Dragon Ball’s oldest enemy is turning Trunks into a villain.

Although Trunks is widely regarded as one of the most valiant members of the Z-Fighters in Dragon Ball, having gone so far as to fracture the timeline to save alternate versions of his loved ones and comrades, it appears that one of the franchise’s oldest foes, Emperor Pilaf, may be causing him to turn to villainy.

Emperor Pilaf was essentially Goku’s initial archenemy, making his first appearance in the early chapters of the classic Dragon Ball series. Like Bulma and Goku, Emperor Pilaf and his team searched for the Dragon Balls. However, unlike the future Z-Fighters, Pilaf desired to utilize the orbs’ wish-granting magic to take over the world and rule it with an iron fist. Although Pilaf’s past plans have been mostly comical failures, there is one thing he did that almost brought about the end of the world: he released the unprecedented evil that was King Piccolo. King Piccolo wiped out millions of lives with a wave of his hand and successfully took over the world for a brief period. Pilaf freed King Piccolo from his mystical imprisonment in the hopes of ruling the world by his side, which demonstrates his commitment to his dream while also highlighting the irreparable damage his schemes can potentially cause.

In chapter 88 of Dragon Ball Super, written by Akira Toriyama and illustrated by Toyotarou, Trunks and Goten, the teenage sons of Goku and Chi-Chi, have taken up the mantle of being superheroes while also balancing their high school education. Together, they operate as the masked vigilantes Saiyaman X-1 and Saiyaman X-2, and are capable of stopping any criminal in their tracks. However, their partnership may be compromised by a criminal mastermind manipulating them. As previously established in earlier chapters of Dragon Ball Super, Emperor Pilaf and his cohorts are working for Bulma in exchange for room and board. It is Pilaf who has designed Trunks and Goten’s suits, and in this chapter, he introduces a new upgrade to Trunks’ suit. However, there is a caveat: Trunks has agreed to keep Pilaf’s theft of the Dragon Balls a secret from Bulma in exchange for his help with the suit upgrade and keeping Trunks’ superhero identity confidential.

Emperor Pilaf’s history of causing damage in his quest for power has been well-documented, and Trunks unknowingly allowed him to obtain the Dragon Balls without much consideration. Although Trunks was not aware of Pilaf’s true intentions, the fact remains that he handed over an incredibly powerful artifact to someone he barely knew, for purely selfish reasons. Pilaf exploited Trunks’ naivete and selfish desires to achieve his own nefarious goals, ultimately leading Trunks down a path towards villainy.

Trunks was oblivious to the fact that he may have aided a super-villain in his quest for world domination, as Pilaf took advantage of his unsuspecting nature. However, the root of the problem lies in Trunks’ lack of concern over what Pilaf would do with the Dragon Balls, so long as he got what he wanted from the exchange. This mindset stands in stark contrast to the Future Trunks who sacrificed everything to save those closest to him, effectively altering the very fabric of time. It appears that Dragon Ball’s oldest foe, Emperor Pilaf, is gradually turning Trunks from a celebrated hero into a self-centered villain.