Why Did Vegeta Kill Nappa in Dragon Ball? Explained!
In the world of Dragon Ball, Nappa is an important secondary character with close ties to both Goku and Vegeta. We haven’t written about him much here on Fiction Horizon, but that is about to change with this article. This time, we are going to talk about Nappa and his fate in the Dragon Ball series. Namely, we know that Vegeta killed Nappa after the latter’s defeat at the hands of Son Goku. But, why did he do it? Why did Vegeta kill his associate? This article is, of course, going to reveal the answer to that question.
Nappa’s failure to defeat Goku cost him his life. After losing to Goku, Nappa was thrown at Vegeta’s feet by the former. Nappa begged Vegeta to help him and while Vegeta pretended to help him, he actually threw him up in the air and destroyed him with his Galaxy Breaker. Why? A Saiyan that has lost a fight was for Vegeta completely useless. Nappa ultimately ended in Hell.
In the rest of this article, we are going to tell you about the fate of the Saiyan Nappa as it happened in Dragon Ball. We are going to give you some basic information about how the story evolved and what ultimately happened to them, as well as why it happened. All of these facts will be revealed later in the anime, so if you haven’t read the manga or seen the anime, we have to warn you about some spoilers in the upcoming paragraphs.
Why did Vegeta kill Nappa in Dragon Ball?
In order to explain why Vegeta killed Nappa, we actually have to tell you about Nappa’s fight against Son Goku and how it even happened. After having eliminated all the Saibamen, Nappa prepares for the fight. His first target is Tien Shinhan, who gets into a defensive position in time. However – to everyone’s horror – he can’t even come close to blocking the opponent’s attack. Nappa strikes and Tien Shinhan loses his arm but manages to dodge the second attack. Then Nappa kicks him back to the ground with a painful kick.
Krillin wants to intervene as Tien Shinhan obviously doesn’t stand a chance. Nappa blocks this attempt with an attack that leaves a huge crater in its wake. After the explosion, Krillin finds that Chiaotzu has disappeared and Tien Shinhan immediately becomes very concerned about him, fearing that he died in the explosion. Suddenly he reappears and clings to Nappa’s back. He telepathically reveals to Tien Shinhan that he intends to blow himself up to defeat Nappa. Tien Shinhan tries to talk him out of it, but Chiaotzu is determined.
With a flash of light, and an explosion, the fighters believe the fight has been won, but when the cloud of smoke has cleared, an uninjured Nappa appears. Tien Shinhan is devastated as Chiaotzu has already been revived once and must therefore remain dead forever. He does not want to leave him alone and chooses his Kiku Hō as his last trump card with which he wants to avenge him and keep him company. But before that happens, Piccolo and Krillin attack when Nappa is unprotected. However, the plan fails due to Son Gohan’s fear, so Piccolo and Krillin have to fire, but miss their target. Then Tien Shinhan’s blow hits, costing his life. Nappa is now drawn for the first time: his suit of armor is badly damaged. However, he doesn’t look like he’s in pain.
Since Krillin now mentions Son Goku’s name again in a cry of despair, Vegeta stops Nappa from trying to eliminate the three remaining fighters. He asks why they are pinning all their hopes on this Son Goku, whom he now identifies as Kakarot. Since Krillin firmly believes that he has become much stronger, Vegeta decides to wait. He gives Son Goku three hours to appear here, but absolutely nothing happens. After three hours, Nappa gets ready again. But Piccolo also used the time sensibly and worked out a plan.
Krillin needs to get Nappa’s attention so that Piccolo can manage to grab his tail. Son Gohan is tasked with ramming him and swears he won’t screw it up this time. At that moment, God senses Son Goku’s presence, and King Kai is amazed at the speed Son Goku has shown. God teleports Son Goku to this world and he sets off to help his friends. Armed with two of Karin’s magic beans, one of which he immediately uses to regain his strength, he is armed to take on the Saiyans.
Krillin initiates Piccolo’s plan and as soon as Piccolo has caught Nappa’s tail, Son Gohan wants to ram him. But this plan also fails. Vegeta reveals that they have worked to eliminate their weak points. Nappa knocks Piccolo unconscious and Son Gohan pauses in horror. This makes him the perfect target for Nappa’s next attack. Two punches from the relentless Saiyan seem to completely finish Son Gohan, but he’s able to get back up. Krillin can prevent the next attack by attacking him surprisingly.
After another attack and evasive maneuvers by Krillin, he moves to a distant position to use his powerful Kienzan. Nappa takes things lightly and only just manages to dodge when Vegeta warns him. This attack could certainly have killed him, but it merely grazed his cheek. In revenge for the blood loss, he fires an energy ball at Krillin, which he is able to dodge. But he gets caught in the explosion. He should now finally believe it, but Piccolo is awake again and attacks Nappa from behind. At that moment, the friends sense that Son Goku is on his way here.
Irritated, Vegeta takes a look at his scouter and finds that a combat power of 5,000 is on its way to them. He and his sidekick are shocked and Vegeta decides that Nappa should kill everyone. It was too risky to take on them and Kakarott. Son Gohan suddenly tells Piccolo to save himself to protect the Dragon Balls and he will keep the Saiyans at bay until his father arrives. Piccolo doesn’t trust him, but he is very surprised when Son Gohan kicks Nappa to the ground. He wants revenge and prepares a flash.
Son Gohan is too afraid to dodge, so Piccolo puts himself between him and the attack wave. The attack is too powerful and Piccolo falls to the ground. He jokes that he has saved a boy as a “super devil”, thanks to Son Gohan, who was the first person ever to be nice to him, and dies. Son Gohan’s anger increases his combat power to 2,800 and he attacks with the Masenko, which Nappa can parry, but his hand even “almost hurts”. Son Gohan is exhausted and Nappa counterattacks.
Krillin is also lying motionless on the ground, so it seems to have happened to him. When Nappa is about to kick him, he realizes that Son Gohan has disappeared. Kintoun saved him. When Son Goku finally arrives, he looks around and realizes that Piccolo Tien Shinhan Chiaotzu and Yamcha have been killed. Nappa also tells him about a “dwarf” that he would have killed too. During this time, more and more anger builds up in him, which Vegeta’s scouter identifies as an increase in power.
When Nappa wants to start the fight, Son Goku has suddenly disappeared, he approaches his son and Krillin to give them the Magic Bean. He tells them to get to safety, but they want to be there first as they are worried even he won’t be able to defeat these opponents without help, as Krillin realizes he sees what’s going on in Son Goku and that they shouldn’t interfere. Son Goku is as angry as ever. Finally, he prepares for the fight and the scouter shows a power of “over 8,000”.
Nappa is shocked by this power at first but attacks anyway in his false pride, whereupon Son Goku counters him from behind in no time. The next attack attempt fails again due to Son Goku’s speed. He then provokes Nappa, dropping his guard to inflict two painful punches on him. He tries a lightning attack, which fizzles out with no effect on King Kai’s special combat suit. Two more hits by Son Goku, which like the previous ones are dedicated to the deceased, hurt Nappa and provoke him extremely.
After Vegeta tells him to keep a cool head, he attacks, but Goku manages to escape the explosion. There is an exchange of blows at a dizzy height and then Nappa fires a powerful beam of energy from his mouth. Son Goku is forced to counter this with the Kamehameha, which suggests that this technique must be extremely strong. As he is marked by the Kamehameha, Vegeta intervenes, saying he cannot defeat him.
Nappa comes to the conclusion that he has to retreat and finally wants to eliminate only Son Gohan and Krillin, who have not yet been able to get to safety due to the engrossing fight. Son Goku sees only one way to save the two. So he uses a new technique he learned from King Kai: the Kaio-ken. The tremendous speed boost allows him to catch up with Nappa and perform a painful ramming attack that knocks him to the ground, but Son Goku is even quick enough to overtake him and hold out his hand to intercept him.
Having defeated him, Goku throws Nappa in front of Vegeta’s feet and tells him to grab his buddy and get out. Nappa is badly injured and asks Vegeta for help, who takes his hand. Nappa thanks his “friend”, who then hurls him into the sky and fires a devastating energy blast. This is powerful enough to completely pulverize the Saiyan and Son Goku even had to intervene, otherwise he, his son, and Krillin might also have been pulverized. Vegeta explains that his failure to kill Goku made him useless, and a Saiyan should not be useless, which is why he ultimately killed him.
