Chapter 69 - 66: A Day Of Rest, Spending Time Before The Other World Tournament Begins! (II)

Iona wondered who the tall green friend was who Nao brought home with him. Iona knew that her children trained for a period of two trips and decided to venture out into space during it. She didn't know Nao's and Iona's destination was in fact the Other World, and seeing her children bring a friend home, she assumed this person was in relation to the person that provided them the information about King Cold's arrival two years prior.

Well considered Paikuhan was dead and the person who gave Nao and Miya that information was one of the Kai who ruled over one of the four areas, one could say they technically were related. Paikuhan was the student of King Kai's rival, West Kai. His stature being about 7'5 did seem imposing but Iona saw Paikuhan approach the three, and gave them a bow.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. You must be Nao's mother?"

"I am. You can call me Iona. You seem rather polite. Any friend of Little Nao's is a friend of mine. Welcome to our household, it may be a bit crude compared to your standard of living, but you're free to make yourself at home. What do they call you?"

"My apologies, it's only proper to introduce myself. My formal name is known as Paikuhan, but people call me Pikkon for short. I actually became quick friends with Nao here. I hadn't expected I would find such a great potential partner to battle with."

"Fufufu, I'd figure as such. Little Nao doesn't bring just anyone here. In fact, Pikkon, was it? You happen to be the first one. The day has just started, so why don't you come inside? Gine, Gin, we can pick up where we left off on our next visit."

"Haha, Miss Iona, do plan to visit my butchery again some time soon! I just received a message recently through our Scouters that Bardock was successful in their capture of planet Kanassa and they're now onto planet Plant. I'm itching to having a second child already once Bardock returns."

"A second child, what happened to Raditz?"

"Little Raditz is growing up just fine! He can already take care of himself. Besides, I heard him receive a notice he is to join the Young Prince's squad once the Young Prince emerges from his pod next year. I was really surprised when I heard this from him. Why would they choose a low class warrior to be by the Young Prince's side?"

"Who knows, maybe the Palace seems some hidden potential Raditz has? Speaking of the Palace, how is it currently, Gin?"

"Hah...I'd rather not talk about that, Madam Iona. His Majesty locked down the Palace again. I'm just glad the Palace allowed us to have a day off before things start getting more hectic. I haven't seen His Majesty this frantic before. Something big must be happening soon."

"Gin, do be a dear and don't report this okay? We have plenty of alien visitors now on our planet so it wouldn't be strange seeing one more. I'd rather not impose any trouble on our new guest."

"You can rest assured, Madam Iona. I'll just pretend I never saw this. Gine, let's go. Let's not bother Madam Iona anymore."

"Sure thing. Take care, Miss Iona! Feel free to drop by our place."

Paikuhan then stepped aside to allow Gine and Gin to leave. Both of them waved their hands goodbye, and Iona responded suit, Paikuhan then saw Gine and Gin fly off into the distance before their figures disappeared from sight. Seeing them fly off so casually did surprise Paikuhan a bit, as not every race he had seen thus far had the capability of flight. He also saw that the people around him wore combat-ready battle armor, so he quickly concluded that the race Nao was a part of was that of a warrior society. This excited Paikuhan greatly.

After a few moments passed, only Iona, the two maids, Nao, Miya and Paikuhan were left standing near the entrance Nao's home. Planet Vegeta's sun stood high up in the sky and it was actually very cold out to where Saiyans could see their breaths. Planet Vegeta did not have a springtime or fall, just a very harsh summer and brutal winter.

Nao could currently be seen in his black bodysuit. Miya was currently wearing a plain purple dress with white frills and black spats. One of the capsules located in the Hoi-Poi briefcase Dr. Brief gave them as a gift contained a variety of clothes that they could wear. Their selection was quite expansive, and they could even allow their mother to choose her own, if she so desired.

Closing the front door, Nao, Miya, Iona and Paikuhan soon sat down around the one giant table they had on the first floor, located in the dining room. The table was several feet wide and could accompany ten to fifteen people. Paikuhan saw that the house only contained one primary color, which was red-purple and it was mainly comprised of smooth sandstone.

It was crude, yet exquisite at the same time. The atmosphere finally calmed down once they sat around the table, and Iona finally took notice of the golden halo floating above Paikuhan's head. If one had a close look at it, a sliver of the halo was bright yellow. Iona then saw her two children and they seemed indifferent about it, and that only confused her even more. She couldn't hold her curiosity in and decided to ask Paikuhan.

"Pikkon, what is that thing floating above your head? Would it happen to be an accessory unique to your race? It looks pretty advanced."

Once Iona mentioned the halo to Paikuhan, the atmosphere turned somber and quieted it down. Miya and Nao didn't speak up, and Paikuhan became hesitant to answer her question. Seeing this caused her curiosity to turn into worry. Nao knew he had secrets he couldn't reveal no matter what but the workings of the Other World was still relevant to the world of D*Z. Even Iona would die one day and end up being sent to either Heaven or Hell. Nao decided to reveal the Other World to her.

Iona saw her son put on a serious look and even the way Nao called her became formal. Hearing this truly meant her son was growing up, however what he said to her next shocked her to the core.

"Mother, Pikkon is dead..."

Iona almost took this for a joke once Nao said that Paikuhan had already passed away, but she saw how serious Nao was currently looking at her.

"Little Nao, how could Pikkon be dead? He's sitting right in front of us!"

"Before I answer that question, Mother, do you believe in life after death?"

"Life after death...? Wait, don't tell me....Did Pikkon really...?"

After Iona heard this question, it soon donned on her that the guest Nao brought home seemed to have truly died. Iona then saw Nao nod in confirmation.

"Yes, Mother. Miya and I didn't really want to keep this a secret from you, which is the area we went to. If you remember, before we left we told Mother that we would be heading to the place of that mysterious person, right?"

"The person who provided that valuable information, right? Of course I remember, Little Nao."

"That's good. It'll make this next part easier to explain. We had two destinations on our trip, one which was of Earth. We were able to safely arrive there and explore it for a good period of time thanks to Gine's coordinates she gave us. The other place is the actual residence of that mysterious person, its location resides in the Other World..."

Nao soon recalled the trip he had with Miya to Iona, and Paikuhan calmly listened on the side, without interrupting him. Miya would chime in every now and then. To where he arrived on Earth, the earthlings he met, onto arriving at King Kai's planet, meeting King Kai and learning under him for a little under half a year. Nao did not reveal the existence of The Lookout or the role of the Kai to Iona, just knowing the existence of the Other World and Heaven and Hell was enough for her.

Iona was shocked as she listed to her child, explaining that life after death did indeed exist. Depending on the outcome of one's life, they would either be sent to Heaven or Hell. Iona soon started to question her late husband as she was unsure of which one he was sent to. Saiyans were known to be extremely evil, similar to Frost Demons and Oscar had his fair share of killing before he settled down got married to Iona.

Iona then decided to ask Nao another question as he continued to relay their story to her.

"Little Nao, all of this is quite heavy to take in all at once...I had no idea that we had certain destinations we would end up going to after we die. Tell me, Little Nao, do you think Oscar is safe up there...?"

"Father?"

"Yes...He died in such a tragic manner...Knowing that his existence is still somewhere out there, I can't help but worry you know? If I had to take a guess, he would probably have been sent to Hell..."

"Mother...I do not know about Father's situation. The last time we saw him was when just emerged from our pods. Hell is a place which can be very cruel in certain ways, depending on the depth of one's sins. Mother, would you know if Father carried a lot of sin during his life?"

Once Iona heard this question, she started to recall the life she had spent with Oscar. Oscar was said to be one of the strongest elite Saiyans whose strength almost rivaled the late King Vegeta II, though it was never publicly expressed. His Father usually hid most of his strength and only ever used it in dire situations where his life was on the line. Hatchiyack pushed Oscar to the limits and even with releasing his full strength, it was only child's play to Hatchiyack. Just him arriving back at the Saiyan City that day to deliver his final message helped the Saiyans escape from impending doom.

In the end Iona couldn't answer this question, as Oscar did indeed kill plenty of different races, but he had his own pride. He would not stoop low or indulge in other types of sins, he only carried a massive amount of blood on his hands. Other than that, he was easygoing and nice to get along with, almost like Gin, and was only strict when he needed to be.

"I don't know if Oscar piled up any sin besides the job we do as Saiyans. Pikkon, if we describe what we do, would you come to hate us?"

Paikuhan remained quite during most of this but he finally discovered what race his rival to be was a part of, and he was a Saiyan. He didn't know what Saiyans were as he lived in the West Area, and no known Saiyans lived there. Paikuhan only came to know of a couple other different races during his time in the Other World, his West Area was rather sparse in terms of diversity compared to the North or Southern Area. A couple races he currently knew besides his were the Shurians, Mermaids, and Devil Cats.

Of the four Areas and the central quadrant, it was said that only 28 mortal races still lived to today. This was the result of many destroyed planets from Majin Buu's rampage at the beginning of time immemorial, to Beerus's destruction, all the way up to the Frost Demon's terror. Roughly 20 of them were known and the rest had yet to be discovered and named.

Paikuhan himself died a heroic death from a civil uprising of his race, and his death resulted him famed as a hero. He was able to stop an outbreak of a civil war, and further lead his race to peace. Paikuhan saw Iona waiting for him to answer her. A moment passed in silence before Paikuhan shook his head.

"I don't think so, Miss Iona. As a warrior myself, we must come face to face with death one way or another. What exactly do you guys do?"

"Well Pikkon, as you may not know, we Saiyans are a minority race. We only have around three to four thousand left of us, but that is largely because we are warriors. We locate planets, eliminate all potential life threats and then sell the planet to the highest bidder. I know this may sound cruel to you but this is how we make our living."

Once Pikkon heard this, a deathly silence soon spread out between the four. Iona's words soon let him recall how he died in battle. Without saying anything, Paikuhan stood up and started to head towards the front door, and apologized as he walked.

"I'm sorry Miss Iona. Could you let me be alone for a while? Your story just jogged my memory a bit and some old memories resurfaced. I need to sort them out..."