Bloomers and the Monkey King

A Boy Alone on Mount Paozu

The story opens on Goku, a strange young boy with a monkey tail, living by himself in a forested stretch of Mount Paozu. After hauling a tree stump home and shattering it into firewood with a single toss, he pays his respects to the keepsake left behind by his late grandfather and heads into the wilderness to hunt. He leaps from a cliff, strips to lure a massive fish from the river, and kills it with a sharp kick before carrying it back toward his cabin.

An Unexpected Collision

On the forest path Goku is nearly flattened by a speeding car driven by a teenage girl named Bulma. Mistaking the vehicle and its driver for some kind of monster, he wrecks the car in a panic. Bulma retaliates by emptying her pistol at him, only to discover the rounds have no effect. Once she surrenders and explains that she is simply a human from the city, Goku's curiosity takes over and he brings her home for a meal. Inside the cabin, Bulma spots the four star orb Goku keeps as a memento of his grandfather and recognizes it instantly as one of the seven Dragon Balls. She tells him that gathering all seven will summon a dragon capable of granting any wish, and that she already owns two of them. Goku refuses to part with his heirloom, but agrees to travel with her and lend her the ball once the set is complete.

Into the Sky

Bulma produces a capsule that pops open into a motorcycle, and the pair set off. After a bone-rattling jump down a slope, she stops to relieve herself and is snatched up by a hungry pterodactyl. The creature ties Goku to a tree and flies off with its catch, but the boy slips the ropes with his tail and gives chase. Using the abandoned motorcycle as a launchpad, Goku extends his Power Pole, strikes the beast out of the air, and spears the falling Bulma to a cliffside by her sleeves. The chapter closes with Bulma safe, furious, and thoroughly humiliated.