Line #14 Recap/DragonBallKingPiccoloArc


1	!![[center:[-'''Story Arcs''': [[Recap/DragonBallPilafArc 1: Pilaf Arc]] \| [[Recap/DragonBallTournamentArc 2: Tournament Arc]] \| [[Recap/DragonBallRedRibbonArmyArc 3: Red Ribbon Army Arc]] \| [[Recap/DragonBallBabaArc 4: Baba Arc]] \| [[Recap/DragonBallTienShinhanArc 5: Tien Shinhan Arc]] \| '''6: King Piccolo Arc''' \| [[Recap/DragonBallPiccoloJrArc 7: Piccolo Jr. Arc]]-]]]
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3	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dbfcm_152.jpg]]
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5	''King Piccolo'' arc is the sixth story arc in the ''Manga/DragonBall'' series.
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7	!!Short Summary
8	Shortly after the tournament, Goku and his friends head off for a victory dinner. However, when Goku goes to look for Krillin, he finds that he's been killed. Seeking revenge, he follow his assailant but is easily beaten. Though he eventually manages to get his revenge, Goku finds out he was one of the "sons" of an evil being named Piccolo who was originally sealed away in a rice cooker but has been freed by Pilaf (who was hoping to use him to take over the world but was kowtowed into serving him) who now seeks to, what else, take over the world. Goku and his friends find themselves facing their greatest challenge yet.
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10	!!Main Summary [[note]]Events from filler are in ''italics''.[[/note]]
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12	[[PreviouslyOn Last time... on Dragon Ball!]] [[Recap/DragonBallTienShinhanArc The 22nd World Tournament had come to a close, with Tien scoring a victory over Goku. However, during a victory dinner celebration, Goku returns to the tournament grounds to find Krillin... dead.]]\
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14	In a fit of rage, Goku flies off with the Flying Nimbus, going on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against the one who killed him. The rest of the Dragon Team, however, spots a paper on Krillin with a particular symbol on it... that of the Demon Lord Piccolo. Many years ago, Piccolo terrorized the world before [[SealedEvilInACan becoming trapped in a rice cooker by Roshi's master, Mutaito.]] But Piccolo has been freed by [[UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom the Pilaf Gang]], and sets off two tasks of his EvilPlan: eliminate the martial artists who could challenge him, and gather the Dragon Balls to [[FountainOfYouth restore him to the prime of his youth.]] Thus Roshi and Tien travel all over the world to try and get the Dragon Balls before he does. The remaining heroes relocate Kame House to avoid detection.\
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16	During his quest for revenge, Goku encounters a monster named Tambourine, the one who ultimately killed Krillin. Goku's fight with him, however, does not end well, and he ends up on the losing end. However, after the battle, he encounters a fat vagrant samurai named Yajirobe, who seems to hit it on with Goku.\
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18	In order to gain a greater foothold on his plan, Piccolo births a new henchman by laying an egg from his mouth. This henchman, Cymbal, is tasked with collecting the Dragon Balls. However, he runs afoul of Yajirobe, who also happens to have a Dragon Ball, and ends up chopped and roasted. Realizing this, Piccolo sends a psychic symbol to Tambourine to deal with the interloper ''just before he added Yamcha to his list of victims''. But Yajirobe's cooking leads to Goku recovering fully, and he defeats Tambourine with ease.\
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20	With the loss of his minions, [[OrcusOnHisThrone Piccolo]] [[DefiedTrope stops playing around]] [[LetsGetDangerous and deals with Goku personally.]] It is a fight [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown Goku is utterly mauled in,]] to the point of having his heart stop. Piccolo uses the opportunity to get the Dragon Ball for himself, giving him two to play with.\
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22	Once it becomes clear the heroes are on the hunt for the Dragon Balls, Piccolo [[BatmanGambit comes up with a plan to let the heroes gather the Balls, then steal them from their corpses.]] As insurance, he swallows his own two to make them impossible to gather. In a confrontation with Roshi, Roshi attempts to use the Mafuba on him, but he fails to hit the target, and dies as a result. Stealing the Dragon Balls, Piccolo summons Shenron and attempts to make his wish, with Chiaotzu trying to interrupt.
23	->'''Piccolo:''' DRAGON! I command you! Restore...\
24	'''Chiaotzu:''' Destroy Picco... [[KilledMidSentence ZAP!]]
25	\
26	Indeed, Piccolo kills Chiaotzu, and makes his wish unimpeded. He is restored to his youth at last, becoming even more powerful than before. But he's not done yet. After securing his victory, [[GutPunch Piccolo kills Shenron,]] turning the Dragon Balls to stone and rendering them unusable. And for good measure, [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness he dumps the Pilaf Gang out of their ship]], preparing his assault on the castle of the King of the World.\
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28	However, what he didn't count on was Goku's heart restarting, and knowing he can't beat Piccolo as he is now, he has Yajirobe take him to Korin Tower, [[IWasToldThereWouldBeCake offering the promise of as much food as he wants.]] Once he arrived, Yajirobe gets quite used to the Senzu beans, and Korin reveals the existence of something that can power him up, the Ultra Divine Water, a drink that will either increase his power dramatically... or kill him. ''Acquiring the water isn't easy, however. Goku needs to enter a hidden cave in an icecap, then conquer the illusions of the cave through his will to never give up. Even after all that, however,'' one gulp of the water triggers spasms in Goku.\
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30	...but miraculously, he survives! Goku is stronger than ever, and ready to take on the menace!\
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32	[[JustInTime And he couldn't have gotten his power at a better time.]] ''On the anniversary of the King's rise to power,'' Piccolo [[TakeOverTheWorld takes over the king's castle, and the world along with it.]] With his power, he declares the world free of rules, crime legal, and on May 9th every day, he will destroy one continent of the world. Put simply, [[TheBadGuyWins Piccolo has won.]]\
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34	Not standing for this, Tien attempts to stop him, but Piccolo simply births a new minion, Drum to put him in his place. ''Even Tien's attempt to use the Mafuba is a total failure, though he survives.'' [[DarkestHour The villain has won, and all attempts to stop him have failed. Death awaits Tien...]]\
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36	Until at last, [[HesBack Goku returns]], ready to face the threat of Piccolo.\
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38	Goku easily defeats Drum, then focuses his attention on the Demon Lord himself. Despite Goku's new powers, Piccolo is still always one step ahead. He even uses a powerful energy blast to level the area, and cripples Goku to boot. But even despite his injuries, Goku still has one good arm, and puts everything he has into one last attack.\
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40	It succeeds! Goku's body drives a hole through Piccolo, killing him at last!\
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42	However...\
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44	[[SequelHook Piccolo births one last minion,]] [[AvengingTheVillain telling it to avenge his death by murdering Son Goku.]] Meanwhile, Yajirobe shows up to retrieve Goku. The wandering samurai takes Goku away, accidentally leaving the Power Pole behind. When Bulma, Yamcha, and Launch arrive to obstinately support Tien, they are amazed to hear of what went down. Bulma radios the media to report that Piccolo has been destroyed, but doesn't give Goku's name, only stating that "The forces of good" won. As the world celebrates its freedom from the Demon King...\
45	...The freshly hatched last son of Piccolo swears to avenge his father.\
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47	And of course, Krillin, Chiaotzu, and Roshi are dead alongside many others, the Dragon Balls not around to save them. How will Goku get them back?\
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49	[[ToBeContinued The answer lies in the realm of God. But what awaits him there?]] Find out [[Recap/DragonBallPiccoloJrArc next time]], on ''Dragon Ball''!
50	[[/folder]]
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52	----
53	!!''King Piccolo Arc'' has the following tropes:
54	* AdaptationExpansion: When Korin gets the actual Miracle Water for Goku in the manga, he just pulls it out of a closet. In the anime, he makes Goku go on a journey into a cave to retrieve it.
55	* AndThereWasMuchRejoicing: After Goku kills King Piccolo, everyone across the world celebrated their liberation.
56	* AndThisIsFor: Goku makes it clear he's fighting to avenge Krillin; same for Roshi upon learning of his passing. After mortally wounding King Piccolo, Goku thinks back on them and how he succeeded.
57	* AnyoneCanDie: This is the arc that establishes the series' mainstay of major characters dying, starting with Krillin and following up with Roshi, Chiaotzu and even Shenron.
58	* AsYouKnow: King Piccolo's first scene is one lengthy ExpositionDump that explains to the audience the circumstances in which he was freed by the Pilaf Gang and his motivations for using the Dragon Balls.
59	* TheBadGuyWins: Piccolo succeeds in getting everything he wanted. He got the Dragon Balls to give him eternal youth and killed the dragon so no one could ever use the Dragon Balls against him. He also killed a number of the strongest fighters in the world, and seizes control of the entire world. Too bad his reign was short-lived because of Goku.
60	* BigDamnHeroes: Just as Drum is about to finish Tien, Goku arrives to knock him away. Particularly notable since everyone thought he was long dead.
61	* BittersweetEnding: King Piccolo is killed and the world is safe, but his victims are still dead and the Dragon Balls no longer work, so there is still work to be done. The protagonists also don't know that King Piccolo birthed one last son, who intends to continue the legacy.
62	* CallBack: When hearing a report how some mysterious stranger was not only fighting Piccolo and ''winning'', Bulma remembers Baba's prediction that Goku will save the world.
63	* CameBackWrong: Lampshaded when Goku's friends discuss how to wish Krillin back to life, and Oolong becomes worried about the little guy potentially becoming a walking skeleton.
64	* DarkerAndEdgier: This story arc puts a definite end to comedic nature of villains in the show and basically sets up the tone for following series. While previous bad guys were definitely threatening, they still had some comedic factor in them nonetheless. [[KnightOfCerebus King Piccolo, on the other hand, has none]]. He is played completely seriously, his arrival is marked with death of a primary character, and threat he poses to the world eclipses anything that we've seen until now.
65	* DarkestHour: King Piccolo had Goku's best friend Krillin killed, with him failing to avenge him, now his OldMaster Roshi is also dead along with Chiaotzu, Piccolo got his wish for eternal youth, and worst of all, he killed Shenron himself so that he could no longer be challenged.
66	* DefeatEqualsExplosion: After being mortally wounded by Goku [[TorsoWithAView ramming through his chest]], King Piccolo dies by violently exploding, but still had enough time and strength to birth one last egg.
67	* DefeatingTheUndefeatable: Goku accomplished what no one, not even his Master Roshi, could do when he killed King Piccolo. Even the one who stopped him before, Mutaito, was only able to seal him away.
68	* TheDreaded: King Piccolo. Even Master Roshi is terrified of him.
69	* DyingCurse: Before dying, King Piccolo says Goku has won but only for now. He coughs up one last egg, saying this son will both avenge this defeat and continue his legacy.
70	* EvenEvilHasStandards: Chiaotzu fears it was Master Shen who released King Piccolo, but Roshi doubts this and says Shen knows better than anyone the danger of releasing that monster.
71	* EveryoneHasStandards: In her blonde form, Lunch is saddened by Krillin's death. While she later finds some aspects of the lawless world personally appealing, she considers King Piccolo a loathsome creature that must be stopped.
72	* EvilIsNotAToy: Pilaf learns the hard way that a SealedEvilInACan is not the best business partner.
73	* FaceDeathWithDignity: Master Mutaito knew full well that, whether he won or lost, he would die when confronting King Piccolo again, but he did it anyway for the sake of the world. Roshi does similarly and, though he fails to seal the monster away, he spends his last moments saying someone else will finish what he has started.
74	* {{Flashback}}: When Roshi explains how Master Mutaito faced King Piccolo and died sealing him away.
75	* FountainOfYouth: Piccolo's time trapping in the rice cooker robbed him of his youth. Upon being released, he planned to use the Dragon Balls to become young ''forever''. In retrospect, it's a good thing he didn't also wish for immortality, otherwise, Goku wouldn't have been able to kill him.
76	* TheGreatestStoryNeverTold: Bulma purposely glosses over who exactly defeated King Piccolo and saved the world.
77	* HellYesMoment: After mortally wounding King Piccolo, Goku shouts in victory.
78	* HesBack: Goku after drinking the Ultra Divine Water.
79	* HeroicSacrifice: Attempted by Roshi to seal Piccolo but he misses the rice cooker at the last second, which ends up killing him needlessly. Tien was planning to use the same sealing move later on but was stopped when he noticed the rice cooker he brought had a hole in it.
80	** In the anime, he does use it, but he misses Piccolo, and ensnares his new demon-spawn Drum instead...only for Piccolo to destroy the rice cooker. Tien survives, but barely.
81	* HopeSpot:
82	** Roshi's attempt to seal King Piccolo again results in a {{near miss\|es}} and kills him instead.
83	** Chiaotzu is about to wish for the dragon to kill Piccolo, but he gets KilledMidSentence.
84	** Subverted when Tien makes his own attempt at sealing Piccolo in the anime. He fails and is about to be beaten to death by Drum, but then Goku arrives. When it looks like Drum is about to dominate, Goku effortlessly kicks him aside.
85	* IdiotBall: Bulma, Yamcha, Launch and Oolong go into hiding. But when Tambourine arrives asking for directions, they give their old address to him and tell him it was theirs, anyway. It's only softened because Tambourine recognizes Yamcha right after.
86	* IHaveYourWife: When their second fight starts swinging in Goku's favor, King Piccolo captures Tien and dangles him in front of him as a meat shield to get Goku to back off. Tien tries to convince Goku to attack anyway, stating that his life is secondary to stopping the Demon King, but Goku can't go through with it and backs down.
87	* InsultBackfire: When King Piccolo mumbles his adversary is too strong to be human, Goku cheerfully replies he might not be since he has a tail.
88	* InternalReveal: While Tien and the audience see Roshi's final moments, it's not until meeting up with Korin again that Goku learns his master has also fallen to King Piccolo.
89	* IWasToldThereWouldBeCake: Goku convinces Yajirobe to take him up Korin's tower by telling him that there's a lot of food up there. When they make it up, Yajirobe is incensed to learn that the 'food' is in fact Senzu beans, and angrily swallows a handful- [[DinnerDeformation which is when]] Goku tells him [[NowYouTellMe that one bean is equal to 10 days of food]].
90	* JustInTime: Goku manages to drink the Divine Water and increase his power at the time when he was needed the most, as Piccolo had already established himself as the leader of the world, made crime legal and allowed criminals to run amok, and was planning to destroy West City.
91	* KnightOfCerebus: Piccolo's appearance marked a major shift in the story and the first time where things were completely dire, not just for the heroes but the world as well.
92	* TheLastStraw: Hearing about Master Roshi's death at Piccolo's hands steels Goku's resolve to take him down.
93	* MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning: Before Roshi dies, he tells King Piccolo that it's not over and that someone else will find a way to defeat him.
94	* MySignificanceSenseIsTingling:
95	** Due to being spawned from him, King Piccolo can detect when one of his minions has been destroyed. It apparently hurts his head.
96	** When Master Roshi dies, Goku, while on route to Korrin's tower, has a horrible feeling come over him, making him realize something was very wrong.
97	* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: King Piccolo gives one to Goku, demolishing so thoroughly, that he stop his heart from beating.
98	* NotSoInvincibleAfterAll: Due to King Piccolo's immense power, it seemed like he could not be defeated in direct combat. Even in his initial invasion, the only way he could be stopped was by being imprisoned in a rice cooker through a HeroicSacrifice. As such, the heroes tried alternative plans to stop him, but all failed. However, after being powered up by the Ultra Divine Water, Goku gained the strength to overwhelm and ultimately kill Piccolo in an actual fight.
99	* OhCrap: Goku's reaction when Piccolo effortlessly [[NoSell no-sells]] the Kamehameha during their first battle. It's at this point when he realizes he's completely outmatched and doesn't stand a chance.
100	* OhNoNotAgain: When Piccolo finds out Roshi was [[OhCrap the student of the martial artist who imprisoned him]].
101	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: One of Goku's most well-known and prolonged examples. He is enraged over the murder of Krillin and immediately sets out for vengeance, even though he hasn't eaten yet and is still recovering from the tournament. Later learning that Roshi died and others have suffered as well just makes him more focused and serious. Instead of simple fights for fun, Goku ends up rather brutally taking down King Piccolo and his children (save Cymbal, who was killed by Yajirobe). This is especially noticeable in his second fight with Tambourine. Goku doesn’t waste any time dragging the fight out. He doesn’t believe Tambourine can be [[DefeatMeansFriendship rehabilitated]]. Instead, Goku seems to take pleasure in killing Tambourine, sarcastically commenting that he stopped too soon when Tambourine gets up after a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown. Goku has been shown to be willing to kill before and occasionally after this, but this is perhaps the only time he enjoys doing so.
102	-->'''Goku:''' I'll tear that monster apart!
103	** By the same token, Roshi drops the comedic aspects of his character (along with his sunglasses) and leads the charge against Piccolo as an entirely serious character.
104	* PassingTheTorch: Continuing from his professional retirement from the tournament arc, this arc officially sees Goku take Roshi's place as the preeminent martial artist on Earth and the world's savior. It also marks the last time for a ''very'' long time that his Roshi was truly relevant to the story, with his future appearances being almost entirely limited to comedic relief.
105	* PlanBResolution: With the plan to have Shenron make him vanish and all attempts to re-imprison having failed, it seemed that there was no way to stop King Piccolo. Then Goku did what no one else could and overwhelmed him in actual combat.
106	* PunchCatch: During their rematch, Goku easily catches Piccolo's clearly larger fist, much to his enemy's disbelief.
107	* ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: Throughout most of the arc, everyone thought Goku was dead: his friends, Tambourine, even King Piccolo. This explains why it was so shocking to see him return.
108	* {{Revenge}}:
109	** King Piccolo's first step to conquer the world, killing off all noteworthy martial artists, is partially this, in addition to just PragmaticVillainy .
110	** The main goal of the hero, too. Goku's not fighting for anything as lofty as [[SaveTheWorld saving the world.]] His driving force to destroy King Piccolo and his minions is [[ItsPersonal payback for the deaths of Krillin and Master Roshi.]]
111	* RevengeByProxy: Goku wants to kill Cymbal for no reason other than him probably being friends with Krillin's killer.
112	* RomanticismVersusEnlightenment: This story arc has it in play to an extent, but it's more of a case of one romanticist style ideology versus another romanticist one.
113	** King Piccolo, in contrast to all prior villains, with an especial mention to the Red Ribbon Army, has a more romanticist outlook. While he is willing to rely on the Pilaf gang's tech, namely their Dragon Ball radar and airship, but beyond that he has no use for modern human inventions and instead largely relies on his own immense power and martial arts training to achieve his goals. His plans are fairly simple in that he seeks the Dragon Balls to restore his youth and then conquer the world, largely by himself with the aid of his asexually produced children. Though aside from a vaguely Social Darwinist ideology (read "To create a playground for evil" entry below for details) he has little in the way of an ideological goals (e.g. seeking to create a utopia, claiming the supremacy of one ethnic group over another, etc.). He also claims to be a demon (though would later be revealed to be of an alien race known as Namekians) and proudly wears his disinterest in modernity on his sleeve.
114	** Goku is a NobleSavage of sorts, due to having to raise himself in the wild after his adoptive grandfather passed away, and in this regard is similar to King Piccolo in lacking any interest for modern human inventions. While Goku also has a strong reverence for nature and traditions, especially those in regard to martial arts, like his nemesis, he contrasts with him by having a sense of justice, hence detesting King Piccolo's MightMakesRight mindset. Though Goku is defeated by him in his first attempt to avenge the murder of his friend, he takes it upon himself to a test of his resolve via [[OnlyTheWorthyMayPass drinking the Ultra Divine Water]] to gain the strength he needs to take out the Demon King Piccolo for good.
115	* SealedEvilInACan: Piccolo was sealed in a rice cooker before being released.
116	* ShutUpHannibal: The final fight leaves Goku crippled. King Piccolo boasts that the kid is finished, but Goku says he still has one working arm and intends to use it.
117	* TakeOverTheWorld: Piccolo successfully conquers Earth. However, his reign ends up being very brief, thanks to Goku.
118	* TearsOfJoy: Having delivered the killing blow against King Piccolo, Goku tears up a little and reflects on avenging both Krillin and Roshi.
119	* ThisIsUnforgivable: When Goku found Krillin's corpse, he knew he would not stop until his murderer was dead, no its or buts. Stated loudly when he engages Piccolo for the second time:
120	-->'''Son Goku:''' You killed my friends... I'll never forgive you!
121	* ToCreateAPlaygroundForEvil: Piccolo's plan for ruling the world; He goes on global television and tells everyone that they can rob and kill as much as they like, and his demons will slaughter anyone who tries to fight the madness.
122	* TooDumbToLive: Pilaf was this in releasing Piccolo despite knowing of his reputation. Even he eventually admits how bad an idea it was.
123	* TorsoWithAView: In their final clash, Goku launches himself to use every last bit of power he's got, and King Piccolo braces to block it. Goku rips a hole right through King Piccolo's chest, passing right through it.
124	* ATragedyOfImpulsiveness: When King Piccolo was about to make his wish to Shenron, Tien, desperate to stop him, mentally told Chiaotzu to make a wish to the dragon first to get rid of the demon. Unfortunately, all Tien's plan did was get Chiaotzu killed, without even upsetting King Piccolo's efforts to regain his youth. Tien is filled [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone with regret and guilt for it afterwards]].
125	* VillainBall: In the flashback, King Piccolo could've killed Master Mutaito immediately, but he preferred to mock him and try to torture him some more. This delay gave Mutaito the needed opening to unleash his new attack and seal the demon away.
126	* VillainWorld: Piccolo's reign ''almost'' had the Earth turn into this, since crime was basically legal. However, Goku killed him before it ever got that far.
127	* VillainousBreakdown: When Goku curb-stomps him during their rematch, Tambourine becomes enraged over this turn of events, so he unleashes an energy blast point-blank. When he sees Goku dodged it and is fully prepared to keep wailing on him, he completely cracks and tries to flee (not that he gets very far).
128	* WhamEpisode: Starting with Goku finding Krillin's body.
129	* WhamShot: Perhaps just as serious as losing a handful of key characters, is Piccolo killing Shenron and, thus, negating the power of the Dragon Balls. This prevents those characters from coming back and takes away a means of undoing Piccolo's conquest.
130	* WorfHadTheFlu: Goku loses to Tambourine the first time because, as Master Roshi said, it was only a short time since his fight against Tien. It's been established that how strong Goku is was proportional to how full his stomach was. Once Goku manages to fill up on Yajirobe's fish, the next fight ends with Tambourine becoming atoms.
131	* YouCantThwartStageOne: Despite valiant attempts, King Piccolo's plan to use the Dragon Balls to gain eternal youth succeeded. Furthermore, his conquest of the world also went off without a hitch. It was ''while'' he was ruling that his plans were ruined.
132	* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness:
133	** Once he gets the Dragon's wish, Piccolo has Pilaf's trio tossed from their own airship. They survive...but this is the last we see of them in the manga. The kicker? This was Piccolo being generous, as he states it's Pilaf's "reward" for reviving him.
134	** He also kills Shenron after getting his wish granted.
135	* YouMonster: King Piccolo calls Goku a monster after being clobbered by a Kamehameha. Goku points out the irony right away.
136	-->'''King Piccolo:''' You... You're a monster!\
137	'''Son Goku:''' That makes two of us!
138

Context Recap / DragonBallKingPiccoloArc