Goku's One-Punch is Stronger Than Saitama's, & Dragon Ball Proves It
In the early days of Dragon Ball, Goku was able to pull off some absolutely ridiculous gags, ones that would leave other powerful characters like One-Punch Man's Saitama clear in the dust.
Dragon Ball chapter 7, titled “Yamcha and Pu’ar” introduces the aforementioned desert bandits, putting them in direct conflict with Goku, Bulma, and Oolong. In the following chapter, Goku and Yamcha battle for their collection of Hoi-Poi Capsules. While surprised by his initial strength and relation to the elderly martial artist Son Gohan, Yamcha manages to send Goku flying through stone pillars with his Wolf Fang Fist. Goku, however, turns out to be just fine and responds with his own technique- the Janken, otherwise known as the Fist of Rock, Paper, Scissors.
Through utilizing this technique, Goku’s palm crush performs a feat that blurs the line between fiction and reality. Kid Goku smashes Yamcha through the borders of the manga panel, breaking the panels entirely. Saitama, the titular hero of One-Punch Man was long thought to be a gag character until around the fight with Boros where he had to use more than a single punch to defeat the alien warlord. Despite this gag of being able to defeat anyone in one punch not being completely true, Saitama’s Serious Series: Serious Punch still held some impressive weight to it by being able to split the atmosphere, a show of force requiring several petatons of energy. This one punch, however, pales in comparison to the actual gag of being able to break a manga panel.
Within the early world of Dragon Ball, the limitations placed on each character were much more freeing, resulting in Goku being able to perform his panel shattering feat. While Saitama’s signature one punch is incredibly strong, bordering on multi-continental levels of power, it’s still no match for the fiction transcending Janken attack Goku used on Yamcha. While Saitama may be known as the One-Punch Man, Goku’s ridiculous palm crush in Dragon Ball may have him gunning for the title next.