Meruem led the others to a nameless small island and released all the Chimera Ants. They covered the sky in a vast, black mass. At last, Meruem took out the fruit that had gathered all the chakra from the Naruto world.
"How beautiful. I wonder if eating this could grant longevity." Gazing at the ruby-like fruit, Meruem sighed.
Longevity… It's a fatal temptation for anyone. The stronger one is, the greater the lure.
"But it doesn't matter. I can get another in the next world anyway." Without hesitation, Meruem divided the chakra fruit into several portions.
"King? What are you… meow?" Meruem handed one portion to Pitou. Seeing the piece of the chakra fruit in Meruem's hand, Pitou asked in confusion.
"Eat it. You're my queen."
"No, this is to enhance the King. Pitou—mm… meow~~" Having already guessed Pitou would say that, Meruem promptly popped that slice of the fruit into his own mouth, then pulled Pitou into his arms. Before she could react, he pressed his lips to hers.
The chakra fruit's power slid into Pitou's mouth along Meruem's tongue and saliva. Feeling something new in her mouth, Pitou finally reacted and tried to give it back to Meruem, but his tongue blocked her firmly.
"Meow." Meruem's tongue explored her mouth without pause. Overwhelmed by the fervent kiss, Pitou went weak all over and could only let Meruem do as he wished. In the end, that piece of the chakra fruit was swallowed by Pitou.
"Pitou, you taste quite nice." After his success, Meruem lingered at her lips and teeth for a long while, only relenting when he noticed her lips starting to swell. He whispered in her ear, his warm breath making Pitou melt and collapse into Meruem's arms.
"Boss, that's enough. We're all watching, you know. Think you could go a little easier on us poor single dogs?" The only one who dared speak up now was Musashi—Meruem's clone.
"Give me a break—single dog, my foot. What's the deal with that 'meat tank' Tamamo-no-Mae? Don't think I don't know. These last few nights of yours… tsk, tsk." Though Musashi was Meruem's clone, he now had an independent mind and no longer needed Meruem's constant attention. One thing never changed: he was always part of Meruem, and would never betray him.
"Ah-hahaha. The wind sure is loud today." Musashi laughed it off.
"Here. This one's yours." Meruem casually tossed a portion of the fruit to Musashi. The next world wouldn't be as easy as this one. It was very dangerous, and without some self-preservation strength, you could be killed anytime.
"Thanks, Boss." Grinning, Musashi caught the piece and swallowed it in one bite.
"Next—Reiko, this one's for you." Meruem placed a small piece of the chakra fruit in front of Uchiha Reiko.
"Mm—mm." Reiko said nothing, shut her eyes, and puckered her lips toward Meruem. Clearly, she wanted the same treatment as Pitou.
"You're a handful… It's been a while since I've had your flavor." Meruem spoke like a man playing coy after getting his way.
With one in each arm, he drew Reiko and Pitou into his embrace. A true double embrace.
"Youpi, this one's yours." With both hands occupied, Meruem used Nen to lob a piece of the fruit to Youpi.
"King, no need to waste that on me. I think I can increase my strength on my own." Youpi replied with simple honesty.
"This is a reward I bestow. Eat it. If you're too weak, you're not fit to be my guard."
"Yes." Youpi scratched his head and swallowed it whole.
"Mm—such power. I feel my strength has multiplied. This is a new kind of power." True to his beastly constitution, Youpi absorbed it with astonishing ease—the fruit had already taken effect in him.
"And yours, Pouf." Meruem offered another piece to Pouf.
"Oh, I knew the King wouldn't forget me~"
"Mm." Not only did Pouf start self-indulging again, this time he even puckered up at Meruem like Reiko had.
Meruem stared at him, exasperated.
In the end, he simply used Nen to shove the piece straight into Pouf's mouth.
"Cough, cough!" Perhaps he'd used too much force—Pouf choked for a moment. Serves him right for acting like that.
"All right. My beloved subordinates—come, feel the power of chakra. I hope some of you can hatch this chakra seed and master it." Meruem split another of the remaining two pieces into countless tiny slivers and infused one into every Chimera Ant who did not yet possess chakra.
There wasn't enough chakra fruit to grant chakra to every Chimera Ant. All Meruem could do was plant a chakra seed in each of them and hope that some would use it as a guide to master chakra.
"The rest is mine." Meruem lifted the final piece of the fruit to his lips. This last portion was the largest—over half the whole fruit.
He wasn't being stingy. Given the constitutions of Pitou, Reiko, Pouf, and Youpi, if he gave them too much, their bodies simply couldn't withstand such vast energy.
That would be a losing deal. Even before Meruem gained Abe no Seimei—Nue's power, before his body evolved again, he hadn't dared to consume the chakra fruit lightly, much less anyone else.
Even Kaguya in the original couldn't have directly eaten the fruit when she obtained it. The chakra fruit gathered this time was many, many times greater than the one she got millennia ago, with energy multiplied beyond count. Otherwise, how could Kaguya—who had eaten the fruit before—declare that eating this one would grant immortality?
"Mm… I didn't expect that even after splitting some off, it would still contain such overwhelming power. If my body hadn't evolved again, I might truly have been unable to bear it. Ah, once I digest this chakra fruit, I can grow stronger still. Tsk, tsk… I didn't expect the next world to be Dragon Ball. The physical scale of that world is very high—planet-busting. Even now, I can't casually destroy a planet."
"Am I going to be just a background extra when I get there? Like, on the level of the old Demon King Piccolo?"
"Still, there's no shortage of cheats in that world—the Tree of Might, Bigao Star, the Super God Water, and the Old Kai's potential unlock. If I can obtain those, I can power up further. I just don't know whether, at my current level, there's still potential to unlock."
Yes—Meruem's next destination was the Dragon Ball world.
Meruem had asked the System why it chose such a high-level combat world—was it trying to send him to his death? The System answered that with his current strength, as long as he didn't provoke beings on the level of the Kaioshin or the Demon Realm King, he could survive there.
He couldn't make sense of it. He wasn't yet at the point of casually destroying planets.
In the original, even Nappa with a power level of 8,000 could destroy a small planet with full power. Yet 8,000 wasn't much in Dragon Ball. In Frieza's forces alone, Vegeta, Cui, Dodoria, Zarbon, and the Ginyu Force were above him, and across the universe there were plenty with power levels over 10,000.
Forget it—when in Rome. If needed, he could just follow Kakarot and ride out the plot.
That wasn't cowardice. The gap was too large—such a fight would be suicide.
By the way, this time the System's mission was to take down Frieza.
With that in mind, Meruem only understood the System's words after arriving in the Dragon Ball world.
Maybe—just maybe—he could actually complete the mission.
Meruem's jump landed him on Earth. Upon arrival, he immediately noticed a problem.
The gravity here was very low. Because Meruem could manipulate gravity space, he sensed that Earth's gravity here was only about one-tenth of in his previous world.
And the planet itself—its ground and everything else—was extremely fragile.
With the slightest exertion, he triggered heaven-and-earth changes—the thunder-wreathed phenomenon typical of power levels above tens of thousands in the original appeared.
But Meruem had only exerted himself slightly—not gone all out.
He discovered that the energy permeating this world was vast. In a sense, as long as you worked for it and your body could still break limits, your power could rise without cap through training.
Moreover, whether Nen or ninjutsu, unleashing them in this world multiplied their power severalfold. That couldn't be separated from the sheer energy saturating this world.
This was a perfect paradise for cultivators. He just didn't know his current battle power—or where in the Dragon Ball timeline he was.
Tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands? Or several million?
Truly curious.
(End of Chapter)
[Get +20 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Mutter"]
[Every 100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
[Thanks for Reading!]