This work playfully reinterprets the iconic cover of Dragon Ball Volume 1 by Akira Toriyama, transporting Pepe into the foundational mythos of the Shōnen Golden Age. While the original introduced a fearless, adventure-hungry child Goku riding the Kinto’un, this reimagining adds a humorous layer: Pepe, perched beside him, becomes the anxious counterpoint to Goku’s unstoppable optimism. The composition preserves Toriyama’s clean linework, saturated palettes, and crisp contouring typical of early Weekly Shōnen Jump aesthetics. The vintage halftone texture and slightly faded paper tint emulate 1980s tankōbon printing techniques, anchoring the piece firmly within the era’s visual grammar. By placing Pepe inside such a seminal moment of manga history, the artwork creates a bridge between internet culture and the mythopoetic foundations of modern Japanese pop culture, an affectionate and ironic homage to the birth of one of the genre’s greatest narratives.