Dragon Ball Super: How Will Vegeta’s Yardrat Training Help Him Defeat Moro?

Dragon Ball Super‘s latest manga arc, “Galactic Patrol Prisoner” has introduced the new villain known as “Planet-Eater Moro”. He’s certainly proven to be a uniquely fearsome foe, who has already wiped the floor with Goku and Vegeta in multiple battles – even nearly killing them in one fight. Goku and Vegeta were helpless to stop Moro from destroying New Namek, and that loss split the two Saiyan warriors up, with each of them now pursuing a new form of training. Vegeta has traveled all the way to Planet Yardrat to unlock new techniques that will help him defeat Moro in battle – but will it be enough?

Fans of Dragon Ball Super are now talking, and have come up with some pretty good ideas about how Vegeta’s Yardrat training can defeat Moro.

There’s a lot of insightful fan discussion that rightly points out an important distinction of Vegeta’s training on Yardrat. The inhabitants of that planet taught Goku Instant Transmission way back in Dragon Ball Z‘s Freeza Saga, but what Vegeta learns is that Instant Transmission is just one manifestation of the true secret to Yardratian power: Spirit Control. By mastering one’s spirit (or “chi”) a warrior can use that spiritual energy to affect his/her physical form. To achieve that goal, we see Vegeta balancing on huge spikes, where he must maintain zen-like calm and control over his emotions. Needless to say, that training is very difficult for hot-headed Vegeta – but therein may lie the greatest benefit.

Yardrat’s strange techniques go beyond Instant Transmission to include size-changing (growth, shrinking) or making copies of one’s self. Any and all of these techinques seem like parlor tricks when compared to Moro’s power – or power-ups like Goku’s Ultra Instinct (which the Saiyan hero is currently trying to master). However, in a sense, the Yardrat techniques are just manifestations of the real power Vegeta will inevitably unlock: mastering himself.

By achieving Spirit Control, Vegeta will also achieve the goal that Whis has been pushing him towards, since Dragon Ball Super began. While Goku needed to let go of conscious thinking and preoccupations to reach Ultra Instinct, Vegeta needs to let go of his emotional intensity to advance to the next level. Sure, “Saiyan Pride” and anger has carried Vegeta through his biggest challenges, but his Tournament of Power fight with Jiren proved that all his pride and anger still didn’t equate to the necessary next level of power needed to win the fight. The manga has taken things a step further with Goku and Vegeta’s split, as Vegeta is now committed to never again chasing Goku’s coattails to a new limit break.

The real question now is: what power will manifest in Vegeta, once he achieves Spirit Control?

Obviously, the end result of Vegeta learning to master his spirit and control his emotions in battle sounds like a clear path to Vegeta achieving Ultra Instinct – but that’s not something a lot of fans want. If Vegeta is not chasing Goku’s coattails anymore, then reaching Ultra Instinct (even if he masters it first) would just be a return to the same formula. By the same token, Vegeta just going Super Saiyan Bluer with new power-ups would be equally as unsatisfying – so here’s hoping Akira Toriyama and Toyotaro have a better destination in mind.

Dragon Ball Super currently airs its English dub on Adult Swim during the Toonami programming block on Saturday evenings, and is also available to stream on Funimation and Amazon Video. The Japanese-language release of the series is complete, and available to stream on FunimationNOW and Crunchyroll. The manga has chapters that can currently be read for free thanks to Viz Media, and Dragon Ball Super’s big movie, Dragon Ball Super: Broly, is now available on Blu-ray and DVD.