Meanwhile, off somewhere else; walled away from the usual, booming mega-city populace, hidden deep within the underbelly of West City, two devils—disguised as normal townsfolk— cautiously approached the shady human storefront, disguised as your typical run-down pub…
"I don't like this, Shalba," one of the devils whispered to his compatriot, "not one bit!" He was pale to point of being grey in skin tone, and held his long black hair tied back in a simple ponytail. "Why would we ever rely on such trivial lifeforms?! We are devils, descendants of the true bloodline—"
"Enough, Creuserey! You'll embarrass us." His companion snarled, though he held on to his natural, calm demeanor. He had long, curly hazel brown hair; practically identical to his dark eyes. "If we get too involved, that fake Maou and his lackeys will surely take notice! By nature, humans are innately desperate; these creatures will be of great use to us and our plans…"
Creuserey frowned, unsure of the old Beelzebub's thought process. "If you say so…"
The two men entered through the concealed storefront, and slowly paced up the wooden, run-down stairs. Above, they could hear sporadic, loud shouting and yelling, every so often. "Well, someone's in a bad mood…" Shalba commentated, just before they both walked through the bar doorway, and entered the scene of the fray.
"YOU'RE USELESS!" A pale, skinny young man screamed at a complacent businessman, while the bartender—outwardly exhausted of trying to break the fight apart—turned to greet the two newcomers. Both men were genuinely surprised by his unusual, non-human physique.
"Oh, good evening…" He straightened his tie politely. "Welcome, fine gentlemen. Please, what business might you have with us, tonight?" The human had a strange quirk that gave him the physical appearance of a dark purple cloud, equipped with bright, slanted yellow eyes. He wore a sleeveless elegant grey suit with a striped tie, and came equipped with five metal plates that ran down from just under his floating eyes to the edge of his collarbone. "Perhaps you two would care for a drink?" For a commoner, he was very polite and well spoken.
"Kurogiri!" The young man—who'd previously displayed his terrible mood—hoarsely groaned, almost as though he had a severe case of strep throat. "Tell them to piss off. I've had just enough pricks, trying to sell me crap, for one day!"
"Oh," chuckled the devious salesmen, "I hope you're not referring to me, kiddo."
"Want me to erase you!?" The young man threatened the smug businessman.
The bartender, Kurogiri, turned back to the two men. "I apologize for this… arrangement… if there's another time you gentlemen could come back, that would be much appreciated."
"There won't be another time, unfortunately. So, I have a proposition for him." Shalba interrupted, shifting his attention towards the immature young man, sitting alone at the bar corner. "You wouldn't want to miss out on this, I can assure you."
"What did you say to me?" The scrawny, young teenager murmured, unnervingly, refusing to move from his seat. He was an odd individual; skinny as bone with messy light blue hair, and clad in an extreme outfit—a natural for a human villain—equipped with 14 disembodied hands, in total, clasped tightly onto his arms, chest, neck, head, and face. He also had black pants, a featureless black V-neck shirt exposing his collarbones, and red hi-top sneakers with no socks.
Though the two devils were sure that he was of no real threat to them, he still remained quite creepy. Shalba glanced over to Creuserey, nodding. "Tomura Shigaraki, correct?"
The creepy villain went mute, perhaps surprised that these two nobodies knew of him. Habitually, with the tip of a calloused finger, he scratched at the disembodied limb hiding his face, mumbling: "Father…" He turned without standing from the stool, his body now adjacent towards the visitors. "Okay… you're not stupid enough to be undercover, so what do you want? How did you find this place?"
"I am Shalba Beelzebub, and this is my associate, Creuserey Asmodeus. We're opportunists, hailing from out West, and we'd like to discuss business…" Shalba commenced the introductions, then continued on: "We are here on goodwill and faith, generously willing to gift you—and your growing League of Villains—with a tried-and-true blank check, for your services. Only if you're interested, of course."
The older man who'd been arguing with Tomura, earlier, slowly turned around to greet the two undercover devils, plastered over with a constant smirk that made him look annoyingly self-confident. "Now wait just a good moment, boys… what is it, exactly, that you fellas need?"
There was an ever present feeling of dishonesty that surrounded him akin to vultures circling a fresh corpse. He had gray hair with side-bangs, mustache and goatee, and a missing front tooth, creating a gap between his crude smile. His eyebrows drew up, above his grey, round glasses, and made it look like he was squinting. "I'm Giran. Best broker you'll meet in town, yes sir." His attire was both eccentric and oddly flamboyant: a purple blazer with a white button-up shirt and a fluffy scarf that resembled a human intestine in shape and color.
"We don't have business with you, mongrel!" Creuserey snarled, barely able to hold back his natural, high brow aristocratic attitude. Shalba worried his ally would lose his cool, considering his high disdain for mortals, and quickly breezed away Creuserey's outcry, as though it had never even happened.
"Apologies… he's tired from our prolonged trip." Shalba nodded, although deep down cursing the idea of appearing friendly to another mere flesh tool as well.
"Huh, is that so?" Giran frowned, then rolled out a cigarette for himself. Truthfully, he didn't care too much for what people thought about him, since he was indifferent and unsympathetic towards others too, focused only on getting money from his clients. "Well, feel free to ask of my services, pal. I keep an open ear." He sat back in his chair and took in a breath of the tobacco.
Shalba decided to continue up his offer, and suddenly revealed a hidden item to the three human villains. In his hand, he held an orange-golden orb, the Seven-Star Ball. "There are seven, in total, of these rare artifacts. Our request is that your league would help find the other six."
"Nice glow," Giran chuckled as he studied the item Shalba carried in his hand, "what is it?"
"An artifact important to my family legacy. That's all you need to know."
Tomura continued to scratch at his neck as he listened to Shalba's request. "You want us to be your fetch dogs, then? Don't mess with me, otherwise you won't leave here in one piece."
"Young Shigaraki," Kurogiri spoke up, "perhaps we should hear them out, first. Then, after the fact, we'll decide what to do from there."
"Thank you, server. Like I said earlier," Shalba shrugged, still able to hold back his growing annoyance with Tomura, "you'll be rewarded handsomely. Unfortunately, me and Creuserey are unable to retrieve the other six balls ourselves… which is why we've come to you."
Giran laughed. "If you give us a starting price, sure, it sounds easy enough, except where would we start looking for your 'artifacts' to begin with? C'mon, buddy, it doesn't help that you won't even tell us what your exotic balls are called."
"There's no treasure hunting involved, broker," Shalba responded, then put away the Seven-Star Dragon Ball, "all you have to do is track down, then closely follow this girl…"
Creuserey walked up to the bar and dropped a photograph off onto the particleboard. Giran, closest to the glossy paper, stretched over to take a look. "Huh, cute kid. She'll be a looker when she grows a little." He smirked, creepily.
"Rias Gremory. The little brat's already way ahead of us on collecting the rest of the… artifacts…" He grunted, irritated at the very thought. "Simply track her down and wait till she's finished discovering all the items, then… well, you can figure it out from there."
"Sounds dubious, but if you're paying as much as you're promising, then we have no quarrel here." Giran glanced back at Tomura. "If you won't take it, I will."
"…Master suggested I could use extra funding for the plan… I suppose we could find this random person of interest." He paused a moment to quietly ponder. "But how do we find this little girl, anyways?"
"No worries!" Giran held up a hand, then pulled out his cell phone, equipped with a case built in with a pair of bunny ears, alluding to his peculiar tastes. "There's a guy, kinda legendary in the tracking business… although he costs a damn arm-and-a-leg…" He looked back up at Shalba. "He'll find the girl and get your artifacts. Hopefully I can get a second party to contact him…"
"Who?" Asked Kurogiri, curious in the matter he was now presently involved with.
"He lives off the grid; somewhere in the middle of nowhere." Giran laughed. "He's practically the best, but he's got a dumb name. The Desert Warrior: Yamcha!"
The new-day sunrise shined through the windows, stirring the young boy awake from his peaceful dream. Goku blinked, first figuring out exactly where he was, and then slowly sat up in the shared bed. Besides him, the two young girls, Akeno and Rias, continued to peacefully sleep. "It's morning…" He yawned, then stretched out his arms.
Slowly, he looked to his left and noticed that Rias had kicked away some of her cover, leaving her bottom-half bare. Quickly, he brightened as a wave of nostalgia rolled over him. "Hey! This reminds me of when I would sleep with my head in grandpa's lap!" Playfully, like the kid he was, Goku rolled over to Rias. "It's been so long since I last did that!"
Suddenly, Goku lay down, relaxed, leaning the back of his head up against Rias's privates, thankfully covered by her pajama-wear. "Huh?" Immediately, something felt off. He turned around, face-to-face with the in-between of the devil's young, healthy legs. Confused, he pat the girl's privates several times, completely oblivious to how regular society would react to such a devious manner.
That's weird… He thought to himself, confused as to why there was no bulge. Genuinely concerned, he reached down and pulled off Rias's underwear. In that sudden moment, his poor heart nearly burst from his tiny, little chest. "WHAAAAA!" The boy screamed and fell backwards, falling right onto the floor.
The two girls jumped up and vigorously glanced around the room, startled from the random scream. "What is it? Did something happen?!" Rias looked down at the terrified boy. Goku, absolutely petrified, shook his arms up-and-down from stress.
"Y-Your balls are gone! Peepee too!" He screamed.
"Eh? The Dragon Balls!" Rias deployed a sigil, and the three balls manifested and fell out onto the bed. The girl looked back at him, annoyed. "Just what are you talking about? They're all right here!" She sighed and dropped back into the bed. "Don't scare me like that! Stop half-dreaming!"
"Ho boy… Goku." Akeno, too, sighed, but then happily smiled.
"You both are still not ready? You sure are slow…" Half an hour had passed, and Goku sat on the floor, patiently waiting. "You're gonna turn into a turtle!"
The girls, meanwhile, were transfixed with the bedroom mirror, getting ready for the day ahead. Rias, brushing her long, curly hair, turned and scowled. "Be quiet! Who're you calling a turtle!? Goodness, how rude can you be? You just get up way to early! Girls need time to get ready!"
"Oh my, aren't you a feisty one?" Akeno teased, while doing her own hair.
"Bite me!" Pouted Rias, before turning back to Goku, flustered. "…There's some coffee in the kitchen, would you like some?"
Goku frowned and stuck out his tongue. "Nah. I hate that soup, it's bitter." Suddenly, he jumped up and turned towards the front door. "I guess I'll go do some exercises."
Rias frowned, then turned to Akeno. "I don't know why I even bother with him…"
The young half fallen angel watched Goku leave, then smiled. I do… She quietly thought to herself as a warm feeling returned to her heart.
The young boy walked into the sunlight and looked up into the calm, blue sky. Slowly, he brought up his arms, allowing the blood to flow through his muscles, then flexed. "HMMM!" He loudly hummed as he bolted forward, his small arms still held up in the air. Suddenly, he found a giant boulder, lying out nearby the edge of the surrounding forest.
Quickly, Goku ran up to the massive rock and grabbed its sides. With sweeping, unrivaled strength, he lifted the massive boulder up from the ground, just as his face began to turn red from the stressful task. "HYAAA!" Goku grunted, as he pressed his weight into the huge object. "DAAHHH!" His fingers cracked the material's surface, as he squeezed harder and harder. Suddenly, the massive rock exploded into a hundred shards, crushed into bits and pieces by Goku's bare hands. The boy looked around at the damage he caused, and he flexed again. Okay!
Determined to continue his exercises, Goku ran across the grass to find another, random boulder. Almost immediately, he spotted another random item—similar in size to the rock he'd just destroyed—and ran forward to get his hands on the solid material. Swiftly, Goku grabbed the sides of the big item, then slowly lifted up the heavy mass.
"H-Huh…? What?" A voice suddenly pleaded, nervous and confused.
Goku stopped and blinked, just as befuddled.
"H-Hey! Put me down!" The rock cried out, freaking out Goku.
The boy panicked and dropped the heavy object, taking a quick second to backup. "You scared me!" The rock complained… only it wasn't a rock, but a giant brown sea turtle!
Goku's eyes widened with shock and panic. "S-She really did turn into a turtle!" Slowly, he calmed down, then approached the large reptile. "It's because you take so long to do everything!"
"Goku, who're you talking to?" A voice called out from behind.
The boy, now even more confused, turned around to see Akeno and Rias standing in the house doorway. "Huh?"
The two girls looked Goku, then back at the large animal. "What's this?" Spoke up Rias. "A turtle? All the way out here, in the middle of nowhere?"
Goku pointed at the turtle, utterly bewildered. "This isn't you?" He asked.
Rias frowned and looked at Goku. "Idiot!"
Akeno looked closer at the curious creature, then turned to Rias. "Hey, isn't this a sea turtle? What is it doing all the way out here? That is so weird!"
"Sorry to impose," the turtle spoke, "but could I possibly have some saltwater? With some seaweed, too, if possible…"
Rias massaged her forehead. "Jeez, for a turtle, you sure ask for a lot." She deployed a magic circle before the large sea creature, and a large bucket of water suddenly appeared out of thin air.
"Oh my!" The turtle grabbed the bucket with his fins, then began to vigorously slurp up the water with desperation. GULG! The large turtle gasped for air as he finished. "Thank you very much! I feel alive again!" He paused for a moment, as if contemplating something with deep meaning, then looked up at the two girls again.
"The truth is… I'm Kame!" [kame: turtle]
Rias groaned, annoyed. "That's pretty obvious, you know!"
"Well…" The turtle began his story. "Despite being a turtle, I came to pick mushrooms and in doing so I inadvertently strayed from the others and lost my way! I have been wandering for the past year in search of the ocean."
"The ocean, you say!?" Exclaimed Akeno. "Oh, my! You've been going in the exact opposite direction! My, my… you've come really far for a turtle!"
Goku waddled up to Akeno. "What's an ocean?"
Rias spawned a map in her hand, then carefully looked over the parchment. "Here! It's about 120 kilometers south of here!" She pointed towards the edge of the paper.
"W-What?! 120 kilometer!" The turtle stuttered, shocked at the news.
"Hey, what's an ocean?" Goku asked again.
Akeno spread her arms out. "Imagine a big puddle of water. That's an ocean!"
"Oh?" Goku looked down at the turtle. "We'll take you to the ocean place!"
"Really?!" The sea creature cried out in joy.
"Absolutely not!" Yelled Rias, as she put away the map. "What are you saying?!"
Goku looked at Rias, eyes full of innocence like a puppy. "Didn't you tell me I could see the ocean if I came with you?"
"W-Well yeah, eventually!" She pouted, then crossed her arms. "Right now, we have to find the Dragon Balls! There's no time for fooling around!"
"But you were the one taking a long time just now…"
"Like I said, it's a waste of our precious time!" She interrupted him. "Forget about it! I am your master, you will do as I say! This turtle has nothing to do with us!"
Goku frowned. "That's okay. I'll go drop him off by myself, then!"
"What! You'll do no such thing, Goku!" Rias shouted back, red as a tomato.
"Wait, Goku!" Akeno also yelled, hoping he wouldn't go.
Ignoring the two girls, Goku picked up the turtle on his back. "Hold on tight!" He cautioned the creature, just before they took off. With impressive speed—especially when considering the heavy turtle held up on his back—the monkey boy ran into the forest, away from the girls.
A vein popped at the corner of her forehead, and Rias groaned aloud, completely annoyed. "He is so not cute!" She turned to Akeno. "We're gonna follow that idiot, c'mon!"
Akeno nodded. "Right!"
And so, Goku heads out to the ocean, carrying a certain turtle, with two incredible girls not far behind! Will the monkey boy's naive nature be too much for Rias and Akeno to handle? Will the odd trio run into a certain hermit master in the morning? And, what new, frightening threats are on the rise, hidden from plain view? Find out next time on "Gotta Heed The Call of Magic Dragon Balls!"