Dragon Ball Super: Vegeta Returns To His Saiyan Roots As A Mercenary

Warning! Spoilers for Dragon Ball Super Chapter 71 ahead!

Vegeta is no stranger to fighting and killing for money—it was his livelihood before he adopted a family on Earth—but the Dragon Ball Super manga has driven him back to his Saiyan roots. Long before he could turn his hair blue or married his blue-haired wife, Vegeta was conquering planets and killing for fun and money as a mercenary. 

In Dragon Ball Z Vegeta first came to Earth to vanquish its defenders and conquer the planet in order to sell it off to the highest bidder. Frieza had hired Vegeta and the remaining Saiyans as warriors in his army. The pay must not have been too great since Vegeta turned on his former master and tried to kill Frieza. Though he failed, he redeemed himself much later in Dragon Ball Super by killing Golden Frieza. But nobody stays dead in the Dragon Ball universe, even old villains like Frieza.

Dragon Ball Super Chapter 71 by Akira Toriyama and Toyotaru ups the stakes for Goku and Vegeta, as the two Saiyans have reached god-like strength and their power scaling is ridiculous. New villain Granolah has wished to be the strongest in the universe using some Dragon Balls, shortening his life to a few years as a result. Granolah’s wish is probably the easiest route to combat this absurd power differential between the Saiyans and their enemies. Granolah’s “friends”— the Heeters, a group of licorice-haired aliens bent on domination just like Frieza—have now gotten the Saiyans to come fight by offering a bounty for Granolah. This grudge match with the Saiyans begins Granolah’s vengeance tour with the goal of killing Frieza for directing the Saiyans to destroy Granolah’s home planet. Fighting for cash is a first for Goku, though the temptation to take on a combatant that is the “strongest in the universe” is probably a bigger motivator than the money. 

Becoming the “strongest in the universe” is on par with being a deity, a long leap from the more believable beginnings of Dragon Ball. Vegeta wants to test out techniques he learned from the God of Destruction. Though he may have adopted the mercenary title, the money makes little difference to him. Especially since Vegeta is married to Bulma—a genius engineer who has a monopoly on transportation and tons of other markets through Capsule Corp. Vegeta is hardly a materialist so riches aren’t his goal, and neither he nor Goku even have jobs. 

Vegeta returning to mercenary life is probably a one-off. It’s doubtful this is a new goal for the prince of all Saiyans, who is more focused on becoming stronger and obliterating rocks and logs with his new-found destruction powers as shown earlier in the Dragon Ball Super manga. Vegeta isn’t really the greedy type, and seems satisfied with a good piece of chest armor and ever stronger opponents to square off with. If Vegeta can prove himself against Granolah then he will probably move on to the next “strongest warrior,” whether that fighter has a bounty attached to their head or not.

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