The Dragon Balls collectively have the power to grant wishes, but separately they are essentially useless orbs, except for one particular Dragon Ball.

In classic Dragon Ball, the main focus of the series was Goku and Bulma traveling the world searching for Dragon Balls. There were conflicts and shenanigans along the way, but they were so low-stakes that the series had more of a comedic tone than one of action and violence. Once Dragon Ball became DragonBall Z, however, the Dragon Balls were effectively put on the proverbial back-burner in lieu of sagas that introduced increasingly powerful villains one after the other. Sure, the Dragon Balls played important roles in every single saga, but they became an ‘end-saga quick-solve’ rather than the main focus. However, what did remain a constant from classic, into Z, and once more in GT was the fact that one Dragon Ball was more special than the others.

Four-Star Dragon Balls Hold Major Significance in Dragon Ball

In Dragon Ball GT season 1, episode 6 (written by Atsushi Maekawa, directed by Osamu Kasai, produced by Toei Animation), Goku, Pan, and Trunks are flying across Dragon Ball’s universe in their spaceship, searching for the Black Star Dragon Balls when they are able to locate one on a strange alien planet where everything is giant. The bugs are the size of people and the people are the size of mountains. Within the monstrous wilderness of this world, there is a single Black Star Dragon Ball, but not just any Dragon Ball–on this world, the heroes find the Four-Star Dragon Ball, which marks the first of the Black Star Dragon Balls they find on their journey.

In the classic Dragon Ball series, the first Dragon Ball fans are shown is the Four-Star Dragon Ball, as that is the one Grandpa Gohan passed down to Goku upon his death. Throughout the original run, Goku is obsessed with holding onto the Four-Star Dragon Ball because it was his grandpa’s, and he is more interested in keeping it for sentimental value rather than using it to make a wish with the other six. Skip ahead to Dragon Ball Z and the first Dragon Ball found on Planet Namek by Vegeta was the Four-Star Dragon Ball–an event that arguably made Vegeta a dark reflection of Goku given what he did to get it. Then, skip ahead once more to Dragon Ball GT and the first Black Star Dragon Ball the heroes find is the Four-Star Dragon Ball, which also happens to be the first Dragon Ball Pan had ever seen.

Dragon Ball Super Continued the Tradition

Dragon Ball Super introduced yet another new set of Dragon Balls, the Super Dragon Balls, which are planet-sized and scattered across universes 6 and 7, making them extraordinarily difficult to collect. Champa managed to find six of the Super Dragon Balls, and challenged Beerus to a tournament of warriors from their respective universes, with the winner getting the Super Dragon Balls and the wish that they’d grant. However, one Super Dragon Ball was still missing. After the tournament, which was held on a nameless planet, it was revealed that the nameless planet was actually the missing ball–which just happened to be the Four-Star Super Dragon Ball.

Time and again since the series’ debut, the Four-Star Dragon Ball has held personal significance to the characters within Dragon Ball–and with Dragon Ball GT carrying on that tradition, the sequel series further confirms its importance.

Source: Screenrant.com