The only reason Zaiko had decided to visit New Namek was for the Dragon Balls.
No matter how powerful he was now, a man always had wishes he wanted to fulfill.
And having transmigrated into the Dragon Ball universe?
The number of wishes he had had increased by several digits.
Behind him, Paragus crouched on the ground, taking a handful of damp earth in his hands with a foolish smile on his face.
After rubbing the soft bluish grass, he dropped the dirt and looked up at the sky, directly toward one of New Namek's three suns, raising both arms upward.
Zaiko, turning around and seeing Paragus, almost spat at seeing the gesture he was making.
«At what point did Paragus turn into Solaire of Astora from Dark Souls?», he thought, holding back a laugh. «All he needs to do is yell 'Praise the sun' to be exactly like that fanatic!»
But Zaiko didn't have time to pay him much attention, since in his arms, Broly was finally waking up, squirming slightly against his chest.
A soft, confused growl escaped the woman's lips.
Slowly, her eyelids fluttered and her eyes opened, blinking several times to get used to the bright light.
Accustomed to Vampa, where there were barely a few hours of light, waking up to three suns was strange for her.
In a way, she even understood Paragus's reaction.
Disorientation was the first emotion to cross Broly's face.
She felt incredibly rested, completely healed, and... wrapped in a rather cozy warmth.
Broly looked up, meeting Zaiko's red eyes and his smile head-on.
"Good morning, sleeping beauty," Zaiko greeted her with a relaxed and teasing tone.
Broly blinked again, slowly processing the fact that her new friend was now holding her in his arms.
A faint and almost imperceptible reddish tint appeared on her cheeks, and at her lower back, her tail swished from side to side.
Knowing she was already awake, Zaiko set her down carefully.
Broly's bare feet touched the soft grass, a sensation she had never felt in her entire life on the arid Vampa.
"Where...?" she muttered, looking around with her eyes wide open.
The turquoise-green sky, the crystal-clear water flowing in the distance, the lush and fresh vegetation...
Everything was so overwhelmingly beautiful that not even Zaiko dared to think otherwise.
This time he had no complaints.
"Welcome to New Namek," Zaiko announced, extending an arm and wrapping it around Broly's neck. "Your new temporary home."
Although he had come for the Dragon Balls, he was still on an alien planet.
He didn't plan on leaving this planet for a few days, or at least until he got completely bored.
Hearing his daughter's voice, Paragus finally snapped out of his strange trance and turned around quickly, dusting the dirt off his knees.
"Broly!" he exclaimed, approaching her with a quick step.
Zaiko raised an eyebrow seeing his behavior.
Was Paragus actually going to take being a better father seriously?
Well, fuck me, it only took him 35 years...
Broly looked at him, immediately noticing something out of place.
"Father... your arm..." she pointed out, amazed to see that it was completely healed, when she clearly remembered seeing him writhing in pain with his bone shattered.
"He healed it," Paragus replied reluctantly, pointing at Zaiko with his head, still not daring to look him in the eyes for too long.
At that moment, while Broly stared fixedly at Zaiko, she felt a strange, involuntary movement at the base of her spine.
She looked down over her shoulder and let out a small gasp of surprise, opening her eyes wide.
Her hands caught her thick brown furry tail, holding it delicately, with surprise.
Zaiko, uncrossing his arms, rubbed the back of his neck and sighed.
He looked at the two Saiyans with an expression that mixed exasperation and amusement.
"Make yourselves comfortable, explore the place for a while and, I beg you, take a dip in that lake over there."
Paragus frowned deeply.
He knew that, after thirty-five years without clean water, they smelled bad, but he didn't consider it necessary for it to be rubbed in their faces.
However, before he could reply, Broly reacted.
Still holding her newly recovered tail with one hand, she raised her arm and, with complete naturalness, brought her nose close to her own armpit to sniff loudly.
After evaluating the situation, she crossed her arms, closed her eyes, and nodded to herself with conviction.
"I can still hold out a few more weeks, there's nothing to worry about."
Zaiko looked at her with narrowed eyes. «There's no way she just said that seriously...», he thought.
Beside her, Paragus brought a hand to his face and let out a long, tired sigh, shaking his head slowly.
On Vampa, hygiene didn't figure on their list of survival priorities, and considering that the few lakes available in that hell were, in fact, craters of boiling acid and sulfur, the idea of taking a proper bath was a concept the girl had completely forgotten.
Realizing that Broly was completely serious, Zaiko didn't hesitate.
He walked a couple of steps toward her and grabbed her by the arm.
Broly looked at him, confused, tilting her head slightly to the side like a puppy.
Before she could formulate a question, Zaiko pulled her arm with a swift motion and lifted her into the air effortlessly.
He simply tossed her through the air in the direction of the crystal-clear water a few meters away.
Broly sank into the water, and for a few moments, only a few bubbles rose to the surface, until only her head emerged.
She pouted and fixed her gaze on Zaiko, complaining silently about the sudden dip.
Paragus, staying on the shore with his arms crossed and a serious expression, turned his attention back to Zaiko.
"And you, what will you do now?" he asked him.
Paragus didn't want to let him out of his sight for even a second since Zaiko was his only escape route.
Even though Namek was undoubtedly a paradise compared to Vampa, they would still be trapped there if Zaiko decided to leave and leave them behind; they needed him.
"I have certain matters to attend to, I'll be back soon," Zaiko said, as his body began to slowly rise into the air. "After you both finish washing up, you'd better hunt something for dinner."
As he spoke, Zaiko pointed toward the horizon with his chin. In the distance, wandering peacefully among the hills, the silhouettes of some dinosaurs could be seen.
Not even he could escape a Saiyan's appetite. He had started to feel hungry a while ago.
And upon following the direction of his gaze, Paragus's expression changed drastically.
He swallowed audibly.
Thirty-five years of surviving on disgusting insects had made him crave a good piece of meat much more than he had ever imagined possible.
Broly, seeing her new friend moving away, shook the water from her face and hurried to protest.
"I want to go with you!" she exclaimed.
"No," Zaiko replied dryly, and without adding anything else, he shot off at top speed.
Reveal the existence of the Dragon Balls to Broly and risk Paragus finding out about them?
It wasn't that it was a problem he couldn't handle, but frankly, he preferred to keep the old man in the dark for the time being.
Besides, as he had already said, they both stank, and they needed to wash up properly before anything else.
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This chapter was incredibly difficult to write. I wrote it, deleted it, and rewrote it about four times in the last three days.
For some reason, I've never been completely satisfied with the result.
And I'm still not entirely satisfied, but it's the best I could do...