"So what exactly do you need from me?"
Seeing that Merus didn't seem interested in probing deeper into the effects of "King's Army," Zuke asked about Merus' purpose.
Based on Merus' usual behavior, unless it was something extremely important, he shouldn't have been willing to intrude upon Planet Sadala just to find him.
Hearing this, Garou, who was crouching in a corner of the cube spaceship, perked up his ears curiously—he was quite curious about what had happened.
Of course, Garou was completely unclear about some of the settings of the Dragon Ball world, so even after listening, he'd end up completely confused unless Zuke was willing to explain to him.
"To be precise, it's not me looking for you, but the God of Destruction of the Sixth Universe—Lord Champa is looking for you."
Merus smiled helplessly. If it were just his own matter, he naturally wouldn't need to be this urgent—but unfortunately, the one looking for him was the God of Destruction.
The Angel race itself is responsible for serving the Gods of Destruction. Although Merus was only an apprentice angel, he could only try his best to help with the God of Destruction's requests. Of course, helping was one thing, but if the God of Destruction made unreasonable demands, angels also had the right to refuse and didn't need to blindly agree to the God of Destruction's needs.
"The God of Destruction of the Sixth Universe, Champa..."
Zuke frowned—he had thought of many possibilities, including the possibility that it might be a God of Destruction looking for him.
But what he had in mind was that Beerus might have woken up early due to the butterfly effect, then learned about him from Whis and wanted to meet him.
After all, according to the original work, Beerus's sleep this time was mainly due to a prophetic dream about the "Super Saiyan God."
And now that the Dragon Ball world's plot had been disrupted by him, the Saiyans' future had changed dramatically, and Kakarot couldn't possibly be sent to Earth anymore.
Then the "Super Saiyan God" that Beerus learned about in his prophetic dream might not appear either, which could cause Beerus to wake up early.
But he never expected that the one looking for him wasn't Beerus who had woken up early, but rather Champa of the Sixth Universe... He and Champa had never had any contact. Although he had the idea of going to the Sixth Universe to collect the remaining Super Dragon Balls, he hadn't put it into action yet, so how could he be targeted?
Thinking of this, Zuke seemed to guess something. He tentatively asked Merus:
"Did Champa say what he's looking for me for? After all, this is the Seventh Universe. If he comes over demanding someone, he should at least give a reason, right?"
Although most people in the original work would add honorifics when facing a God of Destruction, Zuke didn't have the habit of using respectful titles for Champa and directly called him by name.
This behavior, which seemed somewhat impolite to others, made Merus smile slightly—he was well aware of Zuke's personality, so he didn't expect Zuke to call Champa "Lord."
However, as an angel serving the God of Destruction, he should show the proper respect:
"The reason Lord Champa gave is that you took something he had his eye on, so he's prepared to demand that you hand it over."
"I see, that guy has his eye on the Super Dragon Balls."
Hearing this, Zuke almost instantly realized what Champa's purpose was—it seemed Champa had already become aware of the Super Dragon Balls' existence.
In the original work, Champa had secretly sneaked into the Seventh Universe and taken the Seventh Universe's Super Dragon Balls, attempting to secretly gather all the Super Dragon Balls distributed across the Sixth and Seventh Universes.
The Super Dragon Balls' wish-granting power was extremely strong—they could even restore universes destroyed by Zeno. Even Gods of Destruction would be tempted by them for their own needs.
"I thought so too. Among the things Mr. Zuke has recently taken, the only thing that could move even a God of Destruction would be the wishing orbs."
Hearing this, Merus also laughed. Of course he had guessed that Champa was talking about the Super Dragon Balls.
Probably through some means, he confirmed the Super Dragon Balls' location, but when he came to get them, he found that the place where the Super Dragon Balls should have been was already empty.
Then through some means, Champa confirmed that it was Zuke of the Seventh Universe who had taken the Super Dragon Balls, so he had Whis contact Zuke, and Whis contacted Merus.
Originally it should have been contacting Beerus, but Beerus was sleeping, and Champa naturally couldn't wake him, so he could only have Whis, the angel, relay the message.
"So what did Whis say? Did he tell me I must hand over the Super Dragon Balls?"
Of course Zuke didn't want to hand over the Super Dragon Balls—what a joke, the Super Dragon Balls were his hope for raising his abilities to the top tier of the Dragon Ball world.
Although the current Zuke already possessed strength sufficient to fight in the original Frieza Arc, or even the Android Arc, in his view it was far from enough.
He had watched Dragon Ball Super—the strength level of just Dragon Ball Z was no longer enough to satisfy him.
But training step by step would take too much time, and Zuke still had to complete tasks in other mission worlds... So the Super Dragon Balls were the best option.
The Two-Star Shenron of Planet Cyril could make someone the universe's strongest below god-level by paying a certain price.
Then the Super Shenron making him the universe's strongest without any price shouldn't be a problem.
Originally, Zuke planned to handle the tasks in several mission worlds he had on hand before continuing to collect the Super Dragon Balls.
But he didn't expect Champa to set his sights on the Super Dragon Balls so early... Didn't this mean he'd have to compete with a God of Destruction for the Super Dragon Balls?
If Whis advised him to hand over the Super Dragon Balls, he'd really have to think about countermeasures.
"...Whis's meaning is... you don't need to pay attention to Lord Champa's demands."
Merus seemed to see a trace of worry in Zuke's expression and suddenly spoke to him.
"Although Lord Champa is a God of Destruction, he's the God of Destruction of the Sixth Universe... Neither Whis nor I need to follow his orders, and he doesn't dare to act recklessly in the Seventh Universe."
After all, once Champa acted recklessly in the Seventh Universe, when Beerus woke up and reported to the Grand Priest, Champa would be in trouble.
If this matter reached Zeno's ears, Champa might even be erased by an angry Zeno—even the willful God of Destruction wouldn't dare take such a risk.
"However, although Lord Champa can't act recklessly toward you in the Seventh Universe, if you go to the Sixth Universe, we won't be able to stop him."
Seeing Zuke breathe a sigh of relief, Merus continued to remind him helplessly.
"So if you want to go to the Sixth Universe to collect other Super Dragon Balls... you'd better be careful."
"I see, I understand."
Zuke nodded—although this wasn't good news, knowing about Champa's situation in advance was still pretty good.
"Thanks for the reminder, Merus."
"No problem, I don't want to see Mr. Zuke get destroyed by a God of Destruction either."
Merus shook his head with a light laugh and said seriously to Zuke.
"After all, recently the Frieza Force... oh no, it should be called the Zuke Force now. They've restrained themselves a lot according to Mr. Zuke's intentions, and the Galactic Patrol's evaluation is quite high."
To be continued…