Upa was a decent minor character in the Dragon Ball franchise. I kind of wonder if Akira Toriyama was trying to make him the series’ Tiger Lily from Peter Pan or if it was just a coincidence.

His father was the guardian of Korin’s Tower or something like that. For which he gets to unfortunately see his father brutally slain by Mercenary Tao.

So he joins Goku’s group for a bit. Even fighting a vampire of Fortune Teller Baba’s so they could gather the Dragon Balls and revive his dad, for which they do.

He makes a brief appearance during the last saga all grown up, which also Goku had done himself. His character is essentially non-existent to the story by the time of Dragon Ball Z.