Ch 7 everything is too much and all i want to do is read dragon ball but can i do that?? yes, right now, i guess (Warriors from Universe 6) Team U7: Goku, Vegeta, Boo (not "Mr." yet, apparently), Piccolo, as-yet-unseen strongest being ever. Team U6: Dunno, because first we're still hanging about with Bulma and Jaco, whose name is actually in this chapter. Zuno/Zunou (long vowels are important!!!!) lives in a a very traditional Japanese-style building, although it's built on a floating section of land, which doesn't usually happen anywhere on Earth. The landscape is quite nice though, very much reminiscent of various Japanese woodblock prints I've seen. There's quite a large moon happening too; wonder how that affects things like tides on this planet, presuming there are large bodies of water. Bulma and Jaco arrive and gain admittance to the castle. i know this is a super traditional hairstyle and it probably has a lot of significance but wow i hate it so much (zunou in the middle. large. a very frieza-esque conveyance he's got there. is it supposed to look like a top? kind of looks like a top) Zunou-sama requires an offering, which immediately made me tense up, but instead well that's.... kinda wholesome Jaco identifies as male (presumably), and so gets one question. I guess it's the smart dude's prerogative to set whatever terms he wants for his knowledge, but it'd be nice if people could either get the same treatment or be judged on some other metric that's not like... related to gender or sex. Or physical characteristics. ("Oh, no antennae? No questions for you.") Like, how nice a kiss it was, or something. That might be unfair in its own right but at least it doesn't feel quite so skeevy. Anyway, I shouldn't have ditched the tension just yet because there's no way Bulma can be in more than a few chapters without someone talking about her breasts! (I know this isn't true but man could we just not do this to the lady characters? I'm so fucking salty. Let them be ladies without consistently reducing them to their breasts. Bulma is great in her own right, she's fun and interesting, no need to make everything about aspects of her body. Oh, also about her age, which sucks too.) Anyway, Jaco is kind of a huge asshole to Bulma and she understandably is upset and embarrassed by this. Man, I hate this shit. Treat your goddamn ladies better, media. Bulma gives her "offering", which feels not super great at this point, and gets three questions (this is where the age part comes in, with the implication that if she were younger (=more attractive), she'd get more). Then there's a classic bit where she loses one question to just asking "I only get two more than him?" Her second is more a demand than a question ("Tell me everything about the super dragon balls", which I cannot imagine for a second that Zunou actually does), but it gets an answer. dragon gods are apparently a thing that exists (or existed). the stars always facing you is an interesting tidbit. it was always kind of unclear exactly what was going on, so it's nice to have some confirmation about it. also i don't think this could possibly be everything about them, i was hoping to know their chemical compositions. oh, another question: did the namekian ones come from all seven of the balls or just from one? very curious if there's some property of star-number-ness that transfers to the little ones and if you need 1-7 to make wishes happen. and what's up with the dragons associated with the little ones? there's some indication that maybe they're created by whoever "makes" the dragon balls (at least the shenlong statue on earth makes me think that), but are they maybe baby dragon gods? Bulma's last question is to confirm that the seven balls are shared between U6 and U7 (yes), and so they never get a chance to ask about how to make it to the center of the universe. Or even if such a thing exists. She tries some more kisses, but they are in vain, and Bulma and Jaco have a tense journey back to Earth. Back on Earth (sort of)... a) haven't you two exhausted your time in here already, or did the restrictions lighten up at some point (or was it all a LIE in the FIRST PLACE * conspiracy theory music *) b) i... am legitimately surprised by the hand/wrist protectors because it's a good idea not to break all your hand bones during training but i never would have expected it; c) vegeta's hair has become so un-poofy and also very short which makes me a little sad Goku wonders if their opponents will be strong and Vegeta tells him they will be and then gets progressively more irritated with Goku as Goku gets all excited about fightin' strong people. He goes SSGSS and gets rid of the hand/wrist things; Goku follows suit and they have a nice brawl in a place where they only have to worry about not destroying the door out. jesus h. f. christ you guys A few days/years later, everyone is on their way to Planet Tournament. Transport happens to be a large glassy-looking box which freaks me right the fuck out. Beerus gets the down low on the super dragon balls. ssfsjssgs dende hanging out with bulma's parents is good, and so is trunks in overalls. tien is there, which is a bit of a shocker what the actual literal fuck no i really do not understand at all. i. what. what. what? Gohan's not in attendance because he's at a conference. Hope he has a better time than I did, and also I'm jealous because he can fly without any help and I had to wait around a very hot, crowded, and uncomfortable airport to get on a hot, crowded, and uncomfortable plane for an 8+ hour journey and then wait around some more before finally getting home! But that's a huge digression. Goku gets a little bit miffed but is distracted by something that I personally would rather never see again but will probably be subjected to for several more chapters at least. * sighs, puts on hat and coat * well, it's been a good run, folks, but it looks like i'm gonna have to go astral project into the shower for several days to get this image out of my head And that is Monaka, the strongest being around in U7, according to Whis and Beerus. Goku introduces himself because of course he's super stoked about this dude and there's some talk about nipples which is better left untalked. Jaco is along as well and brought a friend (?), the Galactic King, who's a bit disappointed about not being the center of attention. They finally arrive at Tournament World, and the planet-sized dragon balls are just hanging around in the sky above it, which must be a pretty incredible sight. What's another incredible sight is Shin's hair, which is in its former godly mohawk state. Beyond them, gawking up at the very large dragon balls, are two kaioushin/a kaioushin and attendant from U6. Their outfits are the same style, basically, which makes me wonder if there's some standard that they all have to follow. Gotta have your gods looking sharp! Time for the test to make sure that no slavering brutes are allowed in the tournament, and also a glimpse of the competition. yep checks out Closest-to-the-camera there causes a wee bit of consternation for Team U7.
Ch 8 hey hey HEY the frieza counterpart does NOT have disturbing feet! (Battle Begins!) ... But first, a test. Test involves sitting around a table that looks like it's made from a slab of a very large cross-section of tree trunk. It's fancy! Looks like an extra-large version of something a rich and minimalist person might have as an accent piece. The seating is decidedly less fancy, though. not at all related to previous statement but: different colors! champa is a bit darker, which seems odd if we're thinking about names. also some of the U6 people have the kanji for six written on their clothes. at least i think that's what that is. you can also see the U6 kaioushin and attendant (?). he's got palm tree hair. pointy ears are a constant tho Frieza-race-lookalike is still causing a little bit of upset, but everyone's surprisingly docile about it. The robot attracts some attention as well (is a robot cheating?), but the real surprise is when the little one with the Vegeto-esque hair reveals that (shock!) he's a saiyan as well. Obviously he has more info than do the two remaining representatives from U7. lol startled vegeta right out of his arms-crossed pose Despite the obvious surprise, Vegeta claims that he "knew it", based on the kid's (well, probably young adult, but he looks about 12) outfit, which resembles pre-Frieza ones from this universe. He asks the name of their planet and gets the answer "Sadla". A planet that no longer exists on the U7 side of things (civil war), but still does in U6, teeming with tailless saiyans who aren't all dead. Plus, they don't steal planets. i don't even know where to begin with this because i have a lot of thoughts about it that are extremely incoherent (one of which is HOW MUCH DO YOU EVEN IDENTIFY WITH A SAIYAN IDENTITY BEYOND "haha, punching fun, blond hair, being middle-aged and looking like a 20-year-old") The cadre of saiyans gets a reminder that they're actually supposed to be doing a test right now. very endearing, but i'm curious: does vegeta actually have any experience with salad sadla or is he curious (for understandable but not necessarily "personal" reasons)? also that's a very enoyable piccolo. i like the little smile. more of large green man please manga. if i don't get piccolo being surrogate granddad for gohan's kid i will sit around and stew in disappointment whenever i think of how i was denied Test goes about unreasonably well, except for the fact that Boo fails and gets disqualified. piccolo be nicer and vegeta maybe you should think a little bit more about your strategies before implementing them (goku reveals in the following panel that he was almost disqualified). as an aside, vegeta being so non-confident is kind of an interesting change of pace more rps Goku's first, and is up against the bear-looking being with the shirt and the rubber boots (Botamo). The match starts with Goku seemingly outmatched, but he claims just to have eaten too much and does some light calisthenics around the ring while Botamo tries in vain to land a hit or catch him or anything. slippery motherfucker Having finished warming up, Goku's ready to go! Botamo tries another attack, but gets bounced off without Goku seeming to do anything, which is very confusing for him and for Champa as well. cute confused chumby cat Botamo tries several more times, with the same results. Of course, the U7 crowd's hyped up by this. Champa, who's only seen Goku moving around in that heavy spacesuit before, is at first a little disconcerted by this turn of events, but apparently believes that Botamo has some hidden depths... and that there's much more to come in this match. menacing pooh expy
Ch 9 jesus h. christ school is eating me alive (Goku vs. Botamo) Great, just what I love the most, a vs. chapter. ᕕ( ᐕ )ᕗ Also good Christ this chapter is like two times as long as a usual chapter, holy shit, there are so many fucking pages. So basically Botamo is bouncy. Resilient. Goku grabs him by a wrist and batters him around kind of like one of those ball-and-paddle toys, bonk bonk bonk. While this makes for some good visuals, it doesn't do much in terms of actually making a dent in his health pool. (There are so many things that "HP" could stand for.) Botamo is tanky, but not in an early Vegeta kind of way (ability to just take a fuckton of damage and still do shit), but more in an "I'm resistant to physical attacks" kind of way. Realizing this, Goku tries a non-physical special attack, and it turns out that Botamo's resistant to that as well. Fucker. Probably it's that one element that you don't have in your party at the moment that's his weakness. As usual, the onlookers have a lot of thoughts about what's going on. * presents a variety of Spectator Thoughts * Goku, also as usual, has other plans. "I got it!!!!" he exclaims. vegeta and piccolo have no faith Instead of some big, flashy, all-out attack, Goku pushes Botamo over, grabs his legs, and, avoiding various attacks, throws him out of the ring. Oh right, it's a tournament! No need to get all fancy. Ring out is totally fine too. Botamo didn't seem to pack all that much of a punch; his main feature was being kind of impervious to damage. Just toss him out, that's definitely the best course of action in this kind of situation. also then get this reaction from piccolo and vegeta which is particularly choice and then this which is ALSO VERY GOOD THIS CHAPTER IS JUST FULL OF GOOD PICCOLO AND VEGETA CONTENT Champa is upset with Botamo, who has apparently failed to live up to expectations. Because Goku won, he's continuing on immediately to the next round; there's no match-up system in this fight. People continue until they lose. One win for U7 and a loss for U6, and now the teams are even; four people on each. Champa's choosing who will go up next. some friendly coaching from an anthropomorphic cat god with a crooked tail!! what happened, champa? did someone step on it when you were little? Goku seems more interested in the dude with the coattails than his opponent, despite the fact that opponent looks like Frieza, and has a name to match: Frost. He looks awfully threatening as he approaches, but then startles Goku by sticking his hand out for shaking and saying "It's nice to meet you!" with a particularly sunny expression. an amiable if rather disconcertingly intense expression The match starts. This is a bit less silly and a bit more serious. There's a lot of back-and-forth where neither really has a perceivable advantage, and Whis interprets this as both of them trying to keep their true abilities from the other (Beerus is like "Ugh just do the thing already"). After Goku manages to get what looks like a nasty hit on Frost, he steps back and tells him to just transform already. Frost puts up a bit of a front ("Haha, transform, what are you talking about?") and Goku shuts that down. Frost agrees to show off his final form and then only transforms to the, what, 3rd form? The one with the really long head. Goku's a bit mystified by this, because, as Krillin says, he's never seen this form before; he was in the h...healing tank when this was happening back on Namek, I think? (Piccolo Does Not Like this form, no, not one bit.) Goku's like "Well, this isn't what I expected, but whatever!" and off they go. somehow more tolerable than the frieza version... why? Do Not Know. lack of lips? wow. that's quite a statement you're making (and shouldn't it be qualified with something like "besides us"?) tbc....
(aaaand continued) Old Man Kaioushin (... am i obligated to call him OMK from now on?) thinks that maybe they shouldn't be so hasty in making judgements, and Frost (who I honestly 100% actually almost called Frieza, whoops) pokes Goku in the chin. Or maybe it's a version of that two-fingered laser attack. In any case, Goku goes flying and breaks some more of the ring and Frost is pretty confident that he's got this in the bag. He tells Goku that he should give up before he gets severely injured, to which Goku responds by hopping to his feet and being his own version of intensely amiable. ..... ..... ...... ...... that's... a cute face....... SLYNESS: CONFIRMED!!!! coulda been a ((dumb)) rogue but went and put all his stats into str and con and stuff Having admitted to being a sneaky bastard, Goku transforms... maybe to SSGSS? man how am i supposed to know without some sort of hair differential. I'd definitely say just normal super saiyan but it causes a huge commotion in the gods on the U6 side of things, which makes me think that it's SSGSS because something something godly auras and how they work. But maybe they're just surprised by super saiyan. Maybe saiyans don't do that over there. No confirmation one way or the other from the U6 saiyan representative; haven't seen him do anything but chat about Sadla and look super breakable. Goku goes straight for Frost and forces him into revealing his actual final form, which is, of course, the one everyone's familiar with at this point. LOCAL BALD MAN PISSED, SAYS "ASSHOLE MADE ME TRANSFORM"
I'm sorry, everything is working against me having the simple fun of reading a goddamn chapter when I want But I did find an extremely good picture
Ch 10 oh man isn't it convenient that i have a record of what the fuck even chapter i was on! (Frost's True Form) Oh riiiiiight, fighting, tournaments, extremely large dragon balls, a Frieza-lookalike, some very good Vegeta and Piccolo content from last time... I remember. I know what's going on. It's been a grip though, holy shit school is kicking my goddamn ass from one side of the metaphorical ring to the other. Can't wait till my dramatic recovery and/or transformation and/or turning-the-tables moment where I get to beat school half to death and then win ten million zenny (/zeni/zenni/zeny). Please, I'd just like the opportunity to do a double axe handle on school, at least. Well, that's enough of that. Frost is finally in his final (well... what we're assuming to be final based on Frieza, anyway) form. It's definitely a step up from Frieza just on the merits of the fact that Frost favors a nude lip, a more subtle look, if you will (although the eyeliner is still pretty over-the-top). He's also sporting some human-shaped feet, which is simultaneously nice because boy I hated those feet on Frieza, but also disappointing because I think they had a certain... design appropriateness? Does that make sense? Yeah, I get this is a U6 Frieza-race being, there's gonna be some differences (did U6 saiyan kid have a tail?), but the feet were a good kind of feet for the first real big bad to have. Well, whatever. Frost does some aura-charging and hastens the inevitable destruction of the ring (and blows Goku's hair around). Goku does his own aura-charging but leaves the ring underneath him unscathed. Is this indicative of control of ki, or just that Goku's not trying that hard? They face off. champa is cute. concentrateface Frost springs into action with a very literal flip into the air, from where he hurls a charge at Goku. Goku swats this away and it explodes on the dome barrier that they've put up over the area (ehhhh watch out guys, you probably don't want to destroy that). Probably these little charges wouldn't do that, but you never know. Frost continues the charge assault and Goku knocks them all away, and my first thought is "distraction??" because how can you think this will do anything at this level. Charges never do shit but destroy the landscape! oh also frost got real up in goku's face while doing this Not the best idea on Frost's part, because Goku takes hold of his wrists (convenient handles) and then just punts him the fuck into the dome-barrier-ceiling. Frost seems pretty pissed about this, and also completely outclassed by Goku, which is definitely activating my "this isn't actually what he's capable of" senses, because really? Really? Goku's not even god-form (or third form!) or anything. Champa is unsatisfied with this situation. dipsappointment After batting Frost around like a ragdoll for a little while, Goku seems to decide to get serious and moves in with a purpose. Frost responds with... something that seems to really disconcert Goku, who suddenly covers his face and gets slid back across the ring a little ways. No wounds though. Seems like maybe Frost was trying to knock Goku out of the ring? But fails. Goku returns the move (kind of a force push type thing, I guess -- a ki push?) and Frost gets very close to falling out of the ring. But.... aw heck i knew he was registering on the "suspiciously underpowered" gauge hey hey hey hey hey who told you you could riff on that classic frieza pose (also sorry for the really bad moire on that screentone, not sure why it's so intense on these scans) Vegeta thinks Frost's being a sore loser (c'mon Vegeta, really?). Frost attacks again and everything seems just like it was before: Goku fends him off easily and gets him with a chop to the back of the neck, then tells him breezily that he hates to say it, but the match is over, and why doesn't Frost train a bunch and then come back when he's stronger, just like Fri -- Frost smiles and proceeds, with just a couple of strikes, somehow knock Goku completely out of the ring (and super saiyan too). He hits a force field that seems to be there to protect the audience from stray attacks and falls heavily to the sandy floor. That's an out-of-bounds for Goku, and so Team U6 has its first victory, thanks to Frost. Champa is delighted, while Beerus is confused and angry (and moreover, seems quite worried about Goku's loss). Goku's a bit mystified about what happened. Vegeta writes this off as Goku being stupid and incautious and letting something brain-damaging happen to him. In the audience, the jellyfish-looking king notices that Jaco seems awfully contemplative; looks like Jaco might have seen something about the match, but we're not privy to what that is. Next up, continuing the fight against Frost: my main green man, Piccolo! no!! :( Piccolo calls Goku a jerk (which.... yeah, kind of), but Goku waves him off with a cheery "Do your best to wear him out so Vegeta has an easy time of it after you!!", thereby proving Piccolo's point. Once in the ring, Piccolo asks if Frost might just wanna, you know, power down a bit for this fight, but Frost demurs; nah, he's good, he wants to get this done with quickly, he'll stay in final form. The announcer commences the fight and Frost commences a series of attacks, all of which Piccolo evades in fine style. (Although the best Piccolo move will forever be the fancy one from the anime during, what, a fight with imperfect Cell? There's a great gif somewhere, I'll find it later.) Champa asks if this is a Namekian, to which Vados (is that her name???) responds that he's more than just that. Piccolo agrees and announces with some rather odd pride that he's the reincarnation of the great demon king, which.... c'moooon, Piccolo. But in any case, he ditches the hat and cloak in a showy move we haven't seen for a while, so that's fun. Green antenna man <3. oh?? oh?? hell yeah you can still do that shit!! and the blown-back antennae... .... ..... .... .... .... good They go on for a while, and Piccolo might not be a match for Frost, but he's certainly good enough to keep out of extreme harm's way and make Frost impatient and frustrated. He does something with his wrist and then goes straight for Piccolo, who blocks the punch with his palm, and seems to realize something -- but a little too late, because he gets thrown out of the ring as well. Vegeta gets all geared up to go in and take on Frost, but there's a surprise objection from the stands. !!! Jaco claims that Frost has a needle-like weapon hidden somewhere on his right arm, but when threatened with destruction from Champa if he's wrong, backs the fuck off. Beerus steps in and has the announcer check Frost out, and he finds a little retractable needle in the wrist area which administers a paralytic. Frost tries to make the claim that it's actually part of his body, but that gets shut down quickly, and the round is awarded to Piccolo. (IN PRINCIPLE I THINK THAT GOKU SHOULD BE REINSTATED AS A CONTESTANT BECAUSE HE WAS OBVIOUSLY ALSO A VICTIM OF CHEATING BUT.) Of course, Vegeta steps in to fuck things up, as he is wont to do. * aggressive thumbs up *
Ch 11 gonna be a kaioushin for halloween (not really but the outfit is fun and i want a mohawk and i am not confident enough for a fucking skintight bodysuit) (Vegeta's Turn!!) Piccolo gives up his turn in favor of Vegeta after some very minor browbeating from Vegeta. Why? Maybe he senses that Vegeta Has Issues and decides it's just easier to let him have his way than make a big deal out of it. God knows there'd probably be a scene. Naturally Champa is fine with this turn of events, because it means that U7's down a fighter (even if it's just Piccolo, sorry Piccolo, I love you, but...), but Beerus is Not Cool With It At All. He stalks over to the announcer for a confrontation, and summons Goku too. ((sorry about the size, the originals this time were very small)) thank you beerus for addressing my concerns from last time The announcer decides that Goku should be reinstated as a contestant. There's some kerfuffle about deciding the order: Vegeta wants to go next (because Issues), but Beerus is adamant that Monaka will be going last and makes the declaration that the new order will be Vegeta, then Goku, and finally Monaka. Settled! Things move right along and they get set up for the Vegeta vs. Frost match. haha vegeta?? regret things???? oh yes but you'll never hear it from him Vegeta doesn't bother with much in the way of warming up, or being sneaky, or anything like that. He powers up right away (if we're following the usual conventions, this looks like just normal super saiyan, but then again, Who Knows? Not Me) and proceeds to beat the shit out of Frost. vegeta's not even in the general vicinity of fucking around. Vegeta bops him with one of those ki-pushes while he's flying through the air and sends him out of the ring. The announcer/referee confirms that Frost's not dead and Vegeta is declared the winner while Frost is carted away on a stretcher. Goku complains that Frost seemed so nice! But was in reality kind of a dick. A cheater at the very least. Beerus is very relieved that Vegeta pulled that one off, because they'd be in a pretty bad place vis a vis number of competitors if Vegeta had lost. Up next is the large robotic individual, whose name is apparently Otta Magetta. They slam some sort of canned liquid, then throw the canister aside, where we learn how heavy it was by the fact that it breaks through the tiles of the ring. In a menacing show, they expel a burst of steam from the top of their head, startling Vegeta. mmm i love a good emotive vegeta The match gets started, and Vegeta tries punching Magetta (in normal form!), with... less than positive results. i don't understand the different material strengths in DBverse.... punching a mountain is fine but punching a metal dude isn't? i mean yeah rock is not exactly metal, but.... Anyway. Magetta then proceeds to wallop Vegeta and nearly pulverize him beneath one of their very large treadlike feet. Vegeta barely avoids the stomp with a roll, then springs up into the air, out of the range of the feet, and fires a beam attack at Magetta, which seems like a Bad Plan all around. Turns out it's not a super bad plan in the way I was thinking (I was worried about the beam getting deflected somehow), but it actually does... nothing! Besides make a big old plume of smoke/dust that makes Vegeta think he's done a good job of blowing up the metallic steam creature. When it's revealed that he has not, in fact, done any kind of job blowing up the metallic steam creature, he is shocked. Now the peanut gallery is Piccolo and Goku, which is fun too. EARS Vegeta takes Goku's advice and tries to flip Magetta off the stage by grabbing his "ankle" and lifting. This... does not work. Apparently Magetta is just too heavy to be lifted by Vegeta. Magetta bops him on the head for his troubles. Vegeta wobbles off skyward, having just taken two real bad hits to the head region, and bitches at Goku for the suggestion not working. He tries a different strategy now: he keeps his distance and starts destroying the stage, trying to force Magetta off of it not through direct attacks but by making there be no more stage to be on. This seems pretty effective until Magetta starts countering his blast attacks with what is apparently spit (looks awfully hot and magma-ish though... but I suppose that's appropriate for a steam robot being). This offends Vegeta's sensibilities and he gets extra angry and hurls an insult along with an extra-powerful blast. Magetta suddenly stops and the blast tips him over onto the sand. Apparently, metal men (Metal Men?) are "very delicate" and Vegeta's insult made Magetta too depressed to continue fighting (super relatable content tbh). Vegeta's won, so his next oppenent is the U6 saiyan teenager, whose name is apparently Cabbe and who gets browbeaten by Champa prior to fighting while Vados reconstructs the ring. glad to see that large foreheads in saiyans transcend universes
Maybe Magetta was made of some special very resistant metal? Maybe someone in his universe invented saiyan proof metal-
Or something that, somehow, negates ki? Though I suspect it might be in the canister rather than the actual metal.
Spoiler: Moar dumb catgod draws no comment (changed my mind my goal is now to draw champa parodies of every cat meme) cats like boxes when the tournament is going well
Spoiler: All I do is doodle inspo is pangur whis observing a new and shocking thing Why does he need a phone he's a god
