Synopsis: As Goku, Bulma, and Kuririn make their way deeper into the cave, Goku wonders if they'll really find the Dragon Ball down here. Bulma thinks so, so long as they don't get killed by the Red Ribbon Army first anyway. Kuririn says he can't hear anyone following them, so maybe the Army gave up? As Goku comments that it's getting so dark that he can't see anything ahead of him, he finds a button and presses it, turning on lights hanging from the ceiling much to everyone's surprise. Bulma wonders why there would be lights in a place like this and she and Kuririn realize that they must not be the first people to ever find this cave before. General Blue and his men are also surprised by the lights, and Blue reasons that if this place has power, it must be some sort of secret base...but whose? As Bulma tries to puzzle out who may have ran electricity here, Goku gets her attention and scares her when she turns around to find him wearing a skull on his head. Blue hears her yell and sends one of his men to check things out discreetly. As Goku laughs, Bulma chews him out for pulling something like that at a time like this, but Kuririn wants to know where he found the skull. Goku points out a dead pirate sitting in a corner, and Kuririn figures it out – this cave must be an old pirate hideout, and is probably where the lost pirate treasure is as well! As Bulma and Kuririn marvel at this discovery, the soldier reports back to a very pleased Blue, who thinks that Commander Red will almost be as pleased with the treasure as he will be with the Dragon Balls. As the trio continue deeper into the cave, they eventually come to a long passageway where the floor is smoother, but the walls and ceilings are filled with holes. Bulma thinks this looks suspicious, but Kuririn thinks it's nothing and steps into the hallway – immediately stepping on a button that sends a spear hurtling into the opposite wall just above his head. Bulma points out the buttons all over the floor and says it must be a trap to keep anyone from getting to the treasure, and Goku remarks that the only reason Kuririn is okay is because of how short he is. Bulma frets about what they're supposed to do now with this in front of them and the Red Ribbon Army pursuing them from behind, but Goku reasons that they'll be fine so long as they don't step on any of the buttons. Bulma says that's impossible with how close together they are, but Goku simply takes a running leap and makes it to the other side. Kuririn praises him for coming up with such a great idea and makes the leap himself, but misjudges it and jumps too high, hitting his head on the ceiling and then his head on some buttons, sending more spears flying just above his face. Goku helps Kuririn back up and out of the way and then tells Bulma to jump as well, but she says she can't, she wasn't trained by some old master like they were. As Blue catches back up to the soldier he sent to scout, the soldier tells him the enemy appears to be just ahead and from what he can tell, they don't have any weapons on them. Blue thinks they must have forgotten their weapons in their ship when they ran away from them earlier, surely rendering these kids as just that – kids. He laughs at how easy this has just become. Meanwhile, Goku extends the nyoibo to help Bulma across the trapped floor, and once she's back with him and Kuririn, they resume their trek into the cave. Blue tells his men there's no need to hold back now and orders them to charge ahead, following along behind them at a leisurely pace. As he gloats about getting both the Dragon Balls and the treasure, he hears cries of pain from his men and hurries along only to find them all impaled by spears in the trapped hallway. Blue realizes they've walked into a pirate trap, and one of his downed soldiers unhelpfully reports no survivors. Blue wonders how the kids got through this trap, and reasons that the pirates must have had a way through it too. He searches and finds a button on the wall that opens a hidden door in the wall, opening to an alternate path further into the cave. He takes it and swears to show the kids what General Blue is truly made of. Meanwhile, Goku, Bulma, and Kuririn step into a large open space, filled to the brim with a large weaponized ship, other vehicles, a small building, and various other contraptions, and Bulma says this must be the pirate's secret port. Review: I think it's easy to see that as of this chapter, Blue's plans are not holding up as readily as he would have liked. Sure, he's a cautious and fairly smart character, but there's one thing that he didn't take into account – he's in a gag manga. Yes, Dragon Ball has started to branch into somewhat more serious territory by this point, but it's still firmly in the realm of a gag manga that happens to have some pretty good action sequences in it at this point. It never truly leaves that realm despite what some fans would tell you, but there is definitely a point where the story starts taking itself very much more seriously than it does at this point, but unfortunately for Blue, that's a long way off yet. The idea of a pirate treasure was first brought up a few chapters ago by Kuririn, and at the time it seemed almost like throwaway dialogue. A word to the wise? Never assume any line Toriyama gives one of his characters as being throwaway, because more often than not, he's setting up something to use later on, sometimes successfully and sometimes not. In this instance I'd call it pretty successful – we get an interesting new local that we've not yet explored in the series in the form of an underwater cave filled with all kinds of traps, I love it. There's also a great dark gag with Goku just putting on a skull that he pulled off of a nearby skeleton. Nobody talks about the time Goku just shoved a human skull on as a hat. His ancestors would be so proud of him, actually... The trap with the spears in the wall and buttons feels like something straight out of Indiana Jones. In fact, it might actually BE from Indiana Jones, I can't honestly remember. Either way, it's a fun set piece that makes for some fun gags between both groups of characters. Everyone keeps giving poor Kuririn hell for being short in this chapter (and from Bulma, even one joke at his bald head's expense), but it ends up saving him from his own overconfidence here. He's lucky Roshi wasn't there to see this performance or I'm sure he'd get an earful. Goku and Kuririn demonstrating how far they can jump and Goku expecting Bulma to do the same thing is pretty funny as well, and it also demonstrates the way Goku seems to think even far later into the series. He knows when he's gotten stronger than his friends, but at the same time, there's often times where he seems to think that if he can do something, they all should be able to as well. It's hard to say if this is because of his extreme confidence and trust in them, or if it's also because a good number of them were actually stronger than him at certain points in time. The ultimate payoff for both Blue's hubris in his own intelligence and the pirate trap both comes when Blue orders his men to charge after having held them back for so long, only for them all to get slaughtered immediately. This is the first scene of mass death in the series, but of course it's not exactly traumatic by any means, as Toriyama is sure to give all of the dead soldiers goofy expressions on their faces, as well as drawing the spear points as if they've barely poked into their bodies. Oh, and of course the soldier that seemingly comes back to life just to report in to Blue that everyone, including that soldier himself, just died. Classic. 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
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