on today's installment of "Saro's DB Shitposts" Spoiler: large images aka "saro just wanted to draw piccolo in a master's gown" or "piccolo makes a friend in grad school" or "the only person i can imagine being both a therapist and able to sort of handle vegeta is piccolo" (another candidate is gohan, but i feel like vegeta would react more negatively to him than to piccolo, so congrats, piccolo! you get the fun of dealing with him)
So 17 and 18 are implied to be around but unactivated (20-Gero says that they'll never be able to beat 17 and 18), and 8 is (hopefully) still living in some little snowy village somewhere. hacchan! (the ha comes from 8, which is hachi in japanese)
Ch 349 over 20 pages of this nonsense. thanks y'all, i've been having such fun with this (The Androids Awake!) North City is absolutely rife with mountains. More mountains than you can shake a stick at. Luckily, they don't look too densely forested, which should make for easier searching. Without more specific information, that's the only way to proceed. Piccolo, Tien, and Krillin agree on a signal and split up the remaining 6 senzus. let krillin buy a jacket!! (but seriously: the only person out of the usual group of fighters i would trust to have money is krillin. if you don't got any, no one else's gonna have any either. i'm sorry krillin, that's just how it is.) Vegeta, tailed by Trunks, is also out searching. Trunks confirms his intent to try to prevent the androids being activated/awakened/whatever, even if that means facing down Vegeta. this father-son bonding is not going super well, i have to say 20 is lurking down below and crowing about how everyone will be dead soon. He hops around until he finally reaches his lab, but just as he's about to enter, some alarm goes off. He whips around to see Krillin just kinda staring at him in shock. 20 completely disregards him and just goes about his business, because it's Krillin, so nbd. Sheesh. That's gotta hurt a bit. so do the signal already!! 20 enters some sort of passcode into a panel by the door while Krillin is busy being too dumbstruck about actually finding the lab to signal to the rest. By the time he finally gets his shit together and spikes his ki (the signal), 20 is safely in the lab and the door is closed behind him. Not that it'll necessarily stop a particularly determined blast, but who knows? Maybe it's specially reinforced. Given how easily various natural landscape features are destroyed, though (cliffs, rocky outcroppings, the moon....), I would say that a mountain's not gonna make that much of a difference. 20's a bit reluctant to activate 17 and 18, but has decided he doesn't have a choice. First up is 17, who seems to match one of the descriptions given by Trunks -- long black hair, masculine, wears a scarf. I AM CONTRACTUALLY OBLIGATED TO HATE HIM BECAUSE HE TUCKS HIS PANTS IN HIS SOOOCKS! HOW CAN HE STAND DOING THAT??? this is almost as bad as freeza's... everything. i'm sickened. second question - why is he dressed so... normally, while 20 and 19 had those weirdly matching nutcracker outfits? 17 greets the doctor politely (after seeing that 20 has some sort of switch in hand). 20 is relieved at this and moves on to 18. i am enamored of her outfit, however. no complaints. 20 continues to be very relieved about how they're acting; apparently, he's had trouble keeping them in check, hence the reluctance to wake them up again. But now they seem well-behaved! He orders them to kill the friends of Son Goku, who will be arriving soon. Lo and behold, shortly thereafter there's the sounds of something hitting the door, and 20 gets distracted, probably by thoughts of how 17 and 18 are gonna wreck shop on this fools. 17 sees an opportunity to do something else, however. yoink! 17 crushes the remote control (an emergency shutdown switch for himself and 18) so that they can't be put back to sleep again. Ch 350 (17, 18... 16?) 20 gets so upset the people on the other side of the door can hear him yelling, and realize that they're too late to destroy the androids before they're awoken. Vegeta steps up to take on the door and Trunks begs him to at least wait until Goku's feeling better. vegeta: * is given good advice * vegeta: Aaaaand, yep, the doors could not stand up to a determined blast. they crash inward, revealing the numbered cyborgs and the lab's interior. Trunks confirms that 17 and 18 are the ones he knows about, the ones who have caused such trouble in the future. 20 warns them that they're powerful, killed one of their compatriots (19) and almost killed himself. This sparks a bit of conversation about the type that 19 was - an older type, apparently, not perpetual energy like 17 and 18. 20 orders them to deal with the intruders already, but 17 and 18 are having none of it. this is almost as bad as freeza with his 78+ planets called "planet freeza". how'm i supposed to keep all the numbers separate. maybe it'd be easier if i wrote them out? Seventeen and Eighteen are more distinct than 17 and 18, after all.... 20 gets very flustered by this and tells her not to activate 16, which was a failed experiment that 20 intended to rebuild at some point, but never got around to. If it gets activated, it could be the end for all of them, and the earth as well. Jesus. Krillin suggests getting away while all of the androids are busy. Vegeta says that's fine, the only one who needs to stick around is him. No one leaves. 17 follows the grand tradition of many others before him and sticks his hand through 20's chest, before knocking his head off with a kick. He then steps on it (but not before 20's head manages to call him a "miserable piece of junk"). Goodbye, one-time Doctor Gero, current Number 20. You had a weird fashion sense and ultimately you did some pretty fucked up shit. Thanks for leaving us these fucking androids to deal with. (Vegeta's happy about it, though.) 17 and 18 plan to release 16, but Trunks tries to intervene -- the two that are already up and about are more than enough. He powers up to super saiyan and levels the mountain. welp. 18 opens up the capsule with a kick, revealing another masculine android with some strange body armor (?), a mohawk, and a strangely chiseled face that looks like it might find a good home on a certain type of romance novel covers.
I'm really sorry about that, ticks are the worst and a good reason for pants in socks. (My husband had Lyme about two years ago and still has minor facial numbness sometimes.... Please be safe out there, anyone who's in an area with ticks.)
Ch 351 anyway i just detest 17 on principle. i don't know exactly what the principle is, but it's my justification (The Androids Walk Among Us) Here's what Sixteen looks like. (Did I decide to write out the numbers? I can't remember. Whatever, I have almost never been consistent in anything I do in this thread so why start now) (not pictured: long legs in battle leggings and the typical battle boots... except with shiny black tips. Sixteen is stylin'. his armor is weirdly... bulgy, though. and he looks very sad) Why was Doctor Gero so adamant about not reactivating you? No answer, just you're breakin my heart man When asked if he was also created to kill Goku, Sixteen finally says something (and smiles!). Yep, that's what he's supposed to do. Seventeen suggests that they still pursue that particular goal, despite the fact that he hates the idea of following the doc's orders. (Then why are you doing it? Why not do anything else?? You could go check out the Marianas Trench, probably, or like, I dunno, read a book or something. You have all this sudden newfound freedom and you're still choosing to follow orders that you hate the giver of?? I don't get it!) For some unfathomable reason, everyone agrees that that sounds like a plan, and they drift up and float off. Where are they going? Well, not to attack North City, anyway. Krillin has a sudden fear that they might be heading in Goku's direction, which would be pretty bad, considering he's not up to the task of defending himself at the moment. Tien, like me, wonders why in hell they would follow Dr. Gero's orders after killing him in such spectacular fashion, but Vegeta brushes all of that aside as unimportant. because this is what *really* matters. obviously. the issue, trunks, is that you're trying a relatively sensible and logical approach to stopping vegeta doing something he wants to do. i think there's probably a way to handle him better, but this is certainly not the way to do it. it probably just makes him more likely to Increase The Thing, to put it in meme-ish terms. (esp right now, vegeta's just gonna do what vegeta's gonna do) In this case, what Vegeta's gonna do is a) take care of all of the androids and b) defeat Goku once and for all. i feel pretty bad for trunks right now. he definitely had an image of his dad and how he was, and it's pretty clear that vegeta is falling pretty far short of the mark. plus, it's not like a passive not measuring up; it's an active process, almost like vegeta's thinking "hmm, how much more of a disappointment can i be?" it's always hard to find that someone isn't who you thought they were, especially if they're your dad who you never really knew because he died when you were still tiny. this is why you should never go back in time: you might be disappointed by your dad. Vegeta won't stand for that kind of talk: he hits Trunks right in the gut and goes rocketing off after the androids. Who needs Kakarrot anyway, when the obviously superior Prince Vegeta is right there??* (Hey, speaking of which, are you never gonna upgrade yourself to king? Considering your dad is probably dead and all.....) *vegeta's thoughts, not mine Meanwhile, the androids (following Seventeen's lead) are waiting for a car to come by so they can have a nice roadtrip. It's fun! Just flying to their destination and taking care of business is boring and efficient. Eighteen surmises it's because he's still got a bit of humanity left (and boys like "pointless" things like that). Apparently, Seventeen and Eighteen were created from actual human bits! Not Sixteen, though. He's 100% human-free. Seventeen wonders what the point of returning to using humans was, if Gero was successful with a completely non-human creation. Not too much time for wondering, though, because they haven't gone very far from the lab and Vegeta catches up very quickly. There's a lot of back and forth that gets Vegeta all het up about fighting one of them, all of them, any of them. Eighteen tries to get Sixteen to fight, but he declines, so she decides to step up instead. Ch 352 (Vegeta Vs Android 18) am i inclined to like eighteen in particular because she is the one of the rare lady fighters? ... maybe so. but look at her in action. punch vegeta in his stupid face!! She doesn't, because Vegeta is being especially dodgy. After one such dodge, Vegeta grabs her arm and hurls her into a cliffside. She springs right back, though, and takes a punch and knee strike without any apparent sign of damage. They both land on the mountain highway again. Unfortunately, this is when a guy in a hat that says something like "SBCIAL" on it comes trundling up the road. It's pretty bad timing, because Vegeta's all prepped for a beam attack on Eighteen. and doesn't give the slightest shit about humans, trucks, or taking lives The truck is completely obliterated, but Eighteen is unharmed. vegeta has an excuse this time: "the planet couldn't handle it". well, i suppose that's a good enough reason for not going all-out from the start, but where the hell can you ever go all-out if even a fucking planet can't stand up to you?? It Is A Mystery Eighteen decides to do just that. YES THANK YOU Eighteen smacks Vegeta around for a while, hard, and ends by striking him with a flat palm so hard that he makes his own hole in the cliffside. This is when Trunks, Piccolo, Krillin, and Tien finally catch up. Trunks asks if "Vegeta-san" is alright; guess he's not comfortable calling him "Dad". was it not made for you, then?
Ch 353 it's sunday and it's almost 100 degrees outside so i'm just gonna treat myself with more vegeta getting beat the fuck down (Vegeta vs. Android 18, Round Two) I should probably stop being quite so antagonistic about Vegeta, but this arc makes me sad and I deal with it by being angry and mean, apparently. On the other hand he usually deserves it, so. Ehhhhh. I'll see how it goes. Where were we. Now that the "cavalry" has shown up, Seventeen decides to step in, because he's not sure Eighteen can handle all 5 of them at once. He invites Sixteen to go instead, but Sixteen's very single-minded about who he'll fight. well, it depends on how highly you value "life" and "pride" respectively, and i think we can safely say that there's one thing that vegeta values above all else confirmation (and an obligatory "oh vegeta") Seventeen applauds him, to which Vegeta spits some blood and says, basically, "You're not worthy of praising me, so shut it." I can't really tell if Seventeen is being sincere or not, but whatever the case, he warns the rest of the new arrivals that they should stay out of Vegeta and Eighteen's fight (because blah blah warrior's code). Vegeta casually insults all of the recent arrivals. You're not going to have any friends who are willing to come to your funeral (which will be shortly if you keep this up), Vegeta. It's time for the fight to pick back up again and Eighteen reengages with a will and once again hits Vegeta in his stupid face, sending him flying. I'm surprised anyone has any nose left, given the absurd number of times they get hit right in the snoot. Vegeta flips around, pushes off of the cliff, and returns the favor with a headbutt straight to Eighteen's face and follows it up with a double axe handle and one of his single-palmed blast attacks. (I don't know if the number of hands involved matters at all, but both the kamehameha and Vegeta's previous big named attack use two. More surface area for channeling ki?) The blast looks pretty destructive, but as we've seen many, many times, that's not usually a good indicator for whether or not someone's been defeated, seriously injured, or even damaged at all. In this case, the main victim seems to be Eighteen's clothes, which have gotten somewhat shredded (although not to the same extent as the dude's clothes often get. We haven't had bare breasts for quite a while, and somehow I think they probably wouldn't fly at this point.) She does take off her vest, though, in kind of an approximation of the dudes getting rid of their ripped shirts. She asks if this so-called "Son Goku" is stronger than Vegeta, which makes Vegeta rather prickly: even if Goku was stronger at one point, it's all fine now because Vegeta's gotten ahead. holy shit eighteen you need to warn me before you drop some sickass burns like that. i wasn't prepared This goes over about as well as a lead balloon. Vegeta gets back into it with a will. Tien, Krillin, and Trunks are impressed, but Piccolo is not. the whole "perpetual energy" thing is kinda a problem, for sure. simply biological beings, no matter how ridiculously powerful, are at the very least bound by their ability to convert stuff to ATP (and the amount of stuff they have available to convert to ATP) (i am making wild assumptions about the biological properties of beings that can do things on the order of blowing up moons) Eighteen gets a particularly brutal hit and breaks Vegeta's arm, which is the catalyst that Trunks needs to spring into action. Ch 354 (The Androids at Ease) COLOR. FUCKING. PAGES!! Eighteen is blonde, Seventeen has sky blue converse look-alikes and spring green socks, Sixteen's hair is BRIGHT orange and his armor is a weird yellow-green while his fullbody battle suit is black. Fashion!! Seventeen sticks to his word about stepping in to prevent interference and goes after Trunks. i just wanted to include this panel because i don't know if i've ever showcased my main dude in his lovely purple clothes before. such nice contrast. he knows how to show off his natural features Anyway, Piccolo and Tien go after Trunks, presumably to either drag him back or to try to keep him from getting killed by Seventeen. Trunks swings at Eighteen with his sword (who taught you to use that, by the way?), but she blocks it with her forearm and its tip breaks. While he's busy being surprised by that, Seventeen steps in and knocks him down with a single attack, following up with one that sends Piccolo flying. He grabs Tien in a headlock. okay okay okay so it's shit like this that makes me not buy into vegeta's whole "i care about nothing but being strong and fighting kakarot!" thing. let's review: vegeta has a badly broken arm, supposedly doesn't care about anything but defeating goku, would rather die than work together with anyone, and has a perfectly good opponent who's just waiting for him to get back in the ring, as it were.... and you go off to try to help tien, of all people?? you didn't have to save gohan on namek and you really don't have to help tien here. But Eighteen grabs his foot, and noticing that Trunks is up again and targeting her, sees a perfect opportunity. VEGETA: melee weapon, 2d6 bludgeoning damage Piccolo pulls himself up and, seeing that Trunks and Vegeta seem to be down for the count for the moment, turns his attention to helping Tien/attacking Seventeen. Seventeen tosses Tien aside, avoids Piccolo's attack, and gets a real bad hit on Piccolo. Definitely body horror warnings if you decide to glance through this chapter. It looks like everyone's down at this point, but Vegeta (who is nothing if not persistent as all hell) forces himself up and uses his good arm for another beam attack. The good arm does not stay a good arm for long because Eighteen slaps him right back down and steps on it. Ooof. Vegeta finally, after all that, drops back to baseform. The androids regroup on the road and decide it's time to get going. Krillin's just kind of standing there, stunned, watching them. Sixteen seems pensive. ah. a fellow birdwatcher. i now love you
Ch 355 god i miss the title pages :( (Retreat and Regroup) Krillin runs down the road after the androids. thank you for being the audience surrogate and asking the questions for us Their proximate goal is beating Goku; beyond that, who knows? They'll figure it out when the time comes. But why do that, Krillin presses, if it was Doctor Gero's idea? Seventeen says it has nothing to do with Gero now; this is a game to them. Goku's supposedly the strongest person in the world, right? So it'll be fun to hunt him down and take him out. sixteen has a more... deterministic view of what's going on (and thank you for trying, krillin. i deeply appreciate you.) Seventeen advises Krillin to stop talking to them and go back and help his friends, because without senzus, they might die. Eighteen gives him a kiss on the cheek (!) and says "See you later". This stuns Krillin for a while as they leave, but he eventually gets it together and goes back to make sure everyone gets healed up. Even Vegeta. (Both Trunks and Vegeta should have gotten quite the boost from that, right? Almost dying and all?) i like this "obsessing over something" effect Vegeta takes off and Piccolo prevents Trunks from following. PICCOLO NO!!! D: sheesh it's kind of seeming like you going back in time has just fucked things up even more than they already were Piccolo suggests that they move Goku someplace safe where he can recover, then reevaluate their options after (although Tien's not sure that even having Goku around will make much of a difference against these opponents). However, Piccolo seems to have something else in mind for himself, and when Krillin asks him what's up... JEEEESUS H CHRIST PICCOLO you are in such a fucking mood!! a) we've already established that you're an alien; b) gohan would be devastated to hear this; c) you have made 0 attempts at world-conquering even when you had an opportunity to. what has got you so out of sorts, man? And he takes off too, in a snit. krillin you've got more emotional intelligence than the rest of these bozos put together Krillin thinks that maybe Piccolo's gonna do something to make himself a lot stronger all in one fell swoop - get back together with Kami and become a single unified being once again, which will restore that strength that Nail said was missing. Which explains what's gotten Piccolo's antennae all tied in a knot; he's not a huge fan of Kami, or potentially losing his personhood to recombining. Oh, apparently Trunks was calling Vegeta "Vegeta-san" in order to try to hide that he's his kid, but everyone already knows because Piccolo told them (and Vegeta figured it out on his own). Vegeta's flying... somewhere in a rage, yelling about how the androids will be sorry they ever chose to disrespect him. Trunks estimates it'll take Goku about ten days to completely recover. Krillin thinks they should be able to keep him hidden for that long, and it's lucky the androids don't seem to be able to track them with ki-sensing or radar or anything. Meanwhile... um Apparently it was Goku who put it somewhere, so that's why poor Chichi can't find it until she searches a particularly high shelf. Upon being administered the medication, Goku seems to experience some alleviation of symptoms almost instantly (now that's some damn fine future supermedicine). Chichi wonders where Gohan is and Yamcha does the whole nervous-laugh routine and says he's probably just out playing or something, yeah, that's it. Piccolo makes his way to Kami's place (and creates a new hat and cloak for himself along the way; he certainly does love that particular outfit).
Ch 356 * throws all pretense of having anything else to do out the window and continues to read * (Kami's Conditions) face off! * dramatic music * is it more or is it less??? because that could be real awkward and uncomfortable for everyone involved :s can piccolo tell what kami is thinking too, or is that just a one-way street because of weird splitting/reproduction stuff? Kami says he never expected that he'd be merging with Piccolo. Piccolo tells him it won't be a merger; Kami's merely a stepping stone for Piccolo to get the power he needs, and that Kami's only worth as a separate entity at the moment is that he keeps the dragon balls running. And those are useless for dealing with the threat that the planet and its people are currently facing. i'll miss kami tho :( he's just so wrinkly and i like him and his robe and his staff and how he's always hanging out up above (except when he's possessing someone's body to fight in martial arts tournaments) Kami agrees to the merger... but he wants to postpone it a little bit. Just to see if the androids are actually threats to the earth. (Also wanting to maintain his personhood? Just wanting to keep the dragon balls around a bit longer?) This sparks an argument between the two. Piccolo's position: they're dangerous, they almost killed all of us including two super saiyans, they've got the future in shambles, we need to take care of them now. Kami's position: you guys started the fight, they let you live, and these artificial humans are different from the ones Trunks has fought in the future by his own admission. Kami urges Piccolo to wait just a little while longer before the final choice is made. Piccolo calls him a gutless coward, but agrees. Be nicer to your potential future merger partner, Piccolo. :( The androids find a van and steal it. First Sixteen picks it up and dumps everything inside out, then settles in the back while Eighteen rides shotgun and Seventeen takes the wheel. Off they drive, leaving the two people who had been using the truck flabbergasted by the side of the road. On the way to Goku and Chichi's place, Tien peels off to go check on Chiaotzu, leaving Krillin and Trunks to move Goku (and deal with any fallout that might come from that). krillin and kami having similar thoughts but for rather different reasons. krillin is thinking about Eighteen, which makes sense, because she is a total babe, in a kind of ice-queenish way. i'd probably be thinking about her too if she kissed my cheek and said "see ya later" to me. probably for many many days Krillin knocks politely and gets hit in the face by Chichi opening the door very enthusiastically, hoping it's Gohan. Poor guy, he gets a lot of stuff thrown at him that he doesn't deserve. He explains the situation to Chichi and Yamcha, and they prepare to move Goku to Roshi's place. After they get packed and have Goku safely arranged on the big transport vehicle, Gohan finally shows up. Hi, Gohan! It's been a few chapters! Hope you managed to deliver Bulma and baby safe and sound to Capsule Corp., and got rid of Yajirobe somewhere! Ch 357 (A Discovery) In the transport ship, there's a discussion going on. Trunks wonders if he should go back to before the androids were awakened and destroy them, because he knows the lab's location now. However, there's a small problem and a big problem with this: the small one is that his ship isn't particularly accurate in where it goes to, and requires a lot of energy to do it. Trunks might not be able to get back. The larger problem is that even if he manages this, that won't change anything about this particular timeline that's already been established, just like his actions here won't affect his personal future, but will change what happens on this new path. Yamcha asks what the point of coming back here was at all if that's the case. Future!Bulma apparently wanted some future to exist somewhere that was not destroyed by the androids, even if it wasn't the one she currently existed in. But what could have caused this timeline to deviate so much from Trunks' own? thanks chichi ;.; (although i still kinda think you two might benefit from a slight touch of couple's counseling) Vegeta is out in some rocky wilderness somewhere and just destroying it by angrily going super saiyan. * thumbs up * you did it good job Vegeta has a momentary crisis where he wonders if this is as good as he's going to get, but quickly overcomes it in usual stubborn Vegeta fashion. He's gonna find a way to defeat the androids, and then he'll defeat Kakarot as well. Good plan, Vegeta. Let's just see you stick to it. The androids are not all universally enjoying the road trip. Flying would get them to Goku's place in a few minutes (Sixteen knows the location), but Seventeen is very determined to have his long trip to get there. The transport ship is almost at Roshi's island, and Krillin is forced to be the one to call Bulma to let her know what's up, and it's a good thing they did: Bulma has some startling news. Someone found a time machine out in the wild somewhere and reported it to Capsule Corp. because they wanted to claim it but couldn't figure out how to make it start. Which is pretty strange, because Trunks has his time machine in capsule form with him. Bulma sends a picture their way (and it actually physically prints out, which I can't help but find funny; it definitely dates the manga) to prove that it's the same time machine that Trunks used. Ch 358 (The Time Machine) Trunks and Bulma both decide to go investigate this mysterious, damaged, moss-covered time machine that shouldn't exist. Gohan asks to come along (yay! I've missed him). Along the way, Gohan and Trunks discuss the future, the androids, and something Trunks has been carefully considering. Good point! this must also be kinda weird for trunks -- being older than gohan Bulma arrives and they compare the time machine that Trunks had in capsule form and this crusty, banged-up one. It's not a second time machine; there's an identifying mark on both of them. "Hope!!", written in English, on one of the machine's supports. Gohan and Trunks fly up to inspect the cabin and the weirdness just continues. .... gohan i love you Bulma inspects it and declares it some sort of eggcase. Gohan wonders if whatever came out of the egg made the metly-looking hole in the dome covering the time machine's cabin area. Trunks checks on the specs and finds that not only did the machine return to the past from three years in his own future, it arrived four years ago, which may have something to do with why things are so drastically different than they were on his timestream. Kami is watching all of this unfold (...somehow, with his god/guardian of earth powers I guess). Piccolo doesn't approve, but Kami's more interested in the time machine business, because it might explain a strange feeling he's been having for the past four years. He's not sure what exactly came back in the time machine, but he knows it's something terrible, worse than the androids. does this happen all over the place in this universe, or is earth just special somehow?
Ch 359 piccolo should just have a big ol' "pi" katakana on his front (ピ) (Kami-sama's Vision) They capsulize the old, wrecked time machine, and it makes a slightly strange sound effect. this was written in english and this is a fan scanlation, all the other sfx are still in japanese, so i can only assume that this was originally an english sfx for some reason Bulma takes the spiky halves of the eggcase and asks after Vegeta. (Aww....) Gohan notices something and goes to check it out. What he's found is the horrific version of a shed cicada or dragonfly shell. It's bigger than Gohan, to give a sense of scale, and insectile, with either wings or wing covers and a segmented bodyplan, although it doesn't have enough legs to actually be part of the Insecta class. (Plus it's way too big to be a bug, which don't have the necessary oxygen transportation capacity to make things bigger than, oh, a dinner plate.) It's also extremely fresh. trunks no don't touch it!! Upon learning that whatever came out of the shell might still be in the area, Bulma gets the heck out of the area in her aircraft, and Trunks and Gohan leave as well, with Trunks wondering just what the hell is going on. You and me both, Trunks. Well, I definitely was super lost the first time through. Couldn't make heads or tails of what was happening. All of a sudden, a "second" time machine? Weird buglike sheddings? It all felt very disjointed and abrupt. The androids have stopped to get Eighteen some new clothes (which she demanded a few chapters ago, after hers got a bit mussed up while fighting with Vegeta). She's in a very western-inspired getup, which she's not too fond of, but it's the best she can do out here in "the sticks". She walks out without paying, and so the shopowner calls the cops on them, which won't end well at all. Eighteen jumps out of the van and puts her fist into the cops' car, making them lose control and crash. Back up at Kami's place, Kami's having a bad time and won't tell Piccolo what's going on. :| And that's the last of Vol. 24. Does not end on a particularly hopeful note.... But luckily all of this was published many years ago, so there's no need to wait to see what happens! I'm only limited by my energy and the number of images I can upload in a single post. Ch 360 (Kami-sama and the Demon King Become One) alternately (The Union of God and the Demon King) Well this may be an exciting chapter! Also? Chapter list and cover art may be back. Consistency, what is it? So I've given the two different translations of the chapter title, just for fun. I probably won't continue to do that, but it might be fun sometimes, especially with some of the longer/punnier titles. Bulma calls Roshi's place and tells them to turn on the news. 15000? 15000 people just disappearing. really disappearing. only clothes left. jesus. it's the rapture Chichi comes downstairs (I didn't know that Roshi's place had an upstairs!) just as Trunks and Gohan arrive. The news captures everyone's attention. this is a brave newscaster THIS TROPE!!! it's such a tease! you just KNOW they've seen something horrific but you don't get to see it/only get little bits and pieces! hnnnng. stupid horror/alien movies (and i guess db manga) that use it The feed cuts out, to be replaced with a view from a toppled camera and a sudden lack of screaming. Kami is horrified, and Piccolo is done with waiting for an answer and demands that Kami spit it out. such a good piccolo face >:0 Kami says Piccolo will know what it is when they merge. Piccolo reiterates his earlier demands: he'll be the base for their fusion, and won't stand for Kami trying to take over or give orders. Kami agrees and says it's only natural, given that Piccolo is the stronger of the two of them. Piccolo puts his hand on Kami's chest. Mr. Popo objects (Kami is his friend! Possibly his only friend!), but Kami insists that he's not needed now; someone like Piccolo, a great warrior, is. (Personally, I'm kind of on the side of Mr. Popo here; Earth already has enough warriors. Earth is practically overflowing with warriors. Earth is replete with aliens that at least to some extent want to protect it.) But, eh, it's Kami's choice ultimately, and he decides to go through with it. this seems traumatic feelin' okay? i bet it had something to do with snails
(continued) well, you don't seem to be traumatized (in fact you seem to be in a much better mood than earlier) off you go indeed. After the loss of news coverage from the scene in Gingertown (or whatever the place is called), Trunks decides to go check it out. Piccolo, er, the newly nameless union of Piccolo and Kami, gets their first, however. but toriyama hasn't decided to show us yet!!
-whaps Puccolo with a newspaper- Bad plantslug, no biscuit. Eta: ono!! I am sad im gonna miss our green grumpface.
Same. :< True (but also I laughed harder than I thought I would all day and I haven't even had breakfast)
Ch 361 the differences in chapter title translations are staggering (The Mysterious Monster, Finally Appears!) or: (Cell) Not to be too spoilery, but Nameless up there is gonna be called Piccolo because I ain't typing out "the union of Kami and Piccolo" every time I want to gush about his ears, and that's what everyone goes on calling him anyway. He doesn't seem to complain too much about it. Or at least just decides it's easier than any of the alternatives. Goodbye Piccolo v2, hello Piccolo v3 (patch notes: stronger, lots of weird guardian of earth knowledge, not quite so moody). Piccolo sees the thing that's been terrorizing Ginger Town. thank you for this beautiful "wtf" face ooooof. there's a lot to take in here. some definite freeza similarities going on, especially in the chest area and potentially with the tail as well, but much more insectile (appropriate, given the molted shell like a cicada's). Not Into the end of that tail at all or... kind of the whole face area. am digging the weird speckly coloration/pattern, though, but it seems like a huge bitch to draw What the fuck is this thing? Apparently it has some insane ki; Piccolo thinks that it shouldn't be possible. The man that the thing is dragging around begs Piccolo to save him and offers to pay him (he's got more than anyone else in town, apparently). I don't think Piccolo cares at all about money, but he asks the thing to let the guy go (quote: "His life is still a life, however pathetic it may be.") The insectile creature does, but then AND THAT'S WHY I DIDN'T TRUST THAT TAIL TIP!! KNEW IT HAD BAD INTENTIONS!!! The guy shrivels and deforms and disappears, leaving a wrinkled suit behind. The creature opens its mouth and says to not worry... Piccolo Daimaou will soon be joining him. This chapter is full of good Piccolo reactions; hearing that particular name and title shocks him and he demands to know how the creature knows that. In response, the creature spikes its ki (I assume) and says that it's Piccolo's brother. Coulda fooled me, I woulda expected more antennae and pointy ears, not to mention a nose. On Roshi's island, Gohan, Trunks, Krillin, and Yamcha are startled by the ki, which feels like, apparently, some unholy combination of not only Freeza and his dad's ki, but also Goku's, Piccolo's, and Vegeta's (maybe others? Not sure if this is an exhaustive list or not). Despite the fact that Goku's still in the Kame House, decidedly not doing anything ki-intensive. And that Freeza and his dad got super-extra killed by Trunks three years ago. Such a beacon is impossible to resist, and Trunks decides to investigate. Vegeta and Tien, both out in their respective wildernesses, also sense it (and go "wtf is that"). Piccolo demands answers and the creature demurs, so Piccolo decides it's time to beat it out of the thing. The creature scoffs a bit at the idea of Piccolo defeating itself, but Piccolo shows off his fancy new powers by doing his own ki power-up (and is generally a huge badass). He says (paraphrased) "Sorry, got the wrong person, that's not me." Ch 362 (A Duel in Ginger Town) Krillin and Trunks sense the second somewhat unfamiliar ki, but Krillin thinks he recognizes it: a merged Piccolo. He's super psyched about it and it's nice. Because the creature has "taken care" of all/most of the people that used to live in Ginger Town, Piccolo's free to do whatever the fuck he wants, battle-wise, and he starts off with a very large blast which sends the insectile thing tumbling back and apparently levels a good portion of city? Which I guess is fine; with Kami gone, it's not like they can wish these people back to life. Although other people might have wanted to use that city for something, Piccolo; but I suppose it's more important to get rid of this weird bug, assuming it (he? I guess he did use the word "brother", and so seems to identify as male) was the one that made all those 15000 people disappear. Krillin and Trunks feel the backlash from the attack, and even the androids, still on their roadtrip, sense something. Seventeen and Eighteen don't... seem to really be able to sense ki in the same way as the protags do, but apparently they sensed a disturbance in the atmosphere. Sixteen, on the other hand, has a radar (a scouter by a different name) and tells them that two "great powers" are fighting near West City. Moreover, one of the two is a match for both Seventeen and Eighteen. Seventeen does the classic "whatever it's just a malfunction" when this is mentioned, which, ugh, I thought we were done with that once we'd moved on from scouters! Sigh. Insect-man was knocked down, but certainly not out, and he and Piccolo have a somewhat one-sided fight, with Piccolo decidedly having the upper hand. This disappoints Piccolo. A lot. "man i went and merged with kami for this...?" (bonus: extremely long ears!) wow so this form isn't perfect? you coulda fooled me, i thought weird gangly insect man form was the 100% best form out there The 15000 people weren't just random kills or attention-seeking. bio-energy??? i am going to have a fit Anyway the thing came back in the time machine of his own accord and had to "devolve" back into an egg in order to fit. Which... yeah, this thing is very tall and doesn't look very flexible. He's surprised that Piccolo knows anything about the time machine. HEY NOW piccolo he has literally been standing there going "ka... me... ha... me..." at you for like 15 seconds now. it can be. it is. deal with it
