Uh... I'm starting to believe you should really re-read those chapters. He senses Goku as a Super Saiyan when he transforms with Trunks and comments that it's obvious he'd beat Freeza like that -- besides, Trunks also implies he's using the same technique and power he used to chop Freeza to bits. I obviously cannot prove it's not impossible Toriyama forgot but he had literally written that chapter, what, two weeks before?In the manga Vegeta never sensed namek ssj Goku. And he didn't really fight Trunks and he said Trunks wasn't serious either. I'm going to assume Tien made those statements because it was the first time he saw a ssj truly in action, and I wouldn't be surprised if Toriyama forgot that Tien saw ssj already.
Piccolo specifically says the Androids "weren't as strong/tough" at any point. And what's stated is that Trunks only fought #18 and #17 who weren't exerting "even half of their power". Really, re-read the chapters. Let's not forget stuff like the post-energy absorption #19 "multiplying his power" and making SS Vegeta (who's stronger than Android Arc SS Goku, who's stronger than sick Goku, who's stronger than Namek Goku) bleed with a punch. Something I doubt any form of Freeza would be able to, including Mecha, who's already treated as a substantial improvement.Like I said, Piccolo may of thought the android's absorbance power was what made them so dangerous. Also he can't sense their energy, which is why he doesn't know if they are stronger or weaker than he thought. Not to mention that Trunks said he was strong enough to face future 17 and 18 in a 1v1, so maybe Piccolo thought that both 19 and 20 together were what were to much for Trunks. The fact that Piccolo even brings up the fact that they may be weaker in this time line (which they actually were) kind of makes your argument fall flat. At best it puts Piccolo at ssj tier, which I think cheapens the ssj transformation. Piccolo didn't truly reach ssj tier until fussing with Kami imo.
I'm starting to think there's a little comprehension problem. I already told you: he would not talk of the Androids being weaker as a possibility or something he'd second guess, assuming he can deduce their strength. If they aren't even above Freeza he wouldn't say that "maybe they got too strong or maybe they had become weaker in the new timeline", he'd just say the Androids WERE in fact weaker and MAYBE they (the Z fighters) had also gotten too strong. This is simple logic. The only potentially valid counter-argument that makes somewhat sense is that he would get confused because the Androids don't emit ki.
With "too strong" he just means that he surpassed "some hypothetical Androids who are weaker than their counteparts". But the fact those Androids would beat Trunks and Freeza in strength is never questioned and if the implied notion was an actual impossibility, since Piccolo now knows their power, he wouldn't talk about those characters as MAYBE weaker than expected.
The consequence of your argument is that Piccolo would see Androids weaker than Freeza and consider the possibility that maybe they were stronger than Freeza ("maybe you were too weak = maybe you also were as strong as you were claimed to be") despite the fact that a weaker-than-Freeza Piccolo could curbstomp 'em. The most you can theorize is that Piccolo lacks the means to make a comparison.
I don't believe there's any statement about Trunks age, and all Saiyans stop visually aging at around (late) puberty anyway. Theoretically, he could easily be three or four years older and he'd look the same. He also looks the same in Super many, many years after (but even post-ROSAT, he just has some extra muscles and longer hair; compare that to Gohan, who visibly ages). Otherwise, getting 30% stronger is not that incredible even in a year by Dragon Ball standards. Maybe he tried fighting (suppressed) #17 and (suppressed) #18 some more times and his power increased in a year, just sayin'.It doesn't matter if he had all of the time in the world to train, he came back as the exact same age as before which means he couldn't have trained for over a year.
Plus, like I said, the story really can work even with Trunks being marginally above. You're reading this one arc after Goku magically goes from 90,000 to 3,000,000 in a few hours; and Piccolo trained with a Goku who could go Super Saiyan. If Toriyama wanted to elevate Piccolo to near Super Saiyan levels he wouldn't have had a problem with it. Every later statement has more to do with Trunks being one-shot material for the Androids. It would simply mean Piccolo, Gero, #19 and Trunks all fell in the same ballpark (with Piccolo and Gero having an edge). Trunks is a non-issue here no matter how you want to look at it.
Like I said, it's not impossible to keep Piccolo below Freeza if you really want to, it just needs some extra (albeit fairly gratuitous) "what a coincidence" conditions.
- Everyone seeing a suppressed SS Goku vs. SS Trunks who are both weaker than Freeza; Vegeta being the only one realizing he'd actually be able to beat Freeza by calculating the multiplier in his head(?).
- Piccolo getting confused because the Androids do not emit ki.
Stuff like that, basically.
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