Synopsis: Goku is amazed that it apparently took Roshi three years to get the water when he's the strongest person he knows, prompting Karin to ask him how long he thinks it'll take him to get it. Goku says he doesn't have three years to wait, and Karin says simply that in that case, all he has to do is hurry up and steal the water. Goku resolves to do just that, and he launches another attack on Karin, this time jumping around and leaving numerous after-images to distract the hermit. Karin watches carefully before leaping and kicking at one of them, but it was an after-image! Goku appears from above and tries to grab the flask, but Karin likewise appears from above him and kicks him to the floor. While Goku holds his head in pain, Karin asks him if he really didn't think he'd see through that, though Karin admits to himself that he's pretty impressed as he's never seen that many after-images before. Goku notices that he's out of breath already, and Karin explains that they're at a high enough altitude that the air has become thinner, so every wasted movement Goku makes costs him more breath. Karin says he might need to explain it to Goku further, and says that climbing the tower has likely been good for Goku's lung conditioning, but it's probably going to take more than what he's already achieved. Karin then lifts up the bag with the Dragon Ball in it, showing Goku that he took it from his belt at some point in their last exchange. Goku tells him to give it back, but Karin tosses it over the side of the tower. Outraged, Goku climbs back down the tower as quickly as he can. Once he gets to the ground, he grabs the bag and climbs back up in a fury, panting and lambasting Karin as soon as he gets back to the top. Karin however laughs and asks if he didn't appreciate the extra training, pointing out to Goku that it took him almost a whole day to climb the tower the first time, but now he's made a round trip back down and back up again in about three hours. Goku has to admit that he didn't even realize the improvement he'd made. Karin tells Goku it's time to get back to business, and he and Goku resume their sparring for the flask, with Karin saying Goku's getting better at keeping up with him but still has a long way to go before he gets the flask. As night falls, Goku is exhausted again and Karin says they should call it a day so they can both get some sleep. Later that night, while Karin rests, Goku wakes up and starts to work his way over to the sleeping cat's side. He reaches for the flask, then stops and thinks for a moment. He decide against it and says that he'll definitely get the flask, but he'll do it fair and square, and then goes back to sleep. The actually awake Karin thinks to himself that Goku's honesty is refreshing and sets him quite apart from his mentor. Two more days pass, and on the third day since Goku climbed Karin tower, Goku still struggles to get the flask from Karin. He rushes the cat and throws a flurry of blows, attacks that Karin is now finding it much harder to avoid. Karin leaps out of the way and Goku leaps after him, managing to get close enough to grab hold of Karin. Goku uses this opportunity to begin tickling the cat, and Karin's staff slips from his hand, going over the edge of the tower's balcony along with the flask. Goku leaps after it and Karin warns him not too, but Goku grabs them both and seems to fall from the tower. Karin looks over the edge with fear, only to find that Goku has grabbed the balcony with his tail, saving himself as well as the flask of holy water. Goku celebrates getting the flask at last, and Karin is astonished that he pulled it off in just three days. Goku asks him if he can drink the water now, and Karin tells him to go ahead. Goku drinks, but soon realizes that he doesn't feel any different. Karin tells him that he shouldn't, as the 'holy water' is actually just regular rain water. Goku accuses Karin of tricking him, but Karin laughs and tells Goku that his strength has already multiplied many times over. He explains that climbing up and down the tower, as well as trying to steal the flask in an environment with thinner air, were all exercises designed to increase someone's strength, and that the water itself was always just a ruse. He tells Goku to go back down and test the fruits of his training and Goku thanks Karin kindly. Karin remarks that he sure was a cheerful kid, and thinks that he might have already out-stripped his mentor. Review: And just like that, Goku's training has come to an end. This was a far shorter training period than the one we saw him go through with Roshi, but that's to be expected – there's a far more pressing matter at hand, the matter of time was always an issue with this one, and the variety of training is a lot simpler, consisting of only two tasks (climbing the tower and trying to take the flask) compared to the multiple methods Roshi employed. And as Karin himself says, Goku's immediate goal is a far simpler one as well, as all he really has to do is just take the flask. Karin's interactions with Goku are almost an inverse to how Roshi's were at first as well. While Roshi was almost constantly amazed by just how strong Goku already was even before their training really started, Karin is impressed by what Goku can do but tells him constantly what he's doing wrong and what he needs to improve if he really wants to stand a chance of beating him. Seeing Goku employ the after-image technique again after some time is a fun sight as well, especially with Karin noting how good he's become at it. You can tell Karin definitely takes a liking to the boy, especially his can-do attitude. I'm also curious if there's any truth to the idea of doing strenuous activities at higher altitudes with thinner air actually making your lungs stronger, but I'm going to make an uneducated guess that the opposite is probably true if anything. This definitely sounds like one of those 'don't try this at home, kids' kind of things...supposing your home has a mountain or a tower reaching to the skies anyway. Remember how I mentioned that Goku getting stronger just by drinking some 'holy water' almost seemed like too cheap of a storytelling technique? Well, surprise – Toriyama was playing us, as well as Goku, all along. As Karin explains, this part of the story was never about the water at all, but rather what Goku had to go through to get it, namely climbing an impossibly long tower (three times, no less), adjusting to a place with a much lower oxygen level, and sparring with an opponent that's stronger than him. Much like Karin's personality is much like an inverse of Roshi's, his training is as well – whereas Roshi's training was always presented as training and just seemed like random things that had to be done before he'd start teaching them things for real, Karin's training is never presented to Goku as such, and only seems like a roadblock to him actually getting what will make him stronger. In the end, it shows that only hard work and effort will make Goku stronger than he is right now. A fine message for a shonen battle series to send. It's only unfortunate that that message is going to get trampled into the dirt many, many times in the future, most notably an instance in the near future that outright slaps this part of the story in the face. We'll come to that sad moment when we get to it though. Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: Son Goku V.S. Taopaipai – The Rematch
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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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