Tails of Future Not-Quite-Past

A Forgotten Past

The alien is baffled that Goku does not recognize him and asks whether he has forgotten his mission entirely. Goku flatly denies being someone called Kakarrot. Pressing further, the stranger asks if Goku ever suffered a serious head injury. A hazy memory surfaces, and Goku confirms that something like that did happen when he was very small.

Master Roshi fills in the blanks. He recalls a conversation with Grandpa Gohan, who once spoke of finding a violent, uncontrollable infant in the wilderness. After the child fell into a deep ravine and struck his head, he became gentle and cheerful. Goku realizes, with dawning shock, that the wild child Gohan described was himself.

The Saiyan Heritage

Seeing that Goku's memory is truly gone, the alien introduces himself as Raditz, Goku's older brother. He explains that both of them were born on Planet Vegeta and belong to a warrior race called the Saiyans. Goku was dispatched to Earth as a baby with a single purpose: to destroy every living thing on the planet using the power of the full moon, so the Saiyans could sell the empty world to another species. Roshi, Bulma, and Krillin immediately grasp the connection to Goku's Great Ape transformations, though Goku himself remains oblivious.

Raditz grows furious when he spots that Goku's tail is missing, accusing him of cutting it off to blend in with the humans he was supposed to eliminate. Goku flatly rejects his Saiyan identity and orders Raditz to leave. Raditz reveals that only four Saiyans survived after a meteor collided with Planet Vegeta, and he needs Goku's help to conquer a particularly stubborn world.

The Ultimatum

Goku refuses without hesitation. Raditz then notices the tail on young Gohan and realizes the boy is Goku's son. In one swift motion, he snatches Gohan away from the group. His terms are brutal: Goku must kill one hundred humans and line their corpses along the beach by the following day, or Raditz will murder Gohan. With the child screaming under his arm, Raditz takes to the sky and vanishes, leaving Goku and the others frozen in horror on the shore.