Finding a Namekian settlement?
The truth is that it turned out to be a ridiculously easy task.
He had barely moved far enough away when he expanded his senses.
It didn't take him more than a couple of seconds to detect six large congregations of energy signatures scattered across the planet's surface.
Due to the peaceful and stable nature of the ki he was sensing, he immediately identified them as Namekians.
He quickly guessed that these six large concentrations of energy were the six main villages where the Namekians lived.
Even though their original world had been turned to dust by Frieza, the Namekians had managed to overcome the tragedy and had established new villages on New Namek, replicating almost exactly their old and peaceful lifestyle.
And if the old customs hadn't changed, the location of the Dragon Balls shouldn't have either.
Zaiko deduced that the current Grand Elder, Moori, still maintained the old tradition of keeping the Dragon Balls by distributing them among the elders, granting one per village to guarantee their protection and prevent them from falling together into the wrong hands.
Even so... there were seven Dragon Balls and only six villages.
Without the presence of the Grand Elder, Guru, one of the villages had to bear the enormous responsibility of guarding two Dragon Balls at once... or, what was much more likely, Moori was in charge of protecting the seventh sphere personally in his own residence, just as his predecessor used to do.
Whatever the case, he just had to pay them a little visit.
Zaiko wasted no more time and slowly descended into the center of the village.
Right before touching the ground, he could observe how the Namekians coexisted peacefully, cultivating ajissa plants to beautify their planet and care for the environment.
Honestly, Zaiko didn't understand why the Namekians hadn't used the Dragon Balls to make Namek recover from the terrible natural catastrophe that produced that devastating climate change, which killed most of their population and wiped out the local flora.
Instead, they tried to fix it personally, by hand, planting sapling by sapling.
Wasn't this a bit ridiculous?
Furthermore, this wasn't even the original Planet Namek...
Why the hell didn't the Namekians take the opportunity to restore their planet to its prime when they had the chance, with Shenron?
They could have restored Namek completely instead of moving to a copy of their already ruined planet!
Zaiko couldn't understand all these strange decisions, but he could do nothing more than shrug.
It wasn't his problem, after all.
The moment his feet landed in the village, Zaiko stood there, with his arms crossed, waiting calmly for someone to approach him to speak.
He didn't want to scare them, so he stayed still.
However... the Namekians started screaming in terror, getting scared anyway.
Could it be... were they traumatized by the last visit they received?
While the Namekians he assumed belonged to the Dragon Clan fled in terror and hid inside their houses, there were a few who stayed behind to confront him.
Obviously, these were Namekians belonging to the Warrior Clan, combat specialists and in charge of their race's protection.
From what Zaiko remembered, they were a very small minority, but possessed considerable strength.
Looking closely at them, Zaiko noticed there were only three of them.
The three warriors moved with agility and positioned themselves around him, surrounding him for the moment.
They clearly wanted to ensure that, in case he was a dangerous enemy, they could face him all together and eliminate the threat efficiently.
One of them, who by his energy level was apparently the strongest of the trio, took a step forward.
Keeping his guard up and acting with caution, he asked him:
"Who are you and what is it you want?! I ask you to leave our home right now!"
Zaiko couldn't help but be surprised to discover they weren't attacking him immediately.
Although, thinking about it, considering that Namekians are by nature an incredibly peaceful and hospitable race, with a culture based on community and harmony, it made sense that they only resorted to violence as a last resort.
Even so, Zaiko felt a bit disappointed.
Honestly, he had expected them to attack him as soon as he stepped on the ground, or at least yell the typical phrase "Leave if you don't want to die a painful death!" or "You are courting death by entering our domain!" or even "Piece of trash, kneel and beg for my forgiveness! It seems you have eyes but cannot see Mount Tai!"
«Oops, I think I went a bit too far», Zaiko thought with a drop of cold sweat. «It seems I still hold a lot of grudges against those disgusting Chinese cultivation fanfictions I used to read when I had nothing else to do...»
"If you kneel now, maybe I'll leave your corpse intact!"
Sorry, that was the last one, I promise!
To shake off that nonsense from his head, Zaiko shook his head and let out a small amused chuckle, which only served to confuse the surrounding Namekians, who frowned even deeper, preparing for an attack.
Coughing somewhat embarrassedly upon realizing he hadn't answered their question in a long time and that they were beginning to misunderstand him, he decided it was time to introduce himself.
"I am Zaiko," he began, adjusting his posture to look as harmless as possible. "I am the son of Son Goku... and the older brother of Son Gohan."
Technically he was the younger brother, but he would undoubtedly never say he was.
Zaiko expected them to instantly recognize one of the two names, since, after all, it is solely and exclusively thanks to the two of them that the Namekians are still... well, alive.
Upon hearing him, the three Namekians looked at each other in complete confusion before shaking their heads.
The same Warrior Clan Namekian who had stepped forward looked at him again with distrust.
"We don't know any Son Goku, nor any Son Gohan," he stated firmly.
Zaiko's smile froze.
His face morphed into a clear grimace of "Huh?" as he processed that stupid response.
But before he could reply, a much older Namekian poked his head out the front door of one of the nearby houses.
"Did I hear right?" asked the old man's trembling but surprised voice. "Did you say you're little Son Gohan's older brother?"
Hearing that, Zaiko simply let out a long sigh of relief, deflating.
For a microsecond, he had truly thought something very wrong was happening with this timeline or that he hadn't been sent to Dragon Ball Super as he had been led to believe.
Regaining his composure, he looked at the three young Warrior Clan Namekians with a bit of resentment.
«How the hell do they not know their saviors?!», he yelled at them mentally. «Hello? Don't they know that almost their entire damn race would cease to exist if it weren't for those two? How is it possible that they don't even know the names of those who prevented Frieza from extinguishing them?»
Trying to ignore their ignorance, as stupid as that sounds, Zaiko looked at the elderly Namekian poking his head out and nodded in his direction as a greeting.
"That's right. And I need to meet with the current Grand Elder, Moori, to borrow the Dragon Balls," Zaiko declared, cutting straight to the chase.
Upon hearing the mention of the Dragon Balls coming from a stranger's mouth, the three Warrior Clan Namekians frowned at the same time, clenching their fists tightly and surrounding him even more closely.
The same warrior who was in front of him exclaimed again, this time with much more hostility:
"How do you know about the existence of the Dragon Balls?!"
It was then that the elderly Namekian came completely out of his house and, leaning heavily on a wooden cane, walked toward them.
"Enough!" the old man ordered them with a firm voice. "Lower your guard. He is not our enemy."
The elderly Namekian stood in front of Zaiko and bowed his head slightly in apology.
"Please, forgive them. They are still young and idiotic."
Zaiko looked at them again and suddenly understood.
He remembered that Warrior Clan Namekians have the ability to grow and reach full maturity much faster than Dragon Clan Namekians, who grow at a rate more similar to humans.
He realized those three had probably been born recently, maybe a few years ago, when their race was already fully settled on New Namek.
That explained why they had no idea about the exact details of the events with Frieza and why they didn't know Goku or Gohan.
It had been five years since Frieza's Army attacked them, after all...
"My name is Oboe," the old man introduced himself, tapping his cane gently on the ground. "I am the elder leader of this humble village and the Guardian of one of the Seven Dragon Balls."
Oboe stared at him, and an expression of genuine and urgent concern reflected on his wrinkled face.
"Tell me, young Zaiko... Are Earth and the brave protectors who saved Namek in the past in danger? Is that why you come seeking the spheres?"
Zaiko opened his mouth slightly, thinking of inventing a quick lie about a great threat to speed up the process, but ultimately closed it.
Hearing the deep concern and sincere urgency in Oboe's voice, he simply didn't want to lie to him.
Besides, there was no real need to do so.
"Earth is currently going through a... difficult time," Zaiko answered him, vaguely remembering the threat of the Androids. "But it's nothing too complicated that they can't solve on their own. Actually, I am here to use the Dragon Balls for strictly personal use."
Upon hearing his confession, Oboe let out a huge sigh of relief. He brought a hand to his chest, holding his cane firmly with the other.
"Oh, thanks to Zalama, that is an immense relief," Oboe said, catching his breath, before looking at him with curiosity. "Then, for what purpose do you wish to use the sacred power of the spheres, young Zaiko?"
Zaiko raised an eyebrow upon hearing the name Zalama, considered the Dragon God and creator of the Super Dragon Balls and the Divine Dragon Super Shenron, but didn't give it much importance.
Before Zaiko could reply, the murmurs of complaint from the three Namekian warriors behind Oboe began to rise.
They were clearly indignant, complaining in low voices about a complete stranger appearing out of nowhere demanding to use their race's sacred treasures for personal matters.
Oboe, hearing the disrespect, frowned.
He tapped his cane lightly against the ground and turned just a few millimeters toward them, shooting them a look so severe that it made the three young warriors shut up instantly and lower their heads.
«Wow... this old man is a little scary», Zaiko thought to himself.
Returning to the question, Zaiko cleared his throat.
"I assure you I don't plan to use the Dragon Balls to ask for selfish wishes, Elder Oboe."
And while he said that with an unbreakable poker face, behind his back, Zaiko crossed his fingers shamelessly.
He was sure no Namekian in the universe would know what that gesture meant, but just in case, he still hid it.
Of course, his wishes were going to be completely and absolutely selfish.
At least one of them certainly was... very much so.
Perhaps even too selfish and stupid, considering the level of the request.
And to make matters worse, he didn't even know for sure if that wish was possible within Porunga's rules.
He could only cross his fingers and try.
Oboe observed him in silence. He closed his eyes thoughtfully and nodded to himself after a few moments.
Finally, he turned completely toward the three Warrior Clan Namekians.
"Otala, Strombo, Valvat," the old man called out with authority, making all three tense up. "Otala, go immediately and inform Grand Elder Moori about our visitor and communicate his request. Strombo, Valvat, you two go collect the other Dragon Balls from the other villages and bring them here."
Otala, Strombo, and Valvat, who clearly still weren't very much in agreement with the idea of a stranger they didn't know at all using the Dragon Balls personally, hesitated for a few moments.
They exchanged worried glances, but finally, unable to disobey Oboe, they nodded in agreement and flew off quickly to fulfill their missions.
As he watched them fly away into the turquoise sky, Zaiko realized a very interesting detail... Oboe hadn't doubted for a single instant that Moori would accept his request.
The fact that the elder ordered the rest of the spheres to be collected even before obtaining the official approval of the Grand Elder demonstrated the immense debt of gratitude the Namekians felt toward Son Goku's family.
Zaiko smiled internally.
It was clear that introducing himself as Son Goku's son and Son Gohan's older brother had been an absolutely brilliant idea.
It had saved him hours of explanations and potential conflicts.
Now, he just had one minor inconvenience to solve... the fact that Goku and Gohan didn't even know him yet, nor did they know of his existence.
And thinking about it... Did he really want to be officially recognized as a member of their family?
The idea was strange.
It would be extremely weird to have Goku as a father and Son Gohan as a little brother, not to mention Goten, who would be born soon, after the Cell Saga.
But worst of all... having the hysterical Chi-Chi as a stepmother...
«Yeah, that's definitely not a good idea», Zaiko thought, feeling a chill run down his spine just imagining that woman yelling at him.
He had no idea how he would handle that dramatic and tangled family issue in the near future, but he decided not to embitter his present.
He simply shrugged and left it as a problem for future Zaiko to handle.
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