Author's Notes: Not a lot to say this time, but I'm glad you guys enjoyed the previous chapter; ironically, despite being an Aussie, I have no real knowledge of surfer culture... what? You didn't know that at least 80% of Australians live within a few hours drive of the coast? As always, reviews are like diamonds to motivate me to keep pouring on the work with this story, and don't forget we have a TVtropes page just itching for additions!

Chapter 13: Clash! The First Battle for Warship Island!

The dining table of the Milka had seen many uses in its past, with stories hidden behind the network of scars, dents and mysterious stains that covered its surface. Being used for an impromptu planning session was not unprecedented, but hadn't been a common use. The Kamikaze Pirates were gathered around the table as Apis busily assembled a crude map from impromptu implements, the sole exceptions being Umok - who was helming the ship, as was often the case - and Nabiki, who was off to the side, giggling to herself as she ran her hands through the contents of a chestful of pearls, the ocean-born gems clinking musically as she let them drift through her fingers.

"Sheesh, aren't you bored of playing with those yet, Nabiki?" Ranma asked, glancing over at her from where he sat.

"Nope, because I'm rich! Do you have any idea how much money these pearls will go for once we get them to civilization?!" Nabiki giggled in glee, scooping up a fresh handful of pearls and dribbling them back into the pile.

Ranma just gently shook his head, noticing the other girls were smirking, before turning his attention back to Apis, who had finished her setup.

"So, this is Warship Island... and my village is here, around the central bay. That jerk Eldorago and his crew will be here, lording over everybody..." the young Whisper-Human explained.

"How large is his crew?" Ryoga asked.

"Well... there's a dozen people on Eldorago's ship, counting Eldorago himself. But there were another four ships, with about a dozen pirates on each of them... although I don't think they were part of his crew, I think they were mercenaries," Apis explained.

"Hm. Such creatures are often of dubious loyalty. That could prove fortuitous," Kodachi observed placidly, her eyes never relenting from their study of Apis' makeshift map.

"You would know," Nabiki interjected playfully.

"The Kunos have hired such underlings in the past, yes," Kodachi confessed without a hint of shame.

"Can we focus?" Shampoo complained. "If there that many bad pirates, and village so helpless, Shampoo say we should make surprise attack!"

Ranma nodded slowly. "Honestly? I agree. I know we can take these goons down easy, but we don't want the villagers to get hurt. But we're all sneaky enough we can pick them off before they even realize we're there, so that's what we should do."

"That's my Ranchan!" Ukyou cheerfully announced, at literally the exact same moment that Kodachi cackled, "That's my darling Ranma!" The two women glared at each other, sparks flying from that brief moment of their eyes being locked, before they pointedly looked away from each other.

"Will wonders never cease," Nabiki noted in blatant amusement, finally taking her gaze away from the shimmering bounty of pearls she had been playing with.

"Hey, I can plan just fine!" a wounded Ranma protested indignantly.

"No. You can't. And even when you try, it blows up in your face more often than not. Even just charging in like my sister doesn't work for you all the time," Nabiki countered. She suppressed the urge to giggle at the look Ranma cast her in response, which was sour enough to pickle plums.

Before one of the inevitable arguments could break out, Umok's voice thundered down from above. "Warship Island, dead ahead!"

As one, the Kamikazes (plus Apis) looked towards the door to the open deck, before standing and making their way out as quickly as possible.

"Nice work, Umok," Ranma declared, even as he strode towards the bow, peering through the gloom - for the sun was sinking fast, and soon only the moon and stars would illuminate the waves. Even through the twilight murk, he could make out Warship Island rapidly approaching on the horizon... which wasn't too hard, considering the giant peak that dominated the island and evoked the appearance of a massive, multi-masted warship from the right angle.

"A simple task," rumbled the impish wizard. "What is our plan?"

"Get us there as quick and quiet as you can; we're going to use the cover of darkness to sneak into the village and take out all the pirates," Ranma ordered him.

"It's a good thing that the Great Octopus Shogunate could speed us on our way here, huh, kid?" Ryoga observed, a rare smile briefly curving his lips.

"It sure was! Now we'll get that jerk Eldorago and show him what for!" Apis cheered, practically dancing in her excitement.

"And just think, we probably could have been here yesterday if somebody hadn't decided to stop and gloat," Nabiki commented.

"I owed it to my adoring public to let them capture my image for future generations!" Kodachi shamelessly announced. "And anyway, you were certainly enjoying the extra time to track down debtors and otherwise fatten your wallet, Miss Tendo..."

"Pipe down, all of you! Or they'll hear us coming a mile off!" Ryoga snapped, the affronted gazes cast his way rolling off of him like water off of a duck's back... or perhaps mud off of a pig's snout would have been the more accurate simile in this case?

With the ease of long practice, and a fond smile, Ranma tuned them out and focused his attention on the shores of Warship Island. With the night winds filling the Milka's sail, their ragtag pirate vessel slipped softly through the waves, heading inexorably towards their destiny. He clenched his fist, already anticipating the dark thrill of righteous indignation as he rendered the foe unconscious, and then stopped as he spotted a figure looming out of the darkness of the shore.

"What in the...?" he asked unthinkingly. Even as he spoke, his whole body lit up with a tingling sensation as his preternaturally honed sense for danger started screaming at him.

"Look out!"

Even as Ranma cried out, it was already too late, as from the figure on the dark shore emerged a blast of energy. Ranma couldn't tell if it was a spiraling beam of light or a concentric circle pattern of pulsating energy rings, but the crimson-hued attack literally screamed through the air towards the Milka, gouging a trough through the waves as it passed, and struck the freighter-turned-pirate ship like the fist of an angry god.

The closest thing Ranma could compare it to was when he had first been attacked by Ryoga' Shishi Hokodan. It washed over him like a gale-force wind, slamming into him in a wave of pain. Wood shattered into splinters all around him as he felt himself bodily picked up and carried over the disintegrating gunwale, too stunned by the impact to do anything until he had fallen into the icy waters surrounding what had once been his ship.

Salt burned in a plethora of shallow scrapes, scratches and cuts, stinging Ranma's eyes and shocking him back to his senses. Now in female form, Ranma righted himself from where he had been sinking headfirst into the briny deep and clawed his way to the surface. The now-redhead breached with a curse, spitting salty water before looking desperately through the waves and the floating debris.

"Ah, jeeze- are you guys alright?!" Ranma cried, twisting back and forth, knocking aside shattered boards that bumped up against him.

"I'm okay, Ranchan! I got Ryoga too!" Ukyo called out from the darkness.

"I'm here, my darling! Breathe, Nabiki Tendo, breathe!" Kodachi's voice echoed from the gloom, undercut by audible hacking as the ship's quartermaster choked on seawater.

"Shampoo and Apis both fell in! They sank like stones!" Umok's voice thundered from above.

Those words pierced Ranma like a syringe of adrenaline straight to the heart. Her eyes went wide in horror and, without even thinking, she cried Shampoo's name, before she twisted like a fish and plunged into the uncaring water.

Down, down into the dark depths the boy-turned-girl plunged, heedless of the burn as she peered through the gloom, straining to see her accidentally betrothed companion. Ranma almost missed Shampoo at first, before the flash of green and blue caught her eye; having lost control of her body and powers, the Zoan's Jusenkyo curse had reared what remained of its ugly head, reverting her involuntarily to her full cabbit form.

The tiny form was sinking like a stone, with not even a sign of life to it. An unthinking snarl split Ranma's face, bubbles slipping from between her bared teeth as she rocketed towards Shampoo, powerful legs churning like a motor engine.

'Man, I'm so glad she turns into a rabbit now...'

The stray thought flashed through Ranma's mind like a fish, vanishing back into the depths of the genderbending boy's subconscious as she grabbed the cabbit, tucked her under her arm, and then twisted about and surged towards the surface, breaching in a flurry of spray. Gasping for air, Ranma thrust the hand containing Shampoo up into the air, hoisting the Zoan high above the debilitating touch of the water.

The reaction was immediate; the girl-turned-cabbit sucked in a breath and began to cough and splutter as she cleared her lungs, little body shaking from the effort.

"Oh... that no feel good..." Shampoo moaned, shaking her head and making her oversized ears flap about in the process.

"You're alright! Damn, that was too close," Ranma sighed in relief.

"Airen was worried for Shampoo?!" the cabbit gasped, and the mixture of joy, relief and honest surprise in her voice made Ranma's heart skip a beat.

"You didn't think I'd just let you drown? You know I'd never let anyone hurt you!" Ranma impulsively retorted.

Evidently, that was the right thing to say, because Shampoo sighed rapturously, her eyes wet and shining with emotion. "Wo da airen..."

At the same time Ranma went diving for Shampoo, Nabiki's own blood went cold on hearing Umok's announcement. Involuntarily, her mind drifted back through time and space, to the time when her mother was still alive - to a fateful beach trip that had almost turned tragic when her little sister Akane had wandered into the surf, only to be caught by the current and dragged out into deeper water. Even as she subconsciously pushed the memories back into the darkness where they belonged, Nabiki's body betrayed her.

"What are you doing, Nabiki Tendo?!" a confused Kodachi demanded, but she was ignored as Nabiki pushed her away, took a deep breath, and then dove back into the water.

In contrast to her little sister, Nabiki Tendo was actually a pretty decent swimmer - albeit not a super-swift freak like the martial artists surrounding her. Lungs burning, eyes watering, she spiraled into the deep, trying desperately to find Apis. She didn't even realize that Kodachi and even Ukyo had followed her down into the deep until the younger of the Kuno siblings touched her, causing Nabiki to instinctively scream in shock, creating a flurry of bubbles before she managed to catch herself. She glared through the gloomy waters at Kodachi, but the other girl simply pointed triumphantly.

Nabiki followed Kodachi's outstretched arm, and spotted Apis. She barely nodded in acknowledgement before she was swimming over to the sinking girl-child as fast as she could, even as Kodachi and Ukyo closed in with her. The three non-Fruit-using female Kamikazes grabbed Apis and then kicked for the surface, emerging in a great flurry of spray and coughs.

"Nice work, Nabiki!" Ukyo announced, ignoring the dirty look she was getting from the little black pig that had firmly wrapped itself in the former crossdresser's long, flowing brown hair to stay securely anchored to her side.

"Well, I couldn't just let her drown!" Nabiki protested, the faintest of blushes on her cheeks.

"Who would have guessed that the Ice Queen of Furinkan High had a heart after all," Kodachi giggled softly.

"You girls okay?" Ranma cried as she swam over to join them, pausing only to place the surprised Shampoo on her head to free up both her arms.

"We're just fine, Ranma darling," Kodachi assured him, patiently ignoring the way Apis hacked up a lungful of water over her shoulder.

"What the hell hit us?!" Nabiki demanded, glaring with all her fury at all and sundry for lack of anyone to focus her wrath upon.

"Looked like some kind of ki blast..." Ukyo observed. "I didn't know they knew how to do that here..."

"Well, ain't like we've fought anyone really strong individually... toughest guy we've seen was that Red Leg Zeff guy back in the East Blue," Ranma pointed out, unable to resist the tangent even in the face of what had just happened. Then she realized what she was saying and shook her head, scowling.

"Who cares what it was?! We just lost our ship! We gotta get ta shore!" Ranma spat authoritatively.

"I advise speed and caution; such an attack suggests that we have foes waiting on the beach," Umok declared darkly, descending from the heights above to bob along just above the waves.

"Yeah, s'what I was thinkin'... here, take Shampoo, willya? I don't want to risk her fallin' off," Ranma declared.

Umok gave what looked like a genuinely trepidation-laden look at the cabbit sitting on Ranma's head, before cautiously drifting over and gingerly reaching out to Shampoo. The Jusenkyo-cursed Zoan rolled her eyes in exasperation before launching herself off of Ranma's scalp with one thrust of her powerful bunny-like legs, landing neatly in the imp's fumbling arms.

"Shampoo not wild animal, stupid," She scoffed, settling into Umok's grasp.

With her crewmate and unintended wife safely out of harm's way, Ranma swam over to Kodachi, who carefully allowed Ranma to loop her own arm around the nearly insensate Apis. Then, with the Whisper-Human secured, the four girls set out swimming strongly towards the shore, Ryoga still clinging to Ukyo's shoulder and hair for security as they churned through the water.

"Whatever wretch attacked us will rue the day they crossed the Black Rose!" Kodachi vowed.

"Count me in!" Nabiki snarled with surprising vehemence, before she audibly sobbed. "My treasure! It's sunk to the bottom of the sea now!"

"Ah, geeze, Nabiki, it's only money; just be grateful you still have your life!" Ukyo drawled, earning an evil eye from her crewmate.

Fortunately, no further attacks were launched in their direction, and the ragtag group sped through the waves. Minutes later, they were stumbling out of the surf onto the beach. As soon as the water dropped below her knees, Apis began to wriggle and squirm, fighting her way out of Ranma and Kodachi's grip and trying to charge up the beach, only to trip on the wet sand and end up sprawling on all fours at the very edge of the water.

"You okay, Apis?" Ranma asked, pausing to tap the side of her head in an effort to encourage water out of her ears.

"Better now! Sometimes, being a Devil Fruit User really stinks," the little girl grumbled, pushing herself upright and dusting off her knees. "My village is just up from here, c'mon!"

"Hold on! We go charging in, this could go badly for us! You know the terrain; what's the best way to sneak in?" Ranma asked decisively.

Shampoo chose that moment to wriggle out of Umok's grip and leap down to the sand below. "Can find clothes too? Shampoo prefer not to fight naked."

Apis paused, looking thoughtful for a moment, before she nodded firmly. "Okay, follow me!"

She began trudging quickly up the sandy dunes, with the Kamikazes following in her wake. With Nabiki and Umok bringing up the rear, they slunk across the landscape, hugging the shadows and using the terrain to their advantage as best they could... which, for Ranma and Kodachi at least, was pretty effectively, with the two sometimes inadvertently disappearing from the view of their own crewmates!

It was easy to see that Warship Island was a beautiful island; green and fertile, with the sandy beaches giving way to the rising plateaus, which were covered in green grass and thick forest. Apis' village wasn't a bustling metropolis, but it was clearly no shantytown either, with neat, well-cared for houses arranged to take advantage of the landscape. Even through the dimming light, they could make out fields for crops, fishing boats and even what looked like rice paddies in the highlands past the village, so it was obvious that food was no concern here. But such details mattered little to the martial artists turned pirates, who were more focused on trying to get into the village without revealing they had survived.

Following Apis' lead, they circled around the village, rather than risk coming in through the proverbial front door. Ranma silently exerted her authority by taking the first position, making the others follow her as she wended her way through the forest. Silent as a ghost she slipped through the leaf litter, almost seeming to glide over rocks, roots and mud, with Shampoo hopping along beside her. Ukyo, Ryoga and Kodachi followed in her wake, and if they weren't quite as stealthy as Ranma, it was a distinction without difference to Nabiki, who was bringing up the rear with Apis and watching with a pang of envy.

'First things first, after this nonsense is done, Ranma is going to teach me how to move like that,' she mentally promised herself.

Shampoo absent-mindedly hopped on top of a fallen branch, rearing up on her hind legs and fanning out her oversized ears, bestial instincts helping her to exploit the heightened senses that this body came with. And what she heard made her twitch, lips curling back to bare her fangs and razor-sharp incisors in a feline expression of rage.

"Airen! Airen!" She hissed softly, then frowned when Ranma ignored her. Sighing softly, she let out a quiet but audible meow, trying not to flinch as Ranma visibly jumped and clapped her hands over her mouth to keep from screaming in fear. The ailurophobe cast a dirty look at her zoan crewmate, but Shampoo met her gaze without flinching.

"Airen stay here, stay quiet... Shampoo hear something..."

The Joketsuzoku zoan barely waited for Ranma's nod of acknowledgement before she sprang from her splintery seat and silently slipped through the undergrowth, vanishing into the gloom behind some nearby trees. The Kamikazes held their collective breath, Ukyo and Kodachi drawing their weapons of choice whilst Apis slipped closer to Nabiki, who laid a comforting hand on the young girl's shoulder even as Ryoga, practically defenseless in his cursed form, slunk over to sit at their feet.

The silence was swiftly broken by the sound of wood shattering, young saplings disintegrating into a hail of bark, branches and woodchips as a figure came hurtling through the air, his flight arrested when he slammed into a larger tree and fell into a limp heap at its feet, Shampoo's voice raised in a furious warcry.

"Is ambush! We surrounded!"

"Damn Zoan! Get them!" roared a stranger's voice, before men began literally erupting out of the undergrowth, screaming battlecries and firing pistols at the pirates.

Now, it was true that with Ryoga trapped in pig form until they found hot water, they had lost one of their strongest fighters. But Ranma was still there, and Shampoo, Ukyo and Kodachi certainly were nothing to sneeze at, as their assailants found to their costs. Although outnumbered four to one, the four martial artists tore into their would-be ambushers like ravenous beasts. Shampoo was practically a blur, and the fact she was also fighting stark naked was in many ways a weapon in its own right, with her bouncing breasts the last thing more than one man saw before she knocked them unconscious. Ukyo spun her battle spatula with blurring speed, bullets ricocheting from the Masamune-forged utensil's spade-like blade before she brought it crashing down on her would-be assailants' skulls. Kodachi laughed maniacally as her own pistol barked, blasting pistols from enemy hands or sending them flying to the ground, hands clasping painful but probably non-lethal wounds - those who dared to get in close found themselves retreating swiftly in the face of her sword and its razor-sharp kiss. As for Ranma? She danced through the storm of carnage like a butterfly, fists and feet flying out faster than the eye could follow and leaving groaning bodies in her wake.

Within moments, the Kamikazes stood triumphantly over the bodies of the men who had attacked them, and Nabiki smirked proudly before patting Apis' shoulder in a reassuring manner.

"Nothing to worry about," she smugly declared.

And that was when cold steel links suddenly wrapped themselves around Nabiki's arms, waist and neck, snapping taut and bodily yanking her from her feet, dragging her flying through the air until she hit something solid back first, the impact briefly knocking the wind from her lungs and making her see stars.

"Ooof! Oh, come on! Do I look like Akane?! I'm not supposed to be the damsel in distress - glk! Cho-choking,,,!" Nabiki gasped for air, hands twitching as they tried to reach for the chain crushing her windpipe, only to be held back by more of the same.

"Nabiki! You let her go now!" Ranma roared in a rage, already shifting her weight in anticipation of a powerful surge forward.

"Make one move and I'll break her neck," Nabiki's captor warned, his voice cold and lifeless as the grave. If it weren't for the icy cruelty of his voice and the ominous emptiness in his gaze, he might have been a handsome man; stoic and determined-looking, with blonde hair and blue eyes wearing a black rowing blazer with white piping, a black mockneck, and khaki long pants. He emphasized his point by flexing his wrists ever so slightly, tightening the vicious grip his chains had on Nabiki's throat and making her gurgle and choke for air.

"Why, you..." Ranma snarled, gritting her teeth.

"Whaaaugh-hohohoho! Poor little thing, you came so close and yet you failed at the last moment! Whaaaugh-hohohoho!"

Even Kodachi winced at that shrill, maniacal laugh, the Kamikazes fixing their gaze on its source as she walked out of the gloomy forest and proudly posed beside Nabiki's captor. Ranma normally avoided using terms like "MILF" on general principle as well as for personal safety, but even she had to admit that this woman fit the moniker to a tee. Dark where her male companion was fair, she was clearly a mature woman, at least in her thirties, but ravishingly beautiful, whose naturally voluptuous form threatened to nearly spill out of the seductively cut dress that she wore, which clung to her ample curves almost like a second skin. Despite her beauty, though, there was a steely glint in her eyes and her body language just screamed that here was a woman who expected to be obeyed.

"Well? Will you surrender? Or does the life of this woman mean so little to you?" Asked the man with his clipped, monotonous voice, every word articulated so precisely he might have bitten off the excess letters.

"You hurt Nabiki, and I'll break every bone in yer body!" Ranma spat.

"You might... but she will still be dead. And if you don't hurry and decide soon, she might die anyway..."

Icy fingers ran up and down Ranma's spine as she realized that Nabiki's efforts to struggle free of her assailant were growing steadily weaker, the naked terror in the non-martial artist's eyes only dimming as oxygen deprivation caused them to glaze over. She glanced at the rest of the crew, but really there was no choice.

"...Alright, we surrender, just let her go!" Ranma barked.

The man didn't even change expressions slightly, but Nabiki audibly sucked in a deep lungful of air, coughing and gasping as he eased the tension on the chain around her neck and allowed her to breathe. Immediately, Ranma tried to lunge for her captive crewmate, but Nabiki's captor reacted with remarkable speed and tightened the chain once more, forcing Ranma to stop just out of arm's reach and then hastily back away before he released the chokehold once more.

Ranma hung her head in shame, self loathing casting a shadow over her face at her failure. "...'M sorry, Apis..."

Incredibly, Apis just gave the genderbent martial artist a sad smile. "It's okay, Captain Ranma... you tried."

Ranma just blinked at her, unable to understand her reaction. Pushing the unfamiliar experience aside, she turned back to the two who had, if only technically, beaten them with a sour look on her face. "Just who are you jerks, anyway?"

"I am Mr. 6. She is Miss Mother's Day," he added, gesturing to the woman - who was now rousing the unconscious thugs with a mixture of gentle cajolements, the occasional cuff around the head, and copious amounts of some kind of foul-smelling chemical so pungent that the Kamikazes could smell it from where they were standing.

"You will accompany us to the village. Captain Eldorago is waiting for you," Mr. 6 concluded.

"Ain't as if we got a choice, is it?" Ranma grumbled.

"Can Shampoo at least turn back into beast? Not want to give whole village peepshow," groused the Zoan, doing her best to cover herself with her enlarged, paw-like hands. The sharp porcine squeal as Ryoga finally realized he was looking at a naked woman from a pig's eye view, spouted blood from his nose like a fountain and then fainted only made her grumble sullenly.

It didn't help that the newly revived pirates were visibly leering at her... until Miss Mother's Day's voice suddenly rang out, hard and cold and sharp as a blade.

"Naughty boys get a spanking!"

Every single thug present promptly went pale as a sheet and hastily turned away from the naked cabbit-girl.

"Your request is reasonable. Granted," replied Mr. 6, who might as well have been discussing the weather.

Shampoo immediately shrank back down to cabbit form, hopping over and leaping into Ranma's arms. At a gesture from Mr. 6, the thugs closed in on the Kamikazes, who found themselves being marched at gunpoint on a direct route towards the village.

Soon enough, they found themselves being marched through a mournful throng of villagers towards the center of the village, where a towering fire lit up the darkness and illuminated the figure of the man who could only be Eldorago himself.

"So, Apis, you finally return! You've been a very naughty girl, running away like that!" guffawed the brute.

Eldorago towered over the men under his command, easily as large as the Dojo Destroyer whom Ranma had once battled for the sake of the Tendo Dojo. He was a fierce-looking figure, broad-shouldered and clearly muscular, with darkly tanned skin and a massive mane of fiery red hair, which fell down past his shoulders - save for a single long braid, which fell to the ground like a tail. His fierce, leonine features were made all the more savage-looking by pronounced lower canines, which jutted tusk-like from the corners of his mouth even when his lips were closed. He wore ornate armor in the shape of two pauldrons and an armored waist-wrap, both adorned with golden-hued scales of metal. As he gestured, Ranma couldn't help but notice the long, effeminate-looking golden nails that the pirate captain wore on the ends of his fingers.

Despite looking like a minnow facing down a shark, Apis boldly glared at her tormentor, gritting her teeth in a childish snarl of fury. "You stupid jerk! You're one to talk when you invaded my island and wrecked my home! What did we ever do to you?!"

"You hid the treasure of my dreams from me, that's what!" Eldorago roared back, the cry emerging with unnatural volume even for a man as large as himself, the wind of his words ruffling Apis' dress and nearly blowing her hat from her head.

The little girl grimaced, shaking her head, before resuming her defiant glower. "What treasure?! We're a humble fishing and farming village! Pirates have always left us alone because we're not wealthy enough to bother with!"

At her words, Eldorago's lips curled into a tusky sneer, his bushy red eyebrows knotting together.

"True, you don't have any treasure worth stealing... certainly no gold to speak of... but you hold something worth more than gold. The key to all my dreams..." He purred, before lifting his left hand and dramatically snapping his fingers.

From out of the darkness came the sound of wooden wheels groaning, and men grunting with effort. Slowly, a great cart-shape made of logs lashed together and attached to thick, heavy wooden wheels was pushed into the light by ten sweating, cursing pirates. And sitting on that cart was something they never could have expected...

At first, Ranma thought it was a giant pile of green feathers. But then he realized it was actually a living creature, folded in on itself in a vaguely serpentine manner. A long tail curled around the bulk, and from the opposite end, a curving, snake-like neck ended in a reptilian mouth big enough that it could have bitten a man of Eldorago's size in half.

Apis's eyes went wide in horror before she screamed, "Grandpa Ryu!"

"That's a dragon!" Nabiki blurted. She had been holding her tongue like the rest of her crewmates, watching as this played out, but the sight of the creature that had just been wheeled into the light of the torches and fires surrounding them had caught even her off-guard.

"Well, this is a magical world," Kodachi observed softly.

"But look at the locals - even they seem surprised," Ukyo pointed out.

Ranma tore her gaze away from the beast with its huge, surprisingly sad-looking eyes and glanced around at the villagers. Sure enough, they were gawking at the creature with open surprise, the boldest of them even whispering to their peers. Her attention promptly snapped back to Eldorago as the redhaired pirate captain jeered at Apis.

"Aw, you named it; how cute..."

"You big meanie! Leave Grandpa Ryu alone! He doesn't have a hoard or dragonite or whatever stupid thing you're after! He's my friend!" Apis screamed back.

Eldorago guffawed, a cruel belly laugh. "I don't want his hoard! Although that would be a nice bonus," He muttered in an aside. "I want the Millennium Dragons! Think about it, girl; what are some of the most feared and legendary creatures in all the six seas? Dragons! It's even said that one of the Four Emperors of the New World has the power of a dragon! Ever since I was a boy, I had a dream: to find the mythical Millennium Dragons, and tame them! With their power, I will conquer the Grand Line, and become the Pirate King!"

He threw back his head and roared like a mighty beast, the men behind the dragon's cart cheering him on, whilst the other pirates around the town center, evidently his hired minions, raised a feeble chorus of support. As suddenly as he had begun, however, Eldorago stopped, throwing a disdainful glare back at Apis.

"But to do that, I need an army of young, strong dragons - not one old, sick one! I came to this island because I found texts saying your people were connected to the Millennium Dragons - that you knew the way to the Dragon's Nest! And your 'Grandpa Ryu' proves the stories are real!"

"How did you even find him?! I hid him away from all possible intruders!" Apis demanded indignantly.

Another cruel laugh spilled from the brute's lips. "I had dozens of men searching this island for a week! Did you really think I wouldn't find him?! But now that I know it's real, I need to find the Dragon's Nest! And that's where you come in! At first, I thought I didn't need you, that I could just get the information here..."

He snapped the fingers on his right hand, and more of his followers suddenly shoved an old man into the light of the fire, the elderly figure stumbling from the rough handling and falling to his knees with a piteous groan.

"Grandpa Bokuden!" Apis shrieked in horror. She yanked as hard as she could, trying to fight her way free of the pirate holding her captive, but his grip remained firm.

Eldorago scowled thunderously, growling like a beast as he glowered down at the new arrival. "Stupid old man! I demanded he tell us everything he knew about the Millenium Dragons, but he just kept rambling on and on and on about dusty old kings and their boring, mundane lives! I never met anyone who made history sound so boring before! No, that means the only one who can tell us the way to the Millennium Dragon's Nest... is an actual Millennium Dragon. And that means we need you to translate, my little friend."

As he said this, Eldorago stepped forward, crossing the distance between them in two huge strides, and cupped Apis's chin in his massive hands, the golden-clawed fingers curling to frame her small face in a twistedly affectionate gesture. Apis just glared defiantly back up at him.

"Why would I help a stinky big jerk like you?!" she spat.

"Because if you don't, I'll level this entire village and kill every man, woman and child here," Eldorago replied, as calmly as if he was discussing the weather.

Apis' eyes were wide as they could possibly get, her irises shrunken down to near invisibility as she stared up at the bestial pirate captain, horror dancing naked on her face. "Y-you wouldn't!"

"I spent a lot of time and precious, precious gold getting to this miserable island... if my dreams die here, then your island dies with them!" Eldorago spat.

"Big bully! How about picking on someone yer own size?!" Ranma barked furiously.

Her interjection seemed to remind Eldorago that she existed, because the hulking figure disdainfully released Apis before stalking over to Ranma, who simply glowered defiantly up at him.

"So... you're Captain Ranma Saotome. And this is your crew?" Eldorago asked, an eyebrow raised skeptically as he directed a mocking glance in the direction of Nabiki, Ukyo and Kodachi, completely overlooking Ryoga and Shampoo thanks to their current bestial forms.

"Better 'n' yours, any day! Least I don't have to buy loyalty," Ranma shot back, sneering as she did.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Nabiki couldn't help but notice the way that Ukyo and Kodachi puffed up with pride at Ranma's words. Even Shampoo, currently reduced to a cabbit that was somehow /still/ sitting on Ranma's head, visibly perked up at Ranma's praise, however indirect.

'Sheesh, you girls really have it bad, don't you...?'

"Tch! I was expecting a formidable force, but you're just a couple of women! What happened to those two strong men you had on your sides, the ones who beat the ship led by that worthless Miss Twinkle?"

'Like I'm stupid enough to tell you about me an' Ryoga! Hey, wait a minute...'

"How'd you know about them?" Ranma demanded, narrowing a questioning eye at her opponent.

In response, Eldorago dug into a pocket with one meaty paw and drew forth an oversized snail with a derpy expression and a rotary phone somehow built into its shell, making Ranma groan and shade her eyes with her palm.

"...A Transponder Snail? Seriously?! I thought you had to be in the Marines to use those!" She whined.

"Uh... no? You can buy them at any island that's part of the World Government?" Eldorago replied hesitantly, looking blatantly confused for a moment before his face curled back in a denigrating sneer. "Sheesh, what kind of backwater did you crawl out of, anyway?!"

Ranma simply grumbled and refused to answer.

"It cost me some very pretty beries, but I equipped all my ships with Transponder Snails, and they warned me that you were coming. That's how I was able to greet you personally with the power of my Scream-Scream Fruit!" laughed the hulking pirate, tusks glittering in the firelight.

"You sank my ship?!" Ranma snarled instinctively.

"You sent my treasure to the bottom of the ocean?!" Nabiki howled in outrage, actually struggling with her captors in a furious impulse before they tightened their grips and restrained her.

"Bah! Pearls are nothing but polished oyster shit," Eldorago scoffed. "But now that I have Apis, I don't need you..."

He began to growl, deep and low in his throat, the vibrations audibly building up. They welled impossibly loud, until Ranma could feel them making her bones shake and her organs shimmy, a throbbing ululation that pulsed in time with the ominous glow emanating at the back of Eldorago's throat. Ranma grit her teeth, weighing up the odds, mind racing to calculate an answer before the pirate unleashed his sonic blast...

"Stop! Stop, don't hurt them! I'll do it! I'll help you find the Dragon's Nest, just don't hurt anyone!" Apis pleaded.

"Apis!" Ranma shouted in surprise, shocked by the sudden switch in the Whisper Human's attitude.

"It's over, Captain Ranma... I appreciate everything you did, but we're done now. He's beaten us. I can't let you or my friends or Grandpas Bokuden and Ryu get hurt," Apis declared mournfully, head hung in a futile effort to hide the tears welling in her eyes.

After a moment sniffing back the tears, Apis looked up at Eldorago, though the defiance lingered in her voice. "Promise me you won't hurt anyone, and I'll convince Granpa Ryu to take us to the Dragon's Nest."

"I knew you'd see sense," Eldorago purred.

He then waved a hand imperiously. "Take them and lock them up in the village store room! Place guards on them! We'll leave for the Dragon's Nest at dawn!"

"You heard the captain, get moving!" Snarled one of the pirates, gesturing with his gun.

"Alright, alright, keep yer hair on!" Ranma spat back, her words deliberately chosen, as this particular pirate was bald as a boiled egg. Her captor flushed beet red, but held his tongue, glancing fearfully at Eldorago. Still, it was a momentary delay, and the Kamikaze Pirates were promptly hurried along at gunpoint to what was clearly a glorified barn, where they were marched inside before the door was closed and barred shut behind them.

That left three girls, a boy in a girl's body, a boy in a pig's body, and a girl temporarily in a cabbit's body to try and make themselves comfortable on the assorted barrels, boxes and bags. An awkward silence hung momentarily over their makeshift cell before the most unlikely of sources broke it by saying the most unexpected of things.

"I...I'm sorry. If I hadn't fallen into that trap, we wouldn't be here," Nabiki apologetically announced, unable to look any of her cellmates in the eye.

"It's alright Nabiki, it wasn't your fault," Ranma sighed.

"You know? You're right, it could have happened to anyone," Nabiki declared, visibly perking up as the unfamiliar burden of guilt fell from her shoulders and ignoring the way the others rolled their eyes.

"So, what we do now, airen?" Shampoo asked, still nestled in Ranma's arms and showing no signs of moving from where she was, even as the genderbending pirate captain sat down on a sack of rice.

"Well, the big problem here is beating these losers without getting Apis or the villagers hurt in the process.." Ranma observed, absently petting Shampoo as he spoke and marveling at how soft and fluffy she was in this form. Then she stopped and blinked as something else caught her attention.

"Hey, where's Umok?" she asked, having finally noticed that the imp was nowhere to be seen.

"Right here," Umok replied, literally appearing out of nowhere right in front of Ranma and making the rest of his crewmates start in shock.

"What the heck?! How'd you? Where'd you? And why do you look like crap?" Ranma spluttered.

Her final question was well warranted; Umok's normally bruise-purple skin had changed to a blotchy pale blue on green color that reminded her of a moldy lime, and was visibly slick with sweat. All three of the imp's eyes drooped, and he bobbed unsteadily, as if the act of keeping himself level was taking everything he had.

"So... good news, bad news..." the imp replied in a feeble, croaky imitation of his usual deep brassy voice. "Good news; I've regained enough of my former strength to cast a Blur spell... bad news is that my stamina is still gone to BLEEP."

Ranma blinked slowly. "So... you can turn invisible now?"

"Eh... sort of. Close enough when it's dark or people aren't looking hard, but it's the weaker spell. And you can see what holding it for five-ten minutes did to me! Gonna be hours before I'm strong enough to pull that stunt again..." Umok groaned feebly, then slowly floated over and then sat down on a cask, holding his head in his hands and gingerly massaging his temples.

"Huh... well, that might come in handy... anyway! Like I said, the problem isn't beating these losers, it's doing it without getting Apis or the islanders hurt in the process... an' I got an idea on just how we can do that..."

Chapter End & Closing Notes

This chapter was originally going to be longer, but my primary beta-reader, CV12Hornet, convinced me that it would be easier for readers if it were broken in half. But still, we have finally reached the climax of Apis' saga! I hope you're all enjoying this so far!