While Trunks went down in history as the second Super Saiyan to appear on-panel within a Dragon Ball manga, his "present" version didn’t fully master the transformation until the start of Dragon Ball Super’s new era–and he proved it by using one of Goku's most unusual Super Saiyan powers, which heexhibited way back in DBZ.
Trunks made his debut in Dragon Ball Z–and it was the most memorable of anyone in the series. Trunks personally closed the book on the Frieza Saga and ushered in the Android/Cell Sagas after shocking everyone (fans included) by powering up to Super Saiyan like it was nothing, and then brutally killing Frieza with ease–two things that the DBZ heroes previously struggled with. Of course, that was Future Trunks, so his accomplishments couldn’t exactly be attributed to the version of the Trunks from the prime Dragon Ball timeline. However, it seems as though the main-universe Trunks is on his way to surpassing Future Trunks if this latest chapter is any indication–not because of his power level, necessarily, but because of the way he utilizes his abilities.
In Dragon Ball Super chapter #88 by Akira Toriyama and Toyotarou, Goku and Vegeta are training on Lord Beerus’ world after their swift defeat by the hand of Frieza. Meanwhile, Trunks and Goten are using their Saiyan powers to stop crime in their city as the superhero team Saiyaman X-1 and Saiyaman X-2. Throughout the chapter, Trunks and Goten are hearing reports of strange goings-on at a mysterious and presumably-abandoned store that is allegedly run by the walking dead, so the Saiyaman-heroes go check it out. At that time, however, Goten’s costume was receiving an upgrade and wasn’t ready to wear, so Trunks had to do the heavy-lifting on this mission alone–which is when Trunks channeled his inner Goku by thinking outside the box and achieving victory.
Trunks Used the Light of his Super Saiyan Form in Battle, Just Like Goku
While Trunks was fighting zombie-androids in the ‘abandoned’ store, all the lights went out, leaving Trunks blind and surrounded by the undead. However, Trunks immediately powered up to Super Saiyan and lit up the room in an instant while simultaneously blinding his attackers–giving him a momentary advantage that came from a previously-unfortunate circumstance. This maneuver was the exact one used by Goku in Dragon Ball chapter #450 when he went up against one of Babidi’s minions, Yakon. Yakon was a creature who existed in darkness, so when Goku fought Yakon on his home turf, the villain thought he had the advantage–until Goku powered up to Super Saiyan, blinding Yakon, and giving himself the advantage instead.
When Saiyan fighters utilize their Super Saiyan transformation, they assuredly don’t consider the light their power-up produces as a weapon that can tip the scales in their favor depending on the location of their battle–but that’s exactly what both Trunks and Goku did when the situation called for it, proving that Trunks perfected Goku’s secret Super Saiyan power at the very start of Dragon Ball Super’s all-new era.
All chapters of Dragon Ball Super are available from Viz Media.