Akira Toriyama is guilting of nerfing Vegeta excessively in Dragon Ball, just to make Goku the savior. But there is one last hope that the mangaka is simply bidding his time to give Vegeta the boost of a lifetime.
A fan theory suggests one way in which Vegeta could surpass Goku, and it involves a dormant Saiyan ability that has not been mentioned in forever.
The Disappearance of Zenkai Boost from Dragon Ball
Dragon Ball explains that the Zenkai boost is a latent ability in Saiyans that can be passed down to hybrids as well. This ability is portrayed a lot towards the beginning of the series, as Goku and Vegeta gain double the power once they manage to recover after a beating.
This is why the Saiyans always returned to fight no matter how hard they were just beaten. Before his battle with Frieza, Vegeta convinced Krillin to beat him so that he could recover with more power.
However, as the series progressed, the ability was almost forgotten. In chapter 20 of Dragon Ball Super, Future Trunks explains that Vegeta and Goku cannot level up from their ability because they are likely to have hit their limits.
This serves as a perfect explanation for why the heroes do not level up as fast as they used to. However, it is possible that the Zenkai ability is just lying in wait for the perfect opportunity.
Vegeta’s Impending Zenkai Mega-Boost
While Vegeta and Goku could have hit their limits regarding the Zenkai ability, Vegeta has a secret weapon that is unavailable to Goku. Vegeta can transform his Ultra Ego ability to take further advantage of the Zenkai Boost.
Among its other advantages, Ultra Ego also allows its users to increase their power output the more damage they take. Enduring and enjoying the pain inflicted by one’s enemy helps Vegeta come closer to being a God of Destruction as he lusts for battle.
As the attacks pour in, Vegeta gets stronger due to Ultra Ego. Vegeta attained Ultra Ego against Granolah when he was overpowered by the latter’s attacks. He thus took more damage to accumulate them and created a bigger attack.
According to a theory, the Ultra Ego heals Vegeta when he battles. It suggests that the reason he baited Granolah to knock him down again and again was so that he could get back up with even more zest.
The Zenkai boost ability is simply lying in wait and absorbing all the defeats Vegeta has suffered. Currently, the Zenkai boosts are too small to make a difference, but since Vegeta keeps suffering, the ability is bound to accumulate them all and produce an output that is too big to ignore.
Thus, when time calls for it, Vegeta will end up with a huge power-up. And when it does happen, Vegeta’s Ultra Ego combined with Zenkai might even help him overpower Goku.
You can read Dragon Ball on Viz Media and watch the anime on Crunchyroll.
