In this world, certain things had to go along with that dream.
For Ranma to be considered seriously as a master of his Art, he had to have several things - not the least of which was a command of the Art. There was also the physical dojo. In his home world that might have sufficed.
In THIS world, that was a good start. Prestige counted a lot in setting up a dojo, and part of prestige was one's slaves. Some people required their slaves only learn from other slaves. Some had other ideas, apparently suggested by a number of pop media types at one time or another. A frequent one was that female slaves would only be trusted with another female, so this was something to consider. This being the case, despite their frequent lack of funds, Genma had seen the need for Ranma to have a slave and one that could learn and practice the Art. He wasn't sure about the dream in which a white cat had whispered in his ear, but he'd followed the advice in his dream and had found Makoto on sale.
She'd only been around the past couple of years, but Genma was congratulating himself on the wisdom of his decision ever since. Makoto was a good cook, especially when they frequently had to stretch out trail rations, a fairly talented fighter, and had not (as he'd originally feared) slowed them down at all. If the Tendo family had been around in this world, he'd have been concerned about how close Ranma had gotten to his slave but Genma had searched an entire week for Soun Tendo without finding a trace of his old buddy.
Now this other slave offered several benefits, and Genma was pondering the benefits of various slaves that Ranma might own versus the problems of the cost of maintenance. While he was originally against the idea of tournaments and the various bloodsports, he'd come to the conclusion about the time they'd picked up Makoto that reputation HAD to be built for Ranma to get that dojo eventually.
Some tournaments were restricted to slaves, in which case Makoto's training had to be intense. Her strength had grown steadily more impressive and her height gave her a reach advantage that was put to good use. It didn't hurt the betting or the crowd's reactions that her figure was nice either.
What was needed now was some manner of increasing Ranma's reputation and the purchase of a dojo. They'd need to continue their training journey some more in order to meet Genma's standards, but this was about the right time for a home base. The new slave, Kumori, could be left behind to maintain the place.
Eventually the new slave might be sold, but having an on-call physician had its advantages.
As Ranma reached out quickly and hauled aboard a figure, Genma allowed himself a thin smile and a nod of his head. Both ships had had their figureheads, slavegirls chained naked (or nearly so) near the bow of the ship. It was an old tradition, and the girl was protected from damage by the ram and some distance from the point of contact - but it was still pretty messy.
Now the new slave was pointing out salvage laws and that Ranma could claim the new slave. Genma hoped she had some skills worth bringing to the table, but a freebie is a freebie. The transfer papers would take a modest fee, but if they needed to they could remake the money with the sale.
Genma listened to the girl's explanation. She'd ended up on figurehead duty as punishment for some trivial and unintended mistake on her part? Well, that didn't bode too well, but she was comely enough to fetch a fair price if it came to the need for a resale.
"My name?" said the newly salvaged slave as her former masters were thrown life preservers by her new master's other slaves. "It's -"
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(Posted Sun, 26 Sep 2004 07:26)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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