Oliver, at the moment of striking the skeleton, felt a great pain—something that was difficult for him due to his Pain Tolerance.
'This skeleton is pretty tough. It could be useful for training, but now's not the time. Focus.'
He focused and thought only about using Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist.
His mind was set solely on freeing Luffy when he suddenly felt a strange current running through his body. He began to spin, delivering numerous kicks to the skeleton. Then, a pink aura enveloped his leg, and with the next kick, he managed to cut off the upper part of the skeleton. He delivered another strike that fully separated it, and instantly kicked it again, causing Luffy to be freed.
"Alright! Let's go get those bastards!" shouted a freed Luffy.
Vivi, Usopp, and Karoo were stunned by what Oliver had just done. Meanwhile, Oliver felt pain in his legs and dropped to the ground.
'I need to train a lot more,' he thought, trying to hold back the urge to scream. "I'm glad you're free, but give me a few seconds."
"I wanna go beat them up!" said Luffy angrily.
"Me too, so don't think you're going alone," said Oliver, getting up a bit.
"Fine," said Luffy, nodding.
--
--
On the other side, Brogy was trapped in wax that prevented him from moving. Next to him was Dorry, who had been defeated by the same enemy.
"You bastard!" shouted Brogy, trying to break free.
"Hahaha!"
The one laughing at Brogy was a man with strange hair shaped like a number 3, wearing a striped shirt and light-colored pants.
He was accompanied by a young woman with braided pigtails, wearing a pink hat, a dark blue t-shirt, a cloud-patterned shirt, a wine-colored skirt, and striped stockings.
"Forget it! When my Candle Jacket hardens, it's as strong as steel," laughed Mr. 3. "Once you're trapped, the extraordinary strength of a giant is completely nullified! Drunk on your victory, you let your guard down—Brogy the Red Ogre!"
Brogy stared at him with deep rage and the desire to tear him apart, which made Mr. 3 laugh even more.
"You should be happy! Your long fight has finally ended. And even if it was thanks to someone else's help, a victory is meant to be enjoyed! Or am I wrong?" asked Mr. 3.
Brogy was shocked when he heard that.
"MWAHAHAHA!! IN THE END, I'M THE WINNER!! Did you know? The enormous bounty on your heads doesn't go away once it's placed," he said, staring directly at him.
"BASTARD!!" shouted Brogy angrily.
Just then, a fist landed squarely on Mr. 3's face, slamming him into Brogy.
"Huh? Who—?"
From between the trees, Luffy and Oliver appeared, more than ready to make them pay.
"Only two left," said Oliver, ready to attack.
"W-What happened?" asked Mr. 3, trying to get up.
"YOU!! HOW DARE YOU INTERRUPT A FIGHT BETWEEN TWO WARRIORS?!" yelled Luffy, enraged.
"So, you're the one with the highest bounty in the East Blue. The Marine HQ has lost its ability to evaluate threats," said Mr. 3, standing up, somewhat injured.
"Luffy, do you wanna take care of him?" Oliver asked, ignoring the official agent.
"Yeah," said Luffy, ready. "This one's mine."
"You're way too arrogant for just some petty pirates," said Mr. 3.
Luffy moved in to attack, but Mr. 3 used his Devil Fruit to trap Luffy's feet in wax.
"What the hell is this?! My legs look like hammers!" said Luffy, seeing his feet.
"Ha! Piece of cake. Now your hands!" said Mr. 3.
He tried to trap Luffy again, but Luffy dodged the attack, grabbed a tree, and stretched his legs out to strike Mr. 3.
He spun and attacked, prompting Mr. 3 to use his Devil Fruit to create a shield—which was destroyed, freeing Luffy.
"What?!" said Mr. 3, shocked to see his wax destroyed.
"Shishishi! I can break your wax with your own wax," said Luffy with a grin.
Oliver was impressed by Luffy's combat ability and started thinking about how he could become stronger.
He looked to his side where Miss Goldenweek was eating a cookie.
"Are you giving up, or do I have to beat you?" Oliver asked Miss Goldenweek. "I don't wanna beat up a little girl."
She was eating a cookie, so she set it aside and grabbed a brush to try and place a mark on him, but Oliver grabbed her hand.
"Don't do anything stupid."
He used Electro, giving her a small shock.
"Tell me—where are my nakamas?" he asked more seriously.
Miss Goldenweek nodded and pointed to the side.
"Alright. It better be true," he warned her. "Luffy, I'm going after the others! I'm leaving the fight to you!"
"Yeah, leave him to me!" Luffy shouted back.
"You pirates..." said Mr. 3 angrily.
Oliver followed Miss Goldenweek's directions until he found Nami and Zoro, who were knocked out and trapped.
"So they were here," said Oliver, then knocked out Miss Goldenweek.
[Remaining: 9/21]
Both of them were trapped by their feet and hands in Mr. 3's wax, shaped like handcuffs.
He went to Zoro to wake him up.
"Oi, Zoro, what are you doing on the ground?" Oliver asked while tapping him awake.
"Huh? Is it morning already?" said Zoro as he woke up.
"It never stopped being morning," replied Oliver as he went to wake up Nami. "Nami, wake up."
Nami woke up and tried to move but couldn't.
"What is this?" said Nami, trying to free herself.
"This stuff is tough," said Zoro, hitting the ground trying to break it.
"It's made of wax and supposedly as strong as steel, so freeing you won't be easy."
He considered using Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist, but if it worked, he might end up cutting his nakamas—so he went with the second option.
He picked up a fallen branch and, using Electro, lit it on fire.
He placed the flaming branch between the two, which startled Nami a bit.
"What are you trying to do?!" Nami asked.
"It's wax—heat should melt it," Oliver said. "I'm going to get more branches."
While Oliver gathered more branches to fuel the fire, Nami and Zoro moved closer to it in hopes of freeing themselves.
"The others should already be on their way to Luffy," said Oliver while picking up another branch.
Just then, he felt a sting in his arm and instinctively struck the same spot.
He moved his hand and found a dead insect in it, and on his arm was a puncture mark.
"No, this isn't good."
--
--
I wanted to share something with you: originally, in the options for Oliver's Devil Fruit, I was going to include the Neko Neko no Mi, Model: Byakko, and the Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Susanoo, but I discarded both.
I discarded Byakko because being a wolf and having a cat-type Devil Fruit felt a bit weird to me.
I discarded Susanoo because it felt too similar to what Kaido does with his Devil Fruit.
That's what I wanted to share.