Emperor Pilaf Saga
13 eps
13 canon 📷 13
Bulma's search for the seven Dragon Balls brings her to Mount Paozu, where she meets Goku, a strange and impossibly strong boy living alone with the Four-Star Ball his grandfather left him. Goku has never seen a girl, a car, or much of the outside world, but agrees to travel with her after learning what the Dragon Balls can do. Their journey barely starts before Goku has to rescue Bulma from a giant flying creature, establishing exactly what kind of traveling companion she has found.
Goku and Bulma spend their first night on the road while Emperor Pilaf, Mai, and Shu are introduced as another group hunting the Dragon Balls. Goku mistakes their aircraft for a bird, later helps Mai and Shu when wolves attack them, and returns without realizing they are competitors. The next morning he finds a lost sea turtle and insists on carrying it back to the ocean, pulling Bulma into another detour.
Goku carries the lost turtle to the sea and is rewarded when it returns with its master, the elderly martial artist Master Roshi. Roshi gives Goku the Flying Nimbus, a cloud only the pure-hearted can ride, while Bulma convinces him to hand over the Dragon Ball hanging around his neck. Pilaf arrives too late and leaves empty-handed, while Goku and Bulma continue their search with another ball and a new ally behind them.
The Dragon Radar leads Goku and Bulma to a village terrorized by Oolong, a shapeshifter who has been taking local girls away. Goku disguises himself as Oolong's next target, exposes the limits of his transformations, and chases him down when the trick falls apart. The rescued villagers hand over their Dragon Ball, and Bulma forces Oolong to join the trip because his shapeshifting may still be useful.
Crossing the desert with Oolong, Goku and Bulma are ambushed by Yamcha and Puar, bandits who make a living robbing travelers. Yamcha's Wolf Fang Fist gives Goku one of his first real fights away from home, but Yamcha's confidence collapses the moment he notices Bulma. Unable to deal with girls at close range, he retreats and begins following the group instead of attacking them head-on.
Oolong produces a capsule camper for the night, then secretly drugs Goku and Bulma so he can escape while they sleep. Yamcha and Puar listen from outside and learn about the Dragon Balls, giving Yamcha a new plan: let the others gather all seven, then steal them and wish away his fear of women. His attempt to search the camper goes badly when he discovers Bulma before he discovers the balls, but from this point on he shadows the group for a reason.
The next Dragon Ball lies inside the burning castle on Fire Mountain, where Goku meets the Ox-King and his daughter Chi-Chi. The Ox-King promises Goku the ball if he can find Chi-Chi and bring back Master Roshi's Bansho Fan to extinguish the flames. Goku quickly finds Chi-Chi, learns that grabbing his tail can leave him helpless, and carries her away on Nimbus toward Roshi's island.
Master Roshi admits he no longer has the Bansho Fan, so he goes to Fire Mountain himself and demonstrates the Kamehameha, a technique he spent decades developing. The blast puts out the fire by destroying the mountain along with the castle, leaving Bulma to dig the Dragon Ball out of the rubble. Goku then copies the Kamehameha almost immediately, producing a much smaller blast but stunning Roshi with how quickly he understood it.
The group reaches a town controlled by the Rabbit Mob, whose leader Monster Carrot can turn anyone he touches into a carrot. Bulma is transformed, forcing Goku and Yamcha to cooperate while Puar helps keep the mob from using her as leverage. Once Monster Carrot is beaten, Goku sends him and his men to the moon with the Power Pole and the journey resumes.
Mai and Shu ambush the group on the road and escape with Bulma's capsule case, taking six Dragon Balls and their transportation with them. Goku still has the Four-Star Ball, so Pilaf cannot summon Shenron yet, leaving Yamcha to reluctantly give everyone a ride to the castle. The group goes inside looking for the stolen balls and walks straight into one of Pilaf's traps, ending the episode sealed inside.
Pilaf pumps sleeping gas into the chamber, knocking the group unconscious long enough for Mai to steal Goku's Four-Star Ball and complete the set. After waking, Goku and the others survive more of Pilaf's traps while Goku blasts a small opening through the wall with the Kamehameha. Oolong and Puar squeeze through to try to stop the wish, but Pilaf has already summoned Shenron by the end of the episode.
With Shenron waiting for a wish, Pilaf hesitates just long enough for Oolong to beat him to it with a ridiculous request for a pair of panties. The wish is granted, the Dragon Balls scatter, and an enraged Pilaf locks the group inside a chamber that will roast them alive at sunrise. That night Goku looks at the full moon and begins transforming into the giant ape connected to the death of Grandpa Gohan.
Great Ape Goku tears through Pilaf's castle while his friends scramble to survive the rampage. Yamcha recognizes that Goku's tail is the key, and Puar transforms into scissors to cut it off, returning Goku to normal. With the Dragon Balls scattered for a year, Bulma and Yamcha head toward the city together while Goku decides to go train under Master Roshi.
21st Tenkaichi Budokai Saga
15 eps
15 canon 📷 15
Goku returns home long enough to collect his belongings, then flies to Kame House expecting Master Roshi to begin his martial arts training. Roshi instead demands that Goku first find him a pretty girl, and several failed attempts later another would-be student arrives: Krillin, a clever young monk carrying a gift meant to win Roshi over. Goku and Krillin become rivals almost immediately, competing for the same teacher before they have learned a single lesson.
Roshi sends Goku and Krillin out together to find a woman willing to live at Kame House. They come across Launch while two men are chasing her and bring her back without realizing she is a wanted criminal whose personality changes whenever she sneezes. Sweet, blue-haired Launch is exactly what Roshi thinks he asked for; blonde Launch's machine gun quickly proves there is more to the arrangement.
Roshi moves the group to a larger island and begins by testing Goku and Krillin's natural speed. He then throws a marked stone into the forest and promises dinner only to the student who brings it back. Krillin cheats, Goku catches him, and the contest turns into their first real fight as students, showing Roshi that both boys have plenty to learn beyond raw strength.
Turtle School training begins before sunrise with a milk route that stretches across miles of countryside and up a steep mountain. Halfway through the exhausting delivery, Roshi tells Goku and Krillin that they will enter the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament in eight months. The promise gives them something concrete to train toward, right before Roshi reveals that the milk run is only the first part of their daily routine.
Roshi's routine fills the day with farm work, construction labor, swimming from sharks, and dodging angry bees rather than practicing punches or secret techniques. Goku becomes impatient, but Roshi insists that martial arts begins by building a body capable of expressing its strength. The final twist is another weight increase: the boys will repeat the entire routine every day while wearing heavy turtle shells.
After months of training, Goku and Krillin expect Roshi to finally teach them fighting techniques. He explains that the training itself was the lesson, then increases their shell weight again until it is time to leave for the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament. At Papaya Island, the boys reunite with Bulma, Yamcha, Oolong, and Puar before Roshi gives his students Turtle School uniforms and sends them toward the tournament floor.
The preliminary rounds reveal what months of Turtle School training have done. Goku casually removes enormous opponents from the ring, Krillin destroys a bully from his old temple, and Yamcha advances through his own bracket. By the end of the eliminations all three have qualified for the eight-man tournament, and Goku and Krillin finally understand how far ahead of ordinary fighters Roshi's training has placed them.
The quarterfinals begin with Krillin facing Bacterian, a fighter who weaponizes years of refusing to bathe. Krillin is overwhelmed by the smell until Goku shouts the detail everyone has somehow forgotten: Krillin does not have a nose. Freed from the psychological trick, Krillin turns the match around and advances to the semifinals.
Yamcha draws the mysterious Jackie Chun in the second quarterfinal and quickly discovers that the old man is far beyond him. Jackie avoids the Wolf Fang Fist and knocks Yamcha out without needing an extended fight, which only makes Yamcha more suspicious of who he really is. The following Nam-versus-Ranfan match gives Yamcha the clue he needs when Jackie's reactions sound very familiar: Master Roshi may have entered his own tournament in disguise.
Rain delays Goku's quarterfinal against Giran, giving everyone time to learn that the winged fighter has a reputation for dirty tricks. Once the match begins, Giran traps Goku in his hardened Guru-Guru Gum and nearly wins by throwing him from the ring. Goku's tail suddenly grows back, restoring enough strength for him to break free, and Giran forfeits after realizing his opponent has become even harder to contain.
Krillin faces Jackie Chun in the first semifinal and proves clever enough to make the veteran work for the win. Their exchanges become so fast that the announcer asks them to reenact one sequence in slow motion, and Krillin even tricks Jackie toward a ring-out before a Kamehameha saves him. Jackie eventually uses the Afterimage Technique to create the opening he needs and knocks Krillin unconscious, advancing to the final.
Goku's semifinal opponent Nam is fighting for prize money to bring water back to his drought-stricken village. Nam's aerial attack nearly leaves Goku unconscious, but Goku gets back up, meets him in the air, and knocks him from the ring to advance. After the match, Jackie Chun quietly gives Nam a capsule that can carry enough water home and convinces him to help preserve the secret of Jackie's true identity.
The final between Goku and Jackie Chun immediately becomes a contest between two fighters trained in the same tradition. Goku saves himself from an early ring-out by spinning his tail like a propeller, matches Jackie's Kamehameha, and counters the Double Afterimage with an even more elaborate version of his own. When conventional rhythm stops working, Jackie switches to drunken boxing and Goku answers with an improvised monkey style, pushing the final into a battle of adaptation rather than one secret technique.
Jackie Chun tries everything he has left to end the final, including hypnosis and the punishing Thunder Shock Surprise. Goku escapes the hypnotic count when Bulma shouts that dinner is ready, but the electrical attack finally brings him close to surrender. Then he sees the full moon and transforms into a Great Ape, forcing Jackie to abandon the match itself and fire a maximum-power Kamehameha at the sky.
Jackie Chun reveals that his Kamehameha destroyed the moon rather than Goku, returning the boy to normal so the tournament can continue. Both fighters are too exhausted for another energy blast, and the final becomes a stubborn exchange of basic strikes until they knock each other down with simultaneous kicks. Goku manages to stand first but collapses before he can declare victory; Jackie rises a moment later and wins, giving Roshi exactly the lesson he wanted Goku and Krillin to learn: there is always someone stronger.
Red Ribbon Army Saga
17 eps
13 canon 1 mixed 3 filler 📷 17
With the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament over, Goku sets out alone to search for Grandpa Gohan's Four-Star Ball while Krillin remains with Master Roshi. He soon crosses paths with Nam, whose village is suffering after its river mysteriously dries up. Goku helps him trace the problem to a dam, destroys it with a Kamehameha, and then realizes the legendary Roaming Lake itself has arrived to replenish the village.
Goku's Dragon Ball search is interrupted when a thief steals his clothes and Dragon Radar while he swims. Tracking the stolen radar to an antique shop brings him face to face with Pilaf and Mai, who believe they have bought the Four-Star Ball and flee with Goku in pursuit. The Red Ribbon Army arrives looking for the same prize, but both sides are chasing the wrong ball while the real Six-Star Ball is carried away by a bird.
Pilaf discovers that the Dragon Ball he bought is fake while the real Six-Star Ball passes from one bird to another and finally ends up at the Ox-King's village. Chi-Chi believes Goku is returning for the marriage he once accidentally promised, giving Shu the chance to impersonate him and get close to the ball. The Red Ribbon Army attacks at the same time, Pilaf escapes with the Six-Star Ball, and the real Goku arrives just as the village is thrown into chaos.
Goku and Chi-Chi return in time to help the Ox-King, but Pilaf has already fled with the Six-Star Ball. Pilaf hides his flying fortress beneath the desert while Colonel Silver's forces and Goku both follow their radars to the same location. Once the base is exposed, Pilaf tries to escape by air, only for the Red Ribbon Army to destroy the fortress and force him to surrender the ball.
After escaping the destruction of Pilaf's fortress on Nimbus, Goku follows the Dragon Radar toward another signal while Master Roshi explains the legend of the Dragon Balls back at Kame House. The Red Ribbon Army is burning through a forest in search of the Five-Star Ball, which a monkey suddenly carries away. Colonel Silver shoots at the animal, and the ball falls into a river before Goku can secure it.
Goku follows the Five-Star Ball downstream and finds it before Colonel Silver can. Silver destroys Nimbus and tries to stop him, but Goku defeats the colonel with ease and takes a Red Ribbon plane to continue the hunt. The trip ends badly when the aircraft freezes in the northern cold and crashes, leaving Goku frozen until a young girl named Suno finds him.
Suno brings the frozen Goku home and explains what the Red Ribbon Army has done to Jingle Village. General White has taken the village chief hostage in Muscle Tower and is forcing everyone else to search for a Dragon Ball. After driving off soldiers who enter Suno's house, Goku puts on warm clothes and heads straight for the tower to bring the chief back.
Goku fights his way into Muscle Tower and reaches the third floor, where Major Metallitron blocks the route upward. The enormous android keeps moving after Goku blows off his head and punches through his body, turning the fight into a test of how much punishment a machine can absorb. Metallitron finally stops for the least dramatic reason possible: his batteries run out.
The fourth floor of Muscle Tower hides an indoor forest and Ninja Murasaki, who tries to turn assassination into a series of tricks, races, and ambushes. Goku repeatedly exposes Murasaki's camouflage and gimmicks, then breaks the ninja's sword with the Power Pole when the fight becomes direct. Murasaki finally lands a boomerang strike that knocks Goku down and buys him another chance to survive.
Murasaki keeps running from Goku and unveils what he presents as a cloning technique, surrounding him with five identical ninjas. The trick turns out to be much simpler: Murasaki is one of five quintuplet brothers. Goku defeats them one by one, forcing the last Murasaki to release Muscle Tower's next weapon, Android 8.
Ninja Murasaki orders Android 8 to kill Goku, but the android refuses because he hates violence. When Murasaki threatens to detonate the bomb inside him, Goku destroys the remote and finishes the ninja instead. Grateful, Android 8 accepts the nickname Eighter and helps Goku through Muscle Tower's maze until General White drops both of them through a trapdoor.
Goku and Eighter land in the chamber of Buyon, a huge rubbery monster that shrugs off punches and even a Kamehameha. Goku cannot overpower it directly, so he changes the battlefield instead, breaking open the wall and letting the northern cold freeze Buyon solid. Once the creature is brittle, Goku smashes it and heads back toward General White.
Goku finally reaches General White and demands the village chief's release. White pretends to surrender, then uses the chief as leverage before shooting Goku when he refuses to make Eighter fight for him. Seeing Goku fall finally breaks Eighter's pacifist restraint long enough for one punch that launches White out of the tower, ending the occupation of Jingle Village.
With Muscle Tower defeated, Eighter reveals that he hid the Dragon Ball to keep General White from using it against the village. He still carries an internal bomb, so Goku, Suno, and Eighter visit Dr. Flappe in hopes of having it removed while the surviving Murasaki follows them. Murasaki forces Flappe to betray the group, but Goku stops him, the bomb is removed, and Eighter is finally free to remain in Jingle Village.
Goku heads to West City because the Dragon Radar was damaged during the Muscle Tower adventure and Bulma is the only person he trusts to repair it. Finding her in a city this large proves harder than fighting the Red Ribbon Army, especially when Goku has no money and almost no idea how urban life works. A police officer finally leads him to Capsule Corporation, where Goku discovers that Bulma's family lives at the center of the technology-filled city.
Bulma repairs the Dragon Radar after Goku finally finds her at Capsule Corporation, and learning that he already has two Dragon Balls is enough to pull her straight back into the hunt. Her Micro-Band lets her shrink small enough to travel with Goku, while Staff Officer Black hires the master thief Hasky to steal the Dragon Balls instead of trying to overpower him. Goku and Bulma reunite with Yamcha, Oolong, and Puar and head for Dream Land, with Hasky already preparing to make her move.
Hasky shadows Goku's friends through Dream Land and uses the crowded amusement park to separate them from the Dragon Balls. She finally steals the balls and reveals that she has planted a bomb capable of destroying the park, forcing Goku into a high-speed chase on Nimbus. Goku catches her, disarms the bomb, and recovers the balls, while Bulma's latest argument with Yamcha ends with her leaving to continue the hunt with Goku.
General Blue Saga
12 eps
12 canon 📷 12
The Dragon Radar leads Goku and Bulma to an island controlled by General Blue, with the next ball somewhere deep beneath the surrounding ocean. Goku can dive far, but not far enough to reach the signal, and Red Ribbon aircraft soon begin attacking Bulma on the shore. After Goku drives them off, the pair decide they need equipment capable of taking them much deeper and turn toward Kame House.
Goku and Bulma arrive at Kame House looking for a submarine, only to learn that Krillin and Launch currently have it. Roshi agrees to help once they return, and Krillin brings up an old pirate base rumored to contain treasure in the same underwater region as the Dragon Ball. After Goku, Bulma, and Krillin set out, a Red Ribbon scout discovers Kame House and reports its location to General Blue.
Krillin pilots the submarine toward the Dragon Radar's underwater signal while General Blue follows with his own forces. The ball is not sitting openly on the sea floor, and the search draws Goku, Bulma, and Krillin into a submerged cave system connected to an abandoned pirate base. Blue sends smaller submarines after them, turning the treasure hunt into a chase through increasingly narrow tunnels.
General Blue sends soldiers to Kame House after learning that Goku's friends are using it as their base. The attack looks dangerous only until Master Roshi and Launch fight back, tearing through the Red Ribbon squad before it can capture anyone. Far below the ocean, Goku, Bulma, and Krillin continue deeper into the pirate hideout without knowing what is happening above them.
The underwater hideout is protected by traps built to kill intruders long before they reach the treasure. Goku and Krillin can leap over the first dangers, but Bulma has to rely on them to cross safely, while the Red Ribbon soldiers following behind are not so lucky. General Blue survives and keeps pursuing them alone as the old pirate defenses eliminate his men.
A heavily armed pirate robot becomes the next obstacle inside the underwater base, forcing Goku and Krillin into a much harder fight than the earlier traps. Bulma uses the machinery around her to help while the robot shifts between gunfire, sword attacks, and underwater combat. Goku eventually destroys it, but the damaged base begins collapsing and the group is split apart while General Blue continues following them.
Goku falls into a chamber with a giant octopus while Bulma and Krillin reach the pirate treasure room, where another trap stands between them and the riches. General Blue finally reveals himself and attacks Krillin, using his strange ability to paralyze him when the fight turns against him. Goku escapes the octopus and arrives just before Blue can kill Krillin.
Goku takes over the fight with General Blue as the pirate base continues collapsing around them. Blue's paralyzing power gives him the opening to nearly kill Goku, but a mouse frightens him at the critical moment and breaks his concentration. Goku defeats Blue, finds the Dragon Ball, and refuses to leave without rescuing the mouse that saved him.
Goku barely reaches Bulma and Krillin before the collapsing pirate base seals them inside. Their escape submarine is damaged and runs out of power before reaching the surface, so Goku uses a Kamehameha to force it upward through the last stretch of ocean. Bulma manages to save a diamond from the treasure room, but General Blue survives as well and quietly follows them back toward Kame House.
General Blue reaches Kame House, restrains everyone with his psychic power, steals the Dragon Balls, and leaves a bomb behind to finish the job. Launch arrives in time to free Goku, who throws the bomb away and races after Blue on Nimbus. Their chase carries both of them into the bizarre Penguin Village, where Blue crashes and Goku meets a girl named Arale.
Goku meets Arale Norimaki and the equally strange residents of Penguin Village while trying to find General Blue and recover the Dragon Radar. Arale and the Gatchans can ride Nimbus, which tells Goku immediately that they are not ordinary troublemakers. Blue steals transportation and tries to stay hidden while Goku's damaged radar eventually leads him to Senbei Norimaki for repairs.
Senbei struggles to repair the Dragon Radar until Turbo helps solve the problem, giving Goku a way to locate Blue again. General Blue makes one last attempt to escape, paralyzing Goku and stealing the radar while threatening Arale. That turns out to be a terrible choice: Arale chases Blue out of Penguin Village and sends him flying, ending Goku's pursuit while Blue limps back toward Red Ribbon headquarters.
Commander Red Saga
11 eps
11 canon 📷 11
In the Sacred Land of Korin, Captain Yellow's unit retrieves a Dragon Ball from a volcanic crater only to lose it to Bora, the warrior who protects the land with his son Upa. Yellow kidnaps Upa to force Bora's hand, but Goku arrives in time to rescue the boy and discovers that Bora is holding Grandpa Gohan's Four-Star Ball. Back at Red Ribbon headquarters, General Blue returns in disgrace as Commander Red calls in Mercenary Tao.
General Blue returns with the Dragon Radar, but Commander Red considers his failures unforgivable and gives him one chance to survive: defeat Mercenary Tao. Tao kills Blue effortlessly, accepts the job of eliminating Goku, and travels to Korin Land by throwing a stone pillar and riding it through the sky. Bora stands against him when he arrives, but Tao kills him in front of Upa and leaves Goku furious.
Goku attacks Tao immediately after Bora's death and discovers an opponent far beyond everyone the Red Ribbon Army has sent before. The Kamehameha barely damages Tao, while the Dodon Ray drops Goku and appears to kill him. Tao collects the Dragon Balls he can find and leaves, only for Upa to discover that the Four-Star Ball in Goku's shirt absorbed the fatal blast and saved his life.
Determined to become strong enough to defeat Tao and revive Bora, Goku begins the enormous climb up Korin Tower. At the summit he meets Korin, who refuses to simply hand over the Sacred Water and instead challenges Goku to take it from him. Goku quickly learns that reaching the top was only the first part of the training, especially after hearing that Master Roshi once needed three years to succeed.
Goku spends days trying to steal the Sacred Water from Korin, using speed, tricks, and even the Afterimage Technique without getting the bottle. Korin gives him a Senzu Bean and repeatedly forces him to move faster, think ahead, and read his opponent rather than rely on strength alone. When Goku finally takes the water, he learns the truth: it was ordinary water, and the real improvement came from the training required to catch Korin.
Tao returns to Korin Land expecting to finish the job, but the Goku waiting for him is faster, calmer, and strong enough to shrug off attacks that nearly killed him before. Even the Dodon Ray now does little more than burn Goku's hands, and Tao's sword is broken when Upa returns the Power Pole. Realizing he cannot win as he is, Tao decides to climb Korin Tower and seek the same Sacred Water.
Tao reaches the top of Korin Tower and greedily drinks the Sacred Water, never realizing that Korin is simply letting him believe it has made him stronger. He returns to the ground convinced he has gained the advantage, but Goku has already learned how to read his movements. Tao's final fake surrender ends with him throwing a grenade; Goku kicks it back, and the explosion apparently kills the assassin while Goku turns his attention toward Red Ribbon headquarters.
Commander Red's forces secure another Dragon Ball while Goku heads directly toward the Red Ribbon Army's main base. Bulma realizes what he is doing after a reconnaissance device she sends toward the headquarters is destroyed, and Roshi, Launch, Yamcha, Oolong, and Puar rush to follow him. None of them yet understand that Goku is planning to attack the entire organization by himself.
Goku breaks through the Red Ribbon Army's outer defenses and keeps moving as soldiers, artillery, aircraft, and missiles are thrown at him. His friends race toward the base and pick up Krillin along the way, believing Goku will need an army of his own to survive. Inside headquarters, the soldiers begin fleeing while Goku reaches the command building and Commander Red retreats with Staff Officer Black.
The Red Ribbon Army collapses around Commander Red as Goku reaches the heart of the base and even Colonel Violet abandons the fight to steal from Red's vault. Black discovers that Red's secret wish was never world domination at all, but simply to become taller, and kills his commander in disgust. He tries to recruit Goku instead, but when Goku refuses, Black climbs into a powerful Battle Jacket and continues the fight.
Staff Officer Black throws everything the Battle Jacket has at Goku, but the Red Ribbon Army's last commander cannot stop him. Goku destroys the machine and Black with it, ending the organization that has chased him across the world and leaving him with six Dragon Balls. When his friends finally arrive, the battle is already over; the only problem left is that the seventh ball does not appear on Bulma's radar, so Goku turns toward a different way of finding it and promises Upa that Bora will be revived.
Fortuneteller Baba Saga
15 eps
10 canon 5 filler 📷 15
With the Red Ribbon Army gone, Goku still cannot locate the seventh Dragon Ball even after Bulma confirms the Dragon Radar is working. Master Roshi sends him to his older sister, Fortuneteller Baba, who can find anything for a price. Goku brings Upa, Yamcha, Krillin, and Puar to her palace, only to learn that Baba's fee is ten million zeni unless they can defeat five fighters of her choosing.
Baba's tournament begins with Krillin facing Fangs the Vampire, who drains enough blood from him to win quickly. Upa and Puar volunteer next and beat Fangs by exploiting his fear of crosses and garlic rather than matching him in a straight fight. Their victory counts for the team, but Baba immediately introduces a second opponent who cannot be seen at all.
Yamcha takes on See-Through the Invisible Man and quickly learns that hearing an opponent is not enough when Baba keeps interfering with noise. Goku rushes off to bring Bulma and Master Roshi, and Krillin devises a ridiculous solution once they arrive: Roshi's nosebleed covers the invisible fighter in blood. With the target finally visible, Yamcha lands a Wolf Fang Fist and wins the match.
Baba moves the next fight to the Devil's Toilet, a narrow bridge suspended over a deadly pool, where Yamcha faces Bandages the Mummy. The mummy is much faster and stronger than Yamcha expects, beating him down and eventually dropping him from the bridge when he refuses to surrender. Goku saves Yamcha with the Power Pole, but the rescue confirms the loss and leaves Goku to step forward against Baba's undead fighter.
Goku takes over against Bandages the Mummy and turns the match around almost immediately, breaking free of the mummy's wrappings and putting him down with a single decisive punch. Baba's next fighter is Spike the Devil Man, a former World Martial Arts Tournament champion whose ordinary attacks are not enough to stop Goku. With the fight slipping away, Spike prepares the Devilmite Beam, a technique designed to destroy the evil inside a person's heart.
Spike unleashes the Devilmite Beam, only to discover that Goku has no evil in his heart for the attack to magnify. Even a stronger second blast fails, and Goku eventually kicks Devil Man out of the fight. Baba's fifth and final fighter then asks to face Goku outside: a masked man with a halo whose familiar style immediately catches Master Roshi's attention as their match begins.
Baba's masked fifth fighter is the first opponent in her tournament who can genuinely keep pace with Goku. He survives Goku's offense, answers with a Kamehameha of his own, and then grabs Goku's tail, instantly exploiting the weakness that once left him helpless. As the masked man slams Goku around the arena, Master Roshi finally recognizes the fighting style and realizes the truth: the man behind the mask is Goku's late grandfather, Son Gohan.
Grandpa Gohan keeps Goku helpless by holding his tail, but the beating ends when the tail finally tears off and removes Goku's weakness entirely. Gohan immediately forfeits, removes the mask, and gives Goku the reunion he never expected to have. After hearing about the friends and adventures Goku has found since his death, Gohan returns to the afterlife and Fortuneteller Baba reveals the location of the final Dragon Ball.
The final Dragon Ball belongs to Emperor Pilaf, who has hidden it in a box designed to block the Dragon Radar. Goku catches Pilaf, Mai, and Shu before they can reach Baba's palace, and Pilaf challenges him using new powered battle suits. Their combined machine cannot compensate for the fact that Goku is far stronger than he was during their first encounter, and Pilaf is forced to surrender the ball.
With all seven Dragon Balls gathered again, Goku returns to the Sacred Land of Korin and summons Shenron in front of Upa. His wish restores Bora to life, fulfilling the promise that drove the entire search after Mercenary Tao killed him. With the Dragon Balls scattered once more, Goku decides not to return to Kame House and instead spends the next three years traveling the world on foot to train for the next tournament.
Goku's three-year training journey takes him to a village threatened by two brothers who use a magical gourd to trap anyone who answers when their name is called. Goku challenges them and has to work around the gourd's strange rules rather than simply overpowering the problem. The detour gives his long road to the next tournament another kind of training: staying alert when strength alone is not the answer.
Goku reaches a town divided between Master Chin's Chin-Star school and the rival Panther-Fang school led by Sky Dragon and Rising Dragon. With Chin too ill to compete, Goku volunteers to represent his school, but Chin's jealous student Shoken secretly spikes Goku's breakfast with a powerful laxative before the match. Goku fights through it anyway, defeats Sky Dragon, and leaves the rival schools with a very different idea of what real martial arts strength looks like.
Goku travels into a supernatural realm after learning that a princess has been kidnapped by the demon Shula. He battles through the Demon Land, rescues her, and uses the Power Pole to help seal the passage between the two worlds. The adventure is far removed from the Dragon Ball hunt, but it continues the same pattern of Goku finding trouble simply by walking into whatever place lies ahead.
Goku encounters Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu for the first time while they are traveling from village to village with InoShikaCho. Tien and Chiaotzu pretend to defeat the monster, collect reward money, and move on to repeat the scam elsewhere. Goku exposes the arrangement, fights Tien briefly, and leaves with a first impression of the three-eyed martial artist long before either knows they will meet again at the World Tournament.
Three years after leaving Korin Land, Goku begins the final trip toward Papaya Island for the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament. A former thief named Konkichi helps him reach the airport, only to be dragged back into crime by old associates. Goku clears his name and turns the criminals over to police, but misses his flight in the process and decides to reach the island the way only Goku would: by swimming there.
22nd Tenkaichi Budokai Saga
18 eps
18 canon 📷 18
Krillin, Yamcha, Master Roshi, and the others register for the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament while waiting anxiously for Goku to appear. Master Shen arrives with his students Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu, reopening an old rivalry between the Crane and Turtle schools. Goku finally reaches Papaya Island just before registration closes, older, taller, and ready to see what three years of separate training have done to everyone.
The preliminary rounds begin with Goku, Krillin, Yamcha, and Jackie Chun drawn into separate sections of the bracket. Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu openly antagonize the Turtle School fighters, turning the old rivalry between Master Roshi and Master Shen into something personal for their students. By the end of the episode Goku draws King Chappa, a former tournament champion famous for winning without taking a single hit.
Goku's preliminary match with King Chappa makes his three years of training impossible to miss: he reads the veteran fighter cleanly and defeats him without giving Chappa a chance to establish control. Jackie Chun advances as well, and the remaining preliminaries continue until the final eight are decided. Tien nearly kills Nam during his last qualifying match, making it clear that the Crane School's best student is bringing something much darker into this tournament.
The eight finalists draw their positions for the championship bracket, with Chiaotzu secretly manipulating the numbers to shape the matchups. The first quarterfinal pairs Yamcha with Tien Shinhan, and the two immediately discover that neither is going to be an easy opening-round opponent. As the fight settles into a deadlock, Yamcha prepares to unveil the new Wolf Fang technique he developed during the three-year break.
Yamcha throws everything he has at Tien, including his improved Wolf Fang attack and a Kamehameha that catches nearly everyone by surprise. Tien deflects the blast, counters Yamcha in midair, and then deliberately comes down on his leg after knocking him unconscious. The match ends with Yamcha badly injured and Puar carrying him away to the hospital, leaving the Turtle School furious at the cruelty Tien showed after the fight was already decided.
Man-Wolf reveals that his grudge against Jackie Chun comes from the previous tournament, when Roshi's Kamehameha destroyed the moon and left him trapped in wolf form. Jackie turns the fight into another lesson in misdirection, hypnotizing Man-Wolf and using Krillin's bald head as a substitute full moon. The transformation is reversed, and Jackie advances while solving a problem he accidentally created years earlier.
Krillin faces Chiaotzu in the next quarterfinal and immediately has to deal with an opponent who can fly beyond his reach and fire Dodon Rays from the air. Goku recognizes the technique as the same one used by Mercenary Tao, revealing to a stunned Tien that Tao died after their battle at Korin. Unable to reach Chiaotzu normally, Krillin decides to gamble on a technique he has never successfully used before and begins preparing a Kamehameha.
Krillin discovers that Chiaotzu needs his hands to maintain telekinesis and exploits the fact that his opponent counts on his fingers. By asking basic arithmetic questions in the middle of the fight, Krillin forces Chiaotzu to break concentration long enough to escape the psychic hold. Once the trick is exposed, Krillin turns the match around and earns a place in the semifinals.
Goku's quarterfinal opponent Pamput is a famous champion and movie star whose handlers are confident that reputation will carry him through the tournament. Pamput's manager even tries to lure Goku away from the arena before the match, but Launch intervenes and Goku returns in time. Once the bell rings, the gap is immediate: Goku knocks Pamput out with a few fast strikes and advances almost effortlessly.
The first semifinal brings Tien Shinhan against Jackie Chun, matching the Crane School's best student with the disguised Master Roshi. Tien can fly, read through the Afterimage Technique with his third eye, and absorb the pace of a veteran fighter without panicking. Roshi responds by dropping the old-man act and fighting seriously, turning the match into an argument over what Tien might become if he stops treating assassination as martial arts.
Tien uses the Solar Flare to blind Jackie Chun and nearly knocks him out, but Roshi recovers and keeps pressing him about the path Master Shen has chosen for him. Rather than continue simply to prove he can win, Roshi steps out of the ring and forfeits. He leaves Tien with the idea that strength does not have to belong to the Crane School's cruelty, and Tien is visibly shaken by a victory that feels nothing like the one against Yamcha.
Goku and Krillin finally meet as opponents in the semifinal, turning years of shared Turtle School training into a real tournament match. Krillin uses every bit of speed and improvisation he has learned, even reflecting sunlight from his bald head to blind Goku and using a burst of air to change his fall in midair. Away from the ring, Tien confronts Master Roshi about the previous match and hears again that he does not have to become the killer Master Shen trained him to be.
With the tail trick gone, Krillin keeps searching for another way to catch Goku and manages to push his friend harder than most opponents ever have. Goku finally opens the gap with a burst of speed Krillin cannot follow and knocks him out of the ring. The result sends Goku to the final against Tien, while Tien's attitude toward the Turtle students continues shifting from contempt toward genuine respect.
The championship match begins with Goku and Tien Shinhan trading speed, strength, and technique at a level that leaves the crowd struggling to follow them. Tien discovers that Goku has been holding back more power than expected, while Goku finds an opponent who can match him without relying on cheap tricks. The fight quickly stops being about the Turtle and Crane schools and becomes a test of which martial artist can adapt faster.
Tien expands his arsenal with techniques Goku has never seen, including the Solar Flare and his bizarre Volleyball Attack. From the crowd, Master Shen secretly orders Chiaotzu to use telekinesis on Goku, freezing him at critical moments and letting Tien land attacks he believes he earned himself. The interference begins turning a close final into something neither fighter actually wants.
Goku keeps freezing in midair at the worst possible moments, allowing Tien to punish him until the interference becomes impossible to ignore. Tien realizes Chiaotzu is using telekinesis on Goku and orders him to stop, openly rejecting Master Shen's demand for a rigged victory and refusing to kill Goku. Roshi blasts Shen away when he turns on Chiaotzu, Goku repays Tien with a clean attack of his own, and Tien ends the episode revealing a new advantage by growing two additional arms.
Tien's four-arm technique gives him enough leverage to control Goku in close combat, but Goku keeps finding ways to answer it, even using his tail and a rapid movement trick that makes him appear to have extra arms of his own. Neither fighter can put the other away, and Tien finally chooses his most dangerous option. He rises high above the arena and fires the Tri-Beam, obliterating the entire tournament ring and leaving everyone staring into the crater with Goku nowhere to be seen.
Goku survives the Tri-Beam by launching himself high above the destroyed arena, but with no ring left the final becomes a race to see who touches the ground first. He uses a Kamehameha to drive himself into Tien and both fighters plummet toward the street, where a passing vehicle clips Goku and sends him down a split second before Tien. Tien wins the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament by the narrowest margin possible, but the celebration dies almost immediately when Krillin returns to the arena for Goku's belongings and is found murdered.
King Piccolo Saga
21 eps
21 canon 📷 21
Krillin's murder turns the end of the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament into a crisis before anyone has time to celebrate. The killer has taken Goku's Four-Star Ball and the tournament roster, and Goku ignores Roshi's warning to race after him while still exhausted from the final. The demon mark left behind tells Roshi exactly what they are facing: King Piccolo, the monster his master Mutaito once sealed away, has returned.
Goku catches Tambourine but enters the fight hungry, exhausted, and furious, none of which is enough against King Piccolo's servant. Tambourine overwhelms him, destroys Nimbus, and leaves him for dead before returning with the stolen Dragon Ball and the list of tournament fighters. King Piccolo then gives him a new order: kill every martial artist on the list before any of them can become a threat.
Tambourine begins hunting tournament fighters around the world and leaves King Piccolo's demon mark behind at each murder. King Piccolo creates another offspring, Cymbal, to gather the remaining Dragon Balls while Roshi and the others prepare to move and fight back. Goku wakes up alive, starving, and alone, then eats a fish that belongs to a wandering swordsman who is about to become very important.
The owner of the stolen breakfast is Yajirobe, a rough mountain swordsman strong enough to surprise Goku and stubborn enough to fight him over a fish. Their argument is interrupted when Cymbal arrives looking for Yajirobe's Dragon Ball. Yajirobe wins the right to fight him, cuts the demon apart with his sword, and casually cooks the body afterward, giving King Piccolo his first sign that someone dangerous has entered the hunt.
King Piccolo feels Cymbal die and sends Tambourine after whoever killed him. Tambourine continues down the tournament list and targets Giran, then heads toward Yamcha before Piccolo redirects him toward Cymbal's killer. Goku explains the Dragon Balls to Yajirobe and says he intends to use them to bring Krillin back, while Roshi's group begins collecting the balls for a plan of their own.
Roshi, Tien, and Chiaotzu continue gathering Dragon Balls while Tien is forced to confront part of his own violent past when they meet a fighter whose leg he once broke. The man eventually forgives him and gives them the ball they need. Elsewhere, Tambourine finally reaches Goku and Yajirobe, and Goku steps forward for the rematch he has wanted since finding Krillin dead.
This time Goku is fed, rested, and completely ready for Tambourine. He overwhelms the demon who defeated him earlier and kills him with a Kamehameha, avenging Krillin and the other martial artists Tambourine murdered. King Piccolo senses another son die and decides that Goku is no longer a nuisance his servants can handle, setting a course to deal with him personally.
King Piccolo lands near Goku and Yajirobe, and Yajirobe immediately decides this is one fight he does not want. Goku attacks with the confidence of his victory over Tambourine and manages to land several blows, but the gap between a demon servant and the Demon King becomes obvious quickly. Piccolo absorbs the punishment, takes control of the fight, and leaves Goku struggling against power unlike anything he has faced.
King Piccolo crushes Goku's counterattack, survives the Kamehameha, and leaves him critically wounded before taking the Dragon Ball Yajirobe had been carrying. Goku can barely move and asks Yajirobe to take him to Korin Tower, betting that Korin is the only person who might know how to make him stronger. Meanwhile, Roshi hides the Dragon Balls he has collected and prepares to face Piccolo himself, even though he knows he cannot win a normal fight.
Roshi paralyzes Tien to keep him from throwing his life away and confronts King Piccolo alone. He reveals that he trained under Mutaito and attempts the Mafuba, the same sealing technique that once imprisoned Piccolo. Roshi nearly succeeds but misses the container at the final moment and dies from the effort, leaving Piccolo free to gather all seven Dragon Balls and summon Shenron.
Chiaotzu tries to steal the wish before King Piccolo can make it, but Piccolo kills him and asks Shenron to restore his youth. The wish returns the Demon King to his physical prime, and before the Dragon Balls can scatter he kills Shenron so nobody can use them against him. With Roshi and Chiaotzu dead and the Dragon Balls apparently gone for good, Piccolo turns toward open conquest while Goku and Yajirobe finally reach Korin Tower.
King Piccolo attacks King Furry's capital during a public celebration, overwhelms the defenders, and captures the king. He is no longer hiding behind Pilaf or sending demons to do his work; the goal now is direct rule over the world. At Korin Tower, Yajirobe struggles upward carrying the badly injured Goku while everyone else begins to understand that Piccolo's victory over the Dragon Balls has changed the stakes completely.
King Piccolo forces King Furry to announce the new regime to the world and demonstrates what refusal means by destroying part of the city. At Kame House, Bulma preserves Roshi and Chiaotzu's bodies while Tien secretly trains to use the Mafuba. Goku reaches Korin and asks for another way to become stronger, but Korin says ordinary training will not close the gap and tells him about the dangerous Ultra Divine Water.
Korin sends Goku toward the Ultra Divine Water, a legendary power hidden deep inside a deadly icy labyrinth. Yajirobe wants nothing to do with the journey but ends up pulled into it anyway, and the pair face traps, an ice monster, and the mysterious being called Darkness. The path is not simply another training course: Korin has warned that people have died trying to reach the water at all.
Inside the labyrinth, Darkness tests Goku with illusions built from the people and fears he carries with him, including a false Master Roshi and the promise of returning safely to his friends. Goku recognizes the deception and refuses to turn back, proving that he is willing to accept the risk rather than hide from it. Darkness finally allows him to drink the Ultra Divine Water, warning that the poison in it can kill anyone whose body cannot survive the power it unlocks.
Goku survives the Ultra Divine Water and emerges with the strength Korin hoped it would release, while Yajirobe helps him return from the labyrinth. Across the world, King Piccolo encourages chaos by freeing criminals and dismantling the order that existed before his takeover. Tien finally masters the Mafuba and heads for the capital, while Korin gives Goku a new Flying Nimbus so he can race toward the same confrontation.
King Piccolo chooses Sector 28, home to West City, as the first region he will destroy simply to demonstrate his rule. Panic spreads through Bulma's hometown while criminals attack Kame House and Yamcha and Launch fight them off. Tien reaches King Piccolo first and prepares to use the Mafuba, but Piccolo creates a new warrior, Drum, specifically to keep him from getting the chance.
Tien is badly outmatched by Drum while Goku races toward the capital, briefly stopping to save the Ox-King and Chi-Chi from soldiers forced into Piccolo's campaign against martial artists. Tien finally creates an opening for the Mafuba, only for King Piccolo to destroy the sealing container before the technique can work. Goku arrives at the last moment and kills Drum with a single kick, announcing just how much the Ultra Divine Water changed him.
Goku opens the rematch by throwing King Piccolo through the castle and shrugging off attacks that would have destroyed him before. Piccolo is forced to release his full power, and the surge itself kills Piano, but even that no longer gives him an easy advantage. For the first time the Demon King is fighting someone who can drive him backward, and the battle becomes a direct contest between Goku's new strength and Piccolo at his restored peak.
Goku blasts King Piccolo in the back with a Kamehameha and keeps the Demon King under pressure, but Piccolo finally manages to damage Goku's right knee and starts tearing apart the battlefield around them. Tien saves Goku from one deadly fall, exhausting what little strength he has left, before Piccolo buries Goku at the bottom of a huge crater. Goku refuses to stay down and escapes on the Flying Nimbus, keeping the fight alive even after Piccolo has battered his body almost past its limit.
King Piccolo realizes that trading blows with Goku may no longer be enough and takes Tien hostage, forcing Goku to stand still while he destroys his limbs one at a time. With almost everything else useless, Goku bets the fight on the one arm he can still move, launches himself upward, and punches straight through Piccolo's body. As he dies, Piccolo spits out one final egg carrying his offspring and his revenge, leaving Goku victorious while the next threat is already alive.
Piccolo Jr. Saga
31 eps
20 canon 11 filler 📷 31
The world celebrates King Piccolo's defeat while Goku heads back to Korin Tower looking for a way to restore Shenron and revive everyone the Demon King killed. Korin tells him the Dragon Balls were created by Kami, a being who lives even higher above the tower, but Goku first has to recover the Power Pole from Kame House to reach him. Elsewhere, the egg King Piccolo left behind finally hatches, and Piccolo Jr. begins his own life with revenge already waiting for him.
Goku extends the Power Pole from Korin Tower and finally reaches Kami's Lookout, only to find Mr. Popo standing between him and Earth's Guardian. Goku expects another straightforward fight and gets humbled almost immediately: Popo reads his movements, avoids his attacks, and shows him how much strength alone still cannot solve. Down below, reporters flood Kame House after the world learns who actually defeated King Piccolo.
Mr. Popo agrees to train Goku after seeing his potential, but the bigger shock comes when Kami finally appears wearing the same face as King Piccolo. Kami explains that Piccolo was once the evil half he expelled from himself, tying Earth's Guardian directly to the monster Goku just defeated. He offers to restore Shenron on one condition: Goku must remain at the Lookout and train for three years, an offer Goku accepts without hesitation.
Kami restores Shenron, giving the Dragon Balls their power again while Goku begins his three years of training at the Lookout. When his friends summon the Eternal Dragon, Shenron tells them Goku is alive and training under Kami, then grants their wish to revive everyone killed by King Piccolo and his offspring. Hearing where Goku has gone only pushes Krillin, Yamcha, and Tien to train harder for the next tournament.
Mr. Popo sends Goku to retrieve the Sacred Crown from the top of Mount Rumble, where every attempt ends with him being struck by lightning. A young girl searching for her lost bird gives him the clue he needs: reacting after something happens is already too late. Goku begins developing the instinct to sense danger before it arrives, turning a strange errand into exactly the kind of training Popo intended.
Roshi finally tells Krillin, Yamcha, and Tien that he has nothing more to teach them, forcing the three to take responsibility for their own growth. At the Lookout, Mr. Popo sends Goku into the woods to find someone capable of teaching him how to quiet his mind. The master turns out to be an ordinary old fisherman whose calm awareness shows Goku that real concentration has very little to do with looking impressive.
Mr. Popo sends Goku into the past, where he meets a young Master Roshi, a young Crane Hermit, and their teacher Mutaito. Goku struggles with Mutaito's lesson about drawing power from his own spirit until anger finally gives him the focus to make it work. Back in the present, the experience gives Goku another piece of the control Popo has been trying to teach him while Tien considers following Goku's old path to Korin Tower.
Mr. Popo finally gives Goku the opponent he has been asking for: a clay copy of Goku with the same strength, speed, and techniques. The difference is mental. The duplicate fights without distraction or wasted thought, forcing Goku to see exactly why a noisy mind keeps holding him back. Meanwhile, Tien, Krillin, Yamcha, and Chiaotzu continue toward Korin Tower while training along the way.
Mr. Popo turns hide-and-seek into another lesson, forcing Goku to stop relying on his eyes and learn to locate people by sensing their ki. On the ground, Tien, Krillin, Yamcha, and Chiaotzu reach a village beneath a mountain that suddenly erupts. Their training journey becomes a rescue mission as lava begins pouring toward the people below.
Tien, Krillin, Yamcha, and Chiaotzu each try to stop the lava threatening the village, but individual strength is not enough when the volcano erupts again with even greater force. Working together, the four finally redirect the flow and save the town. At the Lookout, Goku is still struggling to master his ki as everyone's separate training continues toward the tournament waiting three years ahead.
Three years have passed, and the old crew reunites for the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament looking very different from the kids and young fighters who separated after King Piccolo. Goku arrives taller, older, and so changed that his friends barely recognize him at first. The reunion does not stay comfortable for long: Piccolo Jr. enters the tournament too, bringing his father's grudge directly into the same ring.
The preliminary rounds begin, and the returning fighters finally get to show what three years of training have done for them. Goku demonstrates a new command of ki while Piccolo Jr. quietly moves through the field, but the biggest surprise is an old enemy everyone thought was dead: Mercenary Tao, rebuilt as a cyborg and still carrying his hatred for Goku and Tien. Tao makes the threat personal immediately by badly injuring Chiaotzu.
The preliminaries narrow the tournament down to eight finalists: Goku, Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, Piccolo Jr., Mercenary Tao, the mysterious Hero, and a furious young woman Goku still does not recognize. The draw puts Tien against his former master Tao in the opening match. Everyone remembers the assassin who nearly killed Goku years earlier, but Goku is certain the balance between master and student has completely reversed.
Tien faces the man who once represented everything he wanted to become and discovers there is almost nothing left to admire. He gives Tao a chance to walk away, but Tao answers with hidden weapons and another attempt to kill him. Tien ends the match decisively, rejecting both Tao and the violent future the Crane School once laid out for him.
Goku's furious female opponent refuses to explain who she is until he defeats her, and only then does the obvious finally catch up with him: she is Chi-Chi, the girl he promised to marry years ago without understanding what marriage meant. Goku remembers the promise and, with absolutely no ceremony about it, asks her to marry him right there after the match. With Chi-Chi delighted and the engagement suddenly real, attention turns to Krillin's much more dangerous matchup with Piccolo Jr.
Krillin gives Piccolo Jr. a much better fight than the demon expected, pushing himself all the way to a final Kamehameha before admitting he cannot overcome the gap between them. Piccolo advances, but he leaves the match with real respect for Krillin's strength. Yamcha then steps into the ring against the clumsy-looking Hero and quickly learns that the strange man has been hiding an entirely different level of skill.
Hero stops pretending to be helpless and dismantles Yamcha once the fight becomes serious, even trying to teach him while they exchange blows. Goku recognizes what the others do not: Hero is Kami using a human body to enter the tournament. Then Goku and Tien finally begin their rematch, and although the two initially seem even, Tien is already breathing hard while Goku looks completely comfortable.
Tien believes Goku has not become much faster since their last tournament until Goku asks for a pause and removes the weighted clothes he has been wearing the entire time. With the extra weight gone, Goku's speed jumps so dramatically that Tien can barely follow him. Forced to change tactics, Tien prepares a new technique built around splitting himself into multiple fighters.
Tien divides himself into four separate bodies, giving him twelve eyes and attacks coming from every direction. Goku takes the first combination long enough to understand the technique, then spots both weaknesses: each copy has only a fraction of Tien's strength, and all twelve eyes are painfully vulnerable to bright light. Goku turns Tien's own Solar Flare against him and knocks all four copies from the ring to win the rematch cleanly.
Kami finally gets the confrontation he entered the tournament to force, facing Piccolo Jr. while still hidden inside Hero's borrowed human body. Knowing Goku may hesitate to kill Piccolo because their lives are linked, Kami attempts the Mafuba himself and nearly seals the demon away. Piccolo reverses the technique, trapping Kami in the container instead and removing the one opponent who came prepared specifically to stop him.
With Hero returned to an ordinary human and Kami trapped inside the sealing jar, Piccolo Jr. swallows the container rather than give Goku any chance to recover it. Goku finally explains the connection between Kami, King Piccolo, and Piccolo Jr. to his friends before stepping into the championship match. The final begins evenly, but Piccolo soon unleashes a vicious rush that leaves Goku apparently down as the referee starts counting.
Goku gets back up and admits he was using Piccolo's opening attack to measure how much stronger his enemy has become. Once the fight resumes, Goku begins taking control, forcing Piccolo toward a desperate attack powerful enough to wipe out everyone around the arena. Krillin reminds Goku that Kami can be revived with the Dragon Balls, freeing him to answer Piccolo head-on with a Super Kamehameha.
Piccolo finally announces to the crowd exactly who he is, sending nearly every spectator fleeing from the tournament grounds in panic. With innocent bystanders out of the way, Goku can fight without holding back, but Piccolo has another surprise waiting: he enlarges himself into a giant. Goku handles the first transformation well enough that Piccolo grows even larger, convinced sheer size will finally overwhelm him.
Piccolo's gigantic body gives Goku exactly the opening he wanted. Goku dives straight down his throat, retrieves the jar containing Kami, and escapes, forcing an enraged Piccolo back to normal size. When Kami jumps in to protect him from a blow, Goku insists on fighting alone and even lets Piccolo repeat the punch before the demon begins charging his most destructive attack yet.
Piccolo unleashes an enormous blast that levels the tournament grounds and leaves the entire island looking destroyed, but Goku is still standing when the smoke clears. He exploits Piccolo's exhaustion and drives him into the ground with a Super Kamehameha, nearly winning on the count. Piccolo rises at the last second and answers with a beam that punches straight through Goku's body, leaving the final hanging on whether Goku can keep fighting at all.
Piccolo systematically destroys Goku's ability to fight, leaving his limbs useless before taking to the air for what should be the finishing blow. He makes the same mistake his father did: assuming Goku has no way to attack from the sky. Goku reveals that he can fly, rockets upward into Piccolo, and knocks him out of bounds to finally win a World Martial Arts Tournament. Afterward he gives both himself and Piccolo Senzu Beans, keeping Kami alive and sending Piccolo away furious, healed, and already promising a rematch.
With the tournament over, Goku and Chi-Chi head home to prepare for the wedding and are welcomed by an ecstatic Ox-King. He brings out the wedding dress that belonged to Chi-Chi's mother just as a wall of supernatural fire suddenly engulfs the castle. Ox-King stays behind to save the dress and becomes trapped inside, sending Goku and Chi-Chi back onto the road to find a way to extinguish Fire Mountain.
Goku and Chi-Chi ask Master Roshi about replacing the old Bansho Fan and are sent searching for materials connected to the legendary Fire-Eater. Their trip leads to a volcano, a scientist protecting a Fire-Eater egg, and another run-in with Pilaf, Mai, and Shu. They leave without the creature they came for, but the scientist points them toward the place where the Bansho Fan itself may still be found.
Goku and Chi-Chi climb into a blizzard and meet the eccentric old woman Octagon while searching for the Bansho Fan. Chi-Chi accidentally discovers the fan while cleaning, Pilaf's crew briefly gets hold of it, and Goku eventually brings it back to Fire Mountain. The long search appears to be over until Goku waves the fan at the flames and discovers the worst possible answer: it does not work.
Fortuneteller Baba explains that the Bansho Fan cannot solve the real problem and sends Goku and Chi-Chi into the Dark World to find the Magical Furnace. After pushing through a series of frightening illusions, they reach the furnace and find someone Goku never expected to see again: Grandpa Gohan. Goku wants to shut the furnace down immediately, but Gohan and Annin warn that doing so would sever the path spirits use to reach the afterlife.
Shutting down the Magical Furnace is impossible without disrupting the passage to the afterlife, so Goku, Chi-Chi, Grandpa Gohan, and Annin find another way to repair the damage. Using the Bansho Fan and materials Chi-Chi unknowingly carried with her, Goku descends into the furnace and seals the opening before escaping at the last moment. The flames around Ox-King's castle finally disappear, the wedding dress survives, and Goku and Chi-Chi are married as Dragon Ball closes one chapter of Goku's life and quietly opens the next.
