WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Dragon Ball Super Chapter 77, "Bardock, Father of Goku," by Akira Toriyama, Toyotarou, Caleb Cook and Brandon Bovia, available now in English through Viz Media.
Initially one of the strongest fighters on Earth, Piccolo has had some trouble keeping up with Goku and Vegeta as the Dragon Ball franchise has progressed. However, the Namekian has repeatedly proven himself capable of ingenuous tactical moves. Now, Dragon Ball Super Chapter 77 sees the Cerealians using one of Piccolo's best tactics: Destroying the moon to stop the Saiyans' Great Ape transformation.
Dragon Ball Super Chapter 77 opens with Freeza's army and the Saiyans in their Great Ape form invading Planet Cereal. The attack ends up going well, and Freeza's army is able to destroy all of the Namekians except for Monaito. The Cerealians, though, hold out a bit longer. To increase their chances of survival, a Cerealian named Flayk destroys the planet's moon. This forces the Saiyans to lose their Great Ape transformation, though it's not totally clear how the Cerealians knew this would happen. Still, the Saiyans prove formidable without their Great Ape forms and kill nearly all of the Cerealians.
This move greatly resembles one from the Dragon Ball franchise's past. In the early days of Dragon Ball Z, Piccolo teamed with his old rival, Goku, to stop Raditz, the Saiyan's surprise older brother. Goku died during that confrontation, thus leaving Piccolo to prepare for the Z-Fighters to take on Nappa and Vegeta. This meant Piccolo took Gohan under his wing and trained the young Saiyan to use his incredible latent abilities. However, due to Gohan's Great Ape transformation, Piccolo had to destroy the moon.
Strictly speaking, it's not clear just how canonical it is that Piccolo destroyed the moon. Eventually, the moon re-appeared, and the Dragon Ball Z - Kakarot video game claims Piccolo didn't actually destroy the moon. Instead, he created an illusion in which the moon was seemingly destroyed. That being said, Dragon Ball video games are generally not considered canon, and there are some holes in this explanation. The moon doesn't appear again until the "Trunks Saga," which appears a fair amount of time later. It doesn't make much sense for Piccolo to keep the illusion up for all that time -- especially when he is dead for some of that period. As such, just what happened to the moon and why it eventually reappeared is still something of a mystery.
Still, the choice to destroy the moon so as to neutralize the Saiyans' Great Ape form is a smart one. The Great Ape form is incredibly destructive, and regular fighters have little hope against it. As such, the event emphasizes the tactical prowess of the Cerealians -- even if it ends up being too little, too late.
Dragon Ball Super Chapter 78 releases on Nov. 19 in English through Viz Media.
