Using the Dragon Radar, they discovered that the closest Dragon Balls to West City were the two-star and five-star Dragon Balls. The next nearest Dragon Ball was over a hundred kilometers away, so John and Bulma decided to wait until Bulma's summer vacation to set out on their journey.
During the wait for summer vacation, Bulma created a new Dragon Radar, which was a significant improvement over the previous prototype.
Not only was it much smaller, allowing it to be held in one hand, but it also had a connection to the Capsule Corporation's satellite detection system. If they encountered a situation like the one with the five-star Dragon Ball, the Dragon Radar could switch to a map mode to help them find the Dragon Ball.
Time passed quickly, and finally, Bulma's summer vacation arrived. John and Bulma planned to set out to find the Dragon Balls the next day.
Bulma's mother was initially opposed to her daughter going out with a boy, but with a pig-headed husband and a stubborn daughter, she had little say in the matter.
Bulma threatened to run away from home if her mother didn't let her go.
Seeing that she couldn't persuade her daughter, Bulma's mother turned her attention to John.
When John saw Bulma's mother smiling at him, he immediately stood up from his chair and promised, "Auntie, please rest assured. I will take good care of Bulma, and I will never let her come to harm. As long as I'm alive, I will protect her from any danger."
Seeing John's sincere expression and Bulma's stubborn determination, Bulma's mother sighed and said, "Alright, if I stop you, I'll be the bad mother."
Hearing her mother's approval, Bulma immediately hugged her and thanked her, "Thank you, Mom. I have a feeling that this journey to find the Dragon Balls will be the best decision I've ever made."
Although Bulma's mother agreed, she added, "Remember to bring the group company's emergency rescue device. If you encounter any danger, press the button, and the nearest Capsule Corporation branch will immediately send someone to help you."
"Okay," Bulma agreed.
Finally, with her mother's approval, the two began preparing for their journey, primarily gathering the necessary capsules.
They packed car capsules, house capsules, food capsules, boat capsules, small submarine capsules, and more, filling up two backpacks.
Unlike in the manga, where Bulma secretly took a box of capsules when she ran away from home, this time, with her mother's approval, Bulma prepared many capsules, including those that might be needed and those that might not. She filled her backpack to the brim.
With two Dragon Balls in hand, Bulma bid farewell to her mother and set off with John in the car, leaving the familiar West City behind.
As they drove, they would periodically check the Dragon Radar to adjust their direction and head towards the location of the third Dragon Ball.
The two spent a night in the wilderness, each in their own room, and fortunately, nothing dangerous happened.
The next day, they resumed their journey to find the Dragon Balls.
Bulma, sitting in the passenger seat, said, "We're very close to the third Dragon Ball. It's only about ten kilometers away. We should be able to reach it after crossing that mountain."
She held up the Dragon Radar to show John.
John didn't think much of it and turned to look at the Dragon Radar in Bulma's hand, but he didn't expect any problems to arise.
Bulma turned her head and saw a boy dragging a fish in front of the car, which they hadn't noticed due to the winding road.
Bulma screamed and closed her eyes tightly.
John, who was looking at the Dragon Radar, heard Bulma's scream and immediately knew something was wrong. He slammed on the brakes.
However, it was too late, and amidst the screeching of brakes, there was a loud "bang" as the car collided with the boy in front of them.
Just before John hit the brakes, he saw that the boy was Son Goku, and he immediately felt relieved, knowing that there wouldn't be any issues.
He was worried that if they had hit an ordinary person, it could have been fatal, and there might have been irreversible consequences for him and Bulma.
Bulma, trembling, asked, "Did we hit him? Did we hit him?"
John reassured her, "I'll go check. You stay in the car and be careful." He got out of the car and approached the scene.
Goku was holding his head and shouting, "It hurts, it hurts, it hurts!" Then he saw the person who had hit him, and another person got out of the car.
He quickly stood up, took out his Nyoi-bo from behind his back, and pointed it at the car, shouting, "Monster, you're eating people! Die!" He was about to swing the Nyoi-bo at John's car.
John was startled and quickly stepped in front of the car to protect it, as Bulma was still inside.
Goku, who was about to swing his Nyoi-bo, suddenly stopped and asked John, "Why are you blocking me? Are you an accomplice of the monster?"
He took a step back and pointed the Nyoi-bo at John, ready to attack if John admitted to being the monster's accomplice.
John quickly explained, "We're not monsters. This is called a car, and there's a friend of mine inside. You can't damage our car."
As the two were talking, they saw that the boy they had hit was unharmed, and Bulma also got out of the car.
Goku, seeing another person getting out of the car, tapped the car with his Nyoi-bo, making a "bang" sound as the metal was struck.
Realizing that they weren't monsters, Goku relaxed.
Finally, John met the protagonist of the Dragon Ball world, Son Goku, and he couldn't help but feel excited. He extended his hand towards Goku and introduced himself, "Hello, I'm John. This is Bulma."
Goku, who had only seen his grandfather and no other people from the outside world, immediately understood the gesture of friendship when John extended his hand.
So, Goku also extended his hand and shook John's, saying, "Hello, I'm Son Goku. You're the first people I've met from the outside world, besides my grandfather."