Chapter 18: Black Cat Pirates

After a few minutes, Usopp had recovered and began thinking of a plan against the pirates.

"They will come through this coast because it leads directly to the village. It's the only path; the others are cliffs. It's easy to say we can stop them here," Usopp said, thinking about how to do it.

"You think so?" Luffy asked.

"But the truth is, it's not easy at all. What's your specialty?" he asked the four of them.

"Cutting," Zoro said.

"Punching," Luffy said.

"Stealing," Nami said.

"I don't know yet," Oliver said.

"Mine is escaping," Usopp told them, which caused a small negative reaction.

"You have to fight too!!" Luffy, Nami, and Zoro yelled angrily.

"Y-Yeah, calm down," he recovered from the situation. "Here's what we'll do."

Usopp began explaining the plan.

"We'll pour oil on the slope so that when the pirates arrive, they won't be able to climb up. Taking advantage of that moment, we'll attack them," Usopp said.

With a barrel of oil, they started preparing the trap as quickly as possible.

"This is awesome!" Luffy exclaimed.

"So our mission is to defend this slope," Usopp said.

"At the same time, we have to make sure we don't slip ourselves. I think it's a good plan," Nami said, analyzing it.

"It is! I'm great at planning and shooting! I trust my abilities!" Usopp said with his arms crossed.

Dawn began to break, marking the start of the invasion by the Black Cat Pirates.

"It's already morning. Where are they?" Luffy asked, waiting for them.

"Did they fall asleep?" Zoro asked.

Nami heard a noise, and when she looked back, Oliver was gone.

"Huh? Where is he?" Nami wondered until she heard screams.

While they were on the slope, Oliver was running through the forest to reach the other side, where the Black Cat Pirates would be.

'If I get there first, I can fight the minions and improve my mastery of Combat Styles.'

The Black Cat Pirates had arrived at the coast, ready to begin their attack.

"Alright, men! Destroy the whole village! Then, head for the mansion!" Jango ordered the pirates.

"Yes, Captain!" the pirates shouted in unison.

They started running up the slope, ignoring the two boats from the group.

As they were climbing, Oliver suddenly emerged from the forest, landing a punch on the first pirate, sending him crashing into the others.

"I got here first. That's good," Oliver said.

"What the...?"

Oliver began throwing multiple punches with his right hand, preventing them from advancing.

One of the pirates tried to attack him with a mace, but Oliver deflected it with his right arm while channeling Electro.

The pirate was paralyzed, and Oliver grabbed him by the arm, using Electro again to completely shock him. Then, he swung him into the rest of the pirates, sending them flying.

"What the...?" Jango was stunned by what he saw.

"I'm Oliver," Oliver said. "I thought you'd be asleep like the kids were with your hypnosis trick."

"You were with them? I don't remember you," Jango said, noticing the defeated pirates weren't getting up.

At that moment, Usopp came out of the forest and saw Oliver standing in front of the pirates.

"Oliver! You're here!" he exclaimed happily. "That's strange—I thought Luffy would get here first."

"He probably got lost along the way," Oliver said, getting into a combat stance. "You didn't take as long as I expected."

"That's true. You left without us noticing," Usopp said.

"Well, I remembered this path existed too, so I came to check it out. Now, we need to hold off these pirates until the others arrive," Oliver said.

"What are you waiting for?! Keep attacking!" Jango ordered the pirates.

At that moment, Nami arrived and saw all the pirates.

"Oliver, you're here too," Nami said, looking at him.

"They're arriving little by little. You'll have to support me from the back," Oliver said, watching the pirates. 'I hope I don't land a fatal blow.'

"Where's Luffy? Didn't he leave first?" Nami asked, not seeing him.

"I don't know. Either he got scared or got lost," Usopp said, getting ready.

"Then he got lost. I can't believe it! And right now, of all times," Nami said, looking at the number of pirates.

"How about we focus on this first? You can scold Luffy later if you want," Oliver said.

The pirates glanced at each other and then continued advancing to fight the ones in front of them.

Oliver, standing at the front, began blocking the pirates' attacks while striking back to push them back.

As he fought them in close combat, Usopp and Nami provided support from a distance, throwing rocks and caltrops to make it harder for the pirates to advance.

The pirates started stepping on the caltrops, yelping in pain. Seizing the opportunity, Oliver grabbed one of the pirates, electrified him, and used him as a club to hit the others, sending several flying and paralyzing them in the process.

Usopp started shooting his slingshot at pirates trying to get up, which greatly helped Oliver.

"Nice shot!" Nami shouted.

The pirates didn't know how to get past because if they tried to attack Usopp and Nami, Oliver would take care of them, using the pirates themselves as weapons.

'Street Fighting works great for grabbing these pirates,' Oliver thought as he struck them as if they were mere rags.

"Hey, idiots! Forget about attacking them and head straight for the village! Don't you remember?! This is part of Captain Kuro's plan! If we don't follow through... he'll kill us all! Don't you get it, idiots?!" Jango shouted, reminding them of their situation.

Realizing this, the pirates did everything they could to push forward, even using others as shields to advance.

Seeing their desperation, Oliver covered his face with his forearm and charged at them using his elbow like a lance, sending them flying through the air.

"WHOA!! That was amazing!!" Usopp shouted.

"What the hell just happened?!" Jango yelled, shocked by what he had just witnessed.

On the hill, Luffy and Zoro arrived, both deeply angry.

"Nami, you bitch!! How dare you leave me behind like that?!" Zoro shouted furiously at her.

"Usopp, you idiot!! Next time, tell me where north is!!" Luffy shouted angrily.

"Now two more showed up. What the hell is happening in this town?" Jango said.

"I hope you're happy. You took way too long!" Nami scolded, which only made Zoro angrier.

"You're the one who left me behind!!"

Seeing Luffy and Zoro arrive, Oliver could breathe more easily, so he walked over to them, stepping over some pirates.

"Luckily, we had Oliver with us," Nami said as he approached.

"Well, thanks for the support anyway. This fight would've been harder without it," Oliver replied.

Jango saw how his pirates had been defeated by just a handful of people.

"What's wrong? Are you really going to let a bunch of brats beat you?" Jango asked the pirates.

"N-No, sir!" They responded, getting up a little, though still shaken and some even scared of Oliver, who stood above them.

"We have no time to waste! If they're strong, we just have to become stronger!" Jango said as he raised a ring and started making movements.

"Look at the ring! When I say, 'One, Two, Jango,' you will become stronger and tougher! You'll be much, much stronger!" He told them, making them stare at it intently.

"What are they doing?" Luffy asked curiously.

"I don't know," Usopp replied.

"It has to be hypnosis again. They're going to believe they're stronger. How can they be so stupid?" Nami said.

'If I look at it, will it affect me?' Oliver wondered.

"ONE... TWO... JANGO!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the exhausted and wounded pirates regained their energy, becoming stronger and even able to break part of the cliff.

"I can't believe it! It actually worked!" Nami said, frightened.

"If just one of them can break a rock like that, what can they all do together?!" Usopp said, terrified of what they could now accomplish.

"Go! Take them all down!!" Jango ordered them.

Now empowered by Jango's hypnosis, the pirates charged straight at our protagonists.

"Head uphill! We'll handle this!" Zoro ordered Nami and Usopp, who obeyed.

"And once again, everything is fine," Oliver said, watching them run.

"Think you can take on that many?" Zoro asked Oliver, who nodded. "Hey, Luffy... Luffy?!"

Luffy didn't respond, but when he did, he shouted at the sky, completely enraged and in the same state as the pirates.

"YOU GOT HYPNOTIZED TOO?!" Everyone shouted together upon seeing him like that.

"Hahaha!" Luffy started laughing in his hyped-up state.

"Huh?" Jango was a bit confused by the situation.

Luffy furiously charged at them, throwing multiple punches in the air.

"GOMU GOMU NO...!" He unleashed hundreds of punches on the pirates who were climbing. "...GATLING!"

With that powerful attack, he took down several pirates and continued after those who ran away in fear.

"Well, want to take a break?" Oliver said, sitting on the ground.

Luffy headed toward the pirates' ship, pulling out the ship's figurehead and attempting to attack the terrified pirates, who begged their captain for help. But Jango, managing to use his hypnosis, put Luffy to sleep, making the figurehead fall on top of him.