Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball.
Frost - Chapter 1
Year 680
I tilted my head to the right to avoid a punch and spun around, my tail's movement serving as enough distraction that my kick landed in my opponent's stomach. Cooler grunted as my blow hurled him to the ground, the floor of our training room cratering under his landing as pieces of tiles flew around from the impact. Cooler laid there, dazed, as he coughed to regain his breathing, drops of blood escaping his mouth.
We were both pretty banged up, with bruises blooming across our skin, my white one was decorated with purple spots while his purple skin was darker in places where my blows landed, and our forearms were littered with Ki burns where we defended from the other's Ki blasts. I was definitely the one in the worse condition between us, even if our initial power levels from birth indicated my superior strength, he was still older than me and had enough time to grow that his power was higher than mine at the moment.
As I waited for my brother to rejoin the fight, I considered my current situation. From a purely objective point of view, my new existence was actually pretty good. My body was sturdier than a human one's could ever be, I could survive the vacuum of space and with my high levels of Ki my decades-long lifespan could potentially stretch for centuries. And I could fly, how awesome was that?
On the other hand, it took me a bit of time to get used to my new life. I didn't know how I got here, if I had died in my sleep, how my family fared after I vanished... Not to talk about how strange it was to have a tail swishing behind me after every step I took. Cooler was, surprisingly, the one who helped me the most in acclimatising myself to my situation. He didn't like the fact our father clearly favourited me because of my power level, but I never let his attention get to my head and I never looked down on him, so our relationship, while strained from his end, actually ended up in a kind of rivalry where he would try to one up me to get Cold's praise. Our spars helped me familiarise myself with my body and actually fostered a, slightly cold, bond between us.
There was a burst of static from the corner of the room where our scouters laid on the ground, safe from our mock battle. A voice emerged from Cooler's earpiece and I focused on it, I knew we wouldn't be disturbed unless something of importance had happened. "Lord Cooler, Lord Frost, His Majesty has requested your presence on the bridge at your earliest convenience." With that, all activity from the scouters ceased.
Cooler made me pay for my brief inattention by flying rapidly in the air and grabbing my tail in a strong grip and, with a yelp of surprise, I was flung across the room until I felt my body impact the far wall face first. It didn't accomplish much in terms of damage, my Ki boosted my body such that flimsy materials wouldn't be enough to hurt me, but it was enough that I was still disoriented when I got up.
Only to see Cooler in front of me, his right arm cocked back and his hand clenched into a fist. He smirked down at me, being five years older he was taller than me by a foot at the very least, and said, "See you later, Frost."
His arm blurred forward and I knew no more.
oOo
When I regained my senses, I found myself floating in a green coloured liquid with a breathing apparatus attached to my mouth. It wasn't exactly needed, I could survive without breathing just fine, but it helped in bringing me back to full health quicker. As I waited for the technicians I could see scurrying outside to finish the treatment, I observed my body, noting that the bruises and cuts I was littered with had vanished with only a few hours in a Healing Pod. Ah, the wonders of medical technology... Yes, Chilled may have stolen this miraculous healing liquid from the Plant... and subsequently ordered the planet exterminated of all life after his encounter with Bardock left him on his death bed, but it was with this technology that over the course of roughly 900 years the Chilled Pirates transformed from a band of space pirates to the Planet Trade Organisation of today. After all, the ability to heal your soldiers of mortal wounds and send them back into battle just hours after is a great force multiplier. Nowadays, my family held a monopoly over the machine and its components, forcing the rest of the galaxy to pay us to use them.
As I felt the liquid began to go down, I reflexively began to float as I tore the breathing apparatus away from my face. I exited the pod, a quick burst of Ki enough to blow the liquid still clinging to my form to go flying, and with quick strides began to head where I could feel my father's power in the ship. Despite the wording of the announcement I had heard earlier, I knew it to be an order rather than a request. One does not leave King Cold waiting, after all.
Before I was knocked out during my training with Cooler, we were heading for a planet relatively new to the galactic stage, its inhabitants still hopelessly naive about the dangers of the universe. This was going to be the first time I would be watching the subjugation of a planet and my father ordered my presence. Some aliens would be killed in a show of force and, if they didn't submit, maybe my father would order the planet's cleansing for future sale. I didn't know, and that made me a bit nervous. I had never killed before in my life and I doubted I could get away with keeping my hands clean in the future. As I neared King Cold's presence, I consoled myself that at least I knew for certain that Otherworld existed. I wouldn't condemn people to an abyss of nonexistence should I be ordered to kill. It didn't really alleviate my worries, though.
oOo
One thing I learned in my six years aboard my father's ship was that King Cold wasn't really the King of the universe. Sure, he was the most powerful being in the entire universe, if you didn't take in consideration deities, but he exerted his power from the shadows, pulling strings and ignoring galactic law as he pleased. Officially, we all answered to the Galactic King and his armed forces, the Galactic Patrol. The Planet Trade Organisation was a corporation spanning the entirety of the known universe that sold empty planets to those in need of its resources.
In practice, we were criminals. We held numerous worlds under an iron grip and the PTO was their governing body, with a large number of races held in slavery serving as its workforce and the few warriors they could produce immediately conscripted in our army. What we sold were planets rich in resources that were cleansed of all life after their population resisted assimilation. Everyone knew what we did, everyone knew what we were, from the Galactic King to the lowliest of commoners in his domain. Yet they did nothing, they could do nothing. Not against the sheer difference in power between the King, their strongest fighter, the Galactic Patrol, a laughable force at the best of times, and King Cold, who could destroy planets with a flick of a finger.
As we made orbit above a green world, lush with forests and mountainous areas, I stood silently by my father's side, Cooler at the other as we waited for our flotilla to array themselves around the world. It was a class A planet, one of the most precious in the galactic sale we conducted. It was inhabitable, its resources were many and varied, it was only a matter of time to see whether we would sell it... or add it to the Planet Trade Organisation's territory. The population had only recently started to trade with the wider galaxy, so they were still relatively unknown. A perfect target, in my father's mind.
King Cold looked at my brother, "Cooler," he began, "It won't be long before you will start to gather your own territories and continuing the family business. This world is yours to do as you wish. Destroy it, sell it, conquer it... it will be the start of your own domain."
Cooler bowed his head, "Thank you, father." He aimed a smirk at me as he turned around, telling a nearby technician to prepare ground forces for the invasion.
I felt a large hand land on my head, "Watch and learn, Frost. This is your brother's turn, soon, it will be yours."
I had to admit... the idea of having my own territory to rule sounded like a pretty good deal.
oOo
One thing that always bugged me about the Dragon Ball universe was the apparent inability of other races to hide and sense power levels. It didn't really make sense. I, as a complete novice in the matter of Ki sensing, managed to understand what my sixth sense was telling me in a matter of months once I started to train my Ki. It took me a couple of years to refine the technique enough that I could always keep track of everyone around me. Maybe it was because I had never felt Ki in my previous life, but how come others were so... blind to the world around them?
I couldn't even imagine living without sensing the Ki around me, it became such a fundamental part of me that I didn't even notice doing it anymore. I could now understand why the Z-Fighters had so much trouble against the androids. Thanks to my sensing, I could predict Cooler's moves by gauging the fluctuations in his Ki, achieving a level of battle analysis only experienced fighters could have. If I couldn't do that to a machine, I would have to rely on my normal senses.
That question was readily answered in the coming years every time I watched a planet get conquered. In a galaxy where scouters existed and the knowledge of your opponent's power was only a click of a button away, it wasn't very useful to hide your power. Why waste time to battle when your enemy will concede defeat after seeing the gulf between you? The vast majority of the time, it was enough for Cooler to show himself to the native population of a planet and let them scan his power level to subjugate them without spilling blood. Of course, examples had to be made and a few hundred always had to be executed when they tried to rebel, but that wasn't the point.
In a universe where a power level of 18,000 was enough to destroy a planet, when people saw something absurd as my family's strength... they were all to quick to bow to the inevitable.
oOo
And yes, 18,000 is Vegeta's strength during the Saiyan invasion saga and he was shown to be capable of destroying a planet.