New fans of Dragon Ball Super may only know Piccolo as one of the supporting cast in the series, along with people like Krilin and Tien Shinhan. He is one of the few people that Goku calls upon whenever a new threat comes to destroy the earth. Needless to say, compared to Goku and Vegeta, Piccolo’s strength is nothing to write home about.
However, old Dragon Ball fans that have been following the series since Goku was just a wild toddler with an ape tail on his backside knows that Piccolo used to be a big deal. He may be just a simple fodder character now, but back then, he was known as the Demon King Piccolo. So let’s take this chance to take a trip down memory lane and talk about Demon King Piccolo.
The Demon King Piccolo
The character named Demon King Piccolo first appeared in the fifth story arc of Dragon Ball. In the story, Piccolo was a man who was known as the Demon King Piccolo. He was a massive threat to mankind and nearly unbeatable. That is until Master Roshi’s teacher came along and sealed him inside a rice cooker.
Unfortunately, Pilaf and his gang get a hold of that rice cooker and free Piccolo, who has become a wrinkly old man now. Their plan quickly backfired when Piccolo ended up enslaving them instead. Fortunately, the newly-revived Piccolo has little to no energy left now. However, when Pilaf told him about the Dragon Ball and its wish-granting ability, Piccolo rejoiced and sent his subordinate on a mission to find the elusive Dragon Balls. He wants to regain his magical and physical power. He wants to regain his youth.
The kid Goku who just finished the 22nd Strongest Under the Heaven Tournament heard about this new threat and immediately confronted Piccolo. Goku lost their first fight, but just like with his other fights, Goku got back on his feet and trained to be stronger, with the God of Earth (Kami) as his new mentor. In their second fight, Goku manages to kill the Demon king Piccolo. Or is he?
The Demon King Piccolo 2.0
One of the unique powers of Demon King Piccolo is his ability to create living beings out of the egg that he spits out of his mouth. He usually uses this ability to create loyal soldiers with varying levels of powers. However, when he senses that Goku is about to beat him in their second fight, Piccolo does something that he has never done before. He creates an egg containing a little version of himself, and throws it out of Goku’s sight, right at the moment before he dies.
Nobody knows about this little Piccolo until a couple of years after the death of the old Demon King Piccolo. Goku has turned into a proper teenager now, and he wants to participate in the latest Strongest Under The Heaven Tournament.
That is when Goku and his friends realize that a young man that is a spitting image of Demon King Piccolo participates in the tournament as well. He simply goes by the name of Piccolo now. And while this version of Piccolo is a lot calmer, he still harbors the anger and desire for revenge against Goku that he inherited from his previous self.
As it happened, Goku and Piccolo ended up meeting at the final of the tournament. They have one of the most epic fights that the tournament has ever seen in its long history. This young Piccolo is extremely powerful, even more so than his previous incarnation. He even managed to impale Goku’s chest with one of his attacks. Not one to give up, Goku gathered his remaining strength and executed a full-force frontal attack, and defeated Piccolo.
The Truth about Piccolo
As you’ve probably noticed, Goku didn’t kill Piccolo at the end of the tournament in the last section. The reason is because if Piccolo is dead, then the aforementioned God of the Earth will also die. Because they both are actually the same person, divided into two individuals.
Piccolo is actually a Namekian who was sent to earth from Planet Namek by his parents when he was just a toddler in order to escape from Frieza’s attack.
He had a tough time growing up, but he found a great master that led him down the path to become the God of Earth. However, in order to be a God, he needs to shed his evil side and become a pure embodiment of righteousness. And that was the moment when the Demon King Piccolo was born. Once he becomes a God, Kami creates the Dragon Ball and watches over the world, while Piccolo creates an evil empire and wreaks havoc into the world.
The two of them remain as separate individuals until the Androids come along. Unable to face this new and overwhelming power, Piccolo decided to fuse together with his counterpart. Fortunately, another Namekian named Dende is ready to take over as the new God of Earth, which means the Dragon Ball won’t be destroyed when Kami disappears. When both of them finally fused together again, Piccolo not only regained the other half of his power back, but the magical power, wisdom, and knowledge of Kami also flowed into him, and in the process, erased every trace of evil from his heart. And that is how the Piccolo that we all know today came to be.