To Win By a Tail

A Deadly Weakness Exposed

Goku's Afterimage leaves the masked fighter staring at thin air, but the veteran warrior quickly notes that the technique restricts Goku's ability to move freely while it is active. He cups his hands at his side and starts building a second Kamehameha, only to freeze when he realizes Goku is winding up the exact same attack. The boy unleashes his wave first, slamming the masked fighter square in the chest. Goku calls across the arena for him to surrender before the next blast finishes the bout. Rather than answer, the stranger lunges forward and clamps his hand around Goku's tail. The boy's body goes limp in an instant. Yamcha mutters about the hidden weakness attached to the Saiyan tail and wonders aloud how this fighter could possibly have known. Watching from the gallery, Master Roshi pieces the clues together and finally understands who is behind the mask.

Pilaf Overhears Everything

Far from Baba's palace, Emperor Pilaf is glued to a monitor that has been broadcasting the whole tournament. The moment he hears that Goku is paralyzed whenever his tail is caught, his mood flips from bored to ecstatic. He pulls out a sealed case containing the one Dragon Ball that has been eluding Bulma's radar, revealing that the box itself blocks the signal so Goku cannot track the sphere down. Pilaf orders Shu and Mai into the car, intent on hunting Goku down while the boy is still trapped in Baba's arena and stealing every ball he has already gathered.

The Mask Starts to Slip

Back at the ring, Goku stubbornly refuses to quit even as the masked fighter swings him around by the tail like a club. Roshi finally says the words out loud for the others: the masked warrior is Grandpa Gohan, the adoptive grandfather who raised Goku in the mountains and was supposed to be long dead. The stunned gallery barely has time to process the revelation before Gohan slams Goku into the ground one more time with such force that the boy's tail tears clean off at the base.