"Stupid kid…" Piccolo said to himself. He looked at the small human — no not human, not completely anyway — who had fallen asleep and casually collapsed onto him without a care in the world.

A world that had just gotten immeasurably bigger ten months ago.

Piccolo did not know how to react at first. This kid was a first for many things. He stayed still hoping he'd fall off.

But no… The son of his greatest enemy had just leaned forward and was now draped over one of his legs.

Piccolo sighed. He looked up at the moonless night sky. He absentmindedly wondered which pinprick of light was the fault of what he was about to do. What he had been stewing over for four months now, making him seriously analyze his birth and what could have gone wrong with the transfer. He was Demon King Piccolo, damn it…

Piccolo looked over to the west and sneered. He could practically hear Kami snickering in his head.

Piccolo closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He put his large hand on the boy's head. "Sebnek yemtaw himefinnew."

Gohan moaned and twitched.

Piccolo jerked his hand away, but Gohan simply moved his arm and somehow ended up even more over his leg before he went still again.

Piccolo sighed in relief.


"Hey, Mr. Piccolo?" Gohan asked, adjusting his pants from the morning bush and small ki-blasted hole visit.

"What?" he said annoyed.

Piccolo stood as he always did, his back to him, but Gohan did not mind. That was just Mr. Piccolo.

When his mother was mad at his father, she would turn her back and talk in that tone when he would win the argument, then reword what he had said to make it look like she got exactly what she wanted all along. He did not know what he was "winning", but Mr. Piccolo was being a lot nicer to him recently when he wasn't beating him into a pulp.

"What does Seb nek yem taw—"

Piccolo partially spun around. "What?! You were awake?!"

Gohan stuttered, "I… you always randomly attack me. But you were gentle, so I went back to sleep."

Piccolo regained his composure, crossed his arms, and towered over the boy. Any other child would be terrified, but this one just smiled back at him.

Piccolo sighed in annoyed defeat. There was no scaring this one. "I called you a silly boy last night in my language, that was all."

"What part of it means silly?"

"Himefinnew. It is a single word that means a silly child."

"You can call me Himefinnew any time you want, Mr. Piccolo," Gohan said grinning, with what few teeth were left."

Piccolo reached his hand out and grabbed Gohan's head, then gently spun him around. "Let's just keep it Finnew for short, got it?"

"Yes, sir! Mr. Piccolo," Gohan said happily.

Piccolo suddenly punted the screaming boy high into the air. "Never turn your back on the enemy!" Piccolo shouted, jumping after him to start the day's training.


Three months later…

"Hey guys!" Bulma shouted, holding her phone in one hand and waving with the other, "Dad says he'll be here in about twenty minutes with the two cargo planes to take us to my place!"

"Does it really take this long to traverse your own planet?!" Vegeta snapped. "This planet is puny judging by its gravity!"

Bulma put her hands on her hips. "Oh, stop complaining, homeboy. It hasn't even been an hour yet."

"An hour?!"

Everyone glanced at the arguing couple before returning to their own conversations.

Piccolo glared ominously as Gohan was speaking with Dende and three young adults. They were laughing at each other's bad accents while speaking each other's languages. "He" knew that the three couldn't speak properly and that the laughter was not genuine. "He" knew 'teenagers' when he saw them, the old word suddenly sounding like he heard it for the first time, even though it was spoken with "his" own mind's singular voice.

It had only been a few hours and these sensations were getting old fast.

"(Hey there)," a Namekian came up to him awkwardly in their native tongue. "(How are you doing, after… everything)?"

Piccolo sighed. "(I)", he stressed, "(am fine… Lumache. Really. Go comfort the others who are taking Guru's death badly.)"

Lumache smiled relieved, but his face quickly changed to confusion. "(Are you sure? You're speaking with a bit of a lisp.)"

Piccolo smirked. (It's the accent here on Earth. I doubt 'Kami' will be coming down from his 'high horse' to meet any of you. But this is how we speak here.)"

Lumache tilted his head concerned. "(Is this 'Kami' another aboriginal like the pet?)"

"(Gohan is no pet)", Piccolo said, barely containing his rage. "(And 'Kami' is…)" he paused. "(… the name of my egglayer's hatchmate.)"

Lumanche raise his finger, "(But… 'Kami' is not a Namekian name.)"

"(I know, but his name is Kami. So get used to it.)"

Lumache bent his raised finger. "(And he was also called a… ah…)" he hesitated looking for the right words.

Piccolo smirked. "No, his name was Namekian and I will be using it going forward. That was the deal."

Lumache sighed relieved with a thankful grin across his face, "(Oh, that goodness. I was worried, dear brother.)"

Piccolo was feeling both a little bad but also waiting in great anticipation to laugh at his reaction when the conversation with the teenagers got loud. He turned his full attention back to Gohan and Dende.

Piccolo uncrossed his arms, then bent his elbow as he balled his fist.


Moments earlier…

The teenager in the middle of the trio was making funny noises to the laughing of his two companions and the giggling of Dende.

Gohan, however, was being encouraging. "You're getting close. Just find a soft spot near the top of your throat to click the area just behind the tip of your tongue against it."

The teenager threw his hands up, and spouted what Gohan knew to be curses. "(This is bleep-ing ridiculous!)" he continued.

"(Don't feel bad,)" Gohan said. "(I still can't get *guttural sound with a secondary high pitch right afterwards* right. 'Mr. Piccolo' said he knows of a few 'human' languages with the sounds happening at the same time and that after the fighting we could look into 'throat singing' together.)"

The one on the teenager's right chuckled. "(Yeah, and I'm sure this 'Piccolo' has been a big help since you speak with such a bad lisp.)"

"(He doesn't have a lisp,)" Dende corrected. "(It's just the accent of the people here. I'm told everyone speaks that way.)"

"(Dende,)" the one to the left shook his head. "(And the elders always say you were the smart one. Here you are believing everything a piccolo says.)"

"Dende," Gohan whispered in English, "is there a word that's also said as piccolo and not just a person's name?"

Dended had a look of shock on his face. "You don't—"

"(Dende, don't bother,)" the teenager in the middle said. "(There's no point learning this stuff.)"

"After everything that just happened, how can you say that?!" Dende said loudly, and in English.

The entire congregation went silent and turned to look at them.

As Dende started to whimper and Gohan wrapped his arms around him, the three knew they all looked bad.

"(Since you can't say my name right,)" Gohan offered an olive branch, "(My teacher, 'Mr. Piccolo', calls me something when I'm being stupid. 'Nickname' doesn't have a better translation than that.)"

Unknown to the youths, everyone's sight was turned to the sudden fighting stance of the person all the Namekians but Dende knew only as Nail's new Keeper.

"(Ok, 'Hohan', What's this 'Nickname'?)"

"(Himefinnew. He shortened it Finnew.)"

You could hear a pin drop.


Vegeta knew something was wrong instantly as his eyes scanned the clearing. This type of shock, disbelief, and the building rage so pungent it was tasteable on his tongue, this only came with something unforgivable. Vegeta enjoyed getting his prey to react like this. The resulting stupidity was entertainment on boring missions. Killing and eating children usually did the trick. Nappa didn't even bother with the killing part first.

Vegeta smirked.

This wait just got a lot less boring.


"Gohan! Gohan, don't say something like that!" Dende grabbed his armor and shook him. "Apologize!"

"What? Is… Is it actually a curse word?" Gohan said horrified as the possibility dawned on him. "Mr. Piccolo said it meant 'silly child'."

"Silly child?!" Dende looked over at Piccolo. "Has the meaning changed here?! Don't you know what it means?!"

Suddenly, an adult came over and grabbed Gohan's arm. He tried to bite his nails into his flesh, but they bent backwards instead.

Gohan barely had time to plant his feet when the man went suddenly flying through several trees.

Piccolo retracted his arm from the long punch and stormed over. "(Next person who touches that child joins Schnecke pulling splinters out of his tonsils!)"

"(How…)" "(Can we even do that?)" "(Did he just… extend his arm?)" were among the murmurs Gohan could make out. He also spotted several Namekians put their hands over their mouths and looked away, or even bending over at the waist.

Dende tugged on Piccolo's pants leg. "How did you do that?" he whispered in English.

"(Don't you dare teach something that barbaric and obscene to the hatchlings! You shame your role as a holy keeper to Na, eh?)" the Namekian paused. "(What even is your name, brother?!)"

"(He's no brother! Brothers do not harm brothers! He attacked Schnecke!)"

"Why do they keep calling Mr. Piccolo 'brother'?" Gohan whispered to Dende. "He's from Earth? So was his father and Kami? They don't have siblings."

"Sib-lin?" Dende said confused. "I don't know that word."

Piccolo stood proudly, "(My name is Piccolo! Piccolo 'Daimao' the Second!" He slowly turned his head glaring into as many eyes as possible, "Heir to my dead egg layer, King Piccolo 'Daimao'!)"

A pin drop could be heard again as Gohan looked around. All the Namekians had looks of horror on their faces. He kicked himself for being surprised.

"Gohan, what does 'Daimao' mean?" Dende whispered in English.

Gohan jerked his head. "Wha? You don't? Then wha?" he stuttered. He began glancing around anxiously.

"Gohan what's wr—"

Suddenly a Namekian fell to his knees screaming in anguish. "(Who names a child that?!)"

Piccolo stomped over screaming something so fast all Gohan could make out was Piccolo repeating his name over and over again, but judging by the adults scrambling to cover the children's ears, he wasn't old enough to learn a good portion of it.

Piccolo grabbed the Namekian by his collar and pulled him up. "(And if any of you touch Hime again…)" Piccolo extended his nails into long daggers, "(I'll slice you apart so bad you can't regenerate.)" He then shoved the man back on the ground and retracted his claws. "Hime!" he said walking swiftly over to Gohan. Piccolo put his hand on Gohan's head, gently turning and shoving him. "We're leaving. Come on, boy," he said in English.

Gohan stumbled briefly but quickly walked in step with him into the trees.


Vegeta was disappointed that the show seemed to be over after those two had vanished into the woods, but their energy seemed to still be close by. Suddenly Dende broke the awkward silence by running after them. The others began to shout before the old one the dead Namekian had placed hands on shouted something that made the others stop before he walked after Dende.

Vegeta turned to stalk them when he looked at the Earth woman who had turned at the exact same moment.

They looked at each other surprised before the woman gave an oddly devious smile, took two steps ahead then turned and pointed at him before repeatedly bending that finger. Vegeta took the strange gesture as an invitation to follow and the two disappeared unnoticed.


"Mr. Piccolo, what was that about? What happened there? Why was everyone mad at me? What did—"

"Not now, Gohan. They can still hear us."

Gohan looked behind them.

"My ears are not for show," Piccolo answered his thoughts.

Suddenly Piccolo looked behind them as well.

Soon Gohan heard it too.

"Wait! … Gohan, wait!" was heard softly in the distance.

Then came the rapid footsteps.

Dende burst through the trees stopping in front of them. He placed his hands on his knees panting. "Wait… Wait for me…"

Piccolo sighed. "Fine… you can come too," he said annoyed. He began walking briskly again. "Hurry."

"Yes," Gohan quickly got in step.

Dende jogged out of breath behind them.


Piccolo eventually stopped and leaned against a tree. "Ok, this is far enough," he sighed. He sat on the ground.

"Mr. Piccolo, what happened? Why was everyone mad at me?"

Piccolo sighed. "Gohan… from what I taught you about my language, break down Himefinnew into its parts."

"Um…" he thought, "Finnew is the third person singular to finir, which means to find something funny, so… Hime is the part that means boy. I find the boy funny, or Silly boy like you first said."

"Dende, quiet," Piccolo said cutting him off. He looked back at Gohan. "Now Gohan, tell me the difference between the words red and crimson."

Gohan paused. "They are both two words that mean the same color?"

"Yes, but there is a difference. Do you know why the word red is almost always used while crimson is not?"

Gohan shook his head.

"Crimson specifically means the color of human blood. To call something crimson is to compare it to blood. Now answer that question."

"Blood is scary?"

Piccolo smiled, "Exactly."

"So Hime is a scary version of boy?"

"What?! No!"

"Dende quiet," Piccolo snapped.

Dende looked down.

Piccolo sighed.

"Gohan, what I'm trying to say is that many words have a hidden meaning. Like crimson is scary. Hime is… I… it…" Piccolo's face and ears tinged purple. He covered his face with one of his hands. "Gah… what I'm trying to say is… Gohan…

"So you named the child but never told him? Were you ever going to tell him?"

"Elder Moori!" Dende said as the old Namekian walked out of the trees.

Piccolo shot up as his color deepened. "This is a private conversation!"

Moori gave a knowing smile to the adult blushing like a child being caught being naughty. He looked at Gohan. "So tell me Himefinnew, did Piccolo place his hands on your head and say 'Sebnek yemtaw' when he named you, or…"

Gohan started nodding before he finished.

"I see…" He looked at Piccolo, "I don't know how significant it is with our kin on Earth, but for Namekians the naming ceremony is an important step in a child's life. We do not name at hatching but let the child grow until it becomes apparent what his name is, like Dende here," he looked at him, "Dende literally means 'He writes in stone'. We named him that because he can memorize and repeat anything he hears perfectly."

"And Nail means humility," Dende said looking up at Piccolo.

Moori snickered, "Nail was not happy when he was named that by Guru. You don't know this Dende, but Nail was actually very arrogant as a youth. He was sent to live Guru not because he was virtuous, but because he was a delinquent."

Dende's jaw dropped.

Moori looked at Piccolo, "Nail never lost that fire despite him learning to outwardly behave. I was greatly worried for you, but after everything that just happened…" he walked over and put his hand on piccolo's shoulder. "I know you two will make a fine man once everything settles down in a few hours. Only a man with the pride in his name like that could embrace him fully and not be ashamed of his lesser instincts," then he smiled knowingly, "Isn't that right 'Daimao'?"

"You know what that means, elder?" Dende asked.

Moori took his hand off Piccolo's shoulder and looked down at him, "Yes I do. It's a word that means the unpleasant part of all of us, like arrogance," he glanced at Piccolo, "Or anger." He looked back down, "While 'Kami' is the nice things about us, like friendship and loyalty."

"But they are both words like crimson, right?" Dende asked.

He nodded. "Yes, they both have a special connotation that makes them very rare. Even the adults don't know those words." Moori looked down at his hands. "Even I… did not know those words until a little while ago."

Dende nodded understanding.

Moori extended his hand. "Come with me, Dende. Let the 'titim' and 'hime' talk alone." Then he turned in a random direction. "That goes for you two as well!"

"What?! How did you know we were here?!"

"You stupid bitch! Don't you know how to keep your stupid mouth shut!"

"I am not a stupid bitch, you—"

Piccolo grumbled putting his hand over his face again.

Moori smiled, "I'm sure you'll be able to relearn your awareness. Nail was always too easy to sneak up on." He took a step then stopped, "It may not be my place to say, Daimao, but maybe losing some of your suspiciousness would be a good thing. It can be lonely as a piccolo no matter where your home is."

He took Dende's hand and left.

Piccolo sighed as the volume of the argument coming from the trees rose up several notches.

"So… we'll be talking later, right?" Gohan asked, looking in the direction of the screaming.

Piccolo chuckled, "Yeah… … Actually, Gohan," he knelt and whispered in his ear.


10 minutes later at the clearing, a large box-shaped plane touched down.

Dr. Brief hopped out.

"Daddy!" Bulma ran over.

"There's my baby girl!" They hugged. "Phew. Oh boy, I'll call your mother and make sure you have a nice bubble bath waiting with lavender candles."

"Thanks Dad."

"Hey! I thought you said two transports! That's only one!" Vegeta shouted pointing.

Dr. Brief pulled out what looked like a grenade from his pocket and threw it a good distance away. Suddenly an identical craft appeared in a puff of smoke.

Vegeta gritted his teeth to keep his jaw from dropping.

Bulma threw open the passenger side door, "Come on, Homeboy! Come ride in the cockpit with me!"

Vegeta stiffened and clinched his fists. "As if I'd spend another second listening to your prattle!"

Then sit in the back with the friends of the people you killed for three hours, you jerk!"

"I'll ride with the old man!" he looked at Dr. Brief to see him already talking with Dende.

"Sorry, sonny! The kid's beat you to it!"

Vegeta bristled. "Fine!" he stormed over and shoved her out of the way. He climbed in and slammed the door.

"Jerk," she said, wiping the grass off her. Bulma turned to the group as her father dropped the cargo ramp on his plane. "Ok everyone! Load up so we can finally get out of the bugs!"

Piccolo helped everyone find a seat, the elders and children bucketed on the benches while the teenagers and adults sat on the floor. Gohan did the same for the other plane.

Gohan came around to Bulma's window.

She rolled it down.

"Everyone's in over here. I'm going to ride with Mr. Piccolo in the other plane."

"Ok, Gohan." Bulma rolled up the window.

On the other side, Piccolo was talking to Dr. Brief.

"Everyone is ready. I'll be with Gohan in the other plane."

"Okey Dokey. See you when we land," Dr. Brief smiled.

The Briefs watched Gohan and Piccolo walk over and disappear behind the other plane in their side mirrors. After a brief rock that felt like someone climbing in, the two rear doors closed.

As the two planes flew away, Piccolo and Gohan floated in the air watching them, having flown up after rocking the plane to avoid being seen on the ground after takeoff.

Gohan had his hands over his mouth stifling a giggle.

Piccolo grinned. "Deceit is fun, isn't it Gohan?"

"Yes, don't tell Mom I said so."

"Secret's safe with me."

The two dropped their arms and sighed at the same time. Then they looked at each other.

Piccolo dropped to the ground first, Gohan landing moments later.

"Ok… We're were we…" Piccolo said slowly.

"Actually, Mr. Piccolo," Gohan said looking up.

Piccolo looked down.

"Could you tell me what you were saying when you were screaming your name? Besides the bad words, I mean. You spoke too fast. I… got the part where you threatened to chop him up, though."

Piccolo sat down, "This… is going to be… just about as hard to explain as Hime is actually…"

Gohan looked down, "Oh…"

"Sit down, Gohan."

Gohan sat down mimicking Piccolo's legs position.

He halfheartedly smiled, then sighed. "Gohan… 'Piccolo' has a very specific meaning, and in fact wasn't even a name until Kami called out, 'I banish all that is abhorrent! Piccolo!" when they cleaved. Did you know how they were born?"

"A person ripped in two and became all good and all bad. But you're not all bad, Mr. Piccolo."

"Gohan, the ability to care for a child is a biological function. It has nothing to do with good or bad. My father felt every one of my brother's die by your father's hands just as much as Guru felt Frieza rip their lives away one by one."

Gohan gasped softly.

"You didn't know about my brother's, did you?"

Gohan shook his head.

"Gohan. You know how babies are made, right?"

"A mommy and daddy each take half a small piece of themselves that can't live alone, stick them together to make a new person then the mommy either grows them in their tummy or lays an egg and they grow in there until they hatch, right?"

"That is how things work on Earth," he nodded. "But that does not work for Namekian's like me." He adjusted his position. "We don't have both mommies and daddies. There is only one kind. We take a whole piece of ourselves, already alive, and place in an egg to grow again. That is why we feel the deaths of our children, because literally a piece of us has died."

"What does this have to do with your name?"

"Because 'piccolo' means anything that is not part of us. Born from us. Is. Us. But like red and crimson, Piccolo is saved for special things, like an alien planet and the people who lived there. You are a piccolo, even if people won't say it to your face."

Gohan looked down, "And anything piccolo is abhorrent, right?"

Piccolo put his hand on Gohan's head. "Not everything."

"What…" Gohan started sniffling, "What did you say?"

"I was born on an alien world. I was raised as an alien. I am an alien. There are many other words I could have used to convey that, but using my name was just me beating it into their thick skulls without using my actual fists."

"Being able to defeat your opponent without ever needing to touch them is just as big a part of war as actually fighting hand to hand combat."

"Correct. If you weren't such a goofball, there would probably be two Dende's right now."

Gohan gave a quick few laughs, then when quiet.

Piccolo waited silently for him to speak.

He waited a very long time.

"Mr. Piccolo…" Gohan finally started, but never finished his thought.

"Say what you are thinking Gohan," Piccolo ordered, "Nothing you can say will ever make me mad. I have a thick skin."

"Do… Do I… Do I have two grandfathers now…" he glanced up at his face, "that are kings?"

Piccolo smiled, showing his teeth.

Gohan gasped. Piccolo swore his eyes were sparkling.

Piccolo sighed and closed his eyes. He raised his finger. "One time. This one ti— ACK!"

Gohan flung his arms around Piccolo's neck and knocked him flat on his back.

"Oofff," he said, having the wind knocked out of him.

"Titim. Titim." Gohan kept repeating, now crying in his ear.

Piccolo sighed and looked up at the clouds. He then suddenly raised his arms and gave two middle fingers to the sky.

Even thirty miles below, he could hear the laughing.