Goku vs. Kuririn, Part 3

The Tail Is No Longer Tender

With Kuririn clamped onto his tail and his strength visibly fading, Goku looks finished. The announcer panics over the sudden collapse, and in the stands Tenshinhan privately decides this Kuririn kid will make an easy next opponent. Just as the count hits nine, Goku snaps upright, flips over his friend's head, and uses the grip on his tail as a lever to slam Kuririn down onto the tiles. He cheerfully explains that he toughened the tail through training exactly as his grandfather had once advised, even if the audience assumes Kame-Sen'nin deserves the credit. Watching from the wall, the Turtle Hermit concedes that Goku has effectively sealed off his last real vulnerability.

A Cheap Trick and a Vanishing Act

Kuririn buys himself a breather with the oldest ruse in the book, pointing off into the distance and clipping Goku in the face with an elbow the instant he looks. Kame-Sen'nin mutters that Goku does have one flaw after all, that he is simply too honest for his own good. Goku answers by disappearing from sight entirely. The ring, the crowd, and Kuririn himself are baffled, but Tenshinhan realizes the truth immediately: the boy has not teleported, he is merely moving at a speed the eye cannot follow. A heartbeat later Goku reappears right under Kuririn's nose, sticks out his tongue to startle him, then sends him tumbling over the boundary with one clean blow.

Onward to the Final

The ring-out call goes up, and the audience erupts in disbelief at how abruptly the match turned. Tenshinhan takes the result in stride, while Tsuru-Sen'nin and Kame-Sen'nin both reconsider their assessment of the young monkey-tailed fighter. When the announcer offers a brief recess before the final, Goku waves it off. The booth proclaims that the title of strongest under the heavens and the five hundred thousand zeni purse will now be decided between Tenshinhan and Son Goku in what promises to be the match of the century. Kuririn shouts encouragement from the sidelines as Tenshinhan quietly admits this should prove entertaining.