon Ball's cooldown to be over. I had yet to find a good Namekian to replace Grand Elder Guru and upgrade the Namekian Dragon Balls, so I was waiting for the Earth Dragon Balls to go off cooldown, which would still take another two months. When they were finally ready, I could make a wish I'd been looking forward to for a while now: A hyperbolic time chamber.
Using the one on Earth was still pretty risky, as I wouldn't put it past Kami or one of the Z-Fighters, who were probably still mad about the whole 'killing them in cold blood' thing, to destroy the entrance and trap me inside the chamber. I also didn't know if Buu broke out using a specific technique, or if he really did just scream loud enough to break through dimensions, but I didn't want to find out either way. I could leave a Zarbon there to guard it, but as an intergalactic tyrant, I needed to be careful - I could trust Zarbon with most things, but that was one thing I couldn't. No matter how loyal he seemed, I didn't know what was going on inside his head, and there was always a chance I would be betrayed, and then possibly fucked as I lived in a white void for the rest of my immortal life.
"What?" King Cold looked at me with a slightly strange gaze, as if the question I had just asked was overly stupid, "It's my name, of course! You know that!"
"Ah… right," I said blandly as he charged at me, his fist bursting past my face but not making contact as I leaned to the side, "Then, is it your first name? Like, first name 'King,' last name 'Cold?'"
Hey, you try training with two far-weaker training partners for hours on end and see if you get distracted! I was asking the important questions here!
"Last name? What the- hell- is- a- last- name?!" King Cold answered, the second half of his question coming out in spurts as he missed another punch, then his leg slammed over my head as I ducked, and then I smacked away another flurry of point-blank Ki blasts that went hurtling down to the surface below us.
"Then, just two words for one name? Fair enough. I'll let you keep it," I hummed, casually flicking my wrist as Cooler came at me from behind, and a Ki blast abruptly formed on my palm and then slammed straight into his face. Neither myself nor Cooler had a last name, so it made sense that King Cold was just… his name. No first or last - just his name.
But, when you were the intergalactic ruler of pretty much an entire universe, I guess you could call yourself whatever you wanted. At some point, before myself and Cooler, he likely dominated Universe 7 alone, and there were far worse names you could choose for yourself than 'King Cold.' And, whereas the 'King' in King Vegeta was to portray himself as the ruler of the Saiyans, the 'King' in King Cold was just part of his name. So, I wouldn't have much of a problem with him keeping it, even if I certainly wouldn't be using his full name. I could always fall back to 'father,' even if it felt a bit weird, or just 'Cold.' At the very least, he didn't share a name with his son, so there wouldn't be any confusion.
"Grah!" My attention was drawn away from his name as King Cold's fists blurred, a barrage of punches boring down on me, but I just effortlessly leaned back and forth - weaving through the slow punches easily, "How- the- hell- did- you- become- so- powerful?!"
As he grunted out each word, I just smirked in response. My fist shot forward abruptly, bursting through the air faster than his eyes could even track, and slammed into his gut.
"By not being a lazy prick."
I might've been a bit of a prick, but I certainly wasn't a lazy one! And, compared to these two? I might as well have been a saint!
"G-Gah!" King Cold spat out, his eyes wide as he hunched over and clutched at his stomach.
"You share the same genetics as me, so you shouldn't be surprised," I told him dryly, casually raising my hand as I caught Cooler's punch coming at my face from the side, "You've both become a lot stronger over the past two months, haven't you?"
Their growth rate wasn't nearly as insane as my body's was, but it was definitely far higher than any other race could claim. Cooler and King Cold had both been in the low billions in terms of power level when they were revived, but now, after only a measly two months of intense training under my wing, their power levels had more than 50x'd. Both of them had surpassed one hundred billion, and even two hundred billion, as they were halfway to the trillions already.
Luckily, despite their insane growth, they still weren't anywhere close to myself in terms of power - as was evidenced by the ass-whooping I was giving them both right now. In my Golden Freiza form, I tended to count in the 'quintillions' at the moment, as opposed to their billions, and this training wasn't only benefiting them. Since they were so much weaker than I was, I didn't get the insane 50x increase in power like they did, but my power level had still been multiplied multiple times over since our training sessions started.
"Hah… I have, but I still can't even land a blow on you!" Cooler hissed at my words, just glaring at me lightly. In response, I smirked wider, and it only pissed him off more, "Bah! You're an annoying bastard of a little brother, you know?"
"You don't have to be so upset just because your little brother surpassed you," I chuckled, only serving to work up Cooler more as his glare got more intense.
But, while he was glaring at me, his eyes were filled more so with annoyance than genuine venom. Honestly, I'd been surprised by how well Cooler and King Cold had taken to me recently. Considering I was responsible for both of their deaths, I figured there would be a lot more attempts on my life, and that they would be a lot more hostile towards me.
Which, at the start, there definitely had been. Upon leaving Otherworld with them and returning to my ship, they had come to 'challenge' me - aka, try to jump me - a couple of times, and they had been blatantly showcasing their terrible acting skills as they didn't really try to convince Ginyu in the slightest to get back at me. But, after a couple of beatdowns?
They had become… friendly? They spoke to me normally - not with reverence in their voices, or fear, or even anger. I had killed both of them, but through what I assumed was the realization that they would never be able to defeat me, and the 'family bonds' that we shared from an entire lifetime I missed out on, they had gotten over it. We weren't like a genuine family or anything, but it was actually nice to have people who would treat me normally. Who would jest with me, insult me, and speak their minds without an ounce of fear.
It was definitely a break from the norm, as there were only a few people in my life who treated me like a normal person. Bulma and Android 18 were the main ones, and then ironically Goku, as well as Vegeta - when he hadn't just suffered a beating at my hands, anyway - and Nappa, but that last one was because he was an idiot who didn't know how to speak respectfully to anyone. Even Zarbon, Dodoria, and the other higher-ups in my empire didn't treat me that way, which was largely a result of them remembering how past-Frieza had been. The constant fear, respect, or reverence was always within their words, no matter how long I knew them. Overall, I could count the number of people who didn't fear me on my hands.
I felt like Cooler and King Cold certainly should've feared me - after all, I was currently beating their asses constantly in training, and I had killed both of them. But, they didn't. It was only a theory, but I think it had to do with our shared pasts - or, this body's shared past with them.
Even if I continued to beat them into the ground every day, in the end, King Cold still saw me as a son, and Cooler still saw me as a brother. Our entire race, and family, was just us three - and they knew that as well as I did. No matter what evil I had done to them, I was a member of their family, and there wasn't anyone else in this universe who could say the same.
"Annoying brat!" I grinned lightly as Cooler threw a wild punch at me, and I didn't dodge. Instead, the punch slammed into the side of my cheek, and Cooler's eyes went wide as he landed a blow - even if my cheek didn't budge in the slightest, "W-What?"
"That's the only free hit I'll give you," I told him bluntly, raising my hand as I clamped it around his wrist, "But now you can't complain that you've never landed a blow. Don't worry - I'll train you well, brother, and the next time you land a blow, it'll be genuine."
In a strange situation that I didn't fully understand, these two mass murderers next to me had become my family. Even if they were potential threats to my empire, and two threats that I had disposed of in the past, that didn't change that simple fact. I'd never be able to see my family in my previous world again - now, all I had was these two.
I flicked my wrist, and Cooler was sent hurtling towards the surface planet under us, as the grin never faded from my face.
My family. Somehow, I had become a bit fond of Cooler and King Cold.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Finally! You said I could come back whenever I wanted, but it's almost been four months!" Bulma huffed next to me, breathing in deeply as she took in the familiar sight of a grassy plain.
"You could've. You just needed to ask me, and I'd use Instant Transmission to bring you here," I told Bulma dryly as she flopped forward, starting to do grass-angels on the surface of Earth, "You never asked."
"Because I barely ever saw you!" Bulma glanced up at me, pouting lightly, "You've been training all the time! You're even worse than Goku!"
"Sorry, sorry," I just grinned down lightly at Bulma, holding out a hand to pull her to her feet. Though I knew she was being a bit overly dramatic.
I had definitely thrown myself into training over the past four months, and the large increase in my power had shown the fruits of my efforts, but that wasn't the entire reason we hadn't made any other trips to Earth. I had left a Zarbon behind so we could easily Instant Transmission over here, but Bulma had been caught up in helping Gero finally finish up his construction of Android 21, who was nearly completed. I had still seen her more than a few times, usually at night, over the past months - though not quite as often, as I wasn't sleeping anymore due to Ginyu's nearby presence.
Luckily, the Dragon Balls were just about to be refreshed, which meant I could hopefully switch him into a different body. I hadn't gotten any word from Shin over the past months, which made me a bit nervous, but I assumed he just couldn't find the Z-Sword or another solution to the Ginyu problem.
"She's not wrong," Android 18 called out behind me a bit blandly, "We were supposed to be having fun traveling around the universe, but we've been stationed at that one 'training planet' for months."
She was a part of the crew visiting Earth, as she pretty much always stayed with me, along with the usual occupants on my ship. However, beyond them, I had also brought Bardock with me for a certain reason - but that was for later.
"Hmmph. You can at least make it up to me tonight," Bulma huffed lightly, but grabbed my hand with a slight blush as I pulled her to her feet. That blush increased heavily as I reached down, wrapping my arm around her waist casually with a grin. I reached over to my other side, wrapping my other arm around the waist of a blushing 18 as well.
"Trust me, I will. But, first, we have some other business," I hummed, my eyes closing as I quickly tracked down an energy signature. My main goal for this trip to Earth was to use the Dragon Balls again, but first, I needed to meet a certain group of people - ones whom I had killed in the past, but who were now living again.
It was time to check up on the Z-Fighter's progress and ensure Goku was doing his duties as a Super Saiyan to train them. Within my empire, there would be no slackers - being a human didn't exempt you from that rule.
It was time to remind the Z-Fighters who ruled the universe once again.
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