Whoosh!
A surge of shimmering light, a phantom tide, swept out. In that instant, the river of time didn't just flow; it stretched into an endless torrent, connecting the past to the future and spreading into the reaches of time and space. Jiang Chen's silhouette stood firm amid the flow, his boots planted in the rushing current.
At his power level, forcibly dragging Bardock into this temporal stream should have been nearly impossible, a feat requiring unimaginable effort. A forced pull of this magnitude should have been doubly hard.
Yet, for some strange reason, it felt surprisingly easy. It was as if Bardock's existence in both the present and the past created a weakness, a door into the fabric of time.
In a single moment, the power of the temporal river engulfed them both, and they vanished into the flow.
...
God of Destruction's Planet
One moment they were there, and the next, two blurs were gone.
Everyone's eyes widened.
"Whis!" Goku called out instinctively, his gaze snapping to the angel.
The others reacted the same way. They had been poised for the next blow, transformation, or cataclysm, and it had simply ended.
"They must have gone to the past!" Whis spoke with a gentle, intrigued smile. He seemed genuinely entertained. "Let's go. I can take you there!"
He lightly tapped his staff on the ground.
Hum!
The strike sent an instantaneous ripple outward, enveloping the group.
Whoosh!
The tide surged again, but this wasn't Jiang Chen's dangerous temporal river. It was an invisible, rainbow-like ripple that wrapped around them. The time and space around them began to spin and rewind at an impossible speed.
In the blink of an eye, the entire group disappeared from God of Destruction's planet.
They hadn't just disappeared from the surface, they had abandoned this entire slice of time and space.
They were headed to the past.
Millions of years ago. Planet Sadala.
At this point in history, the planet Sadala was cloaked in tranquility. The Saiyans lived in relative peace. They were not a predatory warrior race bent on conquest; rather, they were guardians who existed to maintain stability in the universe.
Although they lacked an organized defense force like their counterparts in Universe 6, life in the Northern Milky Way System, where the Saiyans lived, was calm.
"Waaah!"
Suddenly, the primal cry of a newborn sliced through the morning sunlight in one quiet corner of Sadala.
A Saiyan had been born.
But, unlike the other children of Sadala, this infant radiated extreme ferocity. A violently intense, almost palpable aura pulsed from his small body.
As the vicious aura surged outward, the surrounding Saiyans slowly began to fall under its influence.
The chaos began subtly and spread like a plague across Planet Sadala. The long-standing peace was shattered in an instant.
Riots erupted.
The once-stable lives of the Saiyans were thrown into utter, terrifying destruction.
"Boom!"
"Rumble!"
A deafening roar of battle filled the entire planet. Fueled by the newborn's terrifying essence, the now-violent Saiyans clashed with the peaceful people of Sadala.
Destruction.
Chaos.
Combat.
The violence was relentless. The gentle Saiyans were quickly overwhelmed. The newly aggressive faction seemed to draw strength from their own savagery, becoming an unstoppable force.
Until...
Boom!
A beacon of golden light shot through the sky.
One warrior stepped forward from the ranks of the peaceful Saiyans, and his appearance underwent a spectacular, fundamental transformation.
His hair and eyebrows ignited into a brilliant gold. Every strand, except for his bangs, stood rigidly upright, and a blistering golden aura flared around his body. A force far more terrifying than the surging violence below ripped across the planet.
The new aura's sheer power radiated outward, bringing the clash between the peaceful and rampaging Saiyans to an absolute, sudden halt. It was a perfect, tense balance of forces.
Whoosh!
The phantom tide surged, and Jiang Chen's silhouette stood tall and utterly dominant upon the spectral river of time.
He looked down at the epic scene unfolding below, a flicker of genuine surprise crossing his face.
He had not expected Angel Whis's comment about the "replacement of the legend" to be so literal.
The golden figure below was unmistakably Bardock.
It wasn't just the heroic Super Saiyan silhouette that was Bardock; the infant whose violent descent had plunged the Saiyans into a frenzy of destruction was also Bardock.
The two forms were virtually identical in appearance.
The only difference was the nature of their aura.
One glowed with relative calm and focused power; the other pulsed with raw, untamed violence.
Watching this impossible scene, Jiang Chen fell into deep contemplation.
He recalled the dizzying, ever-shifting saga of Bardock's story.
As with the countless variations of Dragon Ball mythology, Bardock had undergone multiple iterations.
In the original, brutal version, he was simply an ordinary, low-class warrior. He was indistinguishable from the other Saiyans, utterly cruel and selfish. Sending his son, Goku, to Earth was merely a cold act of obedience. Other low-class warriors, such as Turles and Goku (initially), were cut from the same harsh cloth.
Then came a new version in the TV special Bardock: The Father of Goku. While conquering Planet Kanassa, Bardock survived a psychic attack from a dying warrior named Duo Roh. This attack granted him precognitive visions. He foresaw Frieza's destruction of Planet Vegeta. Though he tried to unite his fellow Saiyans, he was ultimately forced to challenge Frieza alone and died a tragic hero. In a later OVA, Episode of Bardock, he somehow survives and becomes a Super Saiyan after traveling back in time. In this version, he was slightly more human than in the original, less selfish, yet still a brutal Saiyan. He was disappointed to see that his newborn second son, Kakarot, had a low Battle Power of 2.
The latest and arguably most sanitized version appeared in Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball Minus manga and the film Dragon Ball Super: Broly. The storyline was completely different from that of the TV special. While away on a mission, Bardock received a sudden summons back to Planet Vegeta. Sensing danger from Frieza's increasingly suspicious actions, especially after a warning from mercenary army leader Elec, he acted decisively. Together with his wife, Gine, he sent his three-year-old son, Kakarot, to Earth.
Compared to all the previous versions, this Bardock barely resembled a typical Saiyan. In fact, he seemed almost like a copy of Goku's gentle nature. He was kind, rational, and intelligent, and possessed all the admirable qualities one might hope to see in a hero.
At that moment, the truth was clear: the legend surrounding Bardock was so intense that it split his existence in two.
One half embodied benevolence, the protector, the hero. The other half was pure malevolence, the primal, violent aggressor.
"A godly Saiyan and an evil Saiyan?"
Standing on the temporal river, Jiang Chen watched the scene with deep concentration.
This triggered a memory of an old, nearly forgotten Saiyan prophecy.
According to legend, there were three categories of legendary Saiyans.
The Legendary Super Saiyan.
The Legendary Super Saiyan God
and the Legendary Evil Saiyan.
In the modern Dragon Ball Super continuity, these roles were filled by Broly, Yamoshi, and Cumber, respectively.
However, in this alternate past, the legends were merging and changing, twisting around the identity of a single warrior.
Whoosh!
The phantom tide of the river pulsed, and, in the next instant, a shimmering, rainbow-colored light descended onto Jiang Chen's river of time.
Jiang Chen's brow furrowed. He instinctively glared at the invading light.
What he saw left him momentarily stunned.
As the light dispersed, Goku, Raditz, Vegeta, the entire Bardock Squad, and Angel Whis appeared before him. They had all materialized on his temporal current.
"Perfect timing!" Whis's cheerful voice rang out. His gaze was already drifting down towards the struggling planet below.
"Whis, you can traverse time and space, too?" Jiang Chen asked, genuinely surprised, staring at the angel.
He knew Whis was extremely powerful and that the Angels had some control over time and space.
However, having partial authority isn't the same as freely traversing the past.
Under normal circumstances, only Kaiō of Time and Kaiō with Time Rings could accomplish such travel. Even with a Time Ring, however, the Spiritual Gods' restrictions typically meant that no one could travel to the past, only the future.
"Oh ho ho, Lady Chronoa granted me a little power back then," Whis said with a knowing smile. "While I cannot traverse time and space as freely as you, Aspara, I can follow once you open the river."
"I see!" Jiang Chen nodded, the pieces clicking into place. Clearly, Whis had piggybacked on the massive temporal disturbance caused by Jiang Chen's river of time.
"What's that?!" Raditz suddenly bellowed, interrupting their conversation with his shock.
Everyone's attention immediately snapped to the source of his alarm.
Far below them, the planet Sadala lay sprawled out, a landscape of instant, horrific combat.
Golden flames surged outward from the heroic figure, and simultaneously, a terrifying, pitch-black aura spread from the evil one everywhere.
The clashing forces of these two powers, light and shadow, were tearing the planet apart.
Raditz and the others were overwhelmed by the sheer power of the hero Bardock. Though he was only in the Super Saiyan 1 stage, he displayed a raw strength that struck them all to the core.
It was a power that made even the strongest among them tremble.
"Grandpa Bardock is so strong," Goten muttered, his voice hushed in awe.
Everyone present was equally awestruck.
"Of course," said Angel Whis with a gentle smile. "This is the most primal power of your Saiyan race."
"The most primal power?"
They murmured the phrase to themselves, their faces etched with curiosity and profound confusion.
Jiang Chen was no exception.
After a brief hesitation, he spoke up, his question direct and focused on the angel beside him.
"Whis, are you familiar with the Saiyans?"
His gaze was fixed intently on the angel.
As a celestial being born within Universe Seven, Whis had existed far longer than even the God of Destruction, Beerus. He served as Beerus's attendant and tutor, but he was certainly not only Beerus's teacher. Over the long, violent history of Universe Seven, Whis had likely guided countless Gods of Destruction.
There were gaps in knowledge that mortals and even the current generation of gods couldn't fill, but surely Whis knew the answers.
"I know a little," Whis replied with his ever-present smile. "When the Saiyans first arrived in the Seventh Universe, it seemed as if they had come with the Namekians."
Jiang Chen's brow twitched in surprise.
"They came with the Namekians?"
"Yes. At that time, they arrived with several other races, too, but all of those races have vanished completely," Whis confirmed with a nod.
"So that means the Saiyans are from the Great Devil Realm!" Jiang Chen suddenly stated after a moment of stunned silence.
"You know about the Great Devil Realm?"
Whis looked at him with mild surprise for a moment.
By this era, the shallow and deep Devil Realms were well known to the gods, but the original Great Devil Realm had gradually faded into obscurity over the course of history. This was especially true since the Great Devil Realm had completely sealed off its path to the mortal world centuries ago.
Whis clearly hadn't expected Jiang Chen to be aware of the Great Devil Realm.
"I know a little," Jiang Chen admitted. "Not much."
He gave a slight nod, then slowly shook his head.
He knew a few scattered facts about it, mainly from before he was transported to this world when the non-canon Dragon Ball: The Great Demon was airing. Even then, his understanding was limited because that version of the story had just begun, with perhaps only a few episodes aired.
For instance, he knew that all beings with pointy ears originated from the Great Devil Realm. He also knew that the Great Devil Realm was organized into three layers. That was about the extent of his usable knowledge.
"It likely isn't that simple," Angel Whis countered. "The Saiyans arrived with the Namekians, but they don't exhibit the defining traits of the Great Devil Realm's races. As for more detailed information on their origins, I honestly don't know either."
He paused and tilted his head in thought. "Maybe the Namekians created them through ancient magic. Or maybe they originate from an even deeper layer of existence, a place not even I have cataloged."
Angel Whis gently shook his staff and offered a soft explanation.
Jiang Chen nodded thoughtfully.
The angel was right. If they were truly from the Great Devil Realm, many details wouldn't align.
For example, Saiyans all had normal, rounded ears, whereas pointed ears were the undeniable hallmark of a Great Devil Realm being. That was a fundamental, unchanging rule.
"However, Aspara," Angel Whis continued with a gentle and mysterious smile, "there is one thing I can mention. Among the universes destroyed by Zen'ō, the King of All, there seems to have been one dominated primarily by Saiyans."
Jiang Chen, who had been deep in thought, snapped his gaze up. The statement caused the pupils of everyone present to constrict slightly.
"A universe dominated by Saiyans?" Raditz blurted out, his voice a mix of awe and disbelief.
The others were just as stunned, their eyes wide. The concept of a universe where the brutal, volatile Saiyans were the primary ruling race was almost unimaginable.
"Yes," Angel Whis confirmed. "Let me think...it should have been the original Third Universe. The God of Destruction there was a Saiyan as well."
The angel nodded again, affirming the astounding truth.
Hearing this, all the figures present exchanged glances, their hearts filled with a profound sense of awe and shock. They realized that the history of their race was far more immense and frightening than they could have ever guessed.
(Note from the Author: In this Dragon Ball Alternate Universe, the Saiyans are noted by the Namekians as outsiders, and the lore here aligns with the non-canon Dragon Ball: The Great Demon where both the Saiyans and the Kaiō gods originated from the powerful, ancient Great Devil Realm.)
(End of Chapter)
This novel is finished and I have posted all the advanced chapters on my Patreon https://www.patreon.com/darkshadow6395