How did Cell know about the Frieza/Trunks battle?

[NitroEX]

When Piccolo's arm is drained and Cell explains his origin to him he mentions that Frieza's cells were collected before Trunks destroyed him and that Trunk's cells weren't needed since he already had enough saiyan cells. What I'm curious to know is how Cell even knew about this fight because in the timeline he came from Goku defeated Frieza, not Trunks.

The only explanation I can think of is that Cell sensed the battle while he was underground since he had travelled to that time a year earlier but even that doesn't make much sense because he seemed surprised about all the other changes to the timeline like Goku being alive which he would of sensed as well if that theory was correct.

[peter291]

Nice, I didn't notice this. It seems that he explains the origin of Cell of present time [this tiny thing which was destroyed by Trunks and Kuririn in Gero's lab], that's why Trunks' cells are mentioned. But in fact he should talk about himself- Cell from the future timeline, in which there was no Trunks vs Freeza battle. I would say it's a mistake.

[Piccolo Daimao]

It's a plothole. There's another one in this explanation, about how Cell travelled four years into the past (a year before Trunks travelled to the past, making Cell the primary reason for all the timeline alterations), but then it's contradicted by them saying that he travelled back three years, as Trunks wanted to tell Gokuu and co. that he'd defeated the Androids in his time.

[dbgtFO]

When Piccolo's arm is drained and Cell explains his origin to him he mentions that Freeza's cells were collected before Trunks destroyed him and that Trunk's cells weren't needed since he already had enough saiyan cells. What I'm curious to know is how Cell even knew about this fight because in the timeline he came from Goku defeated Freeza, not Trunks.

The only explanation I can think of is that Cell sensed the battle while he was underground since he had travelled to that time a year earlier but even that doesn't make much sense because he seemed surprised about all the other changes to the timeline like Goku being alive which he would of sensed as well if that theory was correct.

Most people just write it off as a plothole, which I think it is too.

Though I could accept an excuse like Cell using his tiny bug robot to see the Trunks vs. Freeza battle, then assuming this was how it happened in his timeline as well, since the computer in the future didn't have any obligation to reveal that information to him and then spying on Dr. Gero for the remainder of those 3 years.

Sounds pretty convoluted, so plothole indeed seems like the most likely scenario, unless someone can come up with something else..

[Piccolo Daimao]

Sounds pretty convoluted, so plothole indeed seems like the most likely scenario, unless someone can come up with something else..

Someone could (and has; I remember a while ago, someone theorized that Cell actually came from an even further altered timeline where Trunks killed Freeza), but it would be just as convoluted as yours, and potentially create paradoxes, so the best answer is that it's a plothole.

[Kaboom]

Perhaps the miniature bug-robots of this timeline told him about Trunks killing Freeza.

[Piccolo Daimao]

Perhaps the miniature bug-robots of this timeline told him about Trunks killing Freeza.

But then, why would he say, "We could've taken DNA from Trunks, but we had enough Saiyan DNA anyway" if he originated from a timeline where Gokuu killed Freeza? He's talking about the timeline where he came from, not the timeline he's currently in. The miniature bug-robots would've told the Cell of the main timeline that was still in his tank and had 24 years yet to awaken, rather than the one who was still sleeping in his larval stage underground and only awakened after four years.

[Perfect]

Does it specifically mention Trunks killing Freeza in that tense? Because we could just say he was referring to the infant Trunks in his for the DNA and then the battle in the current time line.

[Piccolo Daimao]

Does it specifically mention Trunks killing Freeza in that tense? Because we could just say he was referring to the infant Trunks in his for the DNA and then the battle in the current time line.

Well, it shows scenes of Freeza being sliced in half and King Cold's dead body, exactly how it was shown when Trunks killed Freeza and King Cold. Then he mentions the opportunity of collecting Trunks' DNA right afterwards, which strongly implies that he's talking about when Trunks killed Freeza.

[Perfect]

Bah, I see. What's the story on Cell's time line again? Goku killed Freeza there huh? Where in the manga or guidbooks is that? (I haven't looked at this material in forever).

[Piccolo Daimao]

Bah, I see. What's the story on Cell's time line again? Goku killed Freeza there huh? Where in the manga or guidbooks is that? (I haven't looked at this material in forever).

It's basically the same as Trunks' timeline, only that Cell killed Trunks.

I think someone better informed on me can explain it better, but I think I remember someone posting something that explains the timelines pretty clearly.

When time travel creates paradoxes with the changes it creates, a new timeline is created, instead of erasing the older timeline.

Timeline 1: The original timeline. Son Gokuu defeats Freeza and sometime later, dies of a heart virus. The Androids activate and kill almost everyone. Trunks travels back in time. [read after reading Timeline 2] After defeating the Androids in Timeline 2, Trunks returns and defeats his Androids with the same approach, probably by using the remote. However, around this time, Cell activates, discovers that the Androids are gone and learns about Trunks’ time machine. Cell kills Trunks and travels back in time with his time machine, creating Timeline 3 with all of his changes [/read after reading Timeline 2].

Timeline 2: Trunks appears and kills Freeza. He warns everyone about the Androids and returns to Timeline 1. He returns from Timeline 1 to help everyone fight the Androids. Somehow, they eventually manage to defeat them, probably by using the remote control to shut them down. Trunks returns to Timeline 1.

Timeline 3: The timeline of the main manga story. It’s a timeline that has all the changes made by Trunks and Cell respectively. Therefore, it’s basically the same as Timeline 2 until Cell shows up killing people. Eventually, Cell is killed by Gohan and Trunks returns to the future.

Timeline 4: Since Trunks returns from Timeline 3 to a point in time where Cell had yet to kill him (in Timeline 1), and that was necessary for all the changes in Timeline 3 to occur, his return will bring about changes and would create a paradox, which is why, despite the fact that Trunks returns to the future, his return creates yet another timeline, Timeline 4. This timeline is the same as Timeline 1; the only difference is that the Trunks that returned is much stronger and knows all about Cell. So this Trunks uses his own power to kill the Androids and Cell easily.

I kind of feel sorry for Bulma in Timeline 1. Just when Trunks had restored peace to their time by defeating the Androids, he's killed and Bulma's left with no-one.

[FindKenshi]

^
Completely wrong. Here's a much better explanation.

[Perfect]

Oh I remember now. The explanation I came up for about two years ago was that every jump in time creates a new time line. Logically when Trunks goes back and fourth from his time to the past, each jump would individually create a new a time line.

Trunks travels to time line B where we see him kill Freeza. Trunks returns to what he assumes is A, but given that every jump makes a new split he's going to C where there's virtually no differences, aside from the missing Trunks in A. Using this logic, it wouldn't be impossible for the number of paradoxes created that Cell actually came from a time where Trunks did kill Freeza (and that the one's listed are the very first that started it all). Just a theory.

Edit: That's the scan I remember using for the basis of it, come to think of it.

[DBZGTKOSDH]

^
Completely wrong. Here's a much better explanation.

What the fuck is so wrong there? He just numbered the timelines differently... And now with your post, I'm sure now. You defenately are a troll.

[FindKenshi]

defenately

What word is this?

[DBZGTKOSDH]

defenately

What word is this?

You are very funny, you know that? Sorry that I'm not a native English speaker.

[Piccolo Daimao]

Oh I remember now. The explanation I came up for about two years ago was that every jump in time creates a new time line. Logically when Trunks goes back and fourth from his time to the past, each jump would individually create a new a time line.

Trunks travels to time line B where we see him kill Freeza. Trunks returns to what he assumes is A, but given that every jump makes a new split he's going to C where there's virtually no differences, aside from the missing Trunks in A. Using this logic, it wouldn't be impossible for the number of paradoxes created that Cell actually came from a time where Trunks did kill Freeza (and that the one's listed are the very first that started it all). Just a theory.

Really? Huh. Then does that mean that Cell came from a timeline where both Trunks killing Freeza and the same-aged Trunks (who apparently travelled back in time and ended up killing Freeza in a different timeline) was killed by him? If so, that is one hell of a paradox.

I dunno, I'm not an expert on this.

[Perfect]

Oh I remember now. The explanation I came up for about two years ago was that every jump in time creates a new time line. Logically when Trunks goes back and fourth from his time to the past, each jump would individually create a new a time line.

Trunks travels to time line B where we see him kill Freeza. Trunks returns to what he assumes is A, but given that every jump makes a new split he's going to C where there's virtually no differences, aside from the missing Trunks in A. Using this logic, it wouldn't be impossible for the number of paradoxes created that Cell actually came from a time where Trunks did kill Freeza (and that the one's listed are the very first that started it all). Just a theory.

Really? Huh. Then does that mean that Cell came from a timeline where both Trunks killing Freeza and the same age Trunks (who apparently travelled back in time and ended up killing Freeza in a different timeline) was killed by him?

I dunno, I'm not an expert on this.

Think of it as a never ending cycle with minor differences. With the logic displayed we can either go by the multiverse theory or chaotic inflation theory. I wrote something on this in 2010 as I stated, I don't remember if it needs to be wrote again or not, but here it is:

The first usage of time travel in the manga is when a new mysterious youth appears and kills Freeza. As well as his father and all their subordinates with them. This fellow's name is Trunks, as the majority of us already know. He came to warn Goku about a deadly new virus and the arrival of two Artificial Humans, which are stronger than Freeza by far. Trunks eventually gave Goku the antidote that wasn't available in the present time line, but was in the future. However Trunks' attempts to save the past from the horrible fate his time faced were in vain. One year before his arrival, an Artificial Human (or Biological Android) killed Trunks in its time, stole his time machine and traveled back in time. This creature was forced to regress into its larval state to fit inside the time machine. We know "it" as Cell. As Trunks traveled through the fabric of time and space, he created new time lines. This follows the basic principle there's a near infinite plethora of universes when regarding the Multiverse theory. The mainstream time line in Dragon Ball isn't the one that's on the camera the majority of the time. Before any actual time travel is done (excluding the filler at the Lookout) the actual time line that the series is set in, is none other than the one where Goku dies from a viral heart disease (exactly the same time line where the Artificial Humans brought society to the brink of oblivion).

So let's label what we've established the mainstream time line as, "A". When Trunks traveled back in time and massacred Mecha Freeza, he ultimately created a new time line. We can assume Cell was from "A0", which means there's (likely) a long cycle where Cell kills Trunks and steals his time machine leading up to him staying to fight in the Cell Games. With that said, originally there wasn't a Cell that altered a time line, just Trunks. We'll label this time line as "B", this is also the time line where Goku and friends train to defeat the malicious new threat. Once Trunks traveled back to his time line he waited for his time machine to charge up. He then traveled back in time, but to the events three years later from when he first arrived. This spawns another time line, identical to the one from three years prior (though Trunks being absent from this time line now). We'll label the time line Trunks has traveled to, "B2". This is also the time line where Cell absorbed Seventeen, Eighteen and hosted the Cell Games. It should also be noted that when Trunks traveled back to his own time line, he created a new one for each jump he made. So when Trunks traveled back from defeating Mecha Freeza he created, "A1". Due to all the changes made in the time stream, there were some altercations. Instead of Seventeen and Eighteen appearing at first, Nineteen and Twenty did. Seventeen and Eighteen were also stronger (as well as less static) than they were in time line "A", hence why Trunks was so surprised.

Eventually Trunks found the blueprints to Seventeen with Krillin in Gero's laboratory. Trunks immediately left after Bulma had created a suitable remote. Trunks never entered the Room of Spirit and Time in this particular era. He then traveled back to the future creating a new time line, "A2". He defeated Seventeen and Eighteen by shutting them down with a functional deactivation remote. Trunks was ultimately too weak to be able to defeat Seventeen and Eighteen on his own, so he was easily disposed of by Cell. Trunks before being murdered was either going to go to the past to deliver the blueprints or to tell them of their whereabouts or give the location to Gero's laboratory to defeat the Artificial Humans before they awaken (Cell included, ultimately ending the events he experienced in the past).

Since Cell had hijacked Trunks' time machine, that changed the entire course of events, once more. This time all the events up until the point of Bulma completing the remote is identical. Cell had traveled from "A2" to "C", where Trunks from "D", thought he changed the events of the past. Trunks traveled into the future once more to "D2". He then traveled to the events three years after his first arrival. We'll call this, "C2". This is where the actual events in the story take place from. Trunks then participates in the Cell Games, where he's killed and later revived. After the Cell Games, he traveled into the future to rid his world of Seventeen, Eighteen and Cell for the final time. Once he defeated them, he went back into the past one more time to tell his clique of friends the change in history, we'll call this "C3". This is the last time line in the series we view before ending back at "C3", we'll call this "D3".

As the aforementioned states, the exact amount of time lines spawned due to Cell's interference is unknown. We could have the mainstream end up being "C8001" due to all the time it actually took to build up to the current events, where only Trunks had messed with the time line. Ultimately the illustration below should simplify the aforementioned, further down on the page.

Here are two conceptual images that should give a good idea of the explanation above (it should also be noted that paradox is being used as statement that seems contradictory but expresses a possible truth):

So to answer your question, you could have two Trunks in that time line but it ain't likely.

[FindKenshi]

Isn't that way over-complicating things? The Daizenshuu defines four distinct time-lines... at the very most, based on common-sense logic, I could see you arguing the existence of five.

How are people getting in excess of 9 of them?

[Perfect]

Isn't that way over-complicating things? The Daizenshuu defines four distinct time-lines... at the very most, based on common-sense logic, I could see you arguing the existence of five.

How are people getting in excess of 9 of them?

Because if one jump creates a new time line then every jump should.