Did Kami teach Goku to fly?

[Krillin1994]

I've seen people say that Goku learned how to fly during the time he spent training with Kami.

I never really got that impression, and I always thought that Goku picked up the move last minute out of necessity just enough to lift himself up to dodge the attack and fall into Piccolo. I find that more exciting than he already knew it.

(Hence him not being very good at flight at the beginning of Z/still relying on the nimbus)

Is there any evidence to suggest that Goku already knew how to fly before that scene?

[nickzambuto]

I like your theory. It's the common assumption that Kami taught him since the move comes out of nowhere, but your theory is equally possible. I'm not sure if I agree with the idea that Goku was holding back flight the entire tournament as a last ditch secret weapon, and by last ditch he meant, "only for use when I have a gaping hole in my chest." If he knew the whole time, he probably would have used it earlier, like when rescuing Kami.

[apex_pretador]

seeing how kami wasn't worried to hell about goku holding back, I can believe goku learnt flight in the tournament. Probably seeing krillin fly, he picked it up instantly.

[nickzambuto]

seeing how kami wasn't worried to hell about goku holding back, I can believe goku learnt flight in the tournament. Probably seeing krillin fly, he picked it up instantly.

Flight is a difficult technique, Goku's copying abilities aren't on par with prodigies like Vegeta and Freeza and Boo. I don't think he figured out how to do it when Krillin started doing it, also because he wouldn't have held it back as long as he did. I would imagine, throughout the tournament, with his new ki sensing abilities, observing all of the fliers helped him to gradually understand the idea, and then like OP said, in a burst of desperation and will, he managed to propel himself just enough to dodge Piccolo's attack, but he still isn't great at it.

[Lord Frieza]

Hasn't Goku copied the kamehameha, taiyōken and the Ten Hands attack (from Chappa I think) after only seeing them once and even the Kienzan, despite as far as I know, never actually seeing it!? (though he had seen Frieza's version).

Not only that be he also has a pretty good track record for seeing weaknesses in both his enemies and their attacks. Also by the time he fights Piccolo Jr. he's had a lot of training in re-guards to ki control and sensing. Him being able learn to fly quit literally on the fly doesn't sound like that big of a stretch to me.

[Krillin1994]

Goku learned the Kamehameha, but it wasn't a very efficient one in that it left him so drained upon using it.

I wouldn't have classed Vegeta as a prodigy really not in the way Tien, Chaozu and Buu are.

[nickzambuto]

Goku learned the Kamehameha, but it wasn't a very efficient one in that it left him so drained upon using it.

I wouldn't have classed Vegeta as a prodigy really not in the way Tien, Chaozu and Buu are.

Ten and Chiaotzu are greater prodigies than the Saiyan Prince??

[Krillin1994]

Goku learned the Kamehameha, but it wasn't a very efficient one in that it left him so drained upon using it.

I wouldn't have classed Vegeta as a prodigy really not in the way Tien, Chaozu and Buu are.

Ten and Chiaotzu are greater prodigies than the Saiyan Prince??

They both possess mimicry, Tien picked up the Kamehameha easily, Chaozu learned the Saibaman explosion technique.

[rereboy]

Chaozu learned the Saibaman explosion technique.

There's nothing to suggest that he only knew how to do something like that from copying the Saibamen.

[Krillin1994]

Chaozu learned the Saibaman explosion technique.

There's nothing to suggest that he only knew how to do something like that from copying the Saibamen.

Didn't Tien mention that both he and Chaozu were able to do mimicry in the 22nd world tournament. I assumed it was a copy of the Saibaman explosion since we hadn't seen it before. (And I doubt Chaozu would have prepared a suicide attack in advance)

[rereboy]

Didn't Tien mention that both he and Chaozu were able to do mimicry in the 22nd world tournament. I assumed it was a copy of the Saibaman explosion since we hadn't seen it before. (And I doubt Chaozu would have prepared a suicide attack in advance)

I don't recall Tenshinhan stating anything like that in regards to Chaotzu. All he said that I recall was that the Kamehameha was a simple technique, and considering how many characters have done it with just a few tries (like Goku immediately doing it after seeing it, and Krillin almost immediately doing it after thinking that he could also probably do it), it does seem to be somewhat simple in-universe.

In any case, even if he had stated that, there would still be nothing suggesting that what Chaotzu used was copied from the Saibamen. The two sharing the same goal is not enough to reach that conclusion, imo.

[nickzambuto]

Goku learned the Kamehameha, but it wasn't a very efficient one in that it left him so drained upon using it.

I wouldn't have classed Vegeta as a prodigy really not in the way Tien, Chaozu and Buu are.

Ten and Chiaotzu are greater prodigies than the Saiyan Prince??

They both possess mimicry, Tien picked up the Kamehameha easily, Chaozu learned the Saibaman explosion technique.

So does Vegeta. He mastered ki sensing as soon as somebody told him it was possible, something that took Goku three years of study to master, and Krillin's Kienzan, one of the greatest techniques in the series.

[TobyS]

Ten and Chiaotzu are greater prodigies than the Saiyan Prince??

They both possess mimicry, Tien picked up the Kamehameha easily, Chaozu learned the Saibaman explosion technique.

So does Vegeta. He mastered ki sensing as soon as somebody told him it was possible, something that took Goku three years of study to master, and Krillin's Kienzan, one of the greatest techniques in the series.

Just to be an awkward git, it's worth noting that Vegeta took a while to learn it and longer still to perfect ki sensing.

Whereas Ten copied the kamehameha instantly.

Vegeta ain't that special, he bluffed and android once and snuck about out of fear of Freeza on Namek but other than that he's just a thug who's got a slightly bigger vocab than Goku.

[nickzambuto]

They both possess mimicry, Tien picked up the Kamehameha easily, Chaozu learned the Saibaman explosion technique.

So does Vegeta. He mastered ki sensing as soon as somebody told him it was possible, something that took Goku three years of study to master, and Krillin's Kienzan, one of the greatest techniques in the series.

Just to be an awkward git, it's worth noting that Vegeta took a while to learn it and longer still to perfect ki sensing.

Whereas Ten copied the kamehameha instantly.

Vegeta ain't that special, he bluffed and android once and snuck about out of fear of Freeza on Namek but other than that he's just a thug who's got a slightly bigger vocab than Goku.

The very first thing that Vegeta did when he landed on Namek was surpress his power and sense out Cui. Unless he was practicing and training inside his tiny space pod in the middle of space on his way towards the planet, which seems unrealistic. If that's the case, I could argue that Ten didn't master the Kamehameha instantly, because he had all that time in between his fight with Yamcha and his fight with Jackie to think about it.

[rereboy]

Tenshinhan wasn't more impressive than Goku when he was instantly able to replicate the Kamehameha. His ability to "mimic" is just him being pretty talented, like Goku and others were.

[nite_jay]

Vegeta simply lowering and raising his chi while sitting waiting in a space pod to get him to Namek seems more realistic than Ten practicing a Kamehameha on tournament grounds. Also, traveling to different planets definitely gives you more time to practice than an hour or two wait for the next match to start. (Or at least it should.)

[GodKaio-Ken]

There definitely are different levels to ki sensing. Vegeta is very good and has been since he figured it out. Goku has always been portrayed as the more talented in that aspect though...even if he has been doing it longer.

As to the OP I like your explanation.

[Doctor.]

I wouldn't be surprised if he learned it instantly during the 23rd Budokai and against Piccolo was his first use of it.

[Nejishiki]

It was never one of his quickly-learned techniques. He had displayed difficulty with it up until the battle with Freeza, where his weakness with aerial combat was noted. It's not too wild to assume he tried it out of desperation instead of meaning to trick Piccolo Jr. However, I can see why anyway would think that. On that note, it's pretty cool that Kuririn was comfortable with something before him.

[LuckyCat]

Let's be logical:

Mr. Popo can fly. Kami can fly. Goku spent several years training with both these people and can suddenly fly. The simplest inference is that Goku learned to fly from either Kami or Mr. Popo.

The dialog also supports that Goku knew how to do it. After Goku had lost use of all his limbs, he flat out told everyone he could still beat Piccolo. Why would he tell them that if he didn't have a technique he'd been saving until the end?