A boy living alone in the mountains meets Bulma, who is searching for seven balls said to summon a wish-granting dragon. One of them is a keepsake from Goku's grandfather. Joining her search takes him away from his isolated home and into encounters with people whose ambitions are very different from his own.
The journey makes companions out of people Goku first meets as obstacles, while martial-arts training gives his extraordinary strength something to develop towards. This original television adaptation begins with a search across the world and grows to include tournaments and organised enemies. Z is a separate next adaptation stage.
Master Roshi raises a hand in front of the much larger Ox-King. His sunglasses and small frame make an unusual image of a martial-arts teacher, especially beside the horned figure behind him. Goku's journey brings this range of appearances together; the teacher he seeks out belongs to the same strange world as the people he meets on the road.