As the Dragon Ball community continues to mourn the unexpected passing of creator Akira Toriyama, his chosen successor, Toyotarou, has confirmed that the Dragon Ball Super manga will carry on following the release of its latest collected volume.
Speaking of the latest volume, the cover features Orange Piccolo, Beast Gohan, Ultra Instinct Goku, Ultra Ego Vegeta, and Super Saiyan Full Power Broly. Inside its pages, Toyotarou shared, "The characters on the cover of Volume 24 are all in their strongest forms."
He added. "As I said before, I wanted to show the balance of power between all five of them so I drew it this way. I worked harder than ever on this cover, but I don't think I'll be able to spend this much time on another cover in the future. Also, on the back, there is Black Frieza, whose power difference is also a concern."
It looks like the terrifying Black Frieza has officially claimed the title of the strongest mortal in existence—at least according to Dragon Ball Super artist Toyotarou. The fearsome villain now stands above even Goku and Vegeta, cementing his place at the top of the mortal power scale. Of course, the divine might of the Angels and Gods of Destruction remains out of reach… for now.
Just imagine the possibilities. If another Tournament of Power were to kick off, the Z-Fighters might actually have a much easier time in a second go-round. With Goku and Vegeta’s latest power-ups, the fierce Cerealian warrior Granola on their side, and massive power increases for Gohan and Piccolo, the next inter-universal battle could look very different.
Manga readers saw this power shift unfold during the Granola the Survivor Arc, when the villainous Gas used the Dragon Balls to become the "Strongest Mortal." But just as things reached a boiling point, the unthinkable happened—Frieza made a chilling return and effortlessly took Gas down, proving once again why he's one of the most dangerous forces in the Dragon Ball universe.
The catch to Gas' wish, was that at the time, Frieza was training in a pocket universe, in his own version of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. The galactic tyrant trained for 10 years straight to surpass Goku and Vegeta, who had recently leapfrogged his Golden Frieza form thanks to their training with Whis and Beerus.
As of now, there’s no official release date for the next chapter of Dragon Ball Super in Japan. But stay tuned as we await news on how the franchise will continue without the guidance of Toriyama.
Dragon Ball Super Volume 24 (which collects chapters 101-104) was released earlier in April and is the final volume of the Super Hero Saga.
Ever since Goku became Earth's greatest hero and gathered the seven Dragon Balls to defeat the evil Boo, his life on Earth has grown a little dull. But new threats loom overhead, and Goku and his friends will have to defend the planet once again in this continuation of Akira Toriyama's best-selling series, "Dragon Ball Super"!