Chapter 8: First Encounter with Son Goku

After checking the Dragon Radar, John and Bulma found that the closest Dragon Balls to West City were the Two-Star and Five-Star Dragon Balls. The next nearest Dragon Ball was over a thousand miles away, so they decided to wait until Bulma's summer vacation to set out again.

During the wait, Bulma created a new Dragon Radar, which was a significant improvement over the previous prototype.

Not only was it much smaller, allowing it to be held in one hand, but it also had a connection to the Capsule Corporation's probe satellite. If they encountered a situation like the one with the Five-Star Dragon Ball, the Dragon Radar could switch to a map mode to help them find the Dragon Ball.

Time passed quickly, and finally, Bulma's summer vacation arrived. John and Bulma planned to set out the next day to search for the Dragon Balls.

Bulma's mother was initially opposed to her daughter going out with another man to search for the Dragon Balls. However, she had a pushover husband and a stubborn daughter.

Bulma threatened to run away from home if her mother didn't let her go.

Seeing that she couldn't convince her daughter, Bulma's mother turned her attention to John.

When she saw her aunt smiling at him, John's heart tightened, and he immediately stood up from his chair, loudly assuring her, "Auntie, please rest assured. I will take good care of Bulma. I won't let her come to any harm. As long as I'm alive, I won't let anything happen to her."

Seeing John's sincerity and Bulma's determination, Bulma's mother sighed and said, "Alright, if I continue to stop you, I'll seem like a bad mother."

Hearing her mother's approval, Bulma immediately hugged her and thanked her, "Thank you, Mom. I have a feeling that this journey to find the Dragon Balls will be the best decision I've ever made in my life."

Although Bulma's mother agreed, she added, "Remember to take the group company's emergency rescue device. If you encounter any danger, press the button, and the nearest branch of the group company will immediately send someone to help you."

"Okay," Bulma agreed.

With their parents' approval, John and Bulma began preparing for their upcoming journey. They needed to gather various capsules, such as the car capsule, house capsule, food capsule, boat capsule, and small submarine capsule. Since there were two of them, they each carried a backpack.

Unlike in the manga, where Bulma secretly took a box of capsules when she ran away from home, this time, with her parents' approval, Bulma prepared many capsules. She packed her backpack with all the capsules she thought she might need, even those she probably wouldn't use, until both backpacks were full.

Carrying the two Dragon Balls they already had, Bulma bid farewell to her parents and set off with John in the car, leaving the familiar West City behind.

As they traveled, they would periodically check the Dragon Radar to adjust their direction towards the third Dragon Ball.

During their journey, they rested for a night in the wilderness. Don't get any wild ideas; they each had their own room. Fortunately, nothing dangerous happened that night.

The next day, they resumed their quest for the Dragon Balls.

Bulma, sitting in the passenger seat, said, "We're very close to the third Dragon Ball. It's only about ten miles away. We should be able to reach it after crossing that mountain."

As she spoke, she held up the Dragon Radar to show John.

John didn't think much of it and turned to look at the Dragon Radar in Bulma's hand. However, as he did, a problem arose.

Bulma turned to see that a boy carrying fish was standing in front of their car, which they hadn't noticed due to the winding mountain road.

Bulma screamed and closed her eyes tightly.

Hearing Bulma's scream, John immediately knew something was wrong. He slammed on the brakes, but it was too late. Amid the screeching of tires, they heard a "bang" as the car collided with the boy.

Just before hitting the brakes, John had seen that the boy was Son Goku, and he felt relieved, knowing that everything would be fine.

If it had been an ordinary person, things could have been more complicated. If the person had died, it might have had irreversible consequences for John and Bulma.

Bulma, seeing that they had hit someone, trembled and asked in a shaky voice, "Did we just hit someone? Did we hit someone?!"

John reassured her, "I'll go check. You stay in the car and be careful." He opened the car door and stepped out.

At that moment, Son Goku was holding his head and shouting, "Ow, ow, ow!" Then he saw that the 'monster' that had hit him had gotten out of the car.

He quickly stood up, took out his Power Pole from behind his back, and pointed it at the car. "Monster, you're eating people! Die!" he shouted, ready to strike the car with his Power Pole.

John was startled and quickly stepped in front of the car to protect it.

Son Goku, seeing John blocking his way, took a step back and pointed his Power Pole at John, ready to attack if John admitted to being the monster's accomplice.

John quickly explained, "We're not monsters. This thing is called a car, and my friend is inside. We can't let you damage our car."

As they spoke, they noticed that the person they had hit was unharmed, and Bulma also got out of the car.

Seeing another person emerge from the car, Son Goku tapped the car with his Power Pole, producing a 'bang' sound as the metal surface was struck.

Realizing that this wasn't a monster, Son Goku breathed a sigh of relief.

Finally meeting the protagonist of the Dragon Ball world, John was excited and extended his hand to introduce himself, "Hello, I'm John Doe, and this is my friend, Bulma."

Son Goku, who had only ever seen his grandfather in his life, was surprised to see John offering his hand. He immediately understood that it was a gesture of friendship.

So, Son Goku also extended his hand and placed it in John's, saying, "Hello, I'm Son Goku. You're the first people I've met from the outside world, aside from my grandfather."