Synopsis: Roshi asks who the surrounding soldiers are, and the lead soldier tells him they already know who he is – the genius who made that amazing radar. Roshi is naturally confused by this, but the man insists that they've done their homework. When he confesses that they're from the Red Ribbon Army, Roshi says he's heard of them and all that they've done. Just then, another soldier escorts Lunch out of the house at gunpoint. Roshi asks the lead soldier what they want from him, and the man tells him they want the Dragon Balls and for him to make another one of those impressive radars. Lunch confirms that Bulma and Goku left their bag, so the two assume the Dragon Balls must be inside. Roshi asks the soldier what their plan for the Dragon Balls is once they've found them all, but the soldier tells him that's none of his business. Roshi asks what they'll do if he resists, and the man laughs and says kill him of course. Roshi nonchalantly says he'll resist then, before knocking the wind from the man with a really hard punch to the stomach. Roshi then proceeds to take out most of the other soldiers with various attacks, even catching all the bullets fired at him by one using a machine gun. A large soldier takes Lunch hostage and tells Roshi to hand over the Dragon Balls if he doesn't want him to shoot her. While Roshi concedes, the turtle sneaks a fern towards Lunch's face and Lunch, catching on to his plan, uses it to make herself sneeze. The soldier lambasts her for being stupid enough to sneeze in a situation like this, and the now blonde Lunch takes him out quickly and angrily for the insult. Roshi has to call her off before she kills the man, and the turtle wonders if she might not actually be worse than the Army. A remaining soldier tries to sneak away back to one of their planes, but Roshi catches sight of him and tells him to take the beaten soldiers and the other planes back with him as well as they're all in the way. Back in the sea, Bulma catches sight of the mini-subs that General Blue and his men are still using to follow them. A soldier asks Blue if he should fire more torpedoes, but Blue says it's too risky as they could cause the cave to collapse upon themselves as well, so he orders him to just follow for now. The trio soon hits an open-air area of the cave, and Goku, Bulma, and Kuririn all hop out into the open air to make a run for it. The soldiers surface as well and wonder where in the world they've followed the three to. Blue orders his men to pursue the three kids at first, but stops them when he receives a distressing radio call telling him that his other men have all been taken out. As Goku wonders why they have to run away when they could just beat them up, Kuririn tells him he's nuts as they've all got guns, but Goku says that's not a problem so long as you dodge the bullets. Blue holds his men back from attacking however, and tells them that the enemy appears to be many times more fearsome than they'd first imagined, and are probably counting on them to run in guns blazing without thinking first. One of his soldiers objects saying that they're just three kids, and Blue reminds him that just one of those kids managed to wipe out both Silver and White's platoons, while the old man and girl on the island took out their fellow soldiers as well. Goku wonders why nobody is coming after them anymore, and the trio takes the opportunity to go further into the cave, with Bulma wondering why such terrible things always happen to her. Blue meanwhile says that he'll take down all five of their troublesome opponents himself. Review: The main meat of this chapter is centered around Roshi and the soldiers on his island, so you might be expecting it to feel like it's stalling for time when the story should be proceeding further into the cave instead. In a way, you'd be right, as the main part of this section of the story is centered around the cave. That said, the scenes on Roshi's island are so enjoyable and pure Toriyama ethos that it's really hard to be angry at it for taking it's time here. It's just way too enjoyable. Even the back and forth dialogue before the fighting starts is really fun. Roshi doesn't really care one way or the other who these guys are other than they're on his island. Once he realizes who they are, he knows he wants nothing to do with them, but he keeps them talking just to find out as much about what they're up to as he can. This is an interesting tactic that we'll see other fighters use later on in the series as well, but in those instances it's usually used as a way to buy time – either until the fighter can figure out a way to turn the fight around in their favor, or to hold off an opponent until someone else stronger arrives so that even if they inevitably lose in the interim, they might have some useful information to give them. Here though? Here Roshi's just screwing with them. Roshi is more than strong enough to deal with them all on his own and he knows it, so he's just having some fun at their expense. You'd almost feel bad for them if they weren't soldiers in a tyrannical army bent on world domination. And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't impressed by Toriyama finding a way to actually make Lunch's gimmick both useful and funny, possibly for the first time since it was introduced – hell, arguably the only time since it was introduced. I especially love the blue haired Lunch picking up on what the turtle has in mind and causing herself to transform on purpose. She's ditzy, but stupid. All of this does serve a purpose as we get back to the main plot in the cave as well. When we last left them, Blue and his men were right on top of Goku and the others, and it seemed inevitable that they were about to throw down right then and there. This would have resulted in the fight likely being settled one way or another immediately. This way however, not only does the drama get heightened and the story gets to play in this playground a little more first, it also gets to show off how much more shrewd and intelligent Blue is in comparison to those who have come before him. We don't even know for sure how strong he is yet, but he definitely seems wary about taking on the likes of Goku and his friends without checking things out first, making him quite a bit more effective than either Silver or White were. He's really the first member of the Army that we've met that actually feels like he earned his position in it. Will that be enough to help him out once the fighting begins though? Hmm... Until next time! Favorite Panel: Next Time: Son Goku and the Raiders of the Lost Pirate Cave
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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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