Confused, Bulma asks Gokū what he's talking about, and Gokū says he saw she didn't have them while she was sleeping. Including it on a list of "10 Essential Manga That Should Belong in Every Comic Collection", Matthew Meylikhov of Paste also praised the manga over the anime as an entirely different and more "involved experience. Goku trains under Kami for the next three years, once again reuniting with his friends at the Tenkaichi Budōkai.

At the time, Toriyama said he gave Dragon Ball a low-key ending to make it seem as if the story might continue.Bulma goes to take a bath of her own, only for Gokū to barge in, and decide that instead of a tail, girl's have an "extra butt" (referring to Bulma's breasts). Twenty volumes, beginning from chapter one hundred and ninety-five and grouped by story arcs, were released between February 4, 2013, and July 4, 2014. While he says he hasn't, an elderly woman comes forward with a Ball, saying her grandmother found it somewhere. Gokū still says he won't allow her to take his Dragon Ball, but he does agree to let her 'borrow' it at the end — not knowing that the Dragon Balls scatter all over the Earth when a wish is made. As the manga progressed, Toriyama struggled with the Android and Cell arc, feeling that he could not outdo the Freeza arc.

Cell has been awakened—a bioengineered monstrosity designed to become the ultimate weapon, a being that eats whole cities to grow stronger. On the second half of the manga, he commented that it developed "a far more action-packed, sinister tone" with "wilder" battles and aerial and spiritual elements with an increased death count. When Raditz turns out to be a ruthless killer, Goku must fight his incredibly strong brother to save his family and the entire human race.

The author used suggestions in fan mail he received, though generally doing the opposite of what was suggested. The hermit asks Turtle if Bulma helped him, to which Turtle denies, and Bulma angrily reminds him who gave him the salt water. There's a World of books to choose from such as: Children's Books, Range includes Baby Books (0-3), Books for Toddlers (3-5), Early Readers (5-7), Childrens Story books (7-11), Young Teens (11-14), Young Adults (14-16) and Childrens Educational Books.

Utilizing the "reincarnated in a parallel world" theme popular in light novels, the series was conceived by Shōnen Jump+ editor-in-chief Shuhei Hosono. His concept of the Dragon Balls was inspired by the epic Japanese novel Nansō Satomi Hakkenden (1814–1842), which involves the heroes collecting eight large Buddhist prayer beads of a necklace from eight different regions of Japan, which Toriyama adapted into finding seven Dragon Balls from seven different locations; he chose the number seven to avoid being the same as the number of beads in Hakkenden. Oolong, taking the form of an ogre, arrives in a suit, carrying flowers, ready to take his 'bride' back to his lair.Commenting on Dragon Ball 's global success nearly two decades after it ended, Toriyama said, "Frankly, I don't quite understand why it happened. But the tables may be turning as Son Goku finally arrives on Planet Namek, his strength and speed increased ten-fold by training under 100 times Earth's gravity! While the manga was being serialized, the only thing I wanted as I kept drawing was to make Japanese boys happy. Five years after defeating the demon king Piccolo, he's grown up and had a family—he's married, and he has a child, Son Gohan.