Mercenary Tao

Mercenary Tao
タオ準教授はパイパイ
Taopaipai
Anime name	Mercenary Tao
Manga name	Taopaipai
Alias	General Tao General Tao Pei (Harmony Gold Dub) Cyborg Tao Master Tao Tao Pai Pai Tao Paipai
Debuts
Debut	Manga: "Taopaipai the Assassin" Anime: "The Land of Korin"
Appears in
Characteristics
Race	Human (rebuilt as a cyborg after his defeat by Goku)
Height	5'8"
Weight	154 lbs.
Birth Date	Age 459
Professional Status
Occupation	Mercenary for hire General (Mystical Adventure only)
Allegiance	Crane School hired by the Red Ribbon Army
Personal Status
Relatives	Master Shen (Brother) Tien Shinhan (Former Student) Chiaotzu (Former Student)

Directory: Characters → Villains → DB villains → Red Ribbon Army

Directory: Characters → Villains → DB villains → Crane School

Directory: Characters → Villains → DBZ villains

"Pleased to kill you." — "The Notorious Mercenary"

Mercenary Tao (タオ準教授はパイパイ, Tao Pai Pai) is a highly skilled assassin-for-hire and the younger brother of Master Shen. He is very expensive as he normally charges ten billion Zeni per kill, but gave Commander Red a 20th anniversary discount in five billion Zeni.

Biography

Early Life

Tao was born in 459 Age just two years before the King Piccolo Wars which his brother Shen served in. Even though he was younger, Tao was always one step a head of his older brother and a rivalry then grew between them. They began to fight over the smallest things and eventually, a simple spilled bowl of rice was enough to break them apart. At the age of 279, Tao started his career as a mercenary for hire. Though it was never stated, Tao must have gained immortality in some way causing him to live for over 200 years. Tao was said to be a major influence to Tien Shinhan during his days training with the Crane School.

Dragon Ball

Commander Red Saga

Main article: Commander Red Saga

Mercenary Tao fighting Goku.

Twenty years after starting his career as a Mercenary, Tao was hired by the Red Ribbon Army to kill a kid named Goku who had been defeating all of their operatives and taking the Dragon Balls which they needed. Mercenary Tao kills General Blue, the Red Ribbon Army's strongest Operative in front of Commander Red to prove that his assistance is worth the money. Tao meets Goku in The Sacred Land of Korin Where he is forced to kill Bora, who had previously held off the Red Ribbon Army single handedly. Goku provides more of a challenge, but Tao knocks him out with the Dodon Ray Technique. Tao ends up only retrieving three of the Dragon Balls which were located in the backpack Goku had. The last ball was in his shirt which saved him from being killed by the Dodon Ray. Since Tao's uniform was ruined during the battle, he takes off to a town where he forces a tailor to make a new copy of his uniform for free.

Tao's sword being broke by Goku's Power Pole

During the three days, Tao intimidated the towns people into doing things for him for free such as giving him a nice hotel room to stay in. A sniper in the town tried to assassinate Tao but failed. After his uniform was finished he returned to the land of Korin three days later to retrieve the Dragon Ball. When he got there he had to fight Goku who received special training during the three days from climbing Korin Tower, and proved to be far too strong for Tao. Tao resorts to bringing out his sword which ends up getting destroyed from Goku's Power Pole.

Tao riding the Dark Nimbus

After Tao decides Goku was too powerful, he climbs up Korin Tower himself to retrieve the sacred water which helped Goku. He easily makes it up the tower and meets Korin. Korin knew Tao was a bad man who has been killing people so he tricks Tao and gives him the water (which is just plain water anyways). After that Korin uses a trick to make Tao look like he improved to make him leave. He sends Tao back down the tower on the Dark Nimbus to prevent him from getting stronger. Tao challenges Goku again when he gets down and only manages to do a little better but not enough to defeat Goku. Seeing that he was still no match for Goku, Tao pretends to Surrender and then throws a Grenade at Goku. Goku deflects the gernade back at him, which seemingly killed the assassin.

Though Goku assumed Tao was dead, Tao used all of his money he gained from his previous Job's to get built as a cyborg. During the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament, Master Shen learns of Goku's encounter with Tao. Shen originally had Tien kill Goku in the Arena to avenge Tao but thanks to Master Roshi, Tien came to his senses and stopped worshiping Tao and left the Crane School along with Chiaotzu.

Piccolo Jr. Saga

File:MercenaryTaoCyborg.png

Mercenary Tao rebuilt as "Cyborg Tao."

However, Tao is rebuilt as a cyborg by his older brother, and competes in the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament, brutally defeating Chiaotzu. He fights Tien next, and violates the rules of the tournament by using a hidden knife to cut his chest, scarring him. Despite being disqualified, Tao continued to fight. After Tien broke Tao's blade, Tao used the Super Dodon Wave, only for Tien to nullify it with a Kiai. Tien then knocked him out swiftly, then carried the unconscious Tao to his older brother Master Shen, who carried him away in disgrace.

Dragon Ball Z

Cell Games Saga

In the anime, Tao makes two appearances in Dragon Ball Z during the Cell Games Saga. In his first appearance, he works as a personal bodyguard for a short man in a purple suit who runs a shelter which can supposedly protect people from Cell. Everything was going exactly according to plan until Gohan appeared in the village, disrupting the scheme the man had going. As the man's bodyguards surrounded Gohan, an old man from the village arrived dressed in a Chinese-styled dogu martial arts outfit. After dispatching the black-suited bodyguards, the man called for Tao to come out and take care of the old man. After a series of exchanged blows, Tao has the man on the ground. He would have finished the man off with a Super Dodon Wave, but Gohan stepped in the way at the last second. Tao asks his name and breathes a sigh of relief in hearing his name was Go-HAN instead of Go-KU. (Tao is fearful of Goku because of their previous confrontations in Dragon Ball.) However, his relief is quickly exchanged with fear as he learns Gohan is Goku's son and he flies off on a pine tree, effectively resigning from his position as a bodyguard.

Mercenary Tao during the Cell Games Saga.

In his second appearance, he works as a henchman for a rich gangster, who has hired him to gather the Dragon Balls so he may wish for immortality to protect himself from Perfect Cell. Goku shows up to gather the two that Tao has collected, but Goku is disappointed at himself for having nothing to offer Tao in return. The assassin then poses a challenge to Goku: If Goku can disassemble three complex puzzle rings by dawn the following day, then he will be awarded the Dragon Balls. If he cannot, however, Goku must surrender the ones he has with him. Tao then offers to take Goku's jacket (which contains Goku's gathered Dragon Balls) while Goku works on the puzzles, and while Goku is distracted with the puzzle rings, Tao steals Goku's Dragon Balls and drives far away throughout the night with the gangsters. After Goku solves the puzzle rings, he simply uses Instant Transmission to find Tao and the gangsters. The naive Goku is unaware there was any ill-will on the part of Tao, and is given the Dragon Balls without any resistance.

Tao has not appeared again in the series after this. He presumably met his doom either when Super Buu launched his Human Extinction Attack, or when Kid Buu blew up the earth during the Kid Buu Saga.

Movies

Mystical Adventure

Tao easily injuring Bora

Tao in Penguin Village

Tao is part of a plan with Master Shen and Tien to take over the kingdom of Mifan which is ruled by Chiaotzu. After having Pilaf, Shu and Mai build a Global Dragon Radar for them they use it to have Chiaotzu's army gather the Dragon Balls for them after secretly stealing his wife Ran Ran. Tao kills Lieutenant Blue just before the Chiaotzu's Tournament. During the Tournament, Tao is ordered to kill Bora right in the arena. He throws him and Bora is impaled right on a statue. After he kills Bora, Tao fights Goku. Tao's clothes get ruined by a Kamehameha, Tao uses a Dodon Ray on Goku where he is blown off all the way to Korin Tower.

After Tao gets his clothes changed he takes a piller from the castle and tries to ride it to the location Goku was at. On the way he passes by Penguin Village and gets knocked off the piller by a rock Arale throws at him. Falling face first into the ground Arale pokes at him with a stick and laughs. When Tao gets up he tries to ignore Arale but Goku shows up. Tao begins to charge at Goku but then falls back because Arale and the Gatchans had his pony tail tied to a tree. Tao undoes the knot and uses a Dodon Ray on Arale but it turns out to not injure her. The Gatchans shoot Tao with a beam and Tao continues to fight Goku. After Goku is able to block Tao's Dodon Ray, Tao begins to fake surrendering and throws a Capsule to bring a vehicle out. Just after shaking Goku's hand saying that he was a worthy opponent, Tao grabs Goku's Dragon Ball and flys off on his vehicle shooting two missiles behind him. Goku and Arale deflect both the Missiles and they destroy Tao and his vehicle.

Power

When Tao is introduced he is shown to be very powerful at that point in the series. He toys with Goku and the only damage he receives from Goku's Kamehameha is to his clothes. At this point, Goku's strength was near to that of Master Roshi's during the 21st World Tournament (which was weaker than Roshi's strength in the following Tournament). After Goku receives training from Korin, Tao is easily overpowered although in the anime, Tao drinks Korin's Sacred water and Goku states that Tao's strength has increased.
When he reappears as a cyborg he is believed to have gained a lot of strength. In an issue of V-Jump, Cyborg Tao's power level is stated to be 210. This would mean he would be stronger than Krillin and Yamcha were at the beginning of Dragon Ball Z. This great power was still not enough to defeat Tien Shinhan who defeated Tao with ease.

Video games

Tao in DBZ Tenkaichi 3.

Tao was featured as a playable character in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi and its sequels Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 and Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3. He is also a boss during the Dragon Ball quest in Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II in which he can use his special attack, Dodon Ray (essentially a yellow-orange version of the Kamehameha) and fire energy blasts. Lastly, he appears as a minor boss in the game Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure twice -- once as an undefeatable story element and again as a regular boss. His normal and cyborg forms are also unlockable as a playable characters in Tournament Mode. He also appears in Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo as the main enemy of chapter 4 and is unlocked once gaining all the treasures in this chapter.

Techniques

Mercenary Tao's Super Dodon Wave

• Tongue: Tao simply uses his tongue to pierce the opponent's temple, striking their pressure point and killing them. He does this with General Blue, stating that he does not need his hands to kill the man.
• Flying Pillars: Tao throws a pillar (or something similar, like a tree) into the air at a certain direction and jumps on it, riding it to his destination. The pillar may also strike the opponents at the landing spot.
• Levitate: Though Tao cannot fly, he is shown to be able to fly in the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi, though this feature is removed in the sequels (he can once again fly with a flight capsule on Tenkaichi 3). He can fly without the flight capsule in his cyborg state.
• Dodon Ray: Crane School's signature technique. A super heated ray fired from the tip of his finger.
• Ultimate Final Strategy: Tao launches his pillar at that opponent, however, Tao's opponent kicks him, in which he begs for mercy. General Tao's opponent will then walk away, and General Tao will then throw a Hand Grenade at his opponent.
• Sword: From a capsule, Tao brings out a sword for fighting.
• Grenade: Tao first begs for mercy to make his opponents drop their guard, then pulls out a hand grenade and throws at them. A dirty final resort that backfired and caused him to be rebuilt into a cyborg.
• Concealed Knife: After Tao became a cyborg, he disconnects his left hand to reveal a retractable knife. When Tien was slashed by this sneak attack, he claimed that Tao has lost his honor and pride of a warrior. Due to his use of this technique during the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament, Tao lost his tournament match with Tien by disqualification for violating tournament rules banning the use of weapons. In the Tenkaichi series this move is called "Hidden Blade".
• Super Dodon Ray: After Tao became a cyborg, he disconnects his right hand to reveal a built-in cannon, which can fire an enhanced Dodon Ray. This technique also has lock-on capabilities and is Cyborg Tao's ultimate attack.

Major Battles

• Tao vs. General Blue
• Tao vs. Bora
• Tao vs. Goku
• Tao vs. Goku (second time)
• Tao vs. Chiaotzu
• Tao vs. Tien
• Tao vs. Full Power Super Saiyan Gohan

Voice Actors

• Japanese Dub: Chikao Ohtsuka
• FUNimation Dub: Kent Williams
• Ocean Dub: Scott McNeil
• Harmony Gold Dub: Michael McConnohie (Movie 3)
• Latin American Dub: Gerardo Reyero (first voice), Pedro D'Aguillon Jr. (second voice)
• German Dub: Rolf Berg
• Italian Dub: Maurizio Scattorin
• Portuguese Dub: António Semedo
• Brazilian Dub: Wellington Lima

Trivia

Tao's design in Dragon Ball Online

• Mercenary Tao is the first villain Goku faces to use a ki attack (the Dodonpa), unless one counts General Blue using his Telekinesis attack against Goku as a ki attack.
• Tao is the first villain to defeat Goku in battle (Master Roshi, disguised as Jackie Chun, first defeated Goku, but he was not a villain).
• It says "KILL YOU!" on his back. This is edited in some dubbed versions of the show (but not the Cell Games saga of Dragonball Z).
• Tao bares a resemblance to Gabbachi, the main villain in Toriyama's Kajika.
• The cannon he gains on his hand is very similar to the cannons later used by Android 16.
• It appears that in the Budokai Tenkaichi games he can fly (1st form with flight capsule equipped only in Tenkaichi 3, but in his 2nd form he can fly without the flight capsule).
• Mercenary Tao's Super Dodon Ray later holds the puzzle rings.
• Mercenary Tao bears an uncanny resemblance to Korean Taekwondo master/actor Hwang Jang Lee and is loosely based on Hwang's characters from "Snake in Eagle's Shadow" and "Drunken Master" in appearance, personality and job.
• Tao has been known by a number of names in the various English versions of the series. He is called "General Tao Pei" in the abortive late-1980's Dragon Ball anime dub by Harmony Gold, "Taopaipai" (all in one word) in the Viz adaptation of the manga, In FUNimation's dub of Z, he is erroneously referred to as "General Tao", as well as erroneously being referred to as the leader of The Red Ribbon Army; these errors were NOT corrected in the revised dub in the Season Sets. The "General Tao" denomination is a mixup with the movie Mystical Adventure, an alternate-dimension Dragon Ball story. In that movie, Tao is actually a General. However, in the main timeline of the series, he never holds that position.
• In Budokai Tenkaichi 3 Tao has a special interaction with Arale Norimaki. This is a direct reference to their encounter in Mystical Adventure.
• New artwork from Dragon Ball Online shows that Cyborg Tao who has been redesigned and is known as Tao Pai Pai X. He is apparently residing in the base of the former Red Ribbon Army and has started excavating and mining Korin's Sacred Land. This would mean he survived the Majin Buu conflict although how he survived is unknown.
• Mercenary Tao has the distinction of being one of the only villains who doesn't die in the series

Gallery

Tao using a pillar to transport

Tao and Tien facing off in the arena

Cyborg Tao's concealed knife

Cyborg Tao unleashes the Super Dodon Wave