It was only at that moment, while assimilating Zaiko's response, that Paragus's gaze slowly descended.
There, wrapped around his waist, he caught a glimpse of a furry appendage he knew very well, since he had one himself.
Paragus's eyes opened wide.
The man in front of him, the untouchable monster who had wiped the floor with Broly without breaking a single sweat... had been a Saiyan all along!
Noticing the old man's fixed and intense gaze glued directly to his waist, Zaiko raised an eyebrow.
«What a perverted old man, he keeps staring at my tail», he thought to himself, joking internally to lighten the tension.
"Who... who the hell are you really?" Paragus stammered, his voice trembling with disbelief and astonishment. "There is no... it's impossible for a Saiyan as powerful as you to exist, except for Broly."
At that moment, Zaiko decided it was time to put on a bit of a show.
He adjusted Broly, who was still peacefully asleep hugging his chest, holding her with a single arm without any effort.
Then, he took a step forward and rested his right leg on a slightly higher rock, positioning himself in such a way that he looked down at Paragus from above.
A shamelessly arrogant smile formed on his face. At the same time, his tail slowly unwrapped from his waist, freeing itself and beginning to swish from side to side in the air with ease, betraying just how much he was enjoying the situation.
Finally, he pointed to his chest with the thumb of his free hand.
"I, Zaiko, am the heir of Son Goku, the most powerful warrior in the universe!" he proclaimed loudly. "And the one and only God-Saiyan!"
Upon hearing his introduction, Paragus was left petrified.
He looked at him from the ground with his mouth slightly open, his brain working in overdrive to process his words.
Among the Saiyans, there was an ancient legend deeply rooted in their culture that said every thousand years an individual was born with a monstrous power level, incomprehensibly superior to the rest of their race.
This individual was known as the Legendary Super Saiyan.
Up until that very instant, Paragus had been absolutely convinced that this was his daughter.
But... after seeing the crushing display of power from this guy, was it possible that in reality, all this time, the true Legendary Super Saiyan was the man standing in front of him?
Perhaps his daughter, despite her immense and monstrous power, was simply a mutant, an anomaly and nothing more?
Paragus's hands began to tremble violently at the thought of this.
If that were true, he had based his entire life, his pride, and his plan for revenge on a completely flawed premise...
But then, as panic invaded him, he finished completely processing the words Zaiko had just uttered.
He never claimed to be the Legendary Super Saiyan, he had claimed to be the only God-Saiyan.
Zaiko noticed the evident confusion and the whirlwind of emotions swirling on Paragus's face, but decided not to bother explaining the abysmal distinction between a mortal with overwhelming power and a deity.
Besides, he couldn't speak even if he wanted to, because he was too busy containing himself.
Inside, Zaiko was literally screaming with excitement and jumping for joy like a little boy.
He was completely euphoric over the simple fact of having been able to introduce himself in the exact same epic way the original Zaiko had done in Dragon Ball AF when he landed on Earth for the first time.
Sure, he had added that last part as his personal touch, but the feeling of having blurted out that phrase out loud had been, without a doubt, absolutely glorious.
"How is it possible...?" Paragus muttered, shaking his head, unable to reconcile the crushing reality with his deep-rooted beliefs. "If you are a Saiyan with such power... Why aren't you the Supreme King of all Saiyans? Or even the Emperor of the entire universe?!"
Paragus simply couldn't understand it at all.
He had lived his entire life under an unbreakable rule, the same one that governed his entire race since its inception, where the strongest dictates the fate of the weakest.
He blindly believed in the absolute supremacy of power.
For him, someone with Zaiko's immeasurable strength should be sitting on a throne, ruling.
Maybe... if he had been the Supreme King of the Saiyans, his daughter and he would have never ended up in this situation.
Zaiko looked at him in silence for a few moments, processing the question, before letting out a genuinely amused snort.
"King of what, exactly?" Zaiko replied with his own question, raising an eyebrow with irony.
Paragus frowned, looking at him with total confusion.
Wasn't the answer obvious? Of their race! Of their planet!
Seeing the incomprehension on the old man's face, Zaiko decided to stop mocking him.
Letting out a sigh, his expression turned serious and he decided to be honest with the man.
"Planet Vegeta no longer exists. It was destroyed by Frieza a few years ago," Zaiko declared with a calm voice, letting the weight of his words fall upon Paragus. "The Saiyans left alive in the entire universe can literally be counted on the palm of one hand. And, in case you were wondering, those few survivors who were scattered across the universe were lied to, made to believe that a giant meteorite had impacted and destroyed their home. But as I already said, it was all Frieza's doing."
Paragus's face disfigured, transforming into a mask of complete and absolute shock.
His eyes opened disproportionately, on the verge of panic, and his jaw trembled without making a single sound.
For almost thirty years, his only motivation to survive in this hell had been revenge.
He had endured hunger, isolation, and despair with the sole promise of returning to Planet Vegeta and seeing King Vegeta beg for mercy at the feet of his daughter Broly.
And the guy was already dead! He had been dead for years! He had planned to take revenge on a damn ghost!
All his frustration, the accumulated rage for the unjustified exile they suffered, and the years of misery swirled in his chest in a suffocating storm.
But, almost immediately, that immense anger found a new catalyst.
All his hatred was directed toward a single and clear target, Frieza.
"That damn... Frieza...!" Paragus growled, gritting his teeth with so much force that they threatened to break.
Suddenly, the old man looked up at Zaiko, and a spark of desperate and maniacal ambition ignited in his eyes.
"Join us!" Paragus yelled at him, his voice tearing from urgency and need. "Join Broly and me! With your power and my daughter's strength, together you can destroy Frieza's Army! You could take his place, you could become the New Emperor of the Universe, with my daughter by your side! We can restore our race, conquer a new and glorious planet to rule! I beg you, you have to...!"
The desperation in Paragus's voice was palpable, his words tumbling over each other in his eagerness to convince Zaiko to lead what would be the greatest and bloodiest revenge in the history of the universe.
Zaiko, on the other hand, simply looked at him with boredom.
Had he just told him to become the Emperor of the Universe, with Broly by his side?
That was all he heard.
It was funny to think about the fact that Paragus was handing his daughter over to him this way.
But as the God of Destruction, Beerus, never said before:
"Before conception, comes seduction."
He couldn't just take Broly like this; as a man, there were certain steps he had to follow.
Shrugging his shoulders with total disinterest, Zaiko let out a small sigh, responding to the old man.
"I'm not interested in ruling over the entire universe," he replied simply. "Honestly, it sounds like too much work."
Paragus's face contorted into a grimace of annoyance and incomprehension.
To him, it was practically as if Zaiko were spitting on everything it meant to be a proud Saiyan warrior.
What Saiyan, in his right mind, would reject such an offer?
Wasn't being the strongest, crushing your enemies, and ruling the entire universe the ultimate dream of any Saiyan?
But before Paragus could reply, Zaiko decided to change the subject bluntly.
"Anyway, right now you only have two options, old man. Listen well."
Zaiko held up a finger.
"The first is the one I already proposed. You hand Broly over to me and the device you use to control that collar. In return, I will send you to another planet, one with intelligent life. Once there, you will figure out how to get a ship and you can go take revenge on whoever you want or go wherever you please."
Live your life, fuck a lot, have more kids, and do whatever you want. Basically, that was all he meant to tell him to do.
Then, he held up a second finger.
"The second option," Zaiko continued, an alternative he had just decided upon after talking to him and realizing how genuinely fucked up mentally he was. "Is simply to come with us. You can come with us, but with one single and strict condition, that you try to stop being a shitty father."
Of course, in both options, Zaiko kept Broly, that wasn't up for debate.
Deep down, Zaiko had decided to add this second option thinking purely of Broly, whom he held in his arms still asleep.
He was sure it would be extremely sad and devastating for Broly to wake up and find out that her father had decided to abandon her in exchange for a ticket off this planet, and Zaiko didn't want to be the one to have to break that news to her.
There was also the undeniable fact that redemption wasn't impossible for their race.
It had happened before that horrible and twisted Saiyans like Paragus changed over time.
Sure, he didn't expect the man to put aside his awful temper overnight, all old men have bad tempers, after all.
But he inevitably thought of Vegeta.
The Prince of Saiyans had been a ruthless monster, considered at one time to be one of the most dangerous and brutal beings in the universe.
He had spent almost thirty years working under the orders of Frieza himself, conquering planets and annihilating their entire populations simply to sell them to the highest bidder.
And yet, if someone as bloodthirsty as Vegeta had managed to change thanks to Bulma and the birth of his children, Trunks and Bra, then there was a small chance that Paragus could also do it for Broly.
Although, who knows... maybe he was making a mistake by giving him the benefit of the doubt.
Not everyone can change, after all.
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For the next chapter...
Say: Goodbye, Planet Vampa