Despite the fact that Trunks is easily one of the most heroic members of the Z-Fighters in Dragon Ball history–even going so far as to splinter the timeline just to save alternate-versions of his friends and family–it seems as though one of the franchise’s oldest foes could be turning Trunks to villainy, and that foe is none other than Emperor Pilaf.
Emperor Pilaf was essentially Goku’s first arch nemesis who made his debut in the early chapters of classic Dragon Ball. Like Bulma and Goku, Emperor Pilaf and his crew sought the Dragon Balls. Unlike the future Z-Fighters, however, Pilaf wanted to use the wish-granting magic of the orbs to take over the world, and rule the planet with an iron fist. While Pilaf’s plans in the past have never worked out, and have mostly been presented as comical failures, there is one thing Pilaf did that nearly ended the world: he unleashed the unparalleled evil that was King Piccolo. King Piccolo wiped out millions of lives with the wave of his hand, and actually succeeded in taking over the world for a short time. Pilaf released King Piccolo from his mystical imprisonment in the hopes of ruling the world by his side, which is evidence of Pilaf’s commitment to his dream while also speaking to the irreparable damage his schemes can potentially cause.
In Dragon Ball Super chapter 88 by Akira Toriyama and Toyotarou, Trunks and Goten (Goku and Chi-Chi’s youngest son) are teenagers who have decided to balance their high school careers with being superheroes. Together, they are the masked vigilantes Saiyaman X-1 and Saiyaman X-2, and with their combined might, there isn’t a criminal they cannot stop–unless, of course, that criminal is manipulating them. As established in earlier Dragon Ball Super chapters, an aged-down Emperor Pilaf and his crew have been working for Bulma in exchange for room and board. In fact, it was Pilaf who designed Trunks and Goten’s suits, and it was Pilaf who came up with the all-new upgrade to those suits that Trunks is getting installed in this very chapter. However, there is a catch: in exchange for Pilaf designing Trunks’ superhero tech as well as keeping his identity a secret, Trunks agreed to not tell Bulma that Pilaf stole the Dragon Balls from her secret hiding space.
Pilaf is a Potential World-Ending Threat, & Trunks Let Him Have the Dragon Balls
Emperor Pilaf has already proven that he can cause a great deal of damage to the world in his quest for power, even if he doesn’t mean to–and Trunks just let him have the Dragon Balls without giving it a second thought. To be fair, Trunks didn’t know Pilaf was a super-villain in disguise when he agreed to this deal, but that doesn’t make the situation any better. The Dragon Balls contain near-limitless power, and Trunks handed them over to someone he doesn’t really know for entirely selfish reasons–it just so happened that the person he gave them to is an established villain. So, in a way, Emperor Pilaf manipulated the young Trunks into allowing him to have the Dragon Balls, knowing that Trunks didn’t know what kind of threat he was–and in doing so, tricking Trunks into a life of villainy.
Trunks didn’t know he was potentially helping a super-villain attain world-conquering power as Emperor Pilaf played to the selfish nature within Trunks to get him to lower his guard. The problem isn’t that Trunks unwittingly helped Pilaf, the problem is that Trunks didn’t care what Pilaf did with the Dragon Balls so long as he got what he wanted out of the deal. That line of thinking is a far-cry from the time-shattering Future Trunks who broke the Dragon Ball universe just to save those closest to him–proving that Dragon Ball’s oldest foe is turning Trunks from the greatest of heroes to the most selfish of villains.
