Aside from the casualties, why did Goku agree to fight Majin Vegeta?

[SylentEcho]

In my opinion, somehow this fight finally made them both understand each other.

Yes, they both severely underestimated Boo's power, but I think there had to be something deeper going on there. Could Goku have finally understood Vegeta's pride - that he was a warrior living a family life and doing nothing else, all while he himself was fighting strong guys in the afterlife? Did he notice that he had lost his edge?

I know the easy answer was that Goku was afraid of him blowing more people up, but look at his face after Vegeta lets all of his frustration out. He stares at him for a bit and even goes so far as to threaten Kaio-Shin.

[JulieYBM]

In a lot of ways, I think that Gokuu understood that he had been something of a poor lover to Vegeta up to that point. They had a wonderful night together with a promise for more, but Gokuu had somehow always found a way to never touch base with Vegeta again. Each of their brief meetings building up to their battle during the Majin Buu arc was always amidst a different crisis, mostly on Gokuu's side. Gokuu was too busy with the Ginyuu to face Vegeta properly on Namek, then Gokuu was injured, then Vegeta was killed by Freeza. Gokuu spent two years 'lost in space', only to return when a new crisis emerged and Vegeta seemed to be conveniently in need of training before being able to truly reach out for Gokuu again. All of their interactions during the Artificial Humans arc were brief glances that never amounted to anything.

The Majin Buu crisis was the last straw for Vegeta, who was clearly a jilted lover. I think Toriyama should have included a fight between the two after Trunks explained the situation with the Artificial Humans as a way of smearing Vegeta's face in the shit again so that the tension wouldn't be stretched out for so long and the Super Saiyan Vegeta reveal would have hit harder.

The Majin Buu arc clash between Gokuu and Vegeta almost feels like an afterthought after five years of waiting. I wish it had gotten more realty in the comic, because I would have loved to see Gokuu more directly face the brunt of Vegeta's emotional constipation. Vegeta's big "You Are Number One" speech would have hit harder at the end of the arc if it felt like Gokuu and Vegeta's relationship had been more of a focus of the arc and not simply a haphazard subplot added between the scenes of Gohan, Goten and Trunks being aimlessly written.

[jjgp1112]

I think Goku took pity on him and figured at least granting him the fight he was so impatient about would make him come to his senses a little, and I think he was also hoping to get through to him over the course of the fight.

[Chuquita]

I think about those '5 years of peace' in-between the 23rd and Raditz showing up where Goku isn't facing any strong guys, but also finds himself with a family and baby now; Goku's got a direct comparison there with Vegeta to relate to. That's almost the same scenario Vegeta finds himself in post-Cell. (Only Vegeta's in his 30's and it's 7 years instead of 5).

I think Goku understands where Vegeta's coming from partly because he's been there himself, even if he's not obsessed with Vegeta at that point the way Vegeta is with him.

[Jord]

Goku should have killed that sucker ages ago. Vegeta's low IQ caused most of the series latter problems.

[Yasai9001]

I think about those '5 years of peace' in-between the 23rd and Raditz showing up where Goku isn't facing any strong guys, but also finds himself with a family and baby now; Goku's got a direct comparison there with Vegeta to relate to. That's almost the same scenario Vegeta finds himself in post-Cell. (Only Vegeta's in his 30's and it's 7 years instead of 5).

I think Goku understands where Vegeta's coming from partly because he's been there himself, even if he's not obsessed with Vegeta at that point the way Vegeta is with him.

Maybe so. It can be argued that during the five year period, Son Goku was still doing everything he could to stay on top of his game. He had to train because he knew Piccolo was always around the corner, but he had a son and a wife. Very likely Gohan was given a lot more attention than Chi-Chi when he could, but him missing Gohan's birth because he was likely training helps solidify your point of view, in a way. Vegeta knew that there wasn't any going back to the man he once was.

MAYBE Goku felt as if he was losing his edge after Gohan was born, but he kept his mental level and continued training. One thing Goku's always had better than Vegeta was mental toughness - Vegeta's "Saiyan Mid-Life Crisis" convolutes the notion of Goku feel like he was losing his own edge perhaps, but Goku loves fighting just as much as he loves his friends/family...maybe just a pinch more.

[super michael]

Vegeta would have continued to kill innocent people, if Goku refused to fight him. We know Goku doesn't like seeing innocent people hurt and killed. That is why Goku accepted to fight Vegeta.

Goku wasn't thinking of honour, understanding Vegeta or enjoying a fight in the Buu Saga.

[BernardoCairo]

Goku loves to fight and Vegeta is his number 1 rival. He wanted to fight him too, even if he knew he was stronger. Remember, that's why he kept Vegeta alive in the first place.

[Cipher]

I think it's genuinely successfully presented as a mix of things.

The immediate impetus is Vegeta's killing spree, and that's the reason Goku gives us. But I think it's also presented as more the final straw that prompts Goku to understand just how much the fight means to Vegeta and to admit to himself that he can sympathize with that and want it too, while also being mixed with pity for Vegeta for abusing himself/lying to himself about disinterest in his current life, and hoping the fight will be the be the way to bring Vegeta back to his senses in a language he understands.

It's important that Toriyama has the Kaioshin offer other solutions, which Goku vehemently (in one of his more shocking character beats) rejects. If it were just about the immediate danger to others, Goku wouldn't threaten Kaioshin into letting them fight. It's very clearly presented as something more personal. If it needed anymore underscoring, one of the few pages Toriyama gives us of the battle has them both grinning at each other as they go at it.

Goku wasn't thinking of honour, understanding Vegeta or enjoying a fight in the Buu Saga.

I think textual evidence heavily points that he's thinking of all of the above.

Toriyama didn't need to have Shin offer alternate solutions only to have Goku threaten him. (Even if those solutions weren't practical or capable of stopping Vegeta immediately, that would be the argument, rather than having Goku threaten him into letting them fight.)

Toriyama didn't need to shortly thereafter show the two of them understanding one another (the mirrored grinning panels) in battle.

Toriyama didn't need to have Goku explicitly say he was both trying to honor Vegeta and enjoy the fight later in the arc in regard to his not having used SS3. Sure, that's also working backward to explain something introduced later in the week-to-week writing, but it's both the text we're left with and also coheres completely with the motivations hinted at in the Majin Vegeta chapters themselves.

The series is no stranger to having Goku say one thing and...maybe partially mean it...but also mean another, playing into what Toriyama would later call the more toxic elements of the character Toei-original material tended to miss. Sparing Piccolo ostensibly to spare God, but also because he wants his rival around. Sparing Vegeta for the same reason. Highly questionable rationale for not pre-empting the Androids, and then at multiple points in the Boo arc, all in ways that allow for increasingly rare opportunities for a fight-crazed character to get an engaging battle. This isn't incredibly multifaceted stuff, but Toriyama does write a more complexly characterized Goku than fans sometimes give credit for. You shouldn't always take our main character at his word.