One of Goku‘s most useful techniques secretly received a major power-up in Dragon Ball Super that would have greatly simplified the events of the Majin Buu Saga if the legendary Saiyan had this capability back then. However, nobody seemed to notice this massive upgrade.
In Dragon Ball chapter #509, Goku informs everyone who had just been safely transported from a recently destroyed Earth to the Sacred World of the Kai that he wouldn’t be able to use the Instant Transmission technique he learned on Yardat to teleport to New Namek so they could use their Dragon Balls. He attributes this limitation to the fact that the planet is too far away and that the Namekians don’t have high enough ki for him to lock onto. However, Goku doesn’t seem to have this problem anymore in Dragon Ball Super, resulting in a huge power-up for his Instant Transmission.
Goku Is An Instant Transmission Master in Dragon Ball Super
In Dragon Ball Super chapter #44, when following Moro on a Galactic Patrol spaceship with Jaco and Meru, Goku realizes that the villain is headed for New Namek and could touch down at any minute. Because their spaceship is much too far away, Goku is forced to rely on Instant Transmission and is able to teleport there with Vegeta. At this point, there is no indication that there are any Namekians with high enough ki for Goku to lock onto. It isn’t until after Goku and Vegeta are first defeated by Moro later on and wake up three days later that they learn that, during this time, some Namekians have been assimilating with each other to form stronger warriors.
While it’s not possible to establish how far away Goku and Vegeta’s spaceship is from New Namek, the fact that Goku and Vegeta only learn about the new, stronger Namekians when they are on the planet proves that Goku could not sense their ki before. This means that the limitations on Goku’s Instant Transmission established in Dragon Ball Z have been removed, even if they had been pretty useful to limit that otherwise overpowered ability. For example, at the start of the Buu Saga, Goku had to rely on Baba’s magical powers to come back to Earth for one day, while if he had the current level of Instant Transmission he could have just teleported to New Namek and used the planet’s Dragon Balls to wish himself back to life (if being dead did not prevent him from doing so, something that has not been clearly explained).
Goku’s Leveled Up Instant Transmission Is Also More Effective In Battle
The full extent of Goku’s new Instant Transmission was put in display during the fight against Gas. While being absolutely outmatched in terms of power, Goku managed to use his iconic technique in creative ways to gain an edge in the fight, which proves he has been constantly refining it over the years. Perhaps it was the training that Goku did to use Instant Transmission more effectively in battle that led to the removal of its previous limitations. As Dragon Ball Super has shown subtly, Goku has already leveled up his most iconic technique, even if many fans may have missed it.
