I find it very hard to believe that Vegeta's power level rose to 530,000 right after being beaten to near death by Recoome and then eating a senzu bean. If this was true, Vegeta would have been able to effortlessly kill Krillin, Gohan, all of the Ginyu Force and Goku with one blast. It's hard to imagine Vegeta being amazed at the under-90,000 power level Goku was showing off when fighting Recoome, Jeice and Burter if he was over 5 times stronger than that. Of course, even if we do assume that it was closer to 75,000 (based on the fact that he easily killed Jeice, who was somewhere in the 60,000 range), it still leaves the question of how it magically jumped to 530,000 when fighting First Form Frieza. The only possible explanation I could come to was that this particular Zenkai took a long time to happen, perhaps accelerated by Vegeta resting. Talk about a power nap. 75.162.212.156 01:58, September 18, 2012 (UTC)
We appreciate your judgements and reasoning but we have to go by the facts. -- 10X.Ka.me.ha.me.ha.....talk.....contrib. 02:04, September 18, 2012 (UTC)
If I recall correctly, Vegeta did say that self-inflicted harm wouldn't cause a zenkai; Yatanograsu's right in my opinion. Buuuuuuuuuuuuuu!! 03:28, January 4, 2013 (UTC)
In my version (Viz) of the manga it says "Around and around he goes...working his body and chi almost to death and then refreshing himself by eating the senzu...as the seven beans given to him by Master Karin are already down to three. Whether he realizes it or not, Goku is living and reliving one of the primal cycles of the Saiyans...gaining strength by facing and overcoming death!"
Later, Vegeta says "Beat me to within an inch of my life!!! It won't work if I try to kill myself!!! You have to do it!!!"
Basically, the distinction between Vegeta's situation and Goku's is that Goku was training. The self-harm that he inflicted upon himself was a part of his training, for stamina/endurance/durability/toughness, which is different from Vegeta just blasting himself out of nowhere to be able to heal and be stronger.
To put it another way, Vegeta's method of having Krillin blast was taking direct advantage of the Zenkai ability, by having Krillin nearly kill him, and then being healed by Dende.
Goku was just doing regular training, which anyone, including non-Saiyans can improve from (like how Shaolin monks kicked trees to strengthen their shins). Where the Zenkai ability comes in for Goku is that Goku did that type of training so much that he nearly died. It wasn't the Kamehamehas themselves that nearly killed him, it was his training in general,
Vegeta wouldn't have been able to beat himself enough to near death in the short time they had before Frieza completed his transformation. That's why he asked Krillin, not because self harming himslef to near death wouldn't have activated the Zenkai. JeangabinTalkContrib 18:47, January 4, 2013 (UTC)
Vegeta could have blasted himself just as Krillin did, though. Shakuran13ThisendsNOW! 18:53, January 4, 2013 (UTC)
Speculation: maybe Vegeta's body's defensive instincts activate when others harm him, like a body naturally fatigued by training is aware of that fatigue, but if he harmed himself then his natural defenses would be down and would not kick in. -- 10X.Ka.me.ha.me.ha.....talk.....contrib. 22:26, January 4, 2013 (UTC)
It's very possible, but in the end it comes to the same thing that I pointed out earlier, right? Shakuran13ThisendsNOW! 23:05, January 4, 2013 (UTC)
In my opinion it's unclear. -- 10X.Ka.me.ha.me.ha.....talk.....contrib. 23:26, January 4, 2013 (UTC)
Then I guess we should just not say anything at all about this particular topic on the article. Shakuran13ThisendsNOW! 23:45, January 4, 2013 (UTC)