Why was Piccolo "afraid" of East Kaioshin?

[Kaboom]

Am I one of the rare few who are okay with the idea that Piccolo and the Daizenshuu aren't pulling all our legs, and Kaioshin really is stronger than Piccolo like they both say?

[DBZAOTA482]

Am I one of the rare few who are okay with the idea that Piccolo and the Daizenshuu aren't pulling all our legs, and Kaioshin really is stronger than Piccolo like they both say?

Pretty much, since Kaioshin has no real feats.

[ZombieVito]

Am I one of the rare few who are okay with the idea that Piccolo and the Daizenshuu aren't pulling all our legs, and Kaioshin really is stronger than Piccolo like they both say?

No. I too believe that.

[Super Saiyan Turlast x4]

I think Kaioshin is stronger, too. I just don't think that's why Piccolo necessarily forfeited the fight.

[Saiga]

Kaioshin being scared of Dabra isn't much of a strike against him when Dabra would absolutely wreck Piccolo.

[HG-Project]

I think Kaioshin is stronger, too. I just don't think that's why Piccolo necessarily forfeited the fight.

Ditto with you on that one. Wouldn't think he'd mind being matched against a stronger opponent since he meets enemies who are stronger than him left and right anyways. I really think it was more of E. Kaioshin's status that ultimately convinced him that it wasn't his place to fight and he better step down.

[Presto88]

Furthermore, and I will say it again, how could he have forfeit for no other reason but respect for who Kaioshin was when no one could actually sense his power level?

To re-answer your question:

It wasn't respect. Kaioshin bid him to have fun and fight him at the tournament. Piccolo's response was to forfeit anyway. Respecting Kaioshin's wishes would have been had he respected Kaioshin's verbally given wishes.

Piccolo defying Kaioshin's wishes would actually be disrespectful if it was done for any other reason than the difference in power.

Dude honestly, grasp at straws much? Come on now, you haven't addressed any of my points and you know it. Lets employ some logic here, you're implying that person A was somehow afraid of person B due to X amount of a power gap, yet person A could not actually gauge how just how strong person B was, so where exactly is the X factor coming in, how could one begin to guess at that figure when they don't have the information to do so...and even if he could have, which he just can't, he was willing to face person C, D and E who were more powerful than B anyway, which of course would indicate this is not a strength factor but something else. Call it what you will but this isnt a power thing, simply because it can't be a power thing, nothing allows it to be a power thing. Whatever statements where made by Piccolo were simply made to get the others off his back so he could verify the situation.

[dbgtFO]

Call it what you will but this isnt a power thing, simply because it can't be a power thing, nothing allows it to be a power thing.

Well Kaioshin blatantly read Piccolo's mind like an open book and made that clear, when he responded to a question Piccolo was asking in his mind.
After that Piccolo forfeited. As far as I'm concerned it makes the most sense, that a guy stronger than Kaioshin could have kept him from reading his mind and since Piccolo failed to do so, that just confirmed in my and his view, that Kaioshin was just way stronger than him and that lead him to question, if Kaioshin was the Dai Kaio.

[Kaboom]

There's some vagueness if the dialogue is all you're going by, but the guidebooks (at least the Daizenshuu, and probably others) likewise say, "yes, Kaioshin is much stronger than Piccolo" in no uncertain terms. There's nothing in the manga going against it, so it seems just contrary to me to say otherwise, really.

[Presto88]

Call it what you will but this isnt a power thing, simply because it can't be a power thing, nothing allows it to be a power thing.

Well Kaioshin blatantly read Piccolo's mind like an open book and made that clear, when he responded to a question Piccolo was asking in his mind.
After that Piccolo forfeited. As far as I'm concerned it makes the most sense, that a guy stronger than Kaioshin could have kept him from reading his mind and since Piccolo failed to do so, that just confirmed in my and his view, that Kaioshin was just way stronger than him and that lead him to question, if Kaioshin was the Dai Kaio.

So I'm failing to see the point here, I'm not particularly concerned with whether or not Kaioshin is more powerful than Piccolo, but more so with the title of the topic. With that in mind, what I am trying to establish here is, storywise, it's impossible for Piccolo to actually discern how powerful Kaioshin is, not so impossible for him to determine who he is.

Therefore in the case of the forfeit, it was about the who, because and I will say this just one more time, even if Piccolo had the ability to sense exactly how powerful Kaioshin was, he would have determined that he was not in fact more powerful than Vegeta, Gohan or Goku, all of which with whom he was already prepared to do battle with, (and I'm not saying he is more powerful than any of them, just that he was comfortable in doing battle with them in a relatively controlled environment) so it is completely illogical for him to forfeit purely on the basis of power, because if this was the case, he would simply not have entered in the first place.