Gohan is one of the greatest heroes in the history of Dragon Ball as he has no desire to achieve god-tier power but instead only fights when it is absolutely necessary, though it seems there is a limit to his heroism as Gohan is secretly responsible for killing Goten and Trunks.
Gohan was introduced at the start of the Dragon Ball Z era as the four-year-old son of Goku. Even though he was young, Gohan was thrown right into battle after Goku’s long-lost brother, Raditz, came to Earth with villainous intentions. After Raditz was defeated, which resulted in Goku’s death, Piccolo trained Gohan for a full year before Raditz’s partners, Vegeta and Nappa, showed up to decimate the planet. So, within the first few chapters of Gohan’s story, he is already a seasoned warrior who has witnessed death and experienced cruel tutelage–and things didn’t get any easier for him from there. Fast-forward to the Cell Saga and Gohan has reached a level of power that hadn’t been attained by either Vegeta or Goku. Fast-forward again to the Buu Saga and Gohan does exactly the same thing, only this time with the help of a literal deity. However, while Gohan’s power-ups have only helped the Z-Fighters in the past, his latest one within the DBZ era got Goten and Trunks killed.
In Dragon Ball chapter 499 by Akira Toriyama, Gohan has seemingly returned from the grave as he was presumed dead throughout the majority of the Buu Saga so far. In reality, Gohan was simply training with the Kais on their world as well as having his latent abilities brought out in him to become the strongest version of himself without excessive training. Up until Gohan reappeared, Goten and Trunks were battling Majin Buu as Gotenks, and the amalgamated fighter even achieved Super Saiyan 3–which was quite a feat especially in such a short amount of time. However, even with the immense power-up, Gotenks still wasn’t a match for Buu, which is why Gohan decided it was time to step in himself.
Gohan was Too Powerful for Buu, so Buu Absorbed Gotenks to Get Stronger
As Gohan approached Buu, the villain sneakily sent out a gooey piece of himself towards an unsuspecting Gotenks to encapsulate the Saiyan fusion-fighter and effectively absorb him. Through this process, Buu gained all the power of Gotenks while also taking on a bit of Gotenks’ aesthetic. While this was a great power-up for Buu, it was a hellish nightmare for Gotenks as he was essentially eaten by this monster, which effectively killed both Goten and Trunks in the process–and it was all because of Gohan.
By training with the Kais, Gohan elevated the level of battle to a divine standard which forced Buu to do something as horrifically drastic as consuming Gotenks to gain his abilities in order to match those of Gohan. While it was necessary for Gohan to become this powerful as Buu proved to be the most serious threat any of the Z-Fighters had faced thus far, it also marked his brother and a close family friend for death. Even though his intentions were heroic and just, Gohan still became responsible for killing Goten and Trunks during one of the more grim Dragon Ball storylines.
