Synopsis: King Piccolo warns Goku that if he moves even an inch, he'll crush Tenshinhan's head to pulp in an instant. Though Tenshinhan begs Goku to ignore him and just defeat Piccolo, the demon squeezes Tenshinhan's head hard, causing him to yell out in pain and causing Goku to agree to beg Piccolo to stop and agree to his terms. Piccolo praises Goku's choice and tells him to not even flinch or Tenshinhan will die, as he picks up a rock in his palm. Blowing the rock away with his breath, Piccolo sends it slamming hard into the opposite arm from Goku's already injured knee, crippling Goku on two sides now. Piccolo laughs at Goku's folly, saying that it's always the weakness of humans that leads them to this point as they can never overcome sentimentality long enough to harden their heart and overcome evil. Hearing these words, Goku realizes that Piccolo is planning to kill them no matter what he does, something Piccolo doesn't even bother to deny. Goku apologizes to Tenshinhan and says that he has to take down Piccolo, promising to bring him back to life with the Dragon Balls afterwards. Hearing this, Piccolo laughs and reveals he's already taken care of Shenlong, saying that killing a dragon was easy for someone like him. Goku is in disbelief, and Piccolo reinforces his threat – if Tenshinhan dies here, he'll never be able to come back to life. Picking up a second rock, Piccolo again blows it towards Goku, this time striking him in his remaining leg, knocking Goku to the ground. Piccolo laughs and compares Goku to a caterpillar before dropping Tenshinhan on the ground, saying that he can kill him at his leisure after he takes care of Goku. Piccolo flies up into the air, declaring victory for himself, as he flies back downwards at high speed to kill Goku, telling him that this is the fate that awaits anyone that dares challenge him. Goku says Piccolo forgot one thing however – his remaining good arm. Blasting energy into the ground below him, Goku launches himself into the air on a collision course with Piccolo, deciding to gamble all of his remaining energy on one final blow. As the two warriors prepare to meet in a final clash, Piccolo tries to block Goku's incoming attack with his hands crossed before him, but behind Goku's raised fist and body appears the spectral image of the Oozaru. Review: As much as I complained before about Tenshinhan becoming just a burden to Goku in this chapter, it does work in the narrative sense that it shows just how much Goku values his friends and rivals. He's barely known Tenshinhan for any time at all, and a good part of that time was spent also actively disliking him, but now he's almost willing to lose the fight if it means he'd have to cause Tenshinhan's death. This whole debacle also ends up bringing to light once more the state of things beyond this fight by reminding us that Shenlong is dead. This means that even if Goku does win this fight, there's seemingly no way to bring back Tenshinhan if he does die. Not only that, but there's no way to bring back Kuririn, Roshi, or Chaozu either, not to mention the other Budokai participants such as Nam and Giran, or who knows how many number of people who have died as a result of the two city explosions Piccolo has already launched. Needless to say, things are as grim as they've ever been even after the hope that Goku brought back to the table by coming back stronger than ever before. Even if he wins, there's so many things that have been taken that don't seem to be able to come back. Even beyond the characters themselves, there's even the titular Dragon Balls. Where could the series possibly go next if the items that give them their name aren't available anymore? Ultimately it's a question that we don't ever get an answer for all things considered, but at the time of these chapters originally coming out, I'm sure it's something that was on the mind of a lot of fans. I'd even be willing to bet that this was probably also the first arc where fans probably thought for sure the series was coming to an end soon too. As it stands however, this all feeds into Piccolo's overconfidence that is ultimately going to lead to his downfall here. He's been forced to eat dirt quite a few times in his encounter with Goku here, but he's never truly believed he was going to lose, because he looks at Goku as something far lesser than himself. Goku's just a “human”, Piccolo's a self-proclaimed Demon King. Goku's just a child, Piccolo is an eternal being that's power should be unrivaled. Goku is down three limbs, while Piccolo, despite being quite drained of energy by this point, still has use of every part of his body. Goku's stuck on the ground, and Piccolo's able to fly back down and finish him for good. But more than anything else, Piccolo is certain that he's superior because he's willing to do whatever it takes to win, willing to cross whatever lines it takes to be victorious, and Goku isn't. He feels a moral superiority in choosing to be evil rather than choosing the 'good' path that he feels Goku is on, and he thinks that as a result of that, it's only natural that he wins. It's fate. Goku however, refuses to lay down for that. He's down, he's out, but he's still got a lot of strength left in his body even if he can't fully use his body, and as he points out to Piccolo, he does still have a fully good arm left that Piccolo seems to have overlooked. Launching an energy blast that I can't decide if it's meant to be a Kamehameha or not (it's drawn like one, but Goku doesn't call it out by name, so this is either his first usage of a normal ki blast, or his first use of a non-verbal Kamehameha as well as something that fits pretty thematically with what another character will do a long time from now), Goku sends himself flying back into the sky to take down Piccolo or die trying. There's more I could say on this, but I'll hold off until the next chapter when it'll be even more relevant. For now, I'll leave off by noting that Toriyama's choice of having the Oozaru imagery appear one more time behind Goku, just as it did when Goku's hidden powers were awakened, is brilliant, effectively showing us that this is Goku at his full power no matter how beaten up he is, and signaling that this is where the fight is about to end no matter what. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: The Conclusion! And Then...
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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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