From Dragon Ball GT to Dragon Ball Super, there is perhaps no greater friendship than that between Trunks and Goten, but since the premise of this fictional universe is surrounded by high-stakes combat, the question inevitably arises: which of the two Saiyans would win in a fight? Well, one episode of GT answers that question, not with a one-on-one battle between the two of them, but with two battles that separately tested the strength of each in identical ways.
Trunks and Goten were first introduced as friends in the Dragon Ball Z episodes leading up to the start of the Majin Buu Saga. Before Goku was killed fighting Cell, Chi-Chi was pregnant with his second child, Goten, which made Goten only a year younger than Trunks who was a newborn baby during the Cell Saga. After Cell was defeated, the series took a bit of a time-jump–one which aged-up Gohan from a pre-teen to a high school-aged teenager while also doing the same thing to Trunks and Goten, allowing them to participate in the current storyline. Right from the start, it was clear that Goten and Trunks were prodigies as both were able to unlock Super Saiyan at a much younger age than their Saiyan predecessors. Not only that, but the two were able to successfully pull off the Fusion Dance and become Gotenks (something even Goku and Vegeta struggled with), and in that form, they were able to go Super Saiyan 3 (something Vegeta was never able to do). Essentially, Trunks and Goten proved from the start that they were incredibly powerful. Not only that, but they were equally powerful, making it impossible to determine which one was stronger–that is, until now.
In Dragon Ball GT season 1, episode 26 (written by Junki Takegami, directed by Osamu Kasai, produced by Toei Animation), Goten has been possessed by a mysterious, villainous entity–a powerful Machine Mutant called Baby. While under Baby’s control, Goten was forced to attack his brother, Gohan, strike his mother, Chi-Chi, and hunt down a close friend and ally, Vegeta. Even though Goten was unable to control his actions, the things he was doing were reprehensible, even for the most depraved Dragon Ball villain–and he was doing them against his family and friends without a hint of internal struggle or resistance.
Trunks has a Stronger Will than Goten, & Dragon Ball GT Proves It
In an earlier episode of Dragon Ball GT, Trunks gets possessed by Baby in the same manner as Goten, but their situations weren’t entirely similar. When Trunks was possessed by Baby, he turned on Goku and launched a fast and ferocious attack against him–one that could have ended Goku’s life. However, before Baby-Trunks shot Goku with a powerful ki blast in point-blank range, Trunks wrestled-back control of his body from Baby using nothing but his superior willpower, then Trunks supercharged his body and forced Baby out. While Baby was weaker at this point than when he possessed Goten, he was still inhabiting the bodies of loads of people prior to taking over Trunks, meaning Baby was still powerful enough to puppeteer his victims in this manner–though not powerful enough, however, to maintain control over Trunks.
The main reason Trunks was able to overpower Baby was that Baby almost made Trunks kill Goku, and the shock of that near-tragedy gave Trunks the edge he needed to reclaim control over his own body. This method did not work for Goten. Baby made Goten do a number of horrible things against the people he loves most, and nothing Baby made him do was enough to snap Goten out of Baby’s control. So, even though the two didn’t literally fight one-on-one in Dragon Ball GT, the two separate internal battles they had with Baby proves that Trunks is a stronger Saiyan than Goten.