Synopsis: King Piccolo asks Goku if that's really all he has, and asks him if he's prepared to die. Goku can't believe how strong Piccolo really is, and wonders if there's really nothing he can do, while Yajirobe is just glad he hid before Piccolo could find him too. Goku watches in horror as Piccolo gathers energy in both of his hands before launching a devastating energy blast that Goku is barely able to dodge by leaping into the air. This leaves Goku unable to dodge the second hand's blast however, which catches him full-on from the front. Goku lands on the ground, defeated. Laughing to himself, Piccolo walks over to check Goku's body, as his attendant asks Pilaf's gang if they now understand the true greatness of the Demon King. Piccolo touches Goku's chest and determines that his heart has stopped beating before taking the Dragon Ball from him. Piccolo floats back up to the airship and announces that they'll now be heading after the group gathering the other Dragon Balls, as he's now eager to regain his youth. Pilaf asks the attendant if Piccolo will really be stronger once his youth is restored, and the attendant says the difference will be so great that even the Piccolo they've just seen will seem like nothing in comparison. As the airship leaves, Yajirobe walks back over to Goku's body, thinking that the least he can do is give him a proper burial since he doesn't look that tasty. To his surprise however, Goku's body twitches, and when Yajirobe listens to his chest, his heart has started beating again. When Goku wakes up just enough to ask for water, Yajirobe quickly carries him to a nearby river and holds him intot he water to get a drink. Yajirobe says Goku must have some crazy life force to be able to come back from something like that, but Goku thinks he was completely helpless against Piccolo. Yajirobe says this isn't a surprise given what a monster Piccolo is supposed to be. Goku asks Yajirobe if he knows where Karin is, and if not, if Yajirobe can take him there if Goku points the way. Yajirobe agrees due to Goku's condition, but on the condition he gets to eat a lot of food once they're there. Elsewhere, Chaozu finds the fifth Dragon Ball, and Tenshinhan reminds them that this means one of the two remaining ones is in the hands of King Piccolo himself. Checking the radar however, Roshi discovers that both remaining balls are in the same location and are actually heading towards them, forcing them to realize that an encounter with King Piccolo is imminent. Meanwhile, Yajirobe has loaded Goku into a car and is taking him to Karin, when Goku asks him if he really didn't try to help him fight at all, with Yajirobe retorting that he didn't want to get killed too. Review: Unfortunately for Goku, this was just not a fight he was ever going to win at this point in time. Even at his absolute peak strength and Piccolo arguably in the weakest state he's ever been in, the gap is just too wide between them at this point. As such, Goku meets a quick defeat, and even a momentarily seeming demise, right at the start of this chapter. While Goku's defeat isn't too surprising, especially coming after how things went last chapter, his “death” actually is a little bit. At this point, we've already seen Kuririn be killed, so the idea of Goku dying has always been on the table since, but to actually see it happen probably shocked a ton of fans back in the day. At least, until they got four pages further and found out that it was just a near-death experience. I've seen this twist get a lot of flack in various places over the years, and while I can't say I like it completely myself, I'm really at a loss to think of any way around it either, at least not without greatly changing the situation (like having Yajirobe cause a distraction that allows him to get Goku away, or the like). King Piccolo is determined to kill any promising martial artists that might learn the Mafuba, and Goku fits that criteria to a T, so there's no way Piccolo wasn't going to try to kill him here. It is a little suspect that his heart stops just long enough to fool Piccolo and then is trying to beat again by the time Yajirobe comes to check on him, but overall I'd say this moment's a bit of a necessary evil to keep the story moving along. Now where it's heading next for Goku however, THAT'S something that I'll gripe about later. With Goku out of the way and all of the Dragon Balls accounted for one way or another however, there won't be any time for the story to rest while Goku's on the next phase of his journey however. Brace yourselves, because even as dark as things are right now? They're about to get so, so much darker. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: A Master steps up to the plate.
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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
September 2022
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