Unlocking Potential

Characters unlocking their potential, also known as bringing their power out to their limit, has been achieved through a variety of different ways in the manga. Unlocking someone's potential will allow them to access power that they already have inside them but which cannot be brought out through normal means. There have been some cases of a potential unlock bringing out their power beyond their own limit, meaning that the person will gain the power they had deep inside of them along with extra power that is granted to them via the method used to unlock the potential in the first place.

It is possible to bring out a person's potential to their limit by just doing intense training - Goku after training in the Room of Spirit and Time hints that he may have done this when he says he'd done all he could do and training any further would actually have a negative effect on his power.

Super God Water
The Super God Water is a liquid which, when drunk, will allow the user to bring out all the power they have hidden inside them. Korin mentions that it will not do anything if the user has already brought their power to its limit via training.

The first mention of this water was after Goku had climbed Korin's Tower for the first time after losing to Mercenary Tao. Korin had a cup of water (here called the Super Holy Water) which he claimed would allow a person to release their hidden power if drunken. Korin would not let Goku have the water at first and made him go through a task of obtaining the water while he kept it away from him. After three days of trying to catch him, Goku caught Korin and drank the water; however, it was then revealed that the water was just tap water and the point of the task was for Goku to increase his power via the cat-and-mouse game they had played.

Later on, after losing to Piccolo Daimao, Goku set off back to Korin's tower with the help of Yajirobe in order to get stronger once again. Unfortunately for Goku, he had already surpassed Korin and there was nothing more that his master could teach him. However, the mystical catlike creature then revealed the real Super God Water. Goku drank the water, which brought his power to its limit and set off to fight Piccolo Daimao once more.

According to Korin, you need stupendous stamina and life force in order to drink the water without dying. Fourteen people before Goku had already died trying to drink it, and Goku spent an entire night in intense agony before the water finally brought out his power. Yajirobe stuck his finger in the water and then put it in his mouth - even a tiny amount like that was enough to reduce Yajirobe to holding his throat and falling to his hands and knees as if he was dying.

Great Elder


The Great Elder of Namek had the power to releases characters' dormant potential by himself. He could place his hand on someone's head and see how much power they had hidden, and then while keeping his hand on their head he could "unlock" it. However, all the power is not unlocked at once. Kuririn and Gohan both have a lot of extra power unlocked at first, though Vegeta notes that the power in them is still growing even as they fight Freeza, despite the fact that Gohan had his powers unlocked before fighting the Ginyu Force and Kuririn had his unlocked three days before even that. It is never stated when the powers of the two stopped growing which has led to much speculation on just how strong both of them became. By the start of the Ginyu Fight they were both at "over 10,000", and by the start of the Freeza fight just hours later, Vegeta claims that if the three of them work together they may be able to win despite Freeza's first form having of a power level of 530,000.

The power-up is given to Kuririn as he enters the Great Elder's home in order to take the Dragon Ball away so that Freeza and his men will not get it. While in the process of this, the Great Elder put his hand on Kuririn's head and told him he had great power hidden deep within him. Kuririn doubted this but the Great Elder unlocked the power for him, which amazed him. Kuririn then asked if he could bring Gohan along to also get his power unlocked, which the Great Elder agreed to, so Kuririn rushed off to get Gohan and three days later the half-breed had his power unlocked the same way the human had. The Great Elder also unlocked Dende's power so that he could fly faster to the heroes and tell them the password for the Dragon Balls.

Despite Kuririn having his power unlocked three days before Gohan, the two are on the same level when they fight the Ginyu Force. It is unknown exactly why this is.

Babidi
Babidi used magic to boost the target's power "beyond their limits". Fans have argued over whether or not this power boost comes as part of being controlled by Babidi or if it is a separate characteristic. Spopovich and Yamu were the first people to have gotten this power boost in the story; in the 24th Tenkaichi Budokai, Spopovich was beaten easily by even Mr. Satan, yet in the 25th Tenkaichi Budokai he was beating around Videl with ease, who had greater power than Satan. He was also surviving deadly blows such as his neck being twisted around 180 degrees.

The next known person to have gotten the boost was Vegeta. While possessing Vegeta, Babidi says he will bring out Vegeta's power beyond his limit. Dabura had noticed the evil in Vegeta's heart while fighting Gohan, and quit the fight to tell Babidi this, at which point Babidi began using his magic to take control of the Saiyan prince. During the spell, Babidi mentions that he has control of Vegeta and that he will now release his powers beyond his limits. It is later revealed that Vegeta had purposely let this happen so that he could be a match for Goku once again. The boost in power is given straight away.

Since it is not clear if this boost is part of the Majin spell that Babidi puts on people, it is not known for sure if Dabura, Pui-Pui, and other people Babidi had possessed had their powers boosted.

Elder Kaioshin
Elder Kaioshin has the ability to take the hidden power which anyone has and draw it out "waay, waay" above their own limits.

The process of unlocking someone's powers like this is a long and tedious one. Elder Kaioshin first makes the subject stand still while he dances around him in a very comedic way. After that, the subject and Elder Kaioshin are both required to sit down and do nothing for the rest of the ritual. The entire thing takes about 24 hours in total. Once the ritual is over, the person who has received the power-up must access the power themselves before they can use it. In Gohan's case, he was told to access the power by turning into a Super Saiyan; the result was not Gohan turning Super Saiyan but Gohan's face and hair looking similar to his Super Saiyan form while still in his regular state. It is unknown how other races would access the power as they wouldn't be able to "turn Super Saiyan".

Gohan was the first and only known character to ever receive this power-up. Once Elder Kaioshin had been broken free from the Z-Sword, he choose Gohan to perform the power-up on because he was the one who released the Z-Sword in the first place. Halfway through the ritual, Gohan gets mad at Elder Kaioshin for wasting time when Boo is still loose, stands up and his anger causes some of the hidden power that has been released at that point to leak out. When the ritual is done, Gohan never turns Super Saiyan again even when he is being beaten by Majin Boo, which led many fans to believe Gohan could not access the form again after the ritual.

Other
The Daizenshuu, a series of guidebooks for the Dragon Ball series, states in the Special Attack Dictionary that Super Saiyan 3 releases one's potential. This is not hinted at or stated in either the manga or anime. In contrast, the Super Exciting Guide (SEG), another guidebook for the series, says that Super Saiyan 3 has a set multiplier being four times as powerful as Super Saiyan 2.