"Video-sharing drones?"
"All scattered across the globe and ready to begin broadcasting."
"Audio?"
"All signals show they're good."
"Gohan?"
"Right here. …Do I really have to wear this?" I asked with a frown as I looked down at the dark red long-sleeved dress shirt I was wearing, matching it with a pair of dark grey pants, a black suit vest and a dark red fur-collared cape thrown over my shoulder and a golden crowd with rubies studded onto the four points on its top to finish off the outfit.
"King Furry died in the Androids' first assault and you killed them. By law, you are therefore his successor so making a first impression is very important."
"…Trunks, don't you want to become King?"
"I'm already heir to the Capsule Corporation. That's enough for me." Trunks spoke with an amused smile and I looked at the others before groaning as they all quickly whistled while looking around.
"Look at this way. Now if you have multiple girlfriends and/ or wives, no one will be able to say something since it would be seen as going against their king and therefore, treason." Erasa spoke up and I rolled my eyes at her answer before looking down at Videl as she adjusted the tie around my neck.
"Good luck and just…be honest with the people."
"Of course. Mom, put the knives down."
"I was just going to stab them once. Nothing much." I sighed at Mom's whispers to herself as well as Gramps gingerly taking the blades away before looking at Bulma right as she held up ten fingers.
"Well, time to deliver a big speech." I muttered and they all quickly moved to be behind the numerous cameras in the meeting hall of the Capsule Corporation as I sat down behind the large oak desk before placing my hand flat on the table and sat up straight the moment Bulma gave me a thumbs-up.
"Good morning, afternoon and evening to all of my fellow Earthlings. My name is Son Gohan and I have a very important message to you all. As you all can see from the drones that are currently broadcasting these messages to you all, I am speaking to you all in real-time and this is not a ploy by the Androids to try and get you all out of your safehouses.
Twenty seven years ago, my father Son Goku risked life and limb to vanquish the monstrous Demon King Piccolo and brought peace to the world. Thirteen years ago, the close friends of my father tried to do the same against the Androids, but unfortunately, they failed.
For the past thirteen years, our lives have been reduced to running around and hiding like vermin as the Androids did their best to kill off the human race, but we persevered and I am here to tell you all this.
As of May 9th of the Age 780, I myself have personally slain both Androids and ended their reign of terror at the cost of my left arm. Some may think that I am lying and some may think that this is still a trick by the Androids to get more people to hunt.
If you believe so, I do not blame you, but for those that don't, you may come to West City to the Capsule Corporations Headquarters where this video is currently broadcasted from. It doesn't matter if you come now or come in a decade's time as long as you do come to see me and know that the times of famine, of war and of pain…are finally over.
Be at ease, ladies and gentlemen, and hug the closest person you can find for our pain…has finally passed. Let us begin this time of healing and restoration. Goodbye...and may the divines bless us."
"And done! Whoa, you have a way with words, Gohan." Bulma said with an impressed smile as she cut the cameras, to which I rolled my eyes as I took off the crowd and the cape.
"Yeah, but I don't want to be do that again. That was way too much formality for me."
"Too bad, because when people do come, you're going to have to deliver another speech." She said with a smile and I groaned at that before looking over to see Mom wiping tears away with a happy smile.
"Oh, my little boy. Formerly the son of a mountain family and now he's the king of the world~!"
"I know how you feel, daughter! Oh, he makes this king proud!" Gramps exclaimed as he hugged Mom, who nodded in agreement as I gave them a deadpan stare before looking over to see Videl hiding her smirk while Erasa hid her face with her hands to hide her giggles.
"Hey, Gohan. Think you could give me a world-wide lifelong discount on food?" I slowly turned to Yajirobe looking at me with an expectant look before turning to Trunks as he grinned.
"So…should I call you King now or is Gohan-sensei still allowed?"
"…I'm going to take a shower."
"Didn't you just take one?" Videl asked while muffling Erasa, probably stopping her from saying something that would set off Mom and I nodded even as I began to unbutton my vest.
"Yes and now I want to take a cold one to cool down."
"You're sure this is going to work?" I asked Bulma with a conflicted frown while staring at the bean in my hand, slowly turning it as I looked at it from all sides.
"I'm a woman of science and this is a magic bean that can restore your stamina as well as heal any wounds you have through some mystical means. I don't know what will happen." She answered, to which I looked at her before looking back at the dark yellowish-green bean in my grasp.
It wasn't the vibrant green that the original Senzu Beans were and it felt a lot more hollow too, but considering the fact that this is the first Senzu Bean that's been made in thirteen years by someone that isn't Korin, it's a very good achievement.
It's been three weeks since my message to the world and apparently, Bulma had a slight miscalculation with how long the Senzu Bean was going to take to grow as it just stopped growing entirely for the last three weeks before finally finishing today.
Why, I don't know, but right now, I just wanted to see if I would get my left arm back or not.
"So, this will either heal me fully which includes restoring my arm, heal me only partially or not work at all. Well, here goes nothing." I muttered as I popped it into my mouth and bit down, chewing with a slight frown at the rather bitter taste of the bean before swallowing as I awaited the results.
It took moments before my eyes widened as a burst of energy rushed through my body, feeling how every ache that I knew and didn't know of was healed within an instant before the relief was replaced by a burning pain coming from my stump.
"Gohan! Are you okay?!" I quickly held up a hand to stop Bulma as I felt my stump shaking, blood flowing profusely from it as the flesh pulsated and bulged obscenely.
In front of our shocked gazes, I watched in awe as the bone was the first thing to grow out in the form of an arm, ligaments connecting the joints to the bones before streaks of compact muscles grew out from it and wrapped around the bones.
Next were tiny strands of white and gray nerves that latched onto the muscles and bones and dug into them, my eyes wide from the excruciating pain of having my nerves exposed to the outside world before gasping in relief as another layer of muscles grew to cover them right before light pink skin finally covered the muscles as a final layer.
To the average eye, all of them happened in under ten seconds, but to someone like me, it felt like an eternity as I stared in shock at my arm, clenching it a few times while my joy grew as I felt it responding to my movements.
"…Holy shit that was graphic." Bulma spoke out loud as we looked at my arm, to which I simply nodded as I wiped the sweat from my brow while slowly rolling my shoulder, charging ki to it and humming as I felt the power brimming under my skin.
However, I frowned as I reached over with my right hand and slowly ran a finger along my skin, the coarse scaly texture of it throwing me off as well as the light yellowish-green blots of skin splattered across my arm.
"I guess side-effects were to be expected." She said with a frown and I smirked as I took out the Power Pole from my earring before transforming it back to its normal state, my smirk widening as I twirled it around my body with ease compared to when I had to do so while dividing my attention to maintain an arm of ki.
"It was, but I'm just glad to have my arm back. Man, not having it for a year was still bizarre to me."
"It was barely three weeks for us." Bulma answered with a smirk before giggling as I gave her a deadpan stare.
"I know what you mean."
"I suppose that means that the liquid of my stasis pod is now valuable to us, right Mother?" The humanoid green cicada dressed in a lab coat spoke with a smile as he walked up to us, to which I chuckled as Bulma pinched the bridge of her nose while staring at the Bio-Android that had woken up two days ago.
"Cell, how many times have I asked you to not call me that? Just Bulma is fine and I didn't create you so I am not your mother."
"But you did alter my DNA core by adding yours into it along with rewriting my programming, the former of which Dr. Gero did not do. Therefore, we are biologically related and thus, you are my mother."
"He does have a point." I said before shrugging as she simply stared at me with a frown, the bluenette letting out a frustrated sigh before I watched Cell give a pleased smile as Bulma groaned.
"Fine~! Fine, I am your mother. Does that make you happy?"
"Much. Now, may I begin with mass-producing the Senzu Beans?"
"Yes, but remember, four at a time and no more than 5 ml a seed every twelve to sixteen hours depending on their speed of growth."
"As you command, mother."
"Also, don't forget that we're starting training later today!" Apparently, I severely underestimated how many people both knew Father's name as well as how many people were desperate for just a drop of hope as nearly every single person still alive had made the trek towards West City in the three weeks we were waiting for the Senzu.
I could still sense about a couple hundred or so ki signatures still scattered at parts around the world, but for the first time in thirteen years, nearly half a million people were gathered in West City.
That made me thankful for all the construction droids Bulma had built to repair the city as West City was now fully functional with electricity, clean water and more than enough free housing for anyone that came.
Everything was free as well as no one cared for currency since Bulma had the droids, Trunks, Yajirobe and I go out to gather all the food, minerals and chemicals needed to keep the city running and well-fed.
'Man, I keep forgetting that I'm in a world where you could store an entire house in a capsule smaller than a finger and where proper housing could be built in less than twelve hours. Hah, and I have to manage it all. …I'm handing it over to Bulma first chance I get.'
"You know, your dad would be proud of the man you've become. I know we all are." Bulma's words drew me from my thoughts and I looked to see the proud smile on her face and gave a shrug as I put on my gi, tying the sash around my waist before shrinking the Power Pole down and placing it in my ear once more.
"I know considering Mom won't stop telling me that. How are we with the search for New Namek?"
"Hah, better than before. I've finally managed to locate the planet, but all of our spaceships got destroyed and the plans to build one along with it. Give me about three to four months and I'll have them built for us." She spoke and while I wanted to say something about that plan, I looked at the happy smile on her face before nodding with my own.
"Good. That should give me enough time to make sure everyone is trained up and ready to protect Earth while we're away. Now, time to see if Trunks isn't up to go a few rounds so I can test this new arm out."
"All right! You ready?" I asked as I bounced on the balls of my feet, Trunks looking a bit hesitant as he gave a slow nod while going into the signature opening stance of his father, to which I smirked as I rolled my neck right before I leaned back the moment he tried to swing a kick at my face.
A blast of ki from my feet sent me flipping backwards while also pushing his leg as he tried to go for a follow-up kick, blasting ki from my hands to push myself towards him right as I spun through the air and landed a vicious kick to his arms to sent him spiralling across the ground.
However, he was quick to recover as he pushed off of the ground and to his feet, shaking his arms while glaring at me as I stretched my arms behind me with a smirk.
"And a final stretch~! Okay, now…en guard!" I exclaimed as I blasted forward, lowering my power to a bit above his level to keep it fair right as I swung to his head.
Not surprised to see him duck down with a spin to move his head out of the way, I stopped my punch and raised a leg as he tried to go for a heel kick to my waist, pushing his leg forward and out of the way before using that momentum to spin and land a harsh kick to his lower back that sent him ragdolling across the ground.
Ki condensed to my fingers as I threw numerous ki orbs through the air towards him, but Trunks showed why he was my best student as he rolled backwards with a smirk while releasing a kiai that made my ki blasts exploded prematurely.
My fellow hybrid was quick to use the smoke of the explosion as cover to launch his own blast, but I smirked as I quickly picked them off one by one with my own ki blasts, waiting patiently before blasting forward right as he dove through it with ki covering his body.
The look of surprise on his face as we slammed arms first each other made me chuckle as the ground under us shattered, but I quickly unleashed the full brunt of my suppressed power right as he went all out, frowning slightly as I felt him pushing against me before grinning as I slowly but surely forced him to a knee.
"Do you give?" I asked as I bent his hands just to the point that it would ache, watching as he tried to force me back before smirking and letting go as he nodded and admitted defeat.
"Not bad there with that last one. Have you been training ki control in your spare time?"
"When I'm not busy with studying." He muttered and I nodded with a chuckle before turning to look at the dozens of awed people sitting on the floor while ignoring Yajirobe chewing on a dinosaur leg in the background.
"And that, ladies and gentlemen, is ki. A power that flows through us all and that helped me defeat the Androids. However, it is not a power to be toyed with. Ki is as destructive as it is beneficial. Just as it can help one take the life of another person, it can also be used to make sure they live to see another day. Therefore, any study of ki will only be done in the presence of myself, Trunks, Yajirobe or Cell and if I find that you have used your abilities for worse, I will do my best to hunt you down and make of you an example so vile that no one else will ever think of using their abilities for evil ever again. Am I Understood?" I made sure to add a bit of ki to my voice as well as sent a pulse of my power throughout the massive dojo as I finished speaking, hiding my smirk as I saw everyone nodding rapidly with pale voices before nodding as the tense atmosphere vanished and I smiled.
"Good! Now then, split up into groups of two and once you do, find a quiet place for you to sit down." I ordered, watching as they all stood up before the hall was busy as everyone tried to find a partner.
However, I was not surprised by the sight of Erasa bee-lining towards me with Videl hot on her heels, the two ladies walking with a brisk pace to not draw attention to themselves and I was amused as I saw them stopping while pushing the others back.
"It's wonderful to see that the two of you have decided to form a team."
"Nope! I want you on my team!"
"No, Videl! I was here first so you go and find a friend!" I watched as the two argued before turning to Trunks only to give him a deadpan stare as he held up Yajirobe with a smug grin as the ronin shrugged.
Looking back at the group, I watched as they all sat down with a training partner before smirking as I saw that no one was in need of a partner in the crowd.
"Good! Ladies, you two are now teamed up as there are no other people in the crowd that needs a training partner." I spoke with a relieved smile as I turned them towards the crowd and while Videl blushed slightly at the attention focused on them, Erasa let out a disappointed whine as she saw that I was speaking the truth.
However, I was once again surprised as she simply pulled her friend over to where Trunks and Yajirobe were sitting before letting out a soft sigh as the two sat down right as the door to my left opened.
"Ah, I see that I'm a bit late."
"You're just on time to be my partner, Cell!" I quickly spoke as I saw Videl going to speak, ignoring the glare she aimed at me while Cell simply looked amused at my struggle as he walked over towards me.
Some of the group were giving him wary glances as he walked over, but thankfully, most of them smiled and even waved at the Android as he walked in, having learned to trust him after seeing how much he was trying to restore the planet.
"What are we learning today?"
"Well, before we can start with ki manipulation, we must start with basic combat training and since you have the experience of Vegeta, Piccolo, King Cold, Frieza and Father, you seem like the best teacher here." I whispered that last part to him, everyone frowning in confusion at our interaction while Cell looked at me before smiling and nodding.
"Anything to help the friend of mother. So, may I get to it?"
"By all means." I gestured with a smile and he nodded as he turned to the crowd before jumping slightly as he shouted with ki amplifying his voice.
"All right, maggots! On your feet so I can show you what the next few weeks of Hell will look like for you all!"
'…Maybe letting him watch all those old army movies wasn't such a good idea after all.'
A/N: Another quick chapter as next chapter, we are finally going to start the next arc: Wishes and Warlords!
Also, we seem to have uncovered a problem as Gohan seems hesitant on using the Dragon Balls now. Could he have discovered something or is something plaguing his mind?
We'll have to find out next time.
Also, I'm sure you all saw that the beans kind of work, but with a few added side-effects as a result of having infused Cell's viscous DNA into the equation. Don't worry, they're no more than visual indicators that only show on limbs that grow back. Nothing more.
Another last thing is that I am going with the concept of every human learning and knowing ki like they would have in the far future when Gohan's book on ki is published, both to make them prepared for any invaders as well as make sure that the Z-Fighters are not the only ones fighting back now.
How that will affect the timeline itself, I guess we'll have to find out.
Anyway, check out my Pat-reon-.-com-/-KingCrimsonNova to read ahead on this as well as many other stories that may peak your interest. If you want to, you are free to, but if you don't want, all's good as I will still be uploading here. This is just me trying to get some extra cash.
As always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one...
Ba-Bye~!