"There it is!" Dende exclaimed overcome with joy as the trio homed in on a massive, white dome that appeared like a shell of a snail, built out of white, bone-like substance and donning windows of swampy green from both sides. The house rested on a massive rock that towered like a mountain over the surrounding natural scenery.
"Can you feel it?" Piccolo mumbled out, looking on ahead.
"Yeah, there's someone really strong in there," Chayote nodded her head. While she didn't put much of her stocks into the Nail bag initially, feeling the Ki brimming with power within, one easily rivaling that of Chayote's or Piccolo's did pique her interest some.
"You mean Nail is inside?" Dende turned to the pair with surprise. "Nobody even came here to look for him after the Oldest Elder passed away, to think that Nail would have just stayed here all this time."
The trio landed by the entrance to the building. Chayote noticed how Nail's Ki didn't shift one tiny bit from their appearance. Usually, someone capable of sensing Ki would have become interested in someone whose power rivaled their own approaching them. Nail was too powerful and esteemed of a warrior not to know how to sense Ki. The trio slowly walked inside the building that was seeped in shadow.
Deep, at the very edge of the structure, a lone figure floated off the floor, gleaming with an aura of bright blue as he sat in a meditative position. By his side, there was a throne of bone and skulls, not unlike that which Chayote had seen in her vision on Korin Tower though the throne seemed to be built to fit a giant whereas the meditating Namekian was of similar size to Piccolo.
"Nail…" Dende muttered with a helpless voice. Judging from his mood, one could tell that the boy thought something to be wrong. Nail's body slowly landed on the ground and the Namekian warrior opened his eyes, emitting a strong shock of erupting Ki that forced Dende to cover up his face while Piccolo and Chayote stone-walled it.
"Dende…" Nail muttered. "Who are you?" he turned his attention to Chayote. His eyes then lingered on Piccolo. "You're Namekian. That's impossible, there are no living Namekians that haven't been given birth by the Oldest Elder himself."
"Soon there won't be any living Namekians at all, if you keep at it," Piccolo grumbled, staring right back at the Namekian warrior as he rose on his feet and approached the pair with a strict glare. Dende ran in between Nail and Piccolo before the tension between the two broke out into full-on conflict.
"Wait a second… Piccolo is a Namekian from Earth, he's come here to live amongst us. He wants to help us." Dende tried to explain during his vain struggle against the two Namekians closing in to where their faces almost touched.
"Help us?" Nail finally broke his stare to turn to Dende who was pulling at his baggy, white trousers by the knees.
"That's right, he can defeat the aliens that want to destroy Namek! He can stop the Divinity Tree from blooming!" Dende explained himself.
"Aliens? Divinity Tree?" Nail muttered to himself. Chayote wondered if the great hero of Namek even knew what was going on on the planet that he was supposedly protecting.
"This is the legendary hero Nail that you spoke of?" Piccolo cringed. "Seems like a hopeless buffoon to me."
"You're right." Nail closed his eyes. "I am no legendary hero of Namek. If you want to fight some aliens, go right ahead. Save Namek, I wish you all the best."
"B-But… Nail… Won't you fight with them?" Dende exclaimed, clapping his cheeks with his palms in shock of what Nail was saying.
"Give it up, kid, if this Nail cared at all about the fate of Namek, he'd have long since kicked those aliens out. Can't you feel how powerful he is? Those chumps would have been of no threat to him…" Piccolo looked down at Dende. Despite his scowl remaining strict and discontent, there was no malice or sharpness to his beady eyes as he spoke to little Namekian.
"Nail… How come you didn't fight the aliens that want to destroy our planet? What happened to you?" Dende demanded answers from the Namekian warrior he idolized so much. Once Nail turned a sharp glare back the boy's way, Dende stumbled back in terror of the ocular scolding he took from it.
"I am Nail, the strongest Namekian bred for one purpose – to protect the Oldest Elder. Now that he's gone… Dead to something I could not change or help him with, I'm done for. My existence is pointless yet no matter how long I sit here waiting for it to end – I continue to exist as strong as ever. I'm a warrior created to fight in a battle that's already over. There's nothing more to me, leave me alone." Nail grumbled.
Without warning, Chayote grabbed Dende by his shoulders and dashed off and away from the building. Her supernatural perception of the present that she had learned from studying the art of fortune-telling from Fortuneteller Baba warned her loud and clear of Piccolo's reaction though the lashing out Namekian didn't take Dende into consideration. The poor boy yelled out in fright as the roof blew off of the Oldest Elder's home, leaving just Piccolo and Nail inside with Piccolo's arm raised and smoke trailing in a straight line from his palm all the way to Nail who stood in a stout position of a cross-shaped block.
"Wh-What happened? Why did Piccolo attack Nail?" Dende muttered, turning to Chayote with a petrified expression.
"Piccolo is someone who was created to be the Demon King. He was stranded inside the Room of Spirit and Time for the entirety of his adolescence before being taken in by the demons that rejected him for his divine origins. His existence was meaningless from the very beginning, contradictory and illogical. I believe he takes great offense at someone so much like him dismissing their own life because of a failed purpose predetermined since their conception." Chayote explained to the best of her ability.
"You dare attack me!?" Nail yelled out, swiping his right hand back as his body pumped up with a rush of power. His muscles twitched with pure strength while veins popped out all over his limbs and face and crystal-clear aura boomed from all around him. "You dare desecrate the home of the Oldest Elder!?"
"Wake up," Piccolo demanded with a calm voice. "You're a warrior, plain and simple and there's always another fight for a warrior to fight. A warrior makes their own path and doesn't let their predecessor define it for them. Do you think my predecessor ever meant for me to return to Namek to reclaim a part of his identity that he himself threw away willingly?"
"Your words are meaningless! I may not be able to protect the life of the Oldest Elder anymore but I will make you pay for destroying his home too!" Nail spread his arms out by his side, bending them by his elbows while he stretched his feet out and hunched his body and bent his knees some to adopt a peculiar fighting stance.
Before Piccolo could even correct his counterpart, Nail attacked with a stretch of his arm that reached out far longer than Chayote had ever seen Piccolo's limbs stretching out. Despite the aggressive approach of his opponent, Piccolo sidestepped the attack and grabbed Nail's elongated arm, pulling the bodyguard of the Oldest Elder in for an attack of his own only for the pair to clash their knees and then exchange blows in a clash of strikes, blocks, parries, and counters that made it seem like the pair was dancing while thunderous booms resonated through the towering rock.
Piccolo was the one to land the first strike, kicking at Nail's shins and tripping the warrior up, leaving him falling forward and toward his opponent opened up. The demonic Namekian swiped with his hand, chopping with it ruthlessly as if it was a blade he had drawn with all of his vigor and smacking all remnants of vitality and resistance out of his opponent. With the opposite force flinging Nail flipping back, Piccolo took it to the air and kicked at his stunned opponent mid-air, taking the opportunity to stomp at him with his wooden boots a couple of times before transitioning into a mid-air combination of sharp swipes with his hands, his nails sticking out and carving into Nail, leaving the warrior ridden with painful-looking gashes and lacerations as their clash continued.
A deafening thud signified Piccolo's knee strike that sent Nail flying right back as the demonic Namekian himself rushed in pursuit, stomping, swiping, kicking, and punching at his reeling opponent once more. In a feat of awe-inspiring movement, Piccolo dashed behind Nail just as the mighty bodyguard began recovering to smash him from behind with his stiff elbow and once more crush his resistance. Piccolo then vanished, not taking any risks of his opponent recovering to windmill kick him aside.
Piccolo dashed with his Ki blazing, looking to continue his ruthless punishment of the once valiant Namekian soul that had no lost all will to go on but was met with staunch resistance as Nail placed his hands in a cross-shaped block and stone-walled Piccolo's flurry of strikes before lashing with his elongated limb, smashing Piccolo right across his face and forcing the enemy to flinch. There was not a single movement wasted in Nail's attack as the Namekian warrior grabbed his opponent with his arm as it retracted and pulled him in for a knee strike to the gut that forced Piccolo to belch.
Nail cried out in a stupor of battle as he rose up, spinning around and lashing like a whirlwind with his elongated arms, dragging and smashing Piccolo as he took his opponent for a ride alongside him only to finish his counterattack with a dashing knee strike that staggered and flung Piccolo back on wobbly legs as he just barely maintained his levitation.
It didn't seem like Nail was done striking at the bane that leveled the home of the Oldest Elder who brought Nail up and made him as powerful as he was. Nail extended his hand out, firing a Ki blast that forced Piccolo to extend his own hands and struggle with its force to stop in place. With his opponent distracted, Nail rushed in from the side, lashing out with a flurry of punches and kicks, just as it seemed like Nail had sufficiently beaten his opponent down, the valiant warrior vanished to continue his assault from a different angle before Piccolo could spot any patterns to his opponent's movements.
Not even as Piccolo himself disappeared into thin air could Nail's battle instincts be tamed as the warrior thrust his elbow behind him without faltering for a second, revealing Piccolo to be right behind him and knocking the air right out of his lungs before Nail flipped over his head with a vertical spinning kick that bashed repeatedly across Piccolo's head and finishing his punishing combination attack with an elbow strike to the center of Piccolo's chest.
Piccolo huffed and panted, an elementary examination of the pair's Ki signatures suggested that Piccolo had taken by far the bigger beating as his Ki had fallen much more than that of his opponent's even if their Ki started out at about an even point with their odds being evened out after Piccolo's initial spurt of success.
"Hmph… I guess you're not like the other trash. I better take you seriously…" Piccolo exclaimed, grabbing the collar of his cape with one hand and his turban with the other and flinging them aside. Nail carefully examined the outer layer of his opponent's clothing plummeting below and he couldn't help but exclaim in mild surprise when they smashed into the ground, sinking down the respective islands and hills in devastated rubble that they came into contact with due to their immense mass.
"You wore weighted clothing!?" Nail muttered.
"I had to make this a challenge…" Piccolo smirked, revealing his newfound power in a burst of mint-colored aura. "Though you're someone I better take seriously."
"You may be worth it…" Nail declared more to himself than he did to his opponent.
"Worth it?" Piccolo wondered.
"Fight me, seriously, and to the end!" Nail pointed his finger at Piccolo.
"That was always my intention, though I'm glad you got reignited to live again." Piccolo flexed his hands now that they were unburdened by absurd weights.
"Only for this one battle," Nail stated. "I'm not sure if you know this about Namekians, but we possess the ability to fuse our bodies and souls together. Though I guess it's more of assimilation as one absorbs the body, energy, and wisdom of the other."
"You still intend on throwing your life away?" Piccolo muttered in disappointment.
"No. It is a natural part of Namekian life to become a part of a greater whole. With my purpose to protect the Oldest Elder being void, I see now better outcome for me," Nail shook his head. "However, the host of the fusion will be determined by our battle. Either you shall absorb my might, if you win, and carry it into whatever battles you encounter in your life, or I shall take you and become something else entirely – a Super Namekian that will destroy the aliens threatening to ruin Namek and protect it as a new purpose of his life."
"I see, you slimy bastard, you're shedding the identity of Nail either way, huh? Fine, I'll take you up on your offer because I don't plan on losing and I'd like nothing more than to let Chayote relay to Son about how both of them are inferior to me. That knowledge will be a great parting gift, don't you think?" Piccolo turned his eyes to Chayote for a moment, the female Saiyan just blew out her cheeks in a hint of jealousy and discontent.
"Nail…" Dende uttered.
"Is fusion something messed up in your culture?" Chayote wondered, looking down at the little shrimp.
"No," Dende shook his head. "Namekians reproduce by producing eggs whenever they need it. When an individual or a group is threatened, it is not uncommon for the process to be called back by having two or more Namekians return the power they were given by their predecessor back to someone else. It's a natural part of the circle of one's being."
"Then you shouldn't be bummed out by that. It's perfectly normal that Nail feels like he has no more purpose in life and wants to become part of something more than he is now." Chayote tried lifting the boy's spirits up.
"I guess… But… I don't really want Nail to disappear." Dende cried out.
"Don't worry, even if he loses, fused Piccolo will remain here so Nail's not going anywhere, you know…" Chayote smirked to the little Namekian making him look at her with bright eyes and cease his whimpering for a moment to think this possibility through.
"You're quite willing to bet your essence for someone who claims to be on a path he himself defines." Nail observed, adopting a fighting pose again.
"That's because I don't plan on losing," Piccolo mirrored his opponent's resolve, looking excited to clash with his opponent with his newfound power after removing his weighted clothing.
Chayote grunted and turned behind her. Piccolo and Nail both turned their heads in sync. A gleam of red attracted the attention of every fighter present. A red sphere of luminous Ki raced across Dende and Chayote and went to hit Nail with pitch-perfect accuracy before the esteemed Namekian warrior swatted the Ki blast aside forcing it to careen off into the distance and explode far off and beyond the horizon.
"Your power level is 36 818, or so my scouter claims. Someone this powerful can only be Nail, the Namekian warrior I am tasked to eliminate," Cacao stated as he lowered his hand.
"If you're aware of his battle power, why did you engage him? Don't you know you're weaker than him?" Chayote raised an eyebrow, noticing the grunt from Turles' crew floating behind her.
"If Nail's power level is truly 36 818, he is indeed a threat. That being said, I am a cybernetic war mechanism built for battle. To eliminate the target and fight is my life's purpose, right now the elimination of Nail is my objective." Cacao declared pointing at Nail.
"Chayote," Piccolo said turning for the Saiyan.
"Don't worry, you guys just settle your stuff, I'll take care of the space-pirate." Chayote flexed her neck and limbs in preparation.
"You aren't my target. You would place yourself in my way regardless?" Cacao wondered, crossing his arms as he boasted of his potency in battle and laughed out aloud.
"I suggest you land," Chayote turned to Dende who just nodded and lowered himself down on to the small island beneath them so that he didn't get in Chayote's way. "This won't take long. It's odd that you lot came to us and couldn't sit still until we find you."
"And how would you do that? We gave you the slip last time. I've been working as a bounty hunter for years since the resolution of the interstellar war on Planet Ikonda and yet Captain Turles is the most resourceful individual I've ever met. He could snag a prize right underneath the nose of Lord Frieza himself!" Cacao declared.
"There is an interesting technique one might learn on Planet Earth, it's to sense your opponent Ki. In a way someone like you would understand – it's like sensing your opponent's power level without the aid of a scouter." Chayote explained while stretching out and entering a fighting stance.
"You're not terribly bright, even for a Saiyan," Cacao stated. "You do realize that the scouter I wear transmits everything back to Captain Turles and the rest of the Crusher Turles Army Corps, right?"
"Oh, I know…" Chayote's malicious smile streaked across her face. "I want you guys to know that we can track you and exterminate you at any point we like. Just to see what you do, flee like the cowards that space pirates are, or stand your ground and get trounced as a true Saiyan would. I wonder what Turles chooses to do…"
Piccolo and Nail prepared to resume their fateful clash to determine the host of their fusion at the same time as Chayote intended on stopping the cyborg space pirate bounty hunter from disturbing their clash.