Beerus's Planet
"YAAAHHH!"
Gohan let his ki erupt without restraint.
A pall of despair and stillness bled from his skin.
Ash-gray flames licked around him like ghost-fire from the underworld.
He went straight into his mysterious form.
Whis froze, spoon mid-air. "This is… a law? A rule I've never seen?"
His brows knit. He'd never witnessed Death as a codified principle but the aura before him made it easy to mistake Gohan for some baleful, eldritch thing.
"Sir Whis, this is me at full power," Gohan said evenly. His eyes were wintry, the tone not posed so much as imposed by the form itself.
Whis fell silent, face grave, senses extending. As he probed, his expression gradually eased.
Terrifying as the aura looked, its Death wasn't malicious. It was startlingly pure devoid of malice, devoid of spite. And beneath that, Whis caught a thread even Gohan hadn't noticed: death-rebirth at death's extreme, the turn into samsara, into life.
(He could not know the Time King had told Gohan the same truth: death and life are twined. Master death to its end, and life will present itself.)
"Gohan," Whis said at last, curiosity dancing, "how did you come by a rule of such high dimension?"
"I… don't know. It just… happened," Gohan replied, painfully unconvincing. "I trained, and… it became this."
The excuse only sharpened Whis's suspicion. Gohan knew both his Super Saiyan line and this gray form had mutated sooner or later, they'd be exposed anyway.
"Let me see your body."
Whis stepped close. A vast, gentle mind pressed in.
Gohan tensed.
Deep within, the Primordial Qi and the Eerie Qi stirred. In an instant, Primordial Qi blurred itself into ordinary ki; Eerie Qi sank into his tail as mere feral violence. Both hid of their own accord.
Whis searched a long while and found nothing aberrant. If anything, a skein of Death pushed back against his sight, blurring the heart of the boy.
"How curious," Whis murmured. "What could have seeded a rule into your ki enough to alter your transformations themselves?"
"T-this won't hurt me… will it?" Gohan asked, wearing worry on purpose.
Whis sniffed. "Little fox, trying to tug one over on me? Fine. Keep your secret if you like. With so thin a thread of law, whether you can ever raise it to a peak is another question altogether."
Gohan coughed. "Why don't we… talk about becoming a god?"
"Hmph. If you want godhood, you must understand its core."
"And that core is…?"
"Two paths," Whis said. "First, appointment: a higher god bestows office, grants you divine power; your lifeform tier rises, your dimension lifts. Second, cultivation: you comprehend divine power yourself evolving a force that fits your nature. Divine power is the threshold to rules. You, however, are walking it backward brushing a law before you've lifted your lifeform. Your rule only surfaces when you transform. Even so, this gray state is no trifle; compared with that benighted 'Super Saiyan Gone Astray,' yours is vastly superior. If you could keep it active as your base, you'd be little different from a god already."
In truth, this mysterious form wasn't far from his normal state only the multiplier soared, his ki turned flensing-sharp, and the stamina cost barely ticked up.
"But I thought true gods were free of lifespan," Gohan probed.
Whis shook his head. "Your form already hints at longevity. To truly become a god, you must evolve your own divine power and then normalize it make it your default. Only then will your lifeform cut free of time."
Gohan frowned. In the original history, when Goku became Super Saiyan God, his hair turned red and he fought Beerus in vacuum clearly a lifeform uplift. Yet Goku didn't fold that state into base; he detoured to Super Saiyan Blue instead.
"So this 'normalizing' is mandatory? Suppose I 'cheat' into godhood then revert to base. Does my lifeform drop back down?"
"So you do have a cheat," Whis said, amused.
Gohan put on his best straight face. "I, uh, asked Shenron. It said: gather five pure-hearted Saiyans and channel their heart into one that Saiyan attains Super Saiyan God. But Shenron also warned it's just a transformation. Ahem… and, well, it's not easy to find five pure-hearted Saiyans…"
(He'd asked no such dragon. It made for a tidy fig leaf.)
"If that's the method," Whis replied, "then yes: when you drop back to base, your lifeform remains partially uplifted. Perhaps you gain vacuum endurance; perhaps your lifespan stretches. But you won't be completely beyond time. I repeat: to be wholly severed from lifespan, you must weave divine power into your base."
Gohan thought of that space duel Goku lost the red glow yet survived in space, just as Whis described: a partial uplift. As for lifespan… Saiyans already lived long.
"Understood. Then, Master Whis teach me how to grasp divine power."
"You're shameless for a Saiyan," Whis sighed. "Clinging to the snake as it climbs the stick, as your Earthlings say. But fine."
He didn't refuse because the raw material was obvious: terrifying talent, endless potential. Where else would he find a pupil like this?
"This is divine power," Whis said, raising a hand. "I'll instill it into you. Drop to base and feel it then let it lead you to a power that is yours. Go into my staff space; no one can intrude there. With a thread of law already in you, this part should come easier."
A fist-sized mote of luminous blue liquid light flowed into Gohan's chest.
Bliss flooded him. He felt as if he'd slipped back into amniotic warmth weightless, safe, whole.
With a gentle tap of his scepter, Whis drew Gohan into the staff's inner world.
Gohan closed his eyes and began to comprehend the power of gods.
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