Dragon Ball Vol. 3: The Training of Kame-sen'nin by Toriyama Akira

One of the unintended consequences of having to spend four hours waiting in a doc's office is that I got to catch up on my manga and on some of my reading, but I'll admit it that I really spent most of my time on the manga part of that equation. 

I will also admit that I forgot how funny Dragon Ball was as a manga. Mr. Toriyama's humor has always been right up my alley. Muten Roshi is a classic example of what I'm talking about. He's a pervy old guy and one of his first tasks for Son Goku is that he must secure him a "hotty" and bring said hotty back to his island. Son Goku must do that or he will not receive any training. Nevermind that this is really a form of kidnapping that he has been assigned with. 

Unfortunately (or fortunately), Goku is a very innocent kid and his first few guesses of what a hotty are are a bit off the mark. 

It isn't until Kuririn from the Orin Temple arrives at Kame-sen'nin's island to give Goku a run for his money that Goku begins to up his own game. Together they will be assigned with the task of finding a true hotty and thankfully (or perhaps not) Kuririn seems to be on the same wave-length as the Turtle Hermit. 

Together this hopeless duo comes across Lunch. Lunch has always been one of those characters that I wish could have stuck around a bit longer because she was certainly good for a few laughs regardless of which personality she donned. While she certainly meets the definition of a hotty, Lunch's personality changes from a blue-haired angel to a yellow-haired bankrobber whenever she sneezes. 

Personality trouble or not, Muten Roshi now has a hotty living on his island and that means he has accepted both Kuririn and Son Goku as students. Their training will be harsh. What seems like a simple milk delivery turns into a marathon when they find out they will have to do it on foot. Then there's the part about cultivating entire fields using nothing more than their bare hands.

If they survive this training then they will enter the 21st Tenka'ichi Budokai in eight months. There they will find the strongest fighters the world has to offer. Including the likes of Yamcha, formerly known as the Desert Bandit. 

As the tournament begins the boys finally see just how much good their training did them, but that's not to say there isn't someone in the final eight that can beat them. 

Will they make it to the end? 

Stand by for the next installment of... Dragon Ball!