Even though Goku is one of the greatest warriors in the Dragon Ball universe and Yamcha, well, isn’t, Goku still stole one of Yamcha’s techniques.
In the current age of the Dragon Ball mythos, it seems absurd that Goku–a fighter who has surpassed the power levels of literal gods–would be accused of stealing any kind of technique from Yamcha, but shockingly enough, that’s exactly what happened in one particularly silly (yet simultaneously terrifying) storyline of Dragon Ball GT.
Yamcha is perhaps the most disappointing character in the entire Dragon Ball universe–and the fact that this wasn’t always the case makes him even more frustrating. While Yamcha has since become a laughingstock among the other Z-Fighters (with his exclusion from Dragon Ball Super’s Tournament of Power being the perfect example of this), Yamcha used to be a pretty badass fighter. During the era of classic Dragon Ball, Yamcha was a desert bandit who wielded a sword and studied martial arts. He even had a signature move that was both visually stunning and greatly impactful, the Wolf Fang Fist. Not only that, but Yamcha was even able to defeat Goku himself while the Saiyan warrior was at his strongest–and it was during this fight that Yamcha used a technique that Goku eventually stole.
Goku Planned to Defeat Zoonama the Same Way Yamcha Defeated Him
In Dragon Ball GT season 1, episode 7 (written by Aya Matsui, directed by Osamu Kasai, produced by Toei Animation), Goku, Trunks, and Pan find themselves on an alien planet in their universe-wide search for the Black Star Dragon Balls. On this world, a village is being terrorized by a giant monster (who resembles an anthropomorphic catfish) named Zoonama. Zoonama seemingly has the terrifying ability to cause earthquakes by vibrating his whiskers, and he uses this power as leverage to make the villagers do whatever he says–including forcing one of the women to be his bride. The woman in question had a Dragon Ball in her possession, and she made a deal with the Z-Fighters that if they helped her, she would give them the Dragon Ball. So, Goku came up with a plan that was a bit derivative, but seemingly sound all the same.
Goku’s plan to stop Zoonama was to have one of the townspeople get close to the monster and then cut off Zoonama’s whiskers with a giant pair of scissors. This is exactly what Yamcha did when fighting Goku in a chapter of classic Dragon Ball. In Dragon Ball chapter 22 by Akira Toriyama, Goku transforms (for the first time on-panel) into a Great Ape–a transformation that is famous for wiping out entire planets–and Yamcha takes Goku on without hesitation. In a moment of quick-thinking brilliance, Yamcha tells his shape-shifting partner, Puar, to transform into a giant pair of scissors, and Yamcha used those scissors to cut off Goku’s tail–a move that effectively eliminated Goku’s Great Ape power and reverted him back to his humanoid form. Since this ‘technique’ gave Yamcha his greatest victory to date, it takes the top-spot as the fighter’s best move–and Goku apparently agreed.
Yamcha’s battle tactic against Goku evidently stuck with the Saiyan as he and Yamcha came up with the same solution for two very similar problems–indicating that Goku actually stole Yamcha’s greatest Dragon Ball technique.
Source: Screenrant.com
