Could Gotenks be the strongest of the Z-Fighters?

[Bacon Skittles]

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[Kaboom]

He has the potential to be the strongest, sure. But potential means nothing until you do something with it. The end of the manga showed that Trunks and Goten aren't the type to take training super-seriously. Their elders, namely Goku and Vegeta, will probably always be stronger than them because they thrive on it and constantly push themselves, and that carries over to the resulting power of Fusions, too.

[Lord Beerus]

Kaboom summed it perfectly. You can all the potential in the world but if you don't know how to utilize it, what difference will it make? And even if you utilize you potential to its maximum capacity, if Dragon Ball has taught me something, is that there will always be someone stronger than you.

[ZazamPow]

Hard to call. Let's say that Goten and Trunks both went through Elder Kai's ritual and had their potentials unlocked like Gohan. Personally, I think Goten on his own would end up Vegetto level. Think about it, Gohan was born from Goku when his power level was only 400, yet his maximum potential was stomping the shit out of Super Buu, likely in the tens of billions at least. Goten on the other hand was born from Goku who was already a FPSSJ, and it shows. With almost no training, barely able to control his ki and fly, at only the age of seven, Goten could achieve Super Saiyan automatically and his power was far passed Freeza, arguably somewhere between Android 18 and Piccolo. That was his absolute base, completely natural strength, because again he had little training. Trunks' potential is a lot less since Vegeta was only a regular Super Saiyan when he was conceived, and that's at best. Personally I subscribe to the idea that Vegeta only achieved Super Saiyan a few days before fighting the Androids, but let's roll with the idea that it happened a lot earlier. Trunks' potential would still be dwarfed by Goten's, as the difference between between androids Vegeta and Cell Games Goku is astronomical. Trunks was only on Goten's level because he actually had some serious training under his belt from Vegeta, whereas Goten was purely natural. This means fusion dance is out, as Goten would need to lower his power level too much if they both did Elder Kai's ritual. However, they could still use Potara. That's actually a better method since Potara is also more powerful than Fusion Dance. After this, I have no doubt in my mind that Gotenks (or rather, Trunkten) would absolutely dwarf Vegetto.

The real question is... is he stronger than Pan?

Think about it. Pan was born from Ultimate Gohan. If that monstrous strength was Gohan's maximum potential simply from being a half-breed, and we know that the parents' strength effects the child's strength as evident with Goten and Trunks, what the fuck is Pan capable of at her best? No doubt her max potential would dwarf max potential Goten, but is it enough to simultaneously overcome the power of fusion? And what would be more powerful? A potara of Goten and Pan, or a Potara of Goten and Trunks? Obviously Pan would be stronger than Trunks, but she doesn't have a rivalry with Goten, so that would effect things.

Let's get even crazier, give Goten and Trunks the mentality of Goku and Vegeta. Now they LOVE fighting and take training seriously, they'll push passed their limits in no time and get even more ludicrous. And THEN fusion on top?? No wonder Toriyama decided not to make them fighters! If they pushed themselves like Goku and Vegeta, they'd destroy the universe by coughing.

[Diotor]

If Pan had all of her potential unlocked by the elder Kai...her absolute maximum could potentially be absolutely terrifying. At the point of her conception (ignoring BoG) Gohan is by far the most powerful being on Earth save fusions.

Goten would then follow, then Trunks.