Fanfic #235 What's Good About Life? by Silver W. King(DBZ)

This fanfic is a self insert into Dragon Ball Z as a saiyan. I really like this fic because it's really fun and it has an interesting beginning.

Synopsis: A Self Insert reborn as a Saiyan in DBverse. It must be the dream, right? Well, it is once you're strong enough to not be scared shitless all the time.

Rated: M

words: 43k

https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/whats-good-about-life-dragon-ball-z-saiyan-si.1001881/reader/

Here's the first chapter:

My father once told me that I was the quietest infant he'd ever seen. That I was born a coward.

Being born with a Power Level of 50 wasn't bad per say. It did mean I was lower than average.

Not exactly a fine example of parenting, but for a Saiyan all that mattered was strength. All Saiyans need to meet a certain level of strength on Vegeta to gain anything. Even something basic like parental affection.

My name was Dive and yeah, I was reborn as a Saiyan in the Dragon Ball universe.

Normally anyone would relish the chance to be born in that most popular fictional universe. To grow strong, fuck all the babes, and do all the cheat to get all the power levels.

I didn't. Or at least, I lost that luster very fast.

Being born weak was bad enough, pretty sure if I wasn't aware as a child I might have died from sheer negligence, after I was old enough that my mother didn't need to feed me herself. My father would always berate me for being weak.

When I started to manipulate my ki and play with it, make myself faster or stronger, or silly enough, to act out my childhood desire to look cool making ki blasts? Oh that just made it worse. Because now my parents and those around me had expectations of me.

After nearly dying against the wildlife with my "father" encouraging me to grow stronger, I forced myself to meditate over and over again till I learned to suppress my ki and sense it somewhat. I stopped any display of growth or strength, and let me tell you, Asian kids got shit on me. Try a disappointed Saiyan parents.

I was seen as weak or even cowardly. At the utmost someone might see me as the brainy type, and consider me smart. When I was old enough to just live on my own, I left home for the last time to get make it would on my own. Got my own house and everything.

Remember the whole "either you be strong or you're worthless" thing? Yeah, that independence didn't last long.

A Saiyan named Nach just crashed into my home one day and decided to live in it. I didn't know what her problem is because when I ran away and got another house, that crazy bitch followed me. No, this was not a love crush thing, I'm pretty sure she just wanted to have someone to boss around, and I was that prey.

I was afraid and tired all the time, feeling like I must fight everyday to stay alive. Sometimes I even had to, against Nach, other Saiyans, the wildlife.

So I did what any Self Insert in Dragon Ball would do. I started working on my power cheat.

Oh I didn't write it down or anything. I just kept thinking about it, refining my options, before settling on something simple that didn't need a fucking flow chart to follow.

First I needed to get the hell out of here.

I went to an old mechanic called Spin, and kept begging him to teach me about spacecrafts, anything about them, how they are build how they worked. Anything.

He beat me up and told me to scram. After I healed I went back and got beaten. Again and again till he finally accepted and figured I was worthy. Those zenki boosts were someone I guess. Again, it wasn't because of petty "you convinced me with your determination" or something cheesy like that. I was just strong enough that he couldn't beat me aside at that point. He likely just wanted a second set of hands to carry things for him.

Spin was like any typical Saiyan, and while there were other less assholeish, he was the one most knowledgeable about spaceships. I treated the whole thing like working under a boss I disliked, in a job I hated till I made enough money to get something I want. Only in this case, what I wanted couldn't be bought, I wanted knowledge, expertise and skill.

Nach was glad I had a job. It meant she could make fun of me about it, my being a Low-Class Saiyan Engineer and steal my lunch money. Literally.

Also yeah, I was alive to see the annexing of our race by King Cold, and being made his servants.

Fun times. No, really they were. No one gave a shit about you, if you were weak at that point, since everyone had other things to worry about. Which mean that I could study spacecrafts in peace, get everything ready for my escape, and most eyes wouldn't be on me.

Of course, eyes that weren't Nach.

"You're planning something."

"Huh?"

Where the fuck did this come from?

"You're planning something." She repeated while I was reading over the schematics of how to disengage a ship's telecommunication frequency, or change it to mask it as something else. "You look like your anticipating something. Spill."

"Spill what? I'm just studying stuff like normal!" I tried to act dumb.

She didn't buy it, kept pestering me, saying she'll beat me up if I didn't tell her. I kept insisting I had nothing, and she kept arguing with me. My plans were so close, there was a ship in maintenance that finished, and about to roll out soon. I just need to sneak into it, change the call sign, and other identifiers, head to a remote planet that sells black market stuff, break it up for parts and sell it, buy a new ship and head to Namek.

All good an easy. I just need not to screw up at the last moment.

"For fuck's sake! What the hell is your problem with me!? You break into my home and basically force me to live with you, you take my food and any stuff that I could own, beat me up like your fucking ragdoll, and now you're just asking me about shit that I didn't do! What is your malfunction!" I blew up at her. Shit.

Nach looked surprise for a second, almost smiling. No wait, she's smiling and it's terrifying. I couldn't see her move. She punch me in the gut and laid me down on the floor.

"Because you piss me off." She said.

I coughed looking at her confused.

"You piss me off, you walk like a warrior, wrapping your tail around your stomach. You're cautious and aware of your surrounding like you're in a battlefield. You're actually pretty good with your energy that you can move stuff with it. Yeah, I saw you grabbing your ship fixing shit with your energy, and throwing it to your hand--You're teaching me that by the way." She smirked as she said this. Reveling in telling me how I wasn't as ignorable or cautious as I thought. Then her eyes narrowed. "But you're a coward.

"You're afraid of everything and everyone around you, and above all." She grabbed my collar. "You look at others fighting and look disgusted, like being a Saiyan Warrior is beneath you, as if you're ashamed of your heritage. I can see it in your eyes, you think you're better than everyone when you are so weak, you never even tried to fight me." She gritted her teeth in rage. "And that fucking. Pisses. Me. Off!"

She sat on me and starting wailing with her fists till I lost consciousness.

I slowly healed from Nach's latest beating, while preparing the optimal time to get on that ship and escape.

Except of course, something else had to come up.

"Hey!" Called someone. Forced myself not to panic as I saw a very familiar face. Infamous spiky hair, and a scar on his face. It was Bardock, the future Sun Wukong's expy's father. "You're Dive, right? Heard from Spin you're the best mechanic around. Think you can look at our pods." He gestured to the Attack Balls.

"S-Sure." I hastily nodded.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

No. Calm down. It's just a normal fix up job, no need to be hesitant or worried. Just do the job and get out.

Doing a check up on their pod ship, was routine really. One needed more fuel, and to fix a part that made it use up more fuel than it should. Another needed a tweak to its navigation, to it lands better while flying next to other Attack Balls, and not crash too close to one.

I fell into a flow as I just did the work. A few hours and all five pod ships were in near-pristine working conditions.

"Right, that's it." I said cleaning up my hand with a work towel.

Bardock nodded. His teammate, the fat one whistled.

"Damn, if we had him, he could have fixed yours and Tora's ships. Although it was funny that you double up in Gine's ship, and him in Fasha's." The fat guy laughed out loud.

Bardock looked interest.

No. No no no nononononono.

He check his scouter. I naturally came up to a PL of 522. Very Low-Class for a warrior.

"Hmm," he grunted. "We're gonna have to train you a bit so you'd stay alive, but yeah it can work."

"I-I...I don't have an Attack Ball?" I tried to argue.

Bardock looked at me with amusement and an 'are you serious' look. "Attack Balls are a dime a dozen. Go get one registered and meet us tomorrow at hanger nine."

I just nodded and ran away.

I had a choice at this point.

Do I go with Bardock and make another escape plan later? Heck, maybe if I'm lucky I could find a ship on whatever planet we're going to invade, and just hightail it from there.

Am I actually that lucky though? So what? This is either the universe telling me to go on adventures with Bardock "the Scientist", maybe avert his fate or change the plot, or maybe this is a peggy sue where you change one thing, and go on grand adventures, training and growing stronger together.

Or I'm going to die. Because let's be realistic, I never won a fight in this life or my past one. If I go then I'm going to die.

I need to escape. Tonight.

I can't go back home though. I can't say nothing, she'll be suspicious. Nach would notice something. She's a fucking bloodhound always watching of me, for her own amusement.

If I tell her about Bardock volunteering me to his team, she'll likely stay up all night just to make sure to escort me to my doom later on. She's a bitch like that.

No, I have to hide and go tonight.

I lowered my power level to less than three hundred so it wouldn't be obvious that its me. Then I just waited around the launch hangers, trying to waste time till tonight.

Just my fucking luck, Nach came to snoop around.

"Hey, Nach. Looking for Dive?" Asked old man, Spin.

"Yeah, hear from Veil, he got on Bardock's team. Ha! That idiot's first taste of battle is gonna be on that suicide squad. I came to laugh at him!" She said, beaming.

Spin, that asshole, just chuckled. "Don't know, he's around I guess. Haven't seen him in a while, but you can't look around. Don't break anything!" He finished with a shout.

"I know how this shit works, sheesh!" She waved him off.

She started looking around, and I lowered my power level even more.

I kept moving around the hanger while she did, to avoid her.

Almost like destiny, I found myself at the ship I planned to escape in, and hide in it to escape her. It was fuel up, repaired and good to go.

Nach scoffed, slapping herself in the face. Then turned Scouter on.

I lowered my power level to as small as possible

"Hey, Spin!" Nach shouted. "Did you have any kids around here?" She asked.

Why was she asking about...

I'm a fucking idiot. Of course a power level that's too small would just look like a kid sneaked in.

"Huh? No." He shouted, and activated his Scouter.

...They're gonna find me. They're gonna find me and asked about what I'm doing here. Why is my power level so small when I'm not injured. They're gonna demand answers.

I won't be able to escape. I won't be able to get out of this hellhole and live. Fuck, I'm not gonna survive!

I needed to, I needed to...

"Woah!" Shouted Nach.

"What the fuck!?" Screamed Spin.

The ship turned on, it floated up, and broke out of the roof, taking off quickly into space, almost hitting another ship on the way.

I was out. Holy shit, I was out. Fuck me, I just acted.

"Hahahahaha," I was hysterical. "HAHAHAHA WOOOO!" A howled out shout. My first real laugh in this life.

A voice then came on the ship's communicator.

"Dive, THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?" Shouted Spin.

"HAHAHAHAHA, YOU ARE SO FUCKED!" Nach laughed, before Spin told her to buzz off, and let him talk.

I turned off the comms.

Fuuuuuuck, I didn't take out the comms or the tracker, or any of the other stuff. I didn't have time.

I'm gonna need to stop somewhere and do that. No, they will know I can do that.

I'm gonna need to stop the engines, get outside and do that, then head to my destination.

Thankfully, there was a spacesuit and I could fly.

I almost lost my cord to the ship twice, but I managed it. Next stop, Frieza Planet 369.

"This ship is top of the line, this can get you--" Said Martus the one who runs the black market on Planet 369.

"Listen here," I got into his face, gritting my teeth in anger. I bit back any insults as I just don't have time. "I gave you a pretty good ship, in good conditions. Don't bullshit me about any of the small stuff, I just want decent ship that will do a roundtrip. As long as you don't give me junk that will break mid-flight, you can have the one I brought."

"Okay, okay, sheeh. You Saiyans, really aren't ones for negotiating. I'm suppose to go low, you go high and we meet somewhere in the middle." Said that slightly scared, but bravado looking Martus.

"I don't care, I just want something functional."

The ship Martus gave me ran out of fuel too quickly.

Thankfully, it did so after reaching Namek. That fucker.

Then again, I did make multiple pit stops, to remove any trackers on the ship (of course there were a few), and shake off any followers.

It didn't matter, I crash landed onto the planet but I was alive. After resting, finishing up any food I have, and then completely destroying my ship till there weren't any scraps of it left, I headed out in search for the Namekian Dragon Balls.

It was a long trip. The Z-Warrior made it look so fucking easy with that Dragon Radar.

The natives were thankfully nice, if apprehensive to me. My not coming with any invasion plans, or hostility helped. They seemed sad after sensing my ki. I didn't want to think about it.

A guy named Moori offered to help me. We kept traveling for weeks from village to village trying to find which one had Dragon Balls.

"Dive, may I ask you something?" He said one night while we were camping having finished dinner.

"Go ahead." I waved him off.

"You told me your wish for the Dragon Balls is to not be afraid again, but what do you mean by that?" He asked.

"Why does it matter?" I bit back, maybe a bit too hostile.

He raised his hands in a placating manner. "I just want to understand, my friend." He said. "The wish can only be made in our native tongue, thus I want to understand if I were to speak it for you. I need a clear wording to use." He explained.

I kept my eyes narrowed for a while longer, before clenching my fist, taking deep breath, and slowly letting it out in a shudder. I looked down at my lose fist, while reminiscing about everything I went through till now.

"I'm tired." I said in a low tone.

"Eh?" Moori blinked at my quiet answer.

"Do you know..." I trailed off as I gathered my thoughts. Moori thankfully waited patiently. "Do you know what it's like to live all your life in a battlefield? To never feel safe. To always be afraid that at any moment you could die, either to some other people having a bar fight, or because you accidently pissed off the wrong person. Or, or someone just woke up on the wrong side of the bed that day, and takes it out on you." My voice slowly got louder, before I stopped it from being screaming, and spoke at a normal volume again. "That's what life was like for me on Planet Vegeta. I might be a Saiyan, but I was never like them. I don't belong there."

I looked up to see Moori looking at me with a sympathetic look.

"I'm sorry for prying and opening old wounds, Dive." He said.

"It's fine." I waved him off, looking down at the four Dragon Balls we gathered. "I just need to get this over this quick and then...Then I'll be at peace."

We got the rest of the Dragon Balls very quickly soon after, reaching Grand Elder Guru's house for the last one.

...That Moori. Was that slugman doing some test of character bullshit on me?

I let it go, no point in being angry. My goal is so close.

"Hmm, you look like you have a heavy heart. Are you sure your wish is what you want?" Asked Guru.

"Yes, yes, I'm sure." I sighed, tired of everyone asking me that.

"Come closer, child." Said Guru. I looked around to see everyone's reaction. The guard, Nail I think he was called, didn't look worried in the least, and no one else seemed to care.

I walked closer till I was in arm's reach. I tense as Guru placed a hand on my head, feeling his ki move about.

"Hmm, you've had a harsh life child. There is no malice in your heart but there is war within you and a lot of bitterness." He said.

"One's thoughts aren't a crime." I scowled. Yeah, I wished a lot of the people in my life would die or just suffer for the hell I went through, but I didn't act on it.

"That's only because you never had the power to act on it." He said. "I can awaken one's dormant potential, with it you'd be strong enough to never fear your opponents."

I thought about it. It would have been so easy to say yes. This was a classic Dragon Ball power up, but...

"No thanks. If things work out like I want, hopefully I'll never have to fight again." I said back.

"Very well." Guru nodded.

I was allowed to have the last Dragon Ball and we went outside.

Moori called up Porunga, and meeting the buffed up Dragon was...an experience to see. I actually lost my train of thought for a while, as an old childish feeling returned to me.

This was a dragon and that was fucking cool.

"State your first wish." Porunga said, looking amused but pleased by me.

"I wish for immortality." I said. It was the obvious one. Seriously, why did no one ever do this?

I felt the chance instantly, all my old aches faded away and my body burst with a power I've never felt before. I started to smile, feeling...actually relaxed for the first time. Ever.

"Your wish is granted. Now state your second wish."

"I wish to never lose my mind. To never be insane or go mad, or for my mental health to deteriorate." I explained. I don't know if endless willpower would have worked, but ultimate as long as I don't go mad with power, and become some classic DBZ villain, then it should be fine.

Moori looked surprised but smiled at that.

"Your wish is granted. Now state your third wish."

I turned to Moori and smiled.

"This is good bye. Thanks for everything, Moori." I said. "I wish to be transported to Yardrat."

"Good bye, Dive. I wish you find your peace." Moori said back and made my third wish.

Suddenly I was elsewhere, the environment and sky completely changing. There was barely any feeling of movement, or maybe I'm not quick enough to catch it.

With a pep in my step, I walked around, looking for Yardratians.

It took a day or so to find a Yardrat. Once they could see I didn't mean them any harm, they welcomed me with open arms.

They were pretty jovial people, and I actually had fun for the first time in this life, interacting with them and playing some of their games.

I met up with a Yardrat Elder named Pybara, who agreed to train me in their ways.

Months and then years past before I fully learned everything in their arts. I have nothing but time after all.

After I was sure to have mastered every single skill, learn everything I can, that's when I was ready to leave. I had one last destination.

Earth.

...I had no fucking clue how to get there.

It took a long while to pinpoint Earth's location with ki sensing.

One of the people I befriend here was Cola. He was a pretty cool Yardrat, actually an engineer like me. He offered to help me build up a ship from all the materials they had around, but I wasn't feeling up to that.

I wanted to use Instant Transmission for planetary travel already.

I wasn't impatient though. I didn't jump the gun and just go to the first planet I felt Namekian life on.

I studied the feel of that world over and over, having to jump to another signature once, since that planet was being attacked by Bardock, which didn't happen on Earth.

I looked around for a while again, slowly and meticulously, even going into meditation as I was taught for close to an hour.

Finally, I found it and after looking around to the life energy on the planet, I was sure of it.

"Who are you!?" The Guardian of Earth said in alarm.

"Relax, I came in peace. I don't want to fight or anything." I said, raising my arms placatingly.

"That technique, where have you learned it?" He questioned wondering if I'm an enemy.

"Space." I deadpanned. "Look, I just want to enter the Room of Spirit and Time, that's all."

"You know about that room?" He asked with wide eyes. I nodded. "And why should I let you do that?" He tested.

"I could kill you and your servant and there's nothing you can do about it." I said with a dry tone.

Power Level-wise, I was beyond anything the Dragon Ball era can throw at me. Heck, I'm pretty sure now, I was stronger than Raditz when he first arrived.

"Look," I sighed and tried to seem nice, but I was losing my patience with how close I was to the final part of my plan. "I'm not lying. I mean you and this world no harm, I just want to enter that room." I said pointing to the door. "And train, that's it."

"And what will you do once you've grown stronger? That's assuming you survive that place." Kami asked.

"That's my problem to worry about." I said in a sharp tone.

After a few more tense moments, Kami reluctantly went and opened the door, I went into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, standing at the center on the other side, seeing the expansive nothingness before me.

"Hey," I said to Kami and Popo on the other side. "Look," maybe I just didn't want to leave a bad impression, but I felt like I had to say something before that door closed. "I'm...sorry about being harsh, but...No, there's not much else to say. I wanted to get here, and I wasn't gonna stop. Sorry." I could seem to think of the right words. "You asked what I will do when I get stronger," I said, giving him a soft smile. "I'll go out and just live. That's all."

With a confused but calmer and more amicable Kami and Popo behind, I began to walk into white void. Kami gave me a warning about the room's time limit were I would be sealed in afterwards, but I just smiled and nodded.

I walked deeper into the endless room and didn't stop.

I walked till I died from how tough the room's conditions were. I got up and walked till I died again.

I didn't walk back out.