General Blue And The Pirate Treasure (追跡!!ブルー将軍,Tsuiseki!! Burū Shōgun, lit. "General Blue's Pursuit!!) is the seventh volume of the original Dragon Ball manga series written by Akira Toriyama. It was released on May 8, 1987 in Japan and in March 2003 for the English version. It continues the General Blue Saga and begins the Commander Red Saga. It also crosses over with Toriyama's previous manga series Dr. Slump.
Only Goku, Bulma and Kuririn stand between the Red Ribbon Army and the seven Dragon Balls which can grant any wish in the world! Using a submarine loaned by Kame-Sen'nin, the heroic trio explores a pirate's undersea cave in search of the next Dragon Ball, but gun-toting bad guys are on their tail! Now they must face not only perilous pirate traps but the sinister General Blue, a martial artist with powers even Goku doesn't have! Can they escape the cave alive? As the battle continues, Goku and General Blue go to Penguin Village, the home of the weird scientist Dr. Slump and one of the strangest places on Earth![1]
Story[]
This section, or a part of it, has been transcluded from Bulma Returns; any changes involving it should be made there instead. /
Legend says whoever gathers the seven magical "Dragon Balls" will be granted any one wish. Son Goku, a young boy from the mountains, first heard the legend from a city girl named Bulma. After many dangerous adventures with Bulma, Goku trained under the great martial artist Kame-Sen'nin and competed in the "Strongest Under the Heavens" fighting tournament. Afterwards, Goku resumed his quest for the Dragon Balls, only to find that a powerful enemy, the Red Ribbon Army, was also searching for them. Now, Goku and his friends have gone Dragon Ball-hunting in a pirates' cave—but the bad guys are right behind them![1]
Volume introduction by Akira Toriyama[]
"Just recently, I had a kid. A boy. I've finally become a father. I think I'm a little disappointed that my wife and I can't go off and have fun any more, without a care in the world, atleast not as easily as we used to. But once he's a little older, the three of us can go places together, and more of all, he's really cute, so I forgive him. Besides, I can use my child makes as an good excuse to go to the toy store. So as a result, I'm helping to change diapers while I draw."[1]
Son Goku - Monkey-tailed young Goku has always been stronger than normal. His grandfather Gohan gave him the nyoibō, a magic staff and Kame-Sen'nin gave him the kinto'un, a magic flying cloud. However, the kinto'un was recently destroyed by Colonel Silver, forcing Goku to find alternative means of transportation!
Kuririn - Goku's former martial arts schoolmate under Kame-Sen'nin.
Bulma - A genius inventor, Bulma met Goku on her quest for the seven magical Dragon Balls.
Lunch - A strange woman whose personality changes whenever she sneezes
General Blue - One of the leaders of the Red Ribbon Army. He is very cruel, but likes to keep things neat and tidy.
Arale - A robot built by Dr. Norimaki. She lives in a very weird place called Penguin Village.
Senbei Norimaki - An inventor who manages to create incredible things, such a x-ray glasses, time machines and Arale. Unfortunately, his inventions often go wrong, which earns him the nickname "Dr. Slump."
Kame-Sen'nin (The "Turtle Hermit") - A lecherous but powerful old man martial artist master (also known as the muten-rôshi, or "Invincible Old Master") who trained Goku's grandfather, Son Gohan, as well as Goku himself. He taught Goku the kamehameha attack.
Commander Red - The ultimate authority of the Red Ribbon Army, he wants to gather all the Dragon Balls so that his wish can be granted.
Original Title: ブルー将軍の誤算 Burū Shōgun no Gosan, lit. "General Blue's Miscalculation"
The Red Ribbon army are proceeding to question Roshi about the Dragon Radar, at the same time Launch is brought out, and are told that if they don’t cooperate they’ll be beaten. So Roshi does just that by attacking his interrogator and the rest of the troops, their guns useless to him as he catches all of them. He’s stopped however when one of the remaining troops holds Launch at gunpoint but luckily Turtle comes in and makes Launch sneeze making her blonde Launch, allowing her to fight and beat her capture. At the same time, Blue continues to chase after Goku and the others through the underwater cavern as the trio decides to make a run for it on the surface.
Original Title: 海賊たちの罠 Kaizokutachi no Wana, lit. "The Pirate's Trap"
As the trio continues to walk through the cave Goku spots and turns on the switch revealing lights and pirate skeletons, as Krillin explains that this cave is the hideout of pirates who hid their treasure here. As they continue they spot a hallway that shoots spears out of it so with a mighty leap Goku and Krillin are able to jump to the over end, the latter all most not making it. Goku gets Bulma across using his power pole. At the same time, Blue sends his troops to run after the trio only for them to all get impales by the spears in the hallway leaving only Blue left. At the same time, the trio has arrived at the pirate hideout revealing a massive underwater port.
Original Title: 海賊港の伏兵, Kaizoku Minato no Fukuhei; lit. "Ambush in the Pirate Harbor"
As Goku and the gang are exploring the pirate lair while General Blue is waiting for his moment in jumping them a large mechanical alien-shaped robot appears to defend the lair. Attacking the trio Goku and Krillin attack the machine, Krillin breaking its sword while Goku repeatedly punches the thing to no prevail. Goku has Krillin protect Bulma, as Goku continues his fight, with him successfully knocking the machine into the water. At the same time, Krillin and Bulma run down another hallway, as Blue gives chase. Back with Goku, the robot using his tail drags Goku underwater and electrocutes him, but he’s able to break free and get back to the surface. Then using his power poll gets to the top of a building before diving right onto the robot destroying it. Back with Bulma and Krillin thanks to Goku’s final attack the headquarters is beginning to fall apart as Bulma creates an arrow in the sand to where they’ll be. The Blue changes the direction of the arrow as he follows which is successfully able to trick Goku.
Original Title: お宝発見 Otakara Hakken, lit. "The Treasure is Discoverd"
Bulma and Krillin find an underwater passageway at the end of the hallway as they swim down, as Blue follows close behind. At the same time, Goku running down the other hallway reaches a dead end before falling down a trap door which lands him right on top of a giant octopus. Through some hilarious hijinks, Goku is knocked back and forth by the 8 armed jerk before Goku destroys it with a Kamehameha. Back with Bulma the two resurface and discover a large cavern with the pirate chest filled the brim with priceless diamonds and gold. But before they can admire anymore Blue makes his presence heard, and while Bulma is infatuated with him, Blue does not share the same feelings, as Blue, and Krillin fights only for Blue to beat Krillin to the ground, but the young fighter is not going down easily. Meanwhile, Goku is quickly making his way toward his friends.
Original Title: 光るブルーの眼 Hikaru Burū no Me, lit. "Blue's Shining Eyes"
Krillin prepares his next attack by jumping in the air and successfully kicking Blue in the face bleeding him. Angered and upset with allowing himself to be hurt Blue retaliates with his secret technique, paralyzing Krillin with his glance preventing him from moving. Blue precedes to beat Krillin further and goes in for the kill by crushing him with a rock but before he can Goku bursts from the water behind ready to fight. Despite Blue’s skills, he’s unable to land a blow on Goku as the young fighter beats him to the ground. So Blue paralyzes Goku with his stare, as Blue goes in for the kill.
Original Title: 大脱出!! Daidasshutsu!!, lit. "The Great Escape"
Blue continues to attack Goku unable to do anything with his body frozen as Blue plans on shooting the young fighter to death. He offers to leave however if Bulma tells him where the Dragonball is which she says is in the small pool behind her. But despite this Blue still goes in for the kill only to be scared by a rat, breaking Blue’s concentration and unfreezing Goku as he one-shots Blue into the ceiling. With the threat over the cavern and lair beginning to crumble around them, Krillin and Bulma go to leave as Goku stays behind to get the Dragonball which he finds at the button of the pool, and upon leaving Goku saves the rat that saved him earlier as he races to the exit. Meanwhile, Blue wakes up and tries to take the treasure.
Original Title: 逃げろや逃げろ!! Nigero ya Nigero!!, lit. "Get Out, Get Out!!"
The lair is about to collapse but Goku makes it back at the last second getting in Bulma’s submarine as the gang leave as fast as they can. However, the exit is collapsing too quickly and escape seems possible but Goku has Bulma open the roof allowing Goku to repel them to the surface with a Kamehameha and as the trio is falling to the ground Goku summons flying Nimbus to fly them to safety. Back on land Bulma reveals she got her hand on a large diamond from the treasure, however she has no intention to tag along with Goku because of the Red-Ribbon army’s involvement so the three of them decide to go back to Roshi’s place. Meanwhile Blue survived the collapse and secretly gives chase to our heroes.
Original Title: 奪われた3個の龍球 Ubawareta Sanko no Doragon Bōru, lit. "The Three Stolen Dragon Balls"
Back at Roshi’s place while everyone is fantasizing over the diamond blonde hair Launch at gunpoint steals the diamond and flies away via Bulma’s hover copter. Before anyone can give chase Blue arrives and ambushes are characters with a rope that latches around are characters preventing them from moving. To make matters even worse he steals all the Dragonballs and leaves a bomb rigged to blow before leaving. Hope seems lost but before the bomb goes off Launch (now blue-haired) returns and is able to free Goku allowing him to chuck the bomb far away and leave to get the balls back.
Original Title: 追ってペンギン村! Otte Pengin Mura!, lit. "Chased to Penguin Village!"
Goku is successfully able to catch up to Blue as their chase leads them to Penguin Village from Toriyama’s previous series Dr. Slump. Goku tries to destroy Blue’s jet with his power poll but is able to swerve before using his rocket engine to blow Goku off Flying Nimbus onto the ground. However, Blue’s victory is short-lived as he accidentally crashes his jet into a mountain leaving him stranded. Goku is able to land successfully and comes face to face with Arale and Gatchan at their place. Goku goes to leave on his flying Nimbus as Arale and Gatchan entice by the flying cloud and give chase.
Original Title: こわれたドラゴンレーダー Kowareta Doragon Reidā, lit. "The Broken Dragon Radar"
As Blue is recovering from his crash he spots Goku flying by so he hides and decides to find a vehicle to get back to headquarters. Back to Goku, while he’s looking through the wreckage of the jet Arale and Gatchan catch up to him, leaving Goku shocked by how fast she is. Meanwhile, Blue while trying to steal a vehicle encounters Suppaman in his car, where he threatens to attack him if he doesn’t leave. But Blue is able to scare him after crushing the nearby phone booth, which leads to Suppaman fearfully telling Blue where he can find a plane to leave. Back at the wreckage Goku decides to use the radar to find the balls but it’s broken so Arele offers to have her creator Dr. Slump fix it, so with that, the 4 rides the Nimbus to his place. It’s here where Goku meets the titular title character and Midori. Dr. Slump agrees to fix the radar shocked to find someone smarter than him (Bulma). At the same time, General Blue arrives.
Original Title: 奪われたドラゴンレーダー Ubawareta Doragon Reidā, lit. "The Stolen Dragon Radar"
Dr. Slump is successfully able to fix the radar much to everyone’s joy, but the joy is short-lived as Blue makes his presence heard, threatening Arale, and before Goku can attack Blue once again freezes him with his glance. With the obstacles out of the way, Blue steals the radar and plans on leaving with Slump’s plane but not before beating Goku and about to kill him with a palm tree. Before he can Slump in a panic sicks Arale on him as she precedes to kick him into the air and repeatedly head butt him into the sky with her incredible childlike strength. With Blue gone Goku recovers and is able to get the Dragonballs back, unfortunately, Blue had the radar on him. Luckily Turbo using telekinesis is able to build a new one which allows Goku to continue his search. Meanwhile, Blue contacts headquarters from the middle of the desert.
Goku’s search leads him to the forest where a native American chief Bora is defending his land from the Red-Ribbon army troops led by Colonel Yellow. Bora is able to fend them off the enemy bullets unable to harm him Yellow escapes via Biplane however he was able to steal Bora’s son Uppa to goad Bora into an ultimatum for the Dragonballs. But before he can Goku arrives and is able to one-shot yellow and save Uppa. Meanwhile back at Headquarters Red having enough of Goku’s interventions has Black contact Mercenary Taopaipai.
Battles[]
Master Roshi & Launch vs. Captain Dark & Red Ribbon Army Corps
General Blue vs. Electric Eel
Goku and Krillin vs. Pirate Robot
Goku vs Captain Yellow
Krillin vs. General Blue
Goku vs. General Blue
Taro, Gala, Pagos, Charmy Yamada, Polly Buckets & Gyaosu vs. King Nikochan & his assistant (Inside of their ship)
Goku vs. General Blue
Arale vs. General Blue
Differences from the anime[]
General Blue's homosexuality was made slightly more apparent in the anime, including having him flirt with Obotchaman as well as explicitly admit his distaste for girls when encountering Arale. In the manga, he was merely assumed to be homosexual by Bulma and Krillin due to his rejecting her advances, with Blue's reaction towards their deductions making it ambiguous as to whether it was true.
General Blue ambushed the Dragon Team immediately after Launch's departure while they were outdoors in the manga, while in the anime, he waited until they were indoors before he acted on ambushing them. On a similar note, the anime had Blue executing the remaining soldier at his camp before pursuing Bulma, Goku, and Krillin, while the manga had him immediately pursuing them upon returning to camp.