WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Dragon Ball Super Chapter 65, by Akira Toriyama, Toyotarou, Caleb Cook and Brandon Bovia, available now in English from Viz Media.
Since first appearing in the original Dragon Ball manga, Goku has worked to protect the Earth and his friends in varying capacities. As the series has gone on, the stakes have gotten progressively higher, with his actions determining the fate of entire universes. Generally, Goku has been quite successful at protecting people from harm, but his need to fight ever more powerful foes has sometimes led to dangerous situations. In Dragon Ball Super Chapter 65, Goku once again makes a huge mistake -- and it means he might have to destroy the Earth to save the galaxy.
Dragon Ball Super Chapter 64 saw Goku finally accessing Ultra Instinct Perfected, which enabled him to absolutely wreck Moro, the energy-absorbing villain who's been trying to consume Earth and its protectors. However, Goku refuses to kill Moro, instead, giving the villain the option to surrender to the Galactic Patrol. Goku even goes so far as to give the villain a Senzu Bean, which heals him pretty much entirely. This, as anyone could have predicted, results in Moro attacking Goku rather than surrendering.
Initially, Moro is still no match for Goku. The villain soon realizes, though, that during his fight against Merus, he touched the back of the Angel's neck, thus allowing him to copy the fighter's formidable abilities. While he soon lost the hand in which Merus' powers were stored, Moro gets the lost appendage back in Dragon Ball Super Chapter 65, giving him access to more strength than ever before. This new upgrade allows Moro to go toe-to-toe with Goku, but things soon take a turn against the energy-absorbing villain, whose body is not able to accommodate Merus' powers. Goku then notes that he himself had to train in order to handle the power of Ultra Instinct Perfected. This influx of power initially causes Moro to expand in size, but soon the villain merges with the Earth itself, effectively becoming the planet in the process.
Although Whis and the various other Z-Fighters beg Goku to kill Moro throughout the chapter, the Saiyan's refusal to do so leads directly to the energy-absorbing villain becoming one with the Earth. As Dragon Ball Super Chapter 65 concludes, Whis explains Goku will now have to destroy the Earth in order to truly defeat Moro. If Goku doesn't destroy the Earth, Moro will eventually explode and potentially destroy the entire galaxy.
Assuming Goku will actually have to destroy the Earth to defeat Moro, there's a good chance the Z-Fighters could just bring the planet back with help from the Dragon Balls or any of their divine allies. This is far from the first time the Earth has been destroyed in the Dragon Ball franchise, as both Golden Frieza and Kid Buu previously wiped the planet from existence. The main difference is that this time Goku -- who despite his inability to put down dangerous threats is generally considered -- will have to do it himself.
However, there's potentially another way to defeat Moro and save the Earth. If Moro's merger with the Earth is considered a transformation or fusion of some sort, then Vegeta's Forced Spirit Fission technique -- which he learned while training on Planet Yardrat -- could prove useful in separating the two. This could thus present a way for the Z-Fighters to defeat Moro without destroying the Earth. Thus, Dragon Ball Super Chapter 65 may have set up Vegeta finally defeating the villain and saving his adopted home.
Dragon Ball Super Chapter 66 releases Nov. 20.
