Bills' planet was dying.
Not like a collapsing house. Like a living animal having its insides ripped out. The ground trembled, but it wasn't a normal tremor: it was a heartbeat, a deep pulse rising from the core and coursing through the bones of those who walked on it.
At the center of it all, Broly was screaming.
His body radiated a green and golden aura that made the air itself feel heavy. It smelled of burnt ozone, of an electric storm, of something ancient and wild. With each roar, the mountains split apart from within. With each strike against the ground, the entire planet groaned in pain.
Gohan fell to his knees a kilometer away.
He hadn't been fighting. He was just training with Piccolo when the earth began to dance beneath their feet. Now, with his chest tight and his hands buried in the rock, he saw Broly's silhouette in the distance, destroying everything.
"Broly!" he shouted, though he knew it was useless. "You're going to destroy the planet!"
The wind carried his words away.
Broly wasn't listening. Nothing of him remained. Only rage. Only destruction. Only that green light enveloping him like a blaze.
Beside him, Piccolo clenched his jaw.
"He can't hear you," he said quietly. "Not anymore."
--
On Earth, Goku and Vegeta were sitting in Bulma's garden.
In front of them: mountains of food. Rice, fish, meat, vegetables. Both ate in silence, competing without speaking, as they always did. The sun was warm, just right. The wind moved through the trees.
Neither knew what was happening in another world.
"You're going to burst, Kakarrot," Vegeta said with his mouth full.
"You're talking with your mouth full too," Goku replied, and burst out laughing.
--
On Bills' planet, the hell continued.
Gohan was still on his knees. Piccolo stood still, watching. Broly kept destroying.
And then it happened.
At the top of the giant tree where Bills slept, something stirred. It wasn't a sound. It wasn't a light. It was a feeling, like when the air changes before a storm.
Bills was inside his house, fast asleep. He snored peacefully, oblivious to the chaos.
But suddenly, without opening his eyes, without moving, without even changing the rhythm of his breathing, he spoke a single word:
"Silence."
And everything stopped.
On Bills' planet, time froze.
Broly was about to unleash his final attack. His arm was pulled back, energy gathered, hatred in his eyes. But his green aura flickered once. Twice. Three times.
And went out.
Broly fell to the ground like a ragdoll. Unconscious. Defeated. Without anyone laying a finger on him.
Gohan felt something grip him from the inside. It wasn't pain. It was a weight, an invisible hand crushing his chest and emptying his lungs. He fell forward, gasping.
Piccolo resisted three seconds longer. Then his knees hit the ground.
They both looked at Whis, who was there, floating as always, with his eternal smile.
"What... what was that?" Gohan stammered.
Whis tilted his head.
"The universe is mysterious, isn't it?"
And he chuckled softly.
--
On Earth, Goku and Vegeta stopped eating at the same time.
Their chopsticks froze mid-air. The air suddenly felt heavy.
"Did you feel that?" Goku asked.
"Broly's ki," Vegeta replied. "It went out."
They looked at each other. And without another word, they leaped into the sky.
--
When they arrived at Bills' planet, the scene was impressive.
Huge cracks crossed the surface like scars. Smoke rose from the shattered mountains. And in the middle of it all, Gohan and Piccolo were kneeling beside Broly's unconscious body.
"What happened?" Goku asked, landing.
Gohan looked up. His gaze was lost.
"We don't know. Broly lost control. He was going to destroy everything. And then we heard a voice."
"A voice?"
"It said 'silence,'" Piccolo interjected, his voice hoarse. "And we all fell. Broly passed out. We... we can barely stand."
Goku and Vegeta looked at each other.
"Bills," they said in unison.
Without wasting a second, they flew toward the palace.
They entered, expecting to find him awake, expecting answers, expecting something.
But Bills was still sleeping.
Exactly in the same position. With the same snores. He hadn't moved an inch.
"Oh, hello again," said Whis, appearing floating behind them. "How can I help you?"
"Whis," Goku said. "Did Bills do anything a few minutes ago?"
"Lord Bills? No. He's been sleeping the whole time. Look how peaceful he is."
Goku and Vegeta watched the God of Destruction. He snored peacefully. He slept like a baby.
And then they understood.
If it wasn't Bills... then what was it?
And if Bills could sleep through all of that... how much power would it take to ignore something like that?
--
Back on Earth, everyone gathered in Bulma's lab.
Broly was still unconscious, lying on a bed Bulma had improvised. Gohan and Piccolo were recovering slowly. Goku and Vegeta stood with their arms crossed, serious.
"This doesn't make sense," Vegeta said. "If it wasn't Bills, then who?"
"I think we need information," Bulma said. "And I know someone who knows a lot of things. The Grand Zunoh."
--
The Grand Zunoh was an old, bald man with long white mustaches reaching his chest. He sat on a throne surrounded by books and scrolls everywhere. The library smelled of old paper and wood.
"Welcome, welcome," he said in a crackly voice. "What do you wish to know?"
"Grand Zunoh," Bulma said. "We want to know about Bills. The God of Destruction. How powerful is he?"
The old man leafed through a giant book. He turned pages slowly. The silence stretched on.
"I don't know as much as you'd like," he finally replied. "But I know the Supreme Kai's are forbidden from interfering in the lives of mortals. And if they do, they can only use one percent of their power. Or less."
"One percent?" Goku repeated.
"But what I do know," the old man continued, "is that Bills is the most powerful being I know."
Goku, Vegeta, and Bulma looked at each other.
"We need to talk to the Supreme Kai's," Bulma said.
--
The Supreme Kai's received them seriously.
They were ancient beings. With pointed ears. With deep gazes. They smelled of centuries.
"We want to know about Bills," Goku said, bluntly.
"We cannot speak of that," one of them replied. "We are forbidden from interfering in human life."
"But you interfered in the Buu fight," Vegeta said, pointing at him.
The Kai hesitated.
"Yes..." he admitted. "But it was with rules. I only used a fraction of my power."
Another Kai, the eldest, hit him on the head.
"Shut up!" he hissed. "We can't say anything!"
Goku tried to sense their power. But he couldn't. It was as if they were empty. Or rather, as if they were so deep you couldn't see the bottom.
"I can't believe it..." Goku murmured.
"We have a stomach ache," the Kai's suddenly said. "We have to go."
And they disappeared. Just like that. Without noise. Without light. Without a trace.
Goku tried to sense their ki. Nothing. They had vanished.
--
Back on Earth, Bulma gathered everyone in the lab.
"Listen," she said seriously. "I'm going to tell you the truth I discovered. The Supreme Kai's are stronger than we thought. And the proof is that they create life. They created the gods. They created everything."
"What?" everyone said.
"But that's not all," Bulma continued. "The Grand Zunoh told me something else. There isn't just one Supreme Kai. There are thousands. All across the universe. And it would take them thousands of years to travel from one galaxy to another. The universe is immense."
"Thousands?" Goku asked.
"Thousands. But that's all we know. The only one who can tell us more is Shenron."
--
They gathered the Dragon Balls.
The sky darkened. Lightning crossed the clouds. And Shenron appeared, coiling in the air, enormous, ancient, his red eyes glowing in the dim light.
"Speak. I shall grant your wish," his voice rumbled.
"Shenron," Bulma said, swallowing. "Who is Bills really? And how powerful is he?"
The dragon looked at them. His red eyes blinked slowly.
"I don't know much either," he replied. "But I know there are more Supreme Kai's. Most don't know each other because the universe is so vast. Infinite."
Everyone listened in silence.
"There are also thousands of Dragon Balls in the universe," Shenron continued. "The radar Bulma made only works for this galaxy. But the universe is vast. The radar only sees a fraction."
"Thousands of Dragon Balls?" Bulma exclaimed.
"And something else," Shenron said. "You believe the Namekians created me. But that's not true. The Namekians only have the power to create the physical balls. The shell. But I, Shenron, am the creation of Lord Bills."
The silence became so thick you could cut it.
No one spoke. No one breathed.
"Bills... created you?" Goku finally asked.
Shenron did not answer. His red eyes blinked once more. And then, slowly, his body began to fade.
"I have spoken too much," he said, his voice sounding distant. "Bills must not know I told you this."
"Wait!" Bulma shouted. "Shenron!"
But the dragon was already just an echo. A shadow. A memory.
The Dragon Balls shot off in seven different directions, as if trying to flee from what they had just heard.
--
Bulma broke the silence.
"Now I understand," she said quietly. "Bills is the most mysterious being in the universe. We have to talk to him."
--
Goku, Vegeta, and Bulma returned to Bills' planet.
This time Bills was awake. Sitting on his floating throne, eating ice cream with a long, elegant spoon. Whis floated beside him, with his eternal smile.
"You again," Bills said with annoyance. "What do you want now?"
"Lord Bills," Goku said. "We want to know who you really are. Why did you create Shenron? Why are you so powerful? And I also want to know why I could never get that red god power again."
Bills sighed. Bored. Tired.
"Don't bother me. Leave me to eat in peace."
"Fight us," Vegeta suddenly said.
Bills raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"Fight us. If you do, we'll give you food. All the ice cream you want."
A mischievous smile spread across Bills' feline face.
"Food, you say?" he paused. "I accept. But with one condition: if you can't touch me, you'll never ask me anything about myself again."
"Deal," Goku and Vegeta said in unison.
--
Goku transformed into Ultra Instinct.
His body shone silver. His eyes turned silver. His movements became automatic. Perfect.
Vegeta transformed into Ultra Ego.
His purple aura vibrated powerfully. The more damage he took, the stronger he would become.
The two strongest warriors of the Seventh Universe charged together.
And Bills...
Bills didn't get up from his seat.
He held the spoon he was eating with. He lifted it lazily. And moved it slightly to the side.
Goku and Vegeta went flying as if a god had slapped them.
They crossed the atmosphere. They crossed planets. They tore through the vacuum of space until they could barely stop, gasping, without air, without breath.
"I... can't... breathe..." Goku panted.
"Damn it..." Vegeta muttered, and began to lose consciousness.
Whis appeared beside them with a flash.
"My, my. Looks like you overdid it a bit, huh?"
And with a wave of his staff, he teleported them back to Earth.
--
On the ground of Bulma's garden, Goku and Vegeta lay defeated, staring at the sky.
"He beat us... with a spoon..." Goku whispered.
"A simple... spoon..." Vegeta repeated, clenching his fists.
Whis floated above them, smiling.
"You're not ready yet to know who Lord Bills really is," he said. "You need to train more. You're still young. But someday..."
And with that said, he disappeared.
--
On his planet, Bills looked at Earth in the palm of his hand.
He could see Goku and Vegeta complaining in Bulma's garden. Small. Insignificant. But something about them reminded him of someone.
"They remind me a lot of Ozari," he said quietly.
Whis, who had returned to his side, looked at him curiously.
"Ozari? The Super Saiyan Goddess?"
"Yes. It's been 50 million years since the Second Divine War ended."
"So long..." Whis murmured.
Bills nodded. His eyes, for an instant, lost their fury. Lost their boredom. For an instant, they were just old eyes looking back.
"I remember the happiest moments of my life," he said. "When I was still mortal. With my siblings. Champa. Shenron... and Ozari."
"No one knows the truth of your life, Lord Bills," Whis said gently. "Not even the Grand Zunoh."
"It's better that way," Bills replied. "Few of us survived the Divine War."
He looked back at Earth. At Goku. At Vegeta.
"Those two remind me of her," he said. "Goku's innocence. Vegeta's stubbornness. They were wonderful years. With her. With my siblings."
And on Earth, Goku and Vegeta kept staring at the stars, lying on the ground, unaware that the God of Destruction held secrets 50 million years old.
Secrets that someday, perhaps, they would be ready to learn.