Funny how in Z Kuririn interacts more with his best’s friends son than with his best friend.
That's who he can see eye to eye with. Should've become closer with Goten when Gohan got tall.
Piccolo was a glorified child abuser who Gohan developed Stockholm syndrome for.
Literally saved Gohan multiple times and helped him become a more confident fighter. How many times has Gohan positively thought about Piccolo during tough fights, to help him figure it out? He never got in the way of Gohan's relationship with Goku, Chi Chi, Krillin or anyone else. If it was like you're saying, he'd have interfered to keep Gohan under his thumb during the Android to Buu sagas. I'm guessing you know life is also more complex than "abuser" compared to "non-abuser". Piccolo did abusive things to Gohan, but it doesn't define the totality of their relationship.
I always likened Krillin to similar to an uncle. However, the nature and role of these relationships (uncles, siblings, cousins, parents, grandparents etc) is culture-dependent (monarchs used to kill or imprison siblings for the throne. I wouldn't have dreamt of talking to my parents or elder relatives how my younger cousins talk to me or their parents - it just would be considered wrong. It's up to us to decide what we want these relationships to mean - it's not universal (though we don't always get what we want - we can't single-handedly counteract cultural forces and it takes two to tango). Which is kinda a big point of many anime, like One Piece and Naruto), relations that are close in some cultures aren't in others, and I'm not close to intimately familiar with Japanese culture. Gohan calls Krillin by his first name, which doesn't seem very uncle-like. Pre-Namek Krillin definitely took the lead and looked after Gohan, on Namek he still did, but Gohan like many children wanted to protect Krillin - the difference is that Gohan is actually powerful enough to do it, while most children aren't. If it wasn't for Gohan's power, I think it would be clear that it's like an uncle-child relationship.
