Risking it all for a friend

Directory: Techniques → Movement Techniques

Directory: Techniques → Supportive Techniques

Risking it all for a friend (やぶれかぶれだ, Yaburekabure da) is a defense method in which a character jumps in the way of an incoming Ki Blast to save another character. In some variants, a character may also shove another character away and take the blast instead.

Overview[]

Android 8 stops General White from shooting Goku — Android 8 shielding Goku with his body in the manga

In the manga, Android 8 uses this move to shield Goku who had been knocked unconscious by a shot from General White's gun from being finished off by General White. The shot ends up hitting Eighter in the leg but the Android is unaffected.

Drum uses this move to take King Piccolo's place as the target of Tien Shinhan's Evil Containment Wave.

This move is used by Piccolo in order to save Gohan from Nappa's Bomber DX at the cost of his own life (and by extension Kami's life due to their direct life-link due to past circumstances).^[10]

When Captain Ginyu (in Goku's body) tried to use his Body Change on Vegeta, Goku (who was currently inhabiting Ginyu's original body thanks to being tricked by Ginyu earlier) proceeded to jump in front of Ginyu to intercept the ability. A more involuntary version occurred when Goku threw a Namekian frog between Captain Ginyu and Vegeta when the former tried his Body Change technique on Vegeta again.^[11] Gohan would later do something similar in the anime to restore Captain Ginyu and Bulma's respective bodies back to their original states (Bulma being tricked by Ginyu into swapping places with said frog body) while Goku was fighting Frieza.

Krillin did a variation where he tossed Dende aside and ended up impaled by one of Frieza's horns.^[12]

On Namek, a Namekian uses this movement to save elder Tsuno from Vegeta's Galick Beam.^[13] Vegeta himself would also use this to save Gohan from Frieza's death beam, with both surviving.^[14]

In the anime, Piccolo saves Goku from Frieza's Death Beam in a similar manner.^[15]

KrillinRIAFAF — Krillin after protecting Gohan from Salt's Energy Wave

Krillin uses the move to protect Gohan from Salt's Surprise Blast.^[16]

Mr. Popo uses it to protect Kami from the Electric Shock attack of Kami's predecessor.^[17]

During the ten day wait for the Cell Games, Gohan utilized this to save Mr. Lao from Mercenary Tao's Super Dodon Wave, also surviving without any injury himself.^[18]

During the Cell Games, Gohan saves Vegeta from Cell's Time to Die in a similar fashion.^[19]

Vegeta Saves Trunks — Vegeta protecting Future Trunks from Fused Zamasu's Lightning of Absolution

In Dragon Ball Super, Gohan was being tortured by Frieza's Barrage Death Beam and Piccolo uses this technique to protect Gohan from the final beam which would have killed him, sacrificing himself once again to protect Gohan as he had during the Saiyan conflict (however he is later revived by Porunga once more).

In the anime, after enraging Fused Zamasu by blasting him with a Father-Son Galick Gun, Vegeta uses this tactic to save Future Trunks from Fused Zamasu's Absolute Lightning.

During the Tournament of Power, Piccolo uses this technique to protect Gohan from Harmira and Prum's combination attack, evening losing his arms in the process. Fortunately, he was able to regenerate them in moments. In the manga, after Goku's Perfected Ultra Instinct wore off and was left exhausted enough to be effortlessly knocked back by Full Power Jiren, Vegeta did a variation where he rushed over from behind Goku to catch him as he was sent flying.

In Dragon Ball GT, Trunks uses a rapid tactic to protect Pan of the Metal Breath performed by General Rilldo.^[20] A little later, Goku uses a similar movement to protect Pan from a Masenko fired by Infected Gohan.^[21] Trunks used this movement in order to save his driver from Android 17's Hell Breaker.

Elitro save hero form buu attack — The Saiyan Elite protects the Saiyan Hero (*DBH* Mission 5 trailer)

In Promotional OVA Trailers for Dragon Ball Heroes, Saiyan Hero Beat and Saiyan Elite Erito both use this technique during different trailers. In the DBH Mission 5 Trailer, the Saiyan Elite Erito uses it to shield the Saiyan Hero Beat from an energy attack by Super Buu (Gohan Absorbed) while they, the Saiyan Berserker Basaku, and Saiyan Heroine Note are holding him off while Goku and Vegeta use the Potara to fuse into Vegito. The Saiyan Elite is injured by the attack and falls to the ground, though the Saiyan Hero's anger at seeing his comrade hurt triggers his Super Saiyan transformation. In the God Mission 7 (GDM7) Trailer, God Class Beat (Base) uses the technique to shield Kai Chronoa from Demon God Demigra's attack after it overpowers her reflective rainbow colored barrier that she had previously used to reflect young Demigra, Gravy, and Putine's Ki Blasts in the 75 Million Before Age during the Birth of the Dark Demon Realm Saga. Despite being in base form, God Class Beat is able to survive unharmed, though he opts to transform into his Super Saiyan God form after noticing Demon God Demigra was starting to power up.

Film Appearances[]

Although the move itself was never utilized in Dragon Ball Z: The World's Strongest, a flashback to Piccolo's usage of it against Nappa's DX Bomber was shown shortly after Piccolo being subdued by the Bio-Men.

In Dragon Ball Z: Lord Slug, Piccolo uses this method to save Gohan again during the battle against Slug's Demon Clansman Medamatcha.

In Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge, Goku saves his son, Gohan, from Cooler's Darkness Eye Beam.

In Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13!, Gohan uses this move to save Goku from one of Super Android 13's Ki Blasts while Goku was preparing a Spirit Bomb.

In Dragon Ball Z: Broly - The Legendary Super Saiyan, Goku saves Gohan by jumping in front of Broly's Explosive Wave during their battle on New Planet Vegeta, which humorously only has his gi set on fire, and used a similar technique earlier via rapid movement to shove Gohan (who had himself tried to stand in the way of Broly to prevent him from attacking Goku) out of the way of Broly's Gigantic Press.

In Dragon Ball Z: Broly - Second Coming, Gohan attempts to defend Goten, Trunks, and Videl from one of Super Saiyan Broly's Ki Blasts after deflecting it, although the three are ultimately thrown back into separate locations by the blast and drastically weakened, with Gohan being the only one unscathed from the attack. A more indirect version was used by Trunks late into the battle before passing out completely, where he charged up a ki blast which then was drawn towards Broly's Omega Blaster, preventing the latter from charging up the attack. After using the attack, he sarcastically tells the Legendary Saiyan to "choke on it" before fainting.

In Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks, Future Gohan also uses a rapid movement to protect Future Trunks from Future Android 18's High-Pressure Energy Wave and Future Android 17's Photon Flash while they fall off aboard a Ferris wheel.

Variations[]

Full Power Cover - A more efficient version that appears as a Special Move in Dragon Ball Fusions.
Body Change Reversal - A variation of technique used by Goku, Time Patrol Trunks, and both Future Warriors to counter Captain Ginyu's body change technique by intercepting the Body Change beam while using their current body to shield Captain Ginyu's target preventing Ginyu from switching bodies with his actual target and forcing him to switch bodies with them instead, which if the user is in Ginyu's body and Ginyu is in user's original body will reverse the body swap forcing Ginyu to return to his original body. First used by Goku (in Ginyu's body) to prevent Ginyu (in Goku's body) from swapping bodies with Vegeta after Goku's body was badly injured.
Cover Change (Instant Transmission) - A combination of Cover Change and Instant Transmission where the user teleports their ally to safety (usually with both avoiding the enemy's attack) then teleports back to confront the opponent in place of their ally. Used by Android 21 (Good) and certain versions of Goku in Dragon Ball Legends.

Video Game Appearances[]

"Risking it all for a friend" was named in Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit, where it is a Drama Piece technique. In one of the alternate endings to Dragon Ball Z Side Story: True Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans - Space Saga, Vegeta threw himself in between Goku and Super Hatchiyack's Revenger Cannon while the former was charging his Spirit Bomb. It can also be used in Dragon Ball Heroes and Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission; in one of the promotional trailers for Dragon Ball Heroes, Erito is shown protecting the Beat from an upcoming blast fired by Super Buu.

Dokkan Battle Budding Heart Piccolo card (Legendary Rare) — Budding Heart Piccolo card depicting Piccolo shielding Gohan from *Dokkan Battle*

In a What-If scenario for Dragon Ball Z: Budokai, Krillin utilized a variation of this technique on Android 18, where he pushed her out of the way when Semi-Perfect Cell attempted to absorb her, which resulted in Cell being fused with Krillin into a being known as Cellin, as well as resulting in his demise shortly thereafter by Yamcha and Tien Shinhan. This was later revealed to be a nightmare of Cell's due to anxiety regarding the Cell Games coming up.

In Burst Limit, due to its appearance as a Drama Piece it is possible to have characters who would be unlikely to perform this technique (such as villains like Frieza or Broly). Additionally it is also possible to have characters shield another character even if the character they are shielding is an enemy or someone they would never think about protecting under normal circumstances (such as Broly shielding his hated nemesis Goku or Frieza shielding Goku or vice versa).

In Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle, the Budding Heart Piccolo Legendary Rare card features a animated picture of Piccolo shielding Gohan as he did during the Vegeta Saga. This is similarly reflected in his passive where as long as Kid Gohan is in the same turn, he is capable of shielding Gohan as the 1st attacker. A reenacment of the scene was later introduced as A Fierce Defensive Battle Gohan (Kid) & Piccolo/Gohan (Kid)'s Revive where Piccolo shields Gohan from the latter upon being KOed by the enemy with Gohan Exchanging into himself as a solo unit.

Future Warrior with Piccolo and Gohan — The Future Warrior using *Wall of Defense* to shield Piccolo and Gohan from stray blasts from Frieza's Killer Ball

The move appears in Dragon Ball Xenoverse under the name Wall of Defense and is a defensive super skill. During the altered timeline of the Frieza Saga, the Future Warrior shields Gohan and injured Piccolo from a stray blast from Dark Frieza's Killer Ball attack on Super Saiyan Goku preventing them from being harmed. The Future Warrior guarded while doing so thus avoided any serious damage from shielding them.

DB Fusions Saibaking Cover (Special Move - Pic 2) — Saibaking using Cover to protect a fellow Saibaman in *Dragon Ball Fusions*

In Dragon Ball Fusions, it appears under the name Cover and allows the user to cover a single ally from Ki Blasts and Ki-based special moves. When one is used on an ally protected by Cover, they will attack the user instead. There is also a stronger version called Full Power Cover. It can be used by several characters such as Android 76 and Saibaking.^[4]

In Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, Wall of Defense returns as a Super Skill used by Piccolo and can be obtained by the Future Warrior. Additionally during the altered timeline of the Battle on Planet Namek, after Time Patrol Trunks has his body stolen by Captain Ginyu, he uses this technique to return to his original body after he and the Future Warrior convince Goku to weaken Ginyu without killing him forcing the Captain to attempt to swap bodies. Time Patrol Trunks is successful in intercepting the Body Change beam, undoing the body swap, though the Time Breakers ally Turles puts Goku in a Full-Nelson allowing him to steal Goku's body. The Future Warrior and Goku (in Ginyu's body) are able to overcome Turles' interference and weaken Dark Ginyu (in Goku's body) enough to force him to try and swap bodies with the Future Warrior, though Goku uses the technique to shield them allowing Goku to reverse the body swap and ultimately fix history by throwing a Namekian Frog into the path of the Body Change beam when Captain Ginyu makes a second attempt to steal the warrior's body. During the Warrior from the Demon World Saga, the Toki Toki City Hero (the Future Warrior from Xenoverse) uses the technique to shield the current Future Warrior from Mira in his first stage Supervillain stage, as thanks for restoring their existence by stopping Towa from killing Shenron before Time Patrol Trunks made his wish in Age 850 though they are too injured by Mira's attack forcing them to entrust the Time Breakers defeat and the recovery of Tokitoki's Egg to the current Future Warrior.

This technique makes a cameo appearance in the story of Dragon Ball FighterZ by Chiaotzu and Android 16.

In Dragon Ball Legends there is a team game mechanic known as Cover Change which allows one to swap out a character under attack with a teammate (provided they have not been KO'd). Depending upon the character, their Cover Change may take the form of the user pushing their teammate out of the way and taking the hit in their place. Other characters such as Vegeta may kick their teammate away as their Cover Change (similar to how Vegeta saved Gohan from being hit by Frieza's Death Beam on Namek). Additionally some characters have their own unique Cover Change variants which are usually determined by their abilities. These variants may trigger only when performing Cover Change to avoid a Strike Arts or Ki Blast Arts. Additionally there is an Instant Transmission variant of Cover Change used by Android 21 (Good) and certain versions of Goku that allows them to teleport themselves and their teammate to safety allowing both to avoid an enemy attack, with the user teleporting back to face the opponent. There are also Cover Change variants that act as counterattacks. In Part 1 of the main story, Legendary Super Saiyan Broly tries to kill Shallot with a Blaster Shell, but Super Saiyan Future Trunks uses Cover Change to take the hit in Shallot's place sacrificing his life in the process, becoming the first tournament participant and ally of Shallot's to die during the Tournament of Time. Additionally Gohan (Kid): Piccolo (Assist) has Piccolo sacrifice himself if Gohan is KOd by any attack that is not a Self Destruct (moves that KOs the user as a game mechanic, as Legends Limited Majin Vegeta's Legendary Finish doesn't count as the Self Destruct is purely cinematic as Legends Limited Majin Vegeta wins regardless, while true Self Destruct moves only result in a win if they their is at least one surviving teammate). Once KOd, the enemy will attack Gohan causing Piccolo to rush in to take the hit and the enraged Gohan will fire a Masenko and enter his After Revival state which is basically Gohan (Kid) fighting on his own. It should be noted that Gohan (Kid): Piccolo (Assist) has a special Cover Change which takes the form of Piccolo's Explosive Breath Cannon where he blocks the opponent's Strike Arts, before throwing them away and blasting then with Explosive Breath Cannon's mouth energy wave.

In the story mode of Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission, in Chronoa's flashback regarding Sealas' history, Sealas uses the technique to shield a boy from being attacked by Kid Buu who was currently rampaging on the boy's planet during the historical period in between Time Immemorial and 5 Million Before Age. Due to Sealas' power he is left undamaged by the attack, though is forced to return to the Time Nest with Chronoa as he had altered history by protecting the child. However Kid Buu inadvertently fixes the alteration Sealas had made when he destroys the planet which kills the boy in the process, meaning that Sealas' alteration was ultimately meaningless as the boy and his planet's destruction at the hands of Kid Buu were part of the official history. However upon seeing the fate of the boy and his planet, Sealas is horrified to the point he decides to betray the Time Patrol and plan to burn the Scroll of Eternity to erase the current "unjust" history in order to reforge existence to create new "just" world of peace free from evil, forcing Chronoa to imprison Sealas within the Time Abyss.

Trivia[]

Interestingly several of the users of the technique are Namekian, in fact it was first used by the Mutated Namekian Drum to protect his father from Tien Shinhan's Evil Containment Wave. Its most famous use was by Piccolo to shield Gohan from Nappa's Bomber DX, sacrificing his (and Kami's) life in the process. It was also used by an unnamed Namekian to shield Elder Tsuno from Vegeta's attack. In the anime, Piccolo also uses it to save Goku from Frieza's Death Beam and in Dragon Ball Super to save Gohan from final beam of Frieza's Barrage Death Beam sacrificing himself once again. This indicates the possibility that technique is somewhat instinctual among Namekians due to the strong bonds Nameks (and even Mutated Namekians) usually have towards their relatives (such as in the case of King Piccolo and Drum) and loved ones (as in the case of Piccolo & Gohan).
- In Dragon Ball Fusions, it is used by Namekian Android 76 as one of his special moves.
Though Piccolo's usage of this technique has lead him to be killed twice in the series (both instances being while shielding his student Gohan) it should be noted that it is possible to shield someone and survive as shown by the Future Warrior in both Xenoverse and Xenoverse 2 though their survival depends on both their power and the power of the attack that hits them as weak attacks might cause them to suffer minimal damage while stronger ones might severely injure, cripple, or kill them.
- Additionally it is theoretically possible to kill both the user and the one they are protecting if the attack they use could pierce or cut through the user and those they are shielding with their body (for example the Special Beam Cannon is known to be able to pierce through two people as shown by the Full-Nelson Special Beam Cannon indicating that if such an attack were used it could kill both the user of this technique and the person behind them), however this potential scenario has never actually occurred in the series so it is unclear if it would be actually possible to bypass this technique in this manner.
Sealas' use of the technique was technically a violation of the Time Patrol's rules against altering history as he tried protect an innocent boy from being attacked and killed by Kid Buu. However it was only technically a violation as Kid Buu inadvertently and unintentionally fixed Sealas' alteration when he destroyed the boy's planet like he did in the correct history which killed the boy in the process, rending Sealas' attempt at altering history meaningless as the boy would have perished regardless (Chronoa likely took this into consideration explaining why she was more forgiving of Sealas' decision to protect the boy despite ordering him not to interfere).
- Ironically, the technique itself is often used by Time Patrollers in the Xenoverse series to prevent changes to history by shielding important historical figures from attacks that could seriously incapacitate or kill them, which could potentially alter history depending upon the situation.
Piccolo using the technique on Goku when Frieza revealed his survival only occurred in the anime. In the manga, he actually knocked Goku over by accident while staggering from being shot by Frieza's Death Beam (as Piccolo was the intended target in the manga).