Lapis

**Lapis** (ラピス, *Rapisu*), designated as **Android No. 17** (人造人間１７号, *Jinzōningen Jūnana-Gō*; Literally meaning "Cyborg No. 17") by Dr. Gero, is an Android whose sole purpose was to kill Son Gokū to avenge the Red Ribbon Army. Following Kulilin removing his implanted bomb after being resurrected, the event seemingly triggered Lapis to regain his humanity, leading to him having a family and becoming a park ranger.

## Background

Lapis, along with his twin sister, Lazuli, were born as ordinary Earthlings. However, a chance encounter with the mad scientist Gero. who was looking for material for his experiments, resulted in the twins being transformed into androids for the purpose of killing Gokū. Both of them were fitted with cybernetic enhancements, which granted them unique abilities and a form of immortality. At some point following the transformation, the twins were deactivated and placed in stasis, as Gero could not control them properly.

## Personality

Contrasting from his future counterpart, No. 17 is a fairly laid back individual who enjoys the thrill of fighting strong opponents. He also does not prefer to kill opponents he's beaten and even instructed Kulilin feed them Senzu to heal their injuries, showing a more humanity side to him. He also encourages his defeated foes to seek him out again when they've gotten stronger.

After the incident with Cell, No. 17 has become a far more peaceful individual, with "no shadow of the former No. 17 left in him". He's gained an appreciation for nature, and a love for living creatures, taking up a post as a park ranger on a distant island. No. 17 also has become kinder towards Earthlings, refusing to even kill poachers, merely settling for threatening off the island he protects. He staunchly refused to leave the island that he protected when Goku requested he join the Tournament of Power until Goku truthfully told him what the Tournament entailed, worried that his island would be endangered.

Furthermore, despite his rather self-centered nature after his awakening, his years as a park ranger had led to him developing a sense of selflessness. When a poacher threatened to blow himself, and the ship they were on to pieces — risking all the animals inside — No. 17 willingly pushed himself and the criminal into the vacuum of space to save his animals, only telling Goku to give his regards to his family.

## Appearance

* No. 17's appearance in Part II.
* No. 17's appearance in Part IV.
1/2

## Abilities

Due to Dr. Gero's enhancements, Lapis is an extraordinarily powerful individual and one of the strongest in the entire 7th Universe. Lapis was designed entirely with his power in mind, though this made him harder to control than other models. He is stronger than his sister by design. After killing Gero as revenge for turning him and his twin sister into an androids, he was more than powerful enough to surpass the Super Saiyans Son Gokū and Vegeta, and defeated the entire Dragon Team with one blow each. Even after Piccolo fused with Kami-sama, the best he could do was fight Lapis to a standstill. After his resurrection, Lapis spent years training to successfully defend a nature preserve and had grown even more powerful to the likes that he was able to not only compete with Super Saiyan Blue Goku, but fight to a virtual standstill while both were holding back. During the Tournament of Power itself, Lapis proved to be one of the strongest members of his team and able to survive till the final five. While ultimately outclassed, he is able to put up a decent fight against the likes of Toppo. He also ultimately ended up as the winner of the tournament due to his infinite stamina, being one of the only three people to damage Jiren.

### Body Modifications

The primary modification that Gero had made to him was basically a perpetual energy machine within his body. With it, Lapis would never get tired or run out of power as long as he lived. Thus he could theoretically outlast anyone he fought against, as while they battle his opponent would only grow weaker from exhaustion while he'd stay at the same level of power.

Another modification was that his body ages at a far slower rate than most humans, allowing him to stay in his prime to a far later time in his life. In some ways, this makes him (and his sister) similar to a Saiyan in terms of biology.

### Ki Usage

Due to being created from a baseline human, Lapis has access to ki like anyone else in the series. Thus like anyone else, he can and has gotten far stronger with training and has surpassed his former limits. His usage of ki primarily focuses around the standard blasts and beams, though his specialty power is when he forms a impenetrable shield of ki strong enough to block even the most powerful attacks. Piccolo's Guided Scattering Kikōha and Son Goku's Super Saiyan Blue Kamehameha weren't able to destroy or pierce the shield, leaving Lapis unscathed from either attack. The only attack capable of breaking through his barrier shield came from Jiren, a being stronger than a Hakaishin, and even then it could hold up against the 11th Universe's strongest fighter for quite some time.

### Other Abiltiies

Being a park ranger, Lapis is well-versed in first-aid. By his own admission, he's run into a multitude of animals with broken legs. Due to this, he's learned to manufacture make-shift braces for leg injuries, and can apply this talent to the battlefield.

## Part II

### Cell Arc

After being absorbed, he could see and hear Gokū when Cell encountered him. Following Cell's death, the Dragon Team used the Dragon Balls to wish back the life of all of Cells victims, leading to Lapis being restored at the destroyed Cell Game Venue. Straight after, Kulilin had Shenron remove the explosives removed from him and his sister. Afterwards, No. 18 approaches Lapis, and informs him that Kulilin was the one responsible for their explosives being removed, before leaving to live her life freely now that they didn't have a purpose as Gokū was now dead.

## Part III

### Majin Boo Arc

During Boo's assault on Earth's entire population, Lapis was exempt, due to androids not being able to be sensed. Later, as Boo attacks Earth, Lapis perishes along with the planet. Soon after, the planet and its population are revived with the Nameccian Dragon Balls. During Gokū's fight with Boo, Lapis gives some of his energy to the fighter's Genki Dama.

## Part IV

At some point, he married a woman, whom he had a child with along with adopting two children. Upon becoming a park ranger, Lapis relocated to a nearby island, where he works alone.

### Revival of "F" Arc

In Freeza's fight against the Dragon Team, he destroys Earth, resulting in Lapis perishing. Afterwards, Whis reverses time to before the incident took place to avoid the event occurring, leading to Lapis and Earth's population returning to life.

### Universe Survival Arc (manga)

While recruiting members for the Tournament of Power, Goku suggests that the Seventh Universe’s team should have No. 18. Bulma explains 18 was a human who was simply modified into an android. Vegeta suggests they should recruit No. 17 as well, even though Bulma is unsure due to 17 being a former enemy. Vegeta asks Goku if he knows where 17 lives but Goku says no because he can't sense 17's ki. Goku decides to head to Kulilin's house to ask 18.

After Goku recruits the couple, he asks Lazuli if she knows the location of No. 17 to which she tells him that he works at a Wildlife Sanctuary but is unsure of the name. Kulilin advises Goku that he should go and ask Dende as he can see everything from up on The Lookout.

## In Other Timelines

### Trunks' Timeline

*Main article: Lapis (Future)*
After Gokū's death by a heart disease, he and No. 18 awakened and started going on a rampage across the world. In the process, they almost killed off the Dragon Team. Years later after their awakening, he and his sister fought the two remaining Saiyans on Earth, Son Gohan and Trunks. One day, the former is killed in an unfavourable fight, which allowed the later to awaken the Super Saiyan transformation (in the anime). Sometime after that event, the last Saiyan went to eliminate them, only to fail — barely surviving the encounter. After the defeat of Cell in the present, Trunks finally finished the siblings, thanks to the training he had endured with his father in the Room of Spirit and Time.

## Creation and Conception

No. 17, along with his sister, No. 18, were created conceptually when Toriyama's then-editor, Kazuhiko Torishima, complained about the designs of Android 19 and Android 20, as being just as "fatso and an old man". However, when he saw 17 and 18, he said that they were "just some kids", leading Toriyama to create Cell.

## Trivia

* The name "Lapis" was taken from *lapis lazuli*, a precious stone with an intense color.

## References

1. ↑ *Dragon Ball Forever*, page 91
2. ↑ 【ドラゴンボール超】宇宙サバイバル編新PV～人造人間17号 ver.～
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Dragon Ball Full Color: Artificial Humans & Cell Arc Volume #06 (02 May 2014)—Akira Toriyama-*sensei* is answering!!
4. ↑ *Dragon Ball Full Color: Artificial Humans & Cell Arc Volume #02 (04 April 2014)*
5. ↑ *Dragon Ball Super* episode 87
6. ↑ *Daizenshū 7: Large Encyclopedia: Secret Stories of the Dragon Ball Characters*
7. ↑ *Dragon Ball* chapter 350
8. ↑ *Dragon Ball Super* 86
9. ↑ *Dragon Ball Super* episode 87
10. ↑ *Dragon Ball* chapter 367
11. ↑ *Dragon Ball Super* episode 117
12. ↑ *Dragon Ball Super* chapter 31
13. ↑ 30th Anniversary Dragon Ball Chōshishū: Super History Book