Goku and why Roshi was more right than we ever could imagine.

[Cure Dragon 255]

"I dont want Goku to win the tournament because then he would become complacent."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sg0mTXIT2To

(Sorry the video is in Spanish)

This video right here discusses how true this statement is. Because when Goku doesnt have a TANGIBLE LIMIT to break, he singlehandedly outdoes Gohan in the "It's peacetime, I can just chillax" and then proceed to not really work to outdo himself. And this started As soon as he finally won the Budokai Tenkaichi tournament.

And it would not be the last.

[Yuji]

He doesn't "outdo" Gohan, that's crazy. Goku still trains and keeps himself in shape, not too dissimilar from a boxer or fighter being in camp Vs out of camp. You can point toward him not being noticeably stronger from the 23rd Budokai to Z, but Piccolo didn't get much stronger either, and he has a strong motivation to train and surpass Goku. It was more of a case that Goku couldn't get much stronger, as the training methods he used had plateau'd and there was nobody as strong as him he could train with.

The only instance we see in the series where Goku has actually slacked off and become complacent is prior to the ToP - where he has many goals and objectives to reach - but that can be chalked up to him being busy working for Chi-Chi.

[FoolsGil]

"I dont want Goku to win the tournament because then he would become complacent."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sg0mTXIT2To

(Sorry the video is in Spanish)

This video right here discusses how true this statement is. Because when Goku doesnt have a TANGIBLE LIMIT to break, he singlehandedly outdoes Gohan in the "It's peacetime, I can just chillax" and then proceed to not really work to outdo himself. And this started As soon as he finally won the Budokai Tenkaichi tournament.

And it would not be the last.

There is a clear difference between Goku and Gohan, which is why what Master Roshi believed would happened, wouldn't: Goku enjoys fighting. He was trained by Grandpa and loved it, and he was also quite literally a feral child who loved adventure. Whether he won the tournament or not, Goku still would have wanted to get his four star dragonball back and thus would still get into conflict with the Red Ribbon Army, and become even stronger. And he would still go to the next tournament because once again, he enjoys fighting and if anything, his growth in such a short time frame would excite him to see how far he'd keep going. And then he'd keep fighting because of Piccolo Sr, and then keep fighting because of Piccolo Jr. By the time Goku would have 'rested' in those 5 years before Raditz, things still would have played out the same, because in spite of everything, fighting and adventure is Goku's life.

[MasenkoHA]

. Because when Goku doesnt have a TANGIBLE LIMIT to break, he singlehandedly outdoes Gohan in the "It's peacetime, I can just chillax" and then proceed to not really work to outdo himself. And this started As soon as he finally won the Budokai Tenkaichi tournament.

And it would not be the last.

Well no that's not true, Roshi even noted Goku seemed to have gotten more powerful than he was 5 years ago and would have thought he had gotten weaker after getting married and becoming a father.

Roshi did fear Goku would let a tournament win get to his head and would get bored with the sport of martial arts, but Goku healing Piccolo with a senzu to have a rival to keep him on a toes showed that Roshi had nothing to fear and Goku would continue to train to get better. This was reinforced in the beginning of the Saiyan arc with the aforementioned rock skipping scene and when we saw that Goku was still wearing weighted training clothing.

[Vegard Aune]

Was it not pointed out right at the start of the Z portion that Goku had been wanting to train with Gohan but Chichi didn't let him? So yeah, despite being officially the strongest man on Earth and not knowing that there were even stronger people on other planets, Goku very much still wanted to grow stronger.

[MasenkoHA]

Was it not pointed out right at the start of the Z portion that Goku had been wanting to train with Gohan but Chichi didn't let him? So yeah, despite being officially the strongest man on Earth and not knowing that there were even stronger people on other planets, Goku very much still wanted to grow stronger.

He also DID get stronger. This was acknowledged by Roshi himself after Goku skipped a rock at Kame island

[super michael]

Was it not pointed out right at the start of the Z portion that Goku had been wanting to train with Gohan but Chichi didn't let him? So yeah, despite being officially the strongest man on Earth and not knowing that there were even stronger people on other planets, Goku very much still wanted to grow stronger.

That is correct, it was stated in both the anime and manga that Goku wanted to train and teach Gohan martial art, however Chi Chi was against it.
When Goku was dead and there was no plan in reviving him, he still trained and even unlocked new Super Saiyan levels.
When Goku defeated Boo and became the strongest fighter on earth, he still trained in DBS.

Basically for Goku no matter if he is dead or alive, if he becomes the strongest or someone surpass him, he will always train no matter what.

So yes after Goku beat the 23rd Martial Art Tournament, he did train even when he was married with a kid also.

[lancerman]

He doesn't "outdo" Gohan, that's crazy. Goku still trains and keeps himself in shape, not too dissimilar from a boxer or fighter being in camp Vs out of camp. You can point toward him not being noticeably stronger from the 23rd Budokai to Z, but Piccolo didn't get much stronger either, and he has a strong motivation to train and surpass Goku. It was more of a case that Goku couldn't get much stronger, as the training methods he used had plateau'd and there was nobody as strong as him he could train with.

The only instance we see in the series where Goku has actually slacked off and become complacent is prior to the ToP - where he has many goals and objectives to reach - but that can be chalked up to him being busy working for Chi-Chi.

Tbf we know that Piccolo was spending a lot of time developing a new technique that he could pour power into that at the time he figured could one shot anyone (even the Saiyan who was many times stronger than him).

The reason why the complacency is noticeable with Goku is because we really don't see him "out of camp" that often. From the time he first trains with Roshi, he's constantly striving to get stronger. In almost every early Dragon Ball time break, he is usually off screen training. He only really isn't in training mode when he's on some sort of quest. Even then, he'll take any opportunity to fight a strong guy or find a way to get stronger.

After the Saiyans come, he's in training for the year he's dead, he trains on the ship on the arrival to Namek pushing himself beyond any reasonable standards, he stops on Yardrat on the way back to train, instantly jumps into a 3 year training session once he lands, all the ROSAT training during the Cell arc, then when he's dead he just spends all his time training and pushes himself into SSJ3 which at the time is supposed to be this insane form that nobody could dream of, then between the death of Boo and the end we see him training and he's clearly been anticipating his big fight with Oob. Then he literally leaves to train for an extended period of time.

He's simply never off, except for this one period of the story where it's the only time we have a time gap where Goku isn't stated or shown to be demonstrably stronger. The fact that it happens right after he wins a tournament where he becomes the presumed strongest man on Earth and the idea of traveling into space isn't a thought yet.... and it becomes quite noticeable.

[Yuji]

He doesn't "outdo" Gohan, that's crazy. Goku still trains and keeps himself in shape, not too dissimilar from a boxer or fighter being in camp Vs out of camp. You can point toward him not being noticeably stronger from the 23rd Budokai to Z, but Piccolo didn't get much stronger either, and he has a strong motivation to train and surpass Goku. It was more of a case that Goku couldn't get much stronger, as the training methods he used had plateau'd and there was nobody as strong as him he could train with.

The only instance we see in the series where Goku has actually slacked off and become complacent is prior to the ToP - where he has many goals and objectives to reach - but that can be chalked up to him being busy working for Chi-Chi.

Tbf we know that Piccolo was spending a lot of time developing a new technique that he could pour power into that at the time he figured could one shot anyone (even the Saiyan who was many times stronger than him).

The reason why the complacency is noticeable with Goku is because we really don't see him "out of camp" that often. From the time he first trains with Roshi, he's constantly striving to get stronger. In almost every early Dragon Ball time break, he is usually off screen training. He only really isn't in training mode when he's on some sort of quest. Even then, he'll take any opportunity to fight a strong guy or find a way to get stronger.

After the Saiyans come, he's in training for the year he's dead, he trains on the ship on the arrival to Namek pushing himself beyond any reasonable standards, he stops on Yardrat on the way back to train, instantly jumps into a 3 year training session once he lands, all the ROSAT training during the Cell arc, then when he's dead he just spends all his time training and pushes himself into SSJ3 which at the time is supposed to be this insane form that nobody could dream of, then between the death of Boo and the end we see him training and he's clearly been anticipating his big fight with Oob. Then he literally leaves to train for an extended period of time.

He's simply never off, except for this one period of the story where it's the only time we have a time gap where Goku isn't stated or shown to be demonstrably stronger. The fact that it happens right after he wins a tournament where he becomes the presumed strongest man on Earth and the idea of traveling into space isn't a thought yet.... and it becomes quite noticeable.

I guess you can justify it with the fact he had to raise a baby during those years. He still got stronger so he was still training.