Good try! but I doubt it. For one, I can't think of any other time we've seen the heat property of ki. Usually when a blast hits water, it makes a splash but no steam. Moreover, that's just the animation cop out for killing a being with regeneration. Same thing happened with the Cell Jrs. I guess for whatever reason they didn't want a Cell type death scene, but they still needed to show him being destroyed completely. So have him turn to smoke. That's all
Matthew Prouty The force of Gohan's blow combined with the potency of his energy literally disintegrated the Cell Juniors. In any case, we have plenty of examples of heat generated by Ki energy in the form of heat waves and scorching winds. Goku even blows on his hand once after blocking an energy attack by Frieza.
Good point about Goku blowing on his hand, though it still doesn't explain the lack of steam when it hits water. And I dont remember any noticable heat waves or scorching winds. Guess it's a little inconsistent. And well, you could say it was extreme force that causes disintegration, though I'm not sure about that. Regular physics and biology doesnt work like that, although this isnt necessarily the same as real physics and biology. Far as I remember, those are the only two instances of smoke death. But there have been a lot of extreme force deaths where they didn't turn to smoke. I don't know, I still think it's an animation trick. So that a being with regeneration can be killed by a melee attack, instead of a beam. But you're free to hold any headcanon you like
Matthew Prouty I think the disintegration came from the sheer amount of Ki that was infused into Gohan's strikes as a result of being a Super Saiyan 2. That, or he just intensified the local energy field around him and destroyed their remains so they couldn't regenerate. See, energy isn't just some localized source of power when dealing with living things. It's like radiation; it encompasses an area. That's why, when the Z-Fighters have sensed powerful opponents, they described their energy as "big." That's also why scouters explode when they detect large power levels; they become overloaded with the amount of energy entering their sensors. They literally can't keep the massive amounts of power permeating everything from entering the device and destroying the delicately calibrated machinery within. They're kind of like quantum computers in that respect, insofar that quantum computers cannot have any noise, light, heat, or vibration present because their calculations become rendered null at best. At worst, the computer is destroyed.
Bryan Merrill It's possible. They were definitely trying to show Gohans SSJ2 power, but I'm still skeptical about the smoke. Think it would look different. More akin to disintigration rather than smoke. And you're right about ki radiation. It would be easy to radiate ki at such an intensity to smash a large area with a fist. Such as Gohan punching a Cell Jr into smoke, instead of smashing a hole through him. Interesting thought about the scouters. I highly doubt Akira ever thought that much about it though, he probably was simply thinking "huge power make scouter go boom"
Bruce Leroy was the first pure-hearted person to ever to reach the Golden Glow Dragon Ball Z wasn't even out back then it came out in 1990 so the Japanese took that idea from the black people that's why I really don't watch Japanese stuff
