Chapter 19: Fight against the brothers

"Alright, looks like he cleared everything out," Nami said, looking at what Luffy had done.

"Yeah... but he's stuck under the ship's figurehead!" Usopp said worriedly.

"Don't worry, he won't die," Zoro replied.

"That's pretty impressive. There's a reason he's the captain," Oliver said.

Just then, voices were heard coming from the ship, shocked by its condition.

"Huh... those voices," a pirate said.

"They're the ship's lookouts, the Nyaban Brothers," another pirate responded.

"Ah, right! They're still around!!" Jango said, remembering he still had that option. "COME DOWN!! NYABAN BROTHERS!!!"

At that moment, two voices were heard from the ship, and then two people jumped down. Their appearances were different—one was slimmer while the other was bulkier—but they both had one thing in common: they were wearing cat-themed suits.

"Who are those guys?" Nami asked, puzzled by them.

"Two people with a terrible sense of fashion," Oliver said.

"Here they are, the Nyaban Brothers," Jango said, looking at them. "Buchi, Siam, we need to get past this hill no matter what, so take care of them!"

"Oh no, sir. We can't do that. Right, Buchi?" Siam responded.

"Yeah, those guys look really strong!" Buchi agreed.

Both brothers seemed a little scared of the protagonists.

"Just look at us! We're just old lookouts," Siam said.

"Yeah, we can't fight in a situation like this," Buchi added.

"SIAM! GET IN THERE RIGHT NOW!!" Jango ordered angrily at the ridiculous display.

"What?! Me?!" Siam shouted in disbelief.

"Hurry up!" Jango commanded.

"Yes, sir! I'm going!" Siam said, heading forward with tears in his eyes.

"Look at him, he's half-crying! Why is he sending him to fight?" Nami questioned, not understanding the situation.

"Hey, you! Start praying! I'll tear you apart with these cl-claws!" Siam said, trembling slightly as he approached Zoro.

"What am I supposed to say to that? 'Hey! Stop or I'll cut you'?" Zoro responded, not really intending to cut him.

"If you can..." Siam replied, suddenly shifting from his trembling tone to a more serious one.

Siam attacked with his claws, but Zoro barely managed to block the attack.

"What the...?" Zoro said, surprised as he defended himself.

"You weren't taking me seriously, were you?" Siam said before immediately retreating. "But you did well! Watch out now! This cat is out of control!!"

"Wait, does that mean he's not as weak as we thought?" Usopp said, realizing the situation.

"Zoro!! Your swords!!" Nami shouted, noticing that Zoro's two katanas were gone.

Zoro quickly realized he no longer had his swords, and looking at Siam, he saw that the man had them strapped to his back, meaning he had stolen them during the clash.

"So you know how to fight too, but you won't defeat a Nyaban Brother of the Black Cat Pirates that easily," Siam said smugly.

"Give me back my katanas!!" Zoro demanded angrily.

"Give them back? Looks to me like you still have one. Ah, right. Before we fight, I should get rid of these." Siam tossed the swords down the hill to prevent Zoro from recovering them.

Furious, Zoro got ready and charged at him, managing to cut Siam in half easily before heading straight to retrieve his katanas.

"Damn it! I can't believe you did that to my katanas!" Zoro said, about to grab them.

"Sorry. Did you think you were done already?" Siam said, suddenly lunging at Zoro and grabbing his arms to keep him from moving.

At that moment, they noticed that Siam's stomach was strangely pulled inward, meaning Zoro's attack hadn't actually landed.

"Alright, Buchi!! Your turn!" Siam shouted to his brother.

Zoro struggled to break free, but he couldn't due to his awkward position.

Buchi jumped into the air, ready to attack Zoro from above, but before he could, Oliver grabbed him by his cape.

"Huh?" He was surprised that he couldn't hit him.

Quickly, he was thrown against Siam, causing them to crash into the slope.

"Hey, how about a two-on-two fight?" Oliver said as he walked over to Zoro.

"I could handle it," Zoro said as he got up.

"Sure, against one, yes. But it could still be tough against a combined attack," Oliver said, preparing to fight.

"Buchi! Are you okay?!" Siam asked his brother.

"Y-Yeah!" Buchi said as he stood up.

"So, which one do you want?" Oliver asked.

"I'll take the one who stole my swords," Zoro said, going after Siam.

"Then I guess I'm up against you, fatty," Oliver said to Buchi.

Buchi lunged at Oliver, who started blocking his attacks with his left arm.

"Come on! Hit me harder!" Oliver taunted.

Buchi moved behind him, trying to attack with his claws, but Oliver used his left arm to elbow him in the jaw.

Taking advantage of the moment, he started landing multiple punches on Buchi's body and face with his right hand, not allowing him to counterattack.

While Oliver dealt with Buchi, Zoro was fighting against Siam, who, despite only having one sword, was making the duel evenly matched.

"N-No! You don't understand! C-Certain circumstances came up!" Jango said in fear.

Buchi and Siam were equally scared, and when they looked back, they saw Kuro, who had just arrived. Just by looking at his face, it was clear he was furious.

"Here we are, the sun has already risen, and I see the plan isn't in motion. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" He shouted angrily, scaring all the pirates.

"How is it possible that these runts have stopped you? Since when are the Black Cat Pirates so weak?" he yelled, deeply enraged. "Say something, Jango!"

"You were the one who said that kid wouldn't be a problem, right?" Jango said, sweating.

"Yes, that's right. So what? That kid interfering shouldn't be an issue for us. You should already know that. The problem is that you're all too weak. I don't want to hear any more excuses," he said, looking down on all the pirates.

"Weak?!" Siam said, angered.

"Watch what you say, Captain Kuro," Buchi warned.

"It's true that you were strong," Siam said, preparing to fight.

"Where are you going with this?" Kuro asked.

"That was three years ago. While you were living in peace, we've been training for years," Siam said, getting angrier.

"Exactly! We've raided many cities and sunk plenty of pirate ships," Buchi added.

"Just because your plan isn't going perfectly, don't think we'll let you kill us that easily!" Siam shouted.

"You've been inactive for three years, do you really think you can beat the Nyaban Brothers?!" Buchi yelled.

Both brothers, furious, charged at Kuro, but the moment they tried to cut him, he was no longer there.

"What was that? You were going to kill me?" Kuro said, now standing behind Siam and Buchi, wearing clawed gloves.

"When did he get behind them?!" Usopp asked, unable to comprehend it.

"He used the Silent Step!" the pirates shouted.

They quickly turned around, but he wasn't there anymore. Suddenly, Kuro was standing in the middle of them, leaving them completely frozen in fear.

Jango explained that Silent Step was so powerful that even if 50 assassins tried to kill Kuro, they would be slaughtered without ever realizing what had happened.

"Let's do this. I'll give you five minutes to defeat them, or I'll kill you with my own hands," Kuro's words terrified the pirates, who began screaming that they didn't want to die.

"If we beat these guys, we can get through here!" the pirates shouted.

Seeing the situation and recalling what had happened so far with the Black Cat Pirates, Oliver lunged at Jango.

"You're first!"

He punched Jango in the ribs, sending him crashing against a part of the cliff. Without giving him time to react, Oliver delivered another punch to his chest, embedding him into the rock.

"One down," Oliver said.

He then grabbed Zoro's katanas and handed them to him.

"Now we just have those two left," Oliver said.

The Nyaban Brothers, along with the rest of the pirates, were stunned after seeing what happened to Jango, but they couldn't back down now.

"Having three swords doesn't change anything!" Siam yelled.

"Now you'll see that my three-sword technique is nothing like using just one," Zoro said, ready.

"I'll finish you off, even with your strength!" Buchi shouted.

"We'll see about that," Oliver said.

Zoro, holding one sword horizontally in his mouth and the other two behind his shoulders, prepared his attack.

"Tora Gari!"

He swung his swords forward and downward, cutting Siam and defeating him instantly.

Oliver charged his fist with Electro, dodged Buchi's attack, and brought his fist down at high speed, smashing Buchi in the face and driving him into the ground.

The pirates were in shock—not only had Jango been defeated, but also the Nyaban Brothers.

"Maybe we don't need Luffy to beat this guy," Oliver said.

"I guess you're right," Zoro agreed. "Do you want to fight him, or should I?"

"You're arrogant to think you can defeat me," Kuro said as he adjusted his glasses.