Katakana name:

From the moment he was born, he knew.

Heritage expected it of him, the power measuring instruments confirmed it, and the results of his combats proved it--Vegeta was a warrior of superior class among the Saiyajin.

Before Vegeta, the strongest Saiyajin was his father, and when Vegeta's power exceeded that of his father while he was still a kid, his arrogance grew, further instilling his belief that he would be the strongest, giving him the right to look down on everyone else, because on Planet Vegeta, power was everything.

And then there were Freeza and his henchmen. So even though Vegeta knew that he was the strongest of the Saiyajin, he also knew that there were other races that were more powerful. However, the Saiyajin race was the ultimate warrior race. Vegeta knew that with time, he would eventually surpass Freeza's hecnhmen, and perhaps even become the mysterious Densetsu no Super Saiyajin, the one who legends foretold as the strongest in the universe, the one who even Freeza would be no match for.

Vegeta's dreams were crushed when he suffered defeat at the hands of an inferior warrior, Kakaroto; or as his earthling friends call him, Son Gokuu. What was even more devastating was that this Kakaroto.. this.. Son Gokuu, displayed power that far surpassed even the royal prince himself while fighting against Freeza's hired goons on Planet Namek. It was devastating to see a mere low-class warrior fight opponents that gave Vegeta such a hard time. "Could he be... the Super Saiyajin foretold in the legends? It can't be true! The legend is just a myth! ...and even if it were true, I should be the only one who becomes Super Saiyajin!"

And on earth, his fear became a reality. Kakaroto's son has confirmed that Kakaroto indeed has become a Super Saiyajin, and has even defeated Freeza, who Vegeta knew, at the time, he was no match for.. Vegeta had lost his life while fighting Freeza, and had been resurrected by the Dragon Balls.

A year after the battle on Namek, Freeza shows up on earth, and while Vegeta has been training all this time, hoping that he would be able to defeat the Super Saiyajin, he knew that his training had not helped enough for him to take on Freeza. Vegeta expected doom. That's when the strange boy arrived. He killed Freeza, his father, and their henchmen in a matter of moments. From what Kakaroto's son has seen of a Super Saiyajin, it was confirmed that this boy was also a Super Saiyajin.

Son Gokuu came back to earth, talked with the boy privately, and both displayed their power as Super Saiyajin. At this point, Vegeta knew just how strong a Super Saiyajin was, and what they looked like. With a goal in mind, Vegeta sets out to surpass the power of a Super Saiyajin through intensive training. Now more than ever, because the boy is from the future, and he tells a tale which involves cyborgs much more powerful than any Super Saiyajin. Vegeta cared for no one; he only had one goal--to become the strongest.

Somehow during all this, he and Bulma got together for at least a short while. It remains a mystery what the two were thinking at the time. All we know is that Bulma had once again had a big disagreement with Yamcha, primarily for his unfaithfulness, and somehow both Bulma and Vegeta felt each other's loneliness. Nine months later, Bulma had a son; she named him "Trunks."

As Vegeta trained in the adverse conditions he placed upon himself, he realized that he had reached his maximum, and it was nowhere close to that of a Super Saiyajin. His training has proven futile. Vegeta was infuriated at himself, how could a genius fighter such as himself be outclassed by someone who belonged among the fighters of a lower-class? This rage at himself triggered his transformation. Suddenly, he had also become a Super Saiyajin. With this transformation, he suddenly understood what it meant to be a Super Saiyajin, and what was required to become.

Since they had both become Super Saiyajins, it would only be natural for the genius fighter to be stronger than the low-class fighter. Assuring himself thus, Vegeta went on the fight the cyborgs, and once again suffered defeat. He once again looked for the answers himself, and realized that he was bound by the limits of a Super Saiyajin. He needed to find a way to go beyond a simple Super Saiyajin transformation. With the introduction of Cell, this was more important than ever.

During the battle with Cell and Cell Junior, Vegeta came to terms with reality. As much as he hated to admit it, Kakaroto somehow always seemed to come out on top. Vegeta finally accepts what he had known all along, that Kakaroto will always stay one step ahead. However, this would seem like nothing to what he is about to face.. the death of his son, Trunks.

Cell had teleported back, and the first person he killed was Trunks. The prince snapped when he witnessed his son's death right before his eyes.. while he was helpless to stop it. Heavy bombardment of ki-blasts were sent to his son's murderer as retaliation, which also proved to be in vain. In the end, Kakaroto and his son finished the job that Vegeta couldn't.

A repeat of the same thing was seen again with the next enemy, Majin Buu. Finally Vegeta learns to let go of his arrogance, and to care for the people around him. He learned to love, and luckily, it was not too late.

Vegeta-Related Sites

Here's an added bonus for you all... Recently there seems to be some interest in the visitors of Capsule Corp. to see how Future Trunks was killed, so I've taken some time to scan in the corresponding frames from the manga, re-arrange them so that they can be read from left to right, as well as translate all of the dialogue in these frames.. For those of you interested in this little spoiler, take a look at this image. Note that this isn't the entire scene--I've skipped several pages of the manga so that we get to see the death of Trunks and Vegeta's reaction (he froze for quite some time, while Cell explained how he got back) all in one shot.

And please, don't anyone complain about the size of the image.