From the very first Dragon Ball series when Goku was a kid and teenager, Piccolo was introduced as outrageously powerful. At first, he carried the name of King Piccolo, and he managed to escape from a jar where he was sealed for long so that he won’t terrorize the Earth anymore.
King Piccolo obviously came into conflict with Goku when the beloved Saiyan was just a child. The mighty ruler saw his demise in the hands of Goku after a long and exciting fight. But that didn’t stop King Piccolo from reincarnating himself. Later on, Ma Junior was born, who was none other than the reincarnation of the terrifying demon. He’s also the Piccolo that we’re all familiar with from Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Super.
In the final world martial arts tournament from the first Dragon Ball series, Goku was a teenager, and he fought Piccolo once again. After a long and devastating fight, Piccolo lost, although our hero was severely injured.
From the very first episodes of the Dragon Ball Z anime, Piccolo had to team up with Goku to take down a more powerful foe than ever: Raditz. Although Piccolo and Goku were still enemies, each of them had their reasons to destroy Raditz. Goku had to sacrifice himself to get the job done, and Piccolo had his long-awaited revenge on the beloved Saiyan. Later on, Piccolo became the first trainer of Gohan after seeing great potential in Goku’s son. Piccolo needed him to deal with the Saiyan invasion. It’s clear to anyone at this point that Piccolo played a major role in Dragon Ball until one point. That point is the Cell Saga, when Piccolo’s importance in the franchise faded away. But why and how can the Namekian regain his lost glory?
Training is the answer
Dragon Ball is mostly about training and becoming stronger – that’s the path that all of the Z warriors followed. And that’s the method that Piccolo should use to become as strong as a Super Saiyan Blue, Ultra Instinct, or Ultra Ego. Piccolo began to shine a bit again in Dragon Ball Super, we won’t deny that, but he was still far away from the spotlight he received in Dragon Ball Z, not to mention the first series.
Let’s take Frieza, for instance. He was nowhere near Super Saiyan Blue level when he fought Goku back in Dragon Ball Z on planet Namek. Later on, in the “Resurrection F” movie or in the first episodes of Dragon Ball Super, Frieza became outrageously strong, being able to compete (until one point) with the powers of Super Saiyan Blue Goku. Known as “Golden Frieza”, the renewed tyrant achieved his powers after training for only three months. The logic behind his huge power boost was that if he had enormous powers after not training for one second in his entire life until that point, he would surely become insanely strong if he started training a bit. Frieza knew when he was revived that Goku was a lot stronger than the day they both fought on Namek, so the intergalactic tyrant decided to start training.
Our point is that without disrespect intended to Dragon Ball in general, but the franchise never had a problem with granting characters huge power boosts if needed. The same can happen to Piccolo, and we firmly believe that he deserves it. Piccolo has been tremendously important in Dragon Ball – he had some unique fighting techniques, he is Gohan’s mentor, and so on.
Let us know what you think about our article about Piccolo! Do you also believe that he deserves more love from the writers? Feel free to comment!