Thread by @Herms98

December 18th, Age 762: Bulma and co finally arrive on Namek but discover the story arc has started without them. While Freeza already has three dragon balls, the Namekians rapidly deplete his supply of mooks. Even Cranberry is lost to Zarbon’s friendly fire. #HistoryofEver

Vegeta arrives soon after Team Bulma and makes short work of Kewi and Dodoria. Zarbon takes him a little longer, but by the 20th Freeza is completely out of staff on Namek. Fortunately he’s already summoned the Ginyu Force (on holiday from their Yardrat invasion). ETA: 5 days.

The supreme importance of Zarbon kicking Cranberry is spelt out in Toyotaro’s DBS vol.10 bonus manga, which explains how this is what enabled Cranberry to return to life, which by extension sets off the entire Galactic Patrol Prisoner arc in the fullness of time.

Despite all the back-and-forth shenanigans and the lack of any night, the Namek arc’s timeline is relatively straightforward. Bulma and Vegeta arrive at about the same time, Bulma phones home, and Goku leaves 2 hours after Roshi gets the call.

Goku’s trip is said to take 6 days, and once he gets there it’s all one battle after another, making for one super long day (the longest in the original manga, in fact). So that makes the time spent on Namek a total of 7 days counting from Team Bulma’s arrival.

Day 1 (December 18th per the Daizenshuu’s reckoning): Team Bulma/Vegeta arrive, Vegeta kills Kewi and Dodoria, and Kuririn+Dende set out for the Great Elder. On Earth, Goku begins his 6 day training cruise, and chats with Kaio about his new house guests.

Day 2 (December 19th): Zarbon beats Vegeta and takes him back to Freeza’s ship for healing and questioning. Freeza (via Appule) puts in a call for the Ginyu Force, who are due in 5 days. Kuririn+Dende are 5 hours away from the Great Elder, but decide to sleep first.

(Goku ends up arriving on the same day as the Ginyu Force, although slightly later for dramatic purposes. This checks out: he begins his 6 day journey, then a day passes before the Ginyu Force begin their 5 day trip. Who knows why Freeza apparently thinks in terms of Earth days)

(That said, the transition between Day 1 and Day 2 is never explicitly stated, although my best guess is that Goku’s talk with Kaio and co marks the spot, since Goku’s training scenes are used to mark later time skips. Though this means Goku works his way up to 50G pretty quick)

The narrator helpfully explains that Planet Namek has no nightfall, which is the lead-in to Day 3 (December 20th). Kuririn+Dende wake up and finally arrive at the Great Elder’s, while Vegeta recovers and kills Appule and (with slightly more difficulty) Zarbon.

(The Japanese narration explicitly says that a day or so passes, while Viz’s narration is more poetic than explicit)

Kuririn reunites with Gohan and they set out for a return trip to the Great Elder’s, while Vegeta sits and does his level best to sense them. The scene shifts to Goku in space, who the narrator says has been training for 4 days, thus putting this on Day 5 (December 22nd).

(In Japanese the narrator also starts out by describing this scene as two days later, which Viz leaves out)

Another day passes during Goku’s training montage, thus putting us on Day 6 (December 23rd). Goku has one day left to reach Namek, which he decides is best spent resting (a principle he later applies in the lead-up to the Cell Games)

Tomorrow: ‘twas the night before Christmas!