Manga
The most powerful character in Dragon Ball is Akira Toriyama himself, and it makes sense
Neither Goku nor Vegeta, the famous mangaka’s alter ego, Tori-Bot, is an omnipresent character capable of altering reality at will.
The manga series ‘Dragon Ball’ has always been characterized by presenting the most powerful warriors in the universe, and even in ‘Dragon Ball Super’ the multiversal theme has been addressed to try to find the strongest fighters in existence. But there is one character, the most unexpected, who stands as the most powerful in all of ‘Dragon Ball’ and beyond. Yes, it is Akira Toriyama himself through his alter ego in the manga and anime with the friendly and adorable Tori-Bot, a small character who appeared as a cameo from time to time and who is more than he seems. Or so Akira Toriyama himself said at the time.
Neither Goku nor Vegeta: The most powerful is Tori-Bot
While ‘Dragon Ball Z’ featured some of the most powerful characters ever seen, such as Frieza, Cell or Majin Buu, the arrival of Dragon Ball Super opened the doors to the gods of different universes. Even in ‘Dragon Ball GT’, they went a step further with rivals like Baby or Syn Shenron. But there is another character in the Dragon Ball universe that is more powerful than all of them: Tori-Bot. The alter ego of Akira Toriyama himself.
And no other character can reach the power of his own creator, who ultimately has control over every universe of Dragon Ball. He is the one who decides which character will live or die, who will be the winner and loser of each battle. And while we might think that it is not a character as such, Tori-Bot has appeared (on several occasions) in both the manga and the anime, and is even a character in ‘Dragon Ball GT’.
After appearing several times in ‘Dr. Slump’ as comic relief or as part of the wacky imagery of the Penguin Village, Tori-Bot did not want to miss the adventures of Goku and company that would soon follow. With the appearance of a small robot with a gas mask, Toriyama drew himself to communicate with readers, sometimes appearing in the plot itself as a cameo.
Even in ‘Dragon Ball Super,’ he appeared on the 10,000 zeni bills, the currency of the ‘Dragon Ball’ universe. But beyond these references and occasional appearances, Toriyama himself assured in the official ‘Dragon Ball’ encyclopedia that Tori-Bot was the ultimate ruler of the Dragon World, even above the various Kaio-shin.