Atop the mountain, beneath the moonlight.
Two short figures faced off...
Kakarot peered toward the direction of the voice and saw, in the darkness at the far end of the mountaintop, two dull yellow glows floating. Within each glow were two smaller, symmetrical red dots.
His heart tensed immediately—he recognized that they were a pair of eerie and malevolent eyes.
But the figure didn't seem tall, roughly his height...
The figure slowly stepped out from the shadows. Under the moonlight, Kakarot finally got a clear look at him for the first time.
Naturally, this was the one who had emerged from the egg sealed by Taro—Piccolo Jr., the so-called second-generation Piccolo. Back then, right before the Great Demon King Piccolo was struck down by Taro, he was placed under hypnosis by Taro's ocular technique. Thinking he could pass on his legacy, he spat out that egg in his final moment.
Unfortunately, the egg was taken back by Taro and sealed atop the mountain on Muten Island.
Centuries passed, until just days ago, the seal broke and the egg shattered.
"You know me?"
Kakarot frowned, his guard up. Who was this green-skinned weirdo, who had managed to approach him completely undetected? And more importantly… how could someone who was clearly no good just be standing here, on this island, atop this mountain?
Had that old man not noticed him?
That seemed impossible.
Even he hadn't managed to sneak past that old man...
Piccolo Jr. gave an evil smirk and said, "Of course I know you… and you should know me too." He pointed to the pile of broken rocks at Kakarot's feet. "I've been inside that rock all along. Every time you climbed up here at night, I was watching you."
"In the rock?" Kakarot looked baffled. He glanced down, stomping a piece of white eggshell beneath his foot. "Don't tell me… you hatched from an egg?"
"..." Though the wording irked him, Piccolo Jr. endured it for the sake of revenge. Holding back his anger, he continued with his sinister tone, "That doesn't matter. What matters is… I can sense the evil inside you. A pure evil, just like my own…"
"No, I don't think we're anything alike."
Kakarot denied it flatly, clearly disdainful of the green monster before him.
Like him? Not even close.
Not even a single hair's worth.
Oh right—this guy didn't seem to have any hair at all...
Piccolo took another deep breath and stepped closer, changing his approach: "You mean to tell me you've been on this island all this time… voluntarily? The evil and bloodlust hidden in your heart tells me otherwise." He walked to the cliff's edge and gazed into the darkness below. In a calm, cold tone, he added, "You and I are the same—we were both imprisoned by that man."
Kakarot frowned. He wanted to retort but found himself… at a loss for words. He fell silent.
"Have you never thought of rebelling?" Piccolo continued, trying to coax him, voice low and persuasive. "If we escape this place, find somewhere he can't reach us, and devote ourselves to training… with our talent, someday… we will have our revenge! And when that time comes, evil shall reign over the world!"
Escape?
And risk his life doing it?
Kakarot internally rolled his eyes. He had no interest in ruling the world—if anything, he'd rather destroy it just for fun.
So, he coldly replied, "Revenge? What'd that old man do to you that's worth avenging?"
Piccolo answered in a frigid tone, recounting plainly, "He killed my 'father'—who is also 'me'… and used despicable methods to seal my life away, imprisoning me on this island for countless years… Tell me, shouldn't I seek revenge?"
"Your father? Yourself?"
Kakarot's head was full of question marks as he imagined a bizarre scene: a big guy who looked like this green-skinned freak squatting on the ground to lay an egg like a bird, only to be smacked to death by that old geezer Taro, who then stuffed the egg into a crack in the mountain... What the hell kind of messed-up story was this?
"This is the hatred I inherited…" Piccolo muttered as he looked down at his sharp-clawed hand, then shot a glance at Kakarot. "As for you, I remember… back when my consciousness wasn't fully awakened yet, your ki fell from high in the sky."
He pointed at the moonlit sky overhead and sneered, "You're not from this world, are you? You were sent here as a child. Do you really feel any attachment to this place? Heh… wouldn't it be better to join me and crush this world beneath our feet with our evil?"
"You're nuts!"
Kakarot rolled his eyes. He figured this guy was even less in touch with reality than he was—complete lunatic.
Crush this world beneath their feet?
He snorted. "So you're saying we should crush this world, the one that has that 'old geezer' in it?"
His tone was mocking, filled with sarcasm.
A flash of fury rose in Piccolo's heart. He sneered coldly, "Looks like you've been scared witless by that man. Are you really that afraid of him? He's strong, sure, but not invincible. Back in the day, he wasn't even worthy of shining my shoes! And I'm telling you, I'm not the same 'me' from before. However long he kept me sealed, I've been meditating and evolving just as long. This time, I'll break past my limits and reach a level no one's ever seen! I'll surpass him and grind him into the dirt!"
"This world belongs to the Demon Clan. I'm just taking back what's mine."
He narrowed his eyes, voice cold as ice. "Don't you want… to kill him?"
Kakarot's eyes flickered as he fell silent, staring down over the edge of the cliff. Far below, near the mountainside, he could just make out the faint silhouette of Taro, seated motionlessly in midair.
The figure was indistinct, half-dissolved in the night.
Did he want to kill him?
Hell yes.
He thought about killing that old man every second of every day.
Since he was a kid, he'd wanted nothing more than to end that annoying old bastard. And not just him—he wanted to kill everyone in this damn world. Wipe them all out, turn the world upside down, destroy everything, so they'd all know the truth:
He—Kakarot—a Saiyan, proud warrior race, was not to be messed with.
As for "ruling the world"? Tch, killing everyone was way more satisfying.
That was his mission on this planet, after all.
And so, these two little devils, both evil in their own right, sat down for a late-night chat atop the mountain. It wasn't exactly pleasant, nor was it friendly—but somehow, they began to develop a bit of camaraderie…