WARNING: The following article spoilers for One-Punch Man Chapter 116, by ONE and Yusuke Murata, available now in English from Viz Media.

Just as things were at their most dire for the A- and B-Class heroes protecting the recently rescued Waganma, One-Punch Man Chapter 115 brought in S-Class hero Drive Knight to take on their attacker: Nyaan. Although the manga series has often cut away from major battles recently to set up other confrontations, that's not the case this time around. In One-Punch Man Chapter 116, Drive Knight and Nyaan go toe-to-paw, with the former proving victorious due to his own take on the Dragon Ball franchise's Super Saiyan form.

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The battle kicks off with Drive Knight circling Nyaan on his motorcycle while bombarding the monster with toxic gas. Nyaan goes on the offensive and closes on Drive Knight, but the hero gets the better of him and starts pulverizing the monster. Nyaan then tries to slip into Drive Knight's armor, which allows him to start tearing his opponent apart from the inside out. However, Drive Knight counters by abandoning his armor. As the dust settles, Drive Knight activates his Battle Transformation: Gold, which causes his black hair to go gold, seemingly in reference to Super Saiyan.

Created by Akira Toriyama, Dragon Ball Z aired from 1989 until 1996 and was a sequel to the popular Dragon Ball. Over the course of the series, protagonist Goku grew ever more powerful. However, Goku's biggest power-up came early in the series during a fight against antagonist Frieza. After the death of a close friend, Goku tapped into his rage and unlocked the Super Saiyan form, which turned his black hair golden. Since then, the series and its various continuations have introduced different versions of Super Saiyan, each more powerful than the original level Goku initially unlocked.

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Although Battle Transformation: Gold allows Drive Knight to get an advantage over Nyaan, the monster observes the technique takes a lot of energy, which is also a common drawback of Goku's various Super Saiyan forms. This is when Drive Knight reveals what makes this Battle Transformation distinct: It causes him to generate an incredible amount of heat. This chars Nyaan, and the hero skewers the stunned villain, putting him down once and for all.

One-Punch Man is, at its core, a satire of the shounen genre of manga and its various tropes, so it's pretty likely Battle Transformation: Gold's resemblance to Super Saiyan is intentional. Still, Drive Knight's version of the form does provide a fun twist on the concept of a major power-up that results in one's hair turning gold, proving this is more than just a wink to another popular manga. Instead, this homage puts a new spin on the idea, making it work for the One-Punch Man universe.

The next chapter of One-Punch Man in English releases Feb. 26 from Viz Media.

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