Volume 23 of the Dragon Ball Super manga, Son Gohan’s Ultimate Awakening!, collects Chapters 97 to 100 and is the climax of the Super Hero arc. The Red Ribbon Army’s unfinished monster, Cell Max, is unleashed on its own creators’ battlefield, and every hero on the scene — Gohan, Piccolo, the Gamma androids, Gotenks, Krillin and Android 18 — throws themselves at it together. The volume belongs, in the end, to two awakenings: one of sacrifice, and one of rage.
What this volume collects
Four chapters cover the Cell Max battle from release to resolution. Each chapter has its own guide in the complete chapter index:
- Chapter 97: Rampaging Cell Max
- Chapter 98: Gamma #2’s Resolve
- Chapter 99: Son Gohan’s Ultimate Awakening!
- Chapter 100: Burst Forth!—Light of Death!
The story inside
Cell Max is a problem with no clean answer. Released before its mind was finished, it is all instinct and overwhelming power, and Dr. Hedo — horrified at what his employers have done — can only tell the heroes that the monster was never given a designed weakness; the closest thing is the core in its head, if anyone can reach it. The combined assault that follows is the most team-based major fight in the series: Piccolo’s new orange form holds the monster’s attention, the Gammas attack from the air, Gotenks and the others probe for openings, and for a while it still is not enough.
Gamma 2 makes the difference the only way left to him, spending his own core in a point-blank charge that cracks Cell Max’s defences and costs him his life. And when Piccolo is beaten down in front of him, Gohan finally breaks the ceiling he has circled his whole life: his hair turns silver, his eyes red, and the quiet scholar becomes the strongest person on the battlefield. Chapter 100 closes the arc with the master’s technique in the pupil’s hands — Gohan’s Special Beam Cannon, learned at Piccolo’s side as a small child, fired while Piccolo holds the monster still. The aftermath is mercifully gentle: Hedo and Gamma 1 are taken in by Bulma, and only the army’s slimy Carmine slips away. The volume also completes the Gammas’ own arc: created to be heroes by a man who believed the lie he was told, they end as the real thing — one of them at the highest possible price.
Where it sits in the series
Volume 23 is the climax volume of the Super Hero arc. It follows Volume 22, where Gohan returned to battle and Piccolo’s new form debuted, and continues into Volume 24, where father and son finally test their new power against each other. All volumes are gathered in the volume index.
Editions and reading options
The Japanese edition was released on 4 April 2024, the English edition on 29 April 2025, and Japan’s full-colour digital edition on 4 July 2024; both ISBNs and the remaining bibliographic details appear in this page’s info panel. Our coloured edition guide covers the colour editions. The chapters in this volume can be read officially in English on VIZ’s Shonen Jump service.