Yondu — the old Ravager who took Star-Lord from Earth and raised him — was a notorious star thief. He belonged to a loose alliance known as the Ravagers.
Strangely enough, his skin was also a shade of blue-purple, not unlike Nebula's. Whether they were of the same race was anyone's guess.
Yondu's signature weapon was his whistle-controlled arrow — the Yaka Arrow. With a single whistle, the arrow could pierce through dozens of enemies' hearts faster than blaster fire, deadlier than any energy gun.
In the original story, Yondu had two iconic battles.
One was when he was surrounded by Nova Corps soldiers — none of them knew about his arrow. At gunpoint, he had a chance to whistle. The next second, dozens of soldiers and even their ship were dead, cut down by a single crimson streak.
The second was in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, when his crew mutinied. He walked through the entire mothership, whistling, his arrow slaughtering every traitor on board in a matter of moments.
Yondu had taken Star-Lord only because he was hired by Ego — Star-Lord's father.
But when he discovered Ego's true intentions, he couldn't bring himself to deliver the child.
So he kept him and raised him among the Ravagers, giving a lame excuse that "small hands are useful for stealing."
No one knew whether he was lying to the Ravagers — or to himself.
Star-Lord and Yondu's relationship was much like Gamora and Nebula's.
They bickered constantly, threatened each other, even fought — but when it mattered, no one would actually kill the other.
Every time Star-Lord got into trouble, he would send a signal to Yondu — and Yondu would appear in moments, claiming he was there to "arrest" him.
Even the mutiny among the Ravagers was caused by Yondu being too lenient with Star-Lord, breaking Ravager code to protect him.
They weren't father and son — they were closer than father and son.
In the end, Yondu would give his life to save him.
That was why, when Star-Lord heard Yondu might cross paths with Ronan, he couldn't hide his worry.
Ronan the Accuser — Kree zealot and war fanatic. Everyone in the galaxy knew his name.
Even advanced civilizations like the Nova Empire avoided provoking him. To small groups like the Ravagers, Ronan was practically a death sentence.
Rocket glanced at Star-Lord.
"So this Yondu guy — the one chasing you before — you actually want to save him now?"
"This man…" Star-Lord said, "We're thieves. Ravagers. Fighting and killing here and there is just life. But he's…"
Lock interrupted with a small smile.
"In that case, let's go have a look. I've never been to Xandar — might as well treat it like sightseeing."
In the original timeline, Ronan's ambitions grew out of control once he had the Power Stone. He even dared to defy Thanos and marched straight to Xandar.
And yet — he died in one of the strangest, most ridiculous ways imaginable.
Gamora found a smaller battleship that had survived Nebula's crash and said, "Lock, with your maids and everyone else, the Milano's going to be too cramped. I'll see if this one still flies."
She piloted the craft out, carefully testing its systems as it drifted toward space.
But suddenly — pew! — a shot slammed into her ship.
Gamora's heart clenched. She thought Lock had destroyed every enemy ship — who was left to ambush her now?
She looked — and saw Nebula's battleship.
Nebula hadn't left after all.
She had started to go — but after taking Gamora's gift, she felt humiliated. Now she was back to "even the score."
Energy bolts rained down on Gamora, deadly precise.
Her ship was already half-ruined from the crash. It couldn't take this.
One blast tore straight through the hull. Pressure was lost instantly — and Gamora was sucked into open space.
"Hahahaha! And Sister — I win this time!"
Nebula turned her ship away with a smug grin.
Space was more than two hundred degrees below zero.
Gamora's body froze within seconds. Frost spread across her skin and hair — her breathing stopped.
Star-Lord and Rocket were about to rush in to rescue her —
But Lock's calm voice came over the comm:
"Wait."
"Wait?!" Rocket shouted. "She's not a god — she's going to die!"
Lock didn't answer.
Instead, he sent a message — directly to Nebula.
"Your sister is adrift. She'll be dead in three minutes."
"Good!" Nebula snapped. "Let her die!"
"Then why fly away?" Lock said lazily. "Wouldn't it be more satisfying to watch her corpse?"
Nebula's ship slowed. She turned back, hovering at a distance, glaring at Gamora's floating body.
One minute passed.
Nebula growled.
"Aren't you supposed to be a team?! Why aren't you saving her?!"
Lock shrugged.
"We've only known each other two days. Not that close."
"You bastard! What kind of team are you?!"
"Haha. You're sisters, and you don't care. Why should I?"
Two minutes passed.
Nebula's hands were shaking on the controls.
Finally she roared, swung her ship around, and snatched Gamora out of the void with a mechanical claw, dragging her into the cabin.
But Gamora was frozen solid, unresponsive, eyes closed.
Nebula shook her roughly.
"Stop playing dead! Get up! …Hey!"
Nothing.
Panic flashed in Nebula's eyes.
She tore through the ship — but there were no medical supplies. Combat craft only carried ammo and power cells — no medkits, no healing pods. Those were on the mothership.
Finally, Nebula's gaze fell on the golden potion still in her pocket.
She cursed under her breath, pried open Gamora's jaw, and poured it down her throat.
Golden light spread through Gamora's body — healing, mending, thawing.
Even old scars from years of battle vanished, her skin flawless again.
Gamora's eyes fluttered open.
She was quiet for a long moment, then whispered,
"I knew you'd save me."
"Shut up!" Nebula snapped. "If your so-called 'team' hadn't been so cold-blooded, I would've left you floating out there!"
Gamora looked at the empty bottle on the floor and sighed.
"Such a miracle wasted on me…"
"Hmph. Don't flatter yourself. That's the most expensive beauty treatment in the galaxy — one billion credits."
The sisters fell silent, staring at the bottle.
Gamora said nothing — she couldn't blame Nebula.
Their whole lives had been this game — one wounds, the other wounds back, the loser loses a piece of flesh.
Raised under Thanos' shadow, what else could they have become?
Knock knock knock.
A sound came from outside the hatch.
Lock floated outside, holding the two alien maids inside a glowing sphere.
"Mind giving us a ride?"
Nebula stared.
"You didn't say there was a god in your crew!"
"Where do you think the potion came from?" Gamora said softly.
Nebula swallowed hard.
"Then he's on Father's level… I wonder if he could beat him…"
Lock and the maids boarded the ship.
"Take us to Xandar," Lock said casually. "Thanks for the lift."
Nebula glared.
"Why didn't you save her yourself? I wasted the potion!"
Lock smiled.
"If you never make choices, you'll never grow. But since you gave me a ride, here's your fare."
He handed her another golden potion.
Gamora's face lit up with relief.
"Nebula, take it. You never know when you'll need it."
This time, Nebula didn't refuse.
She held the potion tightly, silent for a long time.
"…If I use this to fix my body, Father will know."