Hi everyone. I'm back with yet another story, this time a Ranma/One Piece crossover. There aren't many of those and I wanted to remedy to that sad fact. There are probably a lot of One Piece fans who don't know Ranma ½, one of the biggest manga and anime successes of the late eighties, early nineties. If you belong to that group I pity you. Naaah, I'm just joking. Still, I'd suggest you check it out at least, just so you know what it's about.

I tried something different this time and it might be confusing at first as you're probably wandering where the prologue is. I decided to start the story in the middle where Ranma meets some of the more prominent inhabitants of the One Piece world. The next few chapters will focus on Ranma's arrival and adventures in this unknown environment before coming back to where I left off in this chapter.

I just want to point out that this story is a fiction, that none of the characters belong to me, and that I don't make any money with this.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

This is a rewrite. Ranma is too powerful in the story, so I'm changing his immunity to Devil Fruit powers to strong resistance. However, there's a way for Ranma to be immune for a short time, but it's very taxing.

I've also made some other changes, like rewriting the complete Magellan fight.

The curse is NOT locked. Just to reassure those readers who hate lockfics.

CHAPTER 1

All was calm down on level six at Impel Down. The prisoners were sitting in their cells and not a single sound was heard. There had been a small commotion earlier when one of their number, the famous 'Fire Fist' Ace, had been taken away after spending only a little time in their midst. No one did really care, though; they had their own problems to deal with in this horrible place also known as Eternal Hell.

However, the silence soon got broken once again when a group of three people rushed down the stairs to level six with one of their numbers shouting loudly "AAAAACCCEEEEE! Where are you?"

The group in question was composed of three people who were the bane of the World Government. Two of them were prisoners who had disappeared a while ago without leaving a trace of their whereabouts while the third one had broken into the prison a few hours earlier to save his brother. They were known as 'Straw Hat' Luffy, 'Okama King' Ivankov, and 'Revolutionary' Inazuma. They had brutally mowed down any opposition that had tried to keep them away from their goal: 'Fire Fist' Ace's holding cell.

"AAAACCCCEEEE!" Luffy shouted once more shortly before arriving in front of his brother's cell.

The young pirate looked through the bars but the only person inside was a very large fishman covered in heavy chains that were firmly attached to the prison wall.

"Five more minutes, pops," a sleepy, barely audible female voice mumbled, much to the indifference of the other inmates and visitors.

"Are you Straw Hat Luffy?" The fishman suddenly asked and getting a positive answer he continued, "They took him away a short while ago. If you hurry up you should be able to catch up to them."

They took the advice seriously and not wasting any more time the group hurried ran towards the lift, but just as they reached it the lift cage crashed heavily to floor, stirring up a load of dust.

"They vouldn't make it that easy for us, of course," Ivankov regretted. "The lift is obviously out. Ve'll have to find another vay."

"We'll just have to go back the way we came down," Luffy shouted before running towards the stairs at full speed.

Ivankov and Inazuma quickly followed, but before they could reach the stairway a solid looking portcullis fell down, cutting off their escape way. They were about to demolish the obstacle when another trap was sprung; gas was rushing down the stairs and streaming into the room through the bars.

"Sleeping gas," Inazuma guessed. "They are probably trying to put us to sleep with the rest of the prisoners."

"Hey! Do something!" The prisoners shouted. "Don't get us mixed in this too."

"SHUT UP! There are people trying to sleep here! Don't make me come over or you'll regret it!" The angry female voice from before complained, but her shouts were drowned in the ruckus caused by the other prisoners.

The only one to keep his cool was Inazuma who reacted at once. He changed his hands into scissors and cut the stone floor into ribbons which he then propped up in front of the portcullis, sealing the passageway hermetically and keeping more gas from flowing in.

"Hey! Why did you do that?" Luffy objected. "How am I supposed to get up there now and save my brother?"

"It was the only way," the scissorman calmly explained.

"It's probably too late anyvay," Ivankov stated. "It's probable that by now he's already been handed over to the marines and taken to the marine headquarters in Marineford."

"That doesn't matter! I'll save him anyway, even if I have to go to the marine headquarters."

Iva was astonished by the conviction in the young pirate's tone which reminded him of Dragon and his respect for Luffy increased even further, and he really wanted to share his optimism, but things didn't look good at the moment. He desperately racked his brain for a solution but he drew a blank.

"Want to get out of here? If you release me from my bonds I'll help you. How about it Straw Hat? KUAA-HAA-HAA-HAA!"

Luffy recognized that voice immediately and he shook in anger when he saw the arrogant smirk on the face of a man he hated with all his being. It was Crocodile, the bastard who had abused his nakama, Robin. He'd never forgive him for that.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" The female voice could be heard once again. "Ungh, my head."

This time the group threw a quick look into the direction where the voice had come from, but since it didn't present a danger to them they quickly returned their attention to Crocodile and didn't see the small redheaded girl who got up very slowly while rubbing her head and wincing in pain.

"I can assure you I have no interest in Alabasta any longer. I just want to take Whitebeard's Head."

"Let's get him out Strawhat-boy. This man vould be a valuable asset, especially if you really plan to attack the marine headquarters," Ivankov suggested.

"Ivankov," Crocodile muttered visibly annoyed.

"It's been quite a vhile Croco-boy."

"WHAT THE HELL? Where am I?" The voice of the small girl shouted in outrage as she looked through the bars of her cell.

This time she really got the attention of everyone and the onlookers were quite surprised when they saw the prisoner. With a loud voice like that they had expected anything but a rather harmless looking, short, red haired girl with her hair tied in a pigtail. She was wearing a beautiful, form-fitting cheongsam embroidered with lilies and chrysanthemums that hugged her curves lovingly and emphasized the size of her impressive bust even further. Her feet were adorned with a pair of simple slippers. Her petite stature made guessing her age difficult, but she couldn't have been any older than eighteen or nineteen. A pair of seastone cuffs, which were held together by a sturdy looking chain of the same material, was affixed to her wrists.

"Hey! Can anyone tell me where I am?" She called out to the people on the other side of the bars.

"Vhat kind of a stupid question is that?" Ivankov's head comically doubled in size as he looked incredulously at the redhead.

The little girl was not impressed at all, having been the recipient of Soun Tendo's demon head technique more than once, and this one really couldn't compare.

"Forget the squirt!" the former Shichibukai didn't let her answer. "You want to save Ace, right? Just let me out and I'll open a way for you. The more time you waste the more difficult it will be to get him back."

"Who's a squirt? You wanna say that to my face?" The annoyed girl called over to the other prisoner.

"Heh. As often as you want me to, small fry."

"OKAY! THAT-DOES-IT!" The petite girl concentrated her inner energies and very soon an impressive aura surrounded her. She pushed her ki into her hands and wrists and the seastone cuffs disintegrated immediately. "Get out of the way! I'm coming out."

The people in question didn't heed the advice as they were gawking at the unknown girl who had so easily disintegrated her handcuffs who were supposed to block the powers of any Devil Fruit user. They were still rooted to the spot when the unassuming redhead let her ki flow into her right leg and with a mighty kick blew the gate out of its hinges. The impromptu projectile barely missed Luffy when it flew by and crashed into the opposite wall.

In an instant she had passed the surprised onlookers and with a mighty pull ripped Crocdile's cell door out of its fastenings and let it fall to the ground.

"Wanna try this 'little girl' now, asshole?" She taunted the former warlord with a come hither gesture.

"KUAA-HAA-HAA-HAA! Sure. As soon as I'm freed of these shackles."

"Those little things?" She innocently pointed at the cuffs. "Don't tell me that a big, strong man like you has trouble getting rid of those when a 'little girl' did it so very easily.

That shut him up and his customary grin disappeared from his face.

"Well then, let this 'little girl' show you how it's done," she smirked at him. "After all, I don't want to be accused of bullying a cripple who can't defend himself, although the end result WILL be the same."

Crocodile glared at her as she took care of the cuffs.

"There. Now you won't have an excuse after I defeat you."

"BIG mistake, girly! Let me show you the power of the Sand-Sand fruit," he threatened her, his arrogant smirk back on his face. He turned his body into sand and was halfway done when the redhead grabbed his head and slammed him face first into the ground. Try as he might, he was unable to free himself from the vice-like grip and something prevented him from using his powers.

"So, I'm a little girl, am I? Then how come I'm the one who has you at her mercy, hmmm? Oh, this must be quite the humiliation for you. What would your friends say if they learnt of your defeat?"

The former Shichibukai struggled some more, but it was impossible to get out of the viselike grip.

"So, do you give up?"

"Alright. You win," he acknowledged through gritted teeth.

The reactions from the crowd were rather comical. The prisoners in their cells just gawked at the harmless looking girl, their jaws hanging to the ground; Ivankov's pressed his hands to his heart and looked like he was about to have a heart attack; Luffy laughed out loud and grinned at the entertaining girl before giving her a big thumbs up.

"That was great!" He enthusiastically shouted. "You absolutely have to join my crew"

Crocodile on the other hand was not so happy and he glared at the inconspicuous girl who had bested him so easily. "Who are you? Tell me your name!"

Before the redhead could answer Inazuma had already done so in her stead in his usual calm tone. "That's 'Raging Fist' Ranma, a famous rookie who is also a Devil Fruit user. She has a bounty of 220 million beli on her head and while there's no definite proof it is assumed that she ate the Wind-Wind fruit since she's able to cause tornadoes. However, I wasn't aware that she'd been arrested. The newspapers didn't mention it."

"That's the famous 'Raging Fist'?" The prisoners couldn't believe it. "She looks a lot more impressive on her wanted posters."

Ranma gave them a venomous look laced with killing intent which was enough to shut them up. "Got a problem? Want a piece of me? Don't be shy."

The cowards behind the bars frantically shook their heads from left to right.

"Now, can anyone tell me where I am?" She asked in a sweet voice which changed to a very dangerous tone as she continued, "Or do I have to beat it out of you?"

Trying to defuse the potentially explosive situation Inazuma was once again the voice of reason and explained everything to the clueless prisoner.

"I see… Damn bastard of an innkeeper probably drugged my food. When I get my hands on him he will pay." The gathered group took a step back when they saw a bright red aura form around her.

Immediately the aura died down when she remembered something. She looked around and scratched the back of her head in embarrassment. "Um? Which way is the exit?"

The candid question was answered with a massive face fault from everyone around except for Luffy who was grinning and clapping, obviously enjoying the show.

"You're funny. You'll definitely have to join my crew."

"No thanks. I got better things to do with my time."

"Never mind that," The Okama King interrupted. "How did you get out of your seastone cuffs? They should have blocked your Devil Fruit powers."

"Wouldn't you like to know," Ranma teased the revolutionary. "Sorry, but that's a trade secret."

"Hn! Vhatever!" Ivankov huffed. "Not like I vanted to know anyvay." He turned around and had barely taken a step before turning his head towards Ranma.

"That vas a lie!" He gave the victory sign with both of his hands raised in the air. "I really want to know. Please, tell me!"

"No!" Was Ranma's very short answer.

"Shouldn't we concentrate on getting out of here?" Crocodile gruffly interrupted. "Personally, I'm not in a hurry, but the marines probably won't wait for you to arrive before they execute Ace."

"Right. Let's go!" Luffy ordered, his mind back on his mission.

However, before they could leave they heard the fishman in Ace's cell shout: "Take me with you. I can be of help too. You're Luffy, right? I've known your brother ever since he joined the Whitebeard Crew and he has been talking about you a lot. I've been incarcerated because I was opposed to this war. I want to help save Ace."

Recognizing the absolute conviction and honesty with which this as of yet unnamed fishman had pleaded his case Luffy could only agree and they freed the prisoner from his chains and although there was some friction between some members of the group, most notably between Jinbei and Crocodile, the six were ready to bust out.

"So, what's the plan?" Ranma asked looking at the blocked exit.

"I'll take care of it," Crocodile offered. "Stand back, this will take but a moment."

The former head of Baroque Works turned into sand and drifted to the ceiling where he used his Devil Fruit powers to turn the stone into sand, opening a hole large enough to fit the whole group.

After the sandman had opened a passage in the ceiling Inazuma took care of the next part. He once again transformed his arms into scissors and cut the floor into strips of stone with which he formed a spiral staircase high enough to reach the next floor.

Without needing any further prompting the group followed the scissorman up the improvised, yet solid construction and when the guards finally managed to force their way through Inazuma's wall it was already too late and they could do nothing more but stare incredulously at the unexpected escape route.

The guards immediately informed their superiors which caused an uproar in the control room with Hannyabal, the vice-warden of the prison, frantically giving orders to the various guard groups to stop the escapees' progress.

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The small band didn't waste any time and while Ivankov explained the plan to his newkama, a splinter group composed of Luffy, Crocodile, Jinbei, and Ranma went on ahead without waiting for the others, with the intention to open the way for them.

The four advanced swiftly and made it to level four without meeting any resistance. Crocodile quickly demolished the solid wooden door blocking the way with his sand powers only to find a welcoming committee already waiting for them on the other side, a large group of guards with their rifles pointed straight at them.

"Four of them have already reached level four," a panicking officer informed the control room. "They are Crocodile, Monkey D. Luffy, Jinbei, and Ranma Saotome."

Even the most courageous of the guards were now shaking in their boots as they learnt the names of their opponents and they could but stare in fear at the hardened criminals they had to face. This stalemate didn't last long, though, as one guard, out of courage or out of stupidity no one will ever know, took aim and shot Crocodile in the head. The sandman wasn't impressed at all and kept his smirk intact as the bullet simply passed through his head with the only effect being some displaced sand.

The guard didn't have time to regret his bold action as Crocodile transformed his arm into a very large scythe and mowed him down before he could reload, taking several of his comrades out at the same time. The former Shichibukai then went on straight ahead and brutally eliminated any opposition blocking his way.

The others in the group didn't need any further prompting to get in on the action. Luffy jumped into the air and let loose a volley of Gum-Gum fruit powered downward punches at the numerous guards surrounding him, knocking them all out.

Next to him Jinbei concentrated his energy and launched a short jab which completely missed his opponent. However, the effect of this seemingly wasted punch was spectacular as a shockwave erupted out of Jinbei's fist and blasted the whole group amassed in front of him apart.

Ranma for her part chose an entirely different method than her companions. Whereas they used brute force to eliminate their enemies she was all about finesse, using her great speed do dodge any bullet flying her away while incapacitating any opposition with surgically precise strikes, wasting as little energy as possible. As the guards weren't a serious threat to her she kept an eye on the others and was very impressed by Jinbei's technique. She concentrated most of her attention on him, trying to find out more about his martial arts style. She had learned a lot of new moves in this strange world, but so far she had only heard rumors about fishman karate but never actually fought anyone who used the style. She smiled at her good fortune as she was finally able to see a master of fishman karate at work.

The few guards left standing were staring at the onslaught happening all around them and were afraid for their lives as they had realized the futility of their efforts to stop those juggernauts from waltzing through them. They thought about their loved ones they'd never see again, but didn't abandon their posts. They were marines and had given an oath never to show fear or flee from the enemy. It was their duty to delay the prisoners long enough for the reinforcements to arrive, but so far it didn't look like they'd succeed.

Not even a minute later and everything was over with the group of four standing victorious over the broken bodies of the fallen prison guards and ready to move to the next part of the plan, freeing the captives on that level to get some reinforcements.

Crocodile recognized one of his old subordinates in one of the cages and grinned before throwing the keys inside. "Well, well, well, Mr. 1. I'm thinking about leaving but I could do with some backup. How about it? Want to come with me?"

Mr. 1 was sitting on a bench at the back of the cage, but he lifted his head when he recognized the voice. "Well, since I have nothing better to do I don't see why not. I was getting bored in here."

As the other three were opening the other cells and letting the prisoners out Mr. 2, Inazuma, Ivankov and all of his newkama had joined up with the newly freed convicts from level four and together they were raising hell and steamrolling the guards on their way up.

The Okama King used his growth hormones to inflate his already impressive head to increase the volume of his voice, and because it was fun of course. "Let's go!" He shouted and pointed his arm into the direction of the stairs to level three.

Very soon they encountered a large group of Blue Gorillas that immediately attacked Iva on chief guard Saldeath's order.

The Okama King was not impressed at all. He blinked his left eye and with a shout of "Death Wink" an air pressure blast shot out of it and eliminated all of the enemies with a single shot.

Ranma looked at the scene, perplexed, and wondered how such an attack was possible. She was usually very good at figuring out attacks, but this strange one had her stumped.

"STRAWHAT-BOY!" Iva diverted his attention towards Luffy. "You mustn't vaste your time here. Leave the rabble to us and just go ahead. GO!"

Before the pirate captain could comply a stronger group of enemies had already arrived on the scene. "Demon guards!" One of the escapees shouted. "Three of them! We're doomed"

The demon guards were indeed some of the strongest creatures inside the prison and were Zoan-class Devil Fruit users who looked like huge animal/human hybrids and Ranma really wondered if there was an equivalent to Jusenkyo in this world as these creatures reminded her of Pantyhose Taro. These three particular specimens were koala, rhino and zebra crosses. Their leader, Sadi, was a beautiful blonde human woman armed with a trident, but the redhead shook her head at the outfit she was wearing. Either she was totally into SM since the leather outfit had a very strong resemblance to a typical dominatrix costume, although the skimpiness and the added cape reminded her more of Naga the White Serpent from Slayers, or she had no fashion sense at all since even Naga would never wear shocking pink.

"Show no mercy!" The woman ordered. "Inflict as much pain as possible!"

The monstrous creatures complied immediately and with a few blows with their gigantic weapons devastated the escaped prisoners in front of them.

The thing that really creeped Ranma out, though, was the woman's reaction to the violence as she seemed to be really getting off on it if her blissed-out appearance and shouts of "MMMMH YEEEES! MOOORE!" were any indication.

The martial artist stayed at the back of the group, far away from the obviously deranged woman and watched as Luffy, Crocodile, and Jinbei were rushing towards the stairs. The demon guards had noticed this and moved in front of them. Ranma was about to help them, but before she could join them it was already too late as the creatures were already agonizing on the ground, each one felled by a single attack. The redhead was impressed by this and her respect for them grew even further while the human guards and the prisoners were shocked by how fast the demon guards had been dealt with.

The three pirates had already passed the crying Sadi who was in too much pain to stop their advance. However, she recovered very quickly and although it was too late to stop the ones responsible for her anguish she was determined to take revenge on all of those that were left. for the pain they had inflicted on her pets. She positioned herself at the end of the small bridge leading across the burning furnace that formed level four, also called Eternal Hell and waited for the prisoners.

"You will pay for killing my beloved pets! RED DEMON WHIP" She swung her whip at the bridge causing a huge chunk of it to fall into the pit, taking some of the prisoners down with it. Before she could demolish the whole bridge and run after Luffy and his companions she was stopped by a jump kick from Ivankov who had transformed into a girl right while Ranma was watching.

The redhead's eyes widened in surprise and she stared incredulously at the man-turned-woman. "What? How?" She asked, her gaze taking in the revolutionary's new appearance. "How did you do that?" She shouted as she pointed a shaky finger at the Okama Queen.

"I'm in a fight right now. Ask me later," Iva answered without taking her attention off the sadistic dominatrix.

This brush off annoyed the redhead who had all but given up hope on ever finding a cure to her curse ever since being stranded in this world and she was determined to get an answer as quickly as possible.

Before the fight between Ivankov and Sadi could really start she jumped between the two of them and with a shout of "KACHU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN" punched the psycho a few dozen times into the abdomen with enough force to knock her out.

"What fight?" The redhead smirked at the other gender changer.

"Vell done. I guess I can tell you the secret. It is..."

Ranma leaned closer, eager to learn how to finally get rid of that damn curse.

"I von't tell you. Mmmfufufu!"

The redhead facefaulted at this unexpected answer, but recovered immediately and lifted the two to three times larger woman into the air without any apparent effort. "What do you mean you won't tell me?"

"It vas a joke," she answered and laughed very loudly.

Ranma let the revolutionary down although she gave her a venomous look, promising a lot of pain to come if the answer wasn't satisfactory.

"Very vell then. I vill tell you. It's one of the abilities I got from the Horm-Horm fruit. I change vhenever I feel like it. It's really liberating to freely choose the sex you vant to be and it's my goal in life to offer that possibility to anyone vho vants to change. Do you vant to be a man? I can make it happen, very easily even."

"That won't work," was the disappointed reply from the martial artist. "I'm very resistant to Devil Fruit powers. Dammit! And here I thought that I could finally be free of this darn female body."

As she was cursing her bad luck she didn't notice Iva move behind her and change her fingers into syringes. "EMPORIO MALE HORMONE!" She called out and in a pincer attack stabbed the redhead with both hands.

"What the…?" Ranma exclaimed more in surprise than in pain.

Ivankov just grinned mischievously at her while waiting for the changes to occur.

Very slowly the redhead changed. She grew a few centimeters and her bust shrunk slightly while her hair took on a darker hue. At midpoint of the transformation, however, the changes stopped and reversed themselves.

The Okama Queen's amusement turned into disappointment when she saw her ability not have the expected result. "That's impossible! My hormones have never failed before."

"I told you so," The martial artist scowled at the Okama Queen. "And next time, ask before you pull a stunt like that." Then she simply left towards the stairs to the next level.

"Vait!" Ivankov called out as she was following behind. "How did you know it vouldn't vork?"

"It's obvious," she answered without looking back as her eyes were fixed on the fight between Luffy and a strange demon-like man. "I've fought Devil Fruit users more than once and none of their powers have ever worked on me. Ah well, I'll survive."

She joined the prisoners who had their eyes riveted on the big fight. "Who's the strange guy Luffy is fighting?" She asked one of them.

"That's Hannyabal, the Vice-Warden. He's the number two here, right after Magellan."

Ranma nodded and watched the fight silently, analyzing both combatants fighting styles. Luffy was doing really well, but he was relying too much on his Devil Fruit powers in her opinion. His whole fighting style seemed to be based on his rubber body's properties.

Hannyabal really surprised her, as he used pure skill and nothing else. She shook her head at the fake wings and ridiculous outfit he was wearing, but she had to admit that he was a great fighter. He might even have presented a challenge to her a few years earlier. The Vice-Warden was huge; at least twice Luffy's size and overweight, but extremely fast and agile for someone of that built. He used a double-bladed naginata which he handled expertly, spinning it around at such great speeds that the friction caused the blades to erupt in flames, increasing the lethality of his blows even further.

She watched the two combatants but didn't make a move to help the young pirate captain, as she would never interrupt a duel between two fighters, Sadi having been an exception.

The fiery naginata blows rained down on the rubberman who blocked them all with ease, using only his fists, not giving an inch, determination burning in his eyes. Ranma knew that look very well, as she had had the same one when she was fighting Saffron. Here was a man who would be stopped by nothing short of death until he had accomplished his mission.

When Hannyabal stopped his attacks to get a breather Luffy quickly took advantage of it and with a shout of "JET GATLING" punched him so hard that he crashed into the ground heavily wounded. However, the powerful blow was not enough to put him down and he slowly got up again, streams of blood flowing out of his numerous wounds.

He then gave an inspiring speech about how pirates were the scum on earth, preying on the helpless people and causing them to live in fear, but Ranma didn't really care about it, having heard it all before. The Marine bigwigs working for the World Government loved to give similar speeches to convince the people of the righteousness of their mission, but she knew the truth. A lot of the members of the Marine and the World Government were worse than pirates and even more corrupt and cruel, but it seemed to her like Hannyabal sincerely believed what he was saying.

His speech was suddenly interrupted by a voice from behind him. "What's with this talk about justice and evil? It's pointless."

Before the Vice-Warden could answer he was knocked out as someone stepped on his face and stomped him into the ground.

The voice then addressed the escapees. "There's quite a gathering here. I hope I'm not interrupting something. You people seem to be awfully busy. Zehahahah!"

Jinbei immediately recognized man who had just spoken and prepared for a fight. "Teach? What are you doing here? Or is it Blackbeard now?"

"Oh! Jinbei. Don't give me that look full of hate. I'm not looking for a fight."

"You're Blackbeard?" Luffy growled at the man.

"Hmmmm?" Blackbeard turned his attention to the young pirate. "Oh yeah! I never told you my name, did I? Zehahahah! I was quite surprised when I learnt that you were the brother of my good old commander. Maybe you'd better hurry and go after Ace. I doubt they'll wait for you before they execute him."

Luffy's body shook in anger at seeing that hateful man who had sold out his brother standing there in front of him.

"In fact," the newest Shichibukai continued, "you should thank him for taking your place. You see, after I heard that it was you who defeated Crocodile I figured that the best way to force the Government to give me his old title was to deliver you to them. However, Ace didn't like the idea of me capturing his little brother and tried to stop me, to no avail of course. After I defeated him I figured that he was an even better bargaining chip than you. In the end the Government gave me the title and there was really no reason any longer to hunt you down. Don't forget to thank him when you visit his grave. Zehahahah!"

This casual disregard for his brother enraged Luffy and before Blackbeard could react the straw hat pirate had already punched him in the face and sent him flying.

"I won't let Ace get killed!" Luffy shouted as he balled his fists planning to beat the crap out of the pirate who had betrayed his brother.

This time, however, Blackbeard was ready for the attack and with his Devil Fruit powers he stopped Luffy's charge with ease and slammed him into the ground.

The rubberman got up a very quickly and before he could attack againg Jinbei grabbed his fist. "Wait! There's a time for getting revenge, but this is not it. Remember what you've come here for. Consider that he was strong enough to defeat Ace. Keep your mind on your mission and don't waste your strength on him; you might need it later."

Ranma had been watching the whole scene and silently agreed with the fishman. Losing your cool in a fight could cost you the match, and Ryoga was the best example of that. After all, she had defeated the pig more than once after successfully getting under his skin. She herself had made that mistake more than once, usually when dealing with her father, and it had never done her any good.

"So, you're Blackbeard," Crocodile intervened. "I heard that a former Whitebeard pirate got the title that rightfully belongs to me, but I wonder. Why would you risk losing it again by attacking Impel Down?"

"Oh, it's all part of my grand plan, but I have no obligation or intention to tell you about it. I doesn't concern you so just forget that you ever saw me here."

Suddenly the escapees heard a commotion coming from behind "It's Magellan!" One of the prisoners shouted in fear as he ran past. "The Chief Warden is coming! RUNNNNN! " This caused a real panic among the other escapees who ran away as fast as possible and up to level three. They didn't meet any resistance since Blackbeard's crew had cleared the path for them.

"This is really bad," Ivankov told Luffy. "Strawhat-Boy! Quickly, go head. If you're subjected to his poison vone more time there's nothing I can do for you. My hormones won't work a second time."

"I WILL save Ace!" Luffy affirmed once more while looking Teach in the eyes.

"Zehahahah! Good luck with that. Nothing is impossible in this world. After all, you did find Sky Island although it was believed to be a myth. And One Piece definitely exists, so you might be able to save your brother after all."

With that said Blackbeard left the escaped prisoners behind and went deeper into the prison together with his crew.

"Who's Magellan?" Ranma asked the Okama Queen after she saw the panic his name had caused, "and why is everyone afraid of him?"

"He's the most dangerous person in this place. He has the powers of the Venom-Venom fruit, vhich allows him to secrete any kind of poison he wants. One touch and you're dead… or only paralyzed, if he's in a generous mood. It's quite understandable vhy everyone's running away from him. Ve should do the same."

The redhead agreed and they took the stairs to the next level and a few moments later they heard an angry voice coming from behind. "Straw Hat! You'll never make it out of here alive; I'll make sure of it."

The prisoners continued onwards, but Magellan was gaining quickly on them thanks to his powers and caught up to the leaders as they were entering the stairway to the next level, most of the escapees lagging behind having already been eliminated by the Chief Warden.

Ranma turned her head and when she saw the carnage she stopped.

"Vhat are you doing?" Ivankov scolded her. "Run away of the poison vill kill you!"

Ranma just smirked at her concerned fellow escapee. "Go ahead. I'll take care of him and rejoin you afterwards. Remember. I'm resistant to Devil Fruit powers, so I'm probably the only one here who can deal with him."

The Okama Queen nodded and didn't insist. The young woman was probably their best bet against that monster.

The martial artist stood arrogantly in front of the stairs with her arms crossed and smirked at the approaching Chief Warden who to her looked like the usual representation of the devil, horns on the head and fake batwings included, although the tail was missing. He was a sight to behold she had to admit as he was even bigger than Hannyabal and wearing a black military uniform. His whole body was continuously dripping poison and three impressive draconic heads made of the same substance were trailing behind him attached to his shoulders by thick ropes of poison.

"You should have run when you had the time," the large man told her, "but you obviously realized that resistance was futile and now you hope that I'll finish you quickly without leaving you agonizing for hours. Very well, I'll grant you your wish before dealing with the rest of the scum."

"Awfully confident in your skills, aren't you?" The redhead taunted the Chief Warden. "More powerful people than you have tried before and all have failed miserably."

This didn't sit well with Magellan and before the short woman could insult him further he had already launched the three dragons at her, but much to his surprise she wasn't there when the dragons reached her position. She was calmly standing two meters to the left of the impact spot, arms still crossed and an infuriating grin on her face. "Maaann. I know blind men who have a better aim. Better luck next time."

The Poisonman didn't let the taunt affect him but calmly produced five more dragons. They were quickly homing in on the redhead who once again managed to get away. However, her eyes widened when she realized her mistake. The attack had been merely a decoy to distract her from the sixth dragon that arrived from another angle and hit her full on, washing a torrent of poison over her.

"It's over," Magellan calmly stated and shook his head at the girl's stupidity. "How foolish of you to think you had a chance against me. Well, you'll have all the time in the world to regret you're your mistake in Hell."

Without wasting another look on the poison dripping martial artist he slowly entered the stairway, but before he could climb higher than the first few steps he heard a very familiar voice from behind him.

"Not… so fast!" The shaky voice ordered. It… ain't over… till the fat lady sings and… I haven't heard her yet."

Startled, the large man turned around and his eyes widened when he saw the small redhead holding her stomach and a large pool of vomit at her feet.

"Ugh! That was awful." She spat the last drops of vomit out of her mouth.

"That can't be!" Magellan stated, showing emotions for the first time since the beginning of the fight. "No one has ever resisted that attack."

"Heh! You've never tasted the Tomboy's cooking. Nothing you can dish out will ever come close to the toxic waste she usually produces in the kitchen without even trying."

Her opponent frowned. He didn't get the reference, but somehow felt heavily insulted.

"If that is all you're capable of," she taunted the warden even further, "I wonder how you got the job. Probably won it in the lottery, I guess."

"Let me reassure you," he once again didn't take the bait, "that's not even a fraction of my talents. Let me show you the true powers of the Venom-Venom fruit."

Ranma took up a defensive position and waited for her opponent's next attack. She didn't have to wait long. Magellan took a deep breath and spat out a large gaseous cloud that quickly covered the terrain in front of him.

The redhead hadn't expected it and very soon was completely surrounded by the unnatural mist. She quickly understood the properties of the attack when her clothes started to disintegrate and her skin began to itch fiercely. Before the acidic cloud could do any more damage she took a short run-up and jumped over the Chief Warden and out of the mist.

When she looked down at herself she cursed loudly as her clothes were in tatters and she was showing a lot of skin. "Dammit. That was my favourite outfit. You'll pay for that."

"Impossible. All your flesh should have melted off by now."

"I'm very resistant, you asshole, but my clothes sure aren't. Do you know how much these cost? I'll beat the price out of you. You can be sure of that. I'm done playing with you. Prepare for some serious pain."

She followed that statement with action and attacked swiftly. Magellan coated his body in poison but that didn't save him from the devastating punch the redhead landed in his abdomen, knocking him back a few meters where he fell to his knees holding his midsection in pain.

"How… did you do that?" He asked with difficulty, still feeling the pain of the punch.

"Very easily I'd say. You really shouldn't have pissed me off."

Magellan was usually rather level-headed and in control of his emotions, but for the first time since he got his position he actually felt a tinge of fear. However, he had never lost before and he wouldn't this time either. Time to take out the big guns

He concentrated and exuded a large quantity of poison that gathered behind him and slowly formed into a gigantic zombie like humanoid creature that reached to the ceiling. "You should feel honored. I've only rarely had to resort to his forbidden attack. The poison is so potent that there is no chance to escape death. VENOM DEMON : HELL JUDGEMENT." One of the creature's arms shot forward incredibly fast and with a fist that was larger than the redhead punched her with maximum force. However, she had seen the attack coming as soon as she had seen the creature grow arms. She had easily jumped out of the way before the fist had reached her and deciding not to give the Chief Warden the chance to come up with an even more lethal attack she propelled herself at him and pummeled him into unconsciousness with the chestnut fist. She pressed several pressure points on his body sending him into a deep sleep that would last for at least three hours unless someone knew the counterpoints, but she was confident that apart from her no one knew them… in this world at least.

Before she left she went through his pockets and took all the money he had. The clothes HAD been expensive and it was normal that the one who destroyed them had to pay for their replacement.

The fight had only lasted a scant few minutes and she quickly rejoined the others on level two by using a new skill she'd developed a few months ago and which allowed her to move at incredible speeds. She got the idea for her speed running technique after one of those CP9 guys had used his soru skill against her. Basically, her new technique was a blend between the Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken and soru. 'Now those had been fun fights',she reminisced. 'Those guys knew how to fight and were a real challenge as they didn't rely solely on their Devil Fruit powers'.

"You're back?" Ivankov shouted in surprise when he noticed the redhead running next to him. "Vhere's Magellan?"

"Don't worry about him. He'll be sleeping for a few hours. You were right; he is a dangerous man. If not for my resistance to poison I'd probably have had a much harder time. Ah well, I guess that the Tomboy's food was good for something after all. See you later." She left a puzzled revolutionary behind as she joined the main group who was further ahead and fighting off some strange creatures called Manticores, but they were easily dealt with.

"You can slow down," she grinned. "Magellan isn't a problem any longer. I took care of him."

"You did?" Jinbei asked without slowing down. "Unbelievable."

"You beat the poison guy?" Luffy grinned back. "Now I reaaaalllly want you in my crew and I won't take no for an answer!"

"We'll see," Ranma answered noncommittally, just to get him to shut up and not ask her again for a while, although she had no intention of giving in. She didn't like to take orders from anyone. "So, what's the plan?"

"It's simple," the former Shichibukai answered. "Once we make it to the exit we take one of the ships and follow after Ace. If we're not slowed down we should make it to Marineford before the execution takes place."

"Alright. Sounds good," she agreed

"This is strange," Crocodile interrupted. "There's no one around."

"They've probably been already defeated by Blackbeard and his men," the redhead theorized.

"That's not what I meant. Look at the cells. They are empty."

"Hmmm, you're right," Jinbei confirmed. "That IS strange. I wonder who let them out."

"Blackbeard maybe?" Ranma proposed. "Maybe he used them to create a diversion."

"I doubt it," Crocodile rejected that possibility. "He wouldn't have bothered getting the keys."

"Why don't we ask them? They are right ahead of us," the martial artist pointed at a large group of prisoners who were running ahead on them.

"Excuse me," Ranma tapped on one of the fleeing convict's right shoulder with her index finger a few times to get his attention. "Who let you out of your cells?"

"The great Captain Buggy did, Ma'am," he answered with stars in his eyes. "We'll follow him to the end of the world. He's the greatest captain ever. He'll be the next Pirate King."

"That's great. Red nose made it out alive after all," Luffy was happy that his friend was safe.

The group quickly passed the level two prisoners and it didn't take them long to catch up with the leaders of the group. Mr. 3 and Buggy turned around to see what the commotion was about and their eyes jumped out of their sockets when they recognized the people following them.

"B-Boss!" the waxman was shaking in fear and torrents of tears were flowing out of his eyes when he recognized his former employer.

"Hmmmm? Mr. 3? What are you doing here you little piece of shit?"

"Straw Hat! Jinbei!" Buggy almost fainted when he saw them.

"Hey guys. Glad to see you're okay," the rubberman waved at the two who had abandoned him earlier.

Just then Buggy received a strong kick into the face courtesy of Mr. 2. "What's the big idea? Abandoning me in that hellhole, you meanies."

They cut the reunion short as they had more urgent matters to attend do and a few minutes later the group had finally made it to level one and saw only a few guards waiting for them in front of the large entrance to the prison.

"This is bad!" One of them despaired. "We need backup or everything is lost."

Unfortunately for them the requested backup didn't arrive and they were easily defeated.

With no more resistance ahead the prisoners gave a victorious shout and eagerly tore out the large wooden gate leading to their freedom. When they stepped into the sun which many of them hadn't see in years, their joy turned into shock when they saw a score of warships armed with canons pointed at them and each manned with hundreds of marine soldiers with their rifles at the ready. (1).

They immediately rushed back inside, despair visible on their faces. "What do we do now?" "We're surrounded!" "All hope is lost!" "We're all going to die!" "I don't want to go back into the cell!"

"Shut up!" Crocodile ordered. "You are pathetic. Mr. 1, are you coming? Let's show those maggots how it's done."

"Right behind you, boss."

The two former Baroque Works members calmly advanced toward the ships, followed by Jinbei, Luffy, Ivankov, Inazuma, and Ranma while Buggy and Mr. 3 stayed behind.

"Captain Buggy, sir. Why don't you take the lead and show them your might?" One of his men wanted to know.

"That's simple. It's the job of the underlings to take care of the trash. I want to see how they fare and I will naturally join the fight should it go badly for them. That's how a good captain acts."

"That's our captain!" "What a great man!" "A fine tactician he is, our captain!" "Nothing will stop us!" "Victory will be ours with him leading us!"

Buggy soaked up the praise and grinned at his good luck. 'I'll just let the powerhouses deal with the problems and reap the results. Am I intelligent or what'? He thought.

"Don't forget that we need one ship intact if we want to leave," Jinbei advised before diving into the sea.

No more was said as the others sprinted off into different directions, each one taking care of a different ship.

Ranma cupped her hands in front of her chest, a determined look on her face. She pushed her ki into her hands and very soon motes of silvery light appeared between the palms which then grew into a large, pulsating, silver sphere. "DOKUJA HAIGA! (1)" She shouted and a large beam of energy, dwarfing even Ryoga's 'Perfect Shishi Hokodan', shot out of her hands and tore through the ship like it was paper, obliterating the vessel with a single attack. Her eyes widened at the result. She had been developing her new ki attack over the last few months, trying out different emotions. In the end she found out that determination worked out even better for her rather than confidence, and while she had come close to perfecting the 'Dokuja Haiga' this was actually the first time she got such a fantastic result. She was really giddy now, thinking of ways to improve her new technique even further.

Mr. 1 jumped on their escape ship and quickly dealt with the hundreds of soldiers with his Dice-Dice fruit powers, which granted him the ability to change any part of his body into a blade hard as steel and impervious to slashing attacks and even bullets. He easily deflected the bullets with one arm while efficiently cutting down the advancing soldiers with the other until he quickly took care of the ones further away by shooting several air pressure attacks out of his bladed appendages which cut all the remaining soldiers in two.

Crocodile smirked at the marines who had their guns pointed at him as the bullets simply went through his body without doing any harm. He transformed into sand and calmly enveloped the bow of the ship before sucking the water right out of the wooden vessel, which then crumbled into dust while the soldiers fell helplessly into the sea.

Inazuma simply used his Snip-Snip fruit powers to slice and dice the ship into little pieces in the span of a few seconds.

Ivankov used his growth hormones to increase the size of his head twentyfold and destroyed a ship with a 'Hell Wink' attack with was the overpowered version of his 'Death Wink'.

Protected by the water Jinbei approached another ship from below and using his monstrous fishman strength punched several holes into the hull. The water eagerly flowed inside and very soon the vessel keeled over and sank to the ocean floor.

The remaining ships were quickly taken care of in the same fashion and in the end it had taken the group barely five minutes to eliminate all opposition while the other escapees looked at the horrid spectacle with eyes wide open and sweating in fear, vowing to never get on those monsters' bad side.

"Alright! Time to leave." Luffy enthusiastically pumped his fist in the air. "Everyone on board! Leeeet's goooo!" Then he turned serious as he made a silent promise. 'Ace! Wait for me! I'll definitely save you. You've always protected me in the past and now it's my turn'.

The mass of prisoners didn't need any further prompting and rushed to the large warship. "We're free!" "Finally!" "I can finally see my family again!" "I'll never let myself get arrested again!" "They'll pay for this!" Those were just some of the statements that could be heard coming from the newly freed convicts as they were celebrating their newfound freedom.

Ranma sat down and leaned back, resting her head against the railing and couldn't hide the smile that appeared on her face. She'd been in this world for two years already and she wondered when she had turned into such an adrenaline junkie. When she had still been living with the Tendos in Nerima she used to be lazy and mostly enjoyed the good life, never actively looking for challenges, but only reacting when she was the one being challenged. Ryoga always seemed to stumble upon or come up with new techniques just to defeat her, while she was sitting on her ass doing nothing or reading manga. Okay, she'd always won in the end, but not without suffering some humiliating setbacks beforehand. Now she couldn't imagine her life without all the danger and excitement she encountered every single day.

She thought back to that fateful sunny Saturday afternoon when it had happened. The memory was still vivid in her mind and would probably stay so forever. At first she had vowed revenge on the person responsible for her predicament, but slowly that resentment had turned into gratitude after she had become acclimated to this new world and met some good people who had accepted her unconditionally for what she was, curse and all, and didn't constantly use and abuse her for their own gain. Yes, it all started after she had heard the fateful shout of "AIREN!"

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(1) In the original story Magellan ordered the ships to leave, but here he was defeated before he could give that order. The captains of the warships knew about the outbreak, though, and that's why they were prepared for an attack.

IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE: there's been a huge discussion going on at the fanfiction forum about Ranma being a Mary Sue and that he should never have been able to defeat Magellan that easily and that his Devil Fruit abilities should have affected him.

First of all there's a difference between ki/haki (in this fic at least) and it will be explained in later chapters. We've seen more than once in the series that haki users can block Devil Fruit powers very effectively. Ki is somewhat similar and Ranma has been using it for so long that he's perfectly capable of doing the same. There's also the fact that Ranma has spent two years in this dangerous world already and his skills have grown by leaps and bounds.

Now while it's true that Ranma is the perfect weapon against Devil Fruit users the same is not true for other fighters, haki users, or Devil Fruit users who don't rely on their powers exclusively.

(1) Poisonous Snake Piercing-Fang

There's a lot more I could say on the subject, but I think I'll stop here. You may or may not agree with me, but I hope that you enjoyed this chapter anyway. Peace out, everyone, and I hope that I'll see you again.

POSTED: 2012/01/24

EDITED: 2012/02/21