Synopsis: As an explosion engulfs the area around King's Castle, Yamcha notices that the radio broadcast has cut out, and Bulma points out the large cloud of destruction coming from the area. The King and his soldiers watch from inside their building, one of the few spared from destruction, and the King mourns the loss of the city and the castle. Piccolo laughs with glee, thinking the fight has been won at last, but soon realizes that he can still sense Goku's energy.
As Piccolo looks around and tries to figure out how Goku could have dodged his attack, he hears Goku from above, and looks up to see Tenshinhan floating in the air while holding Goku. Cursing himself for forgetting that the other fighter could fly, Piccolo watches as the pair lands back on the ground. Goku thanks Tenshinhan for saving him, and notices that Tenshinhan is completely winded by such a simple act. Piccolo surmises that Tenshinhan must have used the last of his energy just now to fly, and says that leaves Goku with no way to avoid his next attack. Goku tells him to try that attack again if he's so confident, as he's willing to bet Piccolo is also out of a lot of energy after it. Piccolo concedes that he probably is weaker now, but thinks that he still has plenty of energy left to finish Goku off. Piccolo channels his energy for another attack, and Goku says he was waiting for him to do that, saying that Piccolo's wide open. Leaping in with his good leg, Goku slams a powerful punch into Piccolo's stomach, winding the demon – but Piccolo manages to remain standing, glowering down at him. Goku realizes that he wasn't able to put his full strength into the blow due to only having one good leg, and Piccolo launches his attack again, catching Goku full on with another explosion, the shockwaves alone from it being enough to knock Tenshinhan away as well. As Piccolo pants, he thinks he's definitely won at last this time, only for Goku's voice to once again come from the crater, calling for kinto'un. The cloud appears and Goku grabs it's tail so that it can lift him up out of the ground. Goku says he was right and Piccolo's power really is dropping, so he was able to survive that attack somehow after all. Piccolo can't believe a mere human would be able to stand up to his attack, and Goku says he must never have noticed his tail. Goku concedes that he doesn't have a lot of power left either, and says they'll be finding out very soon who wins this fight. Unable to believe there's a chance he might actually lose this, Piccolo moves quickly and grabs an injured Tenshinhan by the head, holding him between Goku and himself. He warns Goku that if he even tries to move, he'll crush Tenshinhan's skull with his bare hand. Review: After multiple chapters in a row that were furious exchanges of blows one after the other, you can finally see the end for this fight in the distance, as both Goku and Piccolo are quickly proving unable to put the other down without taking great injuries themselves. Physically, it looks like Goku's the one the worst off, but there's also the matter of Piccolo's claim that fighting at full power shortens his life span. There's a good chance that he's never had to fight as hard as he is now, so maybe he's actually shaving off far more of his life than we'd have expected. It almost makes you wonder if that wasn't originally going to be Toriyama's plan for the end of this fight in a way. Due to Piccolo's wish for eternal youth, there wouldn't even be any tells like his body starting to become older again, either – he'd just fall over and croak essentially. Having his wish come back to bite him in the butt would certainly have been an interesting way to go, but it would have robbed us of a pretty iconic ending that we're almost getting to, so I think it's best the way it is really. Seeing Goku take advantage of Piccolo leaving himself open is a nice moment, showing that he's very much becoming a smarter fighter as he gets stronger, and pairs really well with his direction-changing Kamehameha from before. The boy really is growing up, and it's great to see after following him for so long. There's also a rather curious moment with him noting in response to Piccolo calling him a mere human that he might not be one at all due to his tail. It's probably safe to say Goku never really wondered too much about his origins, but he no doubt has learned just enough about the world – especially after traveling around it for three years to train – to realize that his having a tail truly is a trait seemingly pretty unique to himself. Again, I doubt he really puts much thought into it beyond that, but he does seem to realize that he might not be normal in a traditional sense. It's also nice to get to see Tenshinhan actually do something again rather than just commenting about the fight. He's clearly still not at his best after his fight with Drum earlier, but I'll take what I can get frankly. Sadly though, that moment of glory is extremely fleeting, and he's soon reduced to being a hostage at Piccolo's mercy to try and keep Goku at bay. As long as I've been a fan of this series, I've never realized just how quickly Tenshinhan falls from grace, and it is just really...really sad to see. Poor guy. Until next time! Favorite Panel:
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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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