In order to find the last super dragon ball, Jaco and Bulma travelled through space to the planet belonging to lord Zuno, a man said to know everything. On their way, Bulma informed Jaco of the invitational tournament and asked him to come. The galactic patrolman was ecstatic and promised to bring with him the king of the galaxy.
Zuno's planet orbits a bigger, gaseous planet in a dead solar system. Arriving, Bulma couldn't help but notice the floating mountains and thick atmosphere. Entering Zuno's palace, one must kiss the burly man on the cheek in order to get their question answered. The two accidentally wasted three potential questions, but at the very least discovered that the balls were created by the dragon God Zalama in the 41st year of the God calendar and are scattered throughout universes six and seven. When gathered, one must chant in the language of the Gods "Come forth God of Dragons, pretty peas." The dragon will grant one wish, then the balls shall scatter throughout both universes, inactive for a year.
Back on Earth, Goku and Vegeta figured they should do some last-minute training in the final days leading up to the tournament, but since Vegeta had already used the room of spirit and time twice before in the fight against Cell, he could no longer train in it. Goku had not yet used all his allotted time, but he chose to spar with Vegeta at Capsule Corporation's gravity chambers instead. "Do ya think they're strong, those universe 6 guys?" Goku threw a right hook to Vegeta, but the prince dodged it.
"Of course, they are. That Champa lord of destruction proposed a tournament after seeing us train, he must be confident in winning." Vegeta kicked Goku in the stomach, but got promptly knocked back with a headbutt.
"There's gotta be seven guys, eight includin' the guy lord Beerus keeps talkin' about, maybe stronger than us. Who knew, huh?"
"They're from a different universe, what did you expect? We know nothing about them. Still, that Monaka guy, we should have at least felt his Ki before…." The two spiked their Ki and charged at each other.
"Maybe he's been hidin' this whole time… or he has some strange Ki like lord Beerus and Whis." Goku threw a kick to the chin, but Vegeta dodged it with successive backflips.
"We'll see on the day of the tournament, I guess." As Vegeta wiped sweat off of his forehead, Goku grinned. "Let me guess, Kakarotto, you're excited?"
"You bet!"
"You're still the same idiot as ever." But Vegeta smiled as well, the Saiyan prince was also thrilled over the prospect of testing his strength against a different universe.
Finally, on the day of the tournament, the warriors and their friends who came to spectate departed from Earth to the venue on the nameless planet on Whis' spaceship, a transparent cube capable of moving mortals between universes. Goku informed Beerus about the information Bulma had acquired, much to Bulma's chagrin; she had yet come to trust the destroyer. Beerus, annoyed, realized that Champa had been sneaking into his universe to steal his dragon balls. Not surprisingly, he was never caught, considering Beerus had been asleep for decades and the only time he was awake, he was more preoccupied in finding a suitable opponent for himself than doing his job.
"Kakarotto, look over there." Vegeta pointed to a pointy-eared red gremlin-like alien, sporting a green tank top; he also had protruding nipples which disgusted the prideful prince. "That must be Monaka."
"Perceptive as ever, Vegeta. That is indeed Monaka, the strongest warrior Lord Beerus told you about." Whis chuckled. "Mr. Monaka is the hero of planet Wagashi, known as the magnificent Ponta. He's known for being very quiet and gentlemanly. But when he fights, he's so brave that even Lord Beerus has difficulty winning."
"Can ya feel his Ki, Vegeta?"
"Yes… it's faint, but it's there."
"Is he hidin' his power, or…?"
"He doesn't seem that strong."
"We'll see how he fights." Goku smiled with a stern look in his eyes. He walked over to the alien and introduced himself, raising his arm laterally: "Hi, I'm Goku. You must be Monaka, right?"
"Yes."
"Nice to meet ya. I hope to see what ya can do in the tournament. By the way, what does Ponta mean anyway?"
"It means nipples. I have big nipples."
"I see…" The Saiyan, slightly embarrassed and simultaneously disgusted, backed up. "Well… see ya!"
It took Goku and his friends thirty-five minutes to go from Earth to Beerus' planet. From there, it took another two hours to reach the nameless planet. Along with the fighters, their spouses, parents, friends and children would all be attending the exhibition, alongside the curious additions of Jaco, the patrolman, and the Galactic King, a jellyfish-like alien monster, who was irked at the fact that nobody recognized him or cared about his existence. The only exceptions left out of the cube were Mr. Popo and Dende, remaining on Earth to guard over it, along with Karin and Yajirobe who were uninterested in the event. As the crew travelled to the nameless planet and left their home unguarded, a mysterious and sinister spaceship had just entered the Earth's solar system.
"Hey, dad!" Trunks and Goten, now slightly taller and tougher than the time they had fought Boo, stepped up to Vegeta. "Why can't we fight in this tournament? We're super strong and we can fuse into Gotenks!"
"You don't have the tactical awareness to fight in a tournament like this. Besides, Gotenks can only last for thirty minutes, even less if you use Super Saiyan 3, and this is an endurance-based format."
"But dad, we've already fought in the Tenkaichi Budokai before! And even on our own, we can still turn Super Saiyan! We're much stronger than Mr. Tenshinhan!" At the mention of his name, Tenshinhan paid close attention.
"That's true, but…" Vegeta rose his hand and started thinking. In the meantime, Tenshinhan had appeared behind Goten and Trunks, kneeled and put his hands on top of their heads. Shocked and slightly scared, the teenagers turned around.
"The junior division of the Tenkaichi Budokai is a completely different league from this tournament. And even if you two are stronger than me, I can promise you I've still got some tricks you can learn from." The three-eyed Earthling closed his eyes and smiled. "Just watch me out there today." And he turned his eyes to Vegeta for a split second, who scoffed and turned around. The teenagers laughed and greeted Mr. Tenshinhan before going to play elsewhere.
"We've arrived." Whis notified the group, now firmly immersed in their own segregated activities to take note. As they turned their attention to the nameless planet, they were shocked by the size of the super dragon balls floating before them. As the cube descended into the arena, the spectators got out and took their spots on the stands.
"Champa!" Beerus exclaimed. "I heard you've been stealing dragon balls behind my back."
"So what? You didn't even know they existed."
"Fine. I'll let you off the hook since you're my brother. Besides, I'm going to win anyway."
"You're better be preparing for your defeat." Champa flew away to prepare his fighters.
"Hey…" Goku called to Piccolo. "Isn't that Kaioshin?" Goku, his son and Piccolo all went to greet the elder Kaioshin and Kibitoshin, who explained he took a trip to planet Namek in order to defuse from the Potara but since the dragon lacked the power to grant such a wish, he had to remain in this ungodly form forever; learning about the existence of the super dragon balls came as a pleasant surprise because it granted him the delightful possibility of defusing. But while Kibitoshin lamented to the group, Goku's interest focused on the pair of Shinjin standing behind the two he already knew. Undoubtedly, they were the Kaioshin and Kaioshin assistant of Universe 6. Shocked by the mortal's bluntness, they introduced themselves, but before Goku could introduce everyone in his friend group, he was called by Whis to take part in the written test. "See ya!"
"You're friends with a mortal?" Fuwa, the Kaioshin of the sixth universe, questioned the elder.
"It's a long story." He laughed.
Approaching the stage, finally all of the fourteen fighters could see each other and assess each other's battle power. The universe seven team consisted of: Son Goku, sporting a new, sleeveless orange Gi with blue velcro shoes, an outfit that Chi-Chi had gifted him with care before he had left to Beerus' world. Vegeta was wearing a white and yellow Saiyan armour designed by Capsule Corporation, with a grey Saiyan suit underneath and white gloves. Both their new outfits brandished Whis' signature in the chest area, a product of one training session where he caught them off-guard. Piccolo and Majin Boo, with their usual garments. Son Gohan donning the same type of clothes he had worn in the Cell Games long ago. Tenshinhan was bearing a sleeveless green Gi, reminiscent of the one he used against Cell, but by the time he had stepped onto the arena, he had shred himself of his upper attire. And lastly, Monaka.
On the side of universe six, a yellow bear wearing a red tanktop called Botamo; a large mechanical organism by the name of Magetta; a small, scrawny Saiyan adult, Cabba; a red, boar-like alien with shades and a grey Gi, dubbed Dr. Rota; a blue specimen of Freeza's species, Frost; a Namekian later announced as Saonel; and finally, the one being that piqued team universe seven's interest due to his mysterious Ki, the purple alien with a trench coat, Hit the assassin.
"Hey, that guy over there… isn't that Freeza?" While the others focused on the mysterious silent man, Gohan was the first to notice the Freeza lookalike. Frost looked at him and smiled.
"No, he seems different." Piccolo answered. "I don't get a ferocious vibe from him."
As Piccolo spoke, the opposing Namekian looked at him intensely, trying to decipher the weird Ki he was sensing. "He's not a normal Namekian," Saonel thought. "What's with this Ki?" As he approached the table, he paid close attention to Piccolo. The universe seven Namekian, in turn, looked at his counterpart but unaware of what he was getting at, quickly took his spot on the table.
As Magetta clumsily walked towards the table, his steps made an incredible amount of noise, startling everyone on the stage, including team universe six. Cabba approached the three Saiyans from universe seven and spoke in a soft, well-mannered tone: "Excuse me, are you three perhaps Saiyans?"
"I'm surprised ya could tell."
"Are there Saiyans in your universe too?" Vegeta asked.
"Yes, I'm also a Saiyan."
"What?" The three Saiyans shouted in unison and began looking downward searching for a tail. "Come to think of it," Vegeta reckoned. "Your uniform resembles the old Saiyan style before us Saiyans were drafted into Freeza's army."
"Freeza? Sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Which planet do you live on?"
"Planet Sadala." He answered cheerfully.
"What? Planet Sadala still exists?" All Saiyans listened attentively to Vegeta. "In our universe, Sadala fell into a civil war and was consequently destroyed. We stole another planet and named it planet Vegeta. That one was also lost."
Cabba's eyes sharpened. "What do you mean stole?"
"Exactly what it sounds like. Saiyans are a warrior race in your universe too, aren't they?"
"Yes, but we don't conquer planets. Our job is to work for clients, as bodyguard or policemen."
"You guys sound like good guys! Completely different from us!" Goku excitedly exclaimed.
"To think things were different to this degree, how interesting." Gohan agreed. "What happened to your tail?"
"I read that we used to have them, but no Saiyan on Sadala is born with them anymore."
"Take your seats!" Vados interjected, somewhat bothered. "The test is about to start soon."
"Please allow me to visit Sadala one day." Vegeta spoke one last time before moving to his seat. "Don't worry, we don't steal planets anymore." He said with a smile, relieving Cabba of the stern expression he had been displaying since learning of the cruel nature of universe seven Saiyans.
"Sure, you'll be welcomed."
"But remember, I'm not going easy in our fight."
"Yeah! Neither am I."
The test lasted ten minutes. It contained ten questions designed to ascertain whether or not the taker was minimally intelligent. One could only pass the test if they answered at least half of the questions correctly. When the clock struck ten minutes, Vados revealed the results: all on universe six had passed; on universe seven, meanwhile, Majin Boo had been disqualified.
"What?!" Beerus was furious. "First you take my pudding cup, now you fail the test? I ought to destroy you right now!" He took Boo's test, "You even failed to write your name properly." Turning to the others, he exploded: "What are you doing, bringing this idiot in with you?"
"It's Vegeta's fault." Goku said. "He's the one who made this rule. I barely passed too." He laughed, showing his 50% test score.
"It's okay, isn't it?" Vegeta chimed in. "We're just one down, we can still take these guys on by ourselves."
"What are you saying? Now we're just down to five fighters!"
"What do ya mean five, we have six, don't we?"
Beerus started sweating, realizing he forgot to include Monaka in his statement. "Yes, six! Point is, we're a fighter down! We're at a disadvantage!"
"Hey, Boo." While Beerus was yelling at the two Saiyans, Piccolo approached Boo. He whispered something and Boo smiled. A second later, Piccolo took Boo's test and approached Vados: "You've made a mistake, Boo passed the test."
"I assure you; I've made no mistake…" But to be sure, she picked up the test. In fact, it seemed like she had made a mistake, as Boo's test score ought to have been 50%. It turns out that Piccolo had told Boo to use his magic to change the answers, and that's exactly what the djinn had done. Vados deduced that trickery was afoot, but since she had no proof, and thought that things had been made interesting with this turn of events: "I, in fact, made a mistake. Competitor Boo is no longer disqualified. He is eligible to enter the tournament."
Beerus sighed of relief while Piccolo winked at Boo, who expressed his usual jolly tenderness with a smile. Champa, meanwhile, fumed at Vados asking what the hell she was doing, but the angel merely laughed.
"Jeez, you idiots almost gave me a heart attack. Whatever, just choose the order to go in. Monaka's the strongest, so he goes last!"
"If we're letting the strongest go last, then maybe we should push the Saiyans to the last spots." Piccolo argued.
"No way, I'm itchin' to fight."
"Goku," Tenshinhan approached. "Please allow me to go first. The other universe will likely have the same idea of saving their strongest fighters until the end, so I'd like to get a chance to test myself before I can no longer match up." He said calmly with a slight smile. Goku understood the sentiment and nodded.
"Okay, Tenshinhan first, Monaka last. Then, I can fight in second pla-"
"Boo also wanna fight! Boo go after Mr. Ten!"
"Oh... Boo, I don't think ya should go that early, y'know…" Angry, smoke started erupting from Boo's orifices. "Okay, okay! You can go second. I'll go thir-"
"On that note, father, let me go after Boo. I also want to fight early."
"Oh, c'mon Gohan, you should be in the last few! Let's play rock-paper-scissors for it." Gohan was aware that his father almost always goes with scissors first and won the match.
"Hmph, with Gohan going second we may not actually get a turn to fight, Kakarotto." The prince joked with a smile.
"Please, Mr. Vegeta, don't put that kind of pressure on me." Gohan smiled with a stressed brow.
Before Goku could speak, Piccolo intervened: "I'll go after Gohan. I know him well; I can cover his weakness in case he loses."
"Alright! Then after Picc-"
"Hmph, so we'll go Tenshinhan, Boo, Gohan, Piccolo, me, Kakarotto. Oh, and Monaka. That's our line-up."
"Hey, wait a minute, Vegeta! Why do you go first?"
"Obviously because you're stronger, idiot. We save our best fighters until the end, that's what we've been saying from the start."
Goku was taken aback by Vegeta's blatant admission that he was the weaker of the two and couldn't muster up much of a response. Still, he challenged Vegeta to rock-paper-scissors for the fifth spot, and he lost once more. "Aw man, maybe I won't get to fight at all… Still, I'll get to watch the other matches, which is fun too."
With the preparations undergone, it was finally time for the first match to begin. The announcer, a small, greenish alien with dark oval eyes and an antenna, announced the beginning of the invitational tournament with the universe anthem. A penguin-like alien came to the stage, sang "our universe is so huge" and left.
"Now let the fights begin!" Stepping up on the left side of the fighting stage, on the side of team universe seven, the shirtless Tenshinhan was psyching himself up. "Our first fighter is Tenshinhan from universe seven!" His friends on the stands cheered for him, while Goku on the bench gave him an okay sign and Piccolo and Gohan smiled and nodded respectively. Beerus, close to the sidelines, bid him good luck. On the opposite side of the stage, the pig-headed Dr. Rota stepped up. "And Dr. Rota from universe six!" The stands from universe six were filled with weird-looking aliens, no doubt all relatives or friends of the fighters, or just merely spectators from neutral ground that found out about the tournament; some were filming it.
"I didn't see this guy at Beerus' place." Champa muttered.
Tenshinhan tried to sense out his opponents Ki, but he could tell that despite his appearance, Dr. Rota was hiding some strange type of power. Tenshinhan took his crane school stance, while Dr. Rota remained with his hands behind his back. "Now…" The announcer began. "Begin!"
"Do you know why they call me doc-" Before he could finish his sentence, Dr. Rota was struck with a punch to the jaw and sent flying a couple of meters. He composed himself with a backflip before he reached the edge of the stage and faced his opponent, but Tenshinhan was gone. The Earthling appeared from above attempting to strike him in the face with a kick, but the doctor vanished. Ten, shocked, put his guard up, but the doctor had already reappeared a few metres ahead.
"He's fast…"
"That was rude, I was about to tell you why they call me doctor."
"Sorry, but I'm not interested. I'm here to fight and test myself, not to exchange life stories." And with that, Tenshinhan rushed at the alien and started exchanging various blows. The doctor seemed overwhelmed at the technicality of Tenshinhan's martial arts prowess, but was still keeping up pace and getting his own hits in.
"Always such a serious no-nonsense guy, Tenshinhan…" Kuririn commented. "He seems to be winning though, that Dr. Rota guy doesn't seem that tough."
"He's hiding something." Chaozu responded.
"You think so?"
On the bench, Gohan was also commenting the match with Piccolo. "What do you think, Mr. Piccolo?"
"Tenshinhan has the edge in terms of speed but that Rota guy isn't far behind. He also packs quite a punch despite his appearance."
"Tch." Vegeta intervened. "To struggle against a guy of this calibre. That guy's no stronger than Freeza was."
"Still, Mr. Vegeta," the half-Saiyan compassionately replied. "To get to Freeza's level as an Earthling, we have to get Mr. Tenshinhan some credit."
Tenshinhan was listening in closely to the peanut gallery commentary and getting annoyed at how he was being simultaneously underestimated and patronized, leaving an opening for Dr. Rota to punch him in the gut and send him backwards with a kick. Ten, however, quickly composed himself and cleaned a bit of blood from his lip. Sweat was dropping down his forehead.
"Sweating already?" The doctor laughed. "You won't last long like this. You're probably thinking why, if we're so evenly matched, am I not exerting myself in the same way you are? It is, partly, because I am a doctor. You see, they call me a doctor because-"
"You can heal yourself."
"Huh?"
"That's it, right?"
"Uh… yes… yes, that's it."
"I figured it out because you aren't very subtle in the way you heal yourself. Quit stalling and get back to fighting." Tenshinhan powered up and vanished. The alien looked around, but by the time he caught a glimpse of the Earthling, he had already been sent flying with a kick. Tenshinhan flew after him following it up with a punch to the gut sending him upwards. Before he could follow up with his next attack, however, the doctor composed himself mid-air and raised his hand in the direction Tenshinhan was coming from. The Earthling flew at full speed but it was as if he bumped into a thick, indestructible wall; he was immediately sent backwards, almost out of bounds, but he stopped his downward movement a few centimetres off the ground. He returned to the arena, calmly.
"What was that?"
"You see, healing is not the only ability the great doctor has up his sleeve. Unless you can figure out my ultimate ability, you will never hope to beat me!"
"That doctor guy sure likes to talk, huh, Vegeta?"
"He does seem to have a penchant for theatrics."
"Ten!" Chaozu shouted.
"I know." And turning to Rota: "It's some sort of repellent ability, am I wrong? You raised your hand and sent me flying. I felt no Ki being emitted, so it wasn't a Kiai. You're using my own force against me."
"Tch, perceptive once again. But what good is it to know what I can do if you cannot counter it?" This time, the doctor took the offensive. He flew in Tenshinhan's direction and struck him with a punch to the cheek, followed closely with an uppercut to the stomach and a kick to the head, which Tenshinhan managed to dodge just in time. Trying to counter with a punch of his own, he was once again sent backwards. The martial artist stopped his movement mid-air and, almost instantaneously, flared his aura and burst upwards and then immediately downwards to land behind his opponent. Charging at him hoping to land a significant combo of moves, he found himself being thrown back once more. Rising from the floor, he was struck with a Ki blast, which he just barely managed to block by crossing his arms.
The doctor started cachinnating once again. "Fool, you can't hope to defeat the great doctor in your current condition! I, the great doctor Rota, have trained under the seven great doctors of universe six! They are the wisest sages the universe has to offer. You can't hope to match my power!" He turned to the crowd of universe seven: "Look as your feeble friend is overwhelmed by the doctor's magical prowess. Look in fear as this is just the first of universe seven's victims." He started laughing maniacally while universe six's crowd cheered him on. Universe seven could only look in awe and second-hand embarrassment.
"He doesn't seem like a bad guy," Goten opined, "but he's trying way too hard."
Meanwhile, Tenshinhan was getting frustrated. He thought to himself that he had come all this way to the tournament to be treated seriously as a martial artist and he was now being ridiculed by some second-rate fighter more preoccupied with the aesthetics of battle than the essence of self-improvement. "I am not a joke to be made fun of." Gritting his teeth in frustration, he threw a Ki blast at the doctor who was turning around to face the Earthling once again. Surprised, he clumsily dodged his attack.
"Hey! I was giving my speech, you know! You can't attack me like that!"
"Shut up!" Tenshinhan started firing a barrage of Ki blasts, which the doctor began haphazardly dodging.
"You need to take yourself less seriously!" Ten's opponent shouted, after almost getting hit with a Ki blast to the face.
"Why isn't he deflecting them?" Yamcha asked. Kuririn smiled and replied, still paying closing attention to the barrage of Ki blasts being fired and Dr. Rota's movements: "He can't. Tenshinhan's beginning to figure it out as well."
Indeed, Tenshinhan had already suspected after the first Ki blast that Dr. Rota's ability only worked on physical moves and decided to test out his hypothesis with a barrage of Ki blasts, thus confirming that his repellent is ineffective against Ki-based attacks. In complete control, and only feigning an outburst, Tenshinhan was calm, and following his barrage, he rose into the air and extended his arms, placing his hands together in the form of a triangle.
"Let's see if you can repel this."
"Wait a minute, if you fire from there, you'll destroy the stage!"
"So be it!"
"That's the spirit, you're finally getting into it!"
"Kikoho!" The blast engulfed the entire stage, forcing Dr. Rota to fly into the air. Tenshinhan appeared by his side ready to knock him out of the stage with a punch. But Dr. Rota was no idiot and was already expecting this move; he extended his hand in Tenshinhan's face, hoping to repel him back and throw him out of bounds with his own momentum. However, in a split second, Tenshinhan's aura burst into blood red and he disappeared from the doctor's sight. Appearing behind him, he knocked him into the ground, outside of the destroyed arena's bounds.
"The winner of the first match is competitor Tenshinhan from the seventh universe." Tenshinhan exhaled and wiped a drop of sweat from his forehead.
The Earthling dropped into the fighting stage, which was reconstructed by Whis and Vados in seconds, awaiting his next opponent. From the sidelines, Goku called out to him: "Tenshinhan, was that…?" Tenshinhan looked at him and threw him a thumbs-up. Goku smiled in recognition.
Dr. Rota got up from the ground, rubbing his head, and went over to Tenshinhan. "That was a good match. I enjoyed it from the bottom of my heart." Awestruck by this sudden change of demeanour, Tenshinhan took a second before he could meet his handshake.
"See, he's a good guy after all." Goten said to the rest of the spectators.
"Nice going, Ten!" Chaozu greeted his best friend before the referee announced the next fighter.
"Now, the next fighter from universe six: Botamo!" The bear came up to the stage and the two took their stances.
"I see, no rest between rounds, huh? This is going to be tough."
"Trust me, small fry. I'm not as weak as the last guy you faced."