Is King Furry truly the king of Earth?

[Angelus]

Or are they all separate states, the 43 sectors?

I don't know if it's mentioned in the manga but in the anime, Piano tells King Piccolo that the Earth is divided into 43 sectors and the king of the sector they were in was ruled by King Furry. Is there a reference to this in the manga?

Plus, Ox King seems to own his sovereign kingdom and had his own bigger castle which was separate from King Furry's rule. It was only in the anime that soldiers were ordered to kill Ox King.

[Herms]

Or are they all separate states, the 43 sectors?

I don't know if it's mentioned in the manga but in the anime, Piano tells King Piccolo that the Earth is divided into 43 sectors and the king of the sector they were in was ruled by King Furry. Is there a reference to this in the manga?

He's repeatedly described as "king of the world" in both the manga and anime, although his actual title is koku-ou, literally just "nation-king". The guidebooks elaborate on this, saying that DB Earth is unified under a single worldwide state, which was created when 43 separate countries combined into one (thus becoming the 43 sectors of the current worldwide state).

The idea that he's only king of the local sector or whatever is just something the Funi dub screwed up, although I think even they switch to describing him as king of the entire world midway through. Again, in the Japanese manga and anime he's specifically said to be king of the world.

For that matter, the King of Earth is never given an actual name in the Japanese manga or anime. "King Furry" is just the Funi dub's name for him.

Plus, Ox King seems to own his sovereign kingdom and had his own bigger castle which was separate from King Furry's rule. It was only in the anime that soldiers were ordered to kill Ox King.

He really only shown to rule over that kingdom/village/whatever in the anime. In the manga he just seems to have his castle on Mount Frypan; there's that abandoned village nearby where he meets Bulma and co., but nothing is ever said about him having ever ruled it.

There are several kings who pop up throughout the anime, but these could be rationalized by saying that while they're in charge of their own kingdoms, they're still subordinate to the world state. That's basically the setup in One Piece, with a world government but also local kings ruling over different nations.

[Angelus]

Oh wow that just answered the entirety of my question! Thank you!

Well Ox King has to be King over some place. His name is titular too right? I mean people could have "King" in their names in real life too without being an actual king but isn't Ox King the translation of Gyumao?

[Gaffer Tape]

Kinda. Gyumao translates to Ox Demon King, just like the Daimao in Piccolo Daimao translates to Great Demon King. And that's a title he carries from his introduction, not just when he takes over the world, yet Piccolo does not seem to be king of any location. He's simply the king of the demons. And he's great. So by that logic, I don't think Gyumao necessarily implies he's an actual ruler of a sovereign land.

[JulieYBM]

Yes, the connotation of these titles seem to imply no more than "this dude is really strong!"

[Herms]

The confounding factor is that Gyumao's named after a character from Journey to the West, who is in actual ox demon and I think actually a king of something or another. So the DB version gets the name despite just being a big tall guy, rather than an ox, a demon, or (apparently) actually king of anywhere. On the same note, "Kinto-un" literally means "somersault cloud"; this is relevant in Journey to the West, but in DB it doesn't make much sense. Anyway, I guess for all we know, "Gyumao" could be his actual name, and he just had some weirdo parents. Oolong also refers to Gyumao as an "emperor of demons", but unless there's an awful lot of his past that we're not being told about, this is apparently just hyperbole.

King Chapa is likewise apparently just called "king" in recognition of his martial arts skills. I don't think this ever gets explicitly spelled out, but nothing in the series or guidebooks hints at him being being political ruler of anything, and his home looks rather modest from what we see. In the anime he has a lot of disciples, so I guess he could be "king" in that sense.

Pilaf calls himself dai-ou/"great king", but I think it's safe to say that this is something he aspires to be (with help from the dragon balls), rather than something he currently is in any real sense. His Daizenshuu 7 bio stresses that he "calls himself" king, and notes that he gets all his fancy bases and equipment and whatnot thanks to being very wealthy.

I guess Piccolo's being a little pretentious calling himself "great demon king" when he's got a grand total of four demons under his command (only three of which are ever alive at the same time). But there's something of a tradition in anime, manga, and whatnot for powerful demons to be called maou/"demon king" or variations thereof, even if they're not really shown leading other demons. Beelzemon in Digimon is a good example, since he's typically shown as a lone wolf despite being a "Demon Lord type" (maou-gata). Genies are also sometimes called dai-maou, in the sense of "great magic king" rather than "great demon king".

[Valerius Dover]

From what I understand, this was a dub mistake made by Piano. The dub specifically says that it's simply King Furry's sector, but in the Cell Games he's king. Promotion, perhaps?

[Angelus]

This is awesome! Thanks for the answers, Herms!