After spending the last dozen chapter making the Super Hero movie events part of its continuity Dragon Ball Super was back to creating new stories. The newest story arc kicked off with a fight fans have been wanting to see since Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. Sensing Gohan’s second time transforming into his Beast form Goku invited his son to Beerus planet. That led into the main headliner for Dragon Ball Super Chapter 102 to feature the start of Gohan vs Goku. While this major fight acted as the headliner for the chapter there were other notable things that took place. Let’s breakdown the Fight Night style card that was Dragon Ball Super Chapter 102.
UNDERCARD: GOHAN VS TRUNKS AND GOTEN
As with any good fight card there needs to be a solid undercard. We got that with Gohan taking on the team of Trunks and Goten in three fights. The first fight was a 1-on-2 handicap match with Gohan taking on his Saiyanman successors. The opening did not go smoothly for Goten and Trunks as they were to invested in their Saiyanman duo shtick. This led Goten and Trunks to completely botch their tag-team move on Gohan.
After being called out Goten and Trunks took the fight seriously by transforming into Super Saiyans for the second fight. This time around Goten and Trunks were able to combine their might to keep Super Saiyan Gohan on his toes. For all their effort Goten and Trunks failed to get past Gohan’s defenses and superior speed. They were unable to defend all of Gohan’s strikes and counters. It was clear Gohan was still the superior fighter.
But to their credit Goten and Trunks did prove to Gohan he should take the Saiyan pair seriously. To that end Gohan transformed into his Ultimate form. In order to meet that challenge Goten and Trunks attempted the Fusion Dance. Since they are still rusty in using the Fusion Dance this resulted in them fusing into Fat Gotenks. This led to the third and final undercard fight to be complete quash match as Gohan easily knocked Fat Gotenks across Beerus’ planet.
MAIN EVENT: BEAST GOHAN VS PERFECT ULTRA INSTINCT GOKU
With the undercard out of the way we were able to get to the main event of Gohan vs Goku. Not counting training, this would be the second time Gohan and Goku fought each other. The first time was in the anime exclusive fight leading into the Tournament of Power. This is the first time they fight each other in the manga by Akira Toriyama and Toyotarō.
Not looking to disappoint Gohan and Goku went powered up into their most powerful forms. For Goku it was no surprise it was the Perfected Ultra Instinct. But for Gohan it was the first time he showed off his Beast form in front of Goku, Vegeta, Whis, Beerus, and Broly. The sheer power of the form left both Goku, Vegeta, Broly, and Beerus surprised. Whis even commented that Beast Gohan power was a “spectacle” to see
With that we got both Beast Gohan and Perfected Ultra Instinct Goku going all out. With each attack their powers shook Beerus planet. The fight was so intense that Whis had to create a barrier around the audience as Gohan and Goku’s fight started creating craters across the planet.
As of the end of Dragon Ball Super Chapter 102 the fight between Gohan and Goku was at a stalemate. Given that neither Gohan or Goku have a scratch on them or are out of breath its clear they are evenly match. Toriyama and Toyotarō firmly establish that Gohan’s new power level has helped catch-up to the level Goku and Vegeta are at after all of their training.
AFTERMATH: FINAL BATTLE WITH BLACK FRIEZA
The timing of Gohan and Goku testing their ultimate forms against one another comes at a crucial point. All signs are pointing to Dragon Ball Super dealing with the threat of Black Frieza. There is no other threat in the Dragon Ball Universe left to deal with. That is unless Toriyama and Toyotarō magically create a new villain to take away the Z-Warriors attention away from Frieza.
While it is not out of the realm of possibility of a new threat to appear, it wouldn’t hit like Moro or Cell Max did. Whis made sure that Goku and Vegeta understood they’ve reached their peak in terms of power level. They are at the point where all they can do is train their technique to combat Black Frieza.
Based on how the fight in Dragon Ball Super Chapter 102 has gone down Gohan has likely also reached the same point as Goku and Vegeta. The fight with Goku may end up revealing that while Gohan has mastered his new form to reach his peak power level he still has room to grow. That growth comes from training his technique to match the overwhelming power of Black Frieza.
The fight between Gohan and Goku also further develops the sub-plot of Broly as the wild card in this series. Toriyama and Toyotarō have made sure to make Broly present to witness both Goku vs Vegeta and Gohan vs Goku. Both have opened Broly’s eyes him having to master control of his own power. Which all, once again, goes to what appears to be a final war between the surviving Saiyans and Frieza and his forces taking place.