"Then the favor I owed the Namekian race is hereby repaid in full."
"Thank you, Lord Gran!"
Nail bowed deeply to Gran once more.
Gran nodded, then grabbed Bulma and vanished from Namek in an instant.
After Gran left, Nail rushed into the Grand Elder's house. Moments later, his excited voice echoed from inside:
"Grand Elder, this is the additional compensation Lord Gran gave us!"
"Lord Gran really is... Didn't I already say there was no need for any extra compensation? Why would he still..."
"Grand Elder, take a look at this first."
"What is it?"
"Lord Gran said these are fruits consumed by the gods. They can..."
"I never imagined such a fruit existed in this world!"
"Grand Elder, does that mean you can eat them? We truly don't want to lose you!"
"Yes. As long as it is something that naturally exists, I can accept it."
"That's wonderful!!"
Meanwhile, in the Other World.
Two figures suddenly appeared before King Yemma's palace.
One was a handsome man, the other a beautiful woman.
"Gran, where is this place?" Bulma asked cautiously as she looked around.
Everything here felt strange.
It was as if the entire world was floating in midair.
Especially the "people" around them—they looked more like wisps of smoke than beings with physical bodies.
"Aren't you usually the type who loves excitement?" Gran teased. "This time, I've brought you somewhere rather special."
"Special?"
Bulma's heart skipped a beat.
This place certainly felt special.
"So where exactly are we?"
"You'll come here after you die. Surely you can figure it out now?"
The smile on Gran's face widened.
"What?!"
Bulma shuddered.
Mortals came to the Other World after death.
Her eyes widened in shock.
"Gran, are you saying this is the Other World?"
"That's right."
"My goodness! I never thought I'd get to visit the Other World before dying. This feels incredible!"
Like an overly curious child, Bulma began touching everything around the entrance of King Yemma's palace.
Just then, a guard standing before the palace shouted:
"Who are you people? How dare you make such a disturbance in front of King Yemma's palace!"
Bulma jumped in fright and hurried behind Gran.
Gran narrowed his eyes and turned toward the guard.
Suddenly..
A giant resembling the Ox-King came tumbling out of the palace.
He rushed to the guard's side and roared:
"Shut your mouth! The person before you is Lord Gran, the Candidate God of Destruction! Do you have a death wish?!"
Gran had visited the Other World before, so King Yemma already knew his identity.
Hearing King Yemma's furious roar, the guard instantly collapsed to the floor.
"Well?! Apologize!"
"My deepest apologies, Lord Candidate God of Destruction!"
The guard immediately kowtowed in panic.
Watching from behind Gran, Bulma once again witnessed the immense status Gran possessed within Universe 7.
Yet every time she saw others bow before him, she couldn't help but feel awestruck.
Then she remembered the special treatment she herself received from Gran, Beerus, and the other gods.
"Hehe..."
Bulma suddenly let out a silly giggle.
"What are you laughing about?"
Gran frowned.
Was this woman losing her mind?
"N-Nothing!"
Bulma quickly covered her mouth.
Only then did Gran shift his gaze toward King Yemma.
"Has Frieza arrived in the Other World yet?"
"Yes, Lord Gran. Frieza has already arrived."
King Yemma wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and continued:
"However, just like his brother Cooler, he was one of the greatest evils in the living world. So I transferred him to Heaven and arranged for him to receive the Little Angels' purification every day."
Gran merely shrugged at King Yemma's definition of "great evil."
In his eyes, Frieza and Cooler didn't quite qualify.
But he didn't bother arguing.
Different levels meant different standards.
King Yemma's duty was to maintain balance between the living world and the afterlife, and this was the standard by which he judged souls.
"Where is Heaven?" Gran asked.
"Over there."
King Yemma pointed in a direction opposite Snake Way.
Gran nodded.
Grabbing Bulma once again, he stepped forward.
The two vanished instantly.
Only after they were gone did King Yemma finally dare breathe normally again.
Fortunately, Lord Gran hadn't gotten angry.
Heaven.
Two white cocoons hung from a giant tree.
But they weren't actually cocoons.
Inside were two Frost Demons wrapped tightly in white cloth.
The area was filled with noisy arguments.
"Cooler! You're here too?!"
"Frieza, aren't you here as well?"
"Hahaha! To think the mighty King Cooler would one day end up in such a pathetic state."
"Shut up! If it weren't for you, would I be suffering like this?"
"What do you mean?"
"What else could I mean? The one who killed me was a Saiyan! If you'd completely wiped out the Saiyan race back then, I wouldn't have ended up like this!"
"What?! You were killed by a Saiyan too?"
"What? Don't tell me you were also killed by a Saiyan?"
"..."
"Hahaha! Frieza, Frieza! You really brought this upon yourself!"
"Cooler, shut up!"
Frieza's eyes were bloodshot.
He wanted nothing more than to kill the brother hanging beside him.
Unfortunately, the white bindings rendered him completely immobile.
But even worse torture awaited him.
Countless Little Angels stood around the tree singing cheerful songs.
To Frieza, their melodies sounded like demonic whispers echoing endlessly inside his head.
His skull felt as though it were about to split open.
"AAAAAHHH! ALL OF YOU, GET AWAY FROM ME!!"
Seeing Frieza struggle like a madman, Cooler burst into laughter once again.
"Hahaha! If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be here either. Now it's finally your turn to suffer this torment!"
Judging from his reaction, Cooler's soul had grown significantly stronger.
He was now able to endure the Little Angels' punishment.
At that moment, two figures suddenly appeared in the clearing.
The Little Angels immediately recognized the lord who had once fished on the Grand Kai's Planet.
They quickly bowed.
The surroundings instantly fell silent.
Frieza gasped heavily.
For a moment, he had truly felt as though his head might explode.
"Who could have arrived?"
The moment Frieza looked up, he froze.
It was Gran!!!!
Cooler noticed the newcomers as well.
The instant he recognized Gran's face, excitement erupted across his features.
"It's Lord Gran!"
"Lord Gran, you've finally come to see me! Have you come to rescue me?"
"Lord Gran, I, the ruler of a universe, was defeated by a Saiyan monkey. I've truly disappointed you!"
His reaction was nearly identical to Frieza's before.
He desperately struggled, trying to break free from his cocoon.
Frieza stared blankly.
Why was his brother acting so strangely?
Yes, Gran was a Candidate God of Destruction—
but he was also a Saiyan monkey!
What Frieza didn't know was that even now, Cooler still hadn't realized Gran had always been a Saiyan.
Unable to hold back any longer, Frieza said coldly:
"Cooler, have you lost your mind? Do you even know who he is?"
"Of course I do! He's Lord Beerus's Candidate God of Destruction!"
Cooler's eyes burned with fanatical admiration.
"Gran, this guy is hilarious!"
Standing beside Gran, Bulma couldn't help laughing.
She still remembered Cooler.
Back when she was developing the Super Dragon Ball Radar, she'd encountered him. Fortunately, Broly had been there to protect her.
But honestly...
Why did Cooler seem like such a devoted fanboy?
Even Gran felt puzzled.
Had the Little Angels tortured this guy into insanity?
"Since you know he's a Candidate God of Destruction," Frieza snapped, "do you know he's also a Saiyan?"
The entire area fell deathly silent.
The shock on Cooler's face was as if he'd just heard world-shattering news.
Slowly, stiffly, he turned his head.
"W-What did you just say?"
"..."
At this point, if Frieza still couldn't understand Cooler's behavior, he would be an idiot.
His brother had never known Gran was a Saiyan!
Gran and Bulma finally understood the truth as well.
"He's a Candidate God of Destruction, yes. But he's also a Saiyan. If you don't believe me, look at the tail behind him!"
Cooler hurriedly looked at Gran.
As if to make the truth unmistakable, Gran released the tail wrapped around his waist.
BOOM!!
A tidal wave exploded inside Cooler's mind.
Ever since Gran had saved his life from Broly years ago, Cooler had idolized him.
Yet now he discovered that his idol was actually a Saiyan.
The very race he considered his mortal enemy.
His worldview shattered instantly.
"Hmph. Worshipping a Saiyan? You're even more foolish than I thought."
Seeing Cooler's dumbfounded expression, Frieza sneered.
In truth, Cooler couldn't really be blamed.
When they first met, Gran's tail had already been cut off.
Only after achieving Super Saiyan 4 had Gran broken the seal on his tail and regained it.
That was why Cooler had never once connected him to the Saiyan race.
"Lord Gran, have you come here to laugh at us?" Frieza asked.
Hearing Frieza address Gran as "Lord," Bulma blinked in surprise.
Then she quickly understood.
Gran stood at the very peak of Universe 7.
No matter how much Frieza hated the Saiyans, he still didn't dare disrespect Gran.
"Laugh at you?"
Gran looked Frieza over.
"You could say that. I did come here to laugh at you."
Before Goku transformed into a Super Saiyan, Frieza had plenty of opportunities to kill them all.
Instead, he just had to provoke fate by killing Krillin.
There were three iron laws in Dragon Ball:
Never touch Krillin in front of Goku.
Never touch Piccolo in front of Gohan.
And never touch Vegeta's wife in front of Vegeta.
Frieza killed Krillin.
If he didn't die after that, who would?
"You...!"
Frieza gritted his teeth.
But faced with Gran's power, he could only suppress his rage.
And honestly...
Gran wasn't wrong.
If he'd simply finished off Goku and the others sooner, he wouldn't have ended up dead.
Gran ignored Frieza and turned toward Cooler.
Noticing Gran's gaze, a trace of fanatic admiration instinctively appeared in Cooler's eyes.
Yet the moment he remembered Gran was a Saiyan, that admiration instantly vanished.
"What? Do you hate me now?" Gran asked calmly.
"N-No! I wouldn't dare!"
Cooler clenched his teeth, unable to meet Gran's eyes.
"Frieza is laughable. But honestly, I don't think poorly of you."
"W-What do you mean?"
Years of admiration made Cooler's heart leap with joy the moment he heard Gran's praise.
Nearby, Frieza rolled his eyes.
His brother was beyond saving.
"When you lost to Broly back then, it wasn't shameful."
Gran stood with his hands behind his back and smiled faintly.
"Because Broly was never an ordinary Saiyan."
"Not just you—even throughout the entire Omni-King's Universe, very few people could defeat him."
Gran wasn't exaggerating.
In the anime, practically every major protagonist had been beaten by Broly.
If not for plot armor, Broly would have been one of the strongest individuals alive.
"Broly..."
Frieza murmured the name.
So the Saiyan who killed Cooler had been called Broly.
"Lord Gran, then why have you come here today?" Cooler asked, unwilling to revisit that memory.
Frieza and Bulma both perked up their ears.
Gran rubbed his chin and thought for a moment before answering seriously:
"I came to tell you to train properly. I'll need both of you in the future."
Train?
Frieza nearly exploded with anger.
They were dead!
They didn't even have physical bodies anymore!
And they were literally hanging from a tree while being tortured by Little Angels.
How exactly were they supposed to train?
Cooler's reaction, however, was completely different.
The moment he heard the words "I'll need both of you," he became visibly excited.
"Lord Gran, does that mean you're planning to revive us someday?"
Gran: "..."
He already knew Gran was a Saiyan now.
So why was he still acting like a starstruck fanboy?
Frieza was equally speechless.
He simply couldn't understand why his brother worshipped Gran so much.
Had Gran secretly brainwashed him or something?
Still...
Frieza didn't have time to complain about Cooler.
What truly mattered to him was whether Gran really intended to bring them back to life.
END OF CHAPTER
Disciple of Beerus - MrBehringer's Secret
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