Merus’s True Identity brings the invasion home: Volume 12 collects Chapters 53–56 of the Dragon Ball Super manga, in which Moro’s bandit brigade attacks Earth itself, the defenders hold the line without Goku and Vegeta, and the quiet Patrolman who has been training Goku is revealed to be something far more dangerous than a policeman. The volume ends with every army converging on one planet.
What Volume 12 collects
Volume 12 collects Chapters 53–56, the opening of the Moro arc’s Earth campaign. Saganbo’s lieutenants test Earth’s defences, one of them — an android called Seven-Three — proves able to steal the abilities of anyone he touches, and Merus’s secret comes out at the worst possible moment. Full guides for each chapter are on the chapter index.
- Chapter 53: Saganbo’s Galactic Bandit Brigade
- Chapter 54: Gohan vs. Seven-Three
- Chapter 55: Merus’s True Identity
- Chapter 56: Warriors of Earth Assemble
The story inside
Earth’s defenders have been waiting for this, and it shows. When Saganbo’s brigade lands — the brute Yunba, the weasel Shimorekka and the android Seven-Three — they find Piccolo, Gohan, Krillin, Tenshinhan, Master Roshi and Jaco already organised and fighting as a team. The battles are inventive rather than overwhelming, and for a while Earth is actually winning.
Seven-Three changes the maths. He copies the techniques and power of anyone whose neck he grabs, and when he takes Gohan’s abilities for himself, Gohan has to fight his own strength wielded without mercy. The defence bends but does not break — and then the sky darkens with the real problem. Moro himself is coming, drawn by the energy of the battle. As Earth’s warriors assemble for the main event, the book pulls its second thread tight: Merus, the elite Patrolman who taught Goku the way to Ultra Instinct, is an angel in training, bound by law never to fight at full power — a secret that turns his every lesson into a countdown. The volume closes with Goku still in training, Vegeta still on Yardrat, and the hungriest being in the universe descending on Earth. It is also a showcase for the manga’s ensemble cast: with the two leads absent, the supporting fighters finally get a war of their own, and they win its early battles with teamwork and preparation rather than new transformations.
Where Volume 12 sits in the series
Volume 12 follows Volume 11, which spread Moro’s army across the galaxy, and continues into Volume 13, where the battle for Earth erupts in full. All four chapters belong to the Galactic Patrol Prisoner arc, and this is the book where that arc’s scattered fronts collapse into a single battlefield. Our volumes index places it in the full sequence.
Editions of Volume 12
The Japanese edition was published by Shueisha in April 2020, and VIZ Media’s English edition followed in March 2021, in print and digital formats. A full-colour digital edition was released in Japan in January 2021, as detailed in our coloured edition guide. The original chapters are also available officially on MANGA Plus by Shueisha. Full details and ISBNs are in the information panel on this page.