Crimson Hunter
A Ranma 1/2 and One Piece FanFiction
Written by: Konsaki
Forcing an even breathing pace, the nine year old girl's feet hit a steady rhythm down Foosha Village's main street. Shifting shoulders to settle the heavy rock filled backpack, Ranma hopped onto the short picket fence, continuing on as if she'd never left the gravel below.
"Good morning, Ranma!"
"Morning, Mr Squash!" Ranma replied as she passed the grey haired man watering his vegetable garden. Quick as that, her flashing red ponytail vanished in the distance of the docks.
Watching the girl run down the road for the umpteenth time that morning, a wrinkled old woman sipped at her tea. "Tsk. Makino should have a firmer hand with that girl."
"What was that, Agnes?" her companion asked, pulling her violet eyes from Mr Squash across the street.
Harumphing, Agnes frowned, making her wrinkles that more prominent. "Makino should have reined in that girl of hers, Fran." Clucking her tongue, she added, "Shameful."
Fran refrained from rolling her eyes at her companions daily gripe. "I think she's doing a wonderful job at raising her daughter. Why, just yesterday little Ranma helped Taru purchase his groceries and even helped make his lunch."
"I still say he's an old fool, keeping that mangy cat to trip over." Agnes commented with another sip of her bitter tea. "Besides, I heard that girl ate more than half of what he prepared."
"Well, she is a growing girl, Agnes." Fran calmly pointed out, smiling at how cute Ranma had looked in her granddaughter's old overalls. "She's looking more like her mother every day!"
"More like her father, you mean." Agnes corrected, patting her permed hair back in place. "'Just a sailor', indeed. She's just as impetuous as that 'Sailor', jumping off that roof and nearly breaking her arm. Makino was in fits!"
Fran conceded the point with a nod, reaching out to pick up a sugar cookie. "I'm just happy it turned out to be nothing serious. Doctor Green said it was only a sprained shoulder. I'm happy it wasn't anything worse!"
"That's my point, Fran! If Makino doesn't rein in her girl, she's going to grow up wild!" Agnes stated, seeing said girl sprint past the porch and continue out towards the windmills just outside town. "If that happens, she'll never marry a good man and Makino will never have grandchildren!"
The corner of Fran's lips quirked up into a half-grin. "She could always drag him to her room to 'show him something' and really 'show him something', like someone I know. It worked for her." Fran commented before biting into the sweet treat, earning a bale piercing glare from her companion.
oO0Oo
"I'm sorry, but no." Makino stated, arms crossed under her breasts.
"But you said I could yesterday!" The crimson haired girl countered, pointing at her small backpack filled with her training supplies.
Putting a hand to her forehead, the mother sighed as only a mother can when dealing with their child. "Yes, I know and I'm sorry but, not one, but two ships came in this morning and I need your help around here. So, no, even though you got your schooling done for the week, you're not going to the woods today."
"But you promised!" Ranma complained, frowning up in proud defiance.
"Ohmoto Ranma…" Makino warned, using her daughter's full name for impact.
"But you promised!" Ranma repeated, standing her ground because she knew she was right.
"Ranma…" Her mother said in a more defeated tone before sighing. Taking a few silent moments to consider how the marines on the two ships would act, how their captains routinely kept them contained until the evenings, and the fact that the Foosha port expected merchant ships for the next few days, Makino conceded. "Fine, but you have to be back by evening!"
Letting out a whoop of joy, Ranma hugged her mother's waist, the 150cm tall girl still being dwarfed by Makino's 175cm height.
Patting her daughter's crimson tresses, Makino reiterated, "Be back by evening, alright."
"I will, Mama!" Ranma cheerfully replied before she broke away to put on her backpack. "Thank you, Mama, and I love you!"
"I love you, too. Just be careful!" Makino called out as her daughter burst out the front door.
"I will!" Ranma called back in response before the swinging doors flapped closed, the girl already full tilt running towards the edge of town and the forest filled mountains between Foosha Village and Goa City. Adjusting the straps on her shoulders, thoughts of a certain river and dreamt up training plans filled her head as she reached the treeline and hopped over a marker stone.
Half an hour later, Ranma slowed to a stop panting slightly from the exertion of sprinting so far. Wiping the sweat soaked hair out of her eyes, she looked at the flowing river churning before her, roiling down out of the mountains before dropping off a cliff into the ocean. Looking back upstream, she eyed her destination, a large rock jutting out of the middle of the flowing river only 100 meters away.
"Well, we're here… let's do this!" She muttered under her breath as she stripped her clothes to show the green swimsuit underneath.
Taking a few moments to stretch out, she picked up a stick and threw it in the water to measure the flow speed. Ranma took a breath as she saw it whisked away downstream.
"What's the matter, -? Scared?"
The ethereal words whispering into her ears, as if on the wind. Feeling something tweak inside, she scowled before diving in with a battlecry. "Never!"
The biting cold hit her first before she even felt the wet. Pushing her head above water, she let out a gasp of shock before blinking her eyes clear, only to see how far she'd already been dragged. "No!" She cried out in defiance before throwing herself forward in the water.
Moment by moment passed, but no matter how hard she swam or how she adjusted her stroke, the goal kept drifting further and further into the distance. After twenty minutes of hard swimming, a roaring slowly filled Ranma's waterlogged ears. Taking the barest moments to glance back behind her, her eyes were filled with the sparkling ocean horizon of East Blue and the waterfall she was being dragged to.
Panic fueled struggles to retake distance only did the opposite as the young martial artist was pulled to the brink of the falls… and then over.
Twisting in the roiling, falling water, Ranma barely managed to twist herself into a proper dive, splashing into East Blue waters arms first. Blinking her eyes clear in the salty waters of the ocean that enveloped Goa Kingdom, she swam towards land before breaking upward to gulp in air.
Crawling onto the beach, away from the lapping waves, she collapsed in exhaustion in the sand that lay below the cliff face.
"Is that it, -? Giving up already?"
Hearing that same ghostly voice in her ears, Ranma coughed before panting out, "Just a- moment- to rest…"
The big man she could feel from her dreams, but couldn't see, scoffed in that whispery voice. "Should have brought diapers with us. Didn't know you were still a baby."
Scowling, the crimson haired girl spit out the last of the salt and sand from her mouth. "I'll show you a baby…" She growled, pushing herself up to stumble towards the cliff. While the first few moments of the climb showed her exhaustion, her grip became more sure with each second that went by.
oO0Oo
"That'll be 15,000-Beli, please." The shop proprietor stated, holding out a hand while placing the liquor bottle on the counter.
"But they were only 10,000-Beli two months ago!" Makino protested, hand gripping her small purse tightly.
The goateed man behind the counter shrugged, half-apologetically. "What can I tell ya? There's been a shortage since pirates started swarming Loguetown to get into the Grand Line. Now, you buying it or not?"
Frowning, Makino eyed the dark glass of the bottle before snapping open her purse to pull out the asked for Beli. She couldn't complain since her own stocks were slowly raising in price for the same reason.
"Pleasure doing buisness with you!" The man behind the counter called out with a smile as he counted the money and put it away securely.
"Yeah, yeah." Makino grumbled as she put the bottle into her cloth bag and turned to leave. Seeing her ten year old daughter cringing at the entrance, she winced. She knew Ranma understood just how much Makino had spent on that single bottle of rare liquor.
"I'm sorry, Mama…"
Makino sighed as she witnessed Ranma cowing away from her in shame. Bringing the redheaded girl into a one armed hug, the mother lead them away from the store and into the winding streets of Goa City, the seat of the Goa Kingdom. In those silent moments, the shopping bag on one arm and the soft hair of her daughter on her other weighed on her mind.
"It's okay, baby. It's not your fault, it's mine for leaving it with the rest of the bottles. I should have moved it when I saw we were running low or at least told you to save it." The green haired mother stated, hugging her daughter closer for a moment.
Makino sighed again as she remembered coming back inside the bar they owned after escorting out a merchantman captain who had recently returned from the Grand Line. She'd been slyly fishing for any tales of Shanks and his crew and got caught up in the conversation. Stepping back inside, Makino felt her giddiness at hearing about Shanks crash to the ground as she saw Ranma pouring Woop Slap a drink from a very particular bottle she'd been saving for a special occasion...
"Let's get some ice cream!" Makino blurted out, trying to shock both herself and Ranma out of their funks.
She was rewarded with the shocked look from Ranma, as the redhead looked up in disbelief. "Really?!"
"Yeah!" The green haired woman nodded with a smile. "I'm want some melon flavored. What about you?"
"Strawberry!" The young ten year old girl cheered before they broke down in laughter. After a few moments of giggling as they walked, Ranma broke free of her mother to skip a few yards ahead and turned around to walk backwards, her pale blue sun dress flowing with her spin. "Hurry up, Mama!" She coyly exclaimed as she continued to skip backwards.
"Ranma! Be careful!" Makino called out, reaching towards her daughter as she saw Ranma run into a large man in a red flowery shirt and black shorts.
"Whoa!" Ranma cried out as she bounced off the solid obstacle and stumbled to the ground.
"Oh?" An elderly baritone inquired. "Sorry, I didn't see you there. Bwahaha!"
Both females blinked in surprise and recognition, though it was the shorter redhead that exclaimed in shock. "You!"
It was Garp's turn to blink in recognition before bursting into another bout of laughter. "Bwahaha! We meet again, little girl!"
"I'm not little!" Ranma yelled in response, jumping to her feet and putting up her fists. "I'm gonna beat you and take back Luffy!"
Bending over with a grin on his face, Garp examined the young fighter before him before letting his grin grow wider. "Ha! You're thirty years too young to beat me, girl! And you're out of free shots, so how're you gonna beat me, hmm?"
Scowling, Ranma set her feet and leaped up, launching an uppercut towards the bent over Vice Admiral. Straightening up, Garp easily avoided the attack like she'd been moving through molasses. When she spun in the air and flashed out a roundhouse kick, showing the black shorts she wore under her dress, the large man blocked it with his left hand, stuffing his right into his shorts pocket.
"You're gonna have to be faster than that, girl!" Garp exclaimed with a grin, as Ranma landed to the ground.
"Ranma! Stop that this instance!" Makino screamed out in a panic, seeing her daughter fighting Vice Admiral Garp once more and knowing what the elderly looking man was capable of.
"Relax, I'm not going to hurt her." Garp consoled the mother even as he deflected another kick with his left hand. To prove a point, he sneaked the hand around and poked the redheaded girl in the forehead, causing her to lose her balance. "Think of it as a training test. Bwahahaha!"
Twisting with the fall, Ranma turned her momentum into a leg sweep that hit his right foot… and stopped dead like she tried to sweep a tree trunk.
"Hmm? Did a mosquito bite me?" Garp taunted with that ever-present grin on his face as he rubbed his chin. He then had to block a three hit combination she fired off in response, laughing the entire time.
He stopped laughing when she grabbed onto his thumb and twisted around another roundhouse for his face. Leaning back slightly, he felt the breeze on his nose from her near miss. Twisting his hand ever so slightly, Garp sent Ranma spinning like a top towards her mother.
Spinning to a standing stop, coincidentally facing Garp, Ranma staggered drunkenly while exclaiming, "I'm fine! I'm fi… Why is the world sideways?" A moment later, the young martial artist fell to her side, eyes spinning in dizzy swirls.
"Ranma!" Makino quickly knelt down and gathered up her daughter into her arms.
"Bwahahaha! She'll be fine!" Garp bellowed out, crouching down nearby. "She's not bad for her age."
"Is there a problem here?" Another voice broke in, causing both adults to turn their heads. Standing nearby, along with a gawking crowd, were two peace officers looking stern at the unrecognized Vice Admiral in civilian clothing.
"Bwahahaha! No problem! Was just testing a student!" Garp told the officer.
"If you're done, please kindly move along. You're blocking traffic." The officer calmly but firmly directed before turning towards the crowd. "Move along! Nothing more to see here!"
With Garp's help, Makino got her daughter seated at an outdoor cafe nearby. She was about to thank Garp when she saw him looking at Ranma in contemplation. Garp seemed to come to a decision with a nod before he handed Makino a small book from inside his flowery shirt.
"Here. I was going to give this to Luffy but I think she'd get more use out of it." Garp stated, motioning towards Ranma's still insensate form. "Tell her I'm looking forward to the next time! Bwahahaha!"
Makino sat there, stunned, as the Vice Admiral plodded away through the crowd. Looking towards the book, she saw the title 'Advanced Combat Maneuvers' and a small Beli bill tucked in it, enough for two quality ice creams…
oO0Oo
Ranma sighed as she wiped down a table in the empty Party's Bar she and her mother owned and lived above. She'd grown over the summer, reaching 157cm in height and no longer needing to use a stool to help her mother behind the bar. She just had two problems with it, it was throwing off her balance and it wasn't happening fast enough for the ten and a half year old girl.
Every time she looked at her mama, she couldn't help but feel envious at how tall she was. Then, she'd remember that her father was almost 10cm taller than that!
At least she was taller than the other kids her age, especially the boys in Foosha Village. She held a good amount of pride at having to look down on them and them up at her.
Finishing with that table, she moved to the next and started cleaning it with her washcloth.
If she was honest with herself, something inside her was really, really happy that she still had more growth left in her. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she felt like she was really short before and she'd passed some invisible goal already with much more to continue. It felt good.
Hearing the entrance doors flapping with someone's entrance, she automatically called out, "Welcome! I'll be with you in a second."
Not hearing a response a few moments later, Ranma turned around, tucking some loose strands of hair behind her right ear. Blinking in mild surprise, she recognized the boy standing there a few steps away looking nervous. "Heya, Gunther. What's going on?"
Looking like he was preparing for the biggest fight in his life, the shaggy haired boy took a deep breath before moving up to put a small bundle of hand picked flowers in Ranma's hand. "Ranma, I think you're the prettiest girl in the village!"
Ranma wasn't really sure if Gunther had yelled that or not cause, as soon as the flowers were in her hand, the brown haired boy had sprinted out the front entrance, leaving the doors flapping behind him.
"What."
Blinking in a stupor, the crimson haired girl looked towards the flowers in her hand and back towards the main entrance.
"Ranma? Are you okay?"
Turning at the sound of her mother's voice, Ranma saw Makino enter from the kitchen, still tying her hair up with a bandanna. "It was Gunther." Ranma responded in a stunned tone. "He gave me this and… I don't know, said I was pretty?"
Makino blinked at her daughter's confused statement. Smiling slightly, she laid a hand against her cheek. "Looks like you have a little admirer, dear. That's so sweet."
Makino's amused posture changed to confusion as she watched the emotions roil on Ranma's face. Confusion, Unsure, Apprehension and Annoyance, finally ending with Disgust as her daughter marched across the room and threw the boy's bouquet into the garbage bin. "What's wrong, Ranma?"
"No, just… No!" The redhead exclaimed, looking revulsed by the situation.
"What's wrong with Gunther?" Makino now asked, concerned that she might have misjudged the boy. She knew his parents, though they didn't drink at the bar all that often, and their son was always well behaved, as far as she knew.
"It's not him..." Ranma started to explain before pausing. "Well, sorta but it's because he's a 'him'!"
"I don't understand, Honey."
Ranma looked frustrated as she tried to work out her words. "I don't want them to like me like that… the boys. I'm one of the boys! Boys don't like boys like that, right?!"
"Oh, Honey…" Makino cooed, thinking she'd figured out the problem, coming over to softly hug her daughter, sitting down and pulled Ranma into her lap. "I went through the same thing when I was your age. You and your friends are just going to go through changes."
"No, that's not it." Ranma disagreed with a shake of her head. "I mean, I know I'm going to start looking like you… you know, grow here and there and grow up." Clenching a fist and opening it before her face, the redhead tried to continue, "But I'm a guy… one of the guys, you know."
Ranma pulled back slightly to look her mother in the eyes. "Remember when I fell off the back porch roof?"
"Yes. You dislocated your shoulder and, I guess, reset it almost immediately after." Makino replied with a slight shudder at the pop of the dislocation and the deep thud of her daughter shoving the bone back in its socket.
"Mama, when you asked why I was falling down from the roof, I told you I learned it in my dreams." Worrying her bottom lip for a second, the action reminding Makino of her own habit, Ranma pondered her words. "Well, I… I still dream. Dream of jumping from roof to roof and of a black and white bear, like in the animal book. I also dream of fighting; fighting the bear, fighting girls, fighting other boys. But while I'm sometimes a girl in the dreams, I'm really a boy."
"Honey, honey…" Makino worriedly tried to snag her daughter's attention, gently guiding her chin up to look her eye to eye. "Ranma, dreams are wonderful things but this is real. You are a girl, a girl starting a scary but wonderful change in your life. I know you're probably a little scared, I was too, but I want you to know that no matter how you change as you grow up, I'll still love you because nothing will change the fact that you're my little baby girl."
Kissing Ranma on the forehead, Makino put her forehead on her daughter's to stare into her eyes with a warm smile. "And I know that if your father was here, he'd say the same thing. Just as much as I love you, he loves you all the same, no matter how far away he is." Kissing her daughter again lovingly, she smiled towards one of the shelves. "Remember the last letter he sent us?"
The letter had come in three weeks ago on a News Coo that also delivered post, a trained seagull. In it, Shanks had regaled what had happened since the last letter, using the badly created but totally 'him' pen name of the 'One-Armed Bandit'.
Specifically, he had started and ended the letter saying how much he missed them and wished he could see them but couldn't leave the Grand Line yet.
"They chased Uncle Yasopp." Ranma stated with a giggle. Makino giggled herself, thinking of Yasopp being chased by a hoard of crossdressed men on the island with the Kamabakka Kingdom.
Easing Ranma off her lap, Makino stood up while patting her daughter's head. "Well, kiddo, this place isnt going to clean itself, right?"
"Right!"
"Alright, you get the rest of the tables and sweep the floor while I get the dishes and mugs. Last one to finish is a rotten egg!"
oO0Oo
Breathing softly through her nose, the eleven year old girl tiptoed across the tree branch. Nearby, the unsuspecting boar continued to root through the underbrush, while overhead Ranma slowly maneuvered into position.
She'd been stalking this boar for fifteen minutes, ever since she accidently came across it during her stealth training. After finding it, the young pre-teen made a point to stay off the ground, to prevent startling what would eventually be dinner, if she had anything to say about it. As the second day of her camping/training trip where she lived off the land, she wanted some grilled meat tonight!
Slowly sliding around the tree trunk, she silently tread into position, her bare feet making nary a sound. Flipping her braided hair behind her to lay down her back, she raised her hand to the handle of the saber sticking over her shoulder. Slowly, carefully, she unsheathed the first bare centimeter of the saber, holding her breath in anticipation.
Almost as if sensing something amiss with its animal instincts, the boar looked up and around, tensing for fight or flight.
'Now or never!' She yelled in her head as she fell forward off the tree limb and flashed her sword into the neck of the beast with a wordless yell.
After a moment of stillness in the mountain forest, the boar's head slid free of it's body to thud against the ground along with it's body. Standing up, Ranma flicked the blade clean of blood and dirt before resheathing it.
"Thank you for your sacrifice." The redhead whispered as she clapped her hands before her. Then she pulled out a smaller knife to prep the body for transport and cooking.
An hour later, she sat in the darkening forest, far away from the site of her hunt, basking in the glow of the campfire, the dressed boar on a spit above it. Taking a moment of reflection, Ranma felt comfortable 'roughing' it like this, though she had to admit that something was missing, though she knew not what that was.
She needed this trip, to focus on her training, not only to improve her fighting skill but to try and compensate for all the changes that kept happening to her body. Height, weight, weight distribution, arm length, leg length… it was all throwing off her balance, still was but she'd spent the entire first day focusing on just that one aspect of herself: Balance.
Taking a deep breath, Ranma breathed in the enticing scent of the cooking boar meat. It wouldn't be ready for another five to ten minutes but, even though wild boar was tough meat, she'd found some herbs for taste on the way back.
That was probably the most important thing she had to think about while she was out here, away from distraction and only with the sounds of nature. It was like she could think just slightly more clearer out here in the allowed her to think about the dreams that still continued and just kept getting clearer and clearer with each year that went by.
Some of the things in the dreams she learned, like her fighting style and training regimens. Other things seemed a little far fetched right now but could be possible in the future, maybe; like shooting something from her hand to attack… Something like that felt like it was inevitable, no matter how improbable it seemed. The last was seemingly in the realm of the fantastic and impossible…
Was he a girl or was she a boy or… pronouns were hard in her dreams. Another boy turned into a pig, probably why she felt sorry for her dinner. Another boy turned into a duck. A girl into a cat, which unnerved Ranma in the dreams but she was just confused when awake. A fire bird-man who was a child, then a man, then a baby.
Ranma wasn't stupid, though, she knew about the Devil Fruits. Heck, Luffy even ate one to become a rubber boy, so the other things weren't too crazy, right?
"Meeeaat…"
'Yeah, that was something he would have groaned out.' She thought with a smile. He actually had, as they came in for dinner on quite a few nights.
"Meeeaat…"
'It was almost like he was here instead of wherever his grandfather took him.' She continued to muse, smiling towards the stars overhead.
"Mmmm! MEAT!"
'Wait… what?!' Ranma broke out of her thoughts when the sound of chewing entered her ear. Looking down, she found the boar missing from the fire. Jumping up, she looked around and found it a little bit away, a young boy gnawing away at a hind rump. "Luffy!"
"Meat!" The boy groaned out through his busily chewing mouth.
"It's really you, Luffy!" Ranma cried out in pleased surprise as she stepped towards the boy.
"Meat!" The boy repeated in an almost euphoric daze.
"Quit eating my dinner! It's still raw!" The girl yelled out, smacking his head and trying to pull the boar loose.
"No! Meat!" The nine year old growled out between the teeth still latched into the half-cooked animal.
After a few moments of struggling, Ranma gave Luffy a baleful look. "Let. Go. Don't make me do it."
Luffy looked back as defiant as a dog with a bone in it's mouth. "Meat!"
"I'm gonna do it if you don't leg go by Three." Ranma warned, to which Luffy just bit deeper into the raw meat. "One… Two… Three…"
On the count of Two, Ranma had already let go of the boar and moved behind the boy. On the count of Three, he hands went to work.
"SHnk...Mnph… UGnph… heh..eheheh… AHAHAHAHAHA!" Luffy muffled out before letting go due to the tickling. Ranma kept it up for a full two minutes before putting the boar back on the fire and adding some more wood. Finally, Luffy caught himself and delcared, "That's not fair!"
"I'm your sister, I gotta keep you good." Ranma used as her justification, all the while grinning. "What are you doing here, anyways?!"
"I'm training with Grandpa." Luffy replied succinctly, still sitting in the dirt.
When her adopted brother didn't elaborate, which was completely like him, she snorted. "Fine, but what are you doing in Goa? I thought your Grandpa took you away on a boat."
"He did and we went to Dadan's house in the mountains where I met my brothers, Ace and Sabo." Luffy explained, all the while drooling at the cooking meat.
"Wait, wait. Brothers? Dadan? What are you talking about, Luffy?" Ranma was confused at the lack of context.
"Me, Ace and Sabo drinked sake together and that makes us brothers." He halted at that and blinked in some realization before smiling. "That means they're your brothers, too!"
"I'm not sure it works that way." Ranma muttered but Luffy was continuing his explanation anyways.
"Dadan is this big lady who lives with this big family and they're bandits who live in the mountains near the city."
"Goa City?" Ranma asked, to a vigorous nod of her brother, who she noted was still watching the cooking boar. "One last question and then we can eat, Luffy." Once she said that, she had his direct attention. "Where's your Grandpa right now?"
"Sitting right over here eating a delicious boar leg."
The unexpected voice caused the two children to scream but for different reasons; Ranma in shocked surprise, Luffy in shocked terror.
Garp snorted in amusement before swallowing and turning towards Ranma. "You did a good job with this. It's good meat."
"Meat!" Luffy cried out and all but dived at the stuck boar to tear off the other rear leg.
"Damnit, Luffy! Calm down!" Ranma cried out as she pulled out a knife to slice off her own section. "Sheesh, it's like you haven't eaten all day."
"He hasn't." Garp calmly stated before ripping off another piece from his ham leg.
"What? Why not?" Ranma asked as she dug into her own dinner.
"Endurance and survival training." Garp said with a grin before pointing to his grandson. "If he hadn't found you, he'd still be hungry till he found something to eat out here in the wild."
Swallowing, Ranma calmly evaluated her adopted brother for a moment before dryly stating, "He'd starve."
Garp sighed. "It's a work in progress." Grin returning, he added, "He's doing endurance and awareness training as well."
"Sounds good to me." Ranma accepted the explanation, considering some of the dream training she'd seen, this was pretty normal.
"No! Grandpa throws stones at me!" Luffy vehemently argued, eying the elder Monkey man with wariness.
Quirking her brow, Ranma flicked her eyes between the two males sharing her camp and thought about what Luffy said. "That… That still sounds like good training, Luffy."
"But it's Grandpa!"
Garp just grinned wider in amusement.
The campsite was silent for a minute or two, save for the campfire, as Ranma looked from Luffy's imploring face to Garp's amused, trying to think if her next impulse was a good one or not.
Curiosity won out.
"Look, Mr… Vice… What should I call you?" Ranma stumbled.
Garp blinked in mild surprise. "Grandpa is fine. I mean, you did adopt my grandson as your brother, correct?"
'I'm not sure it works that way.' Ranma repeated in her head. "Okay, Gramps. I don't know why Luffy is freaking out but it sounds like good training and I haven't been able to practice my dodging. Could I join you two tomorrow?"
"Ranma! No!" Luffy cried out in danger.
"Sure." Garp simply answered with a grin before standing up and brushing off his black slacks. "Luffy, you're staying here with your sister tonight. I'll train you in the morning."
The children watched him walk out into the night in silence before Luffy jerked his head towards his sister, eyes full of amazed terror.
Ranma blinked at the odd look. Part of her wondered if she hadn't made a grave mistake but the majority couldn't stop being curiosity. "Come on, Luffy. How bad can it be?"
He unchanged look in his eyes was an unsettling answer.
oO0Oo
"Luffy, get up."
"Go away…" The boy mumbled into the blanket he'd borrowed..
"Luffy. Get up. The sun is already rising." Ranma commanded, having already been up for almost an hour cleaning up the campsite.
She didn't expect his eyes to snap wide open and for him to jump to standing. "Quick! We need to move!"
"Relax. I just didn't want you to sleep through the morning and miss any training with Gramps." The redhead snickered as she shook the blanket and packed it away. "Grab some leftover pork and eat some breakfast."
"No! We need to leave! Now!" Luffy stated, already easing towards the edge of the small clearing.
Ranma blinked at that. Luffy, Mr 'I can fill myself like a balloon', was turning down food. "Brother… are you feeling okay?"
"You don't know!" Luffy implored. "We need to move! Now!"
"Okay, alright. Just let me…" Ranma trailed off as a whistling filled the air.
*BOOM*
Ranma leapt back and shielded her face before the impact threw up clouds of dust and debris. Lowering her arms, she spotted a crater where the fire remains used to be. Inside the crater was a boulder twice the size of the boar she'd cooked up.
"Luffy. That's a boulder." Luffy just silently nodded, edging further away. "These are the 'stones' your Grandpa threw at you." Another nod answered the non-question. "We need to go. Now."
oO0Oo
Four hours later, Ranma could only think one thing, as she and Luffy dashed through the underbrush.
"Gramps! You! Are! INSANE!" Ranma bellowed out, her cries echoing off the mountains all around her.
The only response was another boulder flying in from gods knows where, forcing both kids to evacuate the area.
oO0Oo
That evening Ranma dragged herself back into Party's Bar with generous help of a walking stick she'd found on the way. Everything was sore, even muscle groups she knew she shouldn't have.
"Ranma! What happened to you!" Makino cried out in worry, startling the patrons of the bar.
"Hi, Mama." Ranma lethargically replied, a slightly delirious grin on her face. "Guess what. I found Luffy."
"Found Luffy?" The green haired mother questioned in confusion.
"Yeah, we trained with Grandpa Garp." The young redhead answered, still ambling her way towards the stairs and her future shower.
"Garp?! Are you okay?" Makino asked, moving to help her daughter up the stairs.
"I'm okay. It was fun. I'm gonna take a shower and go to bed now. Love you, Mama."
"Okay. I love you, too, Honey." Makino automatically replied as her daughter worked her way up the stairs, leaving a confused mother behind.
oO0Oo
It took almost five months of searching the mountains, between helping her mother at Party's Bar and her normal training, to finally find a place she only knew as Dadan's house.
It looked pretty big from the outside but put together in a ramshackle way, like no one knew exactly what they were doing but doing their best anyways. Really, Ranma was both surprised that no one else had found the place and surprised at how good a spot this was at keeping the house hidden. Something about this place just screamed oxymoronic to the girl.
It was just past noon when she found it, deciding to sit back in the shadows of the surrounding trees to observe for the past ten or so minutes. No activity from the house or surrounding area was the result.
Deciding there was no time like the present to find her brother, Ranma stepped out of the treeline and calmly walked towards the large door to the house. Upon reaching it, the redhead cocked her head in thought before shrugging and knocking on the door, hearing the echos from inside.
After knocking, she heard movement from inside but no one answered the door. Frowning, she knocked once more, louder this time.
Again, no one answered the door but sounds of movement continued, though it was if they were trying to stay silent.
"I know you're in there! I want to see Luffy!" Ranma called out, voice echoing off the mountains.
The sound of someone lumbering their way to the door leaked out through the walls before the door opened. Ranma blinked as she looked up and up towards the larges woman she'd seen before. "You're big." She dumbly said.
"And you're small." The curly haired woman said through big lips, taking a drag off her cigarette. "What'da want, girl?"
Shaking her head slightly to wake up, Ranma squared her jaw. "You're Dadan, right?"
"So what if I am?" The woman asked back with a quirk of her brow.
"I'm Luffy's big sister! I'm here to see him." Ranma stated evenly.
The woman, who could be Dadan, took another drag of her cigarette, eyeing the girl before her. Finally, she stated, "You don't look anything like him."
"He's adopted." Was the immediate reply.
Dadan snorted in amusement. "He's probably out there with Ace and Sabo trying not to get himself killed. Wait here and they'll be back eventually." Saying that, the large woman stepped to the side.
"Thanks, Dadan." Ranma nodded as she walked past into the large longhouse.
"Name's Curly, girl. Dadan is the family name." Curly informed her as she settled down cross-legged by the cooking fire, stirring a pot of something.
"Name's Ranma, lady. Ohmoto is the family name." Ranma replied with a slightly cheeky smirk.
Curly snorted again in amusement. Tapping the cherry of her cig into the fire, the elder woman waved towards the younger. "So, how'd you 'adopt' the brat?"
"Grandpa Garp brought him to live with me and my mama in Foosha Village when we were kids." Curly snorted at the last bit but Ranma continued on. "That was when he ate the Devil Fruit and became a rubber boy."
"Grandpa Garp, huh?" Curly questioned with a quirked brow.
"I did adopt his grandson as my brother." Ranma pointed out.
The Dadan matron just stared at the redheaded girl for a moment. "I don't think it works that way."
"I said the same thing and yet here we are." Ranma replied with a shrug.
Curly snorted in amusement yet again. "I like you, girl. At least more than the usual idiots that live here."
"Thanks! You're pretty cool, yourself." Ranma replied with a wide smile. Looking around, Ranma tried to point anything out that might belong to Luffy or his 'two brothers' but nothing stood out. "Luffy said he had two brothers here… What are they like?"
"Ace and Sabo?" Curly confirmed, to the girl's nod. "That old goat, Garp, dropped Ace off here a few years before he brought Luffy. Sabo's some brat that Ace met in Goa City. If you want to know anything else, you'd have to ask them."
"Ask us what?"
Hearing the young man's voice from the open window, Ranma jerked her head to the side. Leaning on the windowsill was a scraggly black haired boy who looked around her age, maybe a year older than her. He was coolly looking her over, completely ignoring Curly who just continued to smoke and stir the pot.
After a few moments of silence, Ranma finally asked, "Are you Ace or Sabo?"
Another few silent moments. "Ace." Turning his eyes towards the curly haired woman, he asked, "When is lunch done?"
"Fifteen minutes after you give me some meat to put in it." The Dadan woman tartly replied, tapping her ashes into the fire.
"I bagged a wildcat." Ace evenly replied, jerking a thumb behind him. "Send the new girl out to cut it up."
"Hey! Screw you, jerk!" Ranma yelled at the boy. "You kill it, you clean it up."
Curly smirked at Ace's scowl. "Heh. You heard the 'new girl', brat. You wanna eat, you bring the meat."
"And what's she bringing?" Ace questioned, looking towards the younger redhead.
"Intelligence? Style? Hygiene? Need I go on?" Ranma replied with a smirk, causing Curly to bark out a laugh and smack her knee in amusement.
"That's one." Ace warned the younger child with a continued scowl.
"The ability to count. That's four now." Ranma cheekily replied, toying with a loose strand of hair.
Both children stared at each other, one of simmering anger and the other of smug superiority. All the while, Curly Dadan let out loud gut busting laughter.
"I don't like you." Ace stated evenly.
"And I don't care. I'm here for Luffy, not you." Ranma replied easily.
"Why are you here for Luffy?" Ace asked, finally raising an eyebrow.
"He's my brother, I'm his sister. I don't need any other reason." Ranma answered, as if it was the easiest thing in the universe to understand.
Ace stared at the girl for a minute longer before pushing off the windowsill and leaving her sight.
Ranma stared out the window for a few more seconds before succinctly stating her opinion of Ace.
"Jerk."
oO0Oo
"Luffy's near Goa City?" Makino asked in surprise.
Ranma nodded before she swallowed her mouthful of grilled perch. "Yeah, I finally found the place Grandpa Garp took him to. It's in the mountains, maybe two to three hours of walking if you leave the north gate." She cocked her head for a moment. "We need to just stay far away from Grey Terminal."
"I agree." Makino confirmed, taking a sip of her tea. "So, how was he?"
"Eh, Luffy is still Luffy." Ranma replied, waggling her hand just so. "Give him food and he's your best friend. Still doing stupid Luffy things that only make sense to him. You know, doing fine."
The sea-green haired woman grinned in amusement. "Does he need any new clothes or supplies?"
That got the girl to cock her head in thought. "No, I don't think so. I think Grandpa Garp, Curly Dadan, Ace or Sabo bring him replacements. Probably Sabo, since he's from the city."
Having had a rudimentary explanation of the relationships of people already, but not fully explaining everything, Makino tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Is he a ward of Garp as well?"
"No, I think he's just a kid who lives in the city. I mean, he doesn't talk about any family but he dresses way too well." Ranma explained with a shake of her head, sending her loose crimson tresses flowing. "He's nice, though. I like him."
"Oh?" Makino coyly intoned with a quirk of her lips. "You 'like' him?"
"Ew! Not like that!" Ranma declared, pushing away from her mother. "I mean I like him better than Ace! Ace is a jerk! I can joke with Sabo but I just want to punch Ace in the face!"
"Ranma, that's not nice." Her mother warned before eating some rice.
"He deserves it! He's mean to me and Luffy, he doesn't bathe and just keeps glaring at me. Maybe a good fist to his lips would sort him out!"
"Ranma, fighting won't fix this problem." Makino chastised her daughter while rubbing her forehead.
Ranma just crossed her arms below her growing chest and looked petulant. "It'd sure make me feel better."
"Look… maybe you just need some common goal or something. Like when Luffy was first brought here and you took him running with you." Makino advised, waving towards the empty bar.
"A common goal, huh?" Ranma scrunched her brow in thought.
Makino just smiled as she took another sip of her tea. She knew her daughter was quite clever, she just needed a little guidance to come to a peaceful solution
oO0Oo
"Let's beat up Grandpa Garp."
The three boys sitting on the ground nearby blinked at her in differing states of emotion. Not much had changed in the couple months since she'd last seen them. Luffy was still his stubby short old self, Ace was still the squinty eyed rabble rouser and Sabo was a wannabe aristocrat with a tophat.
"But we can't beat Grandpa! He's too strong!" Luffy blurted out, jerking his eyes around as if Garp would appear out of nowhere at the sound of his name. The scary thing to him was, it had happened before.
"I guess it's possible, if we gang up on him and get a lot of lucky shots in." Sabo mused while rubbing his chin in thought.
"I don't care about 'Grandpa' Garp, I'm just sick of him talking Marine this, Marine that." Ace said with a scowl, as normal. "I'm gonna be a pirate and rise to the top!"
"Yeah! Gonna be pirates, together!" Luffy cried out in agreement, his mercurial emotions standing front and center. Sabo just nodded in agreement, grinning with that missing tooth of his.
"I'm not gonna become a pirate with you guys." Ranma stated, matter of factly. "But I think, if we train and plan together, we can win a fight with him for a change." She blinked as the three boys stiffened.
"Bwahahaha! Is that so, huh?"
"He's right behind me." Ranma blandly stated, getting nods from the boys who were standing in preparation. "Shit."
oO0Oo
"I said you're cut off! Why can't you get it through your thick skull or are you just that stupid!" Ranma yelled out, poking the clearly wasted sailor in the chest.
"I ain't stupid, you little bitch! Now get me that sake or else!" The scraggly six foot man yelled back, his muscles obvious through his ragged white shirt.
The entire bar dropped silent at that proclamation, both local and traveler patrons warily watching the encounter.
"You've got till the count of Three to walk out that door." Ranma warned, her voice low and even. Seeing the man just cross his arms, looking down at the young girl in the pale green dress, she started counting.
A minute later, the same girl walked out the front entrance of Party's Bar and threw a battered body into the street. "And if I see you again, I'll make sure you really remember your ass kicking!" She warned the unconscious sailor before walking back in the bar.
Just after she stepped in, one of the local villagers called out."Our champion returns!" The rest soon cheered and whooped out in laughter in response.
Ranma just smiled and soaked in the praise as she walked over to the table which held the beaten man's companions. They warily eyed her approach, which she smirked at. The thought of a thirteen year old slip of a girl beating that large of a man obviously unnerved them.
Jerking her thumb towards the entrance, the redhead said, "He's laying in the street. Tell him he's not welcome here no more when he wakes up. You guys can stay, though." The slightly menacing grin on her lips warned them the same could have happened to them though, if they caused any trouble.
oO0Oo
"Okay, plan number nine." Sabo stated, drawing on the paper with an ink brush. "We try to lure Garp to this location then enact the plan."
"I'll entangle his legs to reduce his movement." Ranma said her first part of the plan.
Ace grinned at the heavily modified plan, the fourteen year old boy thinking of their odds of success. "Then I'll cover him with the tarp."
"Then I hit him with my Gumu Gumu no Pistol!" Luffy exclaimed loudly, jerking his fist back as if to show what he was gonna do.
"Then, while Luffy recovers, Ace and I will trigger the traps. Just make sure you get out of there, Ranma." Sabo detailed the next portion.
Ranma just waved off the warning. "Don't worry about me, I'm fast enough to escape."
"But what if I just tank all of that and don't care, then what?"
"Well, then I guess we either run from you or get… beaten… damnit." Sabo started to explain that possibility before realizing he recognized the voice. Turning to the treeline, where Garp stood there, arms crossed and wildly grinning. "Don't you have something better to do? We're trying to make a plan to beat you here."
Garp just laughed at the clearly displeased tone and looks he was getting from the elder three. Luffy was still too wary of him, it seemed. "Don't mind me. Just continue on as if I wasn't here." He waved off the young teen's statement.
Ranma just sighed in exasperation, rubbing the bridge of her nose with her left hand. Pointing to an open spot near the drawn plan with her right, she told the Vice Admiral, "If you're not leaving, come here and help us work out what we're doing wrong."
Garp was clearly amused at his 'enemies' telling him to help them defeat him. Deciding it was good training, though, he ambled on over to stand at the indicated spot.
And then dropped seven feet into the pit trap the little shits had prepared.
"Plan fourteen: GO!" Sabo cried out, grabbing the bottle of ink and splashing it into Garp's exposed face.
Luffy immediately ran to the edge of the clearing, while Ace and Ranma pulled out the buckets of glue and tar they'd hidden, hustling to spash it over the temporarily disabled Vice Admiral. Immediately after dumping their contents, with Sabo joined them when they fled the area, the ground exploded upwards as Garp flexed his muscles to get free.
Wiping the ink from his eyes, Garp's grin was well and truly turned to a scowl of displeasure. Hauling his body up and out of the new crater, he stood there looking at the three teens taunting him with different gestures. 'Where's the boy?'
"Now, Luffy!" Ranma cried out the boy waiting for the final part of the plan.
"Gumu Gumu no…" Garp heard behind him, turning swiftly to block the attack. "PILLOW!"
The super fast pillow attack exploded into a cloud of feathers, covering the tar and glue covered Marine officer.
"Let's get out of here!" Sabo directed, the other three following his racing lead back to Goa City.
Still standing in the clearing, the cloud of feathers finally settling to the ground below, Garp looked from where his grandson stood a moment before to his tar and feathered form. A low chuckle started rumbling in his chest before he burst out in gut busting laughter.
oO0Oo
"And then they went to get ice cream as a victory reward." Curly said, tapping her ashes into the fire. "Your kid even brought me back some."
"Well, she did tell me that you helped a little with the planning." Makino replied, filling the large woman's mug with ale from a small keg. "How did Garp take it?"
"The old goat?" Curly barked out a laugh. "You could clearly hear him laughing as he walked his feather covered ass back here to clean up. Looked like a feathered raccoon with the ink stains."
Makino hid a laugh behind her hand before taking a drink from her own mug. "So, I guess the kids finally got their 'win' over him, huh?"
"It wasn't what they were trying to do at the start but, yeah, I guess they did." Curly agreed, slapping her knee in amusement. "Jokes on them, though. Now that the old goat's gotten beat once, he's going to ramp up their 'training'."
"Oh dear…" Makino covered another giggle. "I hope they're ready for that."
The orange haired Dadan woman just shrugged, unconcerned. "They got lucky, cause Garp got recalled to headquarters for something. Didn't say why but told me he'd not be back till Luffy's birthday."
Considering that was four months away, Makino blinked in surprise. "That long, wow. I hope everything's okay."
"Eh, no telling with him, but it gives the brats a break to do whatever they plan on doing." Curly said before taking a big gulp from her mug, letting out a pleased sigh.
Makino just smiled at the discussed scenario. "I'd have loved to see a picture of that. I mean, he's a great man but it's just too funny to think about it happening to him, by the children no less!"
Standing and moving over to the wall, with a wide grin on her face, Curly brought back a framed picture. "Here you go. Seems Sabo had a camera, just in case."
Makino tried, gods did she try, but she couldn't stop the laughter bubbling out at the dumbstruck face of the tar and feathered man in the picture.
oO0Oo
It was a warm August day and Ranma was enjoying the sunlight on her skin. The fourteen year old was taking a leisurely stroll down the beach, the waves lapping at her bare feet, sandals in her hand. Standing at a solid 172cm, the passing months led to her filling out to look more and more like her mother, just a few spare centimeters left to match in height.
Continuing her stroll down the empty beach, the crimson haired girl knew she looked good, filling out her shorts and shirt quite nicely. She was proud of her looks, a very pleasing mixture of her mother and father in her. She just got tired of all the stupid boys in town trying to give her flowers and asking her to secluded spots to 'talk'.
She was thankful that it had died off after she'd broken the hand of a touchy sailor. Probably didn't hurt that she'd nearly broken his pelvis with the following kick between the legs. She didn't care what her mother told her, the creep deserved it and she wasn't sorry one bit.
Picking up a rather nice looking rainbow colored shell, Ranma put it in her bag and flicked her long braided hair back over her shoulder to rest against her mid back. She was most proud of her hair, the one truly visible link between her and her father.
The last letter they'd gotten made it seem like something big was going on with him and his crew. Ranma couldn't help but want to see all the amazing things she read with her own eyes.
Dawn Island was starting to feel smaller and smaller as each day past.
Looking out into the ocean's distance, the crimson haired teen saw another ship sailing it's way into port. "Probably another grain merchant." She mused to herself. "Gonna have to help Mama tonight."
Moving on down the beach towards the docks, Ranma blinked as she saw a familiar boy standing, waiting next to a packed bag. Moving closer, she scrunched up her brow in confusion.
Ace stood there, scowl on his face, focused only on the ship coming in.
While they'd never been friends, they accepted that they were sorta siblings through Luffy and tried to get along somewhat. Moving closer, Ranma called out to him. "Hey, Ace! What's going on?"
Ace turned his head to look over his shoulder at the approaching redhead. It confused her when his scowl deepened as he turned fully to face her. "What do you want?"
Frowning at his cold question, she re-asked, "What're you doing here?"
"I'm leaving."
His simple, blunt reply threw her off for a second. "What about Luffy and Sabo? I thought you were gonna buy a ship and be pirates together."
Ranma rubbed her arms at the chill Ace gave off in his look towards her.
"Sabo's dead."
That simple statement shocked her. "What do you mean he's dead?" She confusedly asked, in almost a whisper while taking a step forward. She'd liked the blond haired boy, who was almost as optimistic as Luffy on his best day but always had his feet on the ground even when his head might be in the clouds. To hear that someone she considered a friend was dead...
"You weren't there, you wouldn't understand."
At his cold reply, Ranma snarled, reaching over to grab him by the shirt and pulled him in face to face. "Then tell me, asshole! What do you mean Sabo is dead?!"
Looking down from the few centimeters he had over her due to his extra year of age, Portgas D. Ace regarded the crimson haired girl. Finally, he slapped her hand away and clenched his fists.
"Sabo was from a noble family."
"So what? Why does that have to do with anything?" Ranma snapped out, wanting Ace to get to the point.
"It means he knew about the plan to burn Grey Station because of some stupid Celestial Dragon Noble showing up!" Ace yelled back, pushing her away with a hand to her chest. "And then his stupid noble family beat him up when he tried to stop it! When he finally got away from them, he tried to escape on a small boat we could use to leave the island but that damn World Noble piece of shit blew it up!" Wiping his eyes, he fixed the shorter teen with a glare to beat all glares. "And you weren't there to help!"
Ranma had stood there in shock as he told the short tale but broke free at the final accusation. "Sounds like you weren't there either, asshole!" She yelled back into his face.
Around the dock, men had stopped what they were doing to watch the two yelling teens.
"We were busy trying to save our treasure stash in Grey Station before it burned to the ground!" Ace defended with venom.
"So you care more about money than Sabo?! Some brother you are!" Ranma accused, jabbing a finger into Ace's chest. "You let him die and now you're gonna abandon Luffy! You piece of shit!"
Ace pushed the girl back again, this time with both hands. "Well, what about you, Miss Pretty Princess?! What were you doing down here in your nice cozy village with a soft bed and everything?! Too busy putting on makeup to rough it with us men in the mountains, huh?! Fucking hypocrite!" His head jerked to the side as her fist made contact with his jaw. Slowly, ever so slowly, he turned it back to level his gaze at her fuming form.
"I'm LUFFY'S sister and I went through hell when his grandpa took him away. Once I knew he was on Dawn Island, I searched for months before finally finding where you were 'roughing it' in a large house with everything I have down here." Wiping angry tears out of her eyes, she fixed the elder teen with just as cold of a glare as he was giving her. "I've literally climbed mountains and swam rivers to reach my little brother and I'll be damned if I let someone Luffy considered a brother abandon him when he's probably more broken by Sabo's death than we are!"
"So you're going to stop me?" Seeing her stare turn resolute, he smirked condescendingly. "You and what army?"
"Armies are for those who are too weak to fight for themselves." Ranma stated, settling into a fighting stance.
Still smirking, Ace raised his fists in preparation. "Well, you've still got balls, even for a girl. Anyways, if you can really beat me when it counts, I'm still not strong enough yet." Glancing behind him, he gauged the approaching ship. "If I'm still able to walk onto that ship, you lose and I'm leaving."
"If I win, you're going to kneel before Luffy, bow and tell him you're a shitty brother and you'll work harder." Ranma declared, edging slightly to the side for a better angle.
"We'll see about that." Ace responded with a smirk. "Time's on my side, not yours."
With that, Ranma slid in, jabbing towards his face before driving a punch towards his stomach. Ace dodge the jab and deflected the punch before retaliating with his own stomp towards her leg.
The redhead checked the stomp with her own leg and swept him back, causing him to roll into a crouch. He had to roll to the side again to evade a flying kick before pushing off a nearby box to achieve the first solid blow of the fight, a right hook to Ranma's jaw.
Spitting to the side, Ranma fixed the grinning, black haired boy with a glare. Striding towards him, she waited till the last second to duck under his defensive punch, driving an elbow into his ribs. Breath exploded out of the boy as his ribs creaked but failed to break, the blow knocking him back into some stacked crates. Ranma leapt in after him firing off a five hit combo bouncing between Ace's face and bruised ribs.
Gritting through the pain, Ace snatched out to grab ahold of Ranma's long red hair. Gaining a firm grip, he drove her face down into his rising knee. The girl fell backwards, stunned, gaining him some time to catch his breath. Seeing her on the decking of the docks, he strode forward and tried to plant a firm kick to her stomach.
Ranma rolled out of the way and swept Ace's legs out from underneath him, sending the taller boy on his own trip to the deck. Rolling over, Ranma grabbed hold of Ace's right arm, planted her foot against his body and twisted just so.
The sharp cracks of the radial bone in his lower arm snapping in two were quickly followed by his screams of agony.
Rolling up to standing a safe distance away, Ranma spat again to the side, this time staining the deck with blood. "You done yet? Ready to give up, asshole?"
"Never!" Ace snarled, pushing up and dashing around a stack of crates, his broken arm causing waves of agony to radiate with each step.
"Get back here!" Ranma yelled at the retreating teen, dodging a toppling stack of pipes, which Ace obviously pushed over. The delay seemed to be just enough time for her to lose sight of him, unable to hear his movement with the sounds of the dock workers making room for their fight.
Slowly sneaking around the piles of grain and flour, crates of stacked salted meats and other obstacles, Ranma tried to find her injured prey to finish the job. Every second that passed was time the ship had to close in on the port.
Hearing a bottle hit the deck, Ranma jerked to the left to defend herself…
Opening herself up from the right, where Ace's pipe bashed into her head.
Falling onto the deck in a groaning heap, Ranma fought to regain enough of her senses only to feel the pipe smash down and snap her left fibula in twain.
Ranma's screams of pain echoed out over the dock and into the village even as Ace dropped the pipe from his left hand. Tears filled her eyes as she glared hatefully at the injured teen standing over her.
"I'm not done with you yet!" She ground out between clenched teeth, using her hands to drag herself forward towards him.
"Yeah, you are." Ace calmly replied, turning around to walk toward the ship just now being tethered to the docks, bag slung over his left shoulder.
"Don't forget! You abandoned him! You abandoned your brother when he needed you!" Ranma's pained voice behind him echoed around the silent dock, even as she crawled after him
"Yeah, I'll never forget." Ace said to himself, not even sure or caring if the words reached the girl's ears as he set his first step onto the gangplank and the next stage of his life.
-End of Chapter 2
A/N
A lot of changes have happened in my life, since I first started this story back in Jan 2014. (Has it really been that long?!) I've moved through 2 different countries before coming back to my hometown. Made and lost touch with friends and tried to figure out what I'm really doing with my life.
Hell, this is actually the third or fourth version of this chapter I've done in 2016 alone, scrapping the other tries as I just couldn't finish writing a chapter till life killed my muse again and again.
One important thing I wanted and needed to do in the second chapter, and what probably made me scrap the other versions, was the fact that I needed to keep Ranma from taking over the story. Luffy still has his story to follow, Ace his own and Sabo just sort of disappears for a while, like in the original story by Oda.
Ranma just changes their stories just a bit before she sets out on her own. While I plan on having these obviously important characters reintroduced, don't expect drastic changes in them, such as Luffy becoming a Marine or Ace emigrating to Kamabakka Kingdom… though the second event would be hilarious!
Anyways, writing and editing this took me around 18 hours and I'm relatively proud of it. I know a couple sections are a little sugary, but Makino is a nice woman till you get her mad. XD