Tambourine and Cymbal

[SSJ2]

So how do we make sense of this line from Piccolo Daimao?

Chapter: 140, P10.6
Piccolo: “Immediately go and take care of whoever killed Cymbal! You’re many times stronger than Cymbal, but don’t get caught off guard. We don’t know the nature of this enemy…”

Viz states "I know you are several times stronger than Cymbal..."

How does this make any sense when Cymbal was strong enough to cause problems for Yajirobe?

 

[GSM123]

I’d take that as more evidence that Yajirobe isn’t on pair with Goku. Though the “many times stronger” statement implies too big a gap.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

iirc when yajirobe got srs, he 1-shotted

 

[Captain Cadaver]

As Hure said, Yajirobe oneshotted Cymbal when he started trying. His statement about two incredibly strong people (Goku and Cymbal) needn't mean he and Cymbal are close, considering Yajirobe isn't suggested to be someone who hangs around superhuman fighters and it can be viewed as a comparison to the average much like how Goku referred to Reacoom, Butta and Jheese as several strong Ki. Alternatively, you can take Daimao's statement as hyperbole, since actual feats are more solid in comparing the fighters around this time than a statement that's just meant to mean Tambourine >> Cymbal.

 

[SSJ2]

As Hure said, Yajirobe oneshotted Cymbal when he started trying. His statement about two incredibly strong people (Goku and Cymbal) needn't mean he and Cymbal are close, considering Yajirobe isn't suggested to be someone who hangs around superhuman fighters and it can be viewed as a comparison to the average much like how Goku referred to Reacoom, Butta and Jheese as several strong Ki. Alternatively, you can take Daimao's statement as hyperbole, since actual feats are more solid in comparing the fighters around this time than a statement that's just meant to mean Tambourine >> Cymbal.

I'd say the scenarios are different though. Yajirobe wasn't implied to be holding back significantly when he rushed Cymbal. Cymbal was strong enough to knock him around quite a bit, and even garnered a compliment from Yajirobe afterwards. While he was able to one shot him later on, that was with a sword.. which I'd argue weaponry makes a big difference in DB (as seen against Akkuman). In Goku's case, he was merely pointing out several strong ki. He never got knocked around by the Ginyus.

As for the statement being hyperbole, it's possible. I don't take Piccolo Daimao for the type who would make a needless exaggeration though.

 

[GSM123]

iirc when yajirobe got srs, he 1-shotted

With his sword, though. The impression I get from Yajirobe vs Cymbal is that he’s not all that in hand to hand and relies mostly on his sword. In fact wasn’t Yajirobe supposed to be a Rōnin?

 

[Fantastische Hure]

he also dodged cymbal's attack easily after he got srs (iirc)

& i looked jst now & goku seemed surprised & said wow, i think

 

[SSJ2]

He was also able to dodge the attack prior to getting serious in all fairness.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

ye, that's why i said easily, i think

 

[SSJ2]

Very reassuring

 

[Captain Cadaver]

I'd say the scenarios are different though. Yajirobe wasn't implied to be holding back significantly when he rushed Cymbal. Cymbal was strong enough to knock him around quite a bit, and even garnered a compliment from Yajirobe afterwards.

His expression at the start of the fight and his general attitude makes it apparent Yajirobe wasn't taking the situation seriously.

Spoiler

Yajirobe's compliment needn't mean they are close in power though. As I said, we have no indication Yajirobe has ever had to deal with fighters far on the superhuman scale prior to Goku, so this would be a surprise worth mentioning regardless of how close they were in power. Yajirobe also makes it apparent after dodging Cymbal's lightning that he was just fighting at a warm up level.

Spoiler

While he was able to one shot him later on, that was with a sword.. which I'd argue weaponry makes a big difference in DB (as seen against Akkuman).

I could see that point if the sword was shown to be the only difference in performance. However, we see when he charges forth that he has no problem evading Cymbal's lightning compared to how he was acting before.

Spoiler

As for the statement being hyperbole, it's possible. I don't take Piccolo Daimao for the type who would make a needless exaggeration though.

He was shown making some embellishments, such as saying he'd have no trouble destroying the world despite it being clear from his strongest attack being City level that it would take quite a while to accomplish, so I wouldn't put some level of exaggeration past him.

 

[SSJ2]

Good points, I'm inclined to agree with you upon second thought. However I would still argue that Yajirobe wasn't holding back significantly enough for Cymbal to be several times weaker than Tambourine.

As for Piccolo 's statement about destroying the world, isn't that exactly what he did in the past? I don't take that statement to mean he can literally destroy the world in one blast. He made clear that he had the ability to destroy entire regions at once, but that's it.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Yeah, he's definitely not referring to destroying it all at once, but managing to cause planetary devastation in a short time is still a stretch when considering a character moving across 10,000km in an instant was considered unbelievable at the start of the Cell Arc and producing enough power to vaporise a average city was still enough to almost empty Piccolo's reserves. It seems doubtful he could accomplish the task as quickly as he implies, plus we have no timeframe on his first campaign or the level of destruction it caused.

 

[ahill1]

Much like it's already been said, Yajirobe mentioned he was getting his exercise before going for real, at which point he offed Cymbal in the blink of an eye. Considering he dodged Cymbal's attack easier after noticing he got serious, it seems the improvement wasn't only limited to the usage of the sword.

What I'd say that raise some problems is the implication of Cymbal being >> 22nd Budôkai Kuririn given Tambourine's shock at his defeat having already fought Kuririn, which would force Goku to be many and many times stronger than Kuririn and Yamcha at the 22nd, which while not necessarily wrong, seems excessive even for no scouters lists.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Tambourine never saw what Cymbal was capable of in battle though and Piano seemed assured that no human could match one of the Mazoku, so it's most likely Tambourine simply overestimated Cymbal.