Goku

Son Goku ( Son Gokū), born Kakarot (カカロット Kakarotto), is the main protagonist of the Dragon Ballmetaseries. Goku is a Saiyan originally sent to destroy Earth as an infant. However, a head injury at an early age alters his memory, ridding him of his initial destructive nature and allowing him to grow up to become one of Earth's greatest defenders. He constantly strives and trains to be the greatest warrior possible, which has kept the Earth and the universe safe from destruction many times.

Appearance
Goku is the spitting-image of his father, Bardock, possessing the same spiky black hairstyle, dark-colored eyes, and facial features. However, he has softer eyes, a kind demeanor, and a lighter-pale skin complexion from his mother, Gine. Goku's most distinguishing physical characteristic is his hair. He has three bangs hanging to the right of his forehead and two bangs hanging to the left. His hair also stands up in the front with four spikes and three bangs in the back (later in the anime he has five spikes in the front and four in the back). Goku was born with the signature tail of the Universe 7 Saiyans, which was long and prehensile with brown fur. It was removed and regrown multiple times in his early childhood, but his late teens, Goku's tail was permanently removed by Kami in order to prevent his Great Ape transformation.

At age 12, Goku was rather short and appeared even younger than he was, being considered less than 10 years old (people were surprised when learning his actual age). During the next few years, Goku did not go through any physical changes, beyond his muscles becoming more pronounced. By age 15, he began showing noticeable increases in height. By age 18, he had a considerable growth spurt, growing taller than most of his friends and developing a well-built physique. He is also considered very handsome, as noted by various women including Bulma and Heles. His physical changes made him almost indistinguishable from before and was only recognized by his signature naïve personality and "trademark" hairstyle. By age 25, Goku had another growth spurt, and became similar in height to his taller human allies and much more muscular.

Due to his love of training, he is most commonly seen wearing a Gi. Originally, Goku wore an open blue gi secured with a white bow-tied obi over his waist, red wristbands, and dark blue kung fu shoes and also a tank top. After training under Master Roshi, Goku wore the basic Turtle School Uniform; consisting of a closed red gi (later orange) secured by a black knot-tied obi over his waist, blue wristbands, and blue kung fu shoes, with Roshi's kanji on the back and front-left side of his shirt. After training with Kami and Mr. Popo, Goku wore a black short-sleeved undershirt (later dark blue) with this gi and replaced his shoes with dark blue boots with a yellow border and red laces. After training under King Kai, Goku wore King Kai's kanji on the back of his gi shirt. During the Battle on Planet Namek, Goku wore his own kanji on both sides of his gi shirt. During the Android conflict and Majin Buu conflict, Goku wore a more plain version of this gi that lacked any kanji and featured a blue sash-style obi over his waist, as well as the same dark blue undershirt, same wristbands and the same boots from his previous gi, but with a red border and yellow/tan laces. He later retains this outfit throughout most of Dragon Ball Super as he regains his own kanji on both sides of his gi shirt.

During his early training under Whis, Goku wore an orange traditional and loose gi, with Whis' kanji on the front-left of his shirt, that was secured together with a blue obi tied in a knot at the left of his waist. He also wore blue wristbands that cover nearly his entire forearms and blue boots that clasp together on the front of his shins.

In Dragon Ball Super: Broly, Goku returns to wearing a knot-style obi with his regular uniform and "Go" kanji (essentially regaining his Frieza Saga appearance). In addition, to compensate for the wintery climate he is on, he also wears a long blue snow jacket with a high turtleneck, white stripes down his shoulders and arms and bold purple letters of "SAB" over the front-left side of it. It also has black gloves. In the Galactic Patrol Prisoner Saga, Goku is given the emblem of the Galactic Patrol in place of his own on the front of his uniform and also switches back to wearing a sash-style obi.


 * Goku's Grand Minister-style clothes

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When he appears in the Prison Planet Saga, Goku wears an outfit identical to the one Whis gave him, but instead with a Capsule Corp logo. He also wears his blue shirt underneath the gi. In the Universal Conflict Saga, he wears an outfit identical to the Grand Minister's. The attire consists of a dark blue long-sleeved shirt with an orange circle over the chest, with baggy shoulder pads that runs beneath his red-colored belt with his kanji on the round belt-buckle. The shirt is complimented by a matching color pair of jodhpur-like pants, and white boots that run beneath his shins.

By the 28th World Martial Arts Tournament, Goku wears a turquoise gi with a white knot-style obi, orange wristbands, dark green pants, and black kung fu shoes with orange stockings. Despite his fighting gi being his preferred look, Goku is not without other types of wardrobe, such as a suit and tie, casual clothes like blue pants with a button-down red shirt, or an orange and black jacket with a white sleeveless undershirt, light green pants and brown shoes. When returning home to prepare for the androids, Goku wore a outfit similar to one from his youth; a white tank top with periwinkle Chinese pants with a white sash and purplish brown toe shoes and white socks. His farmer attire consists of light beige collared denim jacket with a white scarf around his neck and a charcoal gray short sleeved undershirt, light beige pants with a black belt around his waist and black boots. The sleeves on his jacket has been folded into white cuffs.

In Dragon Ball GT. Goku's skin tone got a noticeable tan. His general outfit is a blue gi with a white knot-style obi, pink wristbands, ochre pants, and black kung fu shoes with white stockings, which overall is very similar to his outfit at the 28th World Martial Arts Tournament. Due to the carelessness of Emperor Pilaf, Goku was wished back into a 12-year-old. While essentially looking the same as he did back then, Goku showed considerably more defined muscle. Later, with the aid of Old Kai, Goku regenerates his tail, which would poke out from his pants. 100 years later at the 64th World Martial Arts Tournament, despite growing back to his physical prime without transforming, he was not still seen with his tail. However, in one ending, he is seen with a tail in adult form. During which, his outfit has dark green pants while his stockings and armbands are yellow. He also wears his Power Pole again.

When re-grown up, GT Goku appears in the Adventure Mode of Extreme Butōden, he wears his classic outfit from Dragon Ball Super. In Dragon Ball Minus, an infant Goku was seen wearing a standard Battle Armor of the Frieza Army when being sent to Earth. It is a full body model with a dark-colored chest protection and light-colored outward-pointing pads on his shoulders and at the hips that hang over his upper legs. He also wore dark jumpsuit shorts and light boots with dark legging and also dark armguards.

Personality
Originally as an infant Saiyan, Goku was very timid, constantly crying for attention. Goku was then programmed with intense hostility to carry out his mission of eradicating all sentient life on Earth. When found by Grandpa Gohan, he was unruly and aggressive, wanting nothing to do with the elder, although this was seemingly only when worked up as when initially found by Gohan, he quickly took a liking to the old man. However, after the head injury that caused him to lose his instinctual aggression, Goku became well-known for his energetic and caring personality traits he inherited from his mother Gine. He was taught to be respectful to others by Grandpa Gohan. He takes most situations in stride, he rarely lets things get him worked up; he quickly got over losing his tail each time. He is however not without fear. Goku is shown to be submissive to overbearing women like Bulma and Chi-Chi, even to the point of Master Roshi jokingly declaring that for all his universal-class might, he is terrified of his wife. In the anime, he also has aichmophobia; a crippling fear of needles. He is not beyond feeling sorrow, most noticeably seen from the loss of his grandfather. He is not above feeling shame, as he regrets to his lack of maturity as a person despite all the teachers who have helped him and likewise wants to make his loved-ones proud of him. He also shows genuine concern for the well-being of those close to him. When Master Roshi seemingly died against Ganos, Goku frantically rushed to his aid, desperate to save his mentor and shed tears of joy when he managed to revive him.

He is well-noted for his love of any food, even by Saiyan standards, which can be comical at times. When hypnotized while facing "Jackie Chun", Bulma told Goku dinner was ready, instantly waking him up. Like most Saiyans, Goku loves combat and to challenge strong opponents. As such Goku rarely shows nervousness or fear when fighting. While not arrogant in his abilities (especially compared to Vegeta), Goku has a tendency to be too relaxed and recklessly challenge anyone he views as strong to a fight. Despite his fighting spirit, he is at heart a pacifist as he often spares his enemies, trying to avoid hurting or even killing people if possible and never using more strength than necessary. He also strongly believes that people can change for the better, as he spared Vegeta after killing most of Goku's allies. This combined with his naturally gentle nature can lead to him letting his guard down.

Goku is pure of heart, possessing no negative feelings or thoughts. He is highly loyal to his friends and family, even willing to sacrifice himself to save others as he did against Raditz and Cell. He strongly believes in repaying debts, as he gave the then-evil Vegeta a senzu bean for technically saving Gohan and Krillin from the Ginyu Force. He is a man of his word, committed to keeping his promise no matter what; a prime example being giving the Omni-King a friend even more fun than himself. He has a very practical and carefree view of life and his goals are very simple; he only seeks new adventures and challenges like testing his limits as a warrior. He has no interest in luxury or high-ranking positions as he rejected Kami's offer to become Guardian of Earth and likewise Whis' offer to become the next Universe 7 God of Destruction, though the latter was mainly due to his morality making him unsuitable for it. At the same time, he shows such unwavering will and tenacity to succeed, always determined to never give up against any adversity.

Goku has been noted several times to have a special effect on people. His genuine compassion for others and love of life in its most simple nature is capable of inspiring them to change somewhat for the better, even causing several of his enemies to become his allies. He convinced the amoral and self-absorbed God of Destruction Beerus that Earth was worth keeping around. He made the reserved assassin Hit smile in genuine happiness, viewing Goku as an equal. He piqued the interest and became a friend of Grand Zeno, the most powerful being in the multiverse, due to his similar childlike, innocent personality. He made the immensely independent Jiren acknowledge Goku's view of companionship and sought to learn from Goku's example. He even made the spiteful and sadistically greedy Frieza come to truly respect Goku despite his long-standing hatred of the Saiyan after their brief alliance.

He has shown such innocence since childhood, mainly because of spending most of his childhood on Mount Paozu in isolation, apart from the first few years of his life with his grandfather, and spending his adolescence traveling the world to sharpen his combat skills. This lack of social experience and proper education growing up (apart from the basic education from Master Roshi) left him rather ignorant in many things outside of battle and had little development in emotional maturity. During his childhood, he originally had difficulty telling the difference between a male and a female without physically touching them, which often got him in trouble.

His lack of emotional maturity has also left him somewhat naïve, which often makes many incorrectly assume him to be somewhat stupid. His direct and carefree approach, combined with often taking things to face-value. Acting very much on instinct most of the time, Goku can be very blunt from as he expresses himself. Despite this, Goku is remarkably effective at applying himself once properly motivated, able to quickly comprehend the situation and likewise learn the basics of anything presented to him, if not master it. When taking a firsthand experience, Goku is shown to be incredibly perceptive and intuitive, quickly able to analyze the situation and formulate an effective countermeasure. Very methodical and tactical in his approach, he even saw through the limits of higher grades of Super Saiyan and chose to instead refine his normal Super Saiyan form, impressing even his rival Vegeta at the crafty and innovative idea.

He has a remarkable intuition to see the good in others in spite of their actions, though his compassion and willingness to forgive can have often been criticized as excessive even to a fault and has led to harm and death to those he cares about in extreme occasions. At the same time, for all his morally driven nature, Goku can show animosity towards those he believes have earned it, such as Mercenary Tao and Frieza for killing Bora and Krillin respectively, a trait he seemed to inherit from his father Bardock. Overall, Goku only kills his enemies when he feels it is necessary or if they are beyond redemption. While viewed by many as a very honorable man of heroic nature, he openly never actually considers himself a savior, but rather simply refuses to let innocent people or animals get hurt, as his adoptive grandfather taught him. Ultimately, this is one of his greatest drives in life, constantly pushing him beyond his limits. Whenever his friends are threatened or harmed, Goku abandons nearly all mercy for the foe, as the mortal-wound to Piccolo and loss of his best friend Krillin against Frieza allowed Goku to unleash Super Saiyan on the tyrant.

Another problem stemming from his lack of proper education, Goku had little understanding of adult responsibilities. As a result, he spent most of his marriage without a job, instead of being supported by his prize-winnings from the World Martial Arts Tournaments and the Ox-King's wealth. This limited education also was seen from his struggling in the written test for the Tournament of Destroyers. Overall, both his children have shown a better understanding of general matters as Chi-Chi ensured that Gohan and Goten had a well-educated background. While Chi-Chi later made Goku take up a job as a farmer, Goku is regularly shown with little interest in it, often looking for excuses to get out of work to train instead. This mostly stems from his Saiyan-nature, instinctively desiring combative challenges.

Goku has little modesty and is not at all concerned about public nudity (though later came to have a better appreciation for it). His simple nature rarely exhibits lustful feelings and thus little interest in women (with the exception of his wife). As a result, seduction tactics have no effect on him. While he is not normally reckless, he occasionally makes decisions without properly thinking them through, such as when he went to discuss the Tournament of Power with the Omni-Kings despite Beerus warning him of the potential consequences of meeting with the amoral supreme rulers. While technically considerate in nature and never intentionally rude, Goku tends to not show proper respect to people of high authority; the most notable example being his casual interactions with the Omni-Kings and the Grand Minister (even though they do not mind), much to the shock and disgust of numerous Gods and Kais. Goku can be insensitive at times, as shown by his willingness to promise Old Kai naked photos of Bulma, without consideration for either Bulma or her husband Vegeta (though he rationalized it as for the sake of Earth's survival to enlist Old Kai's aid).

He enjoys meeting new people and learning about/from them. Despite this and genuine compassion for others, Goku's ignorance at times comes off as a lack feeling familial ties, but rather views his family simply as companions.[22] He is rarely seen romantic or intimate with Chi-Chi and mainly married her because he promised, although once learning marriage means living with someone forever, openly liked the idea with Chi-Chi. He even cited her feistiness and passion as traits endearing to him. He will often leave his family for long periods, and though normally for noble reasons, such as maintaining his strength for the protection of the world, Goku does not realize its negative affect on his family and friends. Despite this, he consistently expresses his appreciation for his family, as after completing his training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber to face Cell, he chose to spend the remaining time with his family rather than training more. Goku desires for his children to follow in his footsteps as a fighter but he is generally accepting of their choices in lifestyle so long as they are happy and healthy. Overall, his love for his family have been a constant boost to his performance in battle. Also, Goku was very happy to learn he was going to be a grandfather, to which he later enjoyed taking care of his baby granddaughter Pan and grew very concerned when she disappeared. Against Goku Black, when learning that the rogue god murdered his family in spite from their initial encounter, despite it only happening in the original timeline, Goku's righteous rage let him pummel Black and Future Zamasu simultaneously.

Goku's love for his adoptive grandfather has constantly been the most emotional and influential aspect of his life, even long after the old man's death and as shown by Goku's reaction to each time they met again in Gohan's afterlife. Even after learning they were not blood-related or even the same race, Goku still considers the old man his family, as shown by his great sorrow and shame when realizing that he killed the kind man as a Great Ape, apologizing deeply to him and hoping for forgiveness when next they meet. Goku's bond towards his grandfather made him cherish the Power Pole and the 4-Star Dragon Ball that he left his grandson behind as the only material objects of real worth to him. As a child, he even came to believe that the Dragon Ball housed the old man's spirit as he would speak it often, possibly as a coping mechanism to deal with his loss of his only known family. Goku was happy to meet all who were close to his grandfather and even delighted when his firstborn son reacted positively to being named after the elder.

While considering himself an Earthling more than Saiyan, in battle, he tends to think more like a typical Universe 7 Saiyan. Once a fight begins, he desires to see it through to the end to truly determine who is the winner. Even while battling Frieza on the self-destructing Planet Namek, he chose to finish his fight with Frieza even when offered the chance to escape through the Namekian Dragon Balls, believing that Frieza had to be defeated by his hand rather than random chance. He is also dissatisfied when foes do not use their full might. While valuing his friends' loyalty and willing to accept help when the need comes, he prefers to face his challenges solo, determined to prove his might against the given foe. He openly showed dislike at originally acquiring Super Saiyan God through the aid of others rather than by his own merit. At the same time, he admits that the true growth of his being came from the support and connection he gained from others. His warrior mentality can be reckless at times. Against Cell, Goku chose to focus the majority of his efforts training Gohan in the goal of unlocking his son's dormant capacities to defeat Cell, forgetting that Gohan was even gentler than him. Likewise, for an unrestricted fight against Hit, Goku willingly risked his life by hiring Hit to kill him to fight him at his best. Goku is also willing to recruit help from his greatest of enemies like Frieza as he needed a strong tenth ally for the Tournament of Power though he himself acknowledged that it was a risky move and Vegeta noted that Goku wouldn't have done it under normal circumstances as the universes were at stake.

At the same time, however, this ambition for the new generations stems from his humble concern that his friends and family have become too dependent on his might. He rationalizes his willingness to put the children in the spotlight of battle due to the fact that he will not always be around to help. He believes that the new generation needs to become stronger in order to protect the Earth from future threats. However, he is not without a personal goal behind it. Realizing the potential might of people like Gohan and Uub, he is excited by the idea of facing such might once realized. At the same time, Goku tries to keep people away from the battlefield if he feels it will be too dangerous for them as he during the battle against the resurrected Frieza, Goku ordering Goten and Trunks to leave the battlefield to avoid the Tyrant's brutality with Vegeta agreeing.

Goku seems to think very little of his Saiyan heritage, since he was too young to remember his parents and have never learned the good traits of them. Furthermore, when Goku first discovered his Saiyan heritage, he rejected it out of horror and disgust at being from a race of vicious killers, though he ultimately embraced his heritage after Vegeta's dying words against Frieza on Namek had inspired him to avenge the loss of all those killed by Frieza, including his Saiyan race. Despite since, Goku has preferred to go by his human name, although he has made Vegeta a sole exception because he knew that the latter will never change his mind on that. By Broly, Goku has embraced his Saiyan heritage enough that he was willing told Broly his Saiyan name and requested that that Broly refer to him as it. In Xenoverse 2, despite his little love for his evil brother, he showed an interest in learning more about his parents. When learning that the Future Warrior is training under his father, Goku showed an interest in meeting him, even bringing his family.

Goku's most unique relationship is with fellow-Saiyan Vegeta. Their rivalry is mostly one-sided as Goku is generally friendly towards Vegeta and recognizes his abilities as a fighter, although Goku does get competitive with Vegeta as seen from learning that Vegeta left without him to train under Whis. While Goku and Vegeta have trouble working together, due to their conflicting personalities and Vegeta's continued desire to best Goku, they both respect and motivate each other to grow stronger, ultimately becoming close and loyal friends outside their competitive nature. Also, Goku is not above teasing him and tends to admonish Vegeta's brutality towards enemies as shown when he criticizes Vegeta for killing the Ginyu Force, though this was mainly due to Vegeta killing incapacitated opponents.

Background
Goku was named Kakarot at birth. In the manga, Kakarot was born on Planet Vegeta three years before its destruction, while in the anime Goku was born shortly before the destruction of the planet. When Frieza destroyed Planet Vegeta, Goku survived as he was being sent to Earth. After landing on Earth, the young Saiyan was found in the woods by an old man named Gohan and became his adopted grandson. Grandpa Gohan names him "Son Goku".

Jaco the Galactic Petrolman
Kakarot had been inside his incubation chamber for three years since his birth when his father Bardock and his mother Gine decide to release him. Bardock makes the decision to send Kakarot away to Earth in an Attack Ball since he is worried about Frieza's ambitions. Frieza destroys Planet Vegeta a month after Kakarot has been sent away.

Days later after being sent to Earth, Kakarot lands in Mount Paozu. While there, he is found by an elderly man, Gohan. He takes him in and feeds the newly found alien. Kakarot is eating when he is given the name "Son Goku".

Between Jaco and Dragon Ball
At first, Goku was extremely violent and ill-tempered, not obeying Gohan at all, but one day he fell down a deep ravine and hit his head, suffering severe head trauma that sent him into a coma and very nearly killed him and caused him to suffer long-term amnesia. After he woke up, he had lost all of his Saiyan aggression due to not remembering his mission, becoming a kind and mild-mannered young boy. His Grandpa Gohan taught him martial arts and told him about such things as the city and people, as they lived in a very remote place in Mount Paozu, with no communication with other people.

Gohan one day discovered Goku's full moon transformation, and thus told him to never look at the full moon. However, one night Goku did, and he transformed into a Great Ape, causing him to unknowingly kill Gohan. After his grandpa's death, Goku stayed at his home, carrying out his daily life of survival. From a young age, Goku developed the impression that his birth parents abandoned him in the mountains as a baby, leaving him for Grandpa Gohan to discover.

Dragon Ball
Goku is introduced in the Dragon Ball manga and anime at 12 years of age (initially, he claims to be 14, but it is later clarified during the Tournament Saga that this is because Goku had trouble counting), as a young boy living in obscurity on Mount Paozu. Goku owns the Power Pole and the four-star Dragon Ball, inheritances from his grandfather. One day, after doing his daily chores, Goku is hit by a car when on his way home after catching a Giant Fish. Having never seen a car before, he assumes it is a monster attacking him. When the driver shoots Goku with a gun, she becomes scared after seeing that it hardly does any damage and surrenders, revealing herself to be a Human girl, named Bulma. Goku states that he has never seen a girl before and that the only human he has seen in his life is his deceased grandfather.

Goku takes Bulma to his house, where she ends up discovering his four star Dragon Ball. However, Goku does not want Bulma touching it since it is precious to him, so Bulma decides to let Goku to join her on a quest to collect all seven Dragon Balls to summon the Dragon, not revealing to him that the Dragon Balls would be scattered across the Earth once they succeeded. Later that night, when camping in Bulma's Capsule House, Goku is introduced to various technology such as Television, lights and even a bath. Early the next morning, Goku is surprised when he learns a bit about the anatomy of women after he takes Bulma's underwear off while she is sleeping.

Later that morning, Goku meets Turtle, whom he decides to take back to the ocean, forcing Bulma to come along. After defeating a Bear Thief who wants to eat the turtle, they make it to the beach, where he meets his future master, the turtle hermit, Master Roshi. When the turtle hermit meets them, he rewards Goku with a flying cloud called the Flying Nimbus, that only allows people of pure heart to ride it, with which Goku has no difficulty. Bulma also receives the three star Dragon Ball out of this, in exchange for showing the old horn-dog her underwear (however, she is actually nude, because Goku had pulled them off the night before).

Three days later, Goku and Bulma end up in Aru Village, which is under control by an evil shape-shifter named Oolong, who kidnaps the villagers' daughters. After Goku fails to impersonate Pochawompa in an attempt to find the location of Oolong's hideout, he decides to face Oolong head on. After chasing him outside the village, Goku manages to capture him, forcing Oolong to give the villagers back their daughters. Afterward, they are rewarded the six star Dragon Ball and Oolong is forced to join Goku and Bulma on their quest. While crossing the Diablo Desert on their way to Fire Mountain, Goku fights a bandit named Yamcha, who is friends with a former classmate of Oolong, named Puar. Goku and Yamcha have a duel, and Yamcha is surprised when Goku brings out his Power Pole, learning that he is the grandson of the legendary martial artist, Gohan. After nearly losing to Yamcha's Wolf Fang Fist due to hunger, Bulma awakens, causing Yamcha to flee due to of his fear of women. Later that night, Goku and the others stay the night in Oolong's House-Wagon, where Goku tells Oolong about the Dragon Balls while Yamcha and Puar hide outside and listen, also learning of the mystical spheres. The next morning, Goku fights Yamcha again after he destroys the House-Wagon and attempts to rob them. Goku knocks out his opponent's tooth and Yamcha, in a false display of apology, gives them a car that secretly has a tracking device for him to follow them.

Two days later, the gang ends up at Fire Mountain, where Goku ends up fighting the Ox-King after he attempts to kill Bulma and Oolong. After Goku summons the Flying Nimbus, the Ox-King stops fighting and tells Goku that the man who gave Goku that cloud is the same master that taught him. In an effort to douse the fire surrounding the Ox-King's castle at the top of the mountain, Goku is sent to retrieve the Bansho Fan from Master Roshi after picking up the Ox-King's daughter, Chi-Chi. When they arrive at Master Roshi's Island, he tells them that he accidentally threw the fan out and decides to come there himself and put out the flames. When they get back to Fire Mountain, Master Roshi uses a technique called the Kamehameha to put out the flames, unfortunately destroying the mountain as well. Much to Master Roshi's surprise, Goku immediately imitates the wave and makes one big enough to destroy their car. While Bulma and Oolong find the Dragon Ball in the rubble, Master Roshi asks that Goku trains with him after finishing his quest for the Dragon Balls.

On their way to the last Dragon Ball, they take a break at a town which is ruled by a gang known as the Rabbit Mob. While there, Goku and Bulma get into trouble with the Rabbit Mob, but Goku defeats their leader, Monster Carrot with the help of Yamcha. When they get back on the road, they are attacked by a robot piloted by Shu, who steals five of their Dragon Balls. Luckily, though, Goku insists on keeping his four-star ball with him instead of with the rest of the Dragon Balls. Yamcha gives them a lift to Pilaf's Castle to get them back. However, once they arrive, they get locked in a room filled with sleeping gas, where Goku's four-star Dragon Ball is stolen.

When they wake up, Emperor Pilaf summons Shenron and tries to use the wish to rule the world, but his plan is foiled when Oolong interferes and wishes for a pair of panties after getting out from a small hole made by Goku's Kamehameha. After trying to escape, the gang is placed into a special cell that will fry them when the sun comes out. Goku ends up looking at the full moon that night, causing him to turn into a Great Ape and destroy the cell along with the rest of Pilaf's castle. Seeing Goku out of control in the ape form, Yamcha grabs Goku's tail and has Puar turn into a pair of scissors to cut Goku's tail off, causing him to revert to his normal form. The next morning, Oolong begins to speculate that Goku is not a human, raising the question of whether he is "some kinda space alien." Declining the offer of his new friends to come with them to West City, Goku bids them goodbye to train with Roshi. While flying off on the Nimbus, Goku cheerfully says the world is an amazing place.

After finishing his quest for the Dragon Balls, Goku leaves Bulma and the others in order to train with Master Roshi. Roshi agrees to train Goku, but only if he finds him a pretty girl. After failing to bring him a decent girl, another wannabe student named Krillin arrives on the island, also wanting to train under Roshi, and assists Goku. After Goku fights off some Police officers, while Krillin cowers behind him, they finally return with a girl with a split personality named Launch.

Satisfied with Launch, Roshi then brings Goku and Krillin to his special Training Island to train them. They are put through very strange training that seems like it has nothing to do with martial arts, such as milk delivering to increase stamina, construction work for strength, swimming away from killer sharks, dodging bee stings, all while wearing very heavy Turtle Shells. After the hard work, the two develop into two of the most powerful fighters on Earth. The huge boulder Roshi showed the boys much earlier they could not push, they can now push, much to Roshi's surprise. After eight months of training, Roshi brings them to Papaya Island to compete in the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament to test their training. Upon their arrival, Goku is reunited with his friends Bulma, Yamcha, Oolong and Puar. Goku gets through the elimination rounds easily without even trying (even he is surprised at his remarkable new power) and makes it to the main tournament.

In the tournament, he is put up against a Gira named Giran in the quarterfinals. Goku struggles with the beast when he is trapped in Giran's Merry-Go-Round Gum, but his tail grows back causing him to break free and win the match, with Giran forfeiting from being scared of the young boy's power. In the semifinals he is put up against a warrior named Nam. Goku and Nam take the battle into the air, and each is almost knocked off the ring. Just before Goku is knocked out by Nam's Cross Arm Dive, Goku dodges and kicks him out of the ring. In the final round Goku battles with defending Champion Jackie Chun (really Master Roshi in disguise). During the battle, Goku turns back into a Great Ape and starts destroying the stadium. Jackie Chun who cannot leave the arena because they are still fighting destroys the Moon to revert Goku to his normal form. The two continue their match, both losing their energy at a rapid rate. Goku ends up losing the match and learns that he should always continue to train because there are always people out there who are more powerful.

After coming runner up in the World Martial Arts Tournament, Goku is told by Master Roshi that he should go out and see the world, and Goku decides that he will use this opportunity to search of his grandfather's Four-Star Dragon Ball. At the beginning of his quest he helps save Nam's Village by accompanying him to Giran's Village in order to get the river flowing again. After completing this task, he decides to go skinny dipping in an oasis where he gets his Dragon Radar stolen by a homeless kid that sells it to an Antique Store in a nearby town. Once Goku gets there and gets his radar back, he confronts Emperor Pilaf, who is holding the four star Dragon Ball. After chasing Pilaf to his flying fortress, Goku receives the ball finding out that it is fake. While following the radar's signal he ends up meeting back up with Chi-Chi who had a wedding prepared for them. Goku and Chi-Chi quickly go together back to the Ox-King's Village to find that an organization called the Red Ribbon Army has attacked. Goku and Chi-Chi fight off the troops until they fled. Goku leaves Chi-Chi and the Ox-King in a hurry to go and chase them. He ends up in the Desert where he gets into Pilaf's flying fortress while the Red Ribbon Army was attacking it. After Pilaf's fortress is destroyed, Goku is caught in the explosion and wakes up in a forest where he meets a family of monkeys. After Goku finds the Dragon Ball, he battles Colonel Silver, who destroyed his Flying Nimbus. Goku easily defeats Silver, and knocks him out with his tail.

After seeing that the Dragon Ball he found was not his grandfather's Four-Star Ball, he has one of the army's auto pilot droids fly him to the next Dragon Ball. The plane crashes when the droid freezes, and Goku freezes, unable to move.[53] He is then taken to Jingle Village by a girl named Suno. When he awakens, he hears that the Red Ribbon Army is there as well. Goku goes to their closest base known as Muscle Tower. Once he gets in he easily takes out three soldiers and then battles an android known as Major Metallitron. Goku wins the battle when Metallitron's batteries die and proceeds to the next floor where he fights the Ninja Murasaki. Goku easily defeats Murasaki and humiliates him, an example when Murasaki lands on Goku's Power Pole. Goku proves to be a difficult match for Murasaki and even his brothers, so he resorts to releasing Android 8. Android 8 ends up befriending Goku instead of fighting him because he dislikes violence, allowing Goku to reach the top of Muscle Tower. General White, the commander of the tower resorts to having his pet monster Buyon eat them, but the creature gets frozen and destroyed. General White is defeated and Goku saves the Jingle Village Chief while obtaining another Dragon Ball that Android 8 was hiding from the army.

Goku finds out from one of the village elders that his nimbus still works and decides to go to West City to have Bulma fix his Dragon Radar that broke. Goku arrives at Bulma's house, Capsule Corporation, and has her fix the radar. Bulma then decides to join Goku on his quest for his Dragon Ball using her new invention the Micro Band. While still in the city Goku meets back up with Yamcha, Oolong, and Puar. They decide to spend the day in the new theme park Dream Land, where they were stalked by a thief hired by the Red Ribbon Army, named Hasky. After being tricked by her she tries to get away with Goku's two Dragon Balls but he captures her and gets them back.

Goku and Bulma travel to the site of the next Dragon Ball which was located at the bottom of the sea. Not having a submarine, Goku and Bulma obtain one from Master Roshi who has Krillin join them. Under the ocean, they find a Pirate Cave, where they are chased by the Red Ribbon Army's strongest operative, General Blue. Goku defeated a Pirate Robot and a giant octopus named Octopapa while Krillin and Bulma were being attacked by Blue. Goku arrives to save them, but Goku is stunned by General Blue's telekinesis. Goku was able to break free when a mouse scares Blue. While the cave began to collapse, Goku quickly grabbed the Dragon Ball and saved his mouse friend and barely escaped with Bulma and Krillin in an old submarine they found. When they arrived back at Kame House, General Blue arrives and uses his telekinesis to tie everybody up and steal the Dragon Balls along with putting a bomb on the island to kill them. Luckily, Launch returned and set Goku free to get rid of the bomb and chase Blue.

Goku ends up chasing General Blue to Gengoro Island, where he crashes in a strange town named Penguin Village. While there Goku meets Arale Norimaki and the Gatchans who try to help Goku look for General Blue and the Dragon Balls. Arale introduces Goku to Taro and Akane who seemed interested in his flying nimbus. Goku searched through Penguin Village and asked many of the residents if they have seen General Blue. Arale takes Goku to her house to have Senbei fix his radar. While at the Norimaki house, General Blue shows up to steal Senbei's plane and fights Goku again. While using his telekinesis again on Goku, Arale surprises Goku by easily defeating him and headbutts General Blue far away. While Goku got his Dragon Balls back, he got his Dragon Radar stolen by Blue. Senbei's son, Turbo uses his powers to create him a new one with parts from Senbei's plane so he can continue his quest.

Goku's next location was the Sacred Land of Korin where he defeats Captain Yellow and finally retrieves his four star Dragon Ball. There, he meets two of the lands natives, a powerful warrior named Bora and his son Upa. Seeing that their best soldiers had failed against Goku, the Red Ribbon Army turned to the world's deadliest assassin, Mercenary Tao, to kill him. Tao arrives to Goku's location and murders Bora with ease. Goku then attacks him. Goku loses against Tao in the battle against his Dodon Ray but survived because the four star ball in his shirt blocked the full force of the blast. While Tao decides to stay in a town for a couple of days, Goku decides to climb Korin Tower to get the Sacred Water of Korin. When he gets to the top, it takes Goku three days to snatch it from him. Goku drinks the water, yet does not feel any different, which Korin explained was not that the water made him stronger, but the training to try and get to it made him stronger. When Tao returns, Goku comes back and defeats him in battle by kicking one of Tao's grenades back at him, thrown after he pretended to give up.

Feeling sad for Upa who lost his father to Tao, Goku decides that he will defeat the entire Red Ribbon Army and gather the Dragon Balls to bring his father back to life. Goku travels to the main Red Ribbon Army Headquarters to defeat them. While Goku is taking out several of the soldiers, Staff Officer Black kills Commander Red after learning that he just wants to be tall and not achieve world domination. Goku fights Black who uses a battle robot, Goku kills him defeating the entire army and gathering six of the Dragon Balls. When Goku leaves the base he sees all of his friends just outside of it ready to help him, but Goku tells them he already defeated them, greatly surprising everyone.

After Goku's victory against the Red Ribbon Army, he is still missing one more Dragon Ball to revive Bora, but for some reason, Bulma's Dragon Radar cannot locate it. Roshi tells Goku about his older sister Baba who can find anything. Goku sets out to Fortuneteller Baba's Palace with Yamcha, Krillin, Upa and Puar. Baba turns out to not be so generous, forcing them to fight her five strongest warriors to get their request. The first two warriors are taken care of by Goku's friends, but Yamcha is defeated by the third warrior, Bandages the Mummy. Goku, the team's last fighter, takes him out along with the fourth fighter, Spike the Devil Man in Devil's Toilet. After that, Goku is put up against the fifth fighter, who seems very familiar to Goku and Roshi (who had joined the group as a spectator). The mysterious fighter ruthlessly whips Goku around by his tail until it simply rips off. Goku then wins the fight, and the fifth fighter is revealed to be his Grandpa Gohan, who was brought back from the Other World for a day. Baba reveals the Dragon Ball to be in a case Emperor Pilaf has. Goku confronts Pilaf in his new robot fused with Shu and Mai's robots and easily defeats them. With all the Dragon Balls in his power, Goku calls Shenron and revives Bora. After the wish is granted, Goku grabs the four-star ball before the others scatter.

Goku prepares for the next World Martial Arts Tournament by going out into the world and training himself by the request of Master Roshi. Goku ends up meeting a girl named Chao and saves her village from two bandits known as Terror and Plague. He later stumbles into a city where he meets Chin Taiken, the master of the Chin-Star School and defeats Sky Dragon, the master of the Panther-Fang School for the title of Master of Martial Arts. Goku goes to Demon Land and saves Princess Misa from Shula with the help of Gola and Melee. Goku later chases after a monster named InoShikaCho that he later finds out is working with two martial artists named Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu in scamming villages. Goku saves InoShikaCho when Tien and Chiaotzu betray him and with the help of Tanmen, he convinces everyone that he is good. After three years are up, Goku begins his travel to Papaya Island but gets a little delayed when his new friend Konkichi gets into trouble with a gang.

By the time the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament starts, Goku is 15 years old (though he still looks younger than 10). Goku's strongest opponent is Tien Shinhan, a warrior trained by Master Roshi's nemesis, Master Shen - the Crane Hermit. Like Yamcha, Puar and Oolong before them, Tien, along with his best friend Chiaotzu, will eventually side with Goku. In the preliminaries, Goku is set up against a champion from a previous World Tournament, King Chappa. Goku easily defeats him, and then goes on to defeat Pamput, a famous movie star, in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals Goku is set up against his best friend Krillin, and defeats him after a fierce battle.

Goku moves on to fight Tien and his Crane School style in the final round.[78] Midway during the match, Goku is repeatedly paralyzed and pinned down by Chiaotzu and his Telekinesis technique, at the orders of Master Shen. After Goku is freed from Chiaotzu's Telekinesis, the match continues as normal until Tien decides to use the Tri-Beam attack to destroy the stage. In mid-air, Goku knocks out Tien by using a Kamehameha to swiftly propel himself into Tien's stomach. Falling at the same rate, Goku hits the ground first after crashing into a van, leaving Tien as the Tournament winner.

Right after the conclusion of the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament, King Piccolo appears in the scene. Goku accidentally left his belongings behind and when Krillin went to pick them up at the area, he is killed by Tambourine, one of King Piccolo's mutated sons. Goku becomes angry, and chases after him through the skies, but still being fatigued from the tournament, Goku is defeated by Tambourine and his Flying Nimbus is destroyed. While trying to recover in the wilderness, Goku sees a giant fish and eats it, which belonged to a samurai named Yajirobe, who has a Dragon Ball. Cymbal, another one of Piccolo's sons, is sent to get the Dragon Ball, but is killed by Yajirobe with his sword.

After sensing Cymbal's death, Piccolo orders Tambourine to find his killer. Upon seeing Tambourine again, Goku finally destroys him.[84] King Piccolo feels this and arrives at Goku and Yajirobe's location, Yajirobe's Prairie. Soon after King Piccolo appears, he fights Goku. Goku knocks him down a couple of times. It is then revealed that Piccolo was holding back on his power, and then he swiftly defeats Goku with his Masenko attack, causing Goku's heart to stop for a short time. Piccolo then takes the Dragon Ball Yajirobe gave to Goku. Yajirobe takes Goku to Korin Tower to help him recover.

Meanwhile, Tien, Master Roshi, and Chiaotzu try to stop King Piccolo from gathering the Dragon Balls, but fail and the latter two die in the attempt. King Piccolo calls Shenron and wishes for his youth to be restored, giving him the power he once had. King Piccolo then destroys Shenron, and goes on to King Furry's palace, in an attempt to rule the world.

Once Goku is healed, he heads out on a quest to find the Ultra Divine Water, a sacred liquid that unleashes the drinker's hidden powers if they have any, or kills them. Goku drinks the water and survives, then heads off to King Furry's castle where he finds King Piccolo's newest son, Drum assaulting Tien Shinhan. Goku steps in and defeats Drum, knocking his eyeballs out with one kick, and challenges King Piccolo to a battle.Goku overpowers King Piccolo, even throwing him into the castle. King Piccolo eventually goes to full power, despite it shortening his lifespan, but still can not defeat Goku. King Piccolo fires his signature attack, the Explosive Demon Wave, at Goku, but Tien saves him by flying into the sky, but Goku's leg is broken. Towards the end of the fight, King Piccolo uses Tien as a hostage, attempting to force Goku to surrender. Goku nearly resumes the fight despite the fact that Tien will die, thinking he could revive Tien with the Dragon Balls, until King Piccolo tells him he had destroyed Shenron. This leaves Goku at King Piccolo's mercy.

Goku ends up with a broken arm and two broken legs as a result of Piccolo's onslaught. As King Piccolo takes to the skies for his final attack, Goku, full of rage over the fact that Krillin and Master Roshi are gone forever, launches himself at King Piccolo with the one arm he had left, punching a hole through his chest and killing him. Moments before King Piccolo's death, however, he manages to spit out an egg far off in the distance that contains his final son and reincarnation, Piccolo Jr. to avenge his death and spread evil across the planet.

After Goku defeats King Piccolo, he goes to Korin Tower, where Korin tells him about the Lookout, and that Kami, being the one that created the Dragon Balls, may be able to revive Shenron. At Kami's Lookout Goku overcomes Mr. Popo's challenge of speed, and Kami, the Guardian of Earth, brings the Dragon Balls back by giving new life to Shenron.Using the Dragon Balls, Krillin, Chiaotzu and Master Roshi are resurrected. In return, Kami asks Goku to train with him and Mr. Popo for the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament to defeat Piccolo Jr., who wants revenge on Goku for killing his father. Goku's training consists of defeating Mr. Popo, who proves to be stronger than King Piccolo and for Goku to face a doll version of himself as a way of conquering his own self. With deep meditation, being still like a rock, but faster than lightning, Goku endures the toughest training of his life. During or after the training, Goku's tail is permanently taken off for the third and final time by Kami, who then makes a wish to the Eternal Dragon for the return of the moon. At some point during this training, Goku trained in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, but was unable to last more than a month in it due to the intensity.

Goku returns three years later at the age of 18 (possibly 19 due to spending a month in the Time Chamber), to meet up with his friends and join the tournament and grown into a young man that no one recognizes.[95] In the preliminaries, Goku is put up against King Chappa, who wants to avenge his loss from three years prior, but fails again. In the quarterfinals Goku is matched up against an unknown female fighter who seems to know who Goku is, and knows the fighting style that Master Roshi teaches. After Goku defeats her, she reveals herself to be Chi-Chi, whom Goku had unknowingly promised to marry years before thinking marriage was a type of food. Before leaving the ring, Goku asks for her hand in marriage.

In the semi-finals, Goku is put up against Tien Shinhan to settle the score from the last tournament. Goku and Tien seem to be even, until Goku removes his weighted clothing and becomes much faster, winning the match and leaving him against Piccolo Jr. in the final round. Before the fight started, Piccolo had trapped Kami inside a bottle with the Evil Containment Wave technique and ate the bottle, putting Goku at a stalemate; if he kills Piccolo, Kami will die too. The fight goes on for a while, but when the word spreads that Piccolo Jr. is the son of King Piccolo, the crowd flees. Goku encourages Piccolo Jr. to transform into his Giant form, tricking him to fly into his mouth to retrieve the bottle Kami was in. Afterward, the stage is destroyed as they go into full battle. Goku seems to be doing quite well against Piccolo, using the Meteor Combination rush, seemingly knocking him out, but Piccolo blasts a hole in Goku's shoulder, seriously handicapping him. Piccolo then makes sure Goku has no arms or legs to use, saying he will not make the same mistake his father did, letting Goku have one free arm to kill him with in the end. As Goku is about to die, he discovers how to fly and uses that energy to avoid one of Piccolo's attacks. He then finishes Piccolo off with the last amount of energy he has left with a full force headbutt to the chest giving Piccolo a ring out, thus giving Goku his first and only Tournament win. After Goku is declared victor, he gives Piccolo Jr. a Senzu Bean to keep Kami alive and give himself a good rival.

After Goku defeats Piccolo Jr., he travels with Chi-Chi to the Ox-King's Village to prepare for their wedding. But fire erupts at the castle, trapping the Ox-King inside the flames. Goku and Chi-Chi travel to find the Bancho Fan that Master Roshi once threw away in order to put out the fire. When they find it, they are forced to fight Annin, a guardian of the border between the living world and the Other World. Goku defeats Annin and returns with the fan, which successfully extinguishes the fire. Goku and Chi-Chi get married, concluding the original Dragon Ball series.

When Gohan was born, Goku, Chi-Chi, and Ox-King were trying think of a name for him. When they couldn't come up with a good name, Goku decided to go fishing but was yelled at by Chi-Chi and asks if Grandpa Gohan taught him any manners. All of a sudden the baby starts to laugh and they decided to name him in honor of Goku's adoptive grandfather.