The Nimbus Cloud of Roshi

On the road to the beach, Goku and Bulma encounter a Bear Thief who wants to eat Turtle for dinner. Goku dispatches him with a single blow, proving once again that his small stature hides immense power. When they reach the shore, Goku releases Turtle into the ocean. The grateful creature asks them to wait, promising a reward.

Turtle returns with his master, the Turtle Hermit known as Master Roshi, a scrawny old man in sunglasses and a Hawaiian shirt. As a reward for Goku's kindness, Roshi summons the Flying Nimbus, a golden cloud that can soar through the sky but only carries those with a pure heart. Roshi attempts to demonstrate and falls straight through, but Goku hops on and rides it with ease.

Bulma, spotting a Dragon Ball on Roshi's necklace, demands one as her reward. Roshi agrees on a rather lecherous condition, and Bulma reluctantly consents, unaware that Goku had removed her underwear that morning. She inadvertently gives the old hermit far more of a show than she intended, and Roshi hands over the Three-Star Dragon Ball in a state of stunned bliss. When Bulma discovers the truth back at camp, she opens fire on Goku with a machine gun. The duo then sets off on Nimbus and motorcycle respectively, with Bulma fuming that the cloud rejects her for lacking a pure heart.

The Bear Thief fight is quick and brutal, giving Goku his first real opponent and ending in seconds. It is a sharp demonstration that early Dragon Ball villains are barely speed bumps for its protagonist.

The Flying Nimbus introduction is the episode's signature scene. Watching Roshi plummet through the cloud while Goku soars effortlessly establishes a recurring theme: Goku's purity of heart is his most defining trait. Meanwhile, Pilaf's break-in at Kame House delivers physical comedy as he threatens a sunglasses-wearing crocodile with a knife, only to learn Roshi already gave the Dragon Ball away. Roshi rips a hole in Pilaf's escape ship, sinking it, and casually denying the villain without even trying.

Master Roshi's debut is one of the most consequential introductions in the series. The Turtle Hermit will become Goku's teacher, and the Flying Nimbus will serve as his primary mode of transportation for years to come. Roshi's connection to the Dragon Balls is also severed here, as he gives away the Three-Star Ball without knowing its true value. The Nimbus cloud's pure-heart test becomes a lasting narrative device, later used to judge characters like Chi-Chi, Krillin, and even Gohan.