Gohan's Special Attack in Dragon Ball Super (2024)

In Dragon Ball Super's latest arc, Gohan displays a brand-new ability. New for him, that is. In reality, it's an attack that Dragon Ball fans are more than familiar with, and which has special importance for Gohan's relationship with his mentor, Piccolo.

In Chapter 99 of the DBS manga, Gohan charges up an attack he has never personally used before: the Special Beam Cannon. This is an important moment for Gohan, Piccolo, and the Dragon Ball franchise as a whole, because it calls back the initial moment that brought Piccolo and Gohan closer. The death of Goku in the beginning of Dragon Ball Z was a tragic moment, but it also was the start of a lifelong friendship between Gohan and Piccolo that made them both better people because of it.

The Relationship Between Gohan and Piccolo Started With The Special Beam Cannon

At the start of Dragon Ball Z, Piccolo was still mostly a wild card whose true intentions were unknown, and whom no one could trust. However, Goku had no choice but to rely on him because there was no one stronger to fight at his side against the greatest threat the world had ever known, Raditz. After Raditz kidnapped Gohan, Goku was forced to team up with Piccolo to rescue his son, and save the world in the process.

The ensuing battle served as Piccolo's first true step toward redemption. Fighting alongside Goku was something that Piccolo had to do, and his intentions were most likely selfish. However, his decisions after that indicated a small change in his personality. After Goku sacrificed himself to kill Raditz, Piccolo could have simply taken the opportunity to conquer the Earth with no one left to stop him. Whether due to his own fear of the impending threat of Vegeta and Nappa, or due to some deeper compassion that even he didn't understand at the time, Piccolo decided to take Goku's son as his student and train him as a warrior. From that moment on, there was no turning back for Piccolo. He slowly developed a soft spot for Gohan, to the point that he would even give his own life to protect him.

As macabre as it may be, these characters' relationships began with Piccolo killing Raditz and Goku at the same time with his special beam cannon. Through their subsequent training arc together, both Gohan and Piccolo grew more as people than they ever could have individually. Gohan learned courage thanks to Piccolo's merciless training routine, while Piccolo learned how to care about someone other than himself. In the process, Piccolo became like a found-family-member for Gohan, which culminated in Piccolo giving his life for Gohan in display of how he truly came to care for him like his own son. DBS' Super Hero arc is really all about Gohan being a superhero to save and protect his daughter, just as Piccolo once had for him.

Piccolo Always Knew How To Draw Out Gohan's Inner Strength

As Gohan's mentor throughout his childhood, Piccolo understood more than anyone from the very start just how powerful Gohan could be. He identified earlier than anyone that the source of Gohan's power was a deep-seeded rage, and that fact about Gohan's hidden strength has never changed. Piccolo also knows from experience that Gohan is normally a kind-hearted and peaceful person, and the only time he is ever willing to let loose is if the people he cares about are in danger. That's why Piccolo chose to kidnap Pan during the Super Hero arc in order to manipulate Gohan into drawing out his full strength preemptively. Instead of waiting until Pan and the rest of the planet were actually in danger and things were already too late, Piccolo took a proactive approach in convincing Gohan to tap into his secret power reserves ahead of time, along with Pan's cooperation.

What Piccolo didn't exactly recognize was that nothing he would have been willing to actually do to Pan was going to be harmful enough to push Gohan to ascend to a new level of power. That's because Piccolo would never actually hurt or scare Pan in any genuine way, and Gohan seems to only ever be motivated to draw out his full power when he directly witnesses a person in actual pain or mortal danger. Gohan has a lot of patience and compassion, and it takes a lot for him to snap. That's why Gohan only ends up achieving his Beast Gohan form long after Cell Max has already begun wreaking havoc, and then seemingly killed Piccolo himself. There may have been a time when Piccolo would have committed similar acts of evil in the past, but that time has long passed.

Even though Gohan didn't achieve a new form in response to Piccolo's false attack on Pan, it was still a necessary step to get him to the point where he could power up to that next level. Gohan hadn't encountered serious combat in a long time, so even though it's later revealed that Gohan had been training in secret, he was pretty rusty at first. Leave it to Piccolo to know just the right way to get Gohan back into fighting shape.

Gohan's Special Beam Cannon Shows His Admiration For Piccolo Hasn't Waivered

One of the most iconic scenes in the entire Dragon Ball franchise was Gohan and Goku's father-son Kamehameha at the end of the Cell Saga. It was only natural that Gohan would inherit his father's signature attack, the Kamehameha, especially considering the intensive training that he underwent with his father in the hyperbolic time chamber prior to the Cell Games.

Similarly, Gohan's ability to channel the special beam cannon in DBS' Super Hero arc was really just a long time coming. After all, Piccolo actually trained Gohan long before Goku did. Gohan finally mastering the special beam cannon after all this time only accentuates his continued admiration for his childhood mentor, even though he undeniably surpassed him in power years ago. Gohan keeping up with his training just proves that he still takes Piccolo's opinion into account, even when it doesn't seem like it. To Piccolo, it seemed like Gohan fell off with his training because he's always studying and conducting research as a scientist. In reality, Gohan was secretly training the entire time purely out of respect for Piccolo's perspective.

This resonance between the past and the present of Gohan and Piccolo's relationship didn't happen by accident. Akira Toriyama very clearly intended to make this connection apparent. After all, even the cinematography of the scene where Gohan used the special beam cannon while Piccolo held Cell Max back in the Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero movie was a clear reference to the iconic scene of Goku and Raditz's death in DBZ. The underlying message would have been there regardless, but the strong, deliberate imagery of the special beam cannon really drives home how far Gohan and Piccolo have come, and how close they remain after all these years. To this day, Gohan continues to wear the same purple garb as Piccolo during combat, and it's easy to see why.

Dragon Ball Super

TV-PG

Anime

Action

Adventure

With Majin Buu defeated half-a-year prior, peace returns to Earth, where Son Goku (now a radish farmer) and his friends now live peaceful lives.

Release Date

January 7, 2017

Cast

Masako Nozawa , Takeshi Kusao , Ryô Horikawa , Hiromi Tsuru

Seasons

5