Gohan Goes Bananas!

Krillin returns to Kame House after failing to break the news to Chi-Chi, only to get an earful from Bulma. She has repaired Raditz's scouter and uses it to scan the group's power levels, reading Master Roshi at 139 and Krillin at 206. Yajirobe then arrives with a message from Korin: Kami has summoned the remaining fighters to the top of Korin Tower for special training. Shortly after, Chi-Chi and the Ox-King track Krillin to Kame House, and Chi-Chi faints upon hearing that Piccolo has taken her son and that Goku is dead.

The Beast Within

That night, high atop the rock formation, Gohan wakes up and gazes at the full moon. The Saiyan blood in his veins triggers an explosive transformation into a Great Ape. The massive creature goes on a destructive rampage through the wasteland. Piccolo quickly identifies the moon as the catalyst and obliterates it with a single blast. Without the moon's light, Gohan reverts to his normal form. Piccolo rips off the boy's tail as a permanent safeguard, then uses his Magic Materialization to create a new outfit for Gohan, modeled after his own clothing and complete with the demon glyph. The raw power Gohan displayed as a Great Ape leaves Piccolo deeply unsettled about what the incoming Saiyans might be capable of in that same form.

The Great Ape transformation provides a terrifying preview of Saiyan power at its most primal. Gohan, a child with no combat training, becomes an unstoppable force of destruction the moment moonlight hits his eyes. Piccolo's decision to destroy the entire moon rather than risk another transformation shows just how seriously he takes the incoming Saiyan threat.

Double Precaution

Removing Gohan's tail and eliminating the moon represent two layers of protection. Piccolo reasons that without the moon, neither Gohan nor the arriving Saiyans can transform, and without a tail, Gohan is no longer a liability in battle. The new outfit he creates for the boy signals a shift in their relationship from captor and prisoner to teacher and student.

This episode delivers the first Great Ape transformation of Dragon Ball Z and immediately raises the stakes for the Saiyan invasion. If a half-Saiyan child can cause this much destruction, two full-blooded Saiyan warriors will be catastrophic. Piccolo's aggressive countermeasures demonstrate that preparation for the coming battle requires drastic action, not just training.