Dragonball Super manga Volume 4 (chapter 23)

 By Mark Rodriguez

Goku and Vegeta have returned to Trunks' future timeline for the final battle against Goku Black and Zamas. After being outclassed by our heroes, Black and Zamas even started arguing with each other. As Vegeta prepares to end things, Black and Zamas pull out the Potara earrings. Goku recognizes them and tells Vegeta to kill them now, but it's too late. Black and Zamas have fused to become God Zamas!

Chapter 23- The Potara's True Worth

God Zamas tells Goku and Vegeta that they will pay for rebelling against the gods. Goku says that he's seen that Fusion before and Vegeta says it's the same one they used to become Vegetto. Trunks has never seen Fusion before and is confused and Kaioshin explains how it works. When two people wear the Potara Earrings on opposite ears, they fuse to become a mighty warrior.

God Zamas smirks and runs right past Goku and Vegeta appearing behind them. Goku and Vegeta collapse, coughing and in pain as they have been hit multiple times in the split second it took for God Zamas to zip past them. The fused god is amazed by his new power and starts laughing maniacally. Vegeta says not to be impressed by that one attack, and now he only has one guy to kill so it saved him the trouble. Vegeta turns Super Saiyan Blue and charges towards God Zamas, who turns and smirks at him.

God Zamas lands several hits on Vegeta as he flies past him. Vegeta collapses and turns back to his regular form. Goku also turns Super Saiyan Blue and flies into battle. Trunks comments that Goku mentioned earlier that he didn't have enough energy to turn into Super Saiyan Blue. God Zamas extends his hand. As Goku flies in to throw a punch, Zamas catches his fist and flips him to the ground.

Goku flies back in to the attack but Zamas is able to swat away all of his attacks. The fused god extends his hands and then spins them around, making Goku spin and crash into the ground. God Zamas says it's as if Goku wasn't even moving and says he's weaker than Trunks.

Suddenly, Goku fires off a KameHame Ha that blasts a hole right through Zamas. Kaioshin wondered if this worked, but God Zamas gets right back up and the hole in his chest heals up. Trunks says he's still immortal after the fusion. God Zamas is glad to see his healing abilities remain as before and extends his hand towards Goku. 

Goku is being levitated in a 'Force Choke Hold' and he turns back to his normal form. God Zamas does the same to Vegeta and now both Saiyans are being levitated with a choke hold by his powers. God Zamas says now he can see how powerful he became.

Goku blames Vegeta for not finishing them off quickly, as Vegeta says it's Goku's fault for not sealing away one of them properly. God Zamas lets out a huge explosion that sends Goku and Vegeta flying away and leaves behind a huge crater. Trunks asks if everyone is alright. God Zamas is overjoyed with his new power and tells Kaioshin and Gowas that the time for god to watch over everyone is over. 

Vegeta asks Goku what happened to his senzu beans. Goku says they only have one left. 

God Zamas says the gods on millions of planets, the four Kaioh Samas, the Kaioshins of the 12 universes, and the Gods of Destruction are all unnecessary. He says every single intelligent being besides himself will be terminated. He laughs like a madman as he fires off several beams into the air, letting them fall everywhere. Everyone scatters to avoid the raining energy blasts.

Goku sees that some of the blasts are headed towards Trunks, Mai, Kaioshin and Gowas and flies over to take the hits for them. Goku tells them that they have to get farther away from here. Kaioshin takes off his Potara earrings and gives them to Goku. He says they won't lose if they become Vegetto. Just then Vegeta arrives near them as he's also dodging energy blasts.

Goku tells Vegeta about the option to fuse and asks what he thinks. Vegeta says he told him before that he'd never fuse with him again and Goku says he thought he'd say that. Goku hands the earrings back and says they want to fight Zamas with their own strength. Vegeta tells Goku to stay behind as well and watch as he fights Zamas. Vegeta flies off and Goku flies after him, earrings still in hand, saying that it's his turn.

Gowas is surprised that they turned down the fusion but also intend to fight Zamas alone. Kaisohsin says those two are just like that. Goku and Vegeta argue and Goku convinces him to let him fight first.

Goku appears behind Zamas and tells him to stop attacking things at random and to fight with him instead. Zamas is surprised Goku came alone and says he still doesn't know his place. Goku turns Super Saiyan Blue and starts fighting with him, but God Zamas dodges all his attacks and smacks him away. 

God Zamas creates a solid block and throws it at Goku. Goku dodges but Zamas summons several more blocks and throws them all at him. Zamas says they are made of Klangite, the hardest known substance in the universe. He mocks Goku for not being able to hold his own against mere objects. 

Trunks says Zamas is just toying with Goku and at this rate he's going to lose. Gowas says he'll just have to make his stand for an hour even if that seems impossible. Trunks asks about the hour and Gowas explains the Potara will lose its effect. Vegeta overhears this and says he thought the Potara Fusion was permanent. Gowas says that only happens when a Kaioshin uses fusion, but Zamas was never officially appointed to be a Kaioshin. Kaiohshin recalls when Vegeta defused inside Majin Buu's body and now understands it was due to a time limit.

Trunks doesn't fully understand but if they need to stall Zamas for an hour, he will help fight too. Vegeta tells Trunks to stay behind, but Trunks says even if it's just Mai and him, it's still his world to defend. He's also doing this for his mother's sake, to which Vegeta understands it to mean he's referring to Bulma. 

Trunks says after his mother lost him, she became lonely and missed him as she raised him alone. After Trunks came back from the past, Bulma would constantly ask about Vegeta, and if Black didn't kill her, she was going to travel to the past as well. Trunks thinks Bulma wanted mostly to see Vegeta again than to just escape from Black. Trunks says for the sake of the Bulma in the past waiting for Vegeta to come home, he won't let him die here. Vegeta says to save lines like that for when he's truly grown as a fighter.

Goku is sent flying into a building. He says he doesn't have any power left and considers eating the senzu bean. Vegeta appears behind him and tells him to hand it over. Goku says they should decide who gets to eat the senzu bean. Vegeta says he's referring to the Potara.

God Zamas senses Vegeta's ki in the building and wonders if they're both considering escaping to the past again. He prepares to fire off a final blast, saying that Goku and Vegeta will both die together. Suddenly a huge energy blast shoots out from the building and shoots Zamas' arm off. The blast is so powerful it's seen shooting off the planet. God Zamas is angry as he regrows a new arm and asks what new form they're using now.

Vegetto appears and tells him he was also created by using the Potara. Zamas didn't know mortals could fuse well. Vegetto mocks him for not knowing that and says no wonder he was laughing like a crazy maniac. He also tells him that his fusion will only last an hour, since he's never officially become a Kaioshin, Zamas isn't that different from mortals. Zamas is angry that Gowas never told him this.

I'm not using Vegerot during the review. Just no Viz, no.

Kaioshin asks Gowas if he ever told him, and even though he did indeed keep it from him, he does regret telling him about Fusion to begin with.

Zamas says one hour will be enough to finish him. Vegetto says he has no intention of letting this continue, as he eats the last senzu bean. Vegetto powers up to Super Saiyan Blue and says he will call this Vegetto Blue. He says he will destroy Zamas without leaving a trace, he will give him no time to regenerate.

Vegetto extends his hand and knocks Zamas back with an invisible force, sending him flying through several buildings. Vegetto zips behind him and kicks him across the back hard enough to make him hit a building so hard it explodes. Zamas is actually bleeding now and starts firing off energy blasts.

Vegetto effortlessly swats the fireballs away and appears next to Zamas, sending him flying with a punch. Vegetto flies after him and continues punching him. He then swats Zamas into the ground and tosses a fireball after him. The ground starts to bubble up and then explodes violently. Gowas is surprised that a fusion between Saiyans would be like this.

Vegetto tells Zamas to come out since dragging this out only benefits him. Suddenly Zamas' hands burst through the ground and grab onto Vegetto's feet. Zamas is about to toss him away when he realizes he is missing his hands. Vegetto has formed an energy blade and says he forgot his hands, as they lay disembodied on the ground. Vegetto continues the attack and kicks him into the sky. 

God Zamas regrows his hands and says things weren't supposed to end like this. Vegetto prepares a Final KameHame Ha. Zamas forms more blocks of Klangite and throws them at the fused warrior, but Vegetto merely zips from side to side to avoid them while still charging up the attack. Kaioshin wonders if they have already surpassed Lord Beerus.

God Zamas launches a barrage of Klangite cubes at Vegetto as he prepares to fire off his blast. Suddenly Goku and Vegeta defuse. The Klangite cubes land onto the Saiyans. Kaioshsin and Trunks are confused that they separated.

The extra gag page has Gowas asking Kaioshin if he was never taught about the Potara's time limit by his old master. Kaioshin says the old Kaioshin was a very easy-going guy who probably didn't know. He did try to fight Majin Buu without fusing with anyone and was defeated. 

My thoughts- 

There's a lot to unpack with this one as this chapter has several talking points. First of all, it seems we've gotten to the point of Dragonball where characters have gotten so powerful that it's getting almost impossible to properly portray them being any more powerful than they were before. Based on what we've seen of Fusion in the past, Vegetto and Gogeta are incredibly powerful to ridiculous levels, mostly because they can actually cause harm to nearly invincible foes like Majin Buu, Janemba and Broly. Other than 'main character plot armor' there is no reason that God Zamasu didn't just make Goku and Vegeta blow up with his initial attack, even if he didn't mean to end things that quickly, given both of them were in their base forms no less.

Other than the creative use (and return) of the Klangite metal, God Zamasu hasn't really done anything all that amazing. Even the large crater he caused isn't a big deal seeing as even Nappa was able to wipe out an entre city in the Saiyan Saga, and yet he was so impressed by it. Vegetto has more to show off, as he's knocking around a warrior they couldn't even touch before as if he were nothing, but Zamas doesn't have the same luxury with injured and exhausted base form Goku and Vegeta.

Speaking of the Klangite metal, at first I was confused by the name of it and figured Zamas just knew of an even stronger metal than the Katchin metal seen in DBZ. This was the metal used when Kaioshin wanted to test out the power of the Z Sword, but it was so strong it broke the legendary sword in half. I had to look it up and find out it's the same substance. For whatever reason Viz renamed it to Klangite. I guess it works since I'm pretty sure Katchin is kind of a sound-effect similar to how 'klang' is used in American comics books.

Speaking of Viz name changes, the manga called the fusion of Goku and Vegeta 'Vegerot'. This was mostly done because Vegetto comes from the combination of Vegeta and Kakarotto, but the English dub removed the 'o' at the end. I honestly don't know why they bothered. They could have just chocked it up to it being an alien name. The Latin American dub never had this issue and thus Vegetto keeping his name there made much more sense. I mean, I know there isn't an 'o' at the end of the word 'carrot', but I mean, they kept Radtiz's name the same. They didn't 'fix it' and just call him Radish in the dub. Another reason was that the Viz manga also called him Vegerot during the Buu Saga, so they did it to keep things consistent. 

One thing that the manga and anime shared, was the reveal that the Potara Fusion is only permanent when the Kaioshin do it, and only lasts an hour when mortals do it. I've heard this be called a plot hole, but we never did find out exactly why Vegetto defused while inside Majin Buu. They raised a force field up at the very last minute as they purposely allowed Buu to absorb them, and once inside, they defused the moment they dropped the force field. While the timing was sus, we never got a clear answer as to why this happened. I've heard everything from 'the strange air inside Buu', 'because Buu is a magical creature and that disrupts the effects of the Potara' to even 'because Vegetto was full of positive energy while Buu was full of negative energy', but those were all fan theories. Everyone in the manga and anime did question it, but then they just keep moving along without it ever being addressed again.

The fight between Vegetto and Zamas went on very differently in the anime (no Katchin Metal cubes flying around), but the thing that stood out the most was the fact that God Zamas is able to regenerate without any problems. In the anime version, Zamas' body was starting to get deformed because his immortal Zamas side was conflicting with his mortal Goku Black side. As this was happening, Zamas was getting more desperate and insane.

Overall good chapter with some fight scenes, mostly after Vegetto showed up. Loved the creativity with the metal blocks. While the fighting between Zamas, Goku and Vegeta was fine, drawn well and all that, it just didn't make much sense given what should have been a huge difference in power between them. Even if it was mentioned that Zamas was just toying with them, he should have been so powerful that he would have killed them without even wanting to. To put into perspective, it would be like Saiyan Saga Nappa knocking around Krillin and Yamcha just for fun and them somehow not dying because 'good guy plot armor'.