Dragonball Super manga Volume 4 (Chapter 21)

 By Mark Rodriguez

Last time, Goku, Vegeta and Trunks went to Trunks' alternate future timeline to confront Goku Black. They were caught by surprise not only that by the fact that Goku Black has allied himself with the Zamas from Trunks' timeline, but also with Goku Black's newfound ability to transform into Super Saiyan Rose. With Vegeta unconscious, Goku escaped with him back to the regular timeline in their time machine while Trunks buys them time and holds the villains off. What will happen now?

Chapter 21- Last Chance for Hope

The chapter begins in the main Dragonball timeline as Kid Trunks trains with Pilaf and Shou. Shou is holding onto Pilaf for support so he's not sent flying every time Trunks hits him. Pilaf says they're not strong enough to be his training partners and he says he needs to get stronger. In the meantime, Mai is sitting by herself pining after the older Future Trunks. Just then the time machine returns and Trunks runs off to tell his mom and everybody else.

The gang rushes in to see Goku helping an unconscious Vegeta out of the time machine. Bulma is shocked to see Vegeta in such a state. Just then a little black cat also pops out of the time machine. Goku and Vegeta recover thanks to munching on senzu beans and Bulma tells them they only have four left. Goku apologizes for leaving Trunks behind but they had no choice. He has to learn the Ma-Fu-Ba and return. Bulma tells them that it will take a full day to power up the time machine again. Vegeta says Goku knew this and yet he left Trunks behind. 

Goku says since they're using a time machine, they can just go back to the exact moment they left. Bulma says the time machine doesn't work that way, it's only connected to that parallel world but they can't change its history. If a day passes in their time, a day will also pass in Trunks' timeline. Not only that, but the link between the timelines is weakening. This next trip to Trunks' timeline will be their last round trip, they'll never be able to visit that timeline again. Everyone is surprised.

Kaioshin slams his hands on the table and stands up. He says he must tell Lord Gowas about everything they learned, so he will be going to universe 6. Whis says he will need support after what happened to his apprentice. Whis looks over at Beerus, and he says that he will not travel to the future with them. He had already taken care of the Zamas of their timeline and he will leave the rest up to them. Beerus and Whis would rather stay and enjoy more food.

Goku asks Whis what the future version of him would be doing since he wouldn't have died along with Beerus. Whis says once the deity an angel was tasked with watching over dies, their duties are suspended until a new god exists. Goku realizes they have no other allies in the future. He will go visit Master Roshi to learn the Ma-Fu-Ba and asks Vegeta what he will do. Vegeta says it's none of his business and he will not be relying on that technique. Vegeta flies out the window saying that he will kill Goku Black. He heads towards Kami Sama's temple. 

In Trunk's alternate timeline, Goku Black is grabbing Trunks by the the face and slamming the back of his head into the ground. He asks why he has that smirk on his face, and if he really thinks he won just because Goku and Vegeta returned to their timeline. Black says that nothing they do can stop him, he will continue to get stronger. Mai yells out to Black to stop. 

Mai swings her gun at Black, hitting him in the back. Black says she's in the way and sends her flying back with just a glare. With Mai hitting the ground hard, Trunks gets angry and fires a ki blast into the corrupt god's face. Trunks gets up and backs away. He gets ready to blind Goku Black with the Tai-Yo-Ken but this time his sword is thrown at him, just narrowly missing going into his neck. 

Zamas says that trick won't work a second time on them as he heals up a hole in his chest that he had gotten earlier. He says there is no hope for them. Trunks says there will always be hope and even if he kills them, they will never win. Goku Black says Trunks is prepared to die to he will grant him his wish. Black holds out his hands and blasts Trunks, trapping him in some sort of energy field. Black raises his hands, which also raises Trunks up into the air and them slams him down to the ground violently. Mai yells out to Trunks.

Goku Black swings his arms around, sending Trunks through several buildings. With Trunks badly injured, Black says it's time to end this as he forms a ball of flames. Mai grabs Trunks' sword and even though it's heavy, she still tries to run into the fight. Trunks tells Mai to get away as far as she can. Black says that that they finally lost all hope. He says he won't go as far as destroy the planet, he just wants to kill every last mortal. Just as he's about to fire off the blast, Gowas suddenly appears in front of Trunks. Goku Black and Zamasu are surprised. Gowas tells Trunks to take his hand and Kaiohshin also appears alongside Mai and tells her the same. Gowas and Kaioshin teleport away with Trunks and Mai. 

Goku Black and Zamas are surprised because the Gowasu and Kaioshin from Universe 7 have died long ago. Goku Black says they must have come from the past. 

The four arrive at the future version of Kaiohshinkai, the world of the Kaiohshins. Trunks is surprised to see Kaioshin again and realizes he's from the past. Kaiohshin tells him that he can travel to any future as long as he has the time ring. Gowas bows and apologizes for all the trouble he's caused. He says it was his fault for taking Zamas on as an apprentice. Kaioshin says he was already twisted before he took him on so it's not entirely his fault. 

Mai asks them where they are, since she's never been there before. Kaioshin explains that they are in the future version of Kaiohshinkai, though nobody lives there anymore. As long as they are there, Black and Zamas won't be able to find them. They will wait out the day there until Goku and Vegeta come back. 

Goku is at Kamesennin's island training with the Ma-Fu-Ba technique. It consists of trapping someone in an energy field and then sending them into a jar that has a specific seal on it. Goku keeps missing the jar and Roshi says he's being too rough and needs a gentler hand. Goku asks him why he doesn't come to the future with them. Roshi says using the Ma-Fu-Ba requires great strength, if he tries it now, not only will it fail but he'll die. Goku says he can't believe someone can die just by using it once and has has some senzu beans ready. Roshi says he'd forgotten that he had already died once before from using the technique.

Goku asks if after he uses the technique he just has to tie up and seal the jar. Roshi says he will prepare a new talisman for him. He also asks Goku to take him to a hostess bar sometime. 

Goku Black and Zamas relax in their hideout. They contemplate that if the Kaioshins know what they're up to they won't be able to continue their plans in secret. Zamas says it'll get worse if they tell Zeno Sama about this. Goku Black says it's time to leave Earth and go to another planet, they will leave in the morning. Zamas says they might as well kill whatever mortals are left on the planet before they go.

Trunks and Mai are sleeping peacefully as Kaioshin's healing herbs are working on them. He says it would have been faster if Kibito was there to heal them. Gowas says the healing powers are only for those that are tasked to watch over the Kaioshins. They both feel horrible that their godly powers have now been used for evil. Suddenly they both can sense that Black and Zamas are going around killing every last surviving mortal on the planet. 

Gowas can't stand idly by and let this happen. Kaioshin tells him to wait, Goku and Vegeta will return shortly. Gowas says he's still Zamas's master and he can probably find a way to persuade him. He teleports back to Earth.

Black and Zamas find a storage unit with the last remaining mortals hiding inside. As Zamas heads down to kill them, Gowas appears behind Black reminding him that he is still his master. Black says he must have survived thanks to changes in the past and asks why he's here now. Gowas tells him to stop this, just as the storage unit below blows up, killing the last of the humans on Earth. 

Gowas says he didn't teach him any of this and Black says the world is better off without mortals, he has seen that all they do is keep repeating the same mistakes. Gowas then asks why they killed the gods. Black responds that they wouldn't gone along with their plan, his master says that proves his ideals are wrong. Black asks why he's even bothering at this point since his plan is already set in motion. Gowas says it's not too long to fix things, he can still admit his wrong-doings and they can both go to apologize to Zeno about all that's occurred. They can return to universe 10 together and make this right. 

Zamas steps out of the storage unit and sees his other self speaking with Gowas. Just then Kaioshin arrives with Trunks and Mai, wanting to stop him from interrupting their discussion. Trunks says as long as Zamas is alone, he can at least stall him. Zamas says he is underestimating him. 

Gowas offers his hand to Black and it looks like he's actually going along with this. Black suddenly shoots his energy blade right through Gowas. He says this is the third time he's killed him. The first time was when he killed the Gowas that was his own master. The second time was when he killed the Gowas that was the master of the other Zamas that's working with him. He says he wouldn't hesitate to kill him a third time. Gowas falls off the rooftop. 

Elsewhere, in the current timeline, Vegeta steps out of the Room of Spirit and Time and is ready to fight. Over at Kame House, Goku has finally mastered the Ma-Fu-Ba technique. 

The extra page is a bittersweet flashback to when Gowas first met Zamas and invited him to train with him, back when Zamas was still innocent and the dark thoughts hadn't corrupted him yet. 

My thoughts- 

This is where the manga's story severely deviates from the anime, so I'll be bringing up the anime less and less as the story progresses. In the anime version, Goku, Vegeta and Trunks retreat to the present timeline after losing the fight to Goku Black and Zamas. Lord Beerus tells them he has already destroyed the Zamas of the current timeline so everything should be fine. Trunks has doubts since after he helped the gang defeat the Androids and Cell in the main timeline, the Androids were still running amok in his timeline when he returned. Goku, Vegeta, Trunks and Bulma all return to the future to see if Beerus was right. When they returned to Trunks' timeline they realized nothing has changed. It was during this time where Mai was injured and Trunks helped her giving her a senzu via mouth to mouth, which made Goku reveal he didn't know what a kiss was. I find it weird Bulma didn't recognize grown up Future Mai as being part of Pilaf's crew.

When Goku, Vegeta and Trunks fought Goku Black and Zamas this time, everything was finally revealed regarding one Zamas using the Super Dragonballs to switch bodies with Goku while the other used them to wish for immortality. With the heroes in bad shape a second time, Trunks fights off the villains to give Goku, Vegeta and Bulma time to escape back to the present timeline. The rest of the crew finds out what happened which leads to Piccolo bringing up the Ma-Fu-Ba technique. Goku goes to Roshi to learn the technique which more or less coincides with the part of the manga we're reading now. The main difference is that Bulma joined them this time as well, so naturally anything she does won't happen in the manga. 

I think the biggest irony of it all, regarding the anime version of Zamas, is that while he was starting to harbor spiteful thoughts towards mortals, it was meeting Goku that finally set him off. The Zamas from Trunks' timeline never met Goku, since he'd already died due to the heart virus. While he had the same dark thoughts, he was never bold enough to actually act on them. It was the other Zamas, now as Goku Black, that killed Gowas and led the future version of Zamas on the dark path. So it's some sort of weird time paradox, because at the same time, Zamas would have never met Goku had Goku and Beerus not have been investigating who Goku Black was to begin with. Time travel is very confusing, even when Dragonball tries to simplify it with the parallel world theory. 

As for the manga chapter itself, I enjoyed the explanation of Dragonball's version of time travel, with the added detail that since the worlds are parallel, a day in their time equals a day in Trunks' time. They can't just cheat and return a second or so after they left the first time. I also like how Kaiohshin and Gowas got a little more involved in this version. The manga also goes a little darker as Zamas kills the very last humans on Earth. That literally makes the only survivors of Trunks' timeline, not counting Goku and the rest, to be just Trunks and Mai. Things are at their most dire indeed. 

I would have liked more of an explanation as to why the connection between the parallel worlds was 'weakening' and why this second trip to the future would be their last trip. In DBZ, Trunks' travels were limited by how scarce the fuel was to power the time machine. Now we have this 'the connection is weakening' with no explanation why or how Bulma would even know this. 

Gowas is noble in his attempts to try to appeal to Zamas and steer him back on the right path. He feels a lot of blame for choosing him as an apprentice to begin with. That extra page flashback of when they first met is kinda heart breaking to see how Zamas was before he got corrupted. I'd like to think this flashback was something Gowasu saw as his life was flashing before his eyes. Can't wait to see what happens next chapter.