Grappler showdowns · City to planet
Kaku Kaioh vs Master Roshi
A 146-year-old grandmaster meets a centuries-old hermit, and both pretend to be frailer than they are.
Tale of the tape
| Baki | Universe | Dragon Ball |
|---|---|---|
| Superhuman | Tier | City to planet |
| Shouha: a century of perfect relaxation and timing | Strength | The original Kamehameha and centuries of experience |
| Old age, and he knows it | Weakness | Easily distracted |
| 0–1 | Record on Versus | 1–0 |
The Arena
Kaku Kaioh claimed to have reached the end of martial arts. That claim reached a little island in the middle of the sea, where an old man in sunglasses and a turtle shell nearly choked on his tea. “The end? Heh. I’ve been training for three hundred years, and I haven’t found the end.”
So Kaku came to Kame House. Two ancient men, both with walking sticks, both appearing to be one stumble from the grave, bowed to each other on the sand.
Round One
Kaku’s Shouha style is perfect relaxation: no wasted movement, no tension, every blow timed to the instant. He caught Roshi’s first strike and redirected it so smoothly the hermit flipped over his own staff and landed in the sea.
Roshi climbed out, dripping and grinning. “Not bad, not bad!” And then, for the first time in a long while, he got serious. His muscles swelled until his shirt burst, his body transforming from a frail old man into a hulking warrior.
Even transformed, Roshi found Kaku maddeningly hard to hit. The grandmaster seemed to drift away from each punch a moment before it arrived, and answered with tiny, perfect strikes that landed on nerves and joints. Roshi’s arm went numb. His knee buckled. He hopped around the beach cursing cheerfully, enjoying himself more than he had in a century.
The Turn
Kaku’s technique was flawless. He redirected Roshi’s now-enormous fists, slipped them, turned their power aside. He struck pressure points and joints with surgical precision. For a while, he seemed to be winning.
But Roshi had a power that no human technique could redirect. He stepped back, cupped his hands at his side, and began to chant. A blue light gathered between his palms.
Kaku saw the light gathering and did not run. He had faced swords, guns and monsters, and had redirected all of them. He relaxed completely, as the Shouha teaches, ready to meet whatever came with perfect softness. It was the most dangerous moment of his long life, and he was smiling.
The Finish
“Ka... me... ha... me...” Kaku watched the light grow and understood, with the calm of a man who had seen everything, that this was something he had never seen. “HA!”
The Kamehameha struck the sea beside Kaku, deliberately, sending a column of water a hundred metres into the sky. The shock wave flung the grandmaster across the beach. When he sat up, soaked and astonished, Roshi had already returned to his frail old form.
Kaku laughed, a long, delighted laugh. “I was wrong,” he said. “The end of martial arts is very far away.” Roshi poured him a cup of tea. “Of course it is. That’s what makes it fun.”
The verdict
Master Roshi wins
Kaku Kaioh may have the purest technique of any human fighter, but Master Roshi has superhuman strength and ki attacks like the Kamehameha that technique alone cannot redirect.
- Ki attacksThe Kamehameha is a power Kaku’s world has never seen.
- StrengthRoshi’s powered-up form is far beyond human limits.
- ExperienceRoshi has three centuries of training and has fought gods and aliens.
How the rematch could go differently: In a fight restricted to pure hand-to-hand technique with no ki, Kaku’s perfect timing would make it very close.
Who do you think wins?
Who would win in a fight between Kaku Kaioh and Master Roshi?
Master Roshi wins. Kaku Kaioh may have the purest technique of any human fighter, but Master Roshi has superhuman strength and ki attacks like the Kamehameha that technique alone cannot redirect.