Zucca glares at Zero displeased. She had offered him a place at her side and yet he refused outright without even considering for a moment, not even a shred of hesitation. To her it should be an honor to serve a member of the royal family, but such honor did not even seem appealing to this child.
"C'mon kid you should reconsider," A loyal follower says, "Not many people get the chance to receive an offer to join princess Zucca's retinue. Such honor doesn't come often."
"Don't wanna!" Zero shakes his head in refusal and looks away, "I still have two more bounties I want to finish up today so bye!"
Zero flies off leaving the group of saiyans baffled and displeased, especially Zucca who grits her teeth in frustration.
"The nerve of that ignorant cur to blow me off like that!" She stamps her feet and pouts like a spoiled little brat, "Who could turn down an offer to serve such a noble lineage? Saiyan warriors would fight to the last to have a chance to serve even the lowest of royalty!"
Locka chuckles as he watches the little warrior fly away, "Stories about him seem to be 100%. Wild, unyielding, a true beast of instincts and battle."
"If he wants to play a wild beast then I will tame this wild beast myself!" Zucca declares with a look of determination, "The saiyan warriors in this hellish Paradise need a leader to guide them to victory. However these days the number of saiyan warriors going wild has increased. That boy and the annoying girl are influencing them far more than anticipated."
"What do you plan to do?" Locka asks.
"Hm... I want to see just how powerful this little beast is." She responds with a vicious smile causing Locka to become interested.
It didn't take too long for Zero to complete his last two bounties. On the way back to town he finds Zucca and her team waiting for him.
"Nice coincidence?" He jokingly asks causing Zucca to smirk amusedly.
"It took less time than I expected for someone who always solo hunts bounties," Zucca says.
Zero shrugs his shoulders, "I still don't see the need to group up to take out such minuscule creatures. Undead have yet to provide a real challenge in my opinion."
"Hm, so it seems." She glances at him silently before smiling, "I heard that you have been growing quite fast for such a kid your age. I'm quite curious as to how powerful you really are."
"Oho! So you guys want to test me out is it?" Zero asks with an excited grin, "Will all of you attack at once or is this a solo duel?"
Zucca sweeps her bangs aside and steps forward as she flairs her cape.
"I should be enough to suffice don't you think?" Zucca asks and Zero nods.
They stare at each other silently for a moment before Zucca vanishes from her spot and appears in front of Zero throwing a punch straight to his face. He retaliates by throwing a punch of his own, colliding with her fist causing her to step back in surprise.
"Oh! Not bad little boy!" Zucca praises him.
"Little boy? Aren't you only like 1 year older than me you violent Lolita?" Zero retorts.
"Don't call me a Lolita you cur!" She stamps her feet in anger before charging at him a second time. To her displeasure she could hear Locka snickering at her being called a Lolita.
She throws a combination of punches and kicks in which Zero matches with his own completely keeping her from gaining any sort of advantage. His constant retaliation and avoidance of her attacks continue to frustrate her and causes her to quickly lose her patience, so she moves in close to him, avoids one of his punches, grabs his arm and attempts to launch a grapple throw. But to her surprise he did not budge for some reason. He stands there looking at the girl who continues to strangely continues to tug at his arm grunting and sweating heavily. Finally she slumps down on the ground in exhaustion and breathes heavily.
"Why... are you... so... bloody heavy!?" Zucca questions him with an exhausted shout!
"Ah... Well... That I can explain." He presses the power button on his gravity bracelet to turn it off. He reaches down and grabs Zucca's arm to help her up and provides his arm to her, "Now give it a try."
"... Huh?" She was confused for sure, but she grabbed his arm and slammed him over her shoulder into the ground hard as she intended to in the beginning. She leaps up with joy as it worked this time, "Ahahaha! I did it! It worked!"
Zero dusts himself off as he gets back to his feet and glances at Locka nearby, "So... is she always like this?"
Locka has a baffled expression on his face. He had never seen such reactions from the dignified and proud saiyan princess. Never had there been such 'girly' or 'childish' actions from her before, "Uh... dear god she can act her age!"
This reaction nearly causes Zero to stumble when he heard it. Zucca immediately realizes what she had done and coughs dryly in embarrassment, quickly hiding the blush that briefly appeared on her face.
"Very good then." Zucca quickly regains her composure and gets back into stance ready for another round, "Shall we continue then?"
"Yes we shall 'princess' Zucca," Zero responds sarcastically trying to hold him his laughter which annoys the aggressive and arrogant princess to no end. So she charges at him and starts launching countless kicks and punches towards her opponent. Since Zero turned off the gravity bracelet he is easily able to maneuver around her attacks and lightly counterattack playfully.
It did not take long for her to realize that the little boy was playfully monkeying around with he causing her frustration to flare even higher, resulting in her attacks becoming more aggressive and vicious. They go back and forth of a while before Zucca starts experiencing exhaustion.
"Why... can't I hit you!?" She shouts at Zero.
"Well I have been focusing on increasing my instinct ability to avoid attacks. Maybe you should try letting your enemies attack you rather than just outright slaughtering them. Overwhelming them with brute force is not always the answer." Zero responds seriously.
"He makes sense," Says Locka, "We have been too focused on wiping out the bounties. Hell when is the last time any of us experienced a good zenkai boost?"
"Ah..." Zucca regains some stamina and charges at Zero again. After a serious of failed hits she decides to try something else and grins mischievously. When he steps aside to avoid one of her punches, she reaches down and snags ahold of his tail and laughs, "Teehehehe! I got your tail little monkey boy!"
Zero is shocked, yet he remains undeterred and reaches her tail in retaliation and gives it a little squeeze. "Sorry princess but I knew that having a sensitive would be a hindrance so I trained to make my tails more resilient. Snagging it no longer bothers me.
Zucca collapses down on the ground weakened after he grabs her tail, leaving her frail and defenseless. "L-l-let go you beast!" She pleads.
Shrugging his shoulder and wraps his tail around her waist and lifts her up as he releases her tail. Grabbing her tail back quickly she backs away and glares at him.
"Y-y-you beast! You can't be rough with a maiden's tail!" She shouts causing both Zero and Locka to stagger.
"That's what a maiden should be worried about? Really girl you need to get your priority's straight." Retorted Locka.
"Haha!" Zero laughs briefly, " Well princess it's been fun but I should head back bye!"
Zero flies off towards Necropolis leaving behind the angry and pouting Zucca and her retinue behind.
"Oh! I'll get you back for this boy!" She stamps her feet and grits her teeth. Locka just shrugs his shoulder.
—
Days become weeks, weeks become months, months become years. The whole time Zero would train diligently and rush out for bounties in between sessions. Often there would be annoying interruptions from either Minerva or Zucca and her gang. So needless to say he had plenty of sparring partners to help boost his strength considerably. When Zucca finally discovered what the bracelet was she was extremely envious and would often pester Zero to loan it to her, eventually he relented and would only loan it to her when he goes out on bounties. The trio of Zero, Zucca, and Minerva made tremendous progress as time went on leaving the other warriors in their dust.
Soon enough all of the bounties for them, all 1-10 stars bounties have been completed. Now that all of them were completed the restriction keeping them one the continent was lift and they were able to head for the central continent to pursue greater strength and opponents of a higher realm. Rather than going there Zero chose to explore the other continents instead of sticking around this dreary and gloomy undead wasteland. He took flight one morning flying further and further away from Necropolis.
Along the way he spotted something unusual. A fog of miasma which seemed to draw in all nearby undead beings. Within the miasma a shadow can be seen. It's eyes flash as it spots Zero.
"Interesting. A warrior has finally lifted the restriction on the continent and is free to leave? Hehehe! You cannot leave without this mighty dragon's permission!" The voice cackled out loudly before the miasma bursts and expands outward producing and attracting more undead.
"This continent is the territory of I, Haze, the Shadow Dragon of Death. You shall not pass as long as my army of the dead stand before you! Hahahahaha!"