Fans of Dragon Ball know that Goku is arguably the greatest hero in the universe (even if his motives are sometimes less than heroic in nature), and in Dragon Ball’s darkest timeline, Goku is still the hero fans know him as, just not for the reasons they might think.
Goku was introduced in the first chapter of Dragon Ball, and right from the start, readers knew Goku was a kind-hearted kid who was also a force to be reckoned with. While he was traveling through the woods looking for something to eat, Bulma came across him and invited him to search for Dragon Balls. After Goku excitedly accepted, the two were off, going on numerous adventures that involved taking down powerful gangs, toppling a fascist regime, and even killing a literal demon–and that was just Goku when he was a kid. As Goku matured, he stayed committed to both adventure and heroism as he constantly got stronger in order to protect his family and friends from any and all threats, both domestic and intergalactic.
In Dragon Ball: Trunks the Story – A Lone Warrior by Akira Toriyama, readers are given an up close and personal look at Trunks’ original future in order to understand Trunks’ motives behind splintering the time stream. As depicted in this story, Trunks’ future is little more than a desolate wasteland where Androids 17 and 18 freely roam, blowing things up and killing innocent civilians as they see fit. Worst of all, this future doesn’t include any of the most powerful Z-Fighters including Vegeta, Gohan, or even Goku. When Bulma finally finished building the time machine for Trunks, she told him that the person he had to speak with in the past was Goku as he would be the one to stop the Androids in his time and also help Trunks get strong enough to stop the Androids in this one. When Trunks asks why Goku was so special, since Goku died before Trunks was even born in this timeline, Bulma says, “He was the kind of guy who would give us hope, no matter how dire the situation was”.
Goku’s Greatest Strength Is His Ability To Inspire Hope
Looking back at the previous Dragon Ball chapters, it becomes clear that Bulma’s words in this chapter ring true. From the very beginning, Goku’s attitude of never giving up was enough to stop every villain he came across, and even turn some villains into allies. When Goku first met Yamcha, for instance, Yamcha was a desert bandit who wouldn’t think twice about robbing someone and leaving them with nothing. After spending some time with Goku, however, Yamcha committed himself to studying martial arts, and he even placed highly in some earlier World Martial Arts Tournaments as a result. The same went for Piccolo and Vegeta, once bitter rivals who became legitimate members of Goku’s family.
Not only does Goku have the power to inspire goodness and hope in those who previously only sought pain and destruction, but he can also use that ability to push himself to greater limits. When fighting Frieza on Planet Namek, Goku was able to become a Super Saiyan through his pure heart that was awakened by a righteous rage, and he used that power to squash the greatest evil in the universe. Whether it was used for attaining high levels of power or to help others find the goodness inside themselves, Goku proves he is a hero not because he’s really strong, but because he has the power to inspire hope–a power that is worth splitting the Dragon Ball timeline to understand.
