Present Trunks' power

[Captain Cadaver]

Despite the title, this won't be the typical discussion of how powerful he is compared to Boo Arc Gohan, Cell Games Goku, etc. This is to ask the question of why is he so strong? He's obviously far stronger than his future counterpart was when he first appeared, despite the latter having endured a hellish future of trials and tribulations. It doesn't seem as though playing with Goten (who's natural potential is far more justified) was the source of the difference when it's implied Trunks was always a step ahead of Goten.

So, how would you explain the difference? Yet another cheap handwave away to "wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff" from his future self killing Freeza just like the whole Artificial Human changes, chalk it up as a simple plot hole, or is there a more interesting potential explanation?

 

[Future Warrior]

Something about S-Cells or some bullshit.

 

[Animelover5487]

Training from Vegeta.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Training from Vegeta.

Doubtful, considering Vegeta didn't even learn about Trunks being a Super Saiyan until his power was already well established and Bulma implied they'd only started training together very recently.

 

[Papasmurf]

Either Vegeta gave him less S-Cells in the future timeline because he was distraught from Goku getting the heart virus, or Future Trunks wasn't born without a tail and the present one was a tailless prodigy.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Either Vegeta gave him less S-Cells in the future timeline because he was distraught from Goku getting the heart virus

It seems suggested that Goku's heart virus didn't happen until the latter half of the year Trunks was born, whereas him being 8 at the time of the Boo Arc means he was born sometime before April in that year.
Maybe knowing that another Super Saiyan could exist and the additional motivation to surpass Galu his other timeline self would lack resulted in more S-Cell production by the time Trunks was conceived .

 

[GreatSaiyaman123]

In the bigger picture I think the difference was caused by Cell/Future Trunks’s time travel and the butterfly effect. They might seem like completely unrelated cases, but that’s how the butterfly effect works. Specially in Dragon Ball where Cell hiding in the sand without anybody knowing means there are two new Androids and the old two are actually not that evil but stronger.

In specifics, a small difference in Trunks’ conception could make a lot of difference. Maybe he was conceived at a different day, or a different sperm cell won the run that day, or Future Bulma was smoking when she was pregnant and that weakened her son

It seems suggested that Goku's heart virus didn't happen until the latter half of the year Trunks was born

Daizenshuu 7’s timeline suggests he died the same year Trunks gave him the medicine though.

 

[Pocket-Gog~]

I read the title as "Present Trump's power."

 

[Hector]

The potential of a Half Saiyan depends on the power their Saiyan parent have at the time of conception. In the present timeline, Vegeta had already turned into a Super Saiyan by the time Trunks was conceived, as opposed to the future timeline.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

I read the title as "Present Trump's power."

>> 'rona, that's for sure .

In the present timeline, Vegeta had already turned into a Super Saiyan by the time Trunks was conceived, as opposed to the future timeline.

We have no evidence for that being the case. The only source that sheds any light on when he did become a Super Saiyan is the anime, which shows Vegeta having done so after he left Bulma to go train.

 

[SSJ2]

I'd argue it could be through sparring with Goten.

Chapter: 427 (DBZ 233), P7.2-3
Context: after Goten becomes a Super Saiyan
Gohan: “Go-Goten…Since when have you…?”
Goten: “Mmmm…I forgot.”
Gohan: “Un-unbelievable…Even your dead father and I suffered a lot to become Super Saiyans…”

Goten implied that he has had Super Saiyan for quite a long time, otherwise he wouldn't have forgotten when he had unlocked the form. Later in the Budokai, Trunks immediately realized that Goten had improved, and this was after stating they'd be going all out from the get-go. It seems to me that their play fighting was indeed more than that if they had a good grasp of their maximum abilities.

Chapter: 434 (DBZ 240), P2.2-3
Trunks: "You’re pretty good. I’m impressed that you managed to improve this much in such a short time.
Goten: "Hehehe…My big brother taught me a lot!"

So maybe they had been sparring as Super Saiyans, which we know from Goku/Gohan's RoSaT trip produces much bigger gains than training in Base. It's arguable that they had more time training together as Super Saiyans than Future Trunks and Future Gohan did before Gohan died. Pretty weak reasoning, but it's plausible.

 

[Xdragon2002]

Well for one he trained under intense gravity training, up to 150x in fact. And this is very important because gravity training is seen as an incredibly useful method of gaining a lot of power in a very short time frame. It was the sole thing that made goku jump from a PL of 8k to a PL of 90k in the time span of a week and was seen as one of the main contributing factors that made goku so strong during the 6 months he trained at king kai’s in preparation for the saiyans. So even if Trunks spent as little as a week in total gravity training he could experience exponential power gains and growth.

Another contributing factor is that present trunks had a much better diet than future trunks. Nutritions and a healthy diet is an extremely important factor in terms of getting yourself fit and in shape and this would be especially true in a saiyan’s case even a half saiyan like trunks. Future trunks basically had to scrap by with whatever he could find and it’s not a stretch to say that he probably didn’t get the best type of nutrition in his apocalyptic future and at times went hungry. This is in direct contrast with present trunks who had an abundance of food and well balanced meals that Bulma would prepare for him.

Another thing is that present trunks had much better teachers than future trunks. Future gohan really at that point only had at best 2 years of actual formal training before he had to face the androids so it’s no surprise that his training methods probably weren’t the beat for trunks, not to say they were bad but Gohan’s inexperience with training and formal combat could be directly translated to how future Trunks himself was seen as “green” by his superiors. Again this is directly contrasted by present trunks who had Vegeta with him at all times, an incredibly experienced fighter, and trained directly under piccolo as well, the person that trained gohan in the first place.

In short while future trunks grew up in an apocalyptic future, he didn’t do much actual fighting and what little he did do was just a pure beat down on his part, while present trunks had better equipment, nutrition, and mentors which more than likely aided him in actually becoming as strong as he did.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

[mention]Super Saiyan[/mention] The problem with that is though that Goten makes it pretty apparent he's never beaten Trunks before. If sparring with Goten was the sole reason, you'd think Goten would've had a huge lead for a while until Trunks caught up.

Well for one he trained under intense gravity training, up to 150x in fact.

Vegeta was unaware of Trunks attaining SSJ and Bulma suggested Vegeta had only started training Trunks very recently.

Another contributing factor is that present trunks had a much better diet than future trunks. Nutritions and a healthy diet is an extremely important factor in terms of getting yourself fit and in shape and this would be especially true in a saiyan’s case even a half saiyan like trunks. Future trunks basically had to scrap by with whatever he could find and it’s not a stretch to say that he probably didn’t get the best type of nutrition in his apocalyptic future and at times went hungry. This is in direct contrast with present trunks who had an abundance of food and well balanced meals that Bulma would prepare for him.

I guess that holds some weight, though attributing it as a major factor when dietary needs aren't treat as a major factor for Ki development in the series is very questionable.

Another thing is that present trunks had much better teachers than future trunks. Future gohan really at that point only had at best 2 years of actual formal training before he had to face the androids so it’s no surprise that his training methods probably weren’t the beat for trunks, not to say they were bad but Gohan’s inexperience with training and formal combat could be directly translated to how future Trunks himself was seen as “green” by his superiors. Again this is directly contrasted by present trunks who had Vegeta with him at all times, an incredibly experienced fighter, and trained directly under piccolo as well, the person that trained gohan in the first place.

Again, Vegeta had been training Trunks personally for very little time when he only became aware of him being a Super Saiyan close to the Budokai and it's apparent Gohan hadn't mentored him at all either when shocked at the power of the two kids.

 

[SSJ2]

Couldn't they have both just been close in power the entire time? Imagine if Cell Games Goku and Cell were sparring partners for a year. Given that both of them were highly skilled, I can't see Goku overtaking Cell during that time, but that wouldn't mean their sparring sessions weren't close battles that benefitted both of them.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

It's possible, given Trunks is the older of the two, but it would still seem very unlikely there'd have been no point in which Goten edged things out over Trunks if we're to ascribe Trunks' power primarily from sparring with Goten. Granted, the part about Goten having never beaten Trunks before is anime exclusive to my knowledge, though it does line up with their characterisation when Goten constantly acts as subordinate to Trunks.