Dragonball Super manga Volume 6 (Chapter 29)

 By Mark Rodriguez

Goku has decided to visit Zeno Sama to remind him of the Universal Tournament that was brought up at the end of the Universe 6 VS Universe 7 Tournament. The Zenos have agreed and things were put into motion. Before the actual tournament can begin, the Zeno from Trunks' future timeline wants to see a demonstration since he didn't see the previous tournament. The Gods of Destruction themselves will have to put on a display of their powers in a battle royale, which includes Beerus and Champa. While the fight is impressive so far, the Grand Priest says the battle just begun.

Chapter 29- Toppo! Universe 11 God of Destruction Candidate!!

The chapter opens as the God of Destruction from Universe 11, Belmod extends his arms, trapping everyone else in energy orbs. With Beerus and the others unable to move, Belmod unleashes playing cards from between his fingers. He tosses them at the rest of the combatants, forcing them to endure his attack.

Of all the gods, Liquiir, the God of Destruction from Universe 8, is able to launch a counter attack. His three tails transform into nine, and he uses them all to fire a barrage of energy blasts towards the clown. Belmod braces himself as all the attacks hit him, causing huge explosions. 

Liquiir calls out to Belmod, telling him not to get cocky. Helles, the Goddess of Destruction from Universe 2, appears next Liquiir, telling him not to do the same, as she fires an arrow at him. Liquiir falls, and Helles says he had good reflexes. We see that Liquiir took the arrow in his arm, so it wouldn't hit his face.

Rumsshi, the God of Destruction from Universe 10 lets out a mighty roar. Goku can't move or feel anything and asks what happened. Suddenly Kaiohsin drops face-first. Whis explains that Rumsshi has the strongest lungs across the universes and his Battle Roar can paralyze the motor functions of anyone that hears it. It would knock out the Kaiohshins, and even the Gods of Destruction should barely be able to stay standing. We see other Kaiohsins from the other universes collapse in a similar manner that Shin did.

With the gods paralyzed, Rumsshi runs through them, knocking them out of the way as he runs past them one by one. Goku is amazed by all of their power and special abilities and can't tell who is fighting who anymore. There are explosions everywhere. One of the Zenos say that everyone is too quick and too loud and they can't see what's going on. The other Zeno finds the fighting boring. The Grand Priest says he will end this right away.

As the gods continue to fight, Quitela just finished knocking out Iwan. He turns to see that Beerus has defeated Rumsshi. Quitela says he figured Beerus would be one of the last ones standing. Quitela says they can finally settle their old score. Beerus says he can finally shut his mouse mouth up. Beerus and Quitela fly at each other with flying punches, but both are stopped by the Grand Priest.

Beerus and Quitela pull back as they are in the presence of the Grand Priest. He says the fight is too intense for the Zenos to enjoy so all Gods of Destruction are disqualified from taking part. He tells everyone that the match is cancelled and they are free to withdraw. Champa considers them all lucky.

The Angels start healing up their respectful Gods of Destructions. Current Zeno asks Future Zeno what he thought, and the future one says he doesn't find what was so interesting about the fighting. The Zenos decide they don't need to carry out the tournament and can just destroy the universes they don't need. The Grand Priest asks if they should just cancel the tournament.

Goku overhears this and flies towards the Zenos asking them not to cancel the tournament. Goku says the gods battle might have been too intense but their fight won't be like that. The current Zeno wants to see how Goku fights and the Grand Priest says that does sound more appealing. 

Goku doesn't mind but he's not sure how long he can last fighting against one of the Gods of Destruction. The Grand Priest says he will fight with another mortal and they conveniently have Toppo from Universe 10 there. Goku says in the case, he should be able to show them some moves. Belmod tells Toppo to go, since this is his chance to show off what he can do. Toppo leaps off the Universe 10 platform and lands in front of Goku.

The Grand Priest says in light of th previous match, there will be some rules implemented to make things easier to see. Flying will not be allowed, nor will weapons of killing. The first one to touch the outside of the ring loses. Goku is surprised he's not allowed to fly and the Grand Priest says that is what Zeno wishes. Goku figures it should be fine since his opponent won't be able to fly either.

Korn, the Angel of Universe 8, goes over to Whis and asks if he's concerned how about how overly familiar Goku seems with their father the Grand Priest. Whis says he once helped him, so he does get carried away sometimes. This surprises Korn.

At the battlefield, Toppo asks Goku if he's also trying to become a candidate for the position of a God of Destruction. Goku says he's not interested in that and only wants to become stronger. Toppo is surprised that Goku has no interest in that. Goku asks Toppo if he wants to become a God of Destruction. He says he can't feel Toppo's ki, just like he can't sense it from the other gods, but he can tell he's very powerful. Toppo says he can sense that Goku is also hiding what he's truly capable of. The Grand Priest calls for the second match to begin, and Goku and Toppo get into their stances.

Goku transforms into a Super Saiyan and goes on the offense. Toppo is able to block and dodge his strikes. Goku says there's still a gap between them. Toppo says to stop wasting time with small attacks and take the fight seriously. 

Future Zeno notices that Goku has changed, and Present Zeno says he will transform several times. When asked how many transformations Goku has, the current day Zeno doesn't know. The Grand Priest asks Whis how many forms Goku has. Whis says currently has five transformations, namely the three stages of Super Saiyan as well as God and Blue. The Zenos are impressed. The Grand Priest asks Goku if he can go through all of his transformations so that the Zenos can see them.

Toppo is surprised that Goku was hiding four transformations from him. Goku says he wasn't intending to show them all. He transforms into Super Saiyan 2. The Zeno can barely notice a difference. Beerus tells him to hurry up and go to the next one. Goku transforms into Super Saiyan 3, which is a huge difference given all that hair. The Zenos are impressed and one of them says Goku has a scary face now. 

Even transformed into a Super Saiyan 3, Goku can't lay a finger on Toppo, who dodges all of his moves. Toppo isn't impressed by what Universe 7 has to offer and says he should get serious too. He punches Goku with his huge fist, strong enough to send Goku spiraling and bouncing across the battlefield. Kaioshin is surprised Toppo was able to move that fast. The Zenos are impressed that Toppo is that strong without transforming. 

Goku leaps back to avoid another powerful punch, only for Toppo to appear behind him and kick him in the back. Toppo tells him to stop wasting his time already and to transform. Goku says he need to take this to the next level, but he warns that moving forward things are going to be completely different. Goku transforms once again, this time turning into Super Saiyan God, sending shockwaves all over the arena.

The gods are impressed since Goku's power matches that of a god. Toppo says that Goku's aura matches that of a god, so he will do the same. Toppo powers up and Goku says he seems to have learned a lot from his God of Destruction. Toppo says that in honor of Lord Belmod, he can't afford to lose. Goku says he also can't lose this battle.

Toppo thrusts his hand out, and Goku leaps out of the way as the area he was standing on explodes. With Goku in the air, Toppo starts shooting energy blasts from his fingers. The Grand Priest tells Goku that flying is prohibited. As Goku remembers this, he's hit by the energy blasts. Beerus freaks out as Goku is about to land out of bounds. Goku manages to grab onto the edge of the arena and swing back into bounds. He dashes towards Toppo, as his opponent prepares himself.

Goku and Toppo start fighting it out. Iwan says this fight has already reached the level of the gods. The Zenos say that both of them are amazing. Beerus notes that Goku is finally a match for Toppo now that he turned into a Super Saiyan God. Beerus tells Goku to ahead and turn Super Saiyan Blue and finish this. Goku tells Toppo that it was fun and they will continue this at the actual tournament. Toppo takes a swing at him and Goku catches his fist. He starts to power up into Super Saiyan Blue.

Goku charges all his Super Saiyan Blue energy fist and prepares to launch a powerful punch. Toppo waits until the last moment and ducks under the punch. Goku is caught off guard and Toppo kicks him hard in the stomach with a falling kick. As Toppo lands on his side, Goku is sent flying over him, where he lands out of bounds. Everyone is surprised. The Grand Priest declared Toppo to be the winner of this bout.

Goku is surprised he lost. Toppo tells him to never drop his guard in the actual tournament. Goku tells Toppo that he is incredibly strong. Toppo says that so is he, and he probably wouldn't have been able to win if he landed that punch. Goku says that Toppo will be the one to beat in the tournament, but Toppo informs him that he is only the second strongest in Universe 11. 

Toppo tells Goku that there is a man even stronger than him named Jiren. He says that even has a long way to go to reach Jiren. He also says that in combat skill alone, he's more powerful than their God of Destruction.

The extra image has Kaiohshin ask Whis if all the Angels are his brothers and sisters. He says they are, and the eldest sister is Kusu from Universe 10.

My Thoughts-

The fight between the god was exciting as we got to see all sorts of moves and attacks from them. I would assume that anything Goku and the rest would do would be a major downgrade from this, so the manga solves that by having the fighting being so intense, it bored the Zenos. Having mortals, no matter how super powerful they are, would be easier for them to keep track of. Though I have to wonder, since the Zenos are the be-all end-all of all existence when it comes to Dragonball, shouldn't they able to keep track of the God of Destruction movements, no matter how fast they are?

Here we see another example of something happening in the manga and anime but for different reasons and with a different context. In the anime version, the demonstration shown to the Future Zeno was a mini tournament that pitted Goku, Gohan and Majin Buu against the Trio of Danger from Universe 9, Basil, Lavender and Bergamo. Goku just finished the fight against Bergamo, the strongest of the trio, when Toppo suddenly leapt in to challenge him. Toppo was convinced that Goku was evil since he started the tournament and Goku went along with it for the sake of a good fight.

As we see in the manga version, Zeno wanted to see how Goku fights, and Toppo was chosen to be his opponent. One thing I noticed in the manga, probably to not stretch things out, was the lack of poses and heroic speeches from Toppo. This already has slightly less tension since Goku is fighting fresh, while in the anime he was slightly banged up after just having fought Bergamo.

While in the manga, Goku was asked to show off all his transformations, in the anime he only started off fighting as a Super Saiyan. It was until Toppo grabbed Goku in a grapple hold that almost knocked him out that forced Goku to use Super Saiyan Blue. Despite taking a Super Saiyan Blue Kamehame Ha at point blank range, Toppo was still standing. Both started to power up even more, with Goku using Kaioh Ken on top of the Super Saiyan Blue. At this point the Grand Priest tells the Zenos that they should stop this before one of them dies so that they can still be in the tournament. So the fight ends abruptly as a draw, rather than the manga where Toppo was the definitive winner.

Both chapters end with the mention of someone even more powerful, namely Jiren. I'm curious how the manga will handle him and I'll get more into him as we get there. As always, I'm enjoying the manga, especially with these chapters where there are several twists and turns compared to the anime version.

One last thing I want to showcase is we get the rare appearance of the Super Saiyan 2. The Zenos bring up what many people think, the Super Saiyan 2 transformation barely looks different than the regular Super Saiyan. Sure with Gohan, it was a big difference since the hairstyles for Super Saiyan 1 and 2 are vastly different. With Goku, his hairstyle does change but not that much, and well with Vegeta, we can only guess if he has the lightning around him. To this day there are people arguing whether or not teen Gohan fought with Darbura as Super Saiyan 1 or 2 during the Buu Saga because it is just that hard to tell.