New Three-Eyed Star
Two years after Gohan escorted King Tenmoku's ark to this world, the people of the Three-Eyed Clan completed their own great migration. Months of land-clearing and basic works later, New Three-Eyed Star had taken shape orderly grids, fresh water cut through with canals, the clatter and hum of a civilization reborn.
The crisis had passed. The people moved with purpose, their vigor almost tangible.
The new Palace of Tenmoku already stood imposing, austere, a presence that brooked no doubt.
"Tien, when can we go back to Earth?" Chiaotzu pouted, his voice pure grievance.
Tien Shinhan stood with his back to him, gaze lifted to the sky. "Soon, Chiaotzu. I've got a feeling that kid Gohan… he's almost here."
His third eye flashed with a golden gleam.
"Oh? So the Three-Eyed Clan wasn't bluffing Tien, you really can foresee my arrival."
The words came from behind them the instant Tien finished speaking.
"You're Gohan? It's only been a few years how did you get this big?" Tien stared, stunned.
"Saiyans grow like weeds in childhood and adolescence," Gohan said mildly. "A day makes a difference."
"No wonder Son Goku changed so much by the last World Martial Arts Tournament," Tien murmured, remembering Goku at nineteen.
"Enough about me how've you been?" Gohan asked. "Four years… how are things here?"
Tien's smile was thin. "Heh. Let's say… a lot of people would rather I weren't around."
"Hm?" Gohan's brow ticked up. Heat pricked behind his eyes. "I'll talk to King Tenmoku."
"Wait " Tien didn't finish. Gohan was already gone.
"Come on, Chiaotzu," Tien said, and together they headed for the palace unhurried. Perhaps, deep down, he wanted Gohan to knock some heads together.
Great Hall of the Palace
"Left Minister, this planet is larger than our old one. Why are you sending your line to seize land from other clans?" The Right Minister jabbed a finger across the hall, furious.
"Shut it. My sons are many, my grandsons more what's wrong with staking more claims? Besides, squabbles among juniors you want to make that a matter of state?" The Left Minister gave as good as he got, jabbing back.
Their factions erupted, courtiers flinging insults and spittle in equal measure.
King Tenmoku's face tightened to granite.
"If your lines are thin, that's your failing!"
"Failing my ass! How many children were murdered by your hirelings in the dark?"
"Lies! We took territory for the Young Lord Tien, to build him a palace!"
"Don't you dare say his name!" the right faction snapped. "Have you forgotten how your eldest insulted him?"
King Tenmoku couldn't bear it any longer. His ki flared, cracking through the rafters.
"Silence!"
The hall froze.
"Do you take my throne room for a market stall?" he roared. In the final days of their dying world, Left and Right had clashed, yes but always with the crisis in mind. Now that danger had passed, greed, pettiness, and ambition bared their teeth.
Where there are people, there is strife. Multiply that by eight billion Three-Eyed souls, and strife becomes an industry.
"Your Majesty, we beg your judgment," the two ministers said together, as if pressing the throne.
Tenmoku's cheek twitched.
"Heh. King Tenmoku… looks like you're not having a good time."
A voice fell like a blade.
From the highest beam, a figure drifted down Gohan.
"Gohan, my young friend you're here?" Relief and dread flickered in Tenmoku's eyes. Relief that Gohan's arrival shattered this ugly scene. Dread that he might learn what Tien had put up with.
"I've been listening for a while," Gohan said, voice cool. "Your clan isn't exactly a monolith."
"Ahem please, don't mind what you saw," the king managed, smiling tight.
The Left Minister's scalp went cold. Sweat crept down his spine. The fog of desire thinned, and memory stabbed him awake
the image of Gohan destroying a star.
"I don't care about your internal mess," Gohan said, shaking his head. "I care about my friend Tien. So let me ask: is the Left Minister's eldest present?"
The temperature dropped. Killing intent bled into the air.
"Be calm, Master Gohan, wait things aren't what you think " the Left Minister blurted.
Zzz-krrk!
Gohan's eyes narrowed. Two golden lances leapt from his pupils. The Left Minister's eyes went wide and emptied. Life cut clean.
Thud.
He hit the tiles. Blood spread like ink.
"Insults have a price," Gohan said. The hall shook with fear. Greed shriveled in a hundred hearts.
"Gohan this is the Three-Eyed Star " King Tenmoku's voice iced over, anger straining its leash.
"Three-Eyed Star? Three-Eyed Star!" Gohan laughed, head tipping back. Ki exploded upward, punching a hole through the ceiling.
He soared into the open sky, seized the Right Minister in a band of ki, and drew him close.
"Point me a direction," he said.
"A… direction?" the Right Minister stammered.
"Where is the man who insulted Tien?" The chill in Gohan's tone brooked no lie. Trembling, the Right Minister pointed.
"Gohan show mercy!" King Tenmoku shouted.
High above, Gohan ignored him. He faced the indicated quarter and fired a single pillar of light.
The beam split the heavens. Everything along that bearing went to ash. No voices. No foundations. No trace.
"This is bad Gohan went too far," Tien said aloud… but the upward hook at the corner of his mouth told another story. Blood ties were one thing; what he'd lived through here was another. He'd grown up on Earth, and the slights and shoves he'd swallowed here had long since curdled. If not to spare Gohan the awkwardness, he'd have handled it himself.
People forget Tien was one of Dragon Ball's earliest antagonists. He "turned good" because of Goku. He wasn't a saint; age had merely sanded the edges. The temper was still there.
And Gohan's way? It suited him just fine.
Clan or not, the ones who had truly stood by him were long dead. The rest were the new generation.
"Master Gohan, you go too far!" King Tenmoku trembled with rage.
"When I saved you, it was because your people weren't a savage race," Gohan said, gaze like a blade. "Remember this: I can grant your survival… and I can end it."
The king's fury guttered. A chill ran straight to the bone. Ministers stood like eggs on a blade's edge.
"Master Gohan my sight was clouded," Tenmoku said at once, bowing his head. "It won't happen again."
"There won't be a 'next time,'" Tien said, arriving in a flicker beside them.
"Young Lord " the king blurted.
"Enough. I don't care to be your 'young lord.' If not for Gohan's sake, I'd have acted long ago. I'm going back to Earth. I'm not staying on this rock." Tien's words cracked like a whip.
Tenmoku's expression worsened. The blast had already drawn the Elders from seclusion. The Grand Elder spoke first.
"Master Gohan, this is our fault. We should pay for it. Young Lord please, don't abandon your people."
He knew the whole story; the Left Minister's faction had outgrown the Elders' sway. He'd warned the king where this road led. Tenmoku too soft had refused to weaken the clan.
"At least someone can still tell night from day," Gohan said, voice flat.
"We beg your forbearance," the Grand Elder said, bowing lower.
His presence cooled Tien's anger. After all, it had been this elder who broke Tien's seal.
"Grand Elder, I won't speak for the rest," Tien said. "But you and the other Elders I'll treat you as family."
"But " the elder began.
"No 'but,'" Gohan cut in. "Tien is your young lord. If you stand by him, I'll see to it the Three-Eyed Clan rises again."
Tien's ire faded; he didn't argue. He knew Gohan was covering for him and he wasn't stupid.
Eight billion souls, with thousands to tens of thousands in battle power among them, were a force no one should ignore.
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