Synopsis: Goku wonders how long his body will last if he really does use Kaio-ken x3, as Vegeta taunts him and asks if he's all out of tricks. Goku decides that he really doesn't have any other choice and will just have to risk it. Vegeta taunts Goku further, telling him that he was the strongest Saiyan on their entire planet, so it doesn't matter how much Goku has trained – he was pre-destined for failure the moment he chose to fight him. Watching this, Yajirobe worries that Goku doesn't have a chance of winning and wonders if he should try running away while he can. Goku readies his body and pleads for it to hold on as long as it can before using a Kaio-ken x3. Watching this from his planet, Kaio-sama pleads with Goku not to go through with this, though admits that there doesn't seem much chance of him winning without doing so – he can't believe that Vegeta is as strong as he is. From Kame House, Bulma keeps an eye on the fight via the Scouter, informing the others (Roshi, Chi Chi, Gyu-mao, Oolong, Puar, and the turtle) that Goku's power is rising quickly. As the reading reaches 21,000, the Scouter explodes. Back on the battlefield, Vegeta watches in horror as Goku's power continues to rise. Glaring at Vegeta, Goku launches himself at the Saiyan, immediately knocking him away with a powerful punch to the face. Before the Saiyan can respond, Goku whips around behind him, kicking him into the air. Vegeta readies himself and tries to counterattack, even spotting when Goku once again moves behind him and launching a blast at him in retaliation. Goku disappears as he dodges the blast however, reappearing to Vegeta's left and kicking him through a few mountains. Outraged, Vegeta breaks out of the debris and curses Goku, aiming a powerful punch at him as he approaches him. Goku easily leaps over him however, landing behind Vegeta and kicking him hard in the back. Vegeta takes the attack but leaps back in towards Goku, aiming a punch at his head – Goku dodges this as well, and slams a powerful punch into Vegeta's stomach with the last of his Kaio-ken boosted strength. Vegeta coughs up blood and stumbles backward before leaping away to a nearby rock pillar. Vegeta can't believe it, but there's no way around the obvious – somehow, Goku found a way to surpass Vegeta's power! Panting, Goku can feel his entire body throbbing and thinks that Vegeta is tough, so he's going to have to end this quickly if he stands any chance of winning. Watching from nearby, Yajirobe smiles as now it looks like Goku might just be able to win this after all. Review: After the last two chapters made it very clear that Vegeta was in an entirely different league compared to Goku, this chapter finally puts a light at the end of the tunnel again. And that light is...the Kaio-ken? But wait, you might be thinking – we've already seen that fail against Vegeta, twice even. Why is this time any different? Well, let's look again at exactly what the Kaio-ken is. It's a technique that bolsters the user's power and speed by augmenting what they're naturally capable of – to be more precise however, it multiplies it. The default Kaio-ken is effectively a 'x2' maneuver, it takes someone's power level and doubles it. The reason it wasn't working before is because Vegeta is more than twice Goku's power, so even doubling what he was capable of wasn't enough to put him on proper footing here. That's where the Kaio-ken x3 comes in – instead of doubling Goku's power, it triples it, and THAT is more than Vegeta's power. By doing more than twice what he's normally capable of however, Goku does more than gain immense power, he also puts his body at a much higher risk of not being able to handle the power he's using. That's why Kaio-sama warned him not to do it, and why Bulma watching with the scouter notes that Goku's power is rising too quickly – even for someone like Bulma, who's not a fighter and knows nothing of power levels, she can tell that this is unnatural. As an aside though, it is nice to see that she and the other non-fighting cast are still trying to keep some kind of eye on what's happening out there. In Kaio-sama's case, it's also nice to see that he's watching his latest student's progress in the hopes that he'll be able to win, and while he doesn't like Goku breaking their deal not to go beyond a normal Kaio-ken, he understands that it's really the only chance Goku has. And if there's any proof that sometimes great risk comes with great reward, Goku himself becomes evidence of that as the Kaio-ken x3 suddenly allows him to wreck the previously impervious Vegeta's absolute shit. It's moments like this one that make it very easy to see why this is such a beloved fight in the franchise. I might be an unapologetic believer that Goku V.S. Piccolo at the 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai is the best fight in the entire franchise, but there's no denying that Toriyama's choreography for fight scenes is absolutely still at it's peak here as well. There's a sense to the speed of proceedings here that's impossible for me to summarize with descriptions alone – definitely put this one down as another chapter that you need to see for yourself to grasp just how good it really is. As the chapter comes to a close, Vegeta's actually on the back foot now, but despite Yajirobe's hopefulness, things are far from over. There's still every chance Goku's body won't be able to hold out long enough to actually put Vegeta down for good. We're still in the woods folks, and it's gonna be a bit longer before we see the end of the trees. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: One Beam Clash to Rule Them All!
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September 2022
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