Face Off!

Teppeki! rakugaki pawa (鉄壁！ ラクガキ・パワー) is the 143rd chapter of the manga and the second chapter of the Mark of the Gods Arc.

In the Tendo Dojo, Ranma and Ryoga prepare to face off again, but this time Ryoga is blindfolded with his hands tied together and weights around his legs. Even in this state he is able to defeat Ranma easily. Ranma uses some of the ridiculous Saotome Desperation Strikes such as "What's that behind you?" but nothing seems to work.

Continuing from the Previous Chapter
Having returned to the Tendo Dojo, Ryoga prepares for Ranma to defeat him, but in order to make things easier for Ranma, Ryoga has blindfolded himself along with tying his hands together and placing large weights to his ankles. When Ranma sees the state Ryoga's put himself in he's obviously shocked which causes Ryoga to have to remind Ranma about him needing to be defeated in order to remove the Mark of the Battling Gods on his abdomen.

Slightly irritated that Ryoga believes he needs to be handicapped in order to be defeated, Ranma wastes no time in rushing towards him, but is quickly sent flying into the ceiling by a tiny movement of Ryoga's hands.

Ranma's Desperation
Seeing that Ryoga's handicap wasn't enough to defeat him, Ranma goes searching through Genma's belongings until he finds what he was looking for, The Scroll of Secret Blows!

Just as Ryoga starts feeling depressed about how, if Ranma can't remove the mark, then nobody can, Ranma returns and informs Ryoga that he isn't the same opponent he was a minute ago. Ranma then declares he's using the "Saotome Desperation Strike", leaving Ryoga wondering just what Ranma is going to do. No sooner does Ryoga ponder this than Ranma points at something behind Ryoga and when Ryoga turns to see what it is, Ranma uses the opening to attack Ryoga. Unfortunately, Ryoga quickly counters the attack and ends up standing on Ranma's head.

After reading up on the techniques written on the scroll, Ranma shouts that there's a 100 yen coin on the floor (in an attempt to make Ryoga drop his guard looking for it). However, unlike Soun and Genma, Ryoga doesn't fall for such a simple trick and slams Ranma into the floor for trying to use it.

Seeing his rival resort to such cheap tricks, Ryoga begins voicing his negative view of such things when he suddenly realises that Ranma's starting crying. As Ranma sobs he apologises to Ryoga for being so weak that he can't save him from the curse. Once Ranma starts bowing apologetically at Ryoga, he (Ryoga) attempts to reassure his rival by telling Ranma that he shouldn't be so hard on himself as he's just become too good for him.

Having heard enough, Ranma uses a water pistol to turn Ryoga into his P-chan form before declaring that he just used the ultimate Saotome Desperation Strike where you lull the enemy into dropping their guard like a toad on the road.

Believing that there's no way he can lose to a pig, Ranma moves in to punch P-chan, only to get sent flying through the ceiling. Before P-chan can do anything else, Akane suddenly appears and picks him up. Akane quickly notices the mark on P-chan's abdomen and wonders what awful person would doodle something like this to make a cute little pig look stupid. Devastated by these comments, P-chan squirms out of Akane's grasp before proceeding to run away.

Later On
After turning back into his human form, Ryoga sits one a nearby roof as Akane's comments about his mark continually run through his mind. Seeing the state that Ryoga's been reduced to, Ranma wanders up and tries to cheer up Ryoga by telling him that his mark isn't as hopeless as he thinks. Believing Ranma's about to tell him a way to remove his mark, Ryoga starts listening intently, but is infuriated when Ranma suggests Ryoga take out the mark during new employee parties. Ryoga then proceeds to start beating up Ranma for his stupid suggestion.

Akane, meanwhile, has just gotten a washcloth to remove the mark from P-chan's stomach when she hears the ruckus coming from Ryoga beating Ranma. As Ranma lies on the ground, Ryoga angrily declares that, thanks to him, Akane saw the mark on P-chan's stomach and because of that he can never show Akane his stomach. In response to this, Ranma questions Ryoga about why Akane would ever want to see his stomach anyway; lifting up Ryoga's shirt in the process.

At that moment, Akane appears and immediately notices that Ryoga has the same doodle as P-chan. Panicking, Ryoga creates a hole in the wall behind him which he subsequently goes through with Ranma. Having hidden themselves round a nearby corner, Ranma comments on how it wasn't that bad that Akane saw Ryoga's stomach, although Ryoga greatly disagrees. Meanwhile, Akane looks through the hole in the wall and wonders just what is going on...

Cast in Order of Appearance

 * Ryoga Hibiki (human)
 * Ranma Saotome (male)
 * Genma Saotome (panda)
 * Soun Tendo
 * Ryoga Hibiki (P-chan)
 * Akane Tendo

Trivia

 * The english title for this chapter may be a reference to the 1997 film,.