Chapter 328 - 52: Mastered Ultra Instinct Or Hakai? (II) (1/2)

”Tch, of course you would have to show up again, you bastard.”, Vegeta said while still in the sky. Sure he was shocked too seeing Nao move like that, but he his eyes focused on his white hair. Vegeta powered down his Hakai, returning to normal. He then flew down next to Nao's party.

Vegeta walked up to Nao, and actually extended his hand outward for a handshake to greet him. Nao couldn't help but chuckle seeing this.

”Heh, what is this, my dear Brother-In-Law? The Prince of all Saiyans is doing a proper greeting!”

”J-Just shake my hand, damn it! And how many times have I told you not to address me like that!?”

Despite being momentarily shocked, everyone let out a laugh. Yet Nao still proceeded to shake his hand with a firm grasp.

”Either way, it's good to see you again, Vegeta. We'll only be here a couple days though before heading off to Universe 6 with these two.”

Caulifla and Kale were squeezed between Nao, Vados and Tights, so it took a good minute to recognize the two. Goku immediately yelled out to the two to greet the two.

”Hey it's you two! How ya been doin' since the tournament and the farewell? Ya put up quite the fight back there!”, Goku said, extending his hand out for a greeting.

”Right back at ya, Son Goku! We've not been slacking either off you know.”

”...”, Kale didn't say anything, and even looked away.

”Hehe. It's good to see you guys again.”, Goku happily said.

As the group began to chat a bit, Bulma finally got off of her long chai, and headed toward Tights.

”Geez, it feels like you've been gone for ages, Big Sis. You're really sporting that maid setup now, aren't you?”

Bulma took a good look at Tights. Tights appeared with her short cut blond hair and her large black beady eyes. Yet instead of wearing her typical overall jeans and a black torn undershirt, she was wearing a full blown black maid outfit with a white apron and white frills, with long sleeves. The hem of her skirt stuck close to her hip, it didn't puff out. One could see some muscle tone on her body as well.

Tights was now essentially a battle maid. One very much like those of the Pleiades maids that serve Momonga. Yet she specialized in close combat and ki manipulation. Since her time spent with Nao, Tights was able to deepen her martial prowess that she didn't even know she had.

After all, compared to the rest of the universe and Multiverse, a back-water planet like Earth, especially in DBZ, was quite lacking. Tights could hold her own ground quite well now, a force not to be underestimated.

Tights giggled a bit before responding to Bulma with a hug of her own.

”Haha, it's what I do now, Bulma. You still look the same since we left.”

”Yet why do I get the feeling you're more m.a.t.u.r.e than before? The same goes to the rest of you. You've been only gone around nine months, you can't change that quickly!”, Bulma said with a shocked expression.

Tights blinked for a good moment before she answered Bulma, which drew everyone's attention.

”Nine months? Bulma, we've been gone for twelve years.”

It was Bulma's turn to yell out in surprise.

”Ehhhhh!? Twelve years!?”

This indeed surprised Goku's group, but nonetheless Nao's group still returned back to their second home. Of course Nao's first home was where his and Chelsea's first lives began, back on their own Earth, which sadly no longer exists.

Nao didn't beat around the bush, and spoke out to the group.

”That's right, Bulma. We're going to heading off to another place soon, and it looks like wherever we go, time fluctuates differently. But we came back to spend time here. I've got a request for Goku too.”

”Huh, something for me?”

”Yeah. How about a three way spar with you, me, Vegeta?”

Goku smiles the moment he heard the word, 'spar'.

”Hehe, I always enjoy hearing those words. A spar with Nao and Vegeta will definitely get me fired up!”

He even felt his blood start pumping. Step back a bit, he entered a bracing stance, and yelled out. Goku's hair flickered green before a golden aura wrapped around his body, causing his hair to turn golden. He became a Super Saiyan right there!

”Hmph, I've always wanted to throw a good punch into that face of yours. Count me interested.”, Vegeta said, crossing his arms together.

Hearing the three say this, Bulma smacked her face with her palm, giving herself a facepalm. She then let out a sigh while shrugging her shoulders.

”See, Lord Beerus? Saiyans will always be Saiyans.”

”That's for damn sure. It is hard to say who will come out on top this time around.”

After Lord Beerus said that while cupping his chin with his hand, he observed Goku, Vegeta and Nao with a look of interest.

”That's right. I'm no longer following in Kakarrot's footsteps. I've my own path now.”, Vegeta said with confidence.

”Oh? You've always found yourself struggling to keep up with Goku. Did something happen in these nine months?”

”Ah, yeah. you've missed what was probably our most difficult battle yet. Merus even sacrificed his own life to buy us some time to defeat that bastard.”, Goku said as he powered down, letting out a rare curse. Even Bulma clenched her fist in anger.

Nao knew what happened in the Moro Arc, but he still acted surprised when he spoke next. The only difference with this was Merus was reassigned to Universe 6 as its Angel, but it seemed he still returned to Universe 7, and participated in the Moro arc, eventually getting himself killed.

”Brother Merus died? But wasn't he assigned to Lord Champa?”

”About that...”, Bulma tried to answer Nao, but everyone was interrupted by a new voice, one that Nao knew well. A figure soon emerged from the inside of the closest dome building that lead to the resort area. Not only that, this figure wasn't alone either, it came with three others, and one of those three was a beautiful silvery-white long haired woman wearing a posh kai robe similar to Shin's and had a white tail around her waist.

Yet it was the first figure to speak out to the group with a chuckle.

”Haha, don't go throwing out your condolences to me just yet, Brother Nao.”, the figure said.

This voice indeed came from Merus as he emerged with Shin, who was holding the silvery-white woman's hand. She was indeed Kassi, one of Nao's daughters! And the fourth figure was Kibito who had his hands held casually behind his back.

The moment Nao saw Merus, Kassi, Shin, and Kibito appear, Nao swept out his senses. He couldn't sense even a speck of Divine Ki from Merus. No Angel gear or garb could be seen on his body either, not even his halo. It was as if he was completely mortal now. And in fact, he was just that. Merus was now mortal!

”Brother Merus, you...”, Nao began to say, but Merus cut him off with a smile.

”It's okay, Nao. I've already come to terms with this. I'm just grateful Father gave me one last chance, even if I got my powers stripped from me. It was all thanks to Shin's urging here.”

”Haha, think nothing of it, Merus.”, Shin answered him.

”Then I'll ask simply, how much do you have left?”

”100 years. This is rather an unexpected gathering.”, another voice suddenly echoed in the group's eyes, as if this voice was speaking directly into their mind.

It was Merus, Whis and Vados to react first, looking up into the sky as the voice answered Nao's question. All of a sudden, a rainbow pillar of light descended from the sky, safely touching down near by without destroying anything.

Four figures soon emerged from the rainbow pillar. The first one was none other than the Grand Minister! The second was Lord Zeno himself. The latter two were Zeno's two guards. Beerus and Shin's group just stared at them for a good moment while Nao immediately went up to Zeno and knelt down. Beerus and Shin's group finally reacted as well, and knelt down too.

A giggle escaped from Zeno's mouth as he greeted Nao.

”Hehehe, Nao you're back!”

”Yes, it is nice to see you again, Lord Zeno.”

”You can rise you know? You don't need to kneel when we meet. We're friends aren't we? Just like how I'm friends with Goku too!”

”Alright, if you say so.”, Nao nodded, and stood up.

”Zennie! It's nice to see ya again!” (A/N : Goku says Zen-chan in jp, this is the equivalent in English)

Yet as Beerus was next to Goku, he slapped Goku on the back of his head after he heard Goku speak like that.

”Don't you dare address Lord Zeno like that, Goku! How many times do I have to tell you that?”

”O-Ouch...What'd ya do that for, Lord Beerus?”, Goku said letting out a groan as he rubbed his head.

Zeno saw this, and his face became neutral without emotion quickly. Floating over to Beerus, he spoke out two simple words which caused a cold chill to go down Beerus's spine.

”Shut up.”

”Y-Yes! I'm sorry!”, Beerus apologized for his earlier remark.

Yet Zeno ignored him and continued to float towards Kassi, who also found this exchange funny but didn't say anything.

As Zeno looked at Kassi, he felt a familiar feeling as he did with Nao.

”Hmm, why do you look familiar?”

”Kassi is one of Nao's children, Lord Zeno, just like how I have my own.”

”I see! I can definitely see the resemblance. You can rise too, anyone related to Nao doesn't need to kneel before me.”

”Thank you. It is nice to meet ya in person, Lord Zeno.”

Hearing that, Kassi got up and smiled. Zeno giggled and floated back over to Goku and Nao. Nao then spoke out to the Grand Minister as Goku and Zeno started to talk with each other.

Meanwhile, back in Rebirth's void space, everyone had their meal and congregated to the observation room, where they could witness Nao's stay. They spent a couple of hours doing their own business, but knowing the spar was coming up, they would definitely watch it.

Those of the Overlord Plane also saw Zeno for the first time. Iris especially found it confusing seeing Nao kneel down in front of someone.

”Say, is this needed for Nao to kneel in front of this kid? I mean, back in our world, kneeling is--!?”, Iris tried to say, only for her voice to get muffled. Miya immediately covered Iris's mouth with her hand.

”I'll stop you right there, Sister Miya. We don't know if Lord Zeno's influence can reach over here yet. We don't want to offend him.”

Hearing Miya speak seriously, Iris calmed down. Miya then lifted her hand and continued to speak.

”Besides, Lord Zeno may appear a kid, but in reality he is not. The Planes we create through Rebirth mirror their original counterparts, the same goes for Lord Zeno. Essentially he is the one who created everything inside the DBZ Plane, the highest existence so to say.”

”The highest existence...? We only have humans from our Plane.”

”That's right. But we started out our journey in the DBZ Plane, one whose threat is really high if you take the wrong turn. Probably wasn't the ideal choice, but it was the only one given to us at the time by The President. My creator probably wanted us to get strong fast before exploring other parts of the Multiverse.”

”Guess it worked out in the end, didn't it?”

”Yep! The DBZ Plane has humans, aliens, demons, gods, goddesses, monsters, you name it. And Lord Zeno is the one who sits at their top. He is like a walking infinity gauntlet, but he doesn't need an external conduit to erase something or someone like Thanos from existence.”

”...Infinity Gauntlet?”, Iris asked, only appearing more confused. Miya giggled hearing her confusion.

”Hehe, pay no attention to that comparison for now, I'm not sure if we'll even go to such a place in the future...”, Miya continued to say. (A/N Who knows? xD)

”The President hasn't sent out our next list to choose from yet. But just know this, if you're ever around Lord Zeno, don't upset him. Even gods can get erased with a snap of his fingers within his domain.”

”That sounds...frightening. And this Lord Zeno is currently one of our friends?”

”He is! That is why we pay our respects to him, but if Lord Zeno doesn't want that either, then it's even better for us. Besides, Brother Nao still has his promise to uphold with Lord Zeno. Even if its just for a bit, once we'll reach the New World, we'll bring Lord Zeno over.”

”Seriously? Wouldn't that, like be bad for those who live there?”

”Assuming his power still works...probably?”

”Probably!? Ugh just thinking about this makes my head hurt...”

”Hehe, don't sweat about it. We knew something like this would happen if Brother decided to connect the Planes. At least that part is controllable from our end of who goes in and out, at least what we've seen thus far. You've yet to see Brother fight as a Saiyan, so just enjoy that for now, okay?”

”Does his hair turn golden too like That Goku guy?”, Iris asked as had her spirits lifted.

”Sure does! I can too!”

”Really!?”

”Mmhmm. Looks like we may get a new Brother joining our family too, look.”

As Miya pointed that out, she raised her finger to the giant floating screen everyone was currently looking at. Iris followed her finger, only to see it moving toward Merus…

Moving back to Nao, a bit of time passed since everyone arrived at Bulma's private island. Several conversations and eating were under way. As for Nao, he was now talking to the Grand Minister with Merus next to him.

”So what brings you here, Grand Minister? Guess our presence travels quickly. Haha!”, Nao said, letting out a laugh.

”Indeed. Once we sensed you guys, it was mostly at Lord Zeno's urging that we came. But what is this about a spar?”

”Ahhh, that. I plan to spar with Goku and Vegeta. Though I fear anywhere close where we will fight, it may cause endangerment to that planet. I was thinking of using something like the Null Realm again.”

”I see. Then why don't we have it back at Lord Zeno's Palace? That way we'll save the trouble of opening the Null Realm. We could even use his personal arena.”

”Wait, Lord Zeno has that?”

”Of course. He may appear innocent most of the time, but Lord Zeno enjoys his fair share of fighting too. Plus it'll let him observe your match.”

”I don't see why not.”