Just how powerful is Gohan by the end of the Z story?

[OWmyDragonBallz]

A lot of fans claim that Toriyama stated Gohan to be the most powerful character by the end of Z. It's also said that the information is held within Daizenshuu 7. I can't seem to find the page number on Kanzentai. Would anyone here have any idea if it is true or not?

[CatouttaHell]

That's a bullshit claim somebody made up. Toriyama never said anything like that. He DID, however, say that Goku was the strongest and number one.

Q: Out of all your characters, which one is the most?
A: Cool: Goku
"I think it's Goku." The always pure strongest in the universe. Goku is #1 after all!

From here.

[Fox666]

I could find this:

He's a pacifist who from the time he was little has dreamed of becoming a scholar, rather than fighting. Because he is half Saiyan and half Earthling, his latent power is above average, but since he doesn't like voluntarily fighting or training, it was essential that he be trained by Piccolo and his father Goku. He potentially has wondrous power greater than Goku. Even with great evil gone from the world, he continues to punish the city's evildoers as a hero of justice.

However, I am not very sure how conclusive this is.

[Nazi Cola]

That's a bullshit claim somebody made up. Toriyama never said anything like that. He DID, however, say that Goku was the strongest and number one.

Q: Out of all your characters, which one is the most?
A: Cool: Goku
"I think it's Goku." The always pure strongest in the universe. Goku is #1 after all!

From here.

After the actual quotation is the author's input. The quoted text is all Toriyama really says.

[Kendamu]

During the Boo arc, I'm pretty sure that Chou Gohan was the most powerful at the time (Vegetto doesn't count) because Goku couldn't sustain SSj3 while alive.

However, none of that matters because Mr. Satan turned out being the real hero by convincing the people of Earth to contribute to the Genki Dama.

[Fox666]

Whatever Toriyama meant with that, it's hard to believe that the guy on these images is supposed to be the universe #1

[rereboy]

At the Buu arc, its clear that Gohan was stronger.

However, after 7 years, when Uub shows up, is Gohan still stronger? Its anybody's guess.

If we follow Toriyama's answer seriously, then its possible that Goku surpassed Gohan by the end of the series by whatever reason (maybe because Gohan didn't train during those years, ending up losing the power that the upgrade had unlocked, while Goku still trained everyday).

[Son_Gohan]

If we follow Toriyama's answer seriously, then its possible that Goku surpassed Gohan by the end of the series by whatever reason (maybe because Gohan didn't train during those years, ending up losing the power that the upgrade had unlocked, while Goku still trained everyday).

He only says "pure strongest".

Vegetto is the strongest character in the manga bar none, but was gifted his power by being born through fusion, and Gohan is the strongest unfused character but only obtained that level through a magic ritual. Goku achieved his strength through his own sheer effort.

[rereboy]

If we follow Toriyama's answer seriously, then its possible that Goku surpassed Gohan by the end of the series by whatever reason (maybe because Gohan didn't train during those years, ending up losing the power that the upgrade had unlocked, while Goku still trained everyday).

He only says "pure strongest".

Vegetto is the strongest character in the manga bar none, but was gifted his power by being born through fusion, and Gohan is the strongest unfused character but only obtained that level through a magic ritual. Goku achieved his strength through his own sheer effort.

Hmm... Holy water... Big as f*** Zenkais... Legendary SSJ power boost just because he gets mad... Hmm...

Honestly, by that logic Tenshinhan would probably be the pure strongest.

[Son_Gohan]

Hmm... Holy water... Big as f*** Zenkais... Legendary SSJ power boost just because he gets mad... Hmm...

Honestly, by that logic Tenshinhan would probably be the pure strongest.

The only boost that came from an unnatural source was the Super God Water, which is quite insignificant from the big picture.

[DBfan4life]

I think that Goku did surpass Gohan by the end of the Z story because remember when Gohan fights Dabra Vegeta says that Gohan has gotten weaker since he didn't train at all (unless he only says this in the anime, I don't have the manga volume with the fight so I'm not sure). Of course, we know Goku always has time for training and Gohan settled down so I doubt he ever trained at all.

[Eddie]

I think that Goku did surpass Gohan by the end of the Z story because remember when Gohan fights Dabra Vegeta says that Gohan has gotten weaker since he didn't train at all (unless he only says this in the anime, I don't have the manga volume with the fight so I'm not sure). Of course, we know Goku always has time for training and Gohan settled down so I doubt he ever trained at all.

Vegeta says that Gohan was stronger as a kid in the manga (Viz, at least). In my opinion, Goku probably is the strongest character at the end of the series. I can't see him not surpassing Gohan after 10 years of training. Everything points to Gohan being a bit of a slacker when he doesn't have a challenge he's preparing for, and the last time he slacked off for years he seemingly lost some power.

[CatouttaHell]

After the actual quotation is the author's input. The quoted text is all Toriyama really says.

Ah, I didn't notice/know that. My bad.

I still honestly think SSjin 3 Goku was stronger than Chou Gohan both in the Boo Arc and at the end of DBZ though. By the end of DBZ I have Goku 5x stronger.

[rereboy]

Hmm... Holy water... Big as f*** Zenkais... Legendary SSJ power boost just because he gets mad... Hmm...

Honestly, by that logic Tenshinhan would probably be the pure strongest.

The only boost that came from an unnatural source was the Super God Water, which is quite insignificant from the big picture.

You said "Goku achieved his strength through his own sheer effort".

The zenkais and SSJ1 didn't require any effort from Goku. They just happened.

And those factors were the largest factor in why Goku went from around 80000 to many millions in power in the freeza saga.

Also, I disagree that the holy water was insignificant. It was said that it would release Goku's potential. So, its entirely possible that it made Goku much more stronger immediately, which made him able to beat Piccolo Daimao, and that it also made it possible for Goku to have higher gains in his future trainings than he would have otherwise, since his potential, or some of it, had been released.

So, like I said, by the logic of achieving strength through sheer effort, the strongest would be Tenshinhan, since he was the strongest character to achieve his own power without any "hax" whatsoever.

[MasterVampire]

At the end of Z with Uub so many years have passed that Goku has probably already mastered SSJ3.

[DarkGokuZ]

In the Buu saga, Gohan was the strongest after unlocking his potential.

But I also think that after 10 years of training, where Gohan probadly didn't train, Goku surpassed him.
Oh and I agree with the theory that Goku mastered the SSJ3.

[Michsi]

Legendary SSJ power boost just because he gets mad... Hmm...

That's unfair. If getting mad is all it took, than there should have been more SSJ running around. You need to reach a certain level to be able to turn SSJ and up until that point most of his increase in power happened due to training and the effort he put into it.
Roshi's training for the 21. TB, self training for the 22 TB., Popo's/Kami's trainining for the 23. TB. , King Kai's training , self training on his way to Namek.

[Rocketman]

That's unfair. If getting mad is all it took, than there should have been more SSJ running around. You need to reach a certain level to be able to turn SSJ and up until that point most of his increase in power happened due to training and the effort he put into it.

Power gained from Goku's training - 90,000 at the absolute most (if no zenkais after Vegeta/on the way to Namek)
Power gained from zenkais - 2,910,000 at the absolute least

[Michsi]

I don't look at it like that (barely ever look at powerlevels) but at the milestones and how far he got due to those training sessions.
The only time I feel the zenkai really helped him was after the battle with Vegeta but mostly after the battle with Ginyu.

Also SSJ 2 and SSJ 3 was most likely achieved through training.

[Kaboom]

Goku was stated by the narrator to be repeatedly abusing the healing boosts during his training on the way to Namek, even if he wasn't fully aware of what was happening.

But en route to and on Namek is the last window of time where he had the luxury of depending on those. All the power he gained after that -during the three years before the Androids, in the Room of Spirit and Time, during the seven years he spent dead and gained SSj2 and SSj3- All that was by his own training efforts.