One Shocking Dragon Ball Fighter is Actually Vegeta’s Greatest Threat

Due to their long-standing rivalry within the Dragon Ball mythos, one would likely assume that the greatest threat to Vegeta on the Z Fighters team would assuredly be Goku since he’s the only one who could match his power, but that isn’t the case as another Dragon Ball hero nearly killed Vegeta not once, but twice!

Vegeta was introduced in Dragon Ball chapter 204 by Akira Toriyama, and while today’s fans would rightly identify him as a hero, he actually started his fictional career as a villain—and an especially vile one at that. Vegeta invaded Planet Earth along with another sinister Saiyan, Nappa, and together they planned to steal the planet’s Dragon Balls and then kill everyone in the world so that they could then sell the lifeless planet to the highest bidder. Fortunately, the combined might of the Z Fighters was enough to stop them during a battle, one which resulted in the death of Nappa and the near death of Vegeta. In fact, the only reason Vegeta isn’t dead is because Goku begged his fellow hero to let him live—and that hero was none other than Krillin.

In Dragon Ball chapter 304 by Akira Toriyama, Vegeta finds himself on the side of the Z Fighters just one hundred chapters after his villainous introduction, but even that doesn’t save him from Krillin’s wrath. In the previous chapter, Vegeta and the Z Fighters decided to join forces and fight Frieza hoping that their combined might would be enough to take the villain down without Goku, who was recovering from his previous battle with Captain Ginyu. It is immediately clear to Vegeta that, even with all of them working together, there is simply no way they would be able to stop Frieza–unless Vegeta did something drastic. Vegeta knows that a Saiyan who comes close to death but recovers before actually dying grows in strength exponentially upon their recovery. So, Vegeta tells Krillin to blast him in the stomach, so he could then immediately be healed by Dende and effectively hack this particular Saiyan ability. Unfortunately, things don’t quite go according to plan, as shown in this chapter.

After Krillin nearly kills Vegeta, Dende refuses to heal the Saiyan since earlier in this saga, Vegeta was responsible for slaughtering an entire village of Namekians—Dende’s species. This meant that Krillin’s attack suddenly became a legitimate threat to Vegeta’s life, and that wasn’t the first time. As stated and shown above, Krillin nearly killed Vegeta after the Saiyan was weakened during their first fight on Earth. In Dragon Ball chapter 241, Krillin stumbles towards Vegeta with Yajirobe’s sword with the intention of brutally ending his life. Within the span of just a few chapters, Krillin nearly killed Vegeta twice—which is incredibly shocking given their power disparities, but still remarkably true. Not only did Krillin nearly kill Vegeta multiple times in the Dragon Ball series, but he’s really been the only Z Fighter to even come close to doing it. When Goku fights Vegeta, it is usually a friendly sparring match, and in their first fight ever, Vegeta actually won. If not for the help of the other Z Fighters, Vegeta would have easily killed Goku during their iconic first fight. Instead, however, that battle ended with Krillin ready to chop Vegeta to bits.

As for the other Z Fighters, no one has been able to touch Vegeta, save for Android 18 who was a huge threat in the Android Saga, but every action she took against Vegeta was when she was a villain, so she doesn’t quite fall into consideration. What is funny, however, is that Android 18 actually becomes a good guy when she marries Krillin—the unassuming Dragon Ball fighter who, as it turns out, is Vegeta’s greatest threat.