Chapter Information

Chapter Synopsis

At night, Jaco continues to complain to Tights about how even the new police sketch looks nothing like him, while she tells him to just go to sleep already.

The next day, Tights is out swimming off the pier. Omori tells her to be careful about the Umibōzu in the water, then asks where Jaco is. Tights points him to the top of the cliff, then asks what an Umibōzu is. Omori thinks he is still feeling down about the sketch, but Tights says he went up there to keep watch for his primary objective. She then asks again what an Umibōzu is, ignoring the round-headed shadowy figure in the water behind her. Omori is struck by the realization: That’s right! Jaco mentioned something fearsome was on its way. He had completely forgotten about it….

Her interest piqued, Tights decides to forget about the Umibōzu and asks about this threat instead. Apparently, it’s coming to wipe out all Earthlings. Omori thought it was a joke…. At any rate, it seems that Galactic Patrol Headquarters’ radar picked up the launch of a flying object from the aliens’ planet, and calculated its route as taking it to Earth. Tights decides to go ask Jaco about it herself.

Climbing up to the top of Jaco’s cliff, Tights asks about the fearsome alien. Jaco explains that according to calculations, it’s coming this way, which is why he crash-landed on Earth. It should soon come down like a meteor. But Jaco will defeat it, right? Tights asks reassuredly. If it’s still small, he can do it, but he won’t be able to handle a grown one. Tights asks what he’ll do if that’s the case. Why, escape and let the Earthlings be annihilated, of course. Tights is none too thrilled: they had better hope it’s a small one, then.

Time passes, and Tights wonders whether it’s missed Earth. Jaco says that would be lucky. Tights then turns her attention to Jaco’s suit, and asks what it’s made of, since it fits perfectly. Jaco says it should fit perfectly, since it’s not a suit, but his bare skin. Tights is disgusted to learn that he wasn’t wearing any underwear this whole time, but Jaco retorts that it’s normal on his planet. But then… how does he pee? Jaco concentrates, and two jets of liquid squirt from tiny holes in his temples. One strikes Tights square in the forehead, and she pushes him off the cliff in retaliation.

Jaco swims back to shore, angrily asking Tights what she thinks she’s doing at such a critical time. What would she do if the alien had come down just now?! (And in fact, as Jaco is swimming back to shore, a streak of light appears in the sky behind him, landing with a faint boom over the horizon. No one notices.) Tights says it’s Jaco’s fault for doing something so nasty. And to think Jaco came to Earth for free….

They wait on the pier, but it looks like the alien isn’t coming after all. Omori wonders if Jaco might have missed it, but Jaco says a Super Elite like him wouldn’t do such a thing. At any rate, it looks to have gone off course. They should rejoice! A crisis has been averted. In that case, Tights wonders whether Jaco could use his spaceship to take him over to the island of the rocket launch site, since the old man’s boat and her things are still there. Jaco is offended that she would use a Galactic Patrolman as a taxi, but she reminds him that it’s thanks to her that he can fly at all. Omori decides to join them.

As they fly in Jaco’s spaceship, Omori asks him what sort of people these dangerous aliens are. Jaco explains: Their objective is to capture many worlds, but what’s frightening is that they are apparently wicked beings who love battle itself. Not even the Galactic Patrol is a match for them; the Extinction Bomb doesn’t work on them, either. With planets like Earth, ruled by humans without much fighting strength, they generally send a child to gradually whittle away at the population. Their childhood is long. Until they reach adulthood, they retain a childlike appearance, causing their opponents to let down their guard. After that, they grow into a form more suited for fighting all at once, and continue to run amok, hardly aging at all. Their appearance is identical to humans — apart from the tail, that is.

Omori says that does sound scary, and asks what they’re called. Jaco says they are the Saiyans, from Planet Vegeta. It’s not a very strong-sounding name, but at any rate, it’s a good thing they didn’t come to Earth.

Elsewhere, a spherical pod with an open hatch sits in the middle of a smoking crater. Turning now to a house in the mountains, an elderly, mustached man in a cap rebukes his new charge for his bad manners: A wild-looking child with a monkey’s tail, dressed in armor, is standing on Son Gohan’s table and stuffing his face with everything there is. He’s certainly something to be able to eat that much after putting up such a fight. Gohan doesn’t know who he is, but he’s scarily strong for such a little fella; if he weren’t a martial-arts master himself, he would have been in trouble. But it looks like the kid’s never had any discipline, either; Gohan says that if the boy doesn’t have a home to go back to, he can stay here, and he’ll learn a thing or two. He doesn’t know what the child’s name is, so he’ll just call him something for convenience. Since he fell from the sky (sora)… how about Goku? Son Goku!

Omori and Tights arrive back on the island with the boat, but Jaco is nowhere in sight. He should have gotten here ages ago! Just then, they see the spaceship fly in. Tights wonders if he stopped somewhere on the way, and Jaco says he did, a little. As Jaco gets out of his ship, Tights says Omori could easily get enough money for Sky Gold if he sold a device using the spaceship’s gravity control as a model. But if Omori were to sell it without understanding the principles behind it, it would develop problems, and eventually it would become known that it was alien technology. But more importantly, he doesn’t have the facilities. And even if he were to secretly sell the schematics, he doesn’t know of any company he could trust.

A company he could trust… This gets Tights thinking. Omori says at times like this it’s best to give up; he’ll invent something else, and make money on it little by little. But Tights asks if Omori’s heard of Capsule Corporation. Well, of course he’s heard of it: it’s the great enterprise owned by the world’s richest man, Dr. Brief of West City. What about it? Tights says that Dr. Brief is someone he can trust. Omori has heard good things about him, but that’s not an absolute; besides, it’s not like they could arrange a meeting with him so easily. Tights interjects: “Actually, he’s my dad.” Omori is in disbelief. Tights wanted to avoid being found out; she may be from the world’s richest family, but she doesn’t want to be treated any differently. But why would Tights ride in such a dangerous rocket, when Dr. Brief could have built a much better one? Tights says that her dad isn’t interested in rockets because they’re too simple.

Some time later, Tights has just gotten off the phone, and informs Omori and Jaco that her father is on his way, and will probably arrive in the evening. Omori realizes he needs to make preparations, and fast, even though Tights reassures him that they are so rich, there’s no need to go out of his way for them. Omori asks: Them? Tights explains that her mother and little sister are coming, as well. They haven’t seen each other in a while, and they probably want to meet the alien, too. This worries Omori: even if her father and mother will keep their mouths shut, won’t her sister blab about it in school? Actually, her sister is only five years old, and hasn’t started school. She’s also a super genius, so she’ll understand the situation.

Jaco wants to know why Tights, the daughter of a rich family, would leave home to work part-time and come to such a shabby island, but Tights says even science fiction writers need experience; the super-wealthy can’t really imagine this kind of lifestyle. Plus, it’s the perfect spot: there’s an alien here, and with just an alien and an old man, she shouldn’t have to worry about being attacked.

That evening, Omori (who has changed into a suit), Jaco, and Tights wait on the pier as a Capsule Corporation seaplane lands on the water. Tights’ family walks off the plane, with Dr. Brief immediately mistaking Omori for the alien. Little Bulma rushes up, happily greeting her sister. As Drs. Omori and Brief exchange a proper introduction, Tights introduces her sister Bulma to Jaco, who is pleased that she is shorter than he is. Bulma, taking a defensive stance with what appears to be a weapon, asks if he’s the alien. Jaco is amused, telling her not to mistake him for some mere alien, for he is…! He takes the opportunity to give his “Galactic Patrolman” spiel in full, complete with poses. The mother of Tights and Bulma is impressed.

Looking over the ship, Dr. Brief is suitably impressed, while his wife asks if “Zako-san” is a child. Jaco corrects her, but then realizes the news is about to start; the spaceship can wait! Tights is confused, but Omori nevertheless invites his guests in, while Bulma stays behind to look over the ship. Inside, Omori has prepared a small feast of sushi and more (plus cheese and milk for Jaco). As Tights’ mother hands Omori a gift of a plastic model, Jaco turns on the TV, and Tights asks him what’s up with the news.

Meanwhile, outside, Bulma is in the cockpit of Jaco’s ship, and has managed to get it levitating…

The six o’clock news starts, and the newscaster immediately starts in with a report that today, around noon, Mr. “Super-Elite” himself made a sudden visit to the television station and demanded he be photographed. The screen cuts to Jaco posing inside the lobby of the TV station. The newscaster explains that he left immediately afterwards, and exactly why he did this is still a mystery. Tights is amazed: so that’s the detour he took coming back. Omori remarks that his pride just couldn’t let him accept that sketch.

Outside, the antenna of Jaco’s ship has gotten Bulma’s attention. Noticing the destroyed shed, she lifts up its broken roof, and discovers a missing part! She has just finished attaching it when Tights calls her in for dinner. Dr. Brief asks Bulma about the anti-gravity device, and she says it was awesome! It really is at a completely different level, although it’s closer to her concept than Daddy’s. Omori is astounded that she has already grasped the mechanics.

Bulma goes on: the antenna was broken, right? She fixed it while she was at it. Omori and Jaco rush outside to see, while she explains that she figured that the wreckage was probably the cause of the damage, so she looked underneath and found the missing part. Omori is near-speechless at the obviousness of it all. Tights says if he can use the radio, then he doesn’t need any more Sky Gold! Bulma asks what they plan to use Sky Gold for, and Tights explains that they need it to power the ship. They really struggled, since Sky Gold is so expensive. Bulma disagrees: the part of the engine that was repaired wasn’t its energy source; it was probably a special device to store power in metal. So even if it was destroyed, he should have been able to control it for a while. Any kind of metal should work, as long as it has a similar storage coefficient. Copper, for example…

Omori is astounded. One kilogram of copper is only 400 yen… Tights and Jaco repeat the number back at him in unison, and Omori reminds them that he said it was outside his field of expertise. Tights is annoyed that they didn’t need all that money after all, while Jaco says she should have just called her family from the outset. Omori, meanwhile, is amazed at this five-year-old.

Dr. Brief makes Jaco an offer: the benefit to society of that anti-gravity device is immeasurable, so how much does he want for it? Jaco no longer has any use for Earth money, so he suggests that Omori and Tights each take just a bit. They did help him out, after all. Tights remarks that occasionally even Jaco says something nice. Dr. Brief also wants to know what to do about a license for the technology, since it wouldn’t do to copy it without permission. The antenna’s fixed, so Jaco radios in to headquarters to find out. He reappears, visibly dejected, telling them they should be happy: Jaco’s ship is quite an old model, so they’ll give him the technology for free. Omori thinks maybe Jaco isn’t so elite, after all.

Jaco finally notices the item Bulma is carrying and asks what it is. She says it’s a ray gun she made. If he was an evil alien, it’d be dangerous. Wanna see her shoot it? Omori laughs, saying that’s just like a five-year-old… but is silenced as she fires it into the sea, causing a huge explosion. As Dr. Brief examines the ship, he asks Tights how university is going, and she reminds him for what is obviously not the first time that she graduated at the age of 16. Jaco asks Bulma if she wants to join the Galactic Patrol, and Bulma replies that she’ll think it over.

Omori narrates that two days later, Jaco went home, packing in plenty of milk and cheese. Later, he received some money from Capsule Corporation as thanks — 100 billion zenny, which is 150 billion yen! Omori used part of it to buy his island officially. Months went by, and while his time machine was still incomplete, he was now able to laugh off his failures. Gradually, his misanthropy faded, and Inspector Katayude, who came to visit from time to time, eventually settled on the island too. Katayude is a thorough housekeeper and an unbelievably good cook, so Omori is honestly more grateful to have that guy around than Tights.

(Katayude, Tights, and Omori are shown riding in an air car, presumably using the technology from Jaco’s ship.)

Tights, meanwhile, became a science-fiction adventure writer, just like she wanted to. Thanks to her writing talents (which you wouldn’t imagine from her usual self), as well as the research she conducted by forcing Jaco to take her to a number of different worlds, she became quite a popular writer. Only Chako the Space Policeman, which she modeled on Jaco, didn’t meet with much critical success…

Jaco made a girlfriend, it seems: when he came to Earth for the first time in a while, he showed them a picture they took on a date, but to be honest, Omori couldn’t tell which one was which. The shorter one was probably Jaco…

Come to think of it, not too long ago, Tights’ sister Bulma stopped by. (Omori needles her and her “family of weirdos” for her choice to come out by boat.) Being a super-genius, Bulma had already graduated from university and had set out on a trip. She had said something about looking for mysterious orbs that grant any wish when brought together. She showed off two, which were made of a substance that does not exist on Earth, so she reasoned they came from outer space. It all sounds quite suspicious, but space is vast, so perhaps this sort of mysterious orb exists out there somewhere. Omori notes that he will ask Jaco about it next time he stops by. (Meanwhile, Son Goku is dragging his catch back to the house…)

Off in space, Jaco is still singing An Azuki’s catchy song to himself…

Chapter Notes

• This final chapter is officially numbered as “+1” (rather than “Chapter 11”), and is the last of the “10+1” that has been printed on the first page each chapter since the very beginning.
• Jaco’s method of urinating (excreting two jets of liquid through holes in his head) is nearly identical to Jiya’s reaction to drinking water on Earth in Jiya. In that series, however, the “bodies” of Galactic Patrolmen are actually robotic suits inhabited by tiny, sentient flying creatures, meaning that what is “excreted” in Jiya is more likely to be steam than urine.
• Jaco’s description of Saiyan growth and aging is very similar to Akira Toriyama’s own description in the Dragon Ball guidebook Super Exciting Guide: Character Volume.
• Young Goku is depicted as a toddler wearing Saiyan armor at his arrival. This is a departure from what is generally accepted about the story of Dragon Ball (such as flashback scenes in Dragon Ball Z and the ending of the Bardock TV special), but scenes of a naked baby Son Goku at his arrival on Earth are all inventions of the anime, so it is not necessarily in conflict with the story of the original comic.
• Bulma is five years old in this chapter, placing the events of Jaco the Galactic Patrolman in either AGE 738 or 739, the latter being ten years before the start of Dragon Ball. This conflicts with official guidebooks, which indicate that Son Gohan found Goku between June and August of AGE 737 (the same year Goku was born), but it is never stated in the manga itself how old Goku was when he was sent to Earth, nor his age when he arrived.
• Dr. Brief mistaking Omori for Jaco is similar to his first meeting with Son Goku in Chapter 69 of Dragon Ball, where he initially assumes the policeman standing next to Bulma is Goku.
• Bulma’s mother accidentally addresses Jaco as “Zako”, which is an alternate reading of the word Jaco’s name is a pun on (雑魚). Unlike jako, which is merely dried fish used to top rice, zako is also used to refer to a “weakling” or “small-fry” character of minimal importance, whose only relevance to the plot is generally to be trounced by the main character. As Jaco’s place in both the Galactic Patrol and the overall scheme of the universe becomes more apparent, this name is perhaps apt.
• The plastic model that Tights’s (and Bulma’s) mother gives to Omori is of a MSM-07 Z’Gok, a “Mobile Suit” (humanoid combat vehicle) used by the Principality of Zeon in the original Mobile Suit Gundam TV series. This is probably a reflection of Toriyama’s own preferences, as he has a love for plastic model kits, vehicles real and fictional, and perhaps also Gundam itself, if his illustrations in the Dr. Slump era are any indication. The completed model can later be seen sitting on top of the tractor in Omori’s shed when Jaco comes back to visit.
• The air car technology seen in Dragon Ball, which first coexists with wheeled ground vehicles before taking over more-or-less completely, appears to be based on the anti-gravity device in Jaco’s spaceship. Its apparent rise to dominance over the course of Dragon Ball may reflect the fact that it would still have been a relatively new technology at the outset (barely a decade old, and probably commercially viable for even less than that).
• The “zenny” currency of the Dragon World finally makes an appearance in this chapter, apparently simply not being the main form of money used around East City. Judging by Omori’s conversion, one zenny is approximately 1.5 yen — odd, since Akira Toriyama has mentioned in the Dragon Ball guidebook Super Exciting Guide: Character Volume that he thought of the zenny as roughly equal to the Japanese yen. As such, it appears that the yen of the Dragon World is worth approximately two-thirds of one Japanese yen.
• Omori’s comment about Tights’s novel based on Jaco not meeting with much acclaim seems to be a wry reflection on how Toriyama himself expects Jaco the Galactic Patrolman to be received, judging by his previous comments on the matter.
• Omori mentions that Bulma has already graduated from university. This conflicts with Dragon Ball, where Bulma initially states that she is on summer vacation from school, and in the Red Ribbon arc, mentions skipping school because it was dull.
• Each issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump features short comments from the various series’ authors, giving fans a brief insight into their current thoughts, ranging from series-related announcements to trivial happenings in their personal lives. Akira Toriyama’s comments from this issue were:
  ずっと描きたかったライトな漫画絵本が完成して大満足！ ご愛読？ありがとう！〈明〉

  ---

  The lighthearted comic picture-book I’ve wanted to draw all this time is finally complete, and I’m really satisfied! Thank you for enjoying(?) the read! (Akira)

Page Breakdown

The majority of the Dragon Ball (and Jaco) series was drawn in black and white, but every once in a while the fans were graced with some color pages. This breakdown will take a look at how many colored, red and gray scale, or black and white pages appeared in this chapter.