4 Chapter 4: Goodnight

A power level of 5. That's the numerical value of an average human being, that's what someone like Carver was in his past life. Could you imagine such a thing? Well, I could. I can feel the ground shake, not just that but my entire being vibrated along with the rhythm of death. My body was in genuine agony and I have no doubts that I'll receive some scars from all this. Despite all that it's quite interesting that the two saiyans duking it out are thousands of times stronger than any human back when I was alive.

There stood Son Goku. The saiyan raised on earth, a low class warrior. Holding his own against the prince of nothing, the genius of mediocrity. I learnt something new during this; while it feels good to let someone else handle the bad guy.. It's also a scary sensation.

"Just die already!" Vegeta was certainly enthusiastic about killing Goku, whereas the latter was actually struggling. I knew Kaioken was a very straining technique despite the fact Goku is actually winning the clash. I saw the shorter saiyan's attack being pushed back along with his dwindling resolve. I could feel a small grin cracking open on my face as I struggled up to my feet. I was not in the condition to fight but I could still move.

Not even Carver was aware of one fact though, Vegeta was tired whereas Goku was not. He regretted letting a worthless earthling push him to use more power than necessary. Unfortunately such was the case for someone who seemingly takes no physical damage, now the prince was suffering the consequences.

"D-damn it!" His ultimate technique; the galick gun, was failing him. He hadn't expected Kakarot to be this powerful so as much as it pains him to admit it, he was losing. His enemies' attack grew closer slowly overpowering him, he tried to push but it did nothing. He couldn't understand how it was possible.

By all logical means he should be winning, he is a prodigy! A genius even. Highest recorded power level at birth! And yet.. it was all for naught. He could feel his technique faltering along with his relentless spirit. How? Why? WHY? He is fated to defeat Frieza one day but he might actually fail against trash!

"I won't.. let you!" Gnashing his teeth the prince of all Saiyan's tried to pump more energy into his attack. Unfortunately, he soon found out that there was just no more energy to sacrifice.

"How.." the Kamehameha grew closer, an impending sense of death enveloped the ki blast. "How is it that I'm losing?.." He couldn't believe his eyes, thankfully for him he didn't need to. In the blink of an eye his opponent's blast slammed right into his hands.

Eyes widened in shock, a voice screamed in indignation. He hadn't even realized it was his own voice. The weight of the blast was beyond him, he tried. He gave it his all, but as he stared into his death the only thing he saw was Frieza's face laughing at him.

No.. he won't let it end this way! Quickly the short prince twisted his body to the left letting his right shoulder eat the full brunt of the attack. The attack nearly melted his shoulder to the bone but that didn't matter to the adrenaline filled Saiyan. He quickly descended down from the sky which left Goku shocked.

The earthborn Saiyan tried to recover momentum but he still gave quite an enormous amount of power to that blast. He couldn't react in time, that's something Vegeta quickly took advantage of.

"You should've stayed dead along with that fool Raditz!" A wisp of energy gathered in his working hand, this was it. He would most likely perish from his injuries or to the left over garbage. But he was going to prove that a low class warrior cannot defy an elite such as himself!

"Goodnight." That's all Vegeta heard before a black appendage slammed into his face. His nose crunched up and gravity took control as the prince of nothing met the ground. Defeat was a bitter taste, much more than the blood that occupied every part of his mouth.

As for how the Saiyan was defeated? Well, it was courtesy of an underhanded doordash delivery from Carver.

"Huh, that worked." The haki slowly disappeared from his right arm, he was kind of getting the hang of it. Stretching is still a bit of a task though. Unfortunately the injuries riddling his body wouldn't allow him to pull that off again.

"Thanks for the save!" Goku sheepishly scratched the back of his head and suddenly seemed to have gotten energized as he rushed to Tiens side. Oh right, the rest of the cast.

"No problem." Yeah no it was a problem, but it wouldn't hurt to be friendly. I took a glance at the most injured fighters; Tien, Vegeta, and Nappa. Yamcha was definitely coming in close. I saw Tien was fed a senzu bean, no arms though yikes. Those magical beans don't regenerate body parts. Goku then threw one my way which I easily caught, with my face.

The embarrassment I felt when Goku looked at me and then at the grounded senzu bean was pretty damn high. I went from looking like a mysterious powerful fighter to an actual dork! I need to save whatever reputation I was building up!

"I don't need it give it to someone else"

"It's happened to me too don't worry"

As if my embarrassment couldn't get any worse, Goku tried to be a bro and cover for me. So we actually ended up talking over each other. The serious atmosphere immediately turned into something else. Something akin to a calebcity skit.

"Oh my bad" he shrugged and split a senzu bean in half. Out of curiosity I looked at the ground where I dropped my own senzu but it wasn't there anymore! What an eye boggling speed feat, I looked back at Goku and saw him approaching his friends.

I need to learn how to control my ki, that right there proved it. I seemed to have subconsciously summoned it up when I fought Vegeta which is how I even tanked some of his energy blasts. But outside of combat? I don't know how it works.

I knew that if Goku were to completely let go of his ki he would be somewhat vulnerable to human made weapons, it's also how Gohan was able to keep up with the Z fighters movements.

"You can't just feed those saiyans a senzu! They literally tried to kill us! Look at Tien for crying outloud!"

"I agree with Krillin, this is not right man"

Ah, Yamcha and Krillin were against Goku's choice on saving the saiyan duo. Even Nappa was still alive this time around. I can't really tell if that's good or bad. Now that I am actually in the anime I can't even tell if I should side with the good guys.

Saiyan saga? That was an obvious choice I felt. But what about Frieza? Unlike Vegeta and Nappa he wouldn't be instantly hostile to me right off the bat. Could I convince him to let me join him? Actually what would be the best play here?

I took a glance at Goku feeding the two adversaries despite everyones protest, Tien was the most adamant one. Gohan was clinging to his dad like there was no tomorrow.

Could I convince Frieza to join our side? He was rather amicable to Ginyu.. No Goku would not rock with a genocidal maniac. But thinking of fighting a motherfucker with over a hundred million power level wasn't appealing to me.

I almost considered joining Frieza's side then I remembered all the other enemies we might face. I'm rather sure he doesn't have over 5 different super saiyan forms in his bag of potential. God, the tournament of power as well. Yeah no, team earth all the way right now.

I noticed the Z fighters just staring at me which left me a bit stumped. I glanced at Goku who seemed to be waiting for me to drop a mixtape.

"What?" Best to be straightforward here.

"We asked what your name is" Oh boy, this was going to be interesting. I just hope they aren't too curious about where I'm from.

"Names Carver, and before you ask I am human."

"Lying, are we? Explain how we never sensed an amateur who can't even mask his own energy then." There stood good old Piccolo, I can tell from the uneasy stares that he wasn't exactly a welcomed presence in the conversation. Yet they all seemed to somewhat agree with his assessment.

Okay well I'm cooked, I don't really know what to say. I know for sure I am not just gonna start spouting that they were a fucking anime where I am from.

"..I am from a different universe, one which was erased out of existence." Now this immediately got their attention, they were obviously waiting for me to elaborate.

"There are a number of universes out there with their own races. I am a human from universe 13" Is this okay to say? I wasn't being struck down by an angry angel or cat so I was rather sure I was in the clear here for now. I won't let myself get caught up in this lie. Nobody in the anime was said to have a lie detector.

Goku being Goku was the first to respond to me, with an expressive amount of concern.

"Hold on, if you're from one of these universes then how'd you end up here? How did yours get erased?"

"There were once 18 universes, there are now 12 of them remaining. A person I knew by the name of.. Ace told me this. With the help of an ally who had the ability to teleport others, I ended up here."

"But that doesn't tell us how yours got erased!" Yamcha decided he didn't want to let Goku do all the talking, how sweet.

"I wasn't too privy on the details myself, next thing I knew I am here getting jumped by the two monkey tail wearing doofuses"

"Jumped?"

"It's a phrase from my world" I winced at the casual use of modern slang that I let myself slip into. I need to watch myself. I don't exactly want Goku to start going 'quick Carver help me jump his ass!' anytime soon. I felt myself sigh as I got assaulted by further questions.

"Guys. Let's settle down, he saved your lives." Goku, bless your heart.

"Besides, like I told you earlier. Carver is going to help me keep an eye on the saiyans" Alright fuck you, nevermind. Of course I get dragged along into his sympathy side quest. In the original material Vegeta got away in his space pod but.. wait no fuck me. I did this to myself didn't I?

"Well, I don't particularly care who watches them as long as they don't destroy the earth. It belongs to me, can't have it being wrecked before I get the chance to fully take over." Ah right. Piccolo's childish dream of taking over earth.

Before anyone could reply to him, Gohan slammed into his leg. Hugging him tightly.

"Thank you for helping us Mr Piccolo!" Most of the Z fighters scratched their heads awkwardly with the exception of Tien who was staring daggers at Nappa. Don't worry buddy I am sure you could learn a thing or two from Sanji.

"Well, I for one didn't agree to help contain those two morons" I had to make it clear, there was no way I was going to be caught dead babysitting Vegeta and Nappa.

Goku simply smiled brightly at me and next thing I know a week went by…

It was the longest week of my life. I managed to gaslight Vegeta into trying earthling food while Goku and I stood over him. Nappa was not as big of a problem as you would think, he was blind now. So we left him in the mountain area with Piccolo who was exasperated with Goku's selfish request.

Maybe after a few more temper tantrums Nappa will be approachable. My biggest worry however was Vegeta, he grew stronger from getting his ass beat. Nobody seemed to have made a big show about it though.

Goku left me to babysit Vegeta on day 3 allthough, said something about Chichi killing him if he didn't make it back home soon. Poor man is tied to leash, dudes a lost cause.

It wasn't surprising that Vegeta and I ended up crashing at Bulmas. Nobody else is exactly swimming in cash. So after a few days I could immediately tell when she has checking Vegeta out, but what shocked me was she was checking me out too.

Now don't get me wrong, in my old body I wasn't exactly every lady's dream. But I was a solid seven out of ten. In this body though?

I checked myself out a bit, I had a six pack. A cool scar to boot, but I wasn't as beefy as in my old body. Luffy wasn't really at Zoro's body type to be fair. I was shorter too, about 5'9 to be exact. I knew all this already but when I looked in a mirror I was surprised.

I was not that bad looking at all, the anime made Luffy look.. like an actual child despite being 19. But right now I look similar to the anime except more mature looking. A bit more gruff is the word, I can still potentially put on some muscle. Maybe even grow taller seeing as I was 19. Overall I can safely say I am a 7.8, what can I say I enjoy being handsome. I am not above looks.

Despite all the mundane stuff though I've been learning how to use ki courtesy of Vegeta laughing at my attempts from time to time. Took me 3 hours to learn how to fly. All in all? I could say my life has been paradise. If it wasn't for the fact I could somewhat sense Vegeta's murderous intent.

Now I wasn't able to really sense ki properly, but haki was another story. I could kind of sense emotions and Vegeta was a concerning case of murder. He was much harsher to Bulma than in the original, but it makes sense she wasn't supposed to really talk to Vegeta until much later.

I sighed as I watched Vegeta eat food, bowls upon bowls of fried rice reduced to atoms. I ate a bowl and called it quits. Guess I wasn't as hungry as Luffy. Bulma wasn't with us, probably still pissed at Vegeta. Maybe me as well, I wasn't exactly very receptive to her subtle flirting.

I wasn't really sleeping as well as I would like to, I was worried about Frieza. When are we supposed to go to namek? How? I remember Kami had a spaceship but now we have Vegetas ship and also his scouter which didn't take long to crack for her. I had mentioned offhandedly that a machine that can control gravity could be good for training and she only told me she would look into it.

I still wasn't really able to manipulate ki properly, I can make a ki ball but in the anime Vegeta proved how useless that is. Fuck, can we avoid cell? I wasn't too worried of my dna being stolen, devil fruit wasn't tied to dna. Haki is something Luffy had to train hard for, not like he was born with it. Only thing I even found concerning was conquerors haki.

But I doubt Cell would figure out how to use it on his own. Not like I'll teach him, I was quickly broken out of my thoughts sadly.

"Are you done watching me yet? I am getting rather annoyed." He made sure to punctuate that last part with slightly powering up. His aura made it obvious. I sighed again, this is gonna be a rough life to adjust to.

"My bad, was thinking about how nice it was giving you a sucker punch last week." Yeah probably not the proper dialogue choice to dissuade the tension but I am awfully stubborn and self destructive , sue me.

"You.. You know you are a goddam amateur right? In all my life, I've yet to have the displeasure of facing off against trash such as you." He almost seemed to lose his cool at the beginning but ended up doing that smug grin of his. Like he won, what a fucking douche.

"Yeah alright prince charming, say that to your balls." He nearly forgot I had hit him there huh? Well, judging by his anger he probably hasn't.

Right before Vegeta could take my face out on a date with his fists, Bulma stepped in. I was surprised to see her, almost forgot to mention that she is in fact beautiful.

No surprise there, a solid 8 or 9 on the scale. She quickly cleared her throat and took the stage.

"I made something close to what you asked for, come." She turned around, I quickly followed after her seeing as I didn't want to lose another fight to Vegeta. To his credit he scoffed and got up with his arms crossed intent on following us. I did say that the gravity machine was meant to improve training.

She led us through the capsule corporation which i still have trouble believing I reside in it. Outside, stood a weird.. metal circular shack? I didn't know the name for it. Vegeta eyed it with interest as she invited me to walk inside. Now I am no fool, I would love to take it for a spin. But the threat of Vegeta was still all too real.

I gestured towards it. "After you, your highness." I meant it sarcastically which simply earned a twitch in his eye. He took advantage by smirking at me as he stepped forward.

"Good to know you realized your place, trash."

I ended up hurling half assed insults at Vegeta as we stepped inside, a stray thought about how I am here made me realize something.

My very existence here is odd, unbelonging but belonging all together. Was I given a second chance to improve or overcome? I don't know. But I found myself slightly grinning, I already died once. There's something charming and special about possibly adding another death to that board.

Who's keeping track anyways?