The Climax Approaches

The Moon, Not the Boy

The announcer starts to name Jackie Chun the winner while Krillin screams that he is a murderer. Jackie simply points toward a pile of rubble where a stripped and bruised Goku lies sprawled but very much alive. He explains that the Max Power Kamehameha was never aimed at the Great Ape at all. It was aimed at the moon itself, the source of the transformation. The announcer looks up, notes the empty sky, and starts lamenting that there will be no more rice dumplings by moonlight and that wolfmen everywhere have just lost their ability to change. Jackie cuts the rambling short and demands he start the count.

Back on Two Feet

Goku pushes himself upright at the count of two, puzzled that his clothes have vanished but unbothered by the nudity. The announcer refuses to restart the match until he puts something on, so Krillin climbs into the ring and hands over his own gi, then slips back into his old Orin Temple outfit for the duration. Goku returns shaky and very hungry, noting aloud that his strength is nowhere near what it was minutes ago.

One Last Exchange

Jackie tries to finish the match with another Kamehameha but the charge fizzles. Goku realizes that without enough ki to form the wave, his opponent cannot use the same technique to hover or fly either. He fires his own Kamehameha, which Jackie barely dodges, then leaps in with a jump kick that knocks the master cleanly over the edge. Everyone assumes the title is Goku's until Jackie calls attention to his left foot, still braced into the side of the platform and holding him suspended a few inches above the ground. The ring out is denied. Announcing that the rest of the bout will be decided hand to hand by the stronger fighter, Jackie studies Goku's small frame and quietly hits on an idea. Both combatants lunge at each other as the chapter closes.