It's not too long though, until his life is thrown completely out of whack. At age five, Goku's evil Saiya-jin brother Raditz shows up and kidnaps him, giving Goku reason to pursue, along with the mighty Piccolo. The fight with Raditz was a tough one, leaving both Goku and Piccolo completely devastated. Just as all seemed lost, Gohan burst through the containment pod which had held him captive. In a burst of extreme anger, he rammed into the villain, overwhelming him to such an extent that victory was in reach. Piccolo used his deadly makankosappo technique, and ran both Raditz and Goku through, as he was restraining him from dodging. As he took his last few breaths, he commented on how foolish but noble Goku's actions were. To this, Piccolo explained to him the powers of the dragonballs, and that within one year, he'd be alive and well once more. It was Raditz however who had the last laugh. His ki reading scouter was also a communications link to his colleagues Vegeta and Nappa, both his Saiya-jin superiors. They were to come in one year's time, take the dragonballs for themselves and obliterate all existence for their planet brokerage.

As both Goku and Raditz died, Piccolo decided to take Gohan under his wing. He saw the potential within him, and knew that if he could help him control it, that he could possibly be their best hope for the future.

And so starts a six month long journey for young Gohan. Piccolo drops him off in the woods, in an effort to break him from his wimpy personality. He keeps a lookout over him though, just in case something extremely bad was to happen. Through this hard training, Gohan learns quite a few things about real life. He makes friends with a robot and a dinosaur, which both have similarly catastrophic fates. He learns not to cry when treating wounds. He meets up with a village of orphans. And most importantly, he learns that running home to his mother won't solve the problem at hand. With that, he turns back, and sees Piccolo. They proceed to train for the remaining six months.

One full year has passed. The Saiya-jin has arrived. Goku, immensely stronger from training under the North Kaio while in Heaven, has been wished back to life and is on his way home. The journey will take two days.

The battle gets off to a start with Nappa sending out six Saibamen warriors. One kills Yamucha, and Kuririn is so enraged, he shoots a Kikusan-ha to destroy all but one. Gohan is incredibly scared, despite his newfound discipline, and doesn't notice the final Saibaman lunging towards him. Luckily, Piccolo, who has a kinder heart from experiencing Gohan's innocence, shoots a mouth blast and obliterates the monster.

Nappa begins his assault, killing off several of the Z soldiers. Eventually only Gohan, Piccolo and Kuririn are left standing. Once again, Gohan is terrified of the events going on around him, and is increasingly ashamed that he can't find the courage to fight. Nappa uses this opportunity to try and kill Gohan, by shooting a huge energy wave at him, but Piccolo steps in from of the blast and gives his own life in order to save the boy.

This rightfully pisses Gohan off and He shoots a Masenko at Nappa that doesn't quite kill him, but lets him and Vegeta know that he's not your average kid. With Gohan's trump card used up, and Kuririn beaten senseless, it seems all hope is lost, until Goku finally makes it back. He returns the two weak heroes' health with the restorative senzu seeds. Goku quickly defeats Nappa with the Kaioken technique, and after instructing Gohan to return home, he and Vegeta fly off to fight for the fate of the planet.

The battle between the two superpowers is turning out for the worst and Gohan senses this. He disobeys his father's wishes and returns alongside Kuririn to the battlefield. Upon arrival they discover Vegeta, who is now transformed to the powerful Oozaru were-monkey state, attempting to kill Goku. Eventually, Vegeta's tail is cut off, suppressing his transformation.

Still, the battle wasn't over. All of the warriors' power was tapped, and Vegeta was still going strong. But there was one small detail that Vegeta failed to look in to. Just as Goku was a Saiya-jin, so was his son, and that meant he could go Oozaru as well. Looking up at the artificial moon created by Vegeta, Gohan instantly transformed, and though he was unable to fully control his powers, overwhelmed the villain. He actually succeeded in cutting off Gohan's tail, but he hadn't quite reverted completely, and his huge mass landed directly on top of Vegeta, crushing him.

After letting Vegeta go, wishing better things of him, the warriors were faced with a new challenge. It was understood that with the death of Piccolo, the God of Earth, Kami would also die, since they were linked together. This resulted in the destruction of the dragonballs, and any hope of resurrecting their fallen allies. Vegeta however had divulged information of a planet that contained another set of dragonballs, Piccolo's home, Namek.

With Goku still recovering, Gohan, Kuririn, and Bulma set off alone to Namek, and searched for the dragonballs. All seemed to be going fine until they found out that a sinister force known as Freezer was also searching for the dragonballs. He was doing a far better job than them, but killing nearly every Namek on the planet. This wasn't a great time for our heroes to say the least, because on top of the Freezer threat, Vegeta had arrived with his own wild ambitions.

Freezer got wind of what was going on around him and sent for the Ginyu Tokusentai, his personal elite squadron of fighters. They were to kill all that opposed him. It was decided that Vegeta should join with the others in an effort to defeat the squadron.

The fight is going pretty bad. All of the Ginyu have strength that overwhelms the Z warriors, in particular Recoome, who has taken out everyone but... big surprise here... Gohan! Once again, Gohan showcases his immense strength. He puts up a rather commendable fight against Recoome, but he simply doesn't have the battle experience to do enough damage.

But it never fails that Goku, fully recovered and fresh from training at 100 g's, comes to save the day. After giving each of the Z soldiers a senzu, he reads Kuririn's mind, learns of all that has went down on the planet, and promptly kicks Recoome's ass. The other heroes fly away as he finishes the job.

After fights with the remaining Ginyu force, and his own father, inhabited by Captain Ginyu, all is straight for Gohan once more. Vegeta lends both him and Kuririn some Saiya-jin armor, and puts Goku into a recovery chamber.

With the dragonballs back in their possession, Gohan and Dende, a Namek boy he had saved earlier, attempted to call upon the dragon Porunga. Using the required Namek tongue, Dende used the first of three wishes to wish back Piccolo, and the second to bring him to Namek. Suddenly, the dragon disappears, and it is realized that the dragon's creator has passed away. Suddenly, Freezer shows up, and a battle ensues. Piccolo is the one to match Freezer in strength, as his transformation made him far too powerful for the others to handle. Freezer is fed up and transforms AGAIN, too overwhelming even for the newly suped up Piccolo. Lo and behold, Gohan once again busts the skills when the time is needed. He fires a Masenko so powerful that it nearly destroys the almighty Freezer in one quick wave. Sadly, he counters it, and prepares for his final transformation.

About this time, Goku recovers, and meets up with the others on the battlefield. Vegeta is killed, and after Goku buries the fallen warrior honorably, he proceeds to Freezer. The others can do little but watch as the battle rages. Gohan finds it incredible that his own father can match up to such a beast. Through many power shifts and binds, Goku is seemingly able to defeat Freezer with a Genki Dama. They all gather on an island and recollect after the battle. Suddenly, Freezer rises up, and Shoots a blast piercing Piccolo's heart, then he levitates Kuririn into the air and blows him up out of will. Next comes the famous SSJ transformation scene from Goku. He tells Gohan to go back to his ship and return home, so he flies off to do so. We don't see much of Gohan after this. The Earth dragonballs, restored after Piccolo and Kami came back to life, are used to wish back all those killed by Freezer. This makes the Namek balls return, and they are used to send everyone on Namek to Earth, sans Freezer and Goku. In the end, Goku defeats Freezer, and the Planet blows up. It's unknown if he survived.

Back on Earth, a wish is made to return the rest of the Z warriors back to life, but Goku cannot return, since he never actually died. The only thing left to do... is wait.

With Goku gone, Gohan had no one to train under, so he got back to his studies. Wasn't long though, till Freezer showed up again as a cyborg. He was planning to destroy the world, but was foiled when Trunks sliced him to bits. All of this led up to the return of Goku, and the android conflict.

Eventually Gohan and Goku head into the Room of Spirit and Time, where one day is equal to one year. Their goal was to become strong enough to defeat all of the androids, including Cell, the most menacing of all. Goku's primary objective was to drive Gohan into Super Saiya-jin mode, as he certainly had the power, but had yet to find a trigger. Gohan tried his best, but was unable, due to Goku's gentle nature towards him. He finally convinced Goku to train him more ferociously, and while in a ki battle, remembered many key events in his life, thus giving him all the push he needed.

The Cell Game approached. It was a tournament that would lead to Earth's end if Cell were to gain victory. Goku's strength was equal to Cell's but due to Cell's regenerative capabilities, he was slightly outmatched. He gave up, and passed the fleece to Gohan. This shocked many of the Z warriors, most notably Piccolo, who was very angry that he gave no interest in his own son's well being. Gohan wasn't really interested in fighting, because he wasn't sure what would happen should he exert any force. This interested Cell, so to evoke this new power he let loose seven Cell Juniors, pint sized versions of himself that shared his strength. The Cell Juniors attacked all of the warriors, and Gohan's anger began to increase.

Among the spectators was Mr. Satan, a rather weak fighter who insisted all that was going on was a cheap trick. He noticed the head of Android 16, a good-natured android who had been destroyed earlier by cell, on the ground. He was still barely alive, and asked Mr. Satan to throw his head out onto the battlefield. Mr. Satan reluctantly agreed, and threw him right next to Gohan. They conversed, and 16 told Gohan that it was important that he release his anger. He told him to hold nothing back, since there was no way to save the planet if he did. Cell abruptly silenced the damaged android, crushing his head in one bloody stomp. Suddenly, something snapped inside Gohan, he held nothing back, and in a mighty blast of rage, he transformed into a yet unachieved level of Saiya-jin... Super Saiya-jin level 2. He quickly and mercilessly killed all of the Cell Juniors, with one kick each, and toppled Cell with a one-two punch combination. Cell, utterly infuriated that a boy could defeat him with such ease, set himself to self-destruct, along with the Earth. Goku acted quickly, using instantaneous movement to teleport both himself and Cell to Kaio's planet, destroying both them and Kaio.

The warriors gathered, still shocked about Goku's demise, but happy the fight was over. Suddenly, a thin streak of light came from the heavens, piercing Trunks through the heart and killing him almost instantly. Cell was back, and stronger than ever. His regeneration had helped him once again. The loss of his son caused Vegeta to burst out of control, resulting in an all out offensive on Cell. The attack was insufficient, and Cell soon had the opportunity to shoot a blast that would've easily done him in, had not Gohan stepped in front of it. Although it didn't kill Gohan, one of his arms was badly damaged, and rendered useless. Cell, now having the chance, shot a Kamehameha, while Gohan countered with his own one-handed version. Through the helping words of his father from the afterlife, Gohan was able to find the spirit within to overcome Cell's blast, and completely disintegrate him.

Flash forward seven years, Gohan is now in his teens, and in high school. He's trying to keep a low profile now, since the whole Super Saiya-jin thing would cause quite a few problems in the daily world. It's tough though, since there are plenty of bad things going on in the world, and there's no real hero to protect it. So, because of this, he decides to become a superhero the Great Saiyaman. He has Bulma to make him a costume, so the whole low profile thing is in reach. It doesn't take too long though, until the daughter of Mr. Satan, Videl realizes that Gohan is the Great Saiyaman. But she keeps his secret, since Gohan agrees to teach her how to fly.

Let's move on... (this saga is too friggin' long to get everything in there.)

Anyway, when the main villain, Buu, shows up, Gohan doesn't stand much of a chance against him until the Kaioshin Rou powers him up and makes him 'mystic'. This brings out all of Gohan's potential power, but doesn't allow him to go Super Saiya-jin, supposedly because all of that power would destroy the planet. He is then able to beat the living crap out of Buu... that is until he absorbs Piccolo and Gotenks. He then reverses the match, beating up Gohan, and absorbing him. So much for him until Goku saves the day once again.