Marcarita froze for a moment, completely speechless.
Whis, on the other hand, looked utterly bewildered.
Good heavens—so the strongest universe turned out to be his own?
After all, Kaito was a being stronger than even angels. Even if Jiren were summoned here, he'd still be slapped twice before he could react.
Wherever Kaito existed, that universe was, without question, the strongest of them all.
And Kaito did consider himself part of the Seventh Universe, so calling it the strongest wasn't really wrong.
Marcarita pouted and looked at Kaito.
"Kaito, if my universe gets erased, would you make a wish to Super Shenron to restore it?"
Kaito looked at her pitiful expression and chuckled.
"Why so scared all of a sudden? Even if your universe gets erased, you're an angel—you wouldn't disappear with it."
"But I don't want to go into eternal sleep! That's too painful!"
"Haha, then that'll depend on your performance."
Marcarita immediately patted her chest and declared earnestly,
"I'll listen to you from now on! Whatever you tell me to do, I'll do it!"
"Oh?"
Kaito raised an eyebrow, a mischievous smile spreading across his face. Marcarita instinctively shivered.
"Y-You're not planning to do that kind of thing to me, are you?"
"What kind of thing?"
"The kind of thing you did with Eighteen that night..."
"Marcarita!"
Eighteen's face instantly turned crimson. She glared at Marcarita furiously, snapping the chopsticks in her hands clean in half.
Marcarita stuck out her tongue. It wasn't her fault—she'd just happened to walk by the door that night and accidentally caught a glimpse of a scene that could never air on television!
Kaito felt a bit awkward himself. He coughed twice to cover it up, then straightened his face.
"Alright, let's get back to business. Since Vados already has six of them, we only need to find the last one. Shouldn't be that hard."
Vados shook her head and said softly,
"Kaito, finding the Super Dragon Balls isn't as easy as you think. I've been searching for that last one for ages—I don't even know how many years have passed—and I still haven't found a single clue."
Though the Super Dragon Balls were massive, comparable to planets, compared to an entire universe, they were still nothing more than grains of dust. Not to mention—they existed across two universes.
...
Kaito actually knew a little about the last Super Dragon Ball. It was encased in layers of rock, looking exactly like an ordinary planet.
Finding its exact location wasn't impossible, though. He could simply ask Bulma to build a radar specifically for Super Dragon Balls. With six samples already collected, creating such a device would be no problem for her.
With that thought, Kaito said to Vados,
"Vados, I'll go with you to the Sixth Universe and retrieve those six Super Dragon Balls."
Vados showed no sign of reluctance. She simply told Kaito to place his hand on her back. The two turned into streaks of light and vanished instantly.
...
On the way to the Sixth Universe, Vados suddenly spoke.
"Kaito, maybe you should change your posture a bit. Like this, it feels... hmm, stiff."
Kaito blinked.
"But this is how you carried the God of Destruction, right?"
"Not the same. It's rare that it's just the two of us—can't you be a little bolder?"
Vados turned her head, her gaze locking onto Kaito's golden eyes.
Kaito hadn't expected her to be so forward, but being a battle-hardened man, he didn't hesitate. He wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close to his chest.
"How's this?"
Vados smiled faintly, closed her eyes, and rested against him. A bead of cold sweat slid down Kaito's forehead.
She was still "piloting," after all. Their speed now far surpassed the speed of light—was it really okay for her to close her eyes like that?
Fortunately, Vados was a seasoned veteran. They eventually landed smoothly at the temple where Champa resided.
At the moment, Champa was still sound asleep—snoring loudly, with a huge bubble inflating and deflating from his nose.
Kaito's mouth twitched. He looked at Vados and asked,
"He's been sleeping like this ever since that fight?"
Vados blinked her big eyes and nodded gently.
"Did I hit him that hard? That bump on his head still hasn't gone down?"
Vados said nothing—she only nodded again.
Kaito shot her a suspicious look. He had a feeling she might have done something to Champa—maybe even put him under some kind of "physical hypnosis."
Vados stroked the crystal orb atop her staff. A streak of light flashed across it, and six enormous Dragon Balls instantly appeared, floating around the temple.
It had to be said—compared to the Super Dragon Balls, the ones on Earth were like toy models. Each of these was nearly the size of a planet.
Through the Rinnegan, Kaito could clearly see the blazing, sun-like energy rules flowing within each Super Dragon Ball.
As he stared, a burning sensation suddenly surged through his eyes, forcing him to cover them instinctively.
Vados was startled by his reaction. She hurriedly held him up, her face full of concern.
"Kaito, what's wrong?"
Slowly, Kaito lowered his hands. Within his eyes now glowed patterns like twin suns, surrounded by what seemed to be dancing flames.
These eyes—the mark of the Ōtsutsuki God.
Kaito looked up at the six Super Dragon Balls floating above him. The sun-like patterns in his eyes began to spin violently.
Empowered by the immense ocular force, Kaito unleashed Sukunahikona.
A wave of invisible energy rippled outward. The six planet-sized Dragon Balls began to shrink, rapidly reducing until they were the size of ordinary ones. Each of them burned with golden flames.
The six burning orbs floated slowly behind Kaito, just like the Truth-Seeking Orbs once had.
His long white hair turned golden, spreading out like living fire. His horns glowed crimson from the heat.
On his chest, a golden dragon-shaped tattoo flickered in and out of view, occasionally echoing with a faint dragon's roar.
Vados stood there in awe. Kaito now looked as if he had fused completely with Super Shenron itself—a state beyond her comprehension.
"Haa..."
Kaito exhaled a long, heated breath. He lowered his gaze to the dragon tattoo on his chest, his heart pounding with the same shock Vados felt.
At this moment, he felt omnipotent—as though the rise and fall of entire universes were his to decide.
From this moment on, he had truly attained godhood within the Dragon Ball world.
He was now—Dragon God Kaito!