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.

In China a man is being harrassed by four idividuals looking for the "Dragon's Whisker". The man tells them that it was taken by a foreigner fitting Ranma's discription. 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!

The Pigtail Thieves
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.

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!"