Jiren's Composure. by Danleoden on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

Piccolo thinks that Vegeta has truly sacrificed his life to defeat Toppo, but they soon see that he is still alive and well inside the arena, although he has reverted to his base form. With Super Saiyan Blue and beyond, Vegeta has grown vastly stronger than he was back when he died using that same technique against Buu, so his body is now able to withstand it. However, Beerus points out that while he may have survived, Vegeta has used up all his power and can barely remain on his feet. 17 emerges from some rubble, and everyone is glad to see that he survived too. Jiren is disappointed in his teammates and congratulates Vegeta on defeating Toppo. He's impressed Vegeta could be so powerful without casting all else aside. As the others look on, Jiren begins powering up to unleash his hidden power.

As Jiren powers up, he is surrounded by an intense, fiery energy. The Omni-Kings are amazed that Jiren seems to be on fire, while Goku and 17 are likewise impressed that he was hiding such monstrous strength. Vegeta, on the other hand, mocks Jiren for only getting serious now that all his teammates are gone. He cockily charges Jiren, forcing Goku and 17 to join in the attack. Even in a 3-against-1 fight though, Jiren still proves too much for them to handle. As Jiren closes in to kick Vegeta, 17 knocks him out of the way, taking the brunt of the attack himself. Rather than be thankful though, Vegeta is annoyed at 17's "unnecessary" action while Jiren is his to defeat. More fighting proves equally ineffective as Jiren blocks Vegeta's punch and he compliments it as being good enough to defeat Toppo, but not enough to beat him. Jiren retaliates with one of his own fiery punches, then follows up by erasing Goku's Kamehameha with a mere uppercut. However, Jiren is caught off-guard by 17, who hits him with a point-blank range from behind. 17 is caught up in the explosion from his own attack and injured, but he still manages to wound Jiren in the back. Angered, Jiren counterattacks, but 17 retreats and joins back up with Goku. While 17 is only barely OK, this last exchange has demonstrated that even Jiren can be damaged if hit unguarded by such a large attack. If they use coordinated attacks to create an opening and then attack Jiren with an even bigger attack, they might be able to win. Goku and Vegeta will go draw Jiren's attention, leaving 17 to prepare another attack. As Goku and Vegeta furiously tag-team Jiren, 17 fires off a blast, but Jiren won't fall for the same trick twice, and easily counters. Jiren rushes at 17, who creates a series of barriers to block him, but he smashes through them all and attacks.

As Jiren blocks a beam from 17, Goku tells Vegeta that the three of them should attack him all at once. While 17 continues his beam attack, Goku and Vegeta fire their own beams at Jiren from different directions, but Jiren blocks all three beams with his fiery aura. With the rest of the team knocked to the ground, Frieza suddenly reappears and attacks Jiren, determined to kill him regardless of the tournament rules. Though he becomes Golden Frieza once more, Jiren wastes no time knocking him off into the distance, where he passes out again. With Frieza beaten, Jiren is blasted by 17, who's back on his feet. Jiren wonders what 17 can do on his own, but 17 refuses to give up and is confident Universe 7 will survive. Belmod, however, asks 17 what he will do if his universe survives and use the Super Dragon Balls to wish for. 17 explains that he wants to wish for a cruise ship so he can travel around with his family, and he asks what Jiren wants to wish for. While 17 had assumed Jiren was solely interested in being crowned the strongest fighter, Jiren admits that he does indeed have a wish in mind. Hearing this, Khai seems surprised, but Belmod understands. He decides it's time to explain how Jiren came to be so obsessed with strength.

It turns out that when Jiren was a small child, his parents were killed by an evil-doer. Jiren himself was rescued by a man who went on to become his martial arts master. As he trained under his master, Jiren gained a number of comrades, and they fought together when that same evil-doer returned. However, the enemy was still too strong for them, and many of Jiren's comrades were killed, including his master. Even his surviving comrades abandoned Jiren, causing him to view trust and emotions as worthless and place his faith in strength alone. It was Jiren's thirst for strength and his solitude that attracted Belmod to him. 17 thinks he's figured out what Jiren's wish must be and had thought Jiren was nothing more than a killing machine, but in fact, he has his human side. However, 17 thinks that Jiren ultimately was just using his comrades for his own ends; he is obsessed with the past, and probably thinks that if he wins he can return things to the way they were. Jiren responds that strength is absolute, and forgives everything, even the past. Telling 17 to lament his own weakness, he launches a giant blast towards Team Universe 7. Android 17 has sacrificed himself to rescue Goku and Vegeta, but Jiren remains unimpressed; he is fully confident that the two are far too weak to possibly defeat him. With Goku still on the ground, Vegeta challenges Jiren on his own, but he's no longer able to even become Super Saiyan. Undeterred, Vegeta still takes on Jiren in his regular form but is clearly outmatched. Jiren even tells Vegeta to go drop out of the arena, but he refuses to give up. Pummeled by Jiren's blows, Vegeta is knocked over the edge of the arena but manages to hold on with one hand. Though he should be out of stamina, Vegeta remembers his family and his promise to Cabba and manages to pull himself back up into the arena and return to the fight. Though he claims Jiren's punches don't hurt, as he continues to be knocked around, Vegeta feels like his body is going to be pulverized. Still, even if he can't win, it's fine as long as Universe 7 does. He even tries to pull off one of Jiren's arms, with predictably unsuccessful results.

Jiren's attacks knock Vegeta out of the arena once again, but this time by sheer chance his boot catches on a floating piece of rubble. As Vegeta hangs there by his foot, Belmod asks the Grand Minister if this counts as a ring-out, but the Grand Minister explains that the rubble counts as part of the arena, so Vegeta is still in the match. Before he can rest too much though, Vegeta hears Bulma's voice urging him on, and he once again returns to fight Jiren. Jiren can't understand what it is that keeps driving Vegeta to fight, but Vegeta says a blank-faced guy like Jiren could never understand what it means to fight for others. Hearing Bulma's voice one last time, Vegeta fires off a Final Flash, but it fails to harm Jiren, who is if nothing else impressed by Vegeta's pride. Jiren sends Vegeta flying out of the arena once more, and with no way out this time, Vegeta curses himself for being unable to keep his promise and sheds tears while apologizing to Bulma and Cabba for his failure. Still, he donates his remaining energy to Goku before falling out of bounds. Revitalized, Goku gets back on his feet, ready to fight for those Vegeta loves.
The Jiren sprites by

Jiren z2 sprite by Countgate!!
Jiren extreme B and C-17 sprite by Isair-Dragneel!!