Last time on Dragon Ball! After meeting and being joined by a young Saiyan boy living in the mountains named Goku, Tarble and Bulma continued their search for the Dragon Balls. This leads them into the conflict with the Pilaf Gang, who capture and plan to kill them after they stop them from wishing for world domination. They escape thanks to Goku transforming into an Oozaru and going on a rampage, but he is eventually subdued by Tarble using his own Oozaru form. Afterwards, Goku leaves the group to go and train with Master Roshi and Tarble accompanies him. For several months the two of them, along with a short, bald monk named Krillin, all train under the Turtle Hermit in preparation for the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament. Tarble decides to sit out the Tournament due to him still some aversion to fighting and then said Tournament is eventually won by Jackie Chun. When the Tournament is over, Goku travels the world in search for his Grandfather's Four Star Dragon Ball and Tarble once again travels with him. During these travels, Goku and Tarble battle against members of the Red Ribbon Army, such as Mercenary Tao. This culminates in Goku, Tarble, Krillin, and Yamcha all attacking and destroying the Red Ribbon Army Base. In order to revive Upa's father Bora who was killed by Tao, the group once again search for the Dragon Balls. Attempting to find the last one, everyone goes to Roshi's sister Fortuneteller Baba to use her crystal ball. She agrees to letting them use her crystal ball, but only if they can defeat her six fighters. So one by one the group faces off against Baba's fighters until Goku reaches one of her masked fighters. This masked fighter turns out to be Goku's Grandpa Gohan and the two have a happy reunion. However Baba's second masked fighter, a Saiyan woman, proves to be too much for either Goku or Tarble, but to the surprise of everyone she forfeits the match after Tarble passes her test. With this victory, Baba allows the team to use her crystal ball to find the location of the last Dragon Ball, which is being held by the Pilaf Gang. Everyone sets off to obtain the Dragon Ball and once they do, combine it with the others and wish Bora back to life. With their goal having been accomplished, everyone decides to go their own way, promising to reunite at the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament. How will the second half of Dragon Ball unfold with Tarble around? The adventure continues now.
The Return of the Demon King! What If Tarble Landed on Earth! Part 3
We re-enter the story at the point of the three year time skip between the Fortuneteller Baba and the Tien Shinhan Arcs. During the three year timeskip, Goku still travels around the world to train as he's become too strong for any normal training, while Tarble and Bulma go back to West City, and Yamcha and Krillin go and train with Master Roshi. Tarble also trains with Krillin and Yamcha from time to time to train to keep up his skills. Soon comes time for the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament. Before the tournament begins, Tarble puts on an orange Turtle Gi, as he's also representing the Turtle School.
The first match of the tournament, Yamcha vs Tien, goes about the same, except thanks to Yamcha having a greater power level due to his training with both Krillin and Tarble, Tien has to use more energy to beat him. The match ends the same, with Tien breaking Yamcha's leg. Goku and Tarble are incensed by this and both swear revenge on Tien should one of them face him. The next fight is Tarble vs. Jackie Chun, instead of Man-Wolf vs. Jackie Chun as Tarble defeated Man-Wolf in the preliminaries.
While Tarble has a slight power advantage, Jackie Chun is by far the better martial artist. He is able to dodge most of Tarble's attacks and counter with his own. Soon, Tarble becomes worn down and realizes he has to finish this quickly or else he'll be eliminated. That's when Tarble gets an idea. He begins to charge a small ball of ki in his hand, and Master Roshi takes a defensive stance, readying to block the attack. However, instead of shooting the ball of ki directly at Jackie Chun, Tarble shoots it at his feet. This startles Jackie, and he quickly jumps back a few feet, narrowly dodging the ki blast. Once he lands back on his feet, Jackie looks at the spot where the ki blast landed, and sees a large smoke cloud. Suddenly a silhouette zips through the smoke, and in a matter of seconds, Tarble slams into Jackie Chun at full force sending him out of the ring. Tarble is nearly sent out of the ring himself, teetering on the edge of it, but is able to use his tail to balance himself.
The audience is left in shock over how this previously unknown fighter was able to defeat a martial arts master like Jackie Chun. Tarble, on the other hand, is literally jumping with joy over winning his first ever tournament fight. Jackie Chun just smiles, dusts himself off, and walks over to congratulate Tarble on his win. The next two fights of Round 1, Chiaotzu vs. Krillin and Goku vs. Panput, go the same as they did in the original, with Krillin and Goku winning their respective fights. Next up is the semifinals, and the first fight is Tien vs Tarble.
Tien and Tarble both enter the ring from opposite sides, staring daggers at each other. This fight is similar to Tarble's previous fight with Jackie Chun, Tarble has a slight power advantage, but Tien is the superior martial artist. The battle is even for a while, until Tien decides to use the Solar Flare to blind Tarble. While Tarble is momentarily blinded, Tien takes advantage of this opportunity, and lands a devastating kick to the side of Tarble's head sending flying to the edge of the ring.
While Tarble struggles to get up, Tien comments "I'm impressed. That kick would've defeated most who were hit by it." "As much as I hate to admit it, you're probably the greatest martial artist I've seen during my time here" Tarble responds, "But it doesn't matter, I will get revenge for what you did to Yamcha.". Tien scoffs at this, "Hmph, it's not my fault he's a weakling." Tarble lets out a low growl and coldy asks Tien how would he like it if he did that to Tien's little white friend? This causes Tien to freeze up for a moment and this gives Tarble the opportunity to dash across the ring and give Tien a kick of his own straight to Tien's head. The two then resume their battle and in the end, Tien wins by knocking Tarble out of the ring with a Dodan Ray.
Tarble lays on the ground, disappointed and frustrated that he couldn't beat Tien and avenge Yamcha. He isn't helped by memories of his father and brother calling him a weakling. Although he is made to feel a little better by his friends congratulating him on his effort. The tournament continues with Krillin vs Goku, which Goku still wins, and moves to the final match of Goku vs Tien. Thanks to being slightly stronger in this timeline, Goku is able to temporarily overwhelm Tien, however Tien is able to stay in the fight thanks to his array of techniques. The battle ends the same as it did in the original, with Goku hitting the floor just milliseconds before Tien.
When the tournament is over, everyone decides to have dinner together, however Goku realizes that he left his Power Pole and Dragon Ball behind and Krillin runs back to get it for him. During the dinner Goku gets an ominous feeling and races back to the tournament to find Krillin dead, having been killed by a mysterious monster, later discovered to be King Piccolo's first son, Tambourine. Goku is furious over Krillin's death and hops on the Flying Nimbus to find the one who killed him. However, before Goku gets too far away from the group, Tarble jumps on to the Flying Nimbus so that he can back Goku up should he find the monster.
Soon the two do find Tambourine and Goku immediately attacks him. However, even though he has increased power, he's too tired from his previous fights and Tambourine beats him down. Tarble sees this and jumps into the fight, taking over for Goku. Tarble isn't as tired as Goku thanks to him getting eliminated from the tournament early and is able to match and eventually even kill Tambourine, which he does by punching Tambourine through the chest. Unfortunately, the effort used in killing Tambourine is too much for Tarble and he passes out.
King Piccolo senses that Tambourine has been killed and births another egg, Cymbal, and tasks him to collect the Dragon Balls as well as finding and killing whoever killed Tambourine. Meanwhile, Master Roshi has explained the story of King Piccolo to the group and everyone relocates from Kame House and begins to search for the Dragon Balls in order to stop King Piccolo from getting his wish. Back with Goku and Tarble, Cymbal has managed to find them, but not before the two have found a Samurai named Yarijobe, who kills and then eats Cymbal.
Once again sensing the death of a son, King Piccolo decides enough is enough and goes out to confront Goku and Tarble himself. Even though this time he has to face another fighter, King Piccolo is able to beat both Goku and Tarble into a near death state. With them out of the way, he continues with his goal to get the Dragon Balls. After Master Roshi and Chiaotzu die trying to stop King Piccolo from getting his wish, King Piccolo is able to restore his youth and kills Shenron right after, making the Dragon Balls unusable.
Returning to Goku and Tarble, after King Piccolo leaves, Yarijobe carries them to and up Korin's Tower, where Korin heals them and also tells them about the Ultra Divine Water, which can drastically increase your power, or kill you. Knowing they have no other choice, Goku and Tarble go out and acquire the Ultra Divine Water and then consume some. They survive drinking it, gaining a great boost in power, and head out to finish King Piccolo once and for all.
Concurrently, King Piccolo has taken over the world and begins to plunge it into chaos. Tien won't stand for this and attempts to stop King Piccolo, however he is handily beaten by King Piccolo's latest son, Drum. Before Drum can kill him, Goku and Tarble arrive and Goku kills Drum with a kick to the head. King Piccolo prepares to face the duo once again and Goku asks Tarble to let him handle King Piccolo on his own, which Tarble agrees to. Goku is able to keep up with the Demon Lord far better than he did in the original. In fact, Goku pushes King Piccolo to destroy the surrounding area much faster this time.
To try and gain an advantage, King Piccolo picks Tien up by his head and threatens to kill him unless Goku surrenders, which Goku has no choice but to comply with. However, before the demon can cripple even one of Goku's limbs, Tarble changes at King Piccolo from behind and punches the arm holding Tien, breaking it. King Piccolo screams out in pain and clutches his now broken arm. While he's distracted, Tarble grabs Tien and dashes dozens of feet away to a safe distance before yelling "Goku!" and begins charging a Kamehameha. Goku looks at Tarble and sees what he's trying to do, and begins to change a Kamehameha of his own.
King Piccolo finally turns his attention back to Goku and Tarble and is horrified to see that not only that Goku and Tarble are reading an attack, but he's stuck right in the middle of the two. Seeing he has no other choice, King Piccolo starts to split out one last egg. Just as he splits out the egg, Goku and Tarble fire off their Kamehameha's and the two beams collide, trapping King Piccolo between them and obliterating him.
Once King Piccolo has been finished off, Goku and Tarble meet up with the rest of the gang, but the reunion is soured by the realization that Krillin, Master Roshi, and Chiaotzu are dead, and due to King Piccolo destroying the Dragon Balls, they can't be revived. Yarijobe then suggests that Korin might have an answer to their problem, and with no better options, Yarijobe takes Goku and Tarble back to Korin's Tower. Unfortunately, Korin has no way of fixing their current problem.
However, he informs them that a being named Kami can help them. So Goku and Tarble use the Power Pole to reach the Lookout and meet Kami, who they mistake for King Piccolo and attack him, although they're both easily rebuffed. Kami goes on to explain to them that he and King Piccolo were once the same being, but that said being had expelled the evil inside of them, thus creating King Piccolo. Kami then offers them a deal. He will restore the Dragons Balls, but only if Goku and Tarble stay and train under him in preparation for King Piccolo's last son, who will appear at the next World Martial Arts Tournament.
Of course, Goku and Tarble agree to the deal and so the Dragon Balls are restored and everyone killed by King Piccolo and his kin are brought back to life. During their training Goku's tail is permanently removed by Kami, however Tarble is allowed to keep his as he has shown that he has better control of the Oozaru form, and also after explaining its significance to him to Kami. Three years later Goku and Tarble reunite with everyone at the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament. Bulma teases Tarble over not having grown an inch while Goku has had a noticeable growth spurt. Tarble mutters under his breath that he has already heard enough of that from Goku.
Moving on to the Tournament, Chiaotzu still fixes the order of the fights so most of the fights are the same with the exception of Yamcha vs. Shen, which is now Yamcha vs Tarble. Kami decides not to compete in the Tournament as this time he has two powerful students who can fight Piccolo Jr instead of one, so he feels Goku and Tarble have got this handled. Back to the battles, the results of the first three fights of the quarter finals are exactly the same. Tien beats Tao, Goku briefly fights Chi Chi, remembers who she is and the promise he made to her and agrees to marry her, and Piccolo Jr beats Krillin. Tarble vs Yamcha ends rather quickly as Tarble is easily able to beat Yamcha.
Next up in the semi-finals, Tien and Goku have their second tournament fight, which still ends with Goku winning. Tarble vs Piccolo Jr. is actually one sided in Tarble's favor. Why's that? Well in this timeline, Tarble trained with Goku during the 3 years with Kami, so Goku, and by extension Tarble, got higher gains as a result. Both of them now have a power level of somewhere in the 600s. Piccolo Jr uses all of his techniques against Tarble, such as his Giant Form, but they all prove ineffective. Tarble's able to stay one step ahead of Piccolo Jr. and eventually eliminate him via a ring out.
This defeat, obviously, enrages Piccolo Jr and he swears revenge on Tarble and promises he will one day take over the world. Tarble is at a loss over what to do next as he knows he can't kill Piccolo Jr. due to his life connection with Kami, but he also feels like he shouldn't just let him go. Kami talks to Tarble via telepathy and tells that it's okay to kill Piccolo Jr., as he needs to end the threat that he poses. Even after getting Kami's blessing, Tarble is still conflicted about what to do.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, Goku makes the decision for Tarble and walks over to Piccolo Jr and gives him a Senzu Bean, much to the shock of the group. Tarble asks Goku what is he doing, and Goku tells him that he wishes to fight Piccolo Jr. one day. Plus he and Tarble are stronger than Piccolo Jr, so they can handle him if starts any trouble. Piccolo Jr. scoffs at this and takes off. The final match of the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament is Tarble vs. Goku.
The two realize that this is the first time they have fought in a non training setting and agree to give their all. It's a close match, both Goku and Tarble having received the similar training from Master Roshi and Kami, but Goku is able to slightly edge out Tarble thanks to his higher power level. Unlike with his loss at the previous tournament, Tarble isn't upset at this loss. While he did want to win, he's content knowing that he gave it his all and that he's gained much more power then he had when was younger. Plus now he fully enjoys fighting as a sort of pastime.
After the tournament is over, Goku gets a telepathic message from Kami, asking if he wants to succeed Kami as guardian of Earth, but Goku declines. Kami then extends this offer to Tarble, who also delinces. With that out of the way, Goku climbs aboard the Flying Nimbus with Chi Chi and the couple fly off to live happily ever after.