Five years later, Trunks is now 23 years old. Trunks has become the President of Capsule Corporation. Although it pays quite well (so well that he can afford his own chauffeur and servants), he does not like the job and its overwhelming responsibilities, and will often slip out the window and fly away.
Forced by Vegeta, Trunks goes on a journey with Goku and Pan (who replaced Goten) in a spaceship designed by Bulma. Later, a piece of the ship falls off and Goku, Trunks, and Pan are forced to crash land on the planet Imecka to get the parts needed to repair the ship. Groups of merchants then swarm Trunks and the others to the point that they take refuge from them in the Gold Star Hotel. They then realize they are being charged every second for everything in the hotel. They escape without paying and stumble upon the house of an old couple and their children. They talk about Don Kee the ruler of the planet and how he mistreats his rule; just then his men came and repossessed the old couple's house saying they were behind payment. Goku suggests that they go and fight Don Kee but the couple says that is impossible because of his grand army. On their way back to the ship Trunks drops the Dragon Radar and it is swallowed by the small T-2006 series robot nicknamed Giru who says that he can not give the radar back to them because it is already integrated into his system. Trunks becomes furious and starts chasing after Giru.
Meanwhile, Goku notices the ship being dragged away by Don Kee's men. He tries to use Instant Transmission to teleport them to the ship but after two failed attempts realizes that he can not use it in his small body. They are forced to travel to Don Kee's palace on foot to recover their ship. Pan decides that they will use a stealth operation to recover the ship and would only result to fighting as a last resort. After briefly sneaking around, a large rock falls on Trunks' head and Giru starts making noises that alarm the guards. The guards open fire on the group. Pan jumps in the carrying car while Goku moves the ship onto the car, and Pan drives the ship out of the palace with Goku and Trunks. But while escaping, Don Kee's henchmen Gale and Sheela fire a combined Energy Wave at Goku, who deflects it back with ease towards Ledgic, Don Kee's right-hand man, who recognizes them as Saiyans.
Goku and the others escape but Trunks says they have to go back into town for more parts due to Pan's "reckless driving". Once they reach the town, everyone hides and Trunks finds the three of them on Imecka's most wanted list. While running from Don Kee's men they fall into the house of a nice old couple who offer them food after realizing Goku and company mean no harm. They say that Don Kee made it a law that no one is allowed to own a ship so that no one would escape the planet including the old couple. Pan gets fed up and convinces Goku and Trunks to go face Don Kee head on. They turn themselves in to the police and get brought to the palace. Once there, Goku, Trunks, and Pan incapacitate Gale, Sheela, and all of Don Kee's guards, and they make their way into Don Kee's throne-room. Don Kee sicks Ledgic on the fighters after capturing Pan in an energy chamber. Trunks charges at him a bit angry, but Ledgic moves too quick and takes him down. Worried, Goku tells Trunks to help Pan while he will take over. After a short fight, Goku defeats Ledgic, and the gang then takes down Don Kee, make him give everyone free rent and give them back their ships free of charge. Plus, Don Kee gives them the parts they need for free and they leave Imecka.
The gang then land on a planet where everything is larger than life. They find the Four-Star Ball in the tooth of a giant and they go to the next planet.
On planet Gelbo they find the Six-Star Ball in the hair of the princess of the village, Leena. Trunks asks for the ball but her fiancé Doma said that they were in a large problem already. The amphibian creature Zoonama would keep on terrifying the village, if they did not give him a wife. The villagers had agreed on Leena for his bride. Goku, Trunks, and Pan decide that they will help them out in exchange for the Dragon Ball and they agree. Pan comes up with the idea to disguise Trunks as Leena (it was originally Goku but he was too small, much to Trunks' dismay). Zoonama comes and takes Trunks to his lair. His wig then falls off, revealing himself. However, Zoonama thinks Trunks is a woman with short hair, calls him cute, and forgives him. Trunks gets Zoonama tipsy and Goku arrives with Pan and Doma. Doma cuts off Zoonama's left whisker with a huge pair of scissors and as he cuts off the left one Zoonama awakens in a drunken rage. He begins to wiggle his whiskers and an earthquake begins to come, but stops soon after, while Zoonama continues to wiggle his whisker. Pan realizes that he can not cause earthquakes, but only predict them. But, now he is so tipsy, that he did not realize that the quake was over. Suddenly a really big earthquake erupts and Goku and the others leave the cavern with Zoonama, because they are under a volcano that is starting to erupt because of the earthquake. Goku stops the huge volcano with a Kamehameha, saving the village and winning the Dragon Ball. Just as they are leaving the planet, Bon Para, one of the mysterious Para Brothers, arrives and takes the ball from Pan's hands using his telekinesis. In shock the three Z Fighters just watch as he leaves.
Trunks then jumps in the ship with Pan and Goku and they chase after the Para Brothers' spaceship. The brothers trick them onto the asteroid of Beehayinhabited by huge bloodthirsty worm-like creatures called Mouma. The Para Brothers escape and fly to planet Luud. They go to Cardinal Mutchy Mutchy who tells them that they have failed and that Trunks has another Dragon Ball on his ship that they failed to get and they must go retrieve it. They travel back to find Goku and the others and they get hypnotized by the Para Para Boogie until they are saved by the hungry Mouma. Pan goes aboard the Para Brothers' spaceship to find the Dragon Ball that they stole. She accidentally activates the auto-pilot and is brought to planet Luud. There she is captured and turned into a doll for the evil lord Dolltaki. Goku shows up with Trunks and kills Cardinal Mutchy Mutchy who reveals that he is actually two parts, the body and the whip which transforms into Mutchy and fights Goku. Trunks finishes Mutchy off with the Brave Cannonand saves Goku from Mutchy's whip-like arms.
Then Dolltaki turns everyone except for Trunks, himself, Goku, and Pan into dolls and feeds them to the machine deity called Luud. Dolltaki then awakens Luud who takes him and Pan inside of Luud's body to gain their energy. While Luud fights Goku and Trunks, Pan forces Dolltaki to tell her the weakness of the seemingly invincible Luud. Dolltaki reveals that Goku must strike the outside of Luud's mechanical heart while Pan strikes the inside at exactly the same time. After multiple tries, Goku and Pan finally succeed and destroyed Luud freeing all of the people. Trunks then takes back his Dragon Ball and they leave the planet.
On planet Pital, Baby possesses Trunks a brief moment. Trunks drives him out by transforming into a Super Saiyan, which removes Baby from his body. In fact, Baby only wanted to place an egg in Trunks to be later activated on Earth. As a servant of Baby, Trunks along with Gohan, Goten and Bulla helps to power him up to defeat Goku on Earth. On the reconstituted New Planet Plant, he, Goten, and Gohan try to save their new lord from Uub, who seems to overpower him. However, Baby was just playing with Uub, and blasts his slaves into unconsciousness for their interference.
Trunks is the first to be cured by the Sacred Water, and after being cured, he along with Gohan and Goten help to restore the energy of Super Saiyan 4 Goku so that he can finish off Baby. Trunks appears to have inherited his mother's fascination with technology. He gets distracted by the gadgets on the hospital planet, allowing Baby to sneak up on him. This turns out to have been a plan to lure the villain into a trap however, as Goku, Trunks, and Pan could sense Baby's ki when he got excited about hunting them.
After the defeat of Baby, Trunks sneaks away from work to see the 31st World Martial Arts Tournament. Due to the fact that it was too late for him to compete, he observes the matches along with Gohan, Videl, and Krillin. Trunks is now 24 years old.
Much afterward, Trunks is ambushed by a brainwashed Android 17. Wounded, he goes to Chi-Chi's house to warn the group. Later, Trunks joins up with Goten, Majuub, Pan, Gohan and Vegeta to fight countless villains who have escaped from Hell: Trunks saves Goten from Yakon, they then successfully defeat Android 19. With Majuub, they successfully defeat an invasion of Saibamen. Trunks then joins the fight against Super 17, but is unable to defeat him even with the help of Gohan, Goten, Majuub, and his father Vegeta. Eventually, Super 17 is defeated by Goku (who was previously trapped in Hell) with the help of Android 18. Trunks is then taken back to Capsule Corporation by his father to recover from his injuries. After repairing Giru, they search for the Dragon Balls on Earth to repair all the damage caused on the planet.
When Black Smoke Shenron rises from the Dragon Balls to the Z Fighters, Trunks is shown attempting to calm his mother after Old Kai claimed she was responsible for Black Smoke Shenron's existence. Later, against Syn Shenron, Trunks tries to restore Goku's energy once again along with Goten and Gohan. After the dragon transforms into Omega Shenron and Super Saiyan 4 Vegeta suggests he and Goku fuse to defeat him, Trunks along with Gohan, Goten and Majuub tries to hold off Omega long enough for Goku and Vegeta to fuse. Trunks is the last person to stall Omega by performing an Explosive Wave to distract the dragon while Goku and Vegeta perform the Fusion Dance. They are successful and Goku and Vegeta form Gogeta, however Gogeta defuses before he can finish Omega off.
Later on when Goku is presumed dead by Omega Shenron, Vegeta decides the Earth's best bet is for him to try and defeat Omega Shenron while everyone else escapes. Before sending them off, Vegeta requests that Goten, Gohan, Trunks continue the fight if he fails. The three half-Saiyans say goodbye to their families and decide to go back to help Vegeta in the fight but they are all easily defeated. However they do succeed in distracting Omega long enough for Goku to charge his Universal Spirit Bomb which destroys the Shadow Dragon. Trunks is last seen telling Pan that the Dragon Balls will come back after the Earthlings have proven they can take care without them.
