Fixing Dragon Ball Super (Part 3): The Universe 6 Tournament, Battle

Last time, we set the stage for the tournament. Many gods and powerful fighters from other universes are in attendance, including Zamasu and Jiren. Universe 7’s team consists of Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Buu, and Gohan. Universe 6’s team consists of Hit, Frost, Cabba, Winnie the Pooh, and Robot Man.

With all that, let’s get started.

To start, we’ll be changing the order around. Rather than throwing Goku out immediately, we’ll be starting with Buu. His opponent is Winnie the Pooh.

These two have a fight of the fatties. While Buu is more elastic, Winnie is sturdier. He knocks Buu around easily, nearly knocking him out many times. Buu takes advantage of this, using his stretchy body to latch onto his opponent then rubber band himself right back into him. This tactic knocks both fighters out at once, as Buu is attached to him. Thus, the first round ends in a draw.

After that, Frost steps into the ring. And in regards to him, I won’t change anything. He still appears to be honest and virtuous, but he’s still a cheating scumbag just like Freeza. Only he doesn’t start out by fighting Goku; he starts out by fighting Gohan.

There are a few reasons for this. One: Gohan is eager to put his training to use. Two: in the RF arc, Gohan got his shit kicked in by Freeza, so he wants a chance to redeem himself here. Three: he believes that Frost is a hero, and thus wants to have a hero vs hero match to test his abilities in a less hostile manner.

To start, the match is pretty even. Gohan and Frost keep up with each other fairly well. Then, once Gohan goes Super Saiyan, Frost begins to lose ground and is thus forced to transform himself to turn the tide. Thanks to his prior training, Gohan has managed to regain the ability to use Super Saiyan 2. When he busts that out, Frost rapidly begins to lose ground. It would seem that Gohan is going to win.

Then Frost poisons him and knocks him out with ease.

This sudden turn confuses and devastates Gohan. Part of his brain begins to try and figure out what happened, but he’s so overwhelmed by frustration with himself that he can’t think straight. This is made worse when Frost shows good sportsmanship, which makes Gohan feel guilty for being so angry.

But shortly after returning to the stands, he finds some comfort. Jacco (who is still there, even though I haven’t mentioned him at all up to this point) suspects something. And over in the stands, so too does Jiren.

Up next against Frost is Piccolo, who is eager to avenge his student. Their fight goes much as it did in the anime, with Piccolo using his stretchy-arms to get the upper hand and lure Frost into a trap. However, he too ends up poisoned and knocked out. Only this time, both Jacco and Jiren have caught onto what Frost is up to, though Jacco is the one to call him out on it.

Here, Frost reveals his true personality and starts to act as Freeza might. When the judge deems him disqualified and allows both Gohan and Piccolo back into the tournament, Champa is furious with him. But Frost offers a simple solution: neither of his opponents could come back into the ring if they were dead.

Now, in the original, Vegeta forced Piccolo to step out so he could one-shot Frost. While the hit itself was satisfying, I hated it for many reasons. One: he should’ve gotten that vengeance an arc ago; he did, in our version. Two: it completely throws Piccolo under the bus. That’s why I am throwing that scene away entirely.

So, who takes Frost out you ask? Simple: Jiren.

Here’s how it would play out: when Frost flies off the handle and goes to attack Piccolo, there’s a blur of movement from the stands. Suddenly, the stage is consumed by a massive explosion. When the dust clears, Frost is a bloodied mess, completely unconscious. Holding his head in one hand is Jiren, who has a cold expression on his face as he growls, “I suspected such evil might exist beyond my own universe. Unluckily for you, I am more than happy to snuff it out.”

I’m doing this for a couple of reasons. One: it gives Jiren some characterization, something he was sorely lacking in the original story; instead of being a blank slate, he’s a no-nonsense executioner of all things evil. Two: it further shows just how powerful this dude is, which will further increase the tension come time for the Tournament of Power. Three: it’s cool.

Hey, you can’t ignore the Rule of Cool. It’s Dragon Ball, for god’s sake.

After that, the tournament continues. Piccolo is allowed to stay and Gohan is allowed back in, though he’s put at the bottom of the roster like Goku was in the original story. Next up is Magma-Robot-Man.

He fights just as he did in the anime. Standing still, taking the brunt of damage without even flinching while using his natural body heat to burn his opponent up. Only this time, his opponent is Piccolo. You know. The one who is basically a slug person.

Piccolo is affected by the robot (isn’t his name Mageta or something like that? I’m not sure, so I’ll keep calling him Robot-Man) much more dramatically than Vegeta was in the original. As such, he begins to go through all of his moves and strategies much more quickly. He throws everything he has, from the Hellzone Grenade to the Light Grenade and everything in-between. Finally, Piccolo uses the Makankosappo as a last resort. When that fails, he loses the last of his strength and collapses.

Once Piccolo recovers, Vegeta steps into the ring. Having seen Robot-Man’s tricks and already figured them out from the stand, he makes quick work of his opponent. Only instead of beating him by insulting him, which is funny but stupid, he beats him the only way Vegeta knows how: by going max power and hitting him with everything he’s got, going Super Saiyan God (blue, in our version) and annihilating him with a full blast.

This display of overwhelming strength makes a ripple in the crowd. Gowasu is impressed, but Zamasu is horrified, considering the power of the gods something sacred and seeing Vegeta’s use of it as an insult. Jiren acknowledges the impressive display, though he is one of the few onlookers who is clearly not awed by it in the slightest.

Cabba, Vegeta’s next opponent, is terrified. He is unable to even use Super Saiyan, so seeing Vegeta’s display of godly power shakes him to his core. Still, he is a saiyan, so he steps up to fight anyways.

And I’m not changing a thing about this fight. Honestly, I think Vegeta VS Cabba is the best part of this entire arc. We see Vegeta push him, driving Cabba to achieve Super Saiyan, and become a mentor to the younger saiyan. Yes, Vegeta still ultimately wins with ease. But the bond he’s established with his new pupil is still there.

Thus, we come to Hit. His fight with Vegeta plays out almost exactly as it did in the original. Though in our version, Hit will establish right off the bat that he has to hold back as to not kill Vegeta. That way, both the characters and the audience immediately know that Hit is even more dangerous than he appears. A chilling thought, considering how he defeats Vegeta practically without even moving.

Now, at last, Goku steps in to fight. And again: I’m not changing much here. The only real difference is that Goku using Saiyan God (red, in our version) rather than blue. So when he combines Saiyan God with Kaio-ken, it’s more like double-red than red-and-blue. Regardless, after an intense back and forth between the two, in which Hit grows to greatly respect Goku and enjoy fighting him, Goku is defeated.

I will make one minor change though: Hit’s demeanor. At the beginning of the fight, he’s very cold and professional. But as it progresses and he slowly starts getting stronger, he begins to enjoy it more. Goku’s childish enjoyment of the fight begins to rub off on him. Especially since Hit hasn’t been properly challenged like this for as long as he could remember. Therefor, when the fight ends and Hit wins, he is very clearly disappointed. Sad, even.

A nervous Gohan steps into the ring, eager to redeem himself. Immediately upon his arrival, Hit begins to grill him with questions. “You’re Goku’s son?” he asks, a hint of a hopeful smile on his face. “Tell me: are you as strong as your father? Do you grow at the same incredible pace? Can you become as strong as him?”

With that, the fight begins. Gohan immediately goes all-out, using Super Saiyan 2. Hit’s face immediately falls with disappointment as he easily dodges and counters every single one of Gohan’s moves. The thrill he had so enjoyed was now entirely gone.

So, after a brief skirmish, Hit simply sighs and walks out of the ring. To him, it isn’t even worth it to continue. Not now that it’s so boring. Thus, on a complete technicality, Gohan and Universe 7 win the tournament.

This tears Gohan apart. His pride has been completely torn to pieces. First he was cheated out of a win, then he was given one out of pity. Despite all of his efforts, he completely failed. He feels completely defeated.

That’s when Jiren approaches him again. Up until now, the cold-hearted hero has had a face like stone. But now, he shows a little bit of empathy. He tells Gohan that sitting around and feeling sorry for himself will only set him back further. This all culminates in Gohan asking Jiren a surprising question: to assist Gohan in his training.

To which Jiren responds with a hesitant and cold “No.”

The rest of the arc goes as it did in the anime. Zen-Oh arrives, plans for the Tournament of Power are made, and Beerus uses the Super Dragon Balls to restore the Universe 6 Earth. Everyone goes back to their own universes and life continues on.

I will, however, make one change. When Zen-Oh arrives, he seems annoyed. He expresses displeasure at the tournament being thrown without his permission and at the fact that he wasn’t invited to watch. So, when he declares that he’ll be holding the Tournament of Power, he prefaces by referring to it as ‘a punishment’. Thus creating a creepy little mystery that surrounds the ToP in the arcs leading up to it.

I’m also changing the final scene of the arc. Instead of going back to Earth for a simple ‘then life went on’, we’ll instead be focusing on Gowasu and Zamasu. As the two return to their universe, Gowasu asks his pupil if he learned anything from the tournament today. Zamasu, with an intense look on his face, states that he has. Then, after a moment’s silence, he delivers the final line of the arc: “Master? How does one find the Super Dragon Balls?”

Thus, the Universe 6 arc is brought to a close. Not only that, but the stage is set for the Goku Black arc and the Tournament of Power! We have successfully managed to set-up everything to happen in Super going forward!

And now, we move onto the arc that will need the most changing of the whole lot. Seriously, this one arc might turn out longer than my series fixing the Buu saga.