Did Kami teach Goku to fly?

[LuckyCat]

In the original, it just says "舞空術だ！". Though I see how Viz's line could lead to the misunderstanding here.

[Herms]

Viz probably added the "he learned to fly" part in order to make it clearer for readers who wouldn't know offhand what Bukujutsu was.

[Hitiro]

That would be fine if there were some sort of foreshadowing of Goku learning flight just then. He could've said something like "Oh right, I can do what Krillin did too!" or something vague to that effect that wouldn't give away the climax. The fact is, nothing suggests flight can be learned instantly. That's a pure fan theory.

Why does there have to be any sort of foreshadowing? Was there any foreshadowing to other characters using techniques? Some characters just spontaneously used techniques because they could. You're right, he could have said something like what you're saying. But you're actually arguing my point right now. If he could fly he probably would have said something to Kuririn or the others before then. And you say the fact is nothing suggests flight can be learned instantly but the exact opposite is true too.

Why not? If his flight isn't perfected to level of Saiyan saga, he might've needed some momentum to fly quickly anyway. Besides, it's just a small burst and doesn't appear to drain his stamina in any significant way.

Goku was constantly trying to reserve his energy for the fight against Piccolo. To the point that he wouldn't even use Kamehameha on his friends. Any level of flight would still be superior to a Kamehameha that could propel him. While such a small Kamehameha would not make a massive dent in his Ki supply it would still make a dent and he could not guarantee whether he would need that extra bit of energy or not later.

And again, it seems incredibly unbelievable that Goku would choose to hide something that would be absolutely useless in any other scenario. This scenario was probably a one in a million of ever happening so it is highly unlikely he hid it just for an attack like this.

[LuckyCat]

Like I said, spontaneous flying powers are a DEM. It's especially true in the Dragon Ball universe, since characters as strong as Goten have needed to take some time out to really learn to fly. And I'm not buying that Goku was seriously affected by using that small kamehameha since literally the next page shows him charging up a Super Kamehameha.

[Hitiro]

Like I said, spontaneous flying powers are a DEM. It's especially true in the Dragon Ball universe, since characters as strong as Goten have needed to take some time out to really learn to fly. And I'm not buying that Goku was seriously affected by using that small kamehameha since literally the next page shows him charging up a Super Kamehameha.

DEM? Not sure what that is. And using Goten as an example is bad honestly. He's an outlier when it comes to flying. Gohan was puzzled as to why Goten could not fly at his age. Hell, Gohan was flying at the age of 4 in comparison to Goten who is almost twice his age! Ki is wasted whenever you use moves so it would have affected him. No matter how small the effect. And we have literally seen battles come down to the wire with regards to if a character had reserved slightly more energy or if they had fought a smarter fight then the events may have been completely different. I mean if we're going to do a comparison of hard moves then Cell instantly learned the Shunkan-Idou technique after he Zenkai'd from the explosion on Kaio's planet. A move that took Goku nearly a whole year to learn and no other character has learned since, with the exception of Black who was brought into existence by magic and thus has every move Goku has.

[LuckyCat]

Deus Ex Machina, as I explained last page. Still, all characters have either learned "offscreen" or have been shown to have training for flight. And Cell is a mutant with special powers that allow him to learn moves of others. That Cell could learn instant transmission the way he did was explicitly stated and explained by the author. Goku's random sudden flight learning is not, which is what bothers me about that explanation.