Tankōbon Title Page
Kanzenban Title Page
Full Color Title Page

Chapter Information

Chapter Synopsis

Oolong is annoyed with having to search through all the rubble for the Dragon Ball, but Bulma’s not worried because they have the Dragon Radar. Gyūmaō is happy about the fire being out, but Kame-Sen’nin feels bad about blowing up his castle. Yamcha can’t believe how powerful Muten Rōshi is. Goku asks Kame-Sen’nin if he can teach him to do that. Kame-Sen’nin says it took him fifty years of training to master the Kamehameha. Goku tries counting that on his fingers, and while Kame-Sen’nin talks to Gyūmaō and Chi-Chi, Goku manages to perform a small Kamehameha, blowing up their car. However, he’s disappointed that it’s not as great as the one Kame-Sen’nin did.

Gyūmaō is amazed, but would expect this from Gohan-san‘s grandson. Now Kame-Sen’nin understands, and recalls that he’d heard Gohan had found and raised a child with a tail. He goes to ask Goku about Gohan, and Goku says he’s dead. Kame-Sen’nin then offers to train Goku, and Goku happily accepts; he’ll go as soon as he’s done finding all the Dragon Balls. Yamcha is amazed, since it’s so rare to be taken in as one of Muten Rōshi’s student.

After sifting through some rocks, Bulma finally finds the Seven-Star Ball. She’s happy until she notices that Goku has blown up their car. Gyūmaō says not to worry, though, and gives them a capsule with a new car. Bulma checks the Dragon Radar, and the last Dragon Ball is to the west. They prepare to leave, until Kame-Sen’nin asks her if she’s forgotten something. Bulma then pulls Oolong aside, and says to turn into her and take her place, otherwise… Oolong reluctantly agrees, and after getting it very wrong, he goes over to Kame-Sen’nin. He starts flirting with him, and the real Bulma starts to get pissed. Oolong keeps teasing him about pafu-pafu, finally drops the top, and Kame-Sen’nin’s nose explodes. Bulma yells at Oolong and hits him on the head after the deal is done.

Goku, meanwhile, is sitting in the backseat of the car. Chi-Chi begins saying that when she’s older, she wants him to come back so she can give him herself as his wife. Goku doesn’t understand, but if she’ll give him something, he’ll come back for it. Bulma and Oolong finally get in the car and they all say thanks and goodbye. This car is much faster than the FIAT 695 and as Yamcha and Pu’er continue to follow, Yamcha tells Pu’er to get the Silver Star Model 4 out so they can keep up.

Chapter Notes

Story

• While Kame-Sen’nin learns in this chapter that Goku was raised by his former disciple, Son Gohan, at no point does he seem to recognize Goku’s Nyoi-Bō as belonging either to Gohan, or to… well… himself, as it is later established in Chapter 162 that Karin lent it to the Turtle Sage, who only afterward passed it on to Gohan. While his personal ownership of the staff was not yet a feature of the plot at this point in the series, however, it was already established in Chapter 8 that it also previously belonged to Gohan, a fact which he should have known. He does not have the same excuse as in Chapter 4, where that fact had not yet been established. It’s tough to call it an outright error, but the omission is pretty glaring.
• Kame-Sen’nin offers to train Goku personally once the boy’s hunt for the Dragon Balls is over. While providing a suggestion for the direction in which the series will head after the conclusion of the first story arc, it is not yet clear whether Toriyama actually had this in mind at the time, or whether it merely provided a convenient hook to latch on to in order to keep going.
• Goku inadvertently promises to return to take Chi-Chi as his wife in this chapter, although he would not fully comprehend what this meant until Chapter 171.

Errata

• On the first panel of page 14, Yamcha is once again depicted with a full set of teeth, despite having a tooth knocked out by Goku back in Chapter 10.

Author’s Comment

• Each issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump featured short comments from the various series’ authors, giving fans a brief insight into their current thoughts, ranging from series-related announcements to trivial happenings in their personal lives. Akira Toriyama’s comments from this issue were:
  見たい映画がたくさんある。はたして全部見られるのか！とても不安である…<明>

  ---

  There are tons of movies I want to see. Can I possibly see them all?! It really bugs me… <Akira>

  Toriyama used to love going out to the movies, and even after he stopped due to the birth of his son and the popularity of Dragon Ball spiraling out of control, he still watched them on video at home. His particular favorites included the Star Wars series, as well as action movies starring Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. Monster movies, Westerns, and Dirty Harry have also been reflected quite a bit in his early work especially

Page Breakdown

The majority of the Dragon Ball series was drawn in black and white, but chapters were occasionally published with color pages. This breakdown notes how many full-color, limited-color, and black-and-white pages appeared in this chapter. As the tankōbon volumes were not released with these colors intact, any color pages shown are taken from the kanzenban release.