Piccolo and Android #20

[Horgus]

So how was Piccolo capable of beating Android 20?

If the Androids were anywhere near as strong as Freeza at his best, then Piccolo shouldn't have been able to do anything, unless he made enormous gains during the interim training period, which it wasn't really implied that he did. (although I could be wrong)

Although I know Piccolo did lecture 20 a little bit here and there about the basic mechanics of Ki, highlighting that while Dr. Gero was a genius with machines, he certainly was not a fighter.

So what do you think of this?

[JAPPO]

Piccolo is cool, his coolness is enough to beat that old man.

[Rocketman]

If the Androids were anywhere near as strong as Freeza at his best

Simple answer: they aren't. Vegeta absolutely manhandled #19, having so much power over it that he could use the Big Bang Attack even after getting drained for a while. Even Goku, who's having a freaking heart attack, is beating up #19 until it absorbs his Super Kamehameha.

[Xyex]

If the Androids were anywhere near as strong as Freeza at his best

Simple answer: they aren't. Vegeta absolutely manhandled #19, having so much power over it that he could use the Big Bang Attack even after getting drained for a while. Even Goku, who's having a freaking heart attack, is beating up #19 until it absorbs his Super Kamehameha.

Well, someone (I think Krillin) refers to Piccolo having a power like that of a Super Saiya-jin at this point. So he's still at least around the level Trunks put out when he sliced up Freeza. And that's still a pretty large increase of power. Larger than anything anyone before him made on their own.

[Drunken Master]

Huh? Piccolo was way too much for #20, even after he absorbed his power. Piccolo pretty much owns him remember? #20 couldn't even touch him. Piccolo easily chops off his hand, then gloats. Here's the fight -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJD5ibrKIQE

[FindKenshi]

Well, someone (I think Krillin) refers to Piccolo having a power like that of a Super Saiya-jin at this point.

I know in the English version of the manga as released by Viz Comics, Krillin's line is actually "How is Piccolo so strong? He's not even a Super Saiyan." How accurate that line is, is not something I can confirm, personally. But if that line holds true, then no, Piccolo's not really being stated to be on SSJ level with a statement like that.

[testing223]

Because it would be boring to see the androids beat everyone like Freeza did.

[Akira Kishimoto]

Perhapes Piccolo trained before the Android Saga. Their was the time with Garlic Junior and Salza. So maybe he was around the strength of a Ss.

[omegacwa]

Powerlevels from Freeza on make no sense, that is why they were dropped, end of story.

[Terra-jin]

I think the best explanation lies within Piccolo being a far better fighter than #20. In Dragonball, battles are often a matter of who has the stronger power, but knowing how to fight has to count for some. It's never really explored in much detail, but it would make sense that a being with unworldy fighting techniques could beat a guy five times his powerlevel. It would add a very interesting and realistic dimension to the fighting in Dragonball.

Dr. Gero was indeed no fighter, so I think that while he might have had Freeza's powerlevel he didn't have the fighting experience to beat Piccolo, who may have been at a far lower level than him. Piccolo's lecture to #20 seems to indicate this.

To expand a little on the fighting skill concept, Freeza's empire and the Saiyans were focused completely on powerlevels. They thought that any powerlevel measured by the scouter was a person's maximum. However, the Earth's fighter knew how to 'focus energy under one spot' to make it more effective, they knew how to sense energy and how to hide it. These abilities made them more effective fighters.
This could be explored more if you go into how fast a person can concentrate ki, how well they could form it (for example around the body to absorb hits) and all the stuff in between. You may, for instance, form a small spark of energy in the shape of a ledge to deflect energy more efficiently, or move ki so fast that the opponent cannot track it, or form ki around your fists to increase an attack's power...
Most of these attacks can be seen in DB, but it would be nice to see more emphasis on the techniques surrounding these attacks (Freeza focused his energy into a shell and made it spin very fast to disallow Goku to escape). Pretty cool

[Super Saiyan Turlast x4]

Well, Piccolo was training with a SSJ for three years, so, that right there should be a good enough reason for Piccolo to have a battle power close to a SSJ. Android #20 is not very strong to begin with. He thought Yamcha would be a good source of energy, which is odd. He is probably a little more powerful then #19, but that's nothing.

Androids #19 and #20 are nowhere near Freeza's power. But; after the amount of training Piccolo had, he would be more then enough to beat Freeza at any level.

[Drunken Master]

Oops, nevermind my last post, I read it as something else. Anyhow, people are looking too deep into this. The longer an anime goes, the more it tends to make less sense. Really, none of the gang should have gotten a big boost with regular earth training, but how could Mr. T make stronger foes, without making his good guys strong enough to dance with them? Vegeta turns to a SSj, Piccolo becomes very strong, Gohan gets strong enough to almost turn SSj almost immediately in the ROSAT, and Tenshinhan's kikoho can hold down Cell. They are all much stronger than most people think, especially the humans. I mean seriously, if Yamcha is 15,000 or something, do you think he's even gonna try to fight? They are way over that. The power of Tenshinhan's shin kikoho shows that, as does the other examples.

[Kid Trunks]

Maybe Dr.Gero just isn't that strong. Gero himself said he took into account how much Goku had been improving, but he never anticipated that he would become a Super Saiyan. Similarly, Gero didn't know that Piccolo would greatly increase his power level by fusing with Nail, followed by three years of intense preparation for the androids.