Synopsis: Piccolo and Gohan celebrate the fact that Goku is on his way at last, causing Nappa to look around in confusion for Kakarot. Realizing that these Earthlings must have the ability to sense energy without a scouter somehow, Vegeta grabs his own scouter and decides to check things out. Elsewhere, as Goku heads towards the battlefield, he can sense five powers in total – two big ones, two even bigger than those, and one smaller one. He realizes that's not near enough to account for all of his friends, and he hopes that nobody has died yet as he urges kinto'un to fly faster. Nappa asks Vegeta if it's true that Kakarot's on the way, and a shocked Vegeta reveals that whoever it is that coming should be there in about four minutes, and that they have a power level of 5,000. Nappa is completely surprised, thinking there's no way that can be right, but Vegeta wonders if 5,000 might not be just the tip of the iceberg given the Earthlings ability to hide their power. Piccolo taunts the Saiyans about being worried, and Vegeta yells for Nappa to kill Piccolo and Gohan immediately, as their powers alongside Kakarot's might actually prove to be a challenge. Nappa asks Vegeta how they'll find the Dragon Balls without the Namekian's help, and Vegeta confesses that before this he wasn't sure if he really believed in the Dragon Balls at all. If Kakarot really has returned to life however, he believes in them now, and says they'll just go to Namek after destroying the Earth as it very likely has Dragon Balls of it's own. Nappa still doesn't believe Kakarot's power can be anywhere close to 5,000, but he thinks this is as good an excuse as anything to finally start killing them. Gohan shouts for Piccolo to run away, saying that he'll hold the Saiyans off somehow as the Dragon Balls on Earth will disappear if he gets killed. Piccolo tells Gohan he doesn't think the boy can hold them on his own, as an injured Kuririn curses his own inability to move and help fight right now. Nappa laughs at Gohan's bravado and rushes at him, and as Piccolo rushes in to help him, Gohan's inner power ignites at last and he kicks Nappa hard in the face, sending him crashing into a nearby rock pillar. Piccolo is surprised by this, as is a watching Vegeta, but Nappa quickly recovers and lands in front of the pair once again. Somewhat more bloody and hurt than before, an enraged Nappa says that he's had enough. Gathering a large energy blast in hand, he fires the attack at Gohan, intending to kill him in one strike. As the lethal energy blast flies towards Gohan, Piccolo leaps in front of him at the last moment, taking the blast head-on and saving Gohan's life. Review: At the start of this chapter, things are finally starting to look less dire for our heroes. Goku's almost there, just four minutes away no less, and the best news of all? His power level, or at least what the scouter is able to detect at the outset, is high enough to cause some level of concern in the Saiyans, even Vegeta. There's also a quick, nice moment of Vegeta noticing that the Earth-based fighters have the ability to sense energy without the use of scouters – this will be important later on. I've also always found it interesting that Goku uses kinto'un to get to the battlefield, as well as urging it to fly faster here. Goku can fly now, and we've seen him make much more use of it in this arc already than he ever did previously, but he chooses not to fly by his own power to get to his friends. I've never been able to tell what the reasoning for this is – is he just conserving power for the upcoming fight as there's a good chance he'd going to need everything he has and then some? Or is he also still slower when flying under his own power than what kinto'un can fly him somewhere? Earlier, when he and Piccolo were flying to go face Raditz, he asked Piccolo if he thought he could keep up with the cloud, and Piccolo assured him he could (and he managed to do just that), but there's been a lot of training since then, with them both becoming far stronger than they were before, so...it's a bit of a quandary either way, honestly. Even if he's saving energy for the fight, the longer it takes him to get there the more likely the damage and death toll will be higher, so it's kind of a no-win situation either way. While Goku's impending arrival sparks hope initially however, it's also the trigger to start things moving in an even more dire direction than ever before. Faced with the prospect of fighting someone who could prove to be more than they expected to handle, Vegeta decides that they can't have the Earthlings ganging up on them now and orders Nappa to kill them quickly rather than keeping Piccolo alive to tell them about the Dragon Balls. This would be bad for our heroes as well, as without the Dragon Balls, they're not going to be able to bring anyone back – while Chaozu already can't be wished back, Yamcha and Tenshinhan at least can be. Keeping Piccolo alive quickly becomes Gohan's priority, and while nobody present (including Piccolo) really thinks he's up to that task, Gohan finally proves his worth. Granted, it's a small moment, but after seeing how much the story was building up Gohan and how much faith Piccolo put in him, seeing Gohan even for a moment live up to the expectations for him is a great moment nonetheless. That moment of actually potent defiance is all it takes to push Nappa over the edge however, and his next attack is aimed to kill the child for actually hurting him. It looks like a certainty that Gohan's about to die, but surprising everyone – even himself seemingly – Piccolo leaps in the way and takes the blast. There's a LOT to talk about with this moment to be honest, but I'm going to hold off until the following chapter as it will give us even more to go over in regards to Piccolo's character arc. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: The Change in Piccolo, Revisited
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
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
Categories
All
|