Episode 112 of Dragon Ball Super, first broadcast in Japan on October 22, 2017, opens the second half of the Tournament of Power with a promise that will echo all the way to the finale. Vegeta saves young Cabba from elimination and swears that, if he wins, he will bring Universe 6 back.
Summary
At the halfway mark, the Grand Minister explains to the Zenos that when time runs out, the universe with the most fighters left wins. Universe 7 leads with seven, so Universe 3's God of Destruction orders his team to take out Goku: three robots, Koitsukai, Pancea and Borareta, pile onto a Saiyan who is still exhausted. Gohan and Piccolo, busy with Saonel and Pilina, decide to trust him and stay on their own fight.
Champa changes tactics: since Jiren cannot be beaten, his fighters should thin out Universe 7 and otherwise run. Caulifla is not afraid, though: watching Goku and Jiren showed her a Saiyan's limitless potential. Monna of Universe 4 targets the two girls, and Cabba offers to hold her off so they can recover. As a Super Saiyan he lasts a while, until Monna turns into a giant rolling ball and pushes him over the edge.
A hand catches him in midair: it is Vegeta. He tosses Cabba back onto the stage, knees him in the stomach and makes clear it was not kindness: he cannot stand a weak Saiyan, and Cabba still owes him a trip to Planet Sadala to meet its king. When Cabba points out that one of their universes is doomed, Vegeta vows to use the Super Dragon Balls to revive him if he wins. Cabba returns the promise, and Vegeta gets angry: he will be the one who wins, not his student. Nearby, Frieza overhears everything, disgusted by the idea of a Saiyan master and disciple.
Fired up, Cabba goes back to Monna, who mocks him and insults Vegeta too. That is the spark: Cabba reaches Super Saiyan 2 and blasts her off the stage. Vegeta, meanwhile, goes looking for Jiren, but Toppo steps in, and the two trade accusations of being mere "second fiddles". Cabba's joy is short-lived: Frieza asks him to fight with exquisite politeness, provokes him by threatening Caulifla and Kale and, after pushing him to Super Saiyan 2 again, knocks him out in his Golden form. At the end, Goku is still struggling with the robots when Caulifla sweeps them away, turns Super Saiyan 2 and challenges him. Twenty-three minutes remain.
Our take
The Japanese title speaks of an "oath", and that is the right word. The promise to Cabba transforms Vegeta's tournament: what was a contest of pride becomes a mission, and the series will call back to it at every decisive moment, from his new transformation to his final fall. The best part is that Vegeta stays Vegeta: he saves his student and immediately knees him, swears to revive him and takes offense when the favor is returned.
Cabba gets his small triumph, and the Monna sequence openly echoes Goku against Frieza on Namek, with the opponent calmly remarking that the hit hurt before exploding in rage. Frieza himself, as if to remind everyone who is in charge, closes the interlude with gratuitous cruelty. The tournament needs him, but that has not made him good.
Trivia
- Written by Toshio Yoshitaka and directed by Takao Iwai, with Noel Añonuevo, Joey Calangian and Kōji Nashizawa as animation directors. It drew a 5.3% rating in Japan.
- From this episode on, the title card has a green background, matching the sky of the World of Void in the tournament's second half.
- Cabba's Super Saiyan 2 is anime-only; in the manga he exits by sacrificing himself.