Oliver was walking around the island, looking at everything while whistling happily, pleased to have obtained such a strong Combat Style. Now, he just needed to practice it.
"How strong are the Fishman now?" Oliver wondered. "System, if I change something drastically, can my enemies become stronger again?"
[Depending on the strength of the crew.]
[In some cases, you will face opponents so strong that no matter how much you interfere, nothing will change.]
[This time, the change occurred due to the imbalance of your strength compared to the Fishmen, where you would have easily won.]
"Then, when we fight Baroque Works, will they be stronger, or will there be more enemies?"
[I cannot tell you that.]
Oliver sank into his thoughts, ignoring everything around him until he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, what are you doing here, filthy huma—?"
A group of Fishman ran into Oliver and immediately went after him. However, since Oliver was lost in thought, he didn't notice them. Acting instinctively, he threw a punch at the Fishman who had touched him.
"Huh?"
Oliver snapped out of his thoughts and saw the Fishman fall to the ground, his nose bleeding.
"Miserable human!"
The Fishman tried to punch him, but Oliver blocked it with his left arm.
'He's strong,' Oliver thought as he felt his arm tremble slightly.
Another Fishman attempted to attack him, but Oliver dodged, grabbed the Fishman's arm, and threw him far from his current position.
The first Fishman struck him on the head, but Oliver didn't fall.
The Fishman tried to hit him again, but Oliver dodged and landed two consecutive punches to his abdomen before immediately kicking his leg, destabilizing him.
Then, Oliver delivered a punch to the Fishman's jaw with a dull sound, violently jerking his head back and making him fall.
The other Fishman lunged at Oliver, but he dodged and kicked him in the stomach, making him stagger backward.
'They're strong enough to withstand my hits. This could be good training.'
The angry Fishman threw a punch, but Oliver instantly blocked it and countered. He grabbed the Fishman's arm, pulled him closer, and kneed him in the ribs, hearing something crack.
With a quick punch to the face, Oliver flipped and kicked him in the head, sending him crashing into some trees.
The Fishman he had reflexively hit earlier was just getting up, still dizzy. The first thing he saw was a foot coming toward him, knocking him back to the ground.
"I hope you stay down," Oliver said.
He sat on the ground, feeling a bit tired.
"If I think about it, I'm weaker than Sanji. I'll need to train more or get some talent that helps me."
He stood up, grabbed the defeated Fishmen, and carried them into the forest, where they wouldn't be found for a while. He didn't want to change the course of events too soon.
--
--
"You know, you're not so bad after all, even with all those tattoos," Usopp said after seeing Nojiko convince a child to leave and not risk his life.
"You're so old-fashioned! But I don't know much about you either," Nojiko replied.
"Ah, yeah! I'm Captain Usopp, and I'm looking for a girl named Nami," he told Nojiko.
"Nami? She's a pirate, a member of Arlong's crew," Nojiko said while sipping her tea.
"Whaaaaat?! Nami is part of Arlong's crew?!" Usopp shouted in shock.
"Yes, she's very famous around here. Remember what that kid said? 'The girl who looked like a witch'?" Nojiko leaned on her hand. "You'd be even more surprised if you knew that this very house is where she grew up. Nami and I are stepsisters."
"What?! Usopp yelled again, stunned. "This is Nami's house?!"
"Yes. Nami and I are orphans. We were brought to this house and grew up here. The person who raised us is now dead, but the three of us lived together happily in Cocoyasi Village." Nojiko recalled old times.
"In this village? Then why is Nami on Arlong's side when he's the one ruling this place? Did she betray her own people?!" Usopp asked, unable to understand Nami's actions.
"You could see it that way. She's a witch, remember? So, what do you want from that witch, Captain Usopp?" she asked directly.
"Nothing! After hearing all this, she's been deceiving us this whole time... From the very beginning, she was after our treasure!" he shouted angrily. "Now that I think about it... That makes me furious! She helped us protect my village, she laughed, she seemed to have fun with us on the ship, and all that time, she was planning to leave us!"
"Really? Having fun? Her?" Nojiko asked, somewhat happy to hear that.
"But now I'm really mad! She deserves nothing but psychological torture! We'll ignore her! We'll give her the silent treatment!" Usopp declared, steam practically coming out of his head.
"I'll say it again, don't mess with the Arlong Pirates," Nojiko warned him.
"I need to find Oliver so we can leave this island," Usopp said, now certain that they couldn't bring Nami with them.
--
--
Oliver went to search for Arlong Park to observe the area and see what was happening.
He watched as Arlong and part of his crew left Arlong Park, so he waited until they were far enough away.
'Now's my chance.'
He went in to check if there were any Fishman inside and attempted to steal whatever money they might have.
He jumped over the wall surrounding Arlong Park and saw no one.
'I hope Nami isn't here; otherwise, I wouldn't know what to do.'
He entered the building and began searching floor by floor for the money.
"Where the hell do they keep the money?"
On one floor, he saw Arlong's weapon.
'Is this his room?'
He approached Kiribachi but decided against touching it, not knowing if it would trigger another event making Arlong even stronger.
"This is an armory. I'll have to keep searching."
He went up another floor, which looked more like a bedroom, and found a safe.
He walked over, opened it, and saw a large sum of Belly.
"How much Belly is in here?"
He was about to take all of it but stopped himself.
"After Arlong's defeat, they use Nami's nearly 100 million Belly to rebuild the village... but I don't remember if they also used Arlong's treasure."
He thought about it for a moment and closed the safe.
"Let them keep the money. I'll get 50 million Belly in total for defeating Arlong."
He continued exploring and found Nami's room.
"What you went through here was horrible. Oda really gave you a tragic past... and Luffy arrived at the perfect moment to save you."
He left the room, intending to leave, but as soon as he stepped outside, he saw a group of Fishman.
"Shit."
"What is a filthy human doing here?"
The Fishman started approaching him, and Oliver realized he had no way out.
'I guess it's time to test my new Combat Style.'
He prepared himself and swung his hand to strike a Fishman, but nothing happened.
"Huh?" He was confused when his attack did nothing. "I'm sure I tried to use it."
"What do you think you're doing?"
A Fishman punched him in the head, knocking him backward.
'And once again, I get hit in the head...'
He got up and looked at all the Fishmen he would have to fight to escape.
"Second attempt."