Target: Pigtail

Nerawareta osage (狙われたおさげ) is the 154th chapter of the manga and the first chapter of the Dragon's Whisker Arc.

Synopsis
In China a man is being harassed by four individuals looking for the "Dragon's Whisker". The man tells them that it was taken by a foreigner fitting Ranma's description. The four travel to Japan to find Ranma. In Nerima the chairman of the neighborhood watch tells Soun that people with pigtails have been attacked recently. Ranma and Akane go to check it out and meet up the the four bandits, the Niku-men!

Plot Overview
In the "Roots of Health" restaurant in, China, a man finds himself cornered by four other men, demanding he hand over the 4,000 year-old "Dragon's Whisker". The man, however, refuses to tell the group as the Whisker only brings pain to the world. Hearing this the group threaten to kill the man, which scares him into quickly blurting out what happened. Unfortunately the man is speaking so fast that the others can't understand half of what he's saying.

Just then the man draws an very rough sketch of the foreigner who took the Dragon's Whisker, resulting in the group heading off for Japan in order to track their new target down...

A few days later, Soun, Genma and Kasumi learn from the Man From Neighborhood Watch that there has been multiple attacks involving a mod which cuts victims' hair. Having learnt of this threat, Soun, Genma, Akane and Ranma head out to find the culprits.

As the group travel through the darkened streets of Furinkan that evening, Soun reveals that the mob have cut off the pigtails of whoever they target, prompting Ranma to comment that he'll be the perfect bait then. Not a moment later, Ranma finds himself surrounded by the pigtail thieves before swiftly dispatching every single one of them.

With the thieves defeated Ranma decides to get a better look at them but is shocked to see that the thieves' appear to be living dumplings. As Akane and Ranma argue in the Niku-men are pork or red bean buns, Soun returns to the matter at hand and demands to know why the group are attacking pigtails. Initially the man refuses to co-operate, but soon reveals their intentions of acquiring the Dragon's Whisker once Soun threatens to kill him. At that moment another of the Niku-men notices the similarity between Ranma and the picture the salesman gave them so proceed with a second attack, only to get flying sky-high by Ranma.

Later that evening, Ranma stands on the Dojo balcony whilst thinking to himself that there's no way the Niku-men are getting the Dragon's Whisker from him. As Akane wonders just what the whisker is and what it has to do with Ranma, Ranma finds himself surrounded by the poorly disguised Niku-men. Once again the Niku-men strike for Ranma's pigtail, but are overpowered and sent flying for the second time.

As Ranma washes his hair to remove the paint that was thrown over him during the fight, Akane asks just why it is he never undoes his pigtail. Ranma, however, just tells Akane to forget it. Despite this Kausmi, Nabiki and Genma attempt to overpower Ranma in order to undo his pigtail as Akane notes how strange Ranma's reaction is to all this.

Knowing that there's no way they can catch up to the now fleeing Ranma, Nabiki instructs the returning Happosai to stop him for them, a feat which he does with ease.

Now that Ranma's unconscious, Genma begins trying to undo Ranma's pigtail, only for the Niku-men to return and identify the string holding Ranma's pigtail together as the Dragon's Whisker!

Unfortunately for the Niku-men Ranma regains consciousness and sends them skyward once more, whilst declaring that the whisker belongs to him. Deeply confused, Genma and Akane beg Ranma to explain just what is going on. In response Ranma simply states that the whisker is his "seal" and, should he remove it, something terrible will happen. Hearing this, Akane becomes very concerned about just secrets an innocent-looking string could hold. At the same time, Niku-men prepare their next plan to take the whisker for themselves.

Cast in Order of Appearance

 * Niku-men (debut)
 * Dragon's Whisker Salesman (debut)
 * Man From Neighborhood Watch
 * Genma Saotome (panda)
 * Soun Tendo
 * Kasumi Tendo
 * Ranma Saotome (male)
 * Akane Tendo
 * Nabiki Tendo
 * Genma Saotome (human)
 * Happosai

Quotes

 * (Niku-men) "Who are you calling a Pork Bun?!"
 * (Ranma) "I'm calling you a Pork Bun, PORK BUN!"
 * (Akane) "Wait! They might be Red-Bean Buns!"

Trivia
To be added