Gohan's current power was second only to Gogito's, roughly on par with Broly's. The two of them should have been about as strong as Gotenks Buu, while Goku and Vegeta had reached the level of Mystic Gohan. All of them could easily trounce Buu.
At first, when Goku saw Gohan reading books every day, he thought Gohan had gone soft and let his training slide. What he didn't know was that whenever Gohan had a new insight, he would spar with his own father, Piccolo, to test it out. Piccolo had also grown stronger from sparring with Gohan from time to time. After Gohan mastered Mystic Form, Piccolo suggested he go spar with Goku, since Piccolo couldn't force Gohan to fight at full strength.
So Gohan had a match with Goku, and the result was predictable: Goku was thoroughly defeated. Only then did Goku realize that Gohan had been right—reading books could make you stronger, too.
So Goku tried reading some of the books Gohan had read. But knowing Goku, it was no surprise that he couldn't make heads or tails of them. They were full of stuff like "the Dao follows nature" and "heaven and humanity are one." Reading them gave Goku a headache, so he promptly gave up.
In the anime, a big reason Goku was stronger than Vegeta was that Goku had trained on Grand Kai's Planet. What kind of people were there?
They were all legendary martial artists from various planets. They might not have been as strong as Goku, but when it came to insight into the martial arts, Goku couldn't catch up even if he rode a rocket. In that kind of environment, how could Goku not grow stronger?
By contrast, Vegeta trained in isolation, devoting all his energy to beating Kakarot. Would he ever seek insight into the martial arts? To him, that sort of thing was worthless. Beating Kakarot was what mattered.
It wasn't until the Tournament of Power that Vegeta realized he couldn't keep trailing behind Kakarot. After that, he mastered Super Saiyan Blue Evolved and Ultra Ego. Only then was Vegeta finally qualified to measure himself against Kakarot.
That was a bit of a tangent. Back to the point.
When Supreme Kai proposed asking Gogito to help, Gohan volunteered and took on the task.
Supreme Kai ran into a problem right away: how could they find Babidi? His original plan had been to follow Spopovich and Yamu, but they were dead now, and the trail had gone cold. What could they do?
Gohan thought of Kami. Kami would surely know where the outsiders from space were hiding.
So Gohan went to Kami's Lookout to ask the old Kami. While he was there, he also picked up three Senzu Beans from Korin.
Gohan returned soon after. Babidi was hiding in a remote area of the eastern region.
Gohan and the others immediately set out with the two Supreme Kais. They arrived before long.
A white door stood on the ground in the distance. It was Babidi's spaceship. He had buried it underground, leaving only an entrance exposed.
Just then, the white door opened, and Babidi stepped out, followed by Dabura and a bunch of useless minions.
Babidi had known someone had discovered him as soon as Spopovich and Yamu died. But with Dabura at his side, he believed no one—not even Supreme Kai—could escape. So when he realized someone had found his hideout, Babidi confidently brought his men out, ready to kill the intruders.
When Supreme Kai saw Dabura, he was shocked all over again. Babidi had actually brought the King of the Demon Realm under his control.
"That guy is incredibly powerful. He's the King of the Demon Realm. Babidi doesn't look like much, but he knows all kinds of magic. He can control anyone with evil thoughts in their heart. Those people with an M on their foreheads are all his slaves."
"Then we just have to deal with those two, right?"
Gohan pointed at Babidi and Dabura.
"That's true, but..."
Before Supreme Kai could finish, Dabura made his move. In an instant, he rushed up to Kibito, pointed a hand at his face, and fired a ki blast that would have killed him.
The King of the Demon Realm certainly had some tricks. He even knew to take out the healer first. But Gohan was ready. He flew forward and kicked Dabura, sending him flying back even faster than he had come. Babidi and his minions hurriedly dodged as Dabura crashed straight into the ground, exposing a corner of the spaceship buried beneath it.
Gohan said to Supreme Kai,
"I'll take this guy. Supreme Kai, you handle Babidi. All right?"
"No problem!"
Seeing how valiant Gohan was, Shin was fired up, too. This time, they might be able to wipe out Babidi and all his men in one go.
Dabura powered up, blasting away the rocks that had buried him, and attacked Gohan again.
Dabura swung his arm, sending invisible energy blades flying toward Gohan. Gohan dodged sideways, and the rocks behind him were instantly sliced apart. Dabura swung his arm again, his cape billowing behind him until he looked like a giant bat.
After dodging two more slashes, Gohan closed in on Dabura and swung a punch. Dabura answered with one of his own, but Gohan's attack was faster. His fist slammed into Dabura's face, while Dabura's fell just short of Gohan's.
Gohan grabbed Dabura's arm and flung him away, then followed up with a ki blast. Dabura twisted aside to dodge it, but Gohan's next attack was already there. Dabura took another kick and flew toward the ground. Gohan instantly appeared there and kicked him up into the air.
Gohan then appeared in the air, clasped his hands together, and brought them down hard, smashing Dabura into the ground. Babidi's poor spaceship was damaged yet again.
Gohan showed no mercy. He unleashed Prince Tactics, raining a barrage of attacks down on the ground in a spectacular display. Supreme Kai watched, stunned. Seeing the mighty King of the Demon Realm get pummeled by Gohan like this felt like a dream.
After a moment, Supreme Kai came to his senses. It was time to deal with Babidi. This was the perfect opportunity, so he turned his gaze toward Babidi, who was hiding nearby.
Babidi was just as stunned. The strongest fighter under his command was being brutally beaten, unable to fight back at all. When he saw Supreme Kai charging toward him, he fled in a panic, sending his minions to hold Supreme Kai off so he could escape.
Dabura broke out of Gohan's attack range. He was in a sorry state, covered in wounds, his clothes in tatters, and half his cape missing.
Dabura pulled a huge sword from who knew where and swung it at Gohan. Gohan reached out and caught the blade between his index and middle fingers. Dabura pulled with all his strength, but couldn't free the sword. Then Gohan punched him. Dabura doubled over and spat purple blood. Gohan raised a hand and pointed it at Dabura's face. As Dabura stared in terror, Gohan blasted him to pieces.
Babidi was running in every direction. All his minions had been taken out by the three kids, and he was now surrounded by five people.
"Babidi, you can't escape!"
Shin's face darkened as he let out a sinister cackle. At long last, he was about to get rid of this longtime menace.
With nowhere left to run and no one left to control, Babidi met his end at Supreme Kai's hands.
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