Yamcha (Pre-Dragon Ball Z) vs. Shang Chi

[Nicklypuff]

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In a battle between the Master of the Wolf Fang Fist and the Master of Kung Fu who will prove to be the Master of Martial Arts?

• Combatants: Yamcha (Pre-Dragon Ball Z) vs. Shang Chi
• Prep Time: None
• Location: Budokai Tournament Arena (Normal Rules of Rumbles Still Apply)

[Sharpandpointies]

So, Shang is a rather high-end bullet-timer who hits hard enough to bust up giant stone statues and punch holes in natural cave walls.

.....

If Yamcha exceeds that kind of thing, he's taking this.

[Cyke]

Filler: yes or no? Because his waterfall feat was pretty amazing, all things considered.

[Nicklypuff]

Yeah, filler counts as long as it is pre-Raditz saga. What waterfall feat do you have in mind?

[Cyke]

Yeah, filler counts as long as it is pre-Raditz saga. What waterfall feat do you have in mind?

This one in particular. His second-ever Kamehameha (his first ever is earlier in the clip).

Context: village is in danger of being destroyed by a volcano. The Z-Fighters (Tien, Yamcha, Krillin, and Chiaozu) spring into action to try and save it. Yamcha tasks himself with blowing a hole in the mountain lake to create a river of water that would block and/or cool the lava. The first hole you see there is the result of his first-ever Kamehameha, but the hole is paltry. He challenges himself to do better.

[The Drunkard Kid]

End of Dragon Ball Yamcha was fast enough to keep track of Goku and Tenshinhan when they were going so fast that they were invisible to Master Roshi, a guy who caught a hail of machine gun rounds fired at his back from point blank range and was doing the whole "have an extended fight sequence including a planning round and a game of rock-paper-scissors so fast that normal people just saw him and his opponent instantly flash stepping to opposite sides of the ring" trick at least one massive power up ago.

And he had passed Korin's training, so he should, at the very least, be comparable to Goku when he was monstering over Tao Pai Pai (AKA, Mr. "Casually Throws Stone Pillars Intercontinental Distances"), and his Energy Ball move was fast enough and tricky enough to land a solid hit on a guy who was posessed by Kami-sama, though admittedly Kami-sama wasn't fighting all out against him. Yamcha also started the series strong enough to punch Goku though multiple stone pillars with his Wolf Fang Fist, and had gotten exponentially more powerful by the time DB wrapped up.

So, yeah, I don't expect Shang Chi to really enjoy this.

[big_adventure]

I mean, he could WFF hard enough to hurt Goku way back at the beginning of DB, and was fast enough to hit the kid, and Goku was flat out bulletproof and some strong fraction of bullet timer at least back then.

Given all the training between then and end-of-DB, Yamcha SHOULD be strong and fast enough to obliterate Shang. But, alas, DB power scaling.

[BitVyper]

That Yamcha was able to put up any kind of fight at all against major players in each tournament arc should give him an easy win here.

[The Drunkard Kid]

That Yamcha was able to put up any kind of fight at all against major players in each tournament arc should give him an easy win here.

To be fair, he didn't put up any fight worth mentioning against Jackie Chun, but that was before any of his actual training.

[Cyke]

To be fair, he didn't put up any fight worth mentioning against Jackie Chun, but that was before any of his actual training.

Eh, I'm willing to handwave that as minute details at this point. He did better against Kami and the power gap was even bigger (I think). But his consistently-best showings could arguably be the Baba Tournament.

[The Drunkard Kid]

Eh, I'm willing to handwave that as minute details at this point. He did better against Kami and the power gap was even bigger (I think). But his consistently-best showings could arguably be the Baba Tournament.

Ehhhh. He impressed Kami, definitely, and managed to draw blood with a tricky attack that hit Kami fair and square, but Kami was pretending to be a lot less powerful and skilled than he actually was and was treating it more as a teaching exercise than a fight while Jackie Chun just ended it off the bat.

Considering his fight against Piccolo, and the way he was toying with Yamcha the entire time, he could have also one-shot ring outted Yamcha (and everyone else that wasn't Piccolo or Goku), had he really wanted to. That being said, Yamcha's, Kuririn's, and Tenshinhan's showings were all about how, although they didn't really standa chance against the divine-tier of fighters at that point, they were all geniuses who shouldn't be underestimated in the future.

[BitVyper]

The fact remains that he got a hit on Kami at all; a good enough one that Kami decided to immediately take him out afterward. So he's at least above the level where Kami can comfortably toy with him. Even by surprise, Kami was aware of the attack before it actually hit him, so he had time to apply his speed if there was a vast enough difference for it to put Yamcha's soukidan that far below him.

He performed decently against Tien too, with them skirmishing pretty evenly for awhile and both getting some decent hits. Granted, Tien had a lot more in reserve, but even without drawing on that reserve, he was fighting well above anything that was in the 21st Budokai.

[The Arbiter]

There is a scene where Yamcha is running, on foot, beside a sports car speeding on the highway. The speedometer was reading well over 100. Moments later Yamcha and crew zoom away from said car leaving blurred after images in his wake.

Heck, his very first showing EVER had him punting Goku through several giant stone towers

[The Drunkard Kid]

The fact remains that he got a hit on Kami at all; a good enough one that Kami decided to immediately take him out afterward. So he's at least above the level where Kami can comfortably toy with him. Even by surprise, Kami was aware of the attack before it actually hit him, so he had time to apply his speed if there was a vast enough difference for it to put Yamcha's soukidan that far below him.

He performed decently against Tien too, with them skirmishing pretty evenly for awhile and both getting some decent hits. Granted, Tien had a lot more in reserve, but even without drawing on that reserve, he was fighting well above anything that was in the 21st Budokai.

Like I said, he landed a fair hit against a Kami that was playing with him in an attempt to teach him, which impressed Kami, then Kami showed that he could drop Yamcha at any time he felt like it. Which is more or less the same way he would have dealt with Roshi, Kuririn, or Tenshinhan, all people who have feats that put them miles and miles beyond Shang Chi.

Impressing the guy that casually knocked a fully healed and bloodlusted Kid Goku who had just gotten done with killing Piccolo Daimaou (and thought that he was facing Piccolo again) for a loop with a casual finger flick was definitely not a *bad* showing for Yamcha, and wasn't depicted as such in the manga, either. Kami gave him all the props for being a brilliant and powerful fighter, albeit one that still has far to go. Shang Chi would not do anywhere near as well against even 21st Budokai Roshi as Yamcha did against Kami.

[BitVyper]

Like I said, he landed a fair hit against a Kami that was playing with him in an attempt to teach him

Kami seems pretty clearly surprised. I don't think there's any indication that he was allowing himself to get hit. Playing with Yamcha doesn't mean he reduced his ability to dodge, just that he wasn't taking the guy out when he could. In this case, the point is establishing Yamcha's attacks as something that high end bullet time isn't dodging.

Like obviously Kami could win any time he wanted, but the point is that Yamcha was able to land the hit at all and have it do something. I think the fact that Kami immediately stops playing (actual fighting stances, serious expression, etc) and decisively ends the fight after taking that hit does a pretty good job of demonstrating that he wasn't expecting to actually eat a shot.

Edit: Put another way, is there any evidence Shang Chi could land a hit on Kami?