The Way of Tea

 is the 56th chapter of the manga and the first chapter of the Martial Arts Tea Ceremony Arc.

One rainy afternoon in Furinkan, Ranma is running away from Shampoo when an out of control horse with an unconcious rider comes out of nowhere. Ranma knocks the horse down and after the rider awakens, Ranma is offered some of his tea. The tea is laced with paralysis powder, and the young man named Sentaro Daimonji kidnaps female Ranma and takes her back home intending to marry her.

One Rainy Day
Several people are going about their business in a shopping plaza, when they hear the sound of hooves coming towards them. Suddenly a runaway horse appears, frightening the shoppers greatly. The people then notice that the horse actually has a ridder, but he's unconscious (one of the people believe the ridder may be drunk).

Coming the other way, Ranma (in his female form because of the rain) is running away from Shampoo (in her cat form). Ranma is too distracted by Shampoo to notice the horse, despite the other people's warnings. However, when the two collide, Ranma just ends up running straight through the horse and sends it into the air. The horse then lands so stops running, while Ranma ends up running into a lamppost.

Worried, the other people gather round to see if anyone's serious hurt and see that the ridder and Ranma are both unconscious. Ranma soon regains consciousness, and goes over to the ridder. She then slaps him a couple times and he soon wakes as well.

Grateful for what Ranma did, and in love with beauty of Ranma's face in the prevailing sunshine, the ridder prepares some tea for Ranma. He then offers it to her, while saying he's thanks to Ranma as well as how he's unworthy of her gesture of gratitude. Ranma, however, is left confused as she doesn't think she did anything worth thanking for. The ridder then tells Ranma she saved him from his death and then begs Ranma to try a taste of his gratitude. Ranma then tries the tea, but quickly suffers from the paralysis powder that was secretly placed in it.

The ridder then picks up Ranma and, in a rather melodramatic way, declares he's finally met a woman of strength. Ranma, now only able to talk, wants to know what the ridder is going on about.

A bit later, Akane is seen walking the streets of Furinkan as well, when she sees a horse run past her very quickly. She then notices what appears to be Ranma unconscious on the back of the horse. Akane quickly acts by throwing her umbrella at the ridder, but he deflects it with another object that ends up stuck in the lamppost behind Akane (which also catches her raincoat hood).

Akane then watches as the horse gallops away. She then takes the object out of the lamppost, revealing it to be Tea-Ceremony spoon. Akane then begins to wonder who that person was, as Shampoo (still in her cat form) stands next her meowing.

Later On
Somewhere else in Tokyo, and Ranma awakes in the later afternoon after a leaf lands on her face, causing her to sneeze. When she looks down, she notices she's suddenly wearing a Wedding Kimono. Ranma then sees the ridder from before, who asks Ranma to forgive his execrable rudeness. Angered, Ranma kicks the ridder in the face but he quickly gets up and asks Ranma to hear him out. Ranma tries to leave, but the ridder grabs onto her Kimono, begging to be heard.

An old woman then suddenly appears, who reveals the name of the ridder to be Sentaro and is in turn identified as his Grandmother, and asks Sentaro if he's been forced another poor girl into the Wedding Kimono again. In protest, Sentaro grabs Ranma and tells his Grandmother that she's not just another girl; she's the girl he'll marry! Ranma hears this, and in response asks Sentaro what exactly he thinks he's talking about and punches him skyward.

Sentaro's Grandmother tells Ranma that it wasn't very nice to do that to their own heir. She then quickly manages to flip Ranma over, causing her head to land on the floor, and hit her with a ladle. As Ranma wonders what sort of move that was, Sentaro's Grandmother explains it was a move of the Daimonji School of Martial Arts Tea Ceremony, the "Napkin Strike". This causes Ranma to wonder what "Martial Arts Tea Ceremony" is.

That Evening
Some time passes and Ranma goes to get a further explanation from Sentaro. Sentaro explains that he is the only son and heir of the Daimonji School of Martial Arts Tea Ceremony. He continues by saying that an arrangement has been made to wed his worthless soul to another, so that a future heir may be born. FInally, Sentaro says that he can't bring himself to love her and begins to pretend to cry, which Ranma tells him to stop.

Back to Sentaro, and then adds that to nullify this agreement, he must find a woman who can defeat his betrothed in Martial Arts Tea Ceremony. Ranma doesn't want anything to do with this and tries to leave. Just then Sentaro's Grandmother appears through the door and asks her grandson if he thinks a weakling like Ranma could possibly win in such a demanding contest.

Angered, Ranma walks up to her and tells her that she's never lost at anything Martial Arts related and she's not going to lose this one. Sentaro's Grandmother accepts Ranma's "request" and agrees that should she win, she can marry Sentaro. Sentaro rushes to Ranma's side and thanks her, as Ranma's inner rage grows.

Cast in Order of Appearance

 * Sentaro Daimonji (debut)
 * Ranma Saotome (female)
 * Shampoo (cat)
 * Akane Tendo
 * Sentaro's Grandmother (debut)

Trivia

 * This is perhaps the most well known storyline which was initially skipped for an anime adaptation, taking 3 years before one occurred.