Tankōbon Title Page
Kanzenban Title Page
Full Color Title Page

Chapter Information

Chapter Synopsis

Vegeta tells the boys to take refuge somewhere, he’s going to fight Majin Boo alone. Trunks insists it would be better to fight together, but Vegeta says Boo can’t be fought using normal methods. Trunks and Goten say they’re both really strong. Vegeta tells Trunks that he’s never hugged him since he was a baby, and wants to now. Trunks is reluctant, but Vegeta hugs him anyway. Vegeta smiles, and tells Trunks to be well. Then he pops Trunks on the back of the neck, knocking him out. Goten freaks out, but then Vegeta punches him in the gut, to knock him out as well. Piccolo flies over to them, as Boo gets up and starts humming, wondering who it was that hit him.

Vegeta asks Piccolo to take the boys somewhere far away. Piccolo picks them up, and then realizes that Vegeta plans to die. Vegeta says nothing, and then asks Piccolo to tell him one thing: will he be able to see Kakarrot once he’s dead? Piccolo says no. “You’ve killed too many innocent people… If you die, your physical body will be gone. Your soul will also be sent to a different world than Goku. There, your soul will be cleaned, and your memories will be gone. You’ll be turned into a new life form.” Vegeta thinks that’s too bad, and tells Piccolo to hurry and go. Piccolo flies off with the boys and Boo prepares to stop him, but Vegeta halts Boo. He says he’s going to defeat Boo himself, calling him a balloon bastard.

Piccolo flies past Kuririn, and tells him to come along quickly. Vegeta says he finally knows how to defeat Boo. Boo is surprised, as Vegeta begins powering up. Kuririn asks Piccolo what Vegeta is up to, so Piccolo explains that Vegeta has resolved to fight for someone other than himself for the first time, throwing away his own life in the process. Vegeta continues charging up, and he says he’s going to blow Boo up into so many pieces that he won’t be able to fix himself again. He smiles and thinks, “Farewell… Bulma… Trunks… and even… Kakarrot…” Vegeta then self-destructs, creating a huge explosion bigger than the one Boo had made earlier. Piccolo and Kuririn, having flown quite a ways, feel the shockwave of the explosion.

Chapter Notes

Title Page

• The title page of this chapter features close-up of a grinning Vegeta in the sort of armor he wore during the Saiyan arc and the early part of the Freeza arc. In Weekly Shōnen Jump and Tankōbon Volume 39, this was accompanied by a 5/7/5/7/7 waka verse:

  露と落ち　露と消えにし　我が身かな　この世のことも　夢のまた夢
  Tsuyu to ochi / Tsuyu to kienishi / Wa ga mi kana / Kono yo no koto mo / Yume no mata yume

  ---

  As dew appears / As dew vanishes / Such is my life / Everything in this world / Is but a dream within another dream

  This is a riff on the famous death-poem (辞世 jisei) of Toyotomi Hideyoshi (c.1537 – 1598), the great warlord who helped unify Japan, setting the stage for the Tokugawa Shogunate that followed. Hideyoshi’s own poem is almost exactly the same, except that it references his stronghold of Osaka (referred to by its ancient name, “Naniwa”), rather than “this world”:

  つゆとをち　つゆときへにし　わがみかな　なにわの事も　ゆめの又ゆめ
  Tsuyu to ochi / Tsuyu to kienishi / Wa ga mi kana / Naniwa no koto mo / Yume no mata yume

  ---

  As dew appears / As dew vanishes / Such is my life / Everything in Naniwa / Is but a dream within another dream

  In its original context, the poem is said to reflect on the inevitable fleetingness of Hideyoshi’s achievements: his heir, Hideyori, was barely five years old at Hideyoshi’s death, and his lieutenants, charged with ruling in Hideyori’s name until he came of age, could scarcely be trusted not to seize power for themselves. Indeed, it was not long before one such general, Tokugawa Ieyasu, set himself against his former liege’s heir, and solidified his rule in 1600 with a decisive victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, becoming the first Tokugawa Shogun.

  In Vegeta’s case, the poem seems to reflect on the fact that his life, and even his sacrifice, might ultimately be for naught. (And indeed, even the poem itself seems ultimately to have been for naught, as it was removed from the Kanzenban release in 2004.)

Author’s Comment

• Each issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump features 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:
  今月の4日に発売になったコミックス37巻が好調だそうだ。売り切れる前に本屋さんへＧｏ！＜明＞

  ---

  Comics [i.e., tankōbon] Volume 37, which went on sale on the 4th of this month, is apparently doing well. Get to the book store before they sell out! <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.