Cell's quote regarding Vegeta and Trunks vs the Cell Juniors

[ahill1]

So according to Herms, what Cell stated was more like:

Cell : Take a look. Vegeta and Trunks are barely holding their own

With the "ya", being a non-exhaustive term, possibly indicating Vegeta and Trunks weren't necessarily the only ones holding their own, just the first examples to come to Cell's head.

Though I asked @BedroomBully about that, and he said that's not the case, that while the "ya" is used to suggest options, like a "or", for the statement to include others, grammatically, it should have a “達” after Trunks' name, while without its usage, it'd make no sense for Cell to be considering anyone else. Since Cell mentions only Vegeta and Trunks without the "達" suffix, it suggests that he is specifically referring to those two individuals. The absence of "達" indicates that he is not including others in his statement, although the non-exhaustive "や" (ya) leaves the statement slightly open-ended. It's a subtle distinction, but in the context of Cell's character and the situation, he is likely only pointing out Vegeta and Trunks by name due to their prominence as the strongest fighters there rather than making a generalized statement about all fighters present.


Credits to @BedroomBully

as I'd be totally clueless if he didn't point it out

 

[Father]

Too much seriousness for me fanbuddy
huehuehue it bad deal.

That being said, to have any ambiguity behind it as Herms would want to have,
Cell wouldn’t have mentioned
Vegeta and Trunks specifically, and he would’ve rather mentioned it as
ベジータやトランクス達(which is a bit odd grammatically) or simply just ベジータ達(トランクス達) in a singular form to imply multiple fighters being capable of standing against the Jrs.

Without the “達” it doesn’t make this an
open ended interpretational thing.

 

[Hector]

I think Piccolo was holding his own too.

 

[DBZAOTA482]

Vegeta and Trunks were brought up specifically because they are simply doing the best out of all the other Z-Warriors. Piccolo probably was getting his ass kicked as well, but not to the point of being instantly floored like the Earthlings and exhausted MSSJ Goku.

 

[ahill1]

Yeah...

 

[SSJ2]

I mean it makes sense. Cell had already singled out Vegeta and Trunks as being the next best after Goku when Goku quit their fight. If the Cell Juniors were on par with them, they should be the only ones truly able to keep up.

I don't think that discredits Piccolo in this situation. He still managed not to get his ass completely kicked and was clearly in the best shape after those two.

 

[DBZAOTA482]

It's a bit more unclear with the anime due to all the padding but even then Vegeta, Trunks, and Piccolo were the only ones still standing in the end... indicating Piccolo is not too far behind them.

He looks a bit more hurt than Vegeta and Trunks in this cover, but still standing. Goku couldn't fight back due to losing all his stamina fighting Cell so he gets floored, bur he's still conscious unlike the Earthlings.