Chapter 26 - Ash of the Demon King

A big airship with the word 'Pilaf' sowed across the length of it to really show who it belonged to. Piccolo flew down from the balcony of a ship with his cape fluttering behind him as majestic as possible considering the circumstances.

The Z fighters were as ready as they could be to face the Demon King. Chaos was ensuing around them but it did not take their eyes away from the descending doomsday.

"Well, well, well...look who were have here. A bunch of humans who think they could defy their emperor. I won't be denied my birthright like last time."

"We will stop you, again and again, no matter how many times it takes." They were standing in front of the old emperor in a line. The terror that was going around them was just a sample of what was to come if they didn't stop this emotionless creature. The waves of power that rolled off of him weren't one of extreme power but extreme evil integrated with it.

Master Roshi did not have his hopes up, he couldn't execute his trusty technique so all he could put his hopes in was this fight or that Goku would hurry up

"Let's start the massacre."

Piccolo took off breaking the ground completely under his feet to his standing opposition. Krillin and Yamcha bolted to intercept him while Tien and Chiaotzu flew up above them.

The contrast of strength was apparent from the get-go. Krillin threw a punch at Piccolo's ugly mug but his short arms didn't go far before it was stopped. Piccolo snapped Krillin's foot with just want sweep to it and finished him off with a clean punch to the face making him crash into an abandoned car. Yamcha tried his best to support his friend with his Wolf Fang Fist, but everything was either dodged or half-heartedly blocked by wrists.

He defeated the bandit easily by grabbing his face and slammed it on the road. Yamcha has gone limp instantly after shoving his face full of asphalt. Piccolo was still kneeling down when a blast came from above.

Looking up, he saw two frightened fighters pointing their finger with smoke coming out of them. The blast was actually a combined assault from both of their Dodan Rays. His back was now smoking profusely but he paid no mind. Throwing his cape away that had a hole in it, he felt freer to beat up these worthless insects to submission.

Preparing to yoink the two from the air, he was suddenly smashed in the face in what felt like an airplane on steroids. Wiping a little dirt off his face, he looked up from the inside of a shadow to see an extremely buff Roshi towering over him. Not wasting any time, Roshi kept the chase on while Tien and Chiaotzu could come up with a plan.

"Chiaotzu, you distract him on my signal. It doesn't have to be long but enough to hold him in place." Tien had a serious expression plastered on his face after overlooking the battlefield. Krillin and Yamcha were instantly defeated while Roshi is barely holding on with his superior strength.

"You don't mean..." With a shocked face, Chiaotzu reluctantly agreed after figuring out what Tien's plan was. Closing his eyes, he focused all his ki into his hands. Bringing them together the large amount that he is forcing in the open was making him woozy. He never really got a real rest from the tourney to the battle so he didn't fully recover his ki.

His eyes were getting blurry but he pressed on because he knew if he didn't, his life would end anyways. Pulling his hands apart, the electrifying ki sparked in front of him to execute his final move. He was about to make the hand gesture and signal Chiaotzu before he saw a 10-ton hunk of meat whirl his way to him.

He couldn't move out of the way because he was in the middle of the process while Chiaotzu's telekinesis was too weak to move him. When Roshi crashed into Tien, his hands lost control of the ki stream and consequently... blew up in their faces. With that, Roshi and Tien plummeted to the ground leaving a shocked Chiaotzu to fend for himself.

"That last man gave me a fright but I guess his speed was so slow or he was just too old to keep up with me. Poor humans and your limited time on this planet, I will rule it for eternity in your stead."

Stopping himself from looking at his defeated friends, he looked in front of him where the voice was coming from to see Piccolo staring right back. Chiaotzu didn't have time to scream as Piccolo grabbed him by the neck and slowly floated down.

"You will never defeat me! After I attain all the Dragon Balls, I will rule this world and drive it to the right path, anarchy! Theft, murder, rape are all going to be on my good list and if you do all 3, I might even spare when I want to randomly kill someone. You and your weak friends had a good run, but with the death of all these people, no one will be strong enough to oppose me!"

Some people stayed behind to witness the large spectacle with a respectable distance. They were quaking in their boots and some were weeping. There was a young boy, of course, using his iPhone and recorded the whole evil villain shpiel and footage to the epic battle with the hero's defeat. No one could move, out of fear and the dread of what was to come.

Chiaotzu was struggling to breathe as his windpipe was slowly being crushed. He got ready for the final act, I mean, if you are going to go out, do it with a bang. Literally. His body started to glow but all that incited from the demon was more amusement coupled with a faster constricting grasp. Chiaotzu couldn't take it anymore and blackout from the pain and shock, it was only a matter of time before he was going to close his eyes forever.

BONK!

A loud clap of metal resonated from behind the back of Piccolo. Looking at it, there was a metal boomerang sort of thing that tried but failed to penetrate his skin. Dropping the small pale fighter like a sack of potatoes, he fully turned around the see determined girl. Chichi witnessed the whole fight and waited for the perfect time to buy more time. She knew that he really couldn't help the whole situation but if she could buy more time for a certain someone to arrive and save the day than that was worth her life.

Slowly walking over to the girl, you can see the fear deeply rooted in her eyes that Piccolo fed on. Smiling evilly at the girl, he knew that just killing her would be such a waste. Reaching his hand at the still girl that shut her eyes, he was almost able to touch her face before a hand reached out and held his wrist. It was small, like a kid's hand, but the grip was strong enough to gain his attention.

Piccolo tried to pull make and get a closer look at the presumptuous person that dared touch him be he couldn't move an inch. Not feeling the touch that was supposed to come, Chichi opened her eyes to see something that made everything in this world feel right again.

"Looks like I came at just the right time."

With that opening line, he jerked his hand away taking Piccolo with it. His whole body was suddenly pressed into the asphalt making an indention of a perfect snow demon.

Chichi was so overcome with emotion that she didn't even notice the footsteps that were approaching from behind her. Bulma put a hand on Chichi's shoulder glad that they made it in time with Goku's intuition. Feeling the warm hand, she instantly knew it was Bulma and hugged her as tight as she could.

Bulma tried to comfort her, but we all know how that would go as, so she just opted to hug back. Looking at the destruction before her, she noticed the down fighters that practically looked like they were dead. Whispering into her ear, Bulma had to before it is too late.

"We have to help them."

After fully riding her emotions and calming them down, Chichi looked up from her comfort shoulder to remember that those guys were just a step from death. Working with some robots, they all hauled the wounded fighters to the Capsule Corp building to at least make sure they don't die.

When they did that, they left a particular blonde man that stood out in the crowd with his clean black suit and greasy hair. Not knowing what to do in this situation, he saw the kid with the phone and did what he did best.

It was like a yell from the dark abyss when the snow demon produced an earsplitting sound. Jumping up, Piccolo freed himself from the ground and Goku's hand at the same time.

"Y-You, who are you?" This was the first time the Demon King displayed fear. Goku didn't just slam him into the ground but also broke his hand with it like he was handling a toy. Piccolo's entire back was on fire from the pain and he used nearly all of his ki to stabilize it and jump back out.

"The name is Goku. Son Goku." It was the perfect timing as well. Wind blowing ruffling his hair as mysterious music suddenly made him even more badass.

"Woah." Everyone was speechless that the sudden turn of events. From total desperation to guaranteed salvation.

"This is Son Goku ladies and gentlemen, the world's strongest fighter that defeated the Demon King." The announcer was talking to the small phone like it was a microphone. His voice sounded tired and raspy but it still has the strong intent that was laced with every word said.

"Hmph, this isn't over Son Goku! I might not have my revenge but it will come back to you!"

Gurgling an egg from his throat, his legs started to crumble and visibly turn to ash. All this did was making the egg's veins glow red with power. The ash crept his way up at the same pace as the egg was emerging out of the throat.

Before it could reach the throat, the egg was fully out. He yeeted the egg like a cannon while saying one last thing to his son.

"Avenge me, my son."

And with that, the Demon King Piccolo vanished with the wind.