Cell's absorbing of humans...

[JulieYBM]

It occured to me that I'm not sure if the power Cell receives from absorbing humans is permanent or not. Does it boost his base maximum or is similar to taking in another's ki, it only fills up the glass until it overflows?

[Cipher]

It seems pretty clear between his two battles with Piccolo that absorbing humans substantially raises his maximum power.

Hell, his entire plan after losing to Piccolo the first time is to absorb random humans until he's confident he can overpower both Piccolo and the Androids.

[Piccolo Daimao]

To add on to what Cipher said, I don't see why the power Cell recieves from absorbing humans wouldn't be permanent. If the whole purpose was to absorb humans so he could get stronger than Piccolo and the Androids, and subsequently absorb them to become perfect, I don't see why his power would suddenly drop.

I don't know whether he'd have a limit though.

[hleV]

If human's battle power is 5, then Cell absorbing 1 billion people would result in him adding 5 billion battle power to his. I think.

[Bussani]

Cell tells us is that he absorbs a human's life-force for nourishment--that is, he eats them to grow back to how he was before he came to the past. It's all because he reverted to an egg that he needs all this nourishment to build his strength back up. I guess he might have to eat now and then like everyone else does, but probably not as much as when he was literally eating to regrow back to his adult form, you know?

For the record, I don't think eating a person with a battle power of 5 adds 5 to Cell's own. He uses it as nourishment for his body, which obviously affects his own power, but probably not in a 1:1 ratio like that.

[Cipher]

Cell tells us is that he absorbs a human's life-force for nourishment--that is, he eats them to grow back to how he was before he came to the past. It's all because he reverted to an egg that he needs all this nourishment to build his strength back up. I guess he might have to eat now and then like everyone else does, but probably not as much as when he was literally eating to regrow back to his adult form, you know?

Oh, if this is right, I've been majorly missing this point. I thought he's simply increasing his maximum; I didn't realize he's trying to regain the power he lost transforming down into his pupal form.

Can you point me to the exact line of dialogue that implies this?

[Rocketman]

If human's battle power is 5, then Cell absorbing 1 billion people would result in him adding 5 billion battle power to his. I think.

If it takes Cell one second to absorb one human, absorbing a billion humans would take nearly 32 years.

[Super Saiyan Turlast x4]

Cell tells us is that he absorbs a human's life-force for nourishment--that is, he eats them to grow back to how he was before he came to the past. It's all because he reverted to an egg that he needs all this nourishment to build his strength back up. I guess he might have to eat now and then like everyone else does, but probably not as much as when he was literally eating to regrow back to his adult form, you know?

Oh, if this is right, I've been majorly missing this point. I thought he's simply increasing his maximum; I didn't realize he's trying to regain the power he lost transforming down into his pupal form.

Can you point me to the exact line of dialogue that implies this?

Cell: "I extract their life force as a source of energy."

Not to mention, Cell goes on to mention later, after owning Piccolo, that he had "gotten too strong", and absorbed more people than he needed. I think he does increase his overall powers when he absorbs humans. Maybe he was absorbing to get back to his natural level early on, but we know based on his later dialogue that he can indeed increase his maximum.

[Bussani]

@Cipher & Super Saiyan Turlast x4: Maybe it's a bit of both, then. Cell was definitely eating to build back the strength he'd lost, but maybe he can go even beyond that.

[cpd12589]

Yeah I'm also one who believes absorbing humans raised Imperfect Cell's maximum power since he was weaker than Piccolo then became significantly stronger.

[Bussani]

Yeah I'm also one who believes absorbing humans raised Imperfect Cell's maximum power since he was weaker than Piccolo then became significantly stronger.

But he was apparently strong enough to beat the Androids in the future (Cell: "You can't defeat 17 and 18, much less me"), and Piccolo rivaled 17 after fusing with Kami, so it isn't necessary that he went beyond a previous maximum. The only thing that implies he did is the line about him absorbing too many humans and becoming too strong.