Author's Notes: Happy Halloween from a land down under! In congratulations, have a new chapter! I'm so glad folks are enjoying this work, I'm relieved people don't think I'm breaking the lore too terribly, and I hope you will continue to find this story good! Obligatory reminder: we got a TVTropes page! Tropers welcome!
SInce I've had some comments on the timeline, let me try and clear it up: we are at the start of One Piece canon. However, our heroes are currently about a week behind the Straw Hats - they passed through Loguetown and Reverse Mountain a week ago. Not that it matters, since our heroes are taking their own route from the Twin Capes. Ranma did not encounter Luffy on his home island, he encountered Luffy on a random island that Luffy visited at some point between when he left his home island and Coby found him floating around in a barrel.
For Chaser Kiyoshi, we have a simple recipe: the name of Smoker's 4kids counterpart, Smoker's hair color, the appearance of Kasumi, an armor-plated Marine Captain's jacket, and the fighting skills and "combat uniform" of Mai Shiranui from Fatal Fury. As to what her fate will be... well, we'll see. It depends a lot on how much folks like her.
Chapter 10: Playing With The Big Boys, Now!
"Storm clouds on the horizon! We're on a direct course for Reverse Mountain!" Umok's voice thundered from the crow's nest, making the crew collectively look upwards as he came drifting down.
"This is it, then - our first step into the Grand Line," Kodachi cheerfully announced, making a deft adjustment of the ship's wheel.
"That it is... now, are you certain, Captain Saotome, that this is the course you wish to pursue? You know that once you enter the Grand Line, it's all but impossible to leave it alive," Umok cautioned him, staring darkly into Ranma's eyes.
"Sheesh, morbid much?" Ryoga muttered from the side.
Ranma drew himself up proudly, pride almost palpably roiling from his body as he declared, "We've come too far to turn back now! I know that we can find the One Piece, and we can beat any pirate or marine who gets in our way! Bring it on!"
"A true pirate captain's answer," Umok chuckled. "And since you're trying to be a true pirate crew now... will you undergo the Swearing of Dreams?"
"...The what?" A dumbfounded Ranma slowly replied, the girls and Ryoga also staring at the imp in confusion.
"I did my own little research during our time docked with the Baratie. Apparently, it's the custom of new pirate crews to formally declare their dream - that which has driven them to the sea - before entering the Grand Line. It's supposed to bring good luck... and since just getting into the Grand Line reputedly kills half of all the crews who try, I figured luck was something we could stand to court..."
"Oh, yes! I was just waiting for the right moment!"
A startled Ranma turned to face an ecstatic looking Kodachi, with the other teens doing the same. 'Why would she... wait, I forgot just how much she likes this pirate stuff; it's almost like her brother with his samurai thing. No wonder she'd be all over a ceremony like this...'
Kodachi soon returned, a small wooden keg over her shoulder and their supply of cups hanging from her waist, courtesy of a makeshift holder rendered from her whip. She set the keg down on the deck and smiled proudly at them.
"I stole this keg of rum from Commodore Nelson's personal quarters! I thought it would be just the thing for something of this nature!"
Ranma glanced at the others, who didn't look hostile, but weren't exactly clamoring to do this either. "I don't know, Kodachi..."
He flinched at the downcast look on her face, before Umok sighed loudly.
"Oh, come on, why not humor her? It's just a bit of fun and games... better make a decision quick, though; the currents are already starting to pick up, and we'll need all hands to make the entrance."
The imp's words, combined with Kodachi's expression, were the last straw for Ranma, who sighed softly and shrugged his shoulders. "Alright; grab a cup and raise it high; Umok, you go first."
"Doesn't bother me," the imp said, drifting down to snag a mug of rum. Drifting back out of the way as the other teens filled their cups in turn, Umok held his mug out solemnly. "To be restored to my full power, I will sail to the ends of this earth and beyond, braving all the seas!"
Kodachi was the next to raise her mug high, cackling with glee. "I shall become a queen among pirates, as fearsome as I am beautiful, at the side of my darling captain Ranma!"
That seemed to spur Ukyo and Shampoo, who both raised their mugs in turn.
"Shampoo will become great warrior, bring honor to Joketsuzoku!"
"I'll prove that the Kuonji School of Martial Arts Okonomiyaki is strong enough to make it all the way to the end of the Grand Line!"
Ryoga spoke up next, proudly declaring, "I'll sail to the end of the Grand Line and all the Four Blues if that's what it takes to get back to my Akane!"
Nabiki glanced at them all in turn, before shrugging and repeating the gesture. "I will become wealthy beyond my wildest dreams!"
The other girls smirked and chuckled at that, but none of them spoke. Instead, everyone turned their attention to Ranma, who stared into his mug before slowly raising it to the sky.
"I'll do whatever it takes, explore any sea, beat any foe, to bring my crew home!"
"Wait, seriously, Saotome? That's what you're going with?" a confused Ryoga interjected.
"What, you got a problem, bacon butt?" Ranma defensively shot back.
"No, I just figured you'd say something like 'I'll become the greatest martial artist in the world', something like that," Ryoga shrugged nonchalantly.
Ranma simply blinked as he took in Ryoga's point. 'Huh...he's right; why didn't I say that?'
"Everybody drink!" Umok interjected, before eagerly sculling his rum.
The teens followed his examples... leading to a chorus of coughs and choking, of splutters and groans as the harsh liquor burned unfamiliar throats.
"People actually drink this stuff?!" a disgusted Ranma asked, glancing at his mug.
"I... I suppose it is an acquired taste," Kodachi conceded, looking with dismay at her own share of rum.
"And I thought daddy's sake was nasty," Nabiki grimaced, flinging the remainder of her rum out over the ship's bow.
Ryoga stared at his own mug, obviously conflicted between his evident distaste for the liquor and his desire to one-up his rival.
Shampoo, however, stubbornly lifted her mug back to her mouth and began to chug the contents, loudly gulping down the remainder of her share and not stopping until she'd swallowed it all.
"Seriously?" Ukyo asked in disbelief.
"It no worse than harvest festival moonshine," Shampoo declared, wiping her mouth on the back of her arm and then burping softly.
"Figures; the only one of you with any BLEEP is the Amazon," Umok declared, his ghostly extraneous hands snatching the still-full mugs from the teens and hoisting them in his direction, where he eagerly guzzled them down. "Now, I suggest you man your stations, because that current came up fast!"
Six startled teenagers stared at the imp, before their gaze shifted as one to the dark clouds of the horizon - which were now virtually on top of them!
"Ryoga, Nabiki, get inside and man the rudder! Kodachi, the steering wheel! Ucchan, Shampoo, Umok, you help me on the rigging! Let's go, people!" Ranma barked decisively, snapping instinctively into 'captain mode'.
The teenagers scrambled to their posts, Ryoga snatching up the barrel of rum and hustling it inside with him as he went, Umok sending the mugs swirling through the air after him even as he drifted into the rigging. It was fortunate that they moved so quickly, because in what felt like a heartbeat, the storm was upon them, waves rocking the Milka back and forth as sheets of rain hammered the deck and soaked the sails.
"Dammit all!" Ranma cursed as the change overcame him once again, but in the grand scheme of things, that was merely a petty annoyance. Timber groaned, and they could feel the current sweeping them along.
"Adjust those sails! Remember what old man Zeff said - we need to be traveling straight and true on this current!" the voluptuous redhead barked, even as she pitted her own hard-won muscles against the weather and wrestled with the rope.
"We doing, airen!" Shampoo growled.
"I hate to be the one to say this, but are we sure that this isn't just a bad storm?" Ukyo cried.
"Trust me; this current is for real!" Ryoga shouted back from inside, muscles bulging with effort as he strained to adjust the rudder to keep their heading stable.
"...Red Line dead ahead! And by the Arcanium, this is why I walk the planes..." Umok trailed off reverentially.
Not that any of the teens could blame them as the object of his focus emerged through the crashing surf and pounding waves. A bloody crimson monolith stretched across the horizons, so solid that it almost seemed like a bubble of reality against a backdrop of dreams, rising defiantly above the waves. It filled the landscape like an earthen titan, reducing them to less than nothing in its presence.
"It-it's bigger than the clouds!" a dumbstruck Ukyo blurted out.
Kodachi let loose a shrieking peal of triumphant laughter. "You do bring me to the most interesting places, Ranma darling!"
The sea visibly churned and heaved at its basis, the current so powerful it could be seen as a physical stream through the water. As the onrushing current seized the Milka and hurled it forward like a child's toy in an overflowing storm drain, the crew collectively cursed against the sudden motion that shook them all, trying to cast them to their feet.
"Are you really certain we're supposed to sail up over Reverse Mountain? Because I still think it sounds crazy!" Nabiki cried to Ranma from where she was cowering in the kitchen.
"We've done crazier!" Ranma shouted back.
"And I've seen weirder!" Umok interjected.
"But if you're wrong, we'll be smashed to pieces and dragged to our deaths in the raging seas!" Nabiki rebutted them.
"If you've gotta go, you've gotta go!" Kodachi shrieked gleefully, loosing one of her ear-splitting cackles of delight in the process.
"Besides, the old man wasn't lying - there it is! The entrance!" Ranma cried. "Goddamn, but the ocean's really flowing up the damn mountain!"
And that was the honest truth. What had seemed like an almost miniscule crack from afar was now revealed to be a massive channel, flanked by ten squared-off stone archways, that rose up the side of the incredible mountain. And water poured up this channel, defying all natural laws as the teens knew them to form a reverse waterfall.
"Keep it straight! We're almost there!" Ranma shouted at her crewmates, who cursed and groaned and fought to maintain their ship's heading.
And then they were passing through the first arc... and then the second, shooting up the canal like a waterborne rocket. The storm that had been lashing their faces died away, and the teens whooped and cheered in relief.
"Now it's just a straight shot to the summit - and from there, we descend to the Grand Line!" Kodachi cackled ecstatically.
Even Nabiki cheered at that, if only out of sheer relief at being alive. She and Ryoga emerged from the cabin to join the others, staring in wonder at the impossible canyon they were rocketing upwards.
"Just think, there's one of these canals leading from each of the Four Blues!" Ranma marveled.
"Do you think this is natural? Or was it manmade?" Nabiki mused aloud.
"Maybe it was a little of both? Who cares! Look, here comes the clouds!" Umok shouted.
The teens from Nerima instinctively held their breaths as they plunged through the thick layer of dark clouds, feeling the moist, wet vapors rake across their skin and saturate their clothes. Ryoga tried to curse, but merely squealed in dismay instead as Jusenkyo played its familiar joke on him. His companions ignored him, instead watching as they plunged through the clouds and back into the sunlight once more.
"Incredible..." Ranma breathed, staring in wonder as they continued to sail upwards into the heavens. Then something caught her ear and she turned a confused glance to Shampoo.
"Are you praying?" Ranma asked in confusion, staring at the blue-haired cabbit with her bowed head and clasped hands.
"Shampoo's tribe honor goddesses of Byankalas mountains. Shampoo giving respects to this mountain goddess too," the Chinese Amazon replied serenely, never breaking her prayer pose.
"Uh... makes sense," Ranma conceded. 'Because if ever a mountain deserved a prayer, it's this one...'
Up and up they went, the sky painting itself red as the sun began sinking to the west. But it was still bright enough that they could see the way the canal grew shallower as it rose towards the narrowing point of the mountain's pinnacle.
"The summit! Hold on to your stomachs!" Umok cried, sounding almost giddy with anticipation.
And who could really blame him? Reverse Mountain's peak seemed to scrape the very sky; crashing surf hurled itself into the air and froze solid, raining back down the slopes as a deluge of icicles and rimefrost that melted as it fell, feeding the stormy clouds that clung to most of the mountain's sides. The teens from Nerima latched onto the nearest surface for dear life, Ryoga squealing as he raced inside and hid in one of the kitchen's cupboards, as the Milka rocketed up the canal and launched itself clear of the water and into the sky.
Screams and cries echoed from the Kamikaze Pirates as they found themselves lifting from the Milka's decks, forcing them to cling with greater strength to whatever was at hand.
"We're going to fall to our deaths!" Nabiki wailed.
"Don't talk like that!" Ranma chided her.
"We've survived worse than this!" Ukyo agreed.
"Like what?!" Nabiki demanded.
Ranma was saved from having to try and devise an answer as gravity took hold of the Milka once more, dragging it from the sky and sending it splashing down into the half-canal, half-waterfall that cascaded down one of Reverse Mountain's faces. The teens cried out in shock and surprise as they plummeted back down to earth, so to speak, ending up spread-eagled on the deck.
Ranma leapt up from the deck and raced to the bow, eyes wide and grinning like a maniac. "We made it! Look, there it is! The Grand Line!"
Backlit by the crimsons, pinks and golds of a setting sun, the white clouds below rushed up to meet them as they rocketed down Reverse Mountain.
"No turning back now, Captain... are you sure you're up for the challenge?" Umok muttered to Ranma, having drifted down to get close to the boy-turned-girl.
Ranma just grinned a slightly unhinged grin. "Bring 'em on!"
Down and down they plunged, back through the cloud layer, until finally the open sea was in sight once more.
"Alright, you lot, get ready! Stopping this ship is going to take some doing!" Ranma called.
But even preparing for it didn't compare to the sheer impact of finally hitting the open ocean, the current sending them rocketing out across the waves and leaving them cursing like mad as they struggled to bleed off their momentum and bring the Milka back under their control. Not helping was that with Ryoga still stuck as a pig and Ranma as a girl, their strongest crewmembers were effectively unable to pitch in.
But their efforts paid off, and soon the Milka was floating serenely in the clear blue waters beneath a sky fast fading into dusk. Ranma wiped the sweat from her brow and let out a short bark of a laugh. "Good job, guys! Now come on; let's swing this baby around and take her back to the cape - we'll drop anchor near that lighthouse!"
"A sound decision, captain darling; I for one would rather not try to start our Grand Line voyage in the middle of the night," Kodachi called back from her position at the wheel.
As the Milka steadily swung back to the capes on either side of Reverse Mountain, Ranma returned to the kitchen and boiled the spare kettle, transforming himself and Ryoga back to their true forms. By the time the two faintly steaming youths emerged back onto the deck, their ship was sliding into place just off the shore near a towering lighthouse, with Shampoo effortlessly pitching the anchor into the deep.
"Huh, looks like we have a visitor," Ryoga muttered, nudging Ranma's arm and pointing to the shore.
Standing solemnly there on the rocky coastline was an elderly man, tall but stocky of build, with a jutting lower lip, pugnacious brow and largely bald, save for a twin-forked beard of white, and a strange half-circle of what could only be described as half-yellow, half-purple flower petals that ringed the strange man's head from ear to ear.
"Man, an' I thought Principal Kuno's wearing a bonsai palm tree was weird..." Ranma muttered to himself.
Still, he stepped up to the gunwale, put his foot on it, crossed his arms and shouted loud and proud. "Ahoy there! I'm Captain Ranma Saotome, of the Kamikaze Pirates! Who are you?"
The stranger's gaze snapped up to Ranma, staring into his eyes, a burning gaze that raked through Ranma's soul like a Genma fishing through the coals of a campfire for roasted sweet chestnuts. Ranma waited for an answer... and waited... and waited some more... and then waited a little longer...
"So, do you think he's deaf or just senile?" Umok conversationally muttered, flicking ashes into the foaming water.
"I am Crocus! Keeper of the Twin Capes Lighthouse! I'm 71 and a half years old, a Gemini, blood type AB!" the stranger suddenly declared, with equal strength and volume to Ranma.
"Is it alright if we weigh anchor here for a night or two?" Ranma shouted to him.
Once more, that burning gaze pierced the hearts of all who stood on the Milka's deck as they waited for an answer. And waited...and waited some more... and then waited a little longer...
"Yes," Crocus finally declared.
"Does it really take that long to come up with an answer? It's a yes or no deal!" An affronted Ryoga barked.
"But I warn you, pirates; there is nothing of value for you to plunder from my lighthouse, and though I may be old, I am not dead yet. And even if you were to try and steal from me, my friend Laboon would not be happy about that!" Crocus suddenly added, ignoring Ryoga.
"Laboon? Who's Laboon?" A confused Ranma asked.
Suddenly, the Milka swayed and rocked, causing the non-levitating crewmembers to roll with the pitching deck, lest their faces get up close and personal with the wood.
"What the heck was that?!" Nabiki demanded.
"Strange... I don't remember seeing that island there when we came down the mountain," Kodachi observed.
A curious crew turned to follow Kodachi's gaze, and found themselves staring at a tiny island - little more than a round hump of black stone sticking out of the waves. At least, it was tiny at first. Before their very eyes, it swelled bigger, and bigger, quadrupling in size with every second, surging out of the depths in a swirl of froth and churning water until its shadow swallowed the Milka.
"Th-that no island!" Shampoo whimpered, ears flat against her skull and instinctively clinging to the closest person...and it said something for the situation that Ukyo wasn't even protesting.
"It's a whale!" Ukyo completed the sentence for her.
"A whale?! That creature is nothing less than a biblical leviathan!" Kodachi retorted, a hysterical edge to her voice.
Not that any of them blamed her for such a reaction. Yes, fundamentally, Laboon was a whale... but a whale on a scale normally used for measuring geography. It was almost like seeing the Red Line for the first time again; an impossibly huge mass of muscle and flesh that dominated the very horizon with its sheer immensity. Building-sized teeth could be spotted amidst a mouth that curved like a pink slit in the sky itself, eyes the size of battleships clearly focused on their miniscule selves.
"What a monster..." Ranma whispered, then yelped softly as fingers painfully pinched his arm. "What wassat for?!"
"Don't you dare pick a fight with it!" Nabiki hissed to Ranma, her pale skin and wide eyes making it clear just how frightened she really was.
"Do I look that stupid?! Why would I pick a fight with a whale that looks like it could swallow this ship as easily as you swallow profiteroles?!" Ranma snapped back at her, prompting an embarrassed blush from his crewmate.
Steeling himself with a deliberately measured breath, Ranma turned back to Crocus and tried to put on a calming smile. "Hey, no problems here! We're not the plunder and pillage kind of pirates! In fact, would you like to join us for dinner? I'm sure you have a lot of useful things you can tell us."
For a third time, that piercing gaze burned into the Kamikaze Pirates as they waited for an answer. And waited...and waited some more... and then waited a little longer...
"Will you stop doing that?!" they shouted as one.
"Sheesh, no appreciation for a running gag?" Crocus snorted.
"It has to be funny to be called a gag!" they roared back.
"Very well, you seem like respectable pirates, so I'll accept your invitation to dinner. Beats cooking for myself, anyway..."
Soon afterwards...
"One jumbo seafood okonomiyaki!" Ukyo announced chipperly, passing the plate to their guest.
"Why, thank you, young lady. I must admit, it smells delicious," Crocus confessed, inhaling the savory aroma of the grilled batter, spices and assorted seafoods.
"Yes, Ukyo is a highly competent chef... if a touch repetitive," Kodachi jibed from where she was demurely taking bites from her own platter of Hiroshima-style pork, beef and cheese okonomiyaki.
"You're always welcome to take a turn at the stove," Ukyo shot back, though her tone lacked the heat that it would have held before their forced voyage together.
It was a surprisingly cosy atmosphere as the pirates sat around a beachside fire with their guest, Laboon looming in the background like a living sea mountain. Ranma gnawed on a bite of squid okonomiyaki, washed it down with a mug of sweetened lime juice, and then finally asked the question that had been bothering the teenage pirates for the last few hours.
"So... what's with that whale, anyway? How'd you get a pet like Laboon?"
"A pet? Laboon is no pet. He's more of a friend. We've known each other for over fifty years," Crocus said, sighing softly and staring fondly over at the gargantuan cetacean.
"What kind of whale is Laboon, anyway?" Nabiki asked him.
"Laboon is an Island Whale; they're a rare species from the West Blue, one of the largest animals in the entire world. Fifty years ago, a baby Laboon came down Reverse Mountain, following the ship of a crew of pirates from the West Blue. Island Whales are very sociable animals, you see, and Laboon had gotten lost from his pod; the pirates had adopted him as a mascot, and despite their efforts to leave him in the West Blue, he insisted on following them." Crocus smiled absently and shook his head, ruffling the petals ringing his scalp.
"Then why's he here with you?" Ryoga interjected.
"Those pirates spent three months here, repairing their ship and strengthening themselves for the difficult journey ahead. They were afraid that Laboon was too small and weak for the dangers of the Grand Line, so they left him here under my care, promising to return in about two or three years."
As one, the six teenagers and one imp turned and looked at the immense physical presence that was Laboon, then turned skeptical expressions back at Crocus.
"Laboon was much smaller in those days! Why, he wasn't even as big as your own ship! But we waited and waited... and then, about two decades later, I learned the truth; his friends were gone, and they weren't coming back," Crocus sadly announced.
"The poor thing!" Kodachi gasped, looking distressed, whilst Ukyo and Shampoo nodded in fellow feeling.
"Yes, Laboon took it badly... you see those great scars that line his forehead? When I told Laboon that his crew weren't coming back, he began to howl in misery, and to charge the base of Reverse Mountain, smashing himself into it with all his strength over and over again."
Ranma blinked, looking first from Laboon and then to Reverse Mountain. The whale was enormous, a titan of flesh and blood, but the Red Line was on an entirely different scale of geographic immensity. Turning back to Crocus, he said, "But... why? What did he think he could achieve?"
"He wasn't thinking, not really. Reverse Mountain was simply a convenient target for him to focus his rage and grief on. He convinced himself that his friends were stranded on the other side of the mountain, and if he could just break through, then he would be able to see them... but, of course, not even Laboon could achieve a feat like that! The Red Line is made from the hardest minerals known to man; no force has ever been able to crack the stones of those mountains!"
Crocus shook his head and sighed. "So, I became his doctor. For nearly thirty years, I kept Laboon from beating himself to death against Reverse Mountain, patching up his wounds and trying to alleviate his pain as best I could."
Kodachi audibly sniffled, tears visibly dripping down her cheeks, but she all but literally buried her face in her food to avoid letting the others see. Instead, it was Shampoo who raised the next question.
"But... he not doing that now?"
"No, he's not, and for that I'm eternally grateful. You see, a week ago, another crew of pirates came sailing down Reverse Mountain. Their captain, upon learning Laboon's story, decided he would make Laboon stop hurting himself... so, he challenged Laboon to a fight."
The beach fell silent, save for the crackle of the fire, as seven skeptical gazes once more bored into Crocus.
"I'm serious! Lot of guts, that kid had, but not so much in the brains department. He actually managed to hurt Laboon, and took some hits in turn, but then he declared the fight was a draw. He promised Laboon that he would return for a rematch, and Laboon's been waiting ever since. He also painted his Jolly Roger on Laboon's head as a symbol of their promise, and also to make Laboon stop bashing himself to death against Reverse Mountain - Laboon has no intention of rubbing off that sigil, not when he's hoping to see the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates again."
"So that's the story behind that massive doodle on Laboon's forehead? I thought some cruel character had graffitied the poor dear!" Kodachi announced.
"Yes... he was a good man, but I wouldn't call him a good artist," Crocus conceded, glancing up at the very poorly scribbled skull, crossbones and straw hat sprawling across Laboon's mountainous forehead.
The next morning...
"So tell me; do you have a Log Pose?" Crocus asked Ranma.
"Yeah, we got three of them, just to be safe," Ranma replied, looking over to where Kodachi was standing beside the ship's wheel and beaming with pride.
"Well, you're certainly better informed than the last batch of pirates to come down Reverse Mountain!" Crocus observed, shaking his head. "Nice kids, but not very bright..."
"Yeah, we did our homework, but there's not much about the Grand Line in the East Blue - can you give us any tips before we start?" Ranma asked.
"Only two," Crocus warned him, holding up two fingers. "Firstly, whilst you know how the Log Pose works, you should know that there are seven islands within its reach from here at the Twin Capes. These form the base of seven routes that wind through the first half of Paradise, culminating at Sabaody; the last island of Paradise. Once you cross there, you'll have to pick your starting route again, repeating the process until you arrive at the last and most mysterious island of them all; Raftel Island, whose existence was only confirmed by the King of the Pirates himself."
"So, that's our destination... good to know. What's the other tip?" Ranma asked, nodding as he did so.
"Secondly, you must never forget that common sense has no place in the Grand Line! Seasons. Weather. Currents. Wind directions. On the Grand Line, these defy the very laws of nature, acting seemingly at random. And the worst manifestation of this sea's chaotic nature lies just beyond the waters of Twin Capes!" Crocus declared.
"What?!" Kodachi demanded in shock.
"The clashing magnetic fields and seasons of the seven islands from the Twin Capes produce a belt of extremely violent and chaotic weather, even by the standards of the Grand Line. It's the first great obstacle to beginning your journey across its length, and is known locally as the Gauntlet. You will have to fight this sea for your very lives... do you think you're up to the challenge?" Crocus asked, staring at Ranma with a piercingly inquisitive gaze.
Ranma simply drew himself up proudly and stared the old man dead in the eye. "My crew can handle anything this sea throws at them!"
Crocus stared back, their gazes locked, and then finally smirked slightly. "I hope your trust is worthwhile. Good luck, young captain. May you find your dreams on the Grand Line."
"Thanks, old timer. I hope that pirate comes back to Laboon some day," Ranma said, going so far as to bow in the formal style for departure.
Crocus looked confused at first, then appreciative, before suddenly reaching out and clasping Ranma's hand, shaking it firmly before letting the surprised teen go. "Take care, Captain Ranma."
The lighthouse keeper descended the gangplank, and shortly afterwards the Milka unfurled its sails, raised the anchor, and set sail off onto the Grand Line.
Soon afterwards...
"...So, not that I'm complaining, but I expected something called 'the gauntlet' to be a little more of a challenge," Ryoga observed as he idly adjusted one of the many ropes connected to the sails.
"Well, the old guy's lived here fifty years, so he should know the terrain, right? Just keep your guard up," Ranma asserted.
"Come on; it's a beautiful sunny day! The sea is calm, the sky is clear, the sun is bright, it's warm... actually, maybe a little too warm... like... seriously, is anybody else feeling hot?" Ryoga asked, wiping sweat from his brow with an arm.
Ranma blinked in confusion at the sudden change in topic, but even as he thought about it... "Hoo, you're right, it's a scorcher today..."
FWOOSH
"AAAAGH!"
Every teenager aboard the Milka physically leapt in shock as Umok's scream rolled across the deck like thunder, the imp descending from his typical perch in the crow's nest like a veritable comet, trailing acrid smoke and cascading sparks.
"My hat's on fire! Help! Help! Put me out! Somebody put me out!" the imp screamed, in between cursing so profusely that he beeped like a telegraph having an epileptic fit, zooming back and forth across the deck in a blind panic, noxious smoke billowing from his hat.
Thunder cracked, the skies grew dark, and then rain came bucketing down, a torrential downpour that hit everybody standing on the deck like it was a solid object, knocking Umok face-down to the deck and mercifully quenching his flaming headgear.
"Not what I had in mind," the imp growled, pushing himself upright.
"Complain later, we got waves incoming!" Ranma barked, already racing for the rudder, a squealing P-chan hot on her heels.
"Waves? So what?" Umok asked, before he looked behind him... and saw the dark mass of water towering higher than the Milka's main mast.
"Where the BLEEP did that come from?!"
Somehow, miraculously, the crew managed to dodge the bulk of the tidal wave and keep themselves afloat. Lightning crackled through the sky, and the rain pelted down like sheets of liquid bees, biting the pirates with their combination of concussive force and stinging cold. But the teenage martial artists, toughened by their lifestyles and buoyed by sheer stubbornness, fought the wind and the drenching rain, refusing to give in.
"Maybe we should turn back?!" Nabiki shouted to Ranma.
"No! We keep going! You remember what Crocus said; we've gotta punch through this or we'll be stuck at Twin Capes forever! Kodachi, how's our heading?!" Ranma screamed to be heard over the hammering downpour.
"I - what?! We've been turned off course! We need to make a turn; 180 degrees port to starboard!" their navigator cried out, prompting fresh cursing and defiant snarls as the rest of the crew struggled to get the sails and rudder to obey.
"I hope you know what you're doing, Ranma!" Nabiki yelled.
"Trust me! We keep going, this'll all blow over!" Ranma assured her.
One minute later...
"Ah-ah-ahchoo!" Shampoo sneezed, sniffled, and wiped her nose with the back of her arm. "First heatwave, then rain, now blizzard?"
She shivered as the snow piled itself into a thick heaping of white mush on her head and shoulders, violently shaking herself in an effort to rid herself of the mounting mass before shifting into her half-beast form to give her feet a little more protection from the cold.
"Iceberg dead ahead!"
The cabbit-girl spat a stream of invectives that would have had Cologne wash her mouth out with soap, and sprang for her position in the sails.
Three minutes later...
"How are there whirlpools and waterspouts?!"
"Doesn't matter, Kodachi, just steer!"
One minute later...
"Why is Nabiki stuck in the rigging?!"
"Get me down from here before the wind pulls me off the ship!"
Thirty seconds later...
"Did this ship just do a barrel roll?!"
"BLEURGH!"
"Ewww! Ucchan, that's in my hair!"
Five minutes later...
"...Why, ouch! Why, yow! Why didn't I learn the Bakusai Tenketsu!?"
"I'm sorry, Ranma darling, but I can't steer the ship if this cursed hail fractures my skull!"
Ten minutes later...
The sun shone cheerfully in a clear blue sky, illuminating a battered and weatherbeaten Milka as it drifted lazily through calm, gentle waters. Aboard, five teenagers, a pig and an imp sprawled on the deck, scorched, soggy and haggard-looking.
"Oh, mah achin'... everythin'..." Ukyo moaned.
"Shampoo no can remember last time Shampoo this sore," the cabbit-girl whimpered.
Ranma simply panted for breath, and then slowly spoke up. "Well... we made it through the gauntlet... that..."
"Ranchan... if you finish that thought, I'm going to throw up on you again," Ukyo warned her future husband, currently wife.
"...I was gonna say that sucked more than anythin' in my life has sucked before," the transformed boy grumbled.
"Worse than that time you ate a couple hundred photographs and washed them down with a plate of Akane's cookies?" Nabiki asked blearily.
"...Maybe," Ranma conceded.
Glancing over at the ship's wheel, she forced herself upright and staggered over to where Kodachi was still standing defiantly at her post, unblinking gaze locked onto the sea ahead of them.
"Kodachi...? Are we still on course?" Ranma asked gently.
"...Yes," she admitted, glancing at the Log Pose - a reinforced model, thankfully - from its position next to the wheel.
"Then it's okay to let go of the wheel now," Ranma replied in the same soothing tone as before, gently reaching out and tenderly but insistently prying Kodachi's fingers from the indentations she'd squeezed into the cured hardwood of the wheel. No sooner had she freed the other girl's grip than Kodachi's eyes sank close and she fell backwards with a soft moan, forcing Ranma to catch her before she hit the floor.
For a moment, the transformed boy stood there, unable to figure out how to proceed, before she metaphorically and literally shrugged, then swept the insensate Kodachi up into a bridal-style carry before carting her back towards the bulk of the group. She gently laid Kodachi down on the deck, and then flopped down beside her.
"Man, am I glad that's over and done with!" Ranma announced.
"We got company!" Umok hollered, causing all five teenagers to moan in dismay - Ryoga echoing the sentiment with a distinctly porcine flair.
Reluctantly, Ranma forced herself upright and staggered over to the gunwale where Umok was hovering, the other girls following in her wake.
"What is it?" Ranma demanded as she strode up next to Umok.
"Look out there - there's a girl out there on a raft!" the imp replied, pointing out into the sea.
Ranma followed his gesture, and blinked in surprise. "Hey, you ain't kidding, there really is a girl out there on a raft!"
Murmurs of surprise and confusion echoed from behind the redhead as the other girls crowded behind Ranma, straining to see what their captain was looking at. Sure enough, there was a small girl out in the middle of the sea, trying to control a primitive boat that was little more than assorted planks of wood lashed together and drifting along the mercifully gentle water.
"How did she get out here?" an appalled Kodachi wondered.
"And what would make somebody desperate enough to try these waters on a raft?" Nabiki wondered aloud.
"Maybe she comes from that ship over there?" Ukyo suggested, pointing.
Looking past the stranger, they spotted another small caravel on the waters, one fast approaching the raft.
"Oh, good, they'll pick her up," Ranma noted with relief.
Shampoo's long, rabbit-like ear twitched and she looked confused. "You hear that?"
The others glanced at her in confusion, only to find their attention snapped back to the girl on her raft as water suddenly geysered into the air, making the raft wobble and sending the raft's captain tumbling about in obvious distress.
"They're shooting at her!" a horrified Nabiki gasped.
"You guys get this ship moving, open fire on those jerks and show them what it tastes like! I'll go and get the girl!" Ranma barked, and before any of them could protest, the transformed boy dove over the side and hit the ocean, swimming furiously for the raft.
"You heard the captain! Get to work! Ukyo, tack the sails!" Kodachi ordered, already springing for her position at the wheel.
"Right!"
"I'll get the water boiling and change Ryoga back!" Nabiki declared, snatching up their porcine crew member and racing for the kitchen.
"Shampoo get the cannonballs and start the show!" the Zoan announced, shifting to half-beast and racing for the hold.
Even as her crew raced to do their bidding, Ranma ploughed through the waves like a living speedboat. Whilst swimming from Japan to China and back again had largely been a matter of endurance over speed, that didn't mean she wasn't capable of moving if she felt the need to. And when somebody was firing a cannon at a kid, she felt the need for speed! Powerful legs propelled her through the water, churning up spray behind her as she shot forward like a human torpedo. Despite her efforts, though, two more cannonballs plunged into the sea with ear-piercing whistles and muffled explosions, sending up plumes of spray and rocking the raft madly.
Ranma refused to stop, however, and hauled herself onto the raft, breathing hard from the exertion.
"Wh-who are you?! Where'd you come from?!" shrieked the raft's occupant, who seemed even smaller and more vulnerable up close than she had before.
"I'm here to save you! Come with me if you want to live!" Ranma told her, holding out her hand.
The look she got in response was skeptical, to say the least. But as a third cannonball rocked the tiny vessel, coming within inches of hitting them, the argument was pretty persuasive. The girl dove - or perhaps fell - into reach of Ranma's hand, and the transformed boy snatched her up, crushing the smaller girl to her ample curse-wrought chest and plunging back into the water, kicking as hard as she could towards the Milka.
Meanwhile, on the Milka, Shampoo was juggling a cannonball with her foot, propelling it up and down with easy twitches of her rabbit-like appendage as she sighted the enemy ship. As a steaming Ryoga lurched out of the kitchen in her direction, the Zoan launched the cannonball high into the air... and then, as it fell back into range, she drew back on one leg and struck it with a precisely aimed kick, coiling one rabbit-like leg and then snapping it straight out in a powerful kick.
Devil Fruit-empowered muscles slammed into the steel, propelling it from vertical to horizontal in a single explosion of momentum. Displaced air rippled backwards, making Shampoo's long tresses shake as the cannonball tore off into the distance, flying straight and true until it slammed into the enemy vessel. Wood pulverized, flying apart in a shower of splinters and shards as it tore a chunk out of the enemy's hull, the crash faintly audible even from this distance.
Grinning viciously, the befanged, buck-toothed Amazon turned to Ryoga. "You up for challenge? Your arm, Shampoo's legs?"
Ryoga simply grinned back, his own fangs bared as he grabbed a cannonball from the pile next to the gunwale. Taking up a stance that a professional baseball player would have commended, he took careful aim, wound up, and then pitched a perfect fastball, transforming the humble iron orb into a shrieking projectile that hit the other ship's mizzenmast and brought it down in a cascade of wood, ropes and canvass.
Evidently, their unseen foes were smarter than they looked, because the ship quickly changed course, tacking about as hard as they could to flee. Ryoga and Shampoo still put a couple of good sized holes in the ship for the affront, but the vessel had soon sped beyond even their reach, and the two human cannons found something else to occupy their time.
Namely, the return of their drenched captain and the equally sodden girl he-she had rescued.
The small girl, clad in an ankle-length mustard-yellow dress with maroon trim and a ring pattern around its hem and what, on an older woman, would be the neckline, hacked and coughed, spitting saltwater onto the Milka's deck.
"I did tell you to close your mouth," an amused Ranma noted from where she was squatting beside her.
"There, there, little one; it's alright, you're safe now," Kodachi crooned, kneeling down and placing a surprisingly tender hand on the girl's back, gently petting her in what was obviously intended to be a soothing gesture.
The stranger finished coughing up a lungful of brine and looked up at them with wide eyes. "Wh-who are you people?"
"I'm Captain Ranma Saotome, and these are my crew; the Kamikaze Pirates," Ranma announced proudly.
"You're pirates?!" the girl gasped, looking between them in shock.
"It's alright, we're the good kind of pirates! We only beat up bad people," Ukyo assured her, smiling warmly as she did so.
The girl still looked wary, but also hopeful. She stood up and snatched her pointy cloth hat from her head, revealing a mop of sodden sandy yellow-brown hair. "Are...are you strong pirates?"
"Oh, yes, we're strong," Ryoga responded, flexing his bicep and grinning as the stranger's eyes went wide at the sheer size of his bulging muscle. He was cheating a little, pumping a bit of ki to exaggerate the size of the muscle, but she didn't need to know that.
"Then...then you can help me! Please, my name is Apis; my home has been conquered by a terrible pirate named El Dorago! We can't fight him off alone! Please, will you help me?"
Ranma glanced at her crew, who all met her gaze with a determined look. For once feeling confident she was speaking for them as a whole, Ranma replied, "Of course we will! You can count on us!"
Chapter End & Closing Notes
And thus we enter the Grand Line, and the true journey into madness begins! I'm sure that some people are curious about what is going on with Apis being tied to El Dorago, but there's a simple explanation for that. Whilst we may lift some filler arcs or movies into the story more or less intact, with others, we're going to play around with the basic concept. Mixing and matching the Warship Island arc and Movie 1 was the plan all along, as it helps address some of the weirdness of those two sources.