19955


At the end of Dragon Ball, when Goku and Chi Chi were questing to find the
Bansho Fan to put out the fire trapping the Ox King, it seems as if they could
have used the Dragon Balls to do it quickly. More than one year had passed
since their previous usage and, as far as I could tell, the balls were not
scattered after wishing Krillin and the others back to life (they remained on
the ground at the Kame House after the wish).

So, it seems like they could have quickly made a wish to stop the flames and
restore the castle. Why did they not do so? I did not read the manga, I only
watched the anime. Was there a specific reason that either I missed, or that
was perhaps stated in the manga, or was it simply a plot device to fill the
last few episodes of the series?


CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-10T00:56:19.307
19939
2015-03-10T16:23:17.353
7864
question
dragon-ball
Why didn't Goku and Chi Chi use the Dragon Balls to rescue the Ox King and his castle?


Your assumption about the dragon balls was wrong. They did indeed scatter in
chapter 156, right after Shenlon brought everyone back to life. Also seeing
the mini saga about the wedding-dress was anime filler to begin with, one
could argue that it would be pretty lame to fill it with the gang just using
the dragon balls.

Apart from that, it should be noted that getting the dragon balls wasn't as
easy as it sounds at that time. Bulma did have the dragon radar, but she would
not have been able to retrieve them all on her own as we had seen earlier in
the series. And Goku couldn't help her either as he had promised to train at
the sanctuary with God for three years. He was stuck there all the way to the
tournament.

So when the fire actually happened, it would take Goku less time to get the
fan, than to collect all dragon balls. So trying to get the fan first, would
be the best choice of action. If he would fail, they could collect the dragon
balls as a backup plan anyway.

![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Hp2Ntl.jpg)


CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-03-10T16:23:17.353
19955
2015-03-10T16:23:17.353
6166
19939
answer