Fanfic / Sadala Chronicles: The Saiyan and the Devil's Fruit

Even if it takes me forever, I'll make sure to become the youngest Elite!

"Are you sure you want to enter the Coliseum games? I'm telling you, the Elite members are not easy, especially for someone of your size, and the creatures you may face can put your life on the line."

— Cabba's father, chapter 5

Sadala Chronicles: The Saiyan and the Devil's Fruit. ^note  Previously known as I'll become an Elite Hero! The young Saiyan and the fruit! is a fanfic published by TrueUtopian about Cabba, the Saiyan from Universe 6 and his origin on how he became an Elite member of the Sadala Army. It is a alternate universe prequel to Dragon Ball Super.

The story deals with a young Cabba and his quest to become an elite member of the Sadala Forces entering into the Lad Sarced Coliseum games, motivated by his greatest hero: the emperor of the universe, Frost. However, it also deals with a case of a disappeared planet and its people, with the only clue being a mysterious spiky fruit which grants great power found by the current champion of the Coliseum, Taura.

The fanfic started to get published in January, 2018 and finished publication in April, 2019. While an origin story for Cabba, it also serves as an adaptation of the concepts of Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might and Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug. It received an epilogue that retells the events of Champa saga from the point of view of Cabba and Frost.

Beware of spoilers. Despite the title, the story has nothing to do with the Devil Fruits from One Piece.

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This work provides the following tropes:

• Aerith and Bob: The work follows the Edible Theme Naming of Dragon Ball, with all characters having names based on vegetables or other pieces of food. However, there is a character named Brad among everyone else.
• Ascended Extra: Renso, Auta Magetta and Pirina. While Renso was a vital part in the recruitment of Caulifla in the anime, both Magetta and Pirina were rather minor members of Team Universe 6 in both tournaments.
• Alternate Self: Following the Mirror Universe established by the main series, the story explores what an alternate counterpart to Turles, the Tree of Might and other characters would be like.
• Alternate Universe Fic: The fanfic originally started as a Pseudo-Canonical Fic, but it ended changing many events of the original story to the point it counts now as its own story.
• Adaptation Amalgamation:
  • The fanfic originally started only as an adaptation of Dragon Ball Z: The Tree of Might due to the use of the Tree of Might and Turles as a character, but later chapters started to implement elements from Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug due to the creation of Lusk, a Slug analog.
  • In turn, the fanfic started to borrow ideas and characterization for the Universe 6 characters from both the anime and manga continuities of Dragon Ball Super, alongside some ideas and interpretations from Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2.
• Adaptational Badass: The Tree of Might and its fruit get a complete change from its inspiration. In its movie debut and the many videogames, the fruit only grants its user a power boost. In the fic, not only it grants its users that, but also serves as a healing fruit to revive Cabba's pet dinosaur, and can turn anyone that is trapped in its vines into mindless plant monster.
• Adaptation Expansion: Sadala Chronicles expands very minor plot points from the source material, and while it contradicts elements as an Alternate Universe Fic, it does try its best to remain faithful.
  • Cabba and Caulifla backstories are brand new, with them being rivals, but them knowing each other as children is taken from a vague piece of dialogue from episode 88.
  Cabba: You mean Caulifla? No, there isn't a problem. But I'm not good with Caulifla.
  • The author does acknowledge Cabba and Caulifla don't know each other in the manga in the author notes, but he remarks his criticism of Toyotaro's work and only took Caulifla's life as a bandit as her resolution in the ending.
  • In the anime, Renso's leg injury was caused by unknown means. In the fanfic, it was caused by the terrorist attack done by the Crusher Corps, and his healing cells not working as side-effect of the Tree of Might causing him to retire.
  • Cabba fighting alongside Frost on planet Mayone is shown in the epilogue against an Original Character named Manza, and why Cabba was chosen for the tournament of Champa. Them meeting Vados is also taken, with dialogue from Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2.
  • Cabba taking Frost to the Galactic Patrol is adapted from a brief allusion in episode 71, although the episode states Cabba only told his testimony to the authorities.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: There are some changes to the source material.
  • In the anime, Cabba seems to admire Frost, but it never stated he was inspired to be a hero because of him. The fact Cabba transforms because, among other reasons, Frost's true nature is a plot point.
  • In the anime, is implied Cabba and Caulifla met at one point but were never that close to begin with (and the manga outright has them both meet for the first time). In this tale, they are child rivals, with Caulifla constantly teasing him by calling a bamboo whinner and Cabba wanting her to acknowledge him.
  • In both versions, Cabba and Auta Magetta are never implied to know each other as they never interact in neither the anime or manga. In this tale, Cabba and Magetta are friends after meeting in the Meteor Desert, with Cabba in particular finding him as a sort of best friend.
  • Pirina is a Namekian fighter in the source material, with no ties to any of the characters. The Saiyan and the Devil's fruit turns him into a prisoner of the Galactic Patrol unjustly captured by Caulifla's aunt in the forces.
• Being Good Sucks: In chapter 20, after surviving the nightmare that was the Tree of Might and with trauma from his Survivor Guilt and being tortured by Camelo, Cabba asks his reporter mother if any of the Space Pirates ever felt regret for their actions. She states that no, some of them felt proud of their actions like the rotten eggs they are.
  Cabba: How I envy evil not feeling any sort of regret.
• Beige Prose: Sadala Chronicles is narrated with very little descriptions, with many characters barely being described, and an abundance of dialogue. Occasionally turns into Purple Prose.
• Bittersweet Ending: The ending of the main story, Taura is killed off, and the Tree of Might is destroyed, allowing Cabba to achieve his dream of turning into a member of the Elite Saiyans and fight alongside Frost. But Camelo achieve her goal of returning to the Demon Realm, doesn't suffer consequences for her actions, and due to her involvement Sadala and its army is crippled with at least one thousand individuals dying, with Cabba suffering Survivor Guilt, Renso being arrested and Caulifla abandoning her home out of shame about her aunt.
• Book Ends: The story starts and ends with similar sentences about a victory against the space pirates. It starts with a young Cabba and Frost trusting each other, and it ends with Cabba taking him to prison.
  Chapter 1: The great hero held the kid in his arms while the cameras were capturing the moment for the history of the planet. The child was excited, with a great smile on his face. It wasn't every day the Emperor of the Universe personally visited Sadala and interacted with its citizens – as he usually came just for reunions with the king. This time though, he was with the small children and their parents – celebrating another victory in the war against the space pirates.
  Epilogue, final: The great faker was taken over by the same kid he thought he could manipulate, as the cameras of the Galactic headquarters were saving the moment for the history of the universe. The kid was nervous about what the future may hold, but it was rather exciting for him. It wasn't every day where the emperor of the universe was discovered to be a fraud, and the patrollers were arresting the man. In Cabba's mind though, he was more than happy - he was celebrating a true victory against the Space Pirates.
• Call-Forward:
  • In chapter 8, Vidalia slaps Cabba's hand and tells him she doesn't participate in the Coliseum games to make friends, just like Caulifla with Goku in the Tournament of Power. Also counts as Five-Second Foreshadowing of Vidalia's real identity.
  • In the epilogue, Vados mentions that Champa wanted to invite Dr.Rota to the tournament against Beerus, but she had to desist him from doing so.
  • The post-credits scene has Cabba talking about how Champa traded the Yardrats with a fellow destroyer because she found them cute, and thought he was "beautiful", a nod to Universe 2.
• Chekhov's Gunman: The coliseum referee (name's Das, by the way) mentions a rival named Brad in chapter 7. He is the referee from the Tournament between Universe 7 and 6, and he recorded Frost confession of being the leader of the Space Pirates.
• Canon Foreigner: Most of the characters created in this story don't exist in canon, or at best are based on vague commentaries (like Cabba's family).
• Central Theme: Temptation. During the story, Cabba is constantly being tempted to eat the fruit of the Tree of Might to gain more power, while Taura has been seduced by the power of the fruit.
• Color Motif: The color of the uniforms of the Saiyans have a symbolism. Once a soldier is promoted, they can choose a uniform of color gray, pink or green. The purple underpiece of the uniform is based on the royal coat of arms.
  • Blue: The color of the common soldiers. They represent the royal family, as soldiers are meant to be an extension of them.
  • Gray: The color of members of the Elite. It represents loyalty to the kingdom of Sadala.
  • Pink: The color of members of the Elite. It represents loyalty to the people from all races.
  • Green: The color of members of the Elite. It represents loyalty to comrades.
  • Silver: The color of the royal family, worn by the king.
• Demoted to Extra: Goku himself, who only appears in the epilogue, and his role during the rewrite fighting Botamo and Frost is given to Piccolo. His encounter with Hit is glossed over too, since Son Goku's conflict with Hit is not important to Cabba's Character Development.
• Edible Theme Naming:
  • Following the tradition of Saiyans being named after vegetables, minor character Zanar comes from zanahoria (carrot in Spanish), and Cabba's brother name is Suybe, from the same pun as Cabba in Japanese (kyabetsu). Minor characters Zukni and Mato are named after tomato and zucchini because the author thought they were vegetables.
  • The Saiyan members of the Lad Sarced games are named Cress (from watercress), Kora (from okra), the Celeric brothers (Celeriac) and Vidalia.
  • Renso and Caulifla father's name is Esparra, from the Spanish word for asparagus (esparrago).
  • The capital of Sadala, Lad Sarced, is an anagram of "caesar salad" (and a Punny Name too, due to being the home of the Coliseum). The same with Ambrosia, which is a type of salad.
• Evil Makes You Ugly: Consuming the fruit of the Tree of Might grants immense power to the person, but it alters their physical appearance. Taura went from having a normal skin tone to having an almost vampiric grayish one, similar to powder. Reviving with the Tree of Might likewise made Esparra have red eyes and a unnatural gray skin.
• Fix Fic: The fanfic combine elements of both versions of the original Universe 6 saga and is very faithful except for one thing: Piccolo is the first one to fight against Botamo, leaving Goku to only fight at the very end. The author has made clear in his notes that he hates Goku's original role in the saga.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Esparra, Renso's father is mentioned quite a bit over the course of the story. Because his revival is the Big Bad's plan.
  • In chapter 5, the narration points out how there are diamonds encrusted on the graves of the fallen Saiyans. Esparra is revived from a diamond made out of his ashes.
  • In chapter 6, after Doctor Yarrow checks if Cabba is capable of entering into the Lad Sarced games, he comments on how Cabba has some "oddity" about his body. Not only is this a subtle reference to the S-cells that will make him go Super Saiyan in the tournament against Universe 7, is also a clue of his pure heart that is what the villains are after.
• Great Offscreen War: There are mentions of a war between Frost forces, which includes the Saiyans, and the dreadful Space Pirates, that included a warmonger named Lusk, and this war is the motivation for Taura's actions, but the war itself is never the focus until a brief showcase in the epilogue.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Averted. The story treats Frost as a complete heroic individual, despite his true nature as evil in the series until the epilogue.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Cabba's pet dinosaur is a reference to Icarus from Tree of Might, and was named Toyble (Toyotaro's former nickname) before they discovered it was a female.
  • A leader of the Space Pirates is a Namekian named Lusk, a nod to Lord Slug. Taura despising him is based on Turles and Slug Teeth-Clenched Teamwork in Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2.
  • During chapter 15, Caulifla copies Cabba's energy kicks while fighting the vine monsters and thinks to herself "mind if I take your move?", one of Shallot's quotes when using a move from another character.
  • In the epilogue (part 5), when Cabba transforms into a Super Saiyan for the first time, his transformation is described as a sickly green color that quickly turns golden, like it happened to Vegeta in Dragon Ball Super: Broly.
• Resurrection Sickness: After being revived thanks to the Tree of Might, Esparra is affected by an unnatural gray skin and red eyes, alongside amnesia and blindness. He can't remember how he died.
• Saved by Canon: while the fic reaches Dark Fic levels after chapter 10, the truth is that as a prequel, the canon characters will end up surviving this tale unlike most of the originals.
• Shout-Out: See here.
• O.C. Stand-in: The universe 6 fighters were minor characters in Dragon Ball Super, but this fanfic takes the effort to explore more about them, and create motivations and a family.
  • In the series, Cabba is simply a warrior from Sadala that was Vegeta's opponent during the Universe 6 saga. In the story, he is portrayed as a naive young man from a pretty mundane family trying to become a great soldier just like his childhood hero Frost, but with doubts about himself, and secretly liking romantic novels.
  • Caulifla is portrayed as a Smug Super punk, like in canon, but her family history and relationship with Renso is explored a bit more, with her being the daughter of a famous Coliseum champion.
  • Magetta takes the cake: he is from a group of Metal Men brought to Sadala for construction purposes but decided to participate in the games after winning a contest of rock castles. His friendship with Cabba doesn't exist in canon.
• Original Character: Almost every character is created for this fic, including Taura who is meant to be seen as a Distaff Counterpart to Turles.
  • Cabba's family has only been alluded in canon but never explored. The author created a father, mother and small brother for him, alongside a pet dinosaur based on Icarus.
  • Caulifla's and Renso's father, Esparra, who doesn't exist in canon at all.
• Orwellian Retcon:
  • During November 2018, the author decided to re-read the fanfic and fix typos and minor inconsistencies. He changed the Saiyans having "holidays" during the first chapter (for consistency with their U7 counterparts) for "a celebration against the Space Pirates" and including a mention of Cabba's parents as non-combatant Saiyans.
  • In March 2019, in part thanks in finding an editor, the author fixed grammatical mistakes in the first chapter, but also changed the title from "the young Saiyan and the fruit" to just "the Saiyan and the fruit" in order to have a Double-Meaning Title. Likewise, a sentence was added to foreshadow future events.
  Original: His room had many posters of the Emperor of the Universe.
  Revision: His room had many posters of the Emperor of the Universe, and behind one of them there was a copy of his favorite (and only) book not related to Frost.
  • In March 2019, the author also took the time to rewrite chapter 2. The scenes with Cabba's parents were rewriten to include the characterization from the later chapters (a reporter and a Non-Action Guy with lung problems), as they were Living Props in the original, and added the detail that the pet dinosaur was a feathered velociraptor. Likewise, the bully threatening Cabba with energy contradicted a later chapter where Cabba's school used a power limiter, so it was rewritten to just using his fists. A further update would include a line talking of said bully's background.
• Posthumous Character:
  • Cabba's uncle died during the war against the Space Pirates, and he was named after him by his father. He was a regular soldier with nothing remarkable to his name.
  • Caulifla's father, Esparra, was found dead on mysterious circumstances in a nameless planet a decade before the events of the story. He was the champion of the Coliseum, known for defeating the Phototauros. Reviving him is part of Taura's motivation, and she succeeds thanks to the Tree of Might.
  • The Phototauros, a giant plant monster the size of a planet and its breed were killed off by Esparra and Taura decades before the events of the story.
• Take That!:
  • In the author's notes of chapter 12, the author recalls how Turles is overall redundant to the series as his role was already filled by Vegeta and Raditz. He then wondered if the reason he is not included in Dragon Ball Multiverse is because of the evil Kakarot the author is using, only to say the series has more problems than GT and Super combined.
  • The second part of the epilogue has Lord Sadala calling the concept of Saiyans from another universe "cheap" and critizing the use of Rule of Cool at the expense of meaning. While a form of deprecation towards Super and the Universe 6 Saiyans, is also a critique towards any fan story using similar ideas with the Saiyans (like Multiverse and some variations of AF)invoked
  Lord Sadala: Hmph! A tournament between Saiyans from another universe. Sounds cheap, don't you think? (...) Well, you're not missin' anything, stories like those are a dime in a dozen. Every once in a while I hear the folk tales from some of the races we save, and they all have things in common, so much I memorized some of the recurring ideas in all of them. All of them are cool on paper, but void of meaning.
• Tournament Arc: The Lad Sarced games in the Coliseum are the central focus starting from chapter 7, where Cabba has to prove his worth entering alongside his master, Captain Renso. It ends in chapter 10 after the defeat of Caulifla, and the Tree of Might emerging from the ground.
• World Tree: The Tree of Might, also known as Tree of Eternal Bliss, similar to its inspiration is a giant-sized tree that can grant a delicious looking fruit capable of healing and boosting power. Unlike its inspiration, it can absorb the planet inhabitants and turn them into the mutant, mindless and seemingly immortal vine creatures that the Big Bad uses as its revolutionary army, and due to this the insides of the tree are a mess of different energies that can leave energy-sensing users blind.
• The Unreveal:
  • Cabba's uncle fate. While he passed away during the war, how he died is never discussed. Cabba sometimes wonders how he died, like a coward trying to run away; a brave warrior or as an accident. By the end of the story, his fate still remains unknown.
  • Esparra's fate. He disappeared one day and was found on a nameless planet, so nobody knows what happened to him. Renso remembers he was worried about something and went to investigate it, but then ended up dead. Even after reviving, he doesn't remember how he ends up in a cave and ends up dying soon after, revealing nothing.

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