Dragon's Whisker 3

Still in the P.E. equipment shed, Ranma tells Akane the story of the dragon's whisker. After being cursed at Jusenkyo, but before leaving the Bayankala Mountains, Ranma was wandering in her female form. She was extremely hungry. A man ran by holding a bowl of rice porridge. He was being chased by another man who yelled, "Stop, thief!" The pursuer is recognizable as the owner of the restaurant who was attacked by the "pork bun men".

Ranma grabs the bowl, kicks the thief away, and eats the porridge before the restaurant owner can say anything. He steps up, opens her shirt to look at her breasts, and says, "A girl. Good thing." Ranma clobbers him and asks what he means. He takes Ranma back to his restaurant and feeds her, while explaining that the rice porridge is the restaurant's secret item. The stock is made with dragon's whisker, which he holds up to show. He tells Ranma that it has no effect on women, but when a man eats it, it fulfills a certain ambition. He goes on to say that many a battle has been fought over the porridge, but it's truly lucky that Ranma is female. Except, before he can finish saying the word "female", Ranma pours a kettle over his head, transforming into a boy.

The frames are drawn so that we do not see male Ranma. The restaurant owner laughs, saying "So you're a man." Ranma thumps him over the head several times, and asks, "Is this what you mean by ambition?" The restaurant owner holds up the dragon's whisker and says, "Until the effect runs out, you can use this as a seal." He allowed Ranma to take the dragon's whisker. Akane thinks to herself, "If that's the whisker's power, no wonder men fight over it."

Cut to the Nekohanten (a Chinese ramen restaurant), where Genma is asking the ancient Chinese amazon Cologne if she knows the secret of the dragon's whisker. Cologne tells him that the whisker is trouble, but she cannot tell him about it. That she especially cannot tell him. As Genma walks along puzzling over her words, Happosai and the four Chinese men all run by. Genma realizes what they all have in common, including himself - that they are all bald. He guesses the secret - that the dragon's whisker grows hair.

Cut back to the P.E. equipment shed, where Ranma is surrounded by masses and masses of hair, growing from his head. Recall that Akane got the dragon's whisker back from the Chinese man who stole it. Akane cuts Ranma's hair, rebraids his pigtail, and ties it off with the dragon's whisker, which stops it from growing. Although Akane's usual trouble with handiwork manifests itself, and the pigtail she ties stands up over Ranma's head.

Genma bursts in, demanding to know how Ranma could dare to keep this from his own father, by which Ranma realizes he now knows the secret. Happosai and the four Chinese men attack, but Genma defends his son, knocking them all away. Ranma and Akane look a bit surprised. Genma turns back, looking very sad, and asks why Ranma can't trust his own father. He goes on in this vein, while trying to get his hands on the whisker, but Ranma stops him. They fight, and Ranma clobbers his father. Genma starts spouting more crap, and this time manages to steal the whisker while Ranma is distracted.

Ranma starts to chase Genma, but is stopped when several girls running by step on his rapidly growing hair. Cologne shows up and splashes him, turning Ranma into a girl. He asks what she did that for, but answers it himself when he remembers that he is unaffected as a girl. Cologne warns Ranma that if he doesn't get the dragon's whisker back, then within a week he will completely run out of hair.