"So this is Planet Namek? It feels unbelievably desolate. To think the Namekians' technology used to be highly advanced." Emerging from the space pod, Meruem surveyed the surroundings.
It was a world painted almost entirely in blue and green. Unlike Earth, where plants were ubiquitous even after development, Namek's land was largely an expanse of blue desert. There were plants, but few—mostly a peculiar kind of cylindrical tree. With so little vegetation, the air was thin and dry, and compared to Earth's four seasons, Namek had nearly only one.
In short, Namek now had nothing to do with beauty or pleasant scenery. No wonder the Frieza Force, though not far away, ignored it. Even as a gift, they might not take it. Other than its large surface area, Namek had little use.
The biosphere was meager, and the ground held virtually no special or important metallic resources. A planet like this wouldn't fetch much even on the market. As for Namekian tech, once fairly advanced, after that environmental cataclysm only a tenth remained. Strictly speaking, the current Namekians were almost all children of the Grand Elder; he was the only one who truly survived on Namek. Namekians are oviparous, born from eggs. Slug and Kami survived only because they were sent to other planets.
Whether there were other Namekian survivors on other worlds, no one knew.
Had Frieza not learned that Namek held Dragon Balls capable of granting any wish, he might never have set foot here even by the end of the story.
"Stranger, what is your purpose here?" While Meruem was taking in Namek, a voice cut into his thoughts.
Beep-beep-beep—the scouter around Meruem's eye chirped. It had found a power level.
Naturally, Meruem had obtained a number of Frieza Force battle armors, but he found them too ugly to wear. He kept his distinctive outfit from the Naruto world.
"Among Namekians, there's only one warrior-type with a power level over ten thousand. You must be Nail," Meruem said.
"Who are you, really?" Nail dropped into a stance, ready to strike at any time.
"Take me to your Grand Elder. I believe he already knows I've arrived." Meruem didn't answer Nail directly.
In truth, the moment he saw Nail, he understood. All Namekians could sense ki.
He hadn't bothered to hide his, so it was no surprise they knew he'd come. And as the Grand Elder's bodyguard, Nail's presence meant the Grand Elder had indeed noticed him.
Most importantly, the Grand Elder was no simple figure. He was the sole Namekian who hadn't left and survived after the catastrophe, and he possessed a portion of the Kanasa-jin's precognition. He sensed Frieza's coming even before the tyrant set out for Namek.
If Piccolo had fused with the Grand Elder when Frieza invaded, what would have happened? If the Grand Elder had regained his youth, what would his power have been? He once said Piccolo should never have split from Kami. Later, in the Android Saga, Piccolo's fusion with Kami put him on par with Android 17—he even suppressed Cell after the latter's power spiked from absorbing humans.
If the Grand Elder had regained his youth—or fused with Piccolo—his power would hardly have been below Frieza's current level. You could call him a Super Namekian. In Dragon Ball: Super Dimension Battle, there was even a case where all Namekians fused into one: Gast Carcolh, a being at Super Saiyan 3 and beyond.
But that was theoretical; whether it would hold was debatable. Meruem had landed not far from the cliff where the Grand Elder lived. Following Nail, they soon arrived.
"What an extraordinary being," Meruem murmured as he looked at the massive Namekian reclining in his chair. Judged by ki alone, the Grand Elder's wasn't much lower than his own. He was already so old he was nearly at death's door. To still compare to Meruem's power—he truly was remarkable.
"Stranger, why are you here? I can feel your ki is evil, yet you are not one who commits every evil. What is your purpose among us? If your request is not excessive, we Namekians will agree." The Grand Elder slowly opened his clouded eyes and regarded Meruem.
"Oh? I didn't expect you to be so straightforward. But I don't accept rewards without effort. Tell me your price," Meruem replied. He didn't believe in free lunches, especially not from someone who had foreseen his arrival.
"Heh-heh… it's nothing much. I only hope that when Namek faces disaster, you will lend a hand. In a few years, a great threat will come, and all of Namek may be destroyed. I ask that you act then—not to stop the calamity, but to preserve some of our bloodline so the Namekians are not erased from this universe. If you agree, we will aid you with all our strength," said the Grand Elder.
A great disaster… Frieza, of course. Meruem intended to fight him anyway, so this favor wasn't much. Besides, he needed the Namekian Dragon Balls' help. Without the Namekian language, he couldn't make wishes.
"Agreed. But as I recall, you have a wondrous ability—to unlock a person's latent potential. Am I right?" Dragon Balls couldn't grant wishes beyond the creator's power.
Meruem's ask wasn't excessive: he wanted the Grand Elder to unlock the potential of five—Pitou, Pouf, Youpi, and his clone Musashi, plus Reiko. As for himself? He had no plans to rely on others.
"Don't push it! The Dragon Balls aren't enough for you?" Nail bristled at Meruem's "outrageous" demand.
"The Dragon Balls? You think I don't know their limits? Do you even understand how powerful your future enemy is? It's Frieza. Lord Frieza, Emperor of the Universe." Meruem flicked Nail a line and left it at that. A mere sixty-some-thousand, after all.
"Very well. I accept," the Grand Elder said at last, after a long silence over Meruem's revelation.
"Begin. Summon the dragon." At the Grand Elder's order, Nail quickly gathered the giant Dragon Balls from the other villages.
Since Meruem didn't speak Namekian, he had to rely on Nail as interpreter.
"State your wishes," boomed Porunga, the Namekian dragon—immensely larger than Earth's Shenron—before them.
"First wish: tell me the coordinates of the Fruit of the Tree of Might. Second: the location of the Bigao Star. Third… I don't need anything else for now. Those two will do." Meruem addressed Nail as he looked up at the colossal dragon.
"What a strange request…" Nail had expected immortality or eternal youth. He hadn't thought Meruem would simply want the locations of two things—though he didn't know what they were.
Had he understood the Tree of Might's power-boosting fruit and the Bigao Star's near-invincible super mecha tech, he wouldn't have said that. It was top-tier technology, on par with Dr. Gero's Androids.
"Understood." After Porunga granted the wishes, interesting images stirred in Meruem's mind: Turles sowing a Tree of Might seed on some planet; a world of pure machinery drifting at the universe's edge.
"…Once Pitou and the others are done, I'll be leaving Namek," Meruem murmured—perhaps to himself, perhaps to Nail.
"Meow—my power increased this much? Amazing, meow." When Pitou and the others emerged from the Grand Elder's chamber, she flexed her hands in disbelief.
Beep-beep-beep-beep.
"Oh? As expected of the Grand Elder's potential unlock. Pitou's battle power jumped from 90,000 to 450,000. That's… almost enough to tempt even me." In the original, the Grand Elder raised Krillin and Gohan from around 2,000 to 13,000 in base and over 20,000 when focusing—his potential unlock truly was broken.
(End of Chapter)
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