The manipulations continue with this chapter as the Heeters plan to put the famous Goku and Vegeta on a collision course with the newly self proclaimed “strongest in the universe” in order to remove him from the equation. Although that declaration alone would have been enough to draw Goku and Vegeta toward him eventually even without the Heeter’s meddling.
Right from the beginning Vegeta has had suspicions that something isn’t quite right with this whole situation. Noting the lack of destruction from this apparent “big villain”. Although his train of thought is cut short when one of my big hopes from my previous chapter reviews comes to fruition.
They’re attacked from a distance and it seems like the fight is kicking off by making full use out of Granolah’s unique racial traits as a “sniper”. He blasts Goku and Vegeta with pinpoint blasts from a distance and Goku states that they’re so accurate that he can barely dodge them in time.
What follows is a pursuit of the source of the sniper shots, to which I greatly appreciate the different approaches both Goku and Vegeta take into this chase. Vegeta turns Super Saiyan, as you expect he would, while Goku calms his mind and starts using Ultra Instinct in his base form. As Whis has urged him to do in the previous chapter.
In the end though, using this undefined technique in a life and death situation ends up backfiring on Goku and he ends up taking a blast to a vital spot at the base of his skull. Vegeta berates him for this very thing while having to use one of their two Senzu Beans to get him back on his feet.
As I pointed out in previous chapters, once the Saiyans and Granolah meet face to face he starts fighting them with an energy that they point out is very similar to the destruction energy Beerus has been training Vegeta to use in the past few months.
After this, the Saiyans resort to their general stupidity and take turns in fighting. Vegeta giving up the first turn to Goku as payback for the vital hit he took earlier. Although maybe it’s not quite as stupid as the concept of taking turns usually is. Because Vegeta is rightly suspicious that something isn’t quite sitting right with Granolah and decides to begin his own investigation while Goku has his fun.
This fight is where Toriyama and Toyotaro start playing with what we think we know about the transformations established in the series so far. While Granolah is powerful enough to keep Goku on the back foot while in his Super Saiyan God form, Goku surprises me by closing his eyes and starting to use Ultra Instinct while in the red haired form.
To which Vegeta comments that it seemed to be improved when used in conjunction with the form. It makes me wonder what the real future for Ultra Instinct is now. While the Silver Haired form seemed like a crutch based on Whis’s comments in previous chapters, one that rapidly drains his stamina. This revelation comes with the idea that UI might take on a supplementary status to Goku’s arsenal of powers.
Akin to Kaio-Ken Blue in the anime. The problem being that Goku is experimenting with the move in the heat of battle and almost get himself knocked out in a single, precise blow once again. Granolah commenting that even with such perfect dodging ability, he is unable to protect all of his vital points.
Which kind of defeats the whole purpose of Ultra Instinct in the first place in my eyes. I mean, the whole idea of it is that you never have to worry about dodging because your body instinctually does it on its own. If what Granolah says is true, then we’re just one step closer to the power losing what luster it has left.
The battle continues with Granolah dropping some hints towards his true goals and purpose, but Goku is too dumb to really pick up on them properly. He’d rather turn Blue and turn the fight into one that could potentially become dangerous for the innocent Sugarians who seem oblivious to what is going on up in the mountains from their cities.
Vegeta doesn’t hear any of these hints though because he is busy playing detective. Ending the chapter by having the realisation of who exactly Granolah and his people are. Which makes me wonder if there is more to the Cerealians than a mere target of Freeza’s land grab scheme.
I don’t know what to make of Granolah in this chapter. He’s obviously super strong and as of right now, him and Goku seem about evenly matched. Given that Goku spent some time training since Granolah made his wish. Although as he’s already proven more than once, it only takes one misstep from the Saiyan for Granolah to hit a vital point and take Goku out of the fight.
Kind of a lot like Hit now I think about it.
As the chapter went on, all of the uniqueness to Granolah’s fighting style kind of went out of the window, replaced with a much more typical brawling battling style you always see in the franchise. It remains to be seen whether he’ll realise his mistake with these Saiyans or not and how he moves onto Freeza following them.
Who is probably really behind Goku and Vegeta at this point considering the leaps and bounds in strength the pair have made since he last saw them during the Broly movie. Although knowing Dragon Ball, he’ll have probably discovered some method of keeping pace with them of screen, learned Destruction Energy himself or unlocked Platinum Freeza.
The biggest question that remains in my mind is how Vegeta is going to react, realising this planet is a victim of the Saiyans. I’m pretty certain Goku is going to lose this fight, but what Vegeta will do intrigues me. The Vegeta of the Moro arc would have most likely apologised to Granolah, feeling remorse for the actions of his people in the past.
Although now, Beerus has been drilling into him that those feeling actively hamper his ability to make use of his newly learned destruction techniques. So are we going to get the Vegeta that is living by his mentor’s words, or a Vegeta who gets held back his own guilt and gifts Granolah the victory.
Plus we’ve got all the Heeter’s congregating on the planet. Who knows what their plan is going to be when they get their hands on both of those Dragon Balls. This story is nowhere near over, the only question is really how deep Granolah’s rage and thirst for revenge is going to take him when dealing with these misguided Saiyans.
A Richard Wood Text Adventure 