"Hahaha, I'm Shin. That makes me your ancestor, technically," Shin said with a laugh, scratching his head as he spoke to Fuwa.
Fuwa nearly blacked out from sheer disbelief.
His ancestor? What kind of nonsense was that?
Bang!
Fuwa did not bother being polite. He drove a fist straight into Shin's nose.
He hit that hard because he knew perfectly well that even Zeno-sama himself did not think much of this idiot.
Not only had Shin dragged down the overall intelligence of Universe 7, he had probably lowered the average IQ of Supreme Kais everywhere.
So yes, Fuwa fully intended to hit this idiot.
"Y-You hit me? Why would you do that?" Shin asked, rubbing his aching nose and staring at Fuwa in surprise.
Young people these days really did have terrible tempers.
"I don't remember doing anything to you," Shin added, baffled.
Bang!
Fuwa planted a kick in him next and sent Shin sprawling onto the floor.
Shin crashed beside the bed and yelped in pain.
Shin was only level 1, and Fuwa was just a little stronger than him to begin with.
More importantly, Shin had been blown unconscious earlier. His divine power had not fully recovered yet, and he was still injured.
Fuwa, on the other hand, was in peak condition.
In Shin's current state, he was no match for him at all.
Fuwa strode forward and planted his foot on Shin's head, pinning him to the floor.
"W-What are you doing?" Shin asked, finally starting to panic.
"Whose ancestor did you say you were?" Fuwa asked darkly.
"Just listen to me first... this goes back more than a thousand years... back then... ahhh—"
Before Shin could finish, Fuwa slammed his head down so hard that it sank into the ground.
"If we fight in here, you'll ruin my floor. Let's take this outside instead," Fuwa said coldly, swinging both hands through the air at him.
Whoosh!
Shin's body flew out through the window against his will and crashed headfirst into the grass outside, landing flat on his back.
"Ow, ow, ow..."
Shin cried out again in pain.
Young people these days were unbelievable.
He had not even said anything, and this brat had already turned violent.
Whoosh!
Fuwa flew out after him and landed nearby, glaring down at him.
How could there be a Supreme Kai this stupid?
"How exactly did someone like you become Supreme Kai?" Fuwa could not help asking.
"Listen, young man, don't go around hitting people over every little thing!" Shin said through gritted teeth as he climbed to his feet. "Since you're younger than me, I'll let it slide. After all, I'm your ancestor, so—ahhh!"
He did not get to finish.
Fuwa slapped him twice through the air, hard enough to make Shin's face snap from side to side.
"You... how exactly did Kibito teach you?" Shin asked angrily. Usually he was mild-tempered, but even he was starting to get mad now.
Fuwa said nothing more. He grabbed Shin by the throat and muttered under his breath.
In the next instant, he appeared high above the Supreme Kai World of Universe 7.
Bang!
Fuwa kicked Shin straight down from the sky.
Splat!
Shin hit the ground on his back again and looked like his whole world had collapsed.
"Pah."
Fuwa spat at him, then used Kai Kai and left.
There was no way he was spending any more time around that fool.
If he stayed any longer, his own intelligence might start dropping too.
Fuwa got out fast, returned to Ken, and gave him a quick summary of what had happened.
Ken did not know whether to laugh or sigh.
"Forget it," Ken said, shaking his head. "Majin Buu will deal with him soon enough. He brought this on himself. Of all people to provoke, he had to go and provoke Zeno-sama."
"I can already picture how miserable this is going to get for him..." Fuwa said with a nod. Then he asked politely, "Ken, would you like me to send you somewhere?"
"Broly, is there anywhere you want to go?" Ken asked, turning to him.
"Ken, these last three years... my level's barely gone up at all." Broly scratched his head awkwardly. "So I'm thinking I'll keep traveling the universe with Ai."
"Go ahead. See more of the world. Get more experience," Ken said, with no objection at all.
"Then I'm off." Broly bowed respectfully to him.
"Next time I see you, I want you at level 60," Ken said, stepping forward to pat him on the shoulder.
Broly nodded hard.
"Ken, we're heading out," Ai said, her body flashing with light as she waved to him.
Fuwa also gave Broly a respectful bow.
After all, Broly was a serving Great God of Destruction.
A moment later, Broly and Ai turned into a streak of light and shot off to continue their journey through the universe.
That left only Ken and Supreme Kai Fuwa behind.
"Then I'll trouble you to send me to the God of Destruction's planet," Ken said after a moment's thought. It was probably time to go have a proper heart-to-heart with Vados about the future.
"Of course," Fuwa said.
He had no reason to refuse. He immediately took Ken with him and used Kai Kai, arriving in the sky above Universe 6's God of Destruction Realm in an instant.
"I can head down on my own from here," Ken said with a smile.
"That works for me. I'm not especially eager to see that fat cat anyway," Fuwa replied, waving goodbye before leaving.
Ken drifted down from the sky and landed beside Vados.
"Well, well, if it isn't Ken," Vados said with a smile. "It's been a while. What brings you here today?"
"I missed you, so I came to see you," Ken replied with a grin.
"And you came empty-handed?" Vados asked, giggling.
Just then, Champa's mouth twitched from where he stood nearby, and he hurried over to greet Ken.
Then, after making up some random excuse, he immediately slipped away.
Champa had no intention of sticking around to chat with Ken.
This guy was basically the natural enemy of every God of Destruction.
He had even managed to raise a Great God of Destruction.
No thanks. Better to stay far away from him.
Besides, Ken was obviously here for Vados. Champa had no desire to play third wheel.
So, very tactfully, Champa left his own realm.
Ken was fairly satisfied with that reaction. He turned back and slowly looked Vados up and down.
She looked just as she always had, she was an absolute knockout.
She was tall, graceful, and striking, with beautiful eyes, smooth pale skin, and legs so long they almost felt unfair. Combined with her stunning figure, she was the kind of woman who could make any man swallow hard at first sight.
As far as Ken was concerned, the only part that took a little adjustment was the blue skin.
Everything else was perfect.
Still, that was hardly a real problem.
What was there to be afraid of about blue skin?
With his staff, Ken could change her complexion to whatever he wanted.
That was one of the perks of being an angel.
That thought crossed his mind, and he casually swung his staff toward Vados.
At once, an invisible wave of angel power spread over her.
Vados instinctively moved to dodge.
Unfortunately for her, she was just a fraction too late, and the angel power washed right over her.
The main reason was simple: Ken's angel power carried no hostile intent, so her Ultra Instinct never reacted to it.
As the power covered her body, her skin tone changed on the spot.
In an instant, Vados's complexion shifted into that of an Earthling.
Fair, pale, and touched with the faintest flush.
And in Vados's case, with a face like hers, the effect was devastating.
Ken stared, thoroughly enjoying the view.
"Not bad..." he muttered, then immediately turned inward to look at Amarella inside him.
Amarella: "..."
"Don't look at me like that," Amarella said, wiping away imaginary sweat.
"If the two of you stood together, you'd look like the most gorgeous pair of sisters alive," Ken said sincerely.
"And which one are you planning to choose?" Amarella asked, her eyes flickering with curiosity.
"Only a child would pick just one. I want both," Ken declared shamelessly.
Amarella had no answer for that.
"You always manage to dress your shamelessness up like something noble," she said, shooting him an annoyed look.
"Oh my, what did you do to me?" Vados suddenly cried, finally noticing. She raised her staff like a mirror and looked at herself.
The second she saw her reflection, she realized her entire skin tone had changed.
She went speechless.
"Change back!" Vados said at once, releasing a surge of angel power to restore herself.
But when her power flared, nothing happened.
Her skin did not change back at all.
What was going on?
Why could she not undo it?
Then Vados seemed to realize something. Shock filled her beautiful eyes as she blinked at Ken.
"Y-You... what level are you now?" she asked.
"Someone's coming," Ken said instead, lifting his eyes toward the sky.
"Oh? Is that Kusu-nee-san?" Vados asked, looking up as well.
High above them, a dazzling streak of light, bright as a star, sped toward the realm.
Whoosh!
Kusu descended from the sky and landed beside Vados.
"Kusu-nee-san, you finally made it," Vados said with a smile.
"Vados? Why did you change your skin tone?" Kusu asked, stunned.
"Just for a change of pace," Vados replied smoothly. "Sometimes it's nice to switch things up."
Kusu did not find that strange at all.
Angels lived such long, quiet lives that they had to invent hobbies for themselves, which was exactly why they cared so much about good food.
So changing your skin tone just to freshen your mood was perfectly reasonable.
"Is that so? Maybe I'll try it myself later," Kusu said with a nod.
"Sure, go ahead," Vados replied, now feeling a little awkward.
"Oh my, Ken is here too," Kusu said, noticing him at last and smiling warmly.
"Kusu, it's been a long time. I really missed you," Ken said as he stepped forward and gave her a big hug.
"Yes, it really has been years. I missed you too, my dear little brother," Kusu said with a smile, deliberately emphasizing his place in the family.
Ken looked at her curiously. "Did you miss me, or my little brother?"
Kusu blinked.
"You have a younger brother?" she asked.
Vados looked just as curious beside her.
"I do. My brother is Hit," Ken answered seriously.
"Hit?" Vados paused. "You two aren't even the same race. How could he possibly be your brother?"
"To be precise, Hit just looks a lot like my brother," Ken added.
"Your brother must look very unusual," Kusu said, trying not to laugh.
"When you get the chance, introduce him to us," Vados said casually.
Ken nodded over and over. "I definitely will. I'll make sure you both get to know him together."
Vados and Kusu exchanged a look.
"Why does he sound so excited about that?" Kusu asked, puzzled.
"No idea. Maybe his level went up, and he came here just to show off in front of me," Vados whispered back.
"What level is he now? Can you tell?" Kusu asked.
"I'm guessing around 68.6," Vados said, glancing toward Ken again.
"Level 68? My, my... that's already higher than me," Kusu said with genuine amazement. "Who would have thought that an ordinary mortal from back then would grow to this point?"
After saying that, she noticed Ken had gone completely still, as though he had zoned out.
"What's wrong with him now?" Kusu asked.
"I'm not sure," Vados said. "Sometimes he gets like this, as if there's another person inside him."
"Another person inside him?" Kusu repeated, startled. "Who could that be?"
The reason Ken had gone quiet was simple.
He was talking to Amarella.
He had just thought of something that did not quite add up, so he asked her about it.
It had to do with the Right Guard.
The Right Guard had once said that the Grand Priest had challenged him three times and lost the first two.
Only on the third try had the Grand Priest beaten him.
At first, Ken had thought that sounded more or less fine.
But after hearing Kusu and Vados talking about levels just now, he suddenly realized there was a serious problem with that story.
How could the Grand Priest possibly have lost to the Right Guard?
Amarella had once told him that the Grand Priest had been level 80 from the moment he was born, and after hundreds of millions of years of training, had reached level 95.
Ken had overlooked one important detail.
The Right Guard was only level 70.
Back when the Grand Priest had just been born, the Right Guard should have been even weaker than that.
So how exactly had the Grand Priest lost to him twice?
"The Grand Priest did not challenge the Right Guard alone," Amarella answered, unsurprised by the question. "He challenged both guards at the same time. Back then, when the two of them used their Super Fusion technique, their level would have reached at least 76 by your way of measuring it."
"That still leaves a four-level gap," Ken said with a sigh. "Was the Grand Priest really that bad?"
"It was because the Grand Priest had just been born. He had no battle experience yet, and he did not know Ultra Instinct either," Amarella explained. "He learned while fighting them."
"Oh? That happened?" Ken asked, instantly interested. "Tell me the full story."
"There isn't that much to tell," Amarella replied. "Not long after the Grand Priest was born, he happened to run into the two guards while they were traveling the universe. Both sides took one look at each other and immediately disliked what they saw, so they fought."
She paused, then added, "It was like two male lions meeting in the wild and fighting over territory."
Ken perked up at once, ears practically raised, clearly urging her to continue.
"The Grand Priest had only just come into existence, so he did not know how to fight. Even though he was four levels higher, he still lost," Amarella said, telling him everything she knew. "Think of it like this: a Saiyan newborn might be born with a power level in the hundreds, or even in the tens of thousands. But it is still a newborn. No matter how high the number is, how could a baby possibly beat an adult with a power level of only a few thousand? Short limbs, no experience, no real control."
"That actually makes sense," Ken said with a nod.
He could not argue with that.
In the story, Broly had been born with an absurdly high power level.
But what had that changed?
He had still been exiled to Vampa by King Vegeta.
Even the old version of Broly had been condemned by King Vegeta.
It did not matter that he had over ten thousand battle power as a newborn. He was still a baby. He could not resist an adult's attack and nearly got beaten to death anyway.
Wait a second... the old version of Broly?
Did a Broly like that even exist in this Dragon Ball world?
That older version had been pretty ridiculous too.
Still, probably not.
If this Broly already existed, there should not be another one.
"The Grand Priest lost that first fight to the two guards," Amarella continued. "Afterward, he escaped, studied combat techniques, and spent a full year training seriously."
"And then he challenged them again a year later?" Ken asked. "After a whole year of study, he should've been able to beat them, right?"
"By all logic, yes. He should have been able to defeat their fused form by then," Amarella said with a light nod. "But during the second fight, the Grand Priest focused purely on sparring through technique. After that battle, he developed Ultra Instinct and later made it a required ability for angels."
"Oh? The Grand Priest was the one who created Ultra Instinct?" Ken asked.
"Yes," Amarella said.
"I thought Ultra Instinct was something angels were born with," Ken said.
"That only became true later," Amarella explained. "Once the Grand Priest completed Ultra Instinct, he used his supreme divine power to pass it on to all angels. That is why angels born afterward naturally possess that miraculous ability."
"Now that is interesting," Ken said with a grin.
"So the Grand Priest's second battle against the two guards was really part of his process of deepening and refining Ultra Instinct," Amarella said. "He still lost in the end, but by then the hatred between them had faded. Instead, they started to feel a kind of mutual respect."
"And after that, the three of them held hands and lived happily ever after?" Ken said with a laugh.
Amarella: "..."
"You should be careful the Grand Priest doesn't hear you say things like that," she said with a faint sigh. "Do you really think he knows nothing just because you're speaking inside your own body?"
"And then?" Ken asked.
"The Grand Priest challenged them a third time," Amarella continued. "By then, he had already brought Ultra Instinct to a perfect state and defeated their fused form with ease. That's the whole story."
"Got it," Ken said, nodding slowly.
What surprised him most was not the story itself.
It was the fact that Ultra Instinct had actually been created by the Grand Priest.
Then another thought came to him.
If Ultra Instinct had been created by the Grand Priest...
Then how could he ever surpass the Grand Priest by following the exact same path?
He needed a training method of his own.
Yes, he was an angel now.
But he still had a tail.
Saiyan blood still ran through his body.
Ken thought it over carefully.
Once he refined the purity of his angel power to a high enough level, he would need to find a new path.
No wonder his growth had slowed so much after level 70.
It was because he had been walking the Grand Priest's road.
He needed to walk his own.
The Saiyan path was constant battle and constant transformation.
If he could become a Super Angel, then there was no reason he could not unlock Super Angel Two.
And if there was a Super Angel Two, then surely there had to be a Super Angel Three as well.
For now, that was the direction he would train toward.
That one conversation with Amarella gave Ken a great deal to think about and helped lay a firm foundation for his future path of cultivation.
[End of chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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