Synopsis: Locating the spot where the radar says the Dragon Ball is once more, Bulma has Kuririn take their ship underwater. The trio is unaware that General Blue is watching from nearby. One of Blue's soldiers alerts the General to the fact that their own radar shows the boy left his previous two Dragon Balls on the small island they discovered before, seemingly proving to Blue that his theory about that being their home base is correct. Blue splits his men into two teams, with himself leading squad A to pursue the ship into the water, and squad B, lead by a soldier Blue picks out, heads to destroy the enemy base and retrieve the Dragon Balls left there.
Underwater, Bulma finds where the radar says the ball is but Goku says he can't see it anywhere. Bulma says it has to be there somewhere though, so she sends Goku, now equipped with scuba gear, back into the water. Goku still can't see the Dragon Ball anywhere, but finds a deep looking gully in the seabed. As he investigates it, Bulma has Kuririn take the ship to the other side of a trench to check things out from that end as well. Bulma confirms the trench is deep, but unfortunately it seems too narrow for Goku to fit inside. Bulma expands the radar's range and discovers that the end Goku is at is too narrow, but another entrance a little further away would allow them to enter the cave system and get the Dragon Ball with little difficulty. As Blue's squad B approaches Roshi's island, one of the soldiers asks the one in charge what kind of opposition they'll face, with the leader saying it'll be easy as it's just one old man and a girl. In a submarine, Blue has his men hang back rather than attack, as he wants to have Goku and friends pinpoint the exact location of the Dragon Ball for them first. As they see the boy's ship about to enter a large cave, Blue orders his men to attack at last, and their torpedoes narrowly miss hitting their ship. As Blue orders his men to attack again, Kuririn and Bulma are horrified to find themselves being fired at. Goku however ays it must be those Red Ribbon guys again, further horrifying the pair – he didn't say anything to them about being chased by the Red Ribbon Army! Kuririn quickly maneuvers their ship into the cave and seems to get everyone to safety as the passageway becomes too narrow for the larger submarine to follow, but Blue quickly orders his men to prepare the mini-subs and says that he'll be taking one of them to deal with the children personally. Back on Roshi's island, the turtle notices something flying towards the island. As Roshi wonders what it could be, he finds himself surrounded at gunpoint by soldiers as soon as the planes land. Review: Poor Bulma and Kuririn. I think this might be the first instance where Goku's laid-back nature gets them in over their heads in a dangerous fashion rather than just being for a gag. This also marks the first time in the series so far that we've actually had someone who hasn't already encountered the army personally know who they are. Goku not knowing who they are makes sense, but when even the people in the snowy region of Muscle Tower chiefly only seem familiar with them since their arrival there, it sort of makes you wonder how long this army has really been around or how wide-spread they really are. I guess that village must have been in the middle of nowhere as well, because going by this, they're pretty well known. Not only Bulma, but even Kuririn, who as far as we know lived in a temple somewhere and then Roshi's island and nowhere else, has heard of them. While this could come a little out of nowhere, it's a nice addition in my opinion. It really helps build up just how big and powerful the Army really is. We've certainly come a long way in a relatively short time since the lackluster introduction of Colonel Silver, that's for sure. We also continue to have Blue built up as a strict perfectionist, who kills anyone and everyone that fails him in some way, whether that's protocol or having his orders carried out successfully. It's a bit ironic considering...well, we're getting ahead of ourselves a bit there. Where the Dragon Ball has landed itself here is something that I'm surprised doesn't happen more often. Normally in the series, the Dragon Balls seem to just end up in easier to get to locations, oftentimes ending up in the care of someone else who has already found it. Here though, it's managed to find itself down in a deep, underwater cave that isn't even accessible from the side the ball itself must have came through. In earlier eras of the Dragon Ball world, this likely would have been the end of the Dragon Balls, as it's incredibly unlikely that someone would ever think to look for it down here. Normally I'd also say it'd probably have been inaccessible in previous eras as well, but as we'll soon find out, people were still able to get down here at some point somehow, so... This chapter was a bit light on substance overall, but it's getting the gears turning for the real meat of the General Blue section of the story, so things are only going to get more exciting from here on out. Until next time! Favorite Panel:
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About the AuthorAspiring author and big anime/manga fan, just trying to do my best in the world. For more details, go to About Me. Archives
September 2022
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