After the gigantic battle with Vegeta, Goku is in serious condition and bandaged like a mummy from head to toe. Without him and the other Z Fighters in Heaven, Gohan and Krillin are the only ones left to accompany Bulma in her venture for the fabled Dragon Balls on Planet Namek. Since it would take several lifetimes to reach Namek by normal human spaceship, Bulma proposes that they use the Nappa's spacepod, which was still left intact at the site where it had landed. She winds up accidentally destroying the pod altogether by pushing a button on the remote and the trip to Namek seems doomed. Suddenly, Mr Popo appears on his magic carpet and offers to guide the gang to Kami's EXTREMELY OLD spaceship in which the current guardian of Earth had travelled to the planet as a child. Bulma hesitates but she finally accepts the offer. Mr Popo and Bulma are teleported to a mountainous, cloudy region, in front of an spider-like spaceship on which Piccolo (the original one) had travelled to Earth as a child (due to a plague that was sweeping Planet Namek when he was still little). After some short explanation as to Kami's past, Mr Popo shouts "Piccolo" and the door to the ship opens automatically. Bulma enters the spaceship eager to learn how to fly it, but is dismayed when she learns that the ship only operates when given commands in the Namekian language. Mr Popo promises to teach her some basic Namekian commands, though, and it seems that the trip to Namek is possible after all. After Gohan gets his load of gear from Chi-Chi, and Krillin and Bulma finish packing their clothes, supplies, and equipment, the gang board the spaceship and blast off towards Namek.

After a short while of travelling in space, the Namekian ship comes under attack by several planes belonging to a rather large invisible space ship. Bulma manages to shoot down all the planes, but the ship is still captured by the larger one. Once inside the ship, the gang find a table with food and drink on it. Bulma rushes towards it, only to find that it's really a trap. She is pinned to the wall as SWAT team like troops of teenagers emerge from openings in the floors. They quickly encircle Gohan and Krillin. The young soldiers are suspicious that the intruders may be part of Freeza's forces, but eventually become friends when the orphans witness Gohan and Krillin's heroic actions in saving a few members of the crew from falling debris and a fire resulting from damage due to multiple meteor impacts. The captain reveals that they are actually orphans that were sent to space when their planet was brutally attacked by powerful fighters (this is the first time we see Cui. The orphans never knew that Freeza was behind the attack though). After some flashbacks, the crew repairs the Namekian spaceship and the three blast off into space to continue their voyage to Namek. In a short while, some planet that looks inhabited comes into view and the gang decides that it must be Namek. Bulma has a tough time landing the ship though, and the three are unconscious after the ship falls off a cliff. They are picked up and revived by two rather old Nameks named Raiti and Zaacro. These two claim to be Nameks and help the gang in their search for Dragon Balls. Gohan and Krillin even manage to find several in minor adventures, but Gohan is later trapped in the air by some strange gravity effect. We learn that Raiti and Zaacro are behind this. Apparently, they are both ugly pink aliens who were stranded long ago on the planet and seeked unfortunate bypassers who would allow the two to use their spaceship after falling into their traps. The aliens reveal to the gang that the entire experience was just part of an illusory world created by them. After a brief battle with giant alien ocean squids, Gohan and Krillin break free and prompty save Bulma by easily dispatching Raiti and Zaacro. The three then take off towards the real Namek.

Upon arrival on the actual Planet Namek, the three spot a Saiyan spacepod, closely followed by another identical pod. Krillin suspects that it's Vegeta and some other comrade of his, and recommends finding the Dragon Balls as fast as possible. We later see that the two spacepods belong to Vegeta and Cui, both of whom were rivals with equal PLs in the Saiyan Saga era. Unware, Cui challenges Vegeta to a fight and finds that he has chosen the wrong opponent. After powering up to such an extent that shatters Cui's scouter as well as Zarbon's, he avoids Cui's multiples blasts with amazing speed. Cui tries to escape, but Vegeta catches up to him, punches a hole in his stomach, and after a few seconds sends an invisible ki wave that blows Cui from the inside out, leaving nothing but dust particles as his remains. Meanwhile, Gohan and Krillin easily dispatch two of Freeza's henchmen, but not before their spaceship suffers some damage from the attackers' machine gun blasts. Bulma grieves over this but Krillin suggests that they just build a camp in a safe cave somewhere. Not long after doing so, Freeza and his henchmen pass them above in the sky. Gohan and Krillin observe that Freeza has an amazingly high power level, and to make matters worse, he has already gathered several Dragon Balls. Meanwhile, Goku has recovered fully from his injuries with the help of a Senzu bean from Korin the cat. Dr Briefs constructs a Capsule Corp spacepod capable of training him and serving as a temporary living quarters as Goku makes his trip towards Namek. It's estimated that the trip will take approximately 5 days, which means that he'll have to train extra-hard to combat those that are currently several times stronger than him.

On Namek, Gohan and Krillin venture off to seek the closest area marked on the Dragon Ball locator. Freeza and his main henchmen Zarbon and Dodoria, along with some minor soldiers, reach the Namek village first and threaten to use force on them if they don't give up the Dragon Ball. Gohan and Krillin hide on top of a cliff as Freeza reveals to the Elder that he too knows that there are 7 Dragon Balls dispersed among 7 Namek villages. Freeza decides to use force when the three elders refuse to concede. He fires a finger blast that hits and kills a little Namekian kid named Cargo. An elder curses Freeza, but before he can attack, Zarbon knocks him down dead with a quick kick to the neck. The second elder gets angry and gathers his limited strength in a ki blasts that Zarbon avoids and ends up hitting some minor henchman. Zarbon flies up into the air and after a few second of charging up fires an enormous blast at the elder, which fries him on the spot. Only the main elder and two Namekian children are left now, but three young Namek warriors arrive before Zarbon can harm any of them. They are no match for Dodoria though as he kills one with a punch through the stomach, another by a mouth blast, and the third with similar brutality. Dodoria now chases after the other Namek kid, but Gohan decides he can't take anymore, emerges out of hiding, and kicks Dodoria smack into one of the walls of a Namekian house. Krillin follows suit with a quick kick to Dodoria's head just after he recovers from Gohan's attack. The two quickly blast off with the Namek kid and Freeza orders Dodoria to chase after them. Krillin manages to stall Dodoria long enough with a quick Tai-yo-ken for the three to hide behind a cliff. Dodoria eventually finds them though and releases an enormous blast from his hands. Gohan, Krillin, and Dende had escaped to the air without his notice, however, and remain silently there as the pink villain flies away to report back to Freeza.

Along the way, though, he's knocked down by something in the air. When he finally climbs out of the water, he finds that it's Vegeta. Aware of the Saiyan's increased PL after his experience on Earth, he fears that he might get vaporized him but tries to assert his toughness in order to convince Vegeta to beg for his life and give up his scouter (all of which were destroyed by the previous elder before he was killed). Vegeta is aware of Dodoria's lower PL but decides to play along. He drops his scouter to the ground, but then steps on it and destroys it as Dodoria walks towards the scouter. Dodoria gets angry and fires rapid multiple blasts at Vegeta. Vegeta is too fast for him as he disappears and reappears behind Dodoria, grabbing both his arms and forcing him to beg for mercy. Dodoria pleads for his life and bribes Vegeta with a story about his home planet Vegeta if he promised to let him go. Vegeta concedes and listens as Dodoria tells him the true tale behind the destruction of Vegeta-sei. Freeza had used the Saiyans to take over planets for him but he decided to destroy the entire race along with the planet in fear of their collective strength and the possible emergence of a Super Saiyan with incredible strength. Vegeta smirks after the story is finished and immediately shrugs off his promise to Dodoria. He powers up and blows the fat punk's head off as he attempts to escape.

Vegeta now searches for the two Earthlings that Dodoria alluded to earlier before he was killed by the Saiyan. He utilizes the power to sense power readings without a scouter to find the location of Gohan and Krillin. The two quickly take cover behind a hill as Vegeta catches up to them. The two decide to emerge out of hiding to fight Vegeta when it's apparent that they can't get rid of him. As they run out towards the open though, a giant whale dives out of the adjacent lake. Vegeta thinks that the power reading he sensed earlier must've belonged to the creature and blasts off to find the Dragon Balls. Gohan and Krillin have returned to their hiding quarters and are chatting and eating with Dende (Dende doesn't eat though b/c Nameks only drink water). The peace is disturbed when Gohan and Krillin detect some fading power levels and a particularly strong ki doing the killing. It's Vegeta ruffing up some Nameks to persuade them to give him their Dragon Ball. After Vegeta makes a hole in a Namekian warrior's chest using a finger blast, the other Namekian warriors surround him and power up enormous ki blasts. They finally release it simultaneously at Vegeta, but he manages to dive into the ground just before the blasts hit him. Vegeta emerges covered with rocks and floats upward into the air. He releases his ki and blasts off huge chunks of rock which hit and kill all but one Namekian warrior. The remaining one powers up an even stronger blast than before with a single hand and releases it. Vegeta seems to have some trouble with it but then smirks and pushes the blast back at the Namek with one of his own. The Namek is vaporized and Vegeta takes the freedom of searching for the Dragon Ball himself. The Namekian elder attempts to stop him but is also vaporized mercilessly by the Saiyan. Vegeta easily finds the Dragon Ball and hides it in a nearby lake so that Freeza could never wish for immortality without all 7 DBs.

Meanwhile, Yamcha, Tien, Chaotzu, and Piccolo have arrived at Kaiosama's planet for training. Goku is notified of this by Kaiosama, along with a warning not to risk any encounter with Freeza, as he is way stronger than anyone else in the universe. Back to Namek. Vegeta senses a rather strong PL and sees that it's Zarbon. The two warriors meet face to face after their last encounter when Vegeta was still a child. Vegeta challenges Zarbon to a fight and he comments that Vegeta is no match for him. He tries to punch Vegeta, but the Saiyan just grabs his fist and hurls him overhead. Zarbon then fires a large red-orange blast at Vegeta, who deflects it. A distant mountain is instantly destroyed and Vegeta smirks as the surrounding areas shake from the explosion. Krillin and Dende (who has promised to lead him to the Great Elder's house for his DB) see the explosion and decide to increase their speed. Zarbon is no match for Vegeta and eventually gets knocked down face-down on the ground. Vegeta laughs at his opponent, but he's forced to take it back as Zarbon transforms into a far uglier, powered-up version of himself. Vegeta is shocked and is pounded repeatedly before he has time to respond. The odds are reversed now as the Saiyan Prince is hit repeatedly and thrown through a hill. Zarbon decides it's time and embraces Vegeta, letting go of him at the last moment and plunging him straight into the ground. He removes the surrounding rocks and water flows in the crater created by the explosion to house Vegeta's grave. Zarbon reverts to his original form and blasts off back to Freeza. Meanwhile, Krillin and Dende arrive at the Great Elder's and are greeted by his personal guard Nail. Krillin gains a powerup from the Elder's power and is given a DB as well to accompany his trip back to Gohan.

At the same time, Freeza has ordered Zarbon to bring back the near-dead Vegeta to his ship and revive him to learn the location of the hidden DB. Vegeta recovers faster than anyone anticipated though and promptly fries the henchman monitoring his rejuvenation tank. He pulls on his suit and decides to trick Freeza and Zarbon into going to the recovery room by blasting a hole in the wall to make it seem that he has escaped that way. Vegeta then speeds towards Freeza's chamber and smirks as he finds 5 DBs. He powers up a blast and releases it in the narrow corridor, making it virtually impossible to access Freeza's compartment from the regular entrance. Vegeta quickly chucks the DBs to some distance away from the ship and blasts off. To escape any of the henchmen's detection, Vegeta swims towards the place to which he threw the DBs. Freeza is greatly angered by the incident and orders Zarbon to find Vegeta as soon as possible or else... Suddenly, Vegeta spots Krillin flying happily -_- with a DB in his hands. He immediately takes off after him, carrying one of Freeza's DBs. Krillin is so proud of his new PL that he fails to notice that he is being followed by Vegeta, and later Zarbon when he spots the two. Krillin arrives back at Bulma's place, shortly followed by Vegeta and Zarbon. He realizes his error but is too late. Vegeta starts fighting a transformed Zarbon, and it seems like the odds are equal before Vegeta gives Zarbon a quick powerful punch that pierces the blue villain's armor and goes into his stomach. Zarbon holds Vegeta's shoulders in pain. He pleads for his life but Vegeta decides that it's over for him and generates a huge blue blast that blows through Zarbon's back and takes out everything in between. Zarbon flies helplessly into a nearby lake, presumably dead. Vegeta then goes up to a fearful Krillin and Bulma and convinces Krillin to give him the DB. He blasts off fantasizing about gaining immortality really soon, but he is also unaware that Gohan has found the DB he hid in the lake adjacent to the Namek village that Vegeta attacked earlier.

On the way back to the hideout, Gohan senses Vegeta, and Vegeta senses the boy as well. Gohan takes cover behind a tall rock but decides to come out when Vegeta threatens to blast the area below. Vegeta flies down to Gohan's platform and comments on his acquisition of all 7 DBs. Since he's in a good mood, he just gives Gohan a quick knee to the stomach and steps on his head before blasting off. Gohan gets up, glad that Vegeta didn't find the DB that Gohan hid behind the rock. He makes it back to Krilin and Bulma and is greeted gratefully by both. The three decide to hideout somewhere else, since Vegeta now knows their hiding place. Shortly after searching for the DB that he hid in the lake, Vegeta suddenly comes to the realization that Gohan was hiding a DB from him. He blasts off with bloodshot eyes in a fit of rage towards the abandoned hideout. Meanwhile, Gohan and Krillin settle down in some narrow space between two adjacent hills. Vegeta has reached the previous hideout and wastes no time in blowing it up. He's disgusted when he sees that it's been abandoned and vows brutal revenge when he finds Gohan and Krillin. Meanwhile, Freeza orders his mean to call for assistance from the Ginyu Toksentai (Ginyu Force) after it becomes obvious that Zarbon had been killed. Krillin decides to take off with Gohan to the Great Elder's so that he give Gohan a powerup as well, hoping that their combined strength would allow them to defeat Vegeta at least. Meanwhile, Vegeta is back at the place where he hid the stolen DBs. Without knowing the specific location of the Earthlings, he is forced to stay put for the moment so that the DBs don't get stolen by Freeza or his men.

Back at the three's hideout, Bulma, as clumsy as she is -_-, lets the DB that Gohan had acquired roll into a nearby ocean (the ground was shaking from the explosions created by Freeza's mega blasts as he got impatient with the progress his henchmen were making). After some hassle with a giant sea creature and an even larger crab mother, she manages to retrieve the DB using a Capsule Corp robot. She jumps up out of the water and lands on the ground. Before she fully recovers though, she is greeted by two blasts from two of Freeza's weaker henchmen. They force Bulma to tell them the location of the other DBs. Along the way, Bulma uses her wits ^_^ to convince the two (who by the way are given names in the Jap vers) to seek gather the DBs for themselves instead of for Freeza. They still take Bulma in her robot suit along in their underwater search for the DBs. Bulma eventually reaches this cave filled with shiny spheres that resemble DBs. The henchmen greedily reap their profits but are interrupted when the balls turn out to be hatching crab eggs. Bulma escapes quickly and blasts upwards to the surface. The henchmen are taken care of by the crab mother previously assisted by Bulma and she finally gets some rest. Shortly afterwards, Gohan and Krillin come into viewing distance of the Great Elder's house. They suddenly sense that Vegeta was close behind though, and Krillin orders Gohan to take off to get his dormant powers awakened while he attempts to stall Vegeta. After a brief confrontation, Vegeta detects a strong power reading emanating from the Great Elder's house. He flies towards it, lands, and yells to Kakarot (not Gohan, as the dub made many think), telling him to come out immediately. He's rather surprised when Gohan emerges, complete with a powerup. Krillin smirks, thinking that the three can take out Vegeta easily. Vegeta, of course, laughs and starts poking fun at the three. Shortly afterwards, however, they all sense a strong force approaching Namek from space. Vegeta worries that it's Kakarot and is even more shocked and fearful when he finds out that it must be the Ginyu Force. He demands that Gohan and Krillin give their DB to him at once before the Ginyu arrive. The two hesitate but decide to take off with Vegeta to retrieve it with a common threat.