Potential, it’s something we all possess but not all realize. Son of one of the most powerful and skill fighters in all of reality, Gohan had not only potential but expectations. When you’re dad loves fighting, what do you do to define yourself? Let’s find out!
Gohan Son was born to Goku Son and Chichi, named after Goku’s adoptive grandfather since the baby seemed to like the name, compared to his mother’s choice, Einstein. The boy was rather sensitive, even for a baby ready to cry at the drop of a hat. His own hat carried with it the 4-Star Dragon Ball, the one Goku had inherited from his grandfather. While his father wished for him to become a great fighter, like his dad, Chichi desired for him to become a scholar and so she would home school him. When out for a walk, Gohan’s stroller rolled away from his parents and collided with a tree. Instead of being injured badly, like most children, Goku would find his son unharmed and the tree having a hole in it.
Gohan was just leaving toddler age when Goku’s brother Raditz would arrive from the stars with intent of taking over the planet. Trying to help his father in his fight would end up with young Gohan getting kidnapped by his uncle and held as ransom. Proving more than he bargained for, Raditz would also see some of Gohan’s potential power as he attempted to escape. When all was said and done with Raditz, Gohan would help Goku and Piccolo stop Raditz, but with Goku dying in the process and learning more invaders were coming to attack Earth.
Piccolo would take to training Gohan in combat to better prepare him for the alien invaders. The two learn a lot from each other, Gohan’s sunny disposition brings out the paternal side of Piccolo while Piccolo strengthens Gohan in mind and physical prowess. Gohan still has his Saiyan tail at this time and attacks Piccolo as a giant ape when he sees the full moon so he loses his tail with the aide of Piccolo. When the Saiyan invaders, Vegeta and Nappa arrive, it is soon seen that Gohan is still just a child in this battle for the Earth. His father is resurrected thanks to the Dragon Balls so that Gohan and company have a fighting chance. It ends up being Gohan’s regrown tail due to Saiyan technology that causes him to become a giant ape once more that stops Vegeta from killing more of his friends, having lost Piccolo in the battles.
Finally living up to his father’s wishes, Gohan now regularly trains to fight, much to his mother’s chagrin. He assists in collecting the Dragon Balls so they may stop the coming of the space tyrant, Frieza. Traveling with family friend, Krillin, they would go to Piccolo’s home planet of Namek to get their Dragon Balls. They would run into Vegeta, who was now also on the run from his former master, Frieza. Despite their past, Gohan and Krillin would have to team up with Vegeta if they planned on stopping Frieza and his forces. The plan become that if worst comes to worst, they use their combined collection of Dragon Balls to make Vegeta immortal so he could have a fighting chance of defeating Frieza.
Working together, the three are able to stop Frieza’s lieutenants, the Ginyu Force, but Frieza proves to be a force to be reckoned with all his own. Gohan proves he has developed a lot since beginning to fight as he is able to weaken Frieza by catching him off guard. As others join in and get knocked out of the battle, Gohan shows he is able to bring about power that nearly equals the adults he is working with and going up against even at this young age. While not able to fully stop Frieza, he still puts in a great effort and is an able distraction against the tyrant. Sadly, it is when Gohan and friends believe they are victorious at killing Frieza that he returns to nearly kill Piccolo and murder Krillin, forcing Gohan to flee while his father attempts to fight off Frieza for Gohan’s escape.
The battle raged on, now with Gohan believing his father dead and with Namek on the verge to explode, Gohan tries to keep Frieza distracted so the planet explosion may take him with it. Frieza, now no longer underestimating Gohan, sees what he is doing and even with Gohan’s rage empowering him, he was no match for Frieza. Thankfully, Goku was alive and able to fight Frieza, but sadly with Gohan’s plan, while Gohan and his friends can escape, he watches Namek explode, taking out his father and Frieza with it. When they are able to use the Dragon Balls again later in the year, they learn that Goku cannot be resurrected since he did not die, he must make his way back to his family though. During this time, Gohan begins to eagerly go back to studying with his mother and training with Piccolo.
A year after the battle with Frieza and still, Goku has not arrived home yet, but Gohan and company learn that he was not the only one to survive the destruction of Namek, Frieza has come to Earth along with his own father, King Cold, to take vengeance on Earth’s defenders. Gohan realizes that without his father, none of them could take on Frieza, let alone he and his father. Thankfully a time traveling Trunks, the son of Vegeta and family friend, Bulma (who Gohan had just met the rather newborn baby aged version of recently) arrives and easily dispatches Frieza and King Cold. The time traveler alerts them of Goku’s arrival and that soon, an android uprising would occur and Goku would die of heart disease so he would be unable to help Gohan and friends from stopping the androids and cyborgs who were coming. Training with his fathers, Goku and Piccolo, Gohan would begin to push himself further than ever before.
There you have it! This isn’t the end of Gohan’s journey, merely the beginning, really, but this story technically has an ending so no need to spoil that for you. Gohan’s potential is a running theme through out his life, as is his desire to study rather than fight. He grows from baby to full grown adult as Dragon Ball Z and Super go on. He’s has been a favorite of mine since I was a teenager and still is. While Super lives on in films now, we may have more Gohan stories in the near future. See you next time!
Suggested Reading
Dragon Ball Z
Dragon Ball Super
Dr. Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net
