Synopsis: As Gohan sleeps atop the rock pillar he's on, Piccolo rests by floating in the air above him. When Gohan eventually awakes, Piccolo watches to see what he's doing, but it seems all Gohan needed to do was pee. Now fully awake, Gohan wonders what he should do now, as he knows that if he stays up on the rock forever, he'll starve to death. Just as Gohan is getting despondent again, he notices how bright out it is even though it's the middle of the night. He looks up to the sky and spots a full moon, happy to have figured it out and to have finally gotten to see one.
As Gohan stares at the moon, his body begins to convulse and his power begins to raise, catching Piccolo's attention. To Piccolo's horror, Gohan transforms into a gigantic ape-like Oozaru just as his father used to, falling off of the rock pillar and ultimately smashing it to pieces with his bare hands. The Oozaru Gohan fires a large energy blast form it's mouth then, causing a huge explosion that Piccolo has to shield himself from. As the ape fires off more blasts, Piccolo is in disbelief at how powerful the energy is, thinking to himself that at this rate the Earth might be destroyed before the Saiyans arrive. Suddenly, Piccolo remembers something he overheard Raditz mentioning to Goku at Kame House, about how Saiyans show their true power during the full moon. Turning to look at the moon, Piccolo figures out that it's the cause of this transformation, and destroys it with an energy blast of his own. With the transformation's trigger gone, the Oozaru Gohan soon reverts back to normal, falling to the ground naked and unconscious. Walking over to the child, Piccolo is still in disbelief at how different he was in that form. He surmises that this must be the secret of both he and his father's strength, and thinks that destroying the moon was probably the right choice – he doesn't even want to imagine what those two Saiyans on their way to Earth would be like in that state. He guesses that both the moon and the tail are required for a Saiyan to transform, but deciding not to leave it up to chance, Piccolo pulls off Gohan's tail for good measure, especially given that it can also serve as a weakness. Deciding to help the boy once again after all, Piccolo creates some new clothes for him, giving him a gi like his father's (though changing out the 'Kame' symbol for a 'Demon' one), as well as a sword. Piccolo decides to leave then and begin his own training, vowing to come back in six months if Gohan is still alive and to begin his training. He smiles evilly at the thought, thinking that he will soon remake the boy in his own image. As Piccolo leaves and Gohan sleeps on the ground, Goku himself has fallen asleep on the Serpent Road. Review: Enough about Piccolo's unfortunate life and his changing mental state, I wanna see a giant monkey blow stuff up! Yeah, after a somewhat introspective chapter (at least by Toriyama standards) last time, it only makes sense to follow things up with a fairly lighter chapter that's mainly focused on cool imagery and a callback to previous material (and, just maybe, some light foreshadowing of things to come perhaps?). It was previously established that Gohan has never seen the full moon before, and we've also been told that Goku's ability to transform into a monstrous ape on the full moon wasn't unique to him at all, rather it's an inherent Saiyan ability. Because Raditz showed up during the day and was beaten before night fell, this was never a concern during his short-lived time on Earth, but Piccolo's finding out now just how serious of a problem it can be. And yeah, while it seems like we've covered a fair bit of ground since Goku and Raditz died? This is very likely either the night after Goku took Gohan to Kame House, or super early the next day. It might also be hard to believe, but this is the first time we've actually seen an Oozaru for real since the end of the 21st Budokai. The moon was destroyed at that point, and by the time it's brought back, Goku is without his tail. The only times we've seen hints of the Oozaru since were it's imagery used to express Goku's hidden powers, and as stated, Goku and Piccolo avoided the issue of having to deal with an Oozaru Raditz. So yeah, this is the first time someone's actually gone ape since nearly the beginning of the series – it's surprising how well known and liked that part of Saiyan biology is given that you really almost never see it. I think it's just the inherent cool factor of it in general, coupled with the fact that it's going to be used a few more times now before going away for good, that keeps the form alive in fandom consciousness. Hell, it's essentially a kaiju werewolf, what's not to love? Being on the receiving end of it's raging attacks, I suppose, actually – at least, Piccolo doesn't seem to care much for it here, and I can't say I blame him much for that. After he destroys the moon (putting us on our third moon assuming they ever get it back again) however, Piccolo does seem to be of two minds on it. On the one hand, he definitely doesn't want to deal with that again, and certainly doesn't want to deal with it at the disposal of the two Saiyans speeding their way to Earth as they speak. At the same time though, this does seem to fully convince him that Gohan's worth training after all, and he seems to get some manic glee from the idea of taking this boy and molding him to be just like him. Hey, the story said he was less evil now, that still means evil. Overall though, there's not really much to add to this one beyond that. Goku's still running the Serpent Road, and I hope you like seeing him there, because between the manga and some anime filler, you're going to be seeing him on that road a lot more yet. 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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