The Notorious Mercenary

General Blue returns to Red Ribbon Army Headquarters expecting a hero's welcome, but Commander Red is furious over his string of failures. Despite Blue presenting the stolen Dragon Radar, Red declares that failing to retrieve the actual Dragon Balls warrants severe consequences. Terrified, Blue drops the radar as the reality of his situation sinks in.

Red offers Blue one chance at survival: defeat Mercenary Tao in combat. Blue accepts eagerly, confident in his abilities. The fight begins with Blue launching his best attacks, but Tao dodges every strike with casual grace, even appearing behind Blue without effort. Desperate, Blue unleashes his Psychic Eyes, the technique that paralyzed both Krillin and Goku. Tao merely cracks his neck and asks what that was all about. In blind panic, Blue charges Tao, who sidesteps and kills the general with a single pressure point strike using only his tongue.

Meanwhile, at the Sacred Land of Korin, Goku learns from Bora about the legendary tower and the Sacred Water at its summit that can multiply a warrior's strength. After studying his target from a briefing, Tao travels to the Sacred Land by throwing a stone pillar and riding it through the sky. He arrives with murderous intent, and when Bora steps in to protect Goku, Tao kills him mercilessly with a single throw of his own spear. Enraged by the death of his new friend, Goku launches himself at the deadliest assassin in the world.

The scene where Tao shrugs off Blue's Psychic Eyes is one of the most chilling power demonstrations in the original series. A technique that completely immobilized Goku has zero effect on Tao, establishing the assassin as an entirely different class of threat. Blue's shift from confidence to panic to death happens in seconds, and it is brutal.

Bora's Last Stand

Bora's death at Tao's hands is one of Dragon Ball's first truly tragic moments. Here is a man who shrugged off bullets and defeated an entire Red Ribbon battalion, killed with his own spear by someone who barely considered him worth the effort. Upa's grief and Goku's rage create an emotional intensity that elevates the stakes beyond anything the series has delivered so far.

Mercenary Tao's debut is designed to terrify. He kills General Blue, one of the saga's primary antagonists, as casually as swatting a fly. His method of travel, throwing a pillar and riding it across the sky, is absurdly powerful and instantly iconic.

Bora's death gives Goku his first real motivation beyond collecting Dragon Balls: he now has a friend to avenge and, eventually, to resurrect. This marks the beginning of Goku's personal war against the Red Ribbon Army, driven by loss rather than adventure. The Pressure Point Attack and the pillar throw both debut as signature Tao techniques here.