MasakoX of TeamFourStar posed the question on his YouTube channel, What If Garlic Jr. Didn't Suck? This was a notion i had thought about before, but now I decided to write it all out and give a little sketch of how I figure I would try to reintroduce the character of Garlic Jr. into DBS. (For starters I'd change his name to "Garuik" because Garlic Jr. sounds stupid.

Below is my attempt at a possible story arc fanfic of how I think a good reintroduction to Garlic would work out. The setting takes place any time after the Tournament of Power. Enjoy.

A thousand years before the events of Dragon Ball Super, Garlic Jr’s (Garuik’s) motivation for villainy is not to avenge his father but to instead claim what he believes is rightfully his, the position of Earth’s guardian. All those years ago, Garuik would lose to Kami for the chance to become guardian and he would not take his loss lightly. Garuik tried to kill Kami in a jealous attempt to take the position of power for himself but was defeated and sealed within a dimensional prison chamber deep in the heart of the Lookout, similar to the Room of Spirit and Time, but even more dark and horrible. Over the last thousand years since his defeat, he had been plotting his revenge and formulating a plan to escape his void prison.

I would then introduce the concept of “Demon Energy,” which would be the inverse of Divine Energy. What makes Demon Energy different is it is only exclusive to beings with demonic heritage, and it can be used to rot and corrupt existing matter. If strong enough, it can even weaken the barrier between dimensions, creating wormholes. After centuries of training and refining his control of demon energy, Garuik manages to open a rift in his prison and escapes to the mortal realm. (Using Demon energy would look similar to the Dead Zone effect and be all red and spirally.)

Now free, Garuik seeks out Kami with the plan to destroy him and take is rightful place as the tyrannical guardian of Earth. Instead, he finds that Kami is long gone and Dende took his place. Disappointed that he can’t get his revenge, he takes his anger out on Dende, nearly killing him and steals the mantle of guardian for himself, as well as Kami's old staff as a symbolic gesture of his ascension. Mr. Popo, bound to serve the guardian of Earth, begrudgingly stays to serve Garuik while Dende escapes to get help. Garuik then can begin his plan to subjugate Earth. He uses is evil magic to broadcast a message across the planet claiming he is the new lord of this world and that those that oppose him will be absorbed into the Dead Zone. As a demonstration he then swallows the lookout into the spiraling abyss of the newly summoned Dead Zone.

With the lookout destroyed, Garuik uses his magic to mold and entire mountain into his own castle fortress. (like the one we see in the Dead Zone movie) Garuik begins his hostile takeover by rotting the planet with a wave of demon energy and summoning ghoulish minions to wreak havoc across the world. With his Demon Energy spreading across the planet like a virus, the sky begins to turn red, the natural wildlife and foliage of Earth begin to fade and die, and the positive energy within people become corrupted and bitter. Cities are being pillaged by imps and ghouls, while the warriors of Earth like Tien and Yamcha do all they can to fight off these creatures while Dende goes to seek the help of Goku and others.

When Garuik is eventually confronted by Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, and others, Mr. Popo is used as a bargaining chip by him to keep anyone from making sudden movements. Garuik learns the fate of Kami and how he and Piccolo returned to their original fused state. Garuik says he will allow Mr. Popo to live if they bring him the Dragon Balls. Mr. Popo tells them not to, but Goku complies with Garuik’s demand because he doesn’t want to see him get hurt. On top of that, Garuik reveals that if a mortal is killed by Demon Energy, their spirit becomes corrupt and they are reincarnated as demons themselves. With this new threat in power, they all scatter to collect the Dragon Balls.

Now with the Dragon Balls, Garuik summons Shenron and surprisingly wishes for Piccolo and Kami to be separated once again. In a flash, Piccolo defuses with Kami. No longer needed, Garuik blasts Shenron with a jolt of demon energy, vaporizing the dragon and turning the Dragon Balls into stone. Now they can’t be used against him and all is going according to Garuik’s plan. Now unfused, Kami comes to terms that he is his own being again and turns to challenge his old nemesis. They begin to fight, with Kami clearly being outmatched against Garuik. That is when Goku and Vegeta rush in to assist, only to be swallowed by micro-portals and teleported several feet away. (Similar to Janemba’s portals.) Whenever they try to get in close, they just keep getting warped away by demon wormholes. They try energy attacks, but they just get redirected back at themselves through portals.

During the fight, Goku turns Super Saiyan Blue and blasts a Kamehameha, when Garuik opens a portal to redirect it, Goku’s blast shatters the portal like glass and delivers a powerful impact. That’s when they realize, Super Saiyan Blue uses divine energy, which is the opposite of Demon Energy. This was unexpected by Garuik, but the prospect of a real challenge after a thousand years excited him. The fight between him and Goku rages on with Vegeta jumping in to try and deal some damage himself. Ultimately, they manage to wear down Garuik a bit till Kami steps in and tells them to stop and that it is his fight to finish. Garuik just starts laughing at the idea of Kami being able to hurt him.

Just like in the original Dead Zone movie, Kami wraps his arms around Garuik with the intention of blowing themselves both up. Just as it seems like Kami is about to do as such, a mysterious blast of demonic energy hits Garuik. That’s when we see that it was Piccolo that fired that blast. Because Kami was separated from him, Piccolo was able to channel his inner “Demon King” deep down inside himself to produce Demon Energy. Piccolo, now tapping into his own inner dark power, saves Kami and fights Garuik.

Internal feelings of malice and unchecked rage fueled Piccolo as it used to before when he was evil. He and Garuik fought using a flurry of demonic energy attacks. The fight between the two warriors goes on with Piccolo putting up a decent effort. Piccolo claims he wants to try and end this with one full powered blast. He charges up his all new attack, the “Devil Beam Cannon”, a massive spiraling red blast from his fist. Garuik raises his hands to catch the blast with a smirk. He had been training with Demon energy for a thousand years in isolation and this was nothing he couldn’t handle. He began to absorb the blast, maximizing his demonic energy intake. This triggered an evolution within Garuik as he began to grow larger and bulkier like Garlic Jr. did originally. Garuik has now reached his pique power.

The fight continues with Piccolo being thrashed, Goku and Vegeta being battered, and even with help from Gohan and Majin Buu, they either get warped away or have their own attacks redirected at themselves. On the rare chance Goku can get close enough to hit him, Garuik is now strong enough to take a god’s punch and deliver one back himself.

While the fight goes on, Dende heals Kami and Piccolo. Dende says that their only hope is to revive Shenron and turn the stone orbs back into functional Dragon Balls. With the ability to fabricate inanimate objects, Piccolo summons a statuette of Shenron. Dende claims that if he remakes Shenron, it won’t be powerful enough to stop Garuik. Kami offers to assist in the creation and with the combined magic of Dende and Kami, the two Dragon Clan Namekians make a brand new Shenron with the potential to grant far more powerful wishes.

Garuik sees this and is infuriated. He tries to blast them, but Vegeta and Goku shield them with a wave of divine energy to cancel out the demon energy. Getting desperate, Garuik opens a massive Dead Zone above them all yelling he will swallow the entire planet. As everything begins being sucked up, Dende yells to the new Shenron that he wishes for Garuik to be stripped of his demonic energy. The wish was then granted, and the Dead Zone begins to shatter around them. Garuik is stunned when he begins to feel his power fading rapidly, as his body starts to shrink down to his normal size. The shock of losing all his energy at once leaves him feeling beyond drained as he collapses to the ground barely able to move. Garuik had lost and he laid their as weak as he was a thousand years ago. What hurt him most of all was all that time was for nothing and he never got his revenge.

Vegeta offered to end it by killing him but Piccolo had a better idea. Piccolo reasons that if they kill him, he will just end up in Hell and can regain his demonic energy and return. Instead Piccolo turns to Shenron and wishes for Garuik’s new prison to be himself. The wish is granted as Garuik’s body turns into a wave of light that is absorbed into Piccolo’s core. A rush of power then fills Piccolo. This shocks everyone, fearing that doing this will only further corrupt Piccolo. Kami steps in then and says that Piccolo won’t be corrupted again because he will refuse with Piccolo to balance his new Demon energy. This shocks everyone, but Kami claims that he is old and if he dies it would just end Piccolo as well and that result isn’t worth it. Besides, Kami is quite proud to see that the Earth will be in the hands of a young and kind guardian like Dende.

One last time they all say their farewells, who then offers his old staff back to Dende, formally passing on the mantle of guardian himself. Piccolo then places his hand upon Kami and the two reunite once again. Wow with the added power of Garuik and Kami, Piccolo has reclaimed the title of Demon King, but instead he is now a Demon King that fights for the good of humanity. They then ask Shenron to reverse the damage Garuik had done to the planet and restore the Lookout. With that, the world is once again saved, now with the addition new and improved Namekian warrior to protect it.

(My hopes if this were canon, Piccolo's new power would make him a relevant fighter again that can keep up with Goku and Vegeta. I also think it would be cool if Piccolo could tap into his demon energy and unlock the transformation Garuik had, making Piccolo bigger, buffer, and vastly more aggressive. That would be cool. I hope my fan-fic concept for a new Garlic Jr. Saga meets everyone's standards!)