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Chapter Information

Chapter Synopsis

Goku and Kuririn are excited, and run through the crowd to find everyone. Bulma says she was going to visit Goku, but there was nothing on Kame-Sen’nin’s island. Kame-Sen’nin wants a pafu pafu, for old time’s sake, and Bulma hits him over the head with a mallet. Goku says he met up with Yamcha already, and introduces Kuririn everyone to Kuririn. Goku says that Kuririn, Yamcha, and he all passed. The PA system calls the finalists into the Martial Arts Temple Main Building. With that, Goku and Kuririn leave, and Oolong wonders where Kame-Sen’nin went.

As they wait inside, a huge fat guy shows up. Goku freaks out, because he smells so horrible, and Yamcha says this guy hasn’t taken a bath since birth. Kuririn says his filth should count as a weapon, and Goku says it’s worse for him because he has a nose like a dog. The tournament announcer shows up with a clipboard, and calls everyone over. He points to a chart on the wall, and says they’ll be having a lottery to determine opponents and match order, so come up when your name is called.

Namu is the first called up; a tall, middle eastern-looking man, and he gets #6, putting him in the third match. Next is Monster Giran, a dinosaur-like guy, who draws #8, putting him in the fourth match. Next is Bacterian, the stinky guy, who draws #2, in the first match. Next is Yamcha, and he gets #3, in the second match. Kuririn goes next, and he gets #1, putting him in the first match against Bacterian, causing Kuririn to freak out. Next is Mago Gosora, but nobody comes up. Yamcha looks over the chart, and says that’s read as “Son Goku”. (Mago is an alternate reading for Son, and sora is an alternate reading for ku.) Embarrassed, he asks for Son Goku to come forward, and Goku gets #7, putting him in the fourth match against Giran. Next is Ran-Fan, the cute girl, then Jackie Chun-san, the old man. (Their drawings aren’t shown, but they get #5 and #4, respectively.)

He then begins to explain the tournament rules. “The matches are limitless, single win-or-lose contests. Falling from the fighting stage, or rather, the ring, or saying you give up is a loss. However, hitting in the eyes or attacking the sensitive area is foul play.” Goku doesn’t know what “sensitive area” means, so the announcer tells him he means in the balls. Ran-Fan says she doesn’t have those, and the announcer falls over. He tells them to wait here until the matches begin, and Goku says he wants some lunch. The announcer asks if he would rather eat afterwards, but Goku insists on eating now. Goku asks Kuririn if he wants to eat, too, but he’s not in the mood for food, so Goku chows down by himself.

The announcer gets in the ring with a microphone and announces the beginning of the Twenty-First Tenka’ichi Budōkai! The first match: Bacterian versus Kuririn. The second match: Jackie Chun versus Yamcha. The third match: Namu versus Ran-Fan. The fourth match: Goku versus Giran.

Chapter Notes

Errata

• The chart showing the matchups on pages 13 and 14 has the names of the characters placed out of order vis-à-vis the numbers they drew: Kuririn, who drew number 1, should be first, followed by Bacterian, Yamcha, Jackie Chun, Ran-Fan, and Namu. Only the names of Son Goku and Giran are in the right spots. (This may have been done to match the names’ placement with the surrounding images and text on the two-page spread, but it is still incorrect.)

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:
  生まれつき雷が大嫌い！鳴りだすと、思わずメガネをはずし仕事になりません<明>

  ---

  I’m naturally afraid of lightning! Whenever I hear it, I instinctively take off my glasses and can’t go on working. <Akira>

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.