GreatSaiyaman123 said:
what if Popo’s line is just a metaphor? He also said Goku should be calm as the sky.
Besides, power and speed don’t always go hand in hand. Blasts are probably faster than actual blows since they’re the pure energy being fired rather than muscle-based, and it’s rather rare to see people successfully dodging blasts. Piccolo was pretty surprised to see his Makkankosappo dodged, for example.
Because they aren't any other feats in Part 1 supporting characters of Max Power Roshi's level having such speed, leading to Popo's statement seeming far more than metaphorical (especially when lowballing it to a benchmark that had been fully surpassed would be as redundant as the several galaxy busting statements in the Super manga). Even 23rd TB Piccolo's Ki blasts took seemingly longer to reach the small islands in his fight against Kami than scaling would suggest.
Animelover5487 said:
In that case, why not upscale the humans and Kami/Popo too? I mean Roshi is over 30% of Goku and Piccolo, and over 50% of all the other Earthlings despite him being an ant compared to anyone of relevance past the early Daimao arc. Roshi was even surprised by how much higher Kuririn's battle power was then his when it should have been made evident to him at the 23rd that Kuririn is far, far above him.
One implication from Roshi doesn't automatically mean Kami, Popo and anyone else one feels like it got a big increase in those 5 years. Other than Goku and Piccolo, the only fighter solidly suggested to have made great improvements is Kuririn based on him being significantly above Yamcha and possibly Roshi if you take that implication seriously. The rest of the cast lack any feats or statements to suggest such is the case.
You bringing up the difference between Roshi and Goku/Piccolo further proves my point, that the battle power system isn't treat as a linear one and was never meant to have much thought put into the gaps, particularly in making them line up with what Part 1 (in which Ki control was very basic until the later points).