The following is a list of every battle power stated in the manga, along with a few other key lines relating to the concept of battle power. As you’d expect of a concept used almost solely by Freeza and his men, battle powers are only around as long as they appear in the manga; from Tankōbon Volumes 17 to 28, twelve volumes in total. Vegeta keeps on using the phrase “battle power” as a synonym for ki for the rest of the series, but he no longer attaches any numerical values to them. We’ve also included the few lines that refer to “kiri”, the unit of energy measurement used by Bobbidi and his men, as seen in Tankōbon Volume 38. Be sure to click the manga sources listed to view a scan of each specific scene.
While numbers in Japanese are traditionally written in kanji, nowadays it is extremely common for them to be written in Arabic numerals like we use in English, or sometimes even a mix of the two. In Dragon Ball they are normally written in Arabic numerals, but larger numbers are written in a mix of Arabic numbers and kanji. The Japanese numeric system is essentially the same as the Arabic system, up to 10,000. The Japanese word for 10,000 is “man” (万), and it is used as the unit for the higher numbers. For instance, 100,000 is written in Japanese as “juu-man” (10万; lit. 10 1,000’s) while one million is “hyaku-man” (100万). This pattern goes on until you reach 100 million (that is, 10,000×10,000), which is written as “oku” (億).
For example, the battle power listing for Super Saiyan Son Goku in Daizenshuu 7 is “ichi-oku go-sen-man” (1億5000万), or 150 million (math shown below). There are kanji for numbers far bigger than 100 million, but fortunately you don’t really have to know those to follow Dragon Ball. Really, as far as the manga is concerned, all you have to do is remember that “man” (万) is 10,000 and you should be able to read all the battle powers in the Japanese manga scans yourself.
Tankōbon Volume 17
The first battle power mentioned in the series comes when Raditz measures the farmer who drives out to investigate his spaceship’s landing site. From a story-telling perspective, the farmer’s reading is obviously supposed to give a sense of scale to these numbers, by showing how an ordinary man ranks in. Raditz quickly kills this farmer, and remarks on how fragile the people on Earth are.
Chapter 195; Page 05; Panel 03
Raditz: “Battle power… only 5, huh?… Miserable trash…”Farmer: 5
Raditz quickly locates Piccolo, the strongest person on the planet after Goku. Despite being so much stronger than the ordinary inhabitant of Earth, Piccolo’s attack doesn’t harm Raditz at all.
Chapter 195; Page 10; Panel 02
Raditz: “Oh, battle power 322. So there are guys like this here too? But naturally, you’re no match for me…”Piccolo: 322
As Raditz seals Gohan inside his spaceship to shut him up, his scouter picks up a very high battle reading nearby. It turns out to be Gohan, but Raditz dismisses this, thinking that his scouter is malfunctioning. But when his scouter accurately shows that Goku and Piccolo are heading his way, he’s forced to face the prospect that Goku’s child really is that powerful. In the manga, this is the first hint we have that young Gohan isn’t quite as much of a weakling as he appears.
Chapter 199; Page 03; Panel 04
Raditz: “Battle power 710!!! It’s close!! Where is it?!”Chapter 199; Page 06; Panel 04
Raditz: “It can’t be… there absolutely has to be some mistake! It’s impossible for him to have a battle power of 710 at such a young age…!!”Son Gohan: 710
Although Raditz had earlier noted that Goku (Kakarrot) had the largest battle power on Earth, this is the first time he actually says the exact number. Goku is marginally stronger than Piccolo, who he managed to beat by a hair five years earlier at the 23rd Tenka’ichi Budōkai.
Chapter 199; Page 05; Panel 05
Raditz: “One… two… Battle powers 322 and 334!! One is the same battle power as Kakarrot.”Son Goku: 334
Before fighting Raditz again, Piccolo takes off his heavy turban and mantel; the first time he does this trademark “getting down to business” move. Goku likewise removes his heavy boots, wrist bands, and undershirt, just like he had previously done during his match with Tenshinhan at the 23rd Tenka’ichi Budōkai. Raditz notices that this makes both of their battle powers shoot up, though he says that even so the two of them are still absolutely no match for him.
Chapter 199; Page 09; Panel 06
Raditz: “Hmm?! His battle power increased to 408…!”Chapter 199; Page 10; Panel 02
Raditz: “Kakarrot is 416…!”Piccolo, without heavy clothing: 408
Son Goku, without heavy clothing: 416
As Goku desperately tries to hold off Raditz while Piccolo charges up the Makankōsappō, he fires his signature beam attack. Raditz is astonished that Goku can raise his battle power by concentrating it, but he still manages to block the Kamehameha with both hands.
Chapter 201; Page 06; Panel 02
Raditz: “Impossible!!! His battle power is rising!!! Battle power 924…!!!”Chapter 201; Page 06; Panel 03
Raditz: “He can concentrate his battle power into a single point, raising it?…!!!”Son Goku, while charging a Kamehameha: 924
Just like Goku and the Kamehameha, Piccolo is able to raise his battle power by concentrating it into a single point and firing an incredibly powerful attack. Although Piccolo’s Makankōsappō attack is far stronger than Goku’s Kamehameha, Raditz is still able to dodge it by a hair. He says that had the attack hit him head on, it would have surely taken him out.
Chapter 201; Page 07; Panel 02
Raditz: “Th-this one’s battle power is 1,020…30…!!! Un-unbelievable!!!! It’s still rising!!!!”Chapter 201; Page 13; Panel 03
Raditz: “Battle power 1,330…!!!! He’s gathered a-all of his battle power into his fingertips…!!!!”Piccolo, while charging the Makankōsappō: 1,020-1,030
Piccolo, with the Makankōsappō fully charged: 1,330
Enraged as Raditz torments his father, Gohan bursts out of Raditz’s spaceship, even more powerful than before. He charges Raditz and greatly damages him, but afterwards his battle power drops down all the way to 1. As Raditz says, his power apparently changes with his emotions.
Chapter 203; Page 04; Panel 02
Raditz: “Ba.. ba… battle power… 1,307…?!”Chapter 203; Page 08; Panel 03
Raditz: “N… now his battle power is only 1… it completely changes with his em… emotions…”Son Gohan, angry: 1,307
Son Gohan, after attacking Raditz: 1
Out in space, Vegeta insults Raditz for dying at the hands of people so weak.
Chapter 204; Page 10; Panel 01
Vegeta: “Geez, what a pitiful guy… To be killed by guys with battle powers slightly over 1,000 at most…”
Tankōbon Volume 18
After Bulma finishes converting Raditz’s scouter to display battle powers in Earth numbers, she quickly finds all of the strong fighters on Earth. Naturally, Piccolo is the strongest now that Goku is dead. In fact, Piccolo with his weights on is seven points higher than he was back when he was fighting Raditz. Perhaps he’s wearing a lighter turban?
Chapter 209; Page 03; Panel 05
Bulma: “I changed it to use easily understandable display-symbols… OK… now… 139! This is the number that represents Muten Rōshi-sama‘s strength!”Chapter 209; Page 04; Panel 02
Bulma: “Kuririn-kun is… Ah, incredible!! It says 206!!”Chapter 209; Page 04; Panel 05
Bulma: “…Eh?! About 3,000 km from here, there’s someone at 250! Who could it be?!”
Kuririn: “250?!”Chapter 209; Page 04; Panel 06
Kuririn: “I know!! It’s Tenshinhan-san!!!”Chapter 209; Page 04; Panel 07
Bulma: “Over there, 177…”
Kame-Sen’nin: “…I’d assume that’d be Yamcha…!!”Chapter 209; Page 05; Panel 01
Bulma: “Ah…!! Thr… 329…?! Amazing…! Wh… who is it?”Chapter 209; Page 05; Panel 02
Kame-Sen’nin: “It’s got to be Piccolo, right?…”Kame-Sen’nin: 139
Kuririn: 206
Tenshinhan: 250
Yamcha: 177
Piccolo: 329
After arriving on Earth, Nappa is surprised that the fighters on Earth are so much stronger than they expected, but Vegeta isn’t too worried.
Chapter 213; Page 08; Panel 01
Nappa: “Hey, Vegeta!! Something’s strange…! There’s not just one or two readings with a battle power of over 1,000! What’s with this planet?…”
Vegeta: “Don’t worry. They’re no match for us, after all. For the time being, let’s just search for the guy with the highest battle power…”
As Piccolo and the others prepare to fight Vegeta and Nappa, Nappa quickly reads off their battle powers. In the manga, it’s not clear just which number goes with which character (though Piccolo, as the one standing in the middle, is presumably 1,220). However, in the anime Kuririn is shown as being the one at 1,083, and Gohan to be the one at 981. Either way, Vegeta tells Nappa to ignore these numbers, since the Earthlings can potentially raise their battle power. After all, relying too much on the scouter’s numbers was probably what got the little weakling Raditz killed…
Chapter 214; Page 04; Panel 03
Nappa: “981… 1,220… 1,083… Idiots! Do you really plan on defying us with that level of battle power…?!”Chapter 214; Page 04; Panel 05
Vegeta: “These people change their battle power in response to the fight. Those figures can’t be relied upon any more.”Son Gohan: 981
Piccolo: 1,220
Kuririn: 1,083
Vegeta and Nappa grow some Saibaimen to toy with Piccolo and the others. Nappa can’t believe it when Tenshinhan easily defeats his Saibaiman opponent, but this just confirms Vegeta’s earlier statement that the scouter’s figures can’t be relied upon. When growing the Saibaimen, Nappa notes that they’ll grow well in Earth’s soil. According to Daizenshuu 4, the Saibaimen’s battle power varies depending on the soil quality of the planet that they are grown on.
Chapter 215; Page 01; Panel 03
Nappa: “Im-impossible…!! The Saibaiman’s battle power is 1,200…!! Going just by power, he rivals Raditz…!!”Chapter 215; Page 01; Panel 04
Vegeta: “So that guy’s battle power surpasses that. A simple calculation.”
Nappa: “But…! There was no such data!!”Saibaiman: 1,200
Nappa’s line on the Saibaimen’s strength is often translated as saying that they are “equal” to Raditz. While the verb hitteki suru can be translated as “equal”, it doesn’t necessarily mean equal in any sort of mathematical sense, but just that something is roughly on par with something else. In his memo to the anime staff published in the Dragon Ball Z Anime Special, Toriyama confirmed that the Saibaimen’s battle power is inferior to Raditz’s, saying:
Akira Toriyama’s Saibaimen Memo
「しかし戦闘力はかなり高くラディッツより少し劣る程度。」
“But their battle power is considerably high, at a level slightly inferior to Raditz”
Also, Nappa does mention that the Saibaimen rival Raditz “going just by power”, so it seems that Raditz’s greater intelligence gives him something of an edge over the Saibaimen, who are barely smart enough to follow simple orders.
Tankōbon Volume 19
As Goku finally approaches the battlefield, Vegeta is shocked to see that Goku’s battle power is completely different from when he fought Raditz. Nappa is shocked as well, and thinks there must be some malfunction. Vegeta thinks to himself that since the fighters on Earth can all alter their battle powers, 5,000 might just be the minimum of Goku’s power… For some reason, Vegeta uses the term “battle ability” (sentō-nōryoku) to describe Goku’s strength, rather than the usual “battle power”.
Chapter 222; Page 04; Panel 01
Vegeta: “Someone with a battle ability of about 5,000…!!”Son Goku: 5,000
Enraged at Piccolo’s death, Gohan fires a full-power Masenkō at Nappa. Kuririn is shocked that Gohan’s ki is so strong, but Nappa is still able to easily knock back the blast.
Chapter 223; Page 08; Panel 02
Vegeta: “Battle power 2,800…!!! So they really do drastically change their battle powers!!!”Son Gohan, firing the Masenko: 2,800
Just as Vegeta feared, Goku’s reading of 5,000 turns out to be just the tip of the iceberg. Quietly furious at the death of his friends, Goku slowly powers up until he surpasses 8,000. In the original English dub of this scene in the anime, Goku’s battle power is changed from “over 8,000” to “over 9,000”, a phrase you’ve surely never heard of…
Chapter 224; Page 11; Panel 03
Vegeta: “Battle power 7,000… 8,000…!! Impossible…!!!”Chapter 224; Page 12; Panel 03
Vegeta: “Over 8,000…!”Son Goku, at full power: Over 8,000
Tankōbon Volume 20
The narrator explains here how Son Goku’s Kaiō-Ken technique works. The normal Kaiō-Ken doubles Goku’s battle power. So what does the Kaiō-Ken x2 that Goku goes on to use against Vegeta do?
Well, to skip ahead a bit, the Kaiō-Ken x10 is said to increase Goku’s strength ten times. In addition, Goku’s Kaiō-Ken x4 battle power at this point is given in Daizenshuu 7 as being 32,000, four times his regular power of 8,000. So if the Kaiō-Ken x10 increases his power time ten and the Kaiō-Ken x4 increases it four-fold, you’d think the Kaiō-Ken x2 would likewise double his power, but that’s what the narrator says the regular Kaiō-Ken does. This would imply that regular Kaiō-Ken and Kaiō-Ken x2 are one and the same, but Goku seems to imply that they’re different things, since he tries one and then the other in a futile attempt to gain the upper hand against Vegeta. It would seem that this is one of Toriyama’s mistakes.
Chapter 229; Page 01; Panel 01
Narrator: “Vegeta’s strength has greatly surpassed what Goku had figured on…! That power was such that not even the Kaiō-Ken, which doubled Goku’s battle power, could give Goku the upper hand… What will you do?! Goku!!”
With even the Kaiō-Ken x2 being ineffective, Goku brings out Kaiō-Ken x3. His rapidly rising battle power causes Bulma’s converted scouter to break as it surpasses 21,000. Going by the rule that each grade of Kaiō-Ken multiplies Goku’s battle power by the number given, with a regular power of a little over 8,000, Goku’s Kaiō-Ken x3 battle power should be something around 24,000. At this level, Goku finally manages to overwhelm Vegeta, but his body can’t handle the power, and after knocking Vegeta back with a Kaiō-Ken x4 Kamehameha, he becomes almost completely paralyzed.
Chapter 230; Page 04; Panel 02
Note that it says “12,000” backwards on the scouter.Chapter 230; Page 04; Panel 03
Kame-sennin: “Wh-what’s the matter?!! What happened…?!”
Bulma: “I think it’s pr-probably Son-kun, but his battle power figure is rising in… incredibly…!!”Chapter 230; Page 04; Panel 04
Bulma: “17,000… 19,000… 21,000…!!”Goku, using Kaiō-Ken x3: Over 21,000
Vegeta explains that transforming into an Ōzaru (Great Ape) makes a Saiyan ten times stronger. As we later learn, Vegeta’s battle power when he came to Earth was 18,000. So logically, Ōzaru Vegeta would be 180,000, or at least it would be under normal circumstances. However, since Piccolo had destroyed the Earth’s moon earlier, Vegeta is unable to become an Ōzaru naturally, and is forced to create an artificial full moon by mixing a ball of his own ki with the atmosphere. Doing so noticeably lowers his power, so it seems his battle power at this time wouldn’t be the full 180,000. However, Goku notes that even a Kaiō-Ken x5 wouldn’t work on Ōzaru Vegeta, so his power must at least be greater than 40,000..
Chapter 233; Page 06; Panel 02
Vegeta: “Shall I tell you something good?… When a Saiyan becomes an Ōzaru, their battle power becomes 10 times what it is as a human!!!!”Chapter 233; Page 11; Panel 03
Goku: “Even if I raise the Kaiō-Ken to x5, it still won’t have any effect on him!!!!”Ōzaru Vegeta: between 40,000 and 180,000
Tankōbon Volume 21
After arriving on Planet Namek, Gohan, Kuririn, and Bulma are soon tracked down by two of Freeza’s thugs. When these thugs break their spaceship, Kuririn and Gohan unleash some of their power to easily take them down. They then quickly suppress their ki again so that they can’t be detected with scouters. Elsewhere on Namek, Zarbon informs Freeza of these two mysterious battle powers that appeared so suddenly, only to disappear again..
Chapter 248; Page 12; Panel 04
Zarbon: “Their battle powers were both about 1,500.”Son Gohan and Kuririn: 1,500
When Vegeta begins his rebellion against Freeza, his rival Kewi is soon sent to finish him off. Kewi at first thinks he has the upper hand against Vegeta, who seems to have gotten weaker than before, but he is shocked to learn that Vegeta has acquired the Earthlings’ trick of controlling their battle power, meaning he can raise and lower it at will. Vegeta raises his battle power up to 24,000, destroying Zarbon’s old-model scouter (it seems his scouter was the same model as Bulma’s, since hers also broke when reading a power in the low 20,000 range). Dodoria can’t understand how Vegeta could have gotten so strong when he was supposed to be only 18,000, equal to Kewi. We later learn that Vegeta’s power-up was due to him being revived from the brink of death after his battle on Earth, and being revived like this causes all Saiyan to grow much stronger.
Chapter 249; Page 01; Panel 03
Kewi: “Im… impossible…!! We… we’re supposed to be equal in strength…!!”Chapter 249; Page 02; Panel 02
Kewi: “19,000… 20,000… 21,000… 22,000…!!!!”Chapter 249; Page 03; Panel 03
Zarbon: “I… I think it’s a malfunction, but… My scouter was set on Vegeta, and as the figures surpassed twe… 22,000…”
Dodoria: “Did you say tw… 22,000…?!”Chapter 249; Page 03; Panel 06
Zarbon: “What’s the figure…?”
Dodoria: “Th… that’s impossible… Is my new model malfunctioning too…?! It’s risen to up to twe… 24,000… !!”Chapter 249; Page 04; Panel 01
Zarbon: “24,000…?! Are you saying it’s higher than o… our own battle powers…?!”
Dodoria: “Th… this can’t be…!! H… his battle power was barely 18,000…”Vegeta, when he went to Earth: barely 18,000
Vegeta, after returning from Earth: 24,000
Kewi: about 18,000
Zarbon and Dodoria: less than 24,000
Tankōbon Volume 22
As Freeza and his men raid a Namekian village in search of its Dragon Ball, they are attacked by three Warrior-type Namekians, who as you might expect are far stronger than ordinary Namekians. Freeza’s petty thugs laugh at the notion of three people with battle powers of only 1,000 trying to fight them, but the Namekians rush forward and start slaughtering the thugs left and right. It turns out that their true battle power is at 3,000, another example of how scouters can’t always be relied on. With only a single petty thug remaining (some loser named Appule), Dodoria steps in and finishes off all three Namekians in the blink of an eye.
Chapter 253; Page 05; Panel 01
Dodoria: “Kukkukku… Please don’t be disappointed, sir. All three are around 1,000.”Chapter 253; Page 10; Panel 05
Zarbon: “What is this?! You said their battle powers were 1,000, didn’t you?”
Dodoria: “What’s happened?! All three have blown up to 3,000.”Three Warrior-type Namekians, while suppressed: around 1,000
Three Warrior-type Namekians, at full power: 3,000
Tankōbon Volume 23
Gohan and Kuririn both powered up significantly after having their dormant power drawn out by Planet Namek’s Eldest. They overwhelm Gurd, physically the weakest member of the Ginyu Special-Squad by far, but Gurd manages to completely paralyze them with his psychic powers. Fortunately, as Gurd’s about to finish the two off, Vegeta steps in and kills him.
Chapter 274; Page 08; Panel 04
Jheese: “This is unexpected. Those little squirts’ battle power surpassed 10,000.”Chapter 274; Page 08; Panel 05
Recoom: “Hehhehhe, Gurd must have really gone pale. Just look, he’s using his paralysis arts, which we hardly ever get to see.”Gohan and Kuririn, after receiving the Eldest’s power-up: over 10,000
With his increased power of 24,000, Vegeta was able to kill Dodoria and overwhelm Zarbon. However, Zarbon transformed into a monstrous, ugly form, substantially raising his power. In this form, he was able to easily beat Vegeta into an unconscious pulp, but when he learned that Vegeta had hidden one of the Dragon Balls, he had to take him to Freeza’s spaceship to be healed, so that he could tell them where it was hidden. After being healed, Vegeta managed to make his escape and eventually kill Zarbon. So Freeza finally brought in his top troops, the Ginyu Special-Squad, to finish Vegeta off. While facing off against Recoom, Vegeta powers up to his max, but he is still no match for Recoom.
In the original tankōbon compilation of the manga, Jheese reads Vegeta’s battle power at “close to 20,000”, which would seem to contradict Vegeta previously being 24,000. In Daizenshuu 7, his battle power for the fight with Recoom was corrected to 30,000, and this was the figure that was used for the kanzenban re-release of the manga following the first edition (apparently no one caught this mistake until after the first edition was released).
Chapter 275; Page 04; Panel 02
Jheese (original): “Hey, hey, Vegeta’s battle power has risen up close to 20,000!”
Jheese (revised): “Hey, hey, Vegeta’s battle power has risen up close to 30,000!”
Butta: “Oh… oh… oh…?!”Vegeta, after recovering from the fight with Zarbon: 30,000
Tankōbon Volume 24
After recovering from the battle with Vegeta, Goku trained in artificially high gravity for six days on his way to Planet Namek, and eventually became accustomed to 100 times Earth’s gravity. When he arrives to fight the Ginyu Special-Squad, their scouters read him as only 5,000, and yet he’s able to easily defeat Recoom and the equally powerful Jheese and Butta. Kuririn also notes that Jheese and Butta have the same amount of ki as Recoom. So, since Vegeta at 30,000 was no match for Recoom, and Ginyu estimated Goku as being at 60,000 after he beat Recoom, it seems safe to assume that Recoom, Jheese, and Butta are all between 30,000 and 60,000.
However, Gohan is confused about how Goku is doing all this since his battle power is still less than theirs. Vegeta realizes that Goku is now able to raise his battle power for only the instant he attacks, then lower it down again so fast that their scouters can’t pick it up (he says that this must be to conserve energy, and is amazed that Goku is able to use such an advanced thing). When Captain Ginyu arrives to take care of the situation, he explains the same basic thing to Jheese, and estimates that Goku’s true battle power is about 60,000. But after fighting with Goku for a little while, he revises his estimation to about 85,000. But Goku still hasn’t used the Kaiō-Ken yet…
Chapter 279; Page 13; Panel 06
Butta: “He really is a little bug! His battle power is only around 5,000.”Chapter 281; Page 11; Panel 01
Kuririn: “Th…that shouldn’t be… Th…those guys have about the same amount of ki as th…that Recoom guy, and not even Vegeta could do anything against him… It looks like Goku is too strong and those guys aren’t anything special…”
Son Gohan: “I… I suppose… But father’s ki is a lot smaller than theirs…”Chapter 283; Page 11; Panel 01
Ginyu: “In my estimation, his ability looks like it’s about 60,000.”
Jheese: “Six… 60,000!? H-he’s a Saiyan!! Whoever heard of a Saiyan at 60,000…?!!”Chapter 284; Page 14; Panel 01
Ginyu: “Kukkukku… I don’t have to look at my scouter. You should most likely be able to raise it up to 85,000.”Son Goku, arriving on Planet Namek: 5,000 to about 85,000
Recoom, Jheese, and Butta: between 30,000 and 60,000
Goku is initially somewhat confident in his ability to beat Ginyu, but after Ginyu reveals that he too can raise and lower his battle power, he begins to have a hard time. Realizing that he can’t win like this, he says he’ll demonstrate his true power, and uses a Kaiō-Ken, eventually reaching 180,000. Ginyu is shocked, since his own power only goes up to 120,000.
What’s more, Goku reveals that he is able to put out even more power for short periods of time. This remark presumably refers to the higher grades of Kaiō-Ken, since Goku says at the end of his training on the way to Planet Namek that he ought to be able to perform a Kaiō-Ken x10 now. Since regular Kaiō-Ken/Kaiō-Ken x2 is supposed to double Goku’s battle power, it would seem that his regular battle power is about 90,000, in line with Ginyu’s estimation. This would mean that Goku ought to be able to go up to 900,000 using the Kaiō-Ken x10, but before he gets the chance to do that Ginyu uses his special ability to change bodies with Goku.
Captain Ginyu’s ability to raise and lower his battle power at will is a unique skill among the ranks of Freeza’s organization. In fact, out of all of Freeza’s troops, only he and Freeza are known to be able to do this. According to Jheese, Ginyu’s highest battle power is 120,000, but it isn’t stated how much of his power he was actually using at first when fighting Goku, or whether or not he was even using his full power once he powered up.
Chapter 284; Page 14; Panel 06
Ginyu: “Ni… 90,000…?! 100,000… 110,000…”Chapter 284; Page 14; Panel 07
Ginyu: “Im… impossible… it can’t be… It’s st… still rising…!”Chapter 285; Page 01; Panel 02
Ginyu: “Twe… 120,000… 130,000… 140,000…”Chapter 285; Page 01; Panel 03
Ginyu: “It’s sti… sti… still rising… !!!! It… it can’t be… 160,000…”Chapter 285; Page 02; Panel 02
Ginyu: “Eigh… 180,000…?!”Chapter 285; Page 03; Panel 01
Jheese: “Th… there was no way we could have won… Even Ca… Captain Ginyu’s highest figure is 120,000… Ho… how did a Saiyan get s… so far…”Son Goku, using Kaiō-Ken: 180,000
Ginyu, at his maximum power: 120,000
As Nail tries to keep Freeza away from the Eldest, he powers up to his maximum. As the only true warrior among the Namekians, his battle power is over ten times greater than the other Warrior-type Namekians (Freeza even wants him as one of his henchmen). But unfortunately, Freeza’s own battle power is ten times greater than even that, and he effortlessly beats Nail with only one hand.
Chapter 286; Page 05; Panel 01
Freeza: “Hoh! This is incredible! Your battle power has risen to 42,000.”Chapter 286; Page 05; Panel 04
Freeza: “My battle power is 530,000. But of course, I don’t intend to fight you at full power, so you can relax…”Nail, at full power: 42,000
Freeza, in his first form: 530,000
Having switched bodies with Goku, Ginyu thinks that he’ll now have access to Goku’s power of 180,000 and higher. But Ginyu is completely unaccustomed to Goku’s body and is unable to use anywhere near its full power. With a power of “only” 23,000, Kuririn and Gohan are able to knock him around (it seems that they’ve gotten stronger since the battle with Gurd and Recoom as well).
Chapter 288; Page 13; Panel 02
Ginyu: “Guhahahahaha…!!!! Jheese!! How much is my battle power?!”Chapter 288; Page 13; Panel 03
Jheese: “…..Twe… 23,000….”Ginyu, in Goku’s body: 23,000
Tankōbon Volume 25
After transforming into his second form, Freeza gets almost twice as strong as he was before. He easily overwhelms Vegeta and the others, but when Piccolo shows up after merging with Nail, he’s able to fight more than evenly with Freeza. However, this is only the beginning of Freeza’s transformations, though it’s also basically the end of all stated battle powers in the manga.
Chapter 296; Page 09; Panel 01
Freeza: “At any rate, my power is excessive. Perhaps I’ve overdone it… Kukkukku… Incidentally, if [my strength] were put into battle power, it would be over 1,000,000, surely…”Freeza, in his second form: over 1,000,000
Tankōbon Volume 26
While there are no stated battle powers for the battle with Freeza, there are these various percentages and multipliers that get mentioned throughout the course of the fight. After Piccolo proves to be on par with Freeza’s second form, Freeza transforms into his third and then eventually his final form, utterly overwhelming Piccolo and then Vegeta (who powered up once again after reviving from the brink of death). At this point, Goku arrives and begins fighting evenly with Freeza without even using the Kaiō-Ken. Freeza then announces that he can defeat Goku using just half his maximum power. Goku counters by using the Kaiō-Ken x10 and then x20, but neither can defeat Freeza (though he damages Freeza somewhat with the Kaiō-Ken x20).
Chapter 312; Page 02; Panel 06
Freeza: “If I put out about 50%, that is to say, half of my maximum power, I’ll be able to turn you into space dust…”Chapter 312; Page 14; Panel 03
Tenshinhan: “Aren’t you forgetting about the Kaiō-Ken? As he is now, Goku is able to endure a maximum of up to about 10 times his power, right?”Chapter 312; Page 14; Panel 05
Kaiō: “Unfortunately… That Ten-Fold Kaiō-Ken is what Goku is using now…”Chapter 313; Page 08; Panel 01
Son Goku: “I ain’t got no choice but to raise the K… Kaiō-Ken up to twenty-fold… Though my bo… body might not be able to take it… B… but if he really is at 50 percent now, like he says he is, then there ain’t nothing at all I can do…”
Tankōbon Volume 27
When all seems lost, Goku’s anger reaches the breaking point as Freeza kills Kuririn, and he transforms into a Super Saiyan. As a Super Saiyan, Goku overwhelm Freeza. Freeza then proclaims that he’ll finally use his full power to fight Super Saiyan Goku, and he starts off by knocking Goku away with a blast he says was about 70% of his full power. After slowing powering up, passing through 85% of his full power and then 90%, Freeza finally reaches 100%. However, after a long battle Super Saiyan Goku manages to utterly defeat Freeza, and the battle ends.
If you add all those various percentages and multipliers from volumes 26 and 27 up, and go back to second-form Freeza stating that he had a battle power of over 1 million, you get this: regular Goku must be much more than 1 million, Kaiō-Ken x10 and x20 Goku must be at much more than 10 and 20 million, 100% full power Freeza must be much more than 40 million, and Super Saiyan Goku must be stronger than even that, putting him at over 40 times his regular battle power. We’ll revisit all this mess for Daizenshuu 7’s listed battle powers for the various forms of Goku and Freeza during their battle.
Chapter 320; Page 14; Panel 03
Freeza: “Fu… fuhahahaha…!! You underestimated me!! Just so you know, that right now still wasn’t my full power!! It was only about 70 percent…”Chapter 321; Page 09; Panel 01
Freeza: “Sorry to keep you waiting… This is the full power that you were hoping for.”
Tankōbon Volume 28
This is it, the last stated battle power in the series. When Freeza returns as a cyborg after losing to Goku and attacks Earth together with his father, some mysterious kid named Trunks shows up to stop him. Freeza’s petty thug reads Trunks as only 5, but Trunks easily kills all the thugs, then goes on to turn into a Super Saiyan and kill Freeza and his father. It’s worth noting that this last battle power mentioned in the manga, 5, is the same as the very first one mentioned, that of the farmer Raditz killed. Even the line Freeza’s goon says is almost exactly the same as what Raditz says about the farmer. Is this an intentional reference, or is Toriyama just good at repeating himself? At any rate, with this Freeza and his empire’s role in the series ends. There are no more scouters, and therefore no more battle powers. But much later, we do get to see another group of villain’s system of measuring power.
Chapter 331; Page 04; Panel 01
Mecha Freeza: “The others will soon take care of the Earthlings.”
Mook: “Battle power only 5… miserable trash…”Trunks, suppressing his power: 5
Tankōbon Volume 38
Years after Freeza has been killed and almost completely forgotten, Bobbidi and his men invade Earth looking for energy to revive Majin Boo with. Their system of measuring this “energy” (apparently their term for ki) is in units called “kiri”. It seems that kiri are much larger units than those used for Freeza and co.’s battle powers, since it measures Super Saiyan Goku as 3,000, when in terms of battle power he would be far over a million.
In addition, despite the fact that Super Saiyan Goku was over 40 times stronger than his regular form during the battle with Freeza, here regular Goku is on par with Bobbidi’s henchman Yakon, which seems to show that in kiri, Super Saiyan Goku is only about 3 times stronger than his regular form. This could be because the distance between Goku’s regular and Super Saiyan forms has lessened with time, or that kiri can only be converted into battle power in some complicated, non-linear way, or, you know, Toriyama wasn’t putting any real thought into any of this. Anyway, despite the fact that Super Saiyan Goku easily kills Yakon, Bobbidi’s strongest henchman, Dabra, is confident that he can defeat Goku, Gohan, Vegeta, and Kaioshin all at once.
Incidentally, the numbers given for Yakon and Goku, 800 and 3,000, are both commonly used in Japanese as a symbolic way of saying “an enormous amount”, similar to the way the number 40 is used throughout the Christian Bible. For instance, the 800 temples of Kyoto are proverbial, as are the 8 million gods of Shinto (8 million being 800 man in Japanese, that is 800×10,000), while in Buddhism the phrase “3,000 worlds” signifies all of creation.
Chapter 451; Page 02; Panel 05
Bobbidi: “Thr… 3,000 kiri…!! H-how does an Earthling have 3,000 kiri of energy…?!!”Chapter 451; Page 03; Panel 01
Bobbidi: “…Is this measuring device malfunctioning…? But if he really is 3,000 kiri… Then Yakon can’t win against him… Yakon’s energy is 800 kiri…”Yakon: 800 kiri
Super Saiyan Son Goku: 3,000 kiri
