Synopsis: As Goku and Tenshinhan go at it once again, the announcer remarks that their moves are so fast that nobody can see them with their naked eye. Tenshinhan finally manages to drive Goku back again, but Goku responds by surrounding him with a series of afterimages. Tenshinhan says he won't fall for such an obvious ploy, and attacks the Goku that appears above his head. His kick goes right through the afterimage, and Goku appears from behind him, throwing his own punch at Tenshinhan. That punch likewise passes through Tenshinhan who reveals he left behind an afterimage of his own so that he could get the drop on Goku from behind, only for Tenshinhan's attack to once again pass through an afterimage of Goku's, before a reappearing Goku finally lands a kick on Tenshinhan that knocks him to the ground. As the crowd watches on in shock, Goku lands and explains that he went behind Tenshinhan's going behind him, and a frustrated Tenshinhan climbs back onto his feet. Goku is surprised he wasn't knocked out, but Tenshinhan smiles and says this is the first time anyone's ever hit him like this, and in front of other people no less. He says that playtime is over now and he'll be ending this match with his next attack. He puts his hands beside his face in a familiar maneuver, launching another blinding flash with the Taiyo-ken. With the crowd and his opponent blinded, Tenshinhan rushes in to finish off Goku, only to be surprised when Goku catches his fist and slams a hard punch of his own into Tenshinhan's gut. As Tenshinhan stumbles forward, Goku is revealed to be wearing a pair of sunglasses. Tenshinhan asks him where he got them before falling to the ground seemingly unconscious, and Goku says he borrowed them as Roshi's face is revealed, sans sunglasses. As the announcer starts the ten count, Goku walks over to give Roshi back his sunglasses, with his master praising both his speed and his quick thinking. The ten count suddenly stops at seven however, and Tenshinhan viciously strikes Goku against the wall, breaking Roshi's sunglasses in the process. Goku once again praises Tenshinhan's toughness, and Tenshinhan tells him not to get excited just because he was momentarily careless. As Roshi bemoans the loss of his shades, a stoic Tsuru-sennin watches quietly. Goku says he'll knock Tenshinhan down for real this time, and Tenshinhan challenges him to do so. Kuririn meanwhile notices that this is the first time he's ever seen his master without sunglasses, and can't help but notice that his eyes look kind of familiar, prompting Roshi to tell him to pay more attention to the match than his master's eyes. As Goku and Tenshinhan once again rush towards each other, Goku leaps into the air to attack, but suddenly finds himself frozen in place. Seeing an opening, Tenshinhan slams Goku with a powerful punch, knocking him back down to the ground much to Roshi and Kuririn's surprise. As Goku tries to get up, he accuses Tenshinhan of doing something cheap, with Tenshinhan having no idea what he's talking about. From the audience however, Tsuru-sennin chuckles. Review: While the fight continues to go back and forth, it's already starting to look like Goku might have the edge after all, a fact that isn't lost on their two watching mentors, especially that crafty bird Tsuru-sennin. But more on that in the next chapter, for now the fight itself continues to be incredibly entertaining to read through. That said, man did I not relish trying to describe the almost Naruto-esque afterimage exchange between Goku and Tenshinhan. I promise you it is far more exciting to see in motion – er, in comic form rather (though I'm sure the anime version is even more impressive) – than it is to read my description, so at least go check out the first couple of pages of this chapter if nothing else, because while it's hell to try to describe, it's really, really fun to see for yourself. Even Toriyama seems to have had more fun drawing it than trying to explain it, as even Goku's explanation after the fact is pretty stilted. We finally get the return of the Taiyo-ken as well, and like with Kamehameha's being useless on Tenshinhan, Goku quickly proves that move won't work on him anymore either – though his defense against it is almost definitely cheating. Remember how in the first tournament, Goku should have been disqualified at least twice over, first in his fight against Giran (where he used kinto'un) and again in the final match (where he turned Oozaru and almost definitely stepped outside of the ring)? Well, here he does it again by grabbing Roshi's sunglasses. It's arguable that he never left the ring during that moment, as we see him handing Roshi's glasses back to him without leaving it, but that's still an outside item. It's not a weapon, but given what it's defending against, it's arguable that it counts as body armor I would think, not to mention that his master just so happens to be standing close enough (in an area he's not supposed to be no less) for him to borrow them without leaving the ring, and just so happens to be wearing sunglasses in the first place (the fact that he always wears them aside). This time though, not even a word is said about Goku potentially breaking any rules, so I guess this really may as well be the Anything Goes Martial-Arts Tournament. If Ranma doesn't enter next, I'm gonna be really disappointed. I do find it pretty funny though that even now, Roshi is still dead set on keeping it secret that he was Jackie Chun all along. As it stands, I'm pretty sure the only people other than himself that know are Tenshinhan, Chaozu, and Tsuru-sennin (oh, and Nam from the previous tournament), and that's pretty much how it'll remain for the rest of the series moving forward. Watching this back and forth with Goku and his student, Tsuru-sennin seems to be up to something, though we're not made privy to exactly what just yet. If it weren't for the lack of dialogue from him coupled with Tenshinhan's surprise rather than amusement at Goku's accusation of cheating, one would almost think that Tenshinhan just had another trick up his sleeve, or his blows had been doing more damage to Goku all along than we'd previously thought, or the like. But nope, with that mischievous grin on his face ending the chapter, there's no doubt that he's up to something dirty. Just a different kind of dirty than Roshi's dirty. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: The Rebirth of Tenshinhan
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About the AuthorAspiring author and big anime/manga fan, just trying to do my best in the world. For more details, go to About Me. Archives
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