Battle Spirit

[SSJ2]

Rereading the 21st and when Yamcha and Jackie Chun are about to start fighting, Yamcha remarks that he doesn’t feel any battle spirit from Chun. What exactly does this mean? It’s obviously not referring to ki as it couldn’t be sensed yet, but how could he gauge someone’s battle spirit?

 

[Let's Go Fearless!]

Probably just to make Jackie Chan more mysterious IMO. After all, JC's identity was mystery at that time.

 

[Pocket-Gog~]

I imagine stuff like murderous intent.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

It would be the general feeling that's invoked when one prepares themselves for battle, akin to killing intent or intimidation. Yamcha likely became attuned to gauging such from living in the desert in a seemingly kill or be killed lifestyle.

 

[Spiral-Force]

In the JP manga, Yamcha says: あまけにスキだらけだ闘争心も感じられん...

This means that he can't feel a spirit of struggle from Chun. This ties into the theme of Roshi not wasting movements while in battle.