Can Master Roshi Fly?

When it comes to Ki, Master Roshi is a genius. He’s over 100 years old and dedicated most of his life to the ancient art of Ki, and has trained such prodigies, including Goku, Krillin and Yamcha. He even invented the Kamehameha, one of the most powerful Ki techniques ever to exist. So it seems very strange that we never see him use one of the most basic Ki techniques there is … flying? So what is the deal with flying and master Roshi, can master roshi fly?

Yes, Master Roshi can fly but chooses not to because it’s a Ki technique associated with his long term rival Master Shen of the Crane school. But Master Roshi is able to get around by using Flying Nimbus or Baby Gamera.

Flying is really easy in the Dragon Ball Universe.

Even though to us mortals living in the real world, flying is the stuff of comic books, in Dragon Ball, it’s really not a big deal.

We see children like Trunks and Goten fly when they are just 4 or 5 years old. Pan is seen to be flying before she can even walk!

And Videl managed to learn flying after a small amount of training with Gohan, and she started off knowing absolutely nothing about Ki. So it’s safe to say flying is one of the easiest Ki.

So can Master Roshi physically fly?

Yes, of course, Master Roshi can fly if he wanted to. The dude has forgotten more about Ki than almost everyone in the universe.

So it’d be a major inconsistency if Master Roshi, the Ki genius, can’t fly, but a regular human like Videl can in just a few training sessions.

I think if Master Roshi were to sneeze, he’d probably find himself flying a little bit.

So contrary to what others might say on the internet, we are 99.99% certain Master Roshi can fly if he wanted to… he just doesn’t want to. All because of his rival Master Shen…

The real reason Master Roshi doesn’t fly is because of Master Shen.

Squabbles and petty rivalries are normally the things of children, so we respect Master Roshi and Master Shen for maintaining their petty rivalry for all these years.

They both set up competing gyms, the Turtle School and Crane School, respectively, each with a different style.

The Turtle school focused on ground fighting, while Crane school focused on flying. Master Shen is seen as a master of flying, and so Master Roshi doesn’t want anything to do with the specialised technique of his sworn enemy.

Master Roshi doesn’t even teach Goku or Krillin how to fly. They need to learn it independently, off-screen, without him.

Master Roshi can fly around on Baby Gamera.

You’d think that someone who lives on an island would benefit from the ability to fly, but as stubborn as Master Roshi is, he still finds other ways to get around in the air.

The first is through his turtle pal named Baby Gamera, who has the ability to fly by spinning really fast.

Master Roshi first uses this to travel from his Island to extinguish the fire on the appropriately named ‘Fire Mountain‘ in early Dragon Ball episodes. So Master Roshi doesn’t really need to fly using Ki as he has his pal Baby Gamera.

Master Roshi used to use Flying Nimbus.

Flying Nimbus was a magical cloud owned by Master Roshi that could zip through the air at lightning-fast speeds. We never see Master Roshi use it as he gave it to Goku, who then passed it on to Gohan, for helping him reunite with Turtle.

And it’s even speculated that Master Roshi can’t use Flying Nimbus anymore because he’s not pure enough of spirit, which is a requirement to even touch Nimbus.

But at some stage, he’d have been able to use Flying Nimbus to fly around the planet, meaning he’d have even less reason to learn how to fly.

Can Master Roshi Fly – Final Thoughts

Fair play to Master Roshi for sticking to his guns on the flying issue. Most humans would literally jump at the chance to fly, so it’s slightly odd the Turtle Hermit has turned his nose at it for so long.

But really, he is a hermit and so doesn’t have much need to leave his Island anyway. He also has other ways of flying around with Flying Nimbus and Baby Gamera.

AND let’s not forget that Capsule Corp has invented flying cars, so Master Roshi has plenty of cheats to avoid flying himself.