Left: Mercenary Tao as normal human Right: Mercenary Tao as cyborg |
As far as I concerned, I wish a rematch between Tien and Mercenary Tao (or Chiaotzu and Mercenary Tao) in Dragon Ball Super , with the meta message: "Since we no longer belong to your brother's school, we are realy fine and thanks to Master Roshi, you and me are poles apart".
At any rate, Tao have never been seen flying but he "flew" by a tree trunk or a pillar.
But is he really able to fly? Eventually, he is younger brother of Master Shen (aka the Crane Hermit) who was the sensei of Tien and Chiaotzu (before they jumped ship) and logically, he ought to be able to fly.
Master Shen with his then-students Chiaotzu and Tien on the 22nd Great Tournament |
Obviously, I wanna get to the bottom of this question.
In the following, I'm going to collect all evidences; show if they can be considered as hints and in the end, conclude if Tao is really able to fly.
Let's go:
1. In the games Dragon Ball Z - Budokai Tenkaichi 1 and 3, he is able to fly
A screenshot from DBZ - Budokai Tenkaichi 3 where Mercenary Tao can fly |
2. He is Master Shen's brother
The fact that Tao is Shen's brother doesn't mean the two of them had learned flying at the same time. So, it can be assumed that they parted company before Shen founded the crane school and implemented the flying ability in his curriculum. But Tao ought to have learned flying on his own while they correspodended with Shen occasionally. Or Shen has his fellows who find out him this, that and the other. Otherwise, Shen wouldn't have any hatred against Goku after hearing that he obliterated Mercenary Tao (before he turned into a Cyborg)
A flashback of a sparring between Mercenary Tao and his elder brother Master Shen |
3. His flying ability hadn't reached the level having been expected from him
Thus, he preferred moving by a tree trunk or a pillar in order to moving along from A to B. Even if he flew during a battle, he wouldn't be able to dodge any foe's attacks in the air.
Mercenary Tao "surfing" on a tree trunk in the air |
So, it would explain why it was easy for Goku to defeat ihm
4. He is another type of cyborg and not like Android 17, Android 18 etc.
According to Mercenary Tao returning as cyborg during the 23rd Great Tournament in the Piccolo-arc of Dragon Ball Classic, it is assumed that Dr. Gero was the one who replaced Mercenary Tao's missing body parts. If that was the case, it would mean that Dr. Gero wasn't so far with his cyborg projects back then and thus, continued his research as stated by himself the Cell-Arc in Dragon Ball Z.
Mercenary Tao as cyborg summoning his sword and using it against Tien (and thus, disqualified from the 23rd Great Tournament) |
Android 17 and Androis 18 had been modified cellulary to an extent having infinite power and infinite stamina. Whereas, Android 16 and Android 19 are 100% artificial and no living beings. So, during his research, Dr. Gero has turned Mercenary Tao into a cyborg and whereby implementing some features making it possible to fly. But Mercerary Tao himself wouldn't know a thing about it. Whether Dr. Gero was very busy with his research to the extent not having been able to tell him about it or Mercenary Tao was in a hurry - like always - and thus, eloped without hearing about the additional features.
All in all, of course, Mercenary Tao could be able to fly but if that was the case, it would be similar to Goku when he was able to levitate for a short amount of time - until the fight against Raditz in DBZ - but wasn't able to dodge in the air before he mastered the flying to the extend that he haven't to think about it while doing so.
And now, I'd be interested in knowing how do you think: Do you think Mercenary Tao can fly? Or do you think he can't? Don't hesitate writing it in the comments.
PS: Here you can go to my other theories:
Theory: How that Zamasu entity (who become Goku Black) could have been aware about Goku's existence?
PPS: Here you can go to my other Dragon Ball series related articles: