[DBZ] Is there any evidence that Krillin got stronger after unlocking his potential?

[u/Dramatic_Opposite924]

Krillin got his potential unlocked by Guru on Namek, and Daizenshuu says that his power was at 75,000 by the end of it. People will speculate that his and the other human power levels kept increasing, but is there any real evidence for that?

If we take the claim of "potential unlocked" at face value, then 75,000 PL is as high as Krillin could and ever would be. Yes, he trained in preparation for the Androids, but did it actually raise his power level? Maybe like how Goku and Gohan trained in the Time Chamber, he had to focus on efficiency and technique since his power was hard capped. Krillin always was more of a smart fighter than a powerhouse.

Goku and Gohan both have had their potential unlocked multiple times and risen far above it, but I could excuse that as Saiyan fuckery (and protagonist fuckery, if we think of it out of universe). The Saiyans are able to unlock new forms, which humans cannot do.

I have more to say (especially about Tien and Yamcha) that I could post in the main body here but I'm curious what you all have to say.

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[u/Villag3Idiot]

He got strong enough to fight Guildo.

In the end though it didn't matter since the opponents they faced afterwards were each exponentially stronger and only the Vegeta and Gohan could keep up until the next Frieza form change. 

[u/Dramatic_Opposite924 → u/Villag3Idiot]

I'm not sure that strong enough to fight Guldo really means anything. Guldo was by far the weakest of the Ginyu Force, only kept around because his time stop ability is OP. In a straight up one on one, Guldo probably loses to Saiyan Saga Vegeta.

Krillin's final power level of 75,000 puts him above Recoome, Jaice, and Burter. Those three are all around 40-50,000, so Krillin is actually closer to Goku landing on Namek (90,000) than to them.

[u/roronoapedro]

Oh absolutely, he didn't immediately explode upon facing the Ginyu Force and actually held his own for a while. It just so happens he increased his power within the most degenerately powerful collection of square miles in his entire galaxy.

Like an ant who finally managed to hold 50 times their own bodyweight, going against a human. It's really impressive in context, it just so happens that it wasn't even close.

I will say though, taking power levels literally is genuinely what killed most of the Freeza Force that went against the guys. It doesn't work, it's a static measure. The entire point of Earth martial arts is that you can increase it, and also you can just learn how to fight better with the power you have. Nappa would not have had to dodge that Kienzan if power levels mattered that much.

[u/Dramatic_Opposite924 → u/roronoapedro]

Maybe my title is written poorly, I'm not asking if he got stronger when his potential was unlocked, he obviously did.

I meant moreso in the following arcs, like training for the Androids or by the Buu saga, has he actually raised his power level since Namek?

[u/roronoapedro → u/Dramatic_Opposite924]

Oh, if you're talking about it in like, the other arcs, the answer is he got stronger in the time skip after the beginning of the Android Saga; everyone reportedly did.

Unfortunately they then started to deal with 17 and 18, who are so overwhelmingly stronger than all the warriors that it didn't even matter, only to then meet Cell and, well. Yeah.

The anime makes Kuririn come off as weaker, though, because they include a scene of his Kienzan whiffing on Cell's neck that is not in the original manga. I think that is a misrepresentation of how that technique works, so I take that with a grain of salt. By and large Kuririn is stronger than he was in Namek, because he did train after.

He stopped training after Cell, though, and he became progressively weaker. By the time Super started, his power was low enough that he could get shot by a regular gun and actually feel it. He had to then build it back up before the Tournament of Power.

It's a bit impossible to give you proper "feats"-style power scaling here because Dragon Ball just doesn't have fights for the human cast after a certain point. Tenshinhan has the Kikoho moment against Cell, but Kuririn himself will tell you he's reached his cap a little before the Cell Games, at least as far as training goes.

There is every reason to believe he could get better by tapping into other things, such as Ultra Instinct like Master Roshi does in the manga, or simply by perfecting his techniques further. He is an incredible fighter, to the point of being able to tackle Gohan just before the ToP, who is consistently the strongest in the universe when he gets serious, but does not know how to fight as well as Kuririn does. It's just... Kuririn's like, a family man, now. He's got other priorities and doesn't care about being the strongest. He cares about spending time with his daughter and his wife.

[u/Barelett287]

Guru's powerup is unaddressed in the story afterwards, and even the Saiyan healing boost is only mentioned once in the Buu saga. I would think it's a bit dumb to assume that in-universe these things arbitrarily stopped working once the cast left namek.
Since Toriyama claims Krillin to be the strongest human despite retiring after the Cell games, I would say Guru is still increasing his strength so that he can be above Tenshinhan. I wouldn't think that Toriyama would ever write an absolute cap on a characters potential.

[u/Dramatic_Opposite924 → u/Barelett287]

I do want to respond to the last part of your comment about an absolute cap on potential.

While I am arguing that Krillin's power level never increased past Namek, I don't think his potential as a fighter was capped.

Krillin was always more of a smart fighter than a powerhouse. We see this when he's able to beat Gohan while they train for the Tournament of Power (or the other tournament, don't quite remember). Krillin is obviously at a huge power level disadvantage against Gohan, but he knows how to work the rules of a tournament fight to get a ring out.

I think Krillin could have spent all of his post-Namek training time honing his abilities and increasing his efficiency in a way that showed big results, even if he possibly was hard capped at his current power level.