The first to go after Crocodile was Luffy, who tried to land a punch, but Crocodile dodged it.
"Bad move," said Oliver, moving behind Crocodile.
Oliver kneed him in the back and immediately grabbed his arms, preventing him from moving freely.
"Luffy!" Oliver shouted to his Captain, giving him a signal.
"Gomu Gomu no... Gatling!"
Luffy stretched his arms and began delivering a flurry of consecutive punches against Crocodile while Oliver kept holding him in place.
Because of the sheer number of punches, some of them hit Oliver too, but he stood firm, keeping Crocodile locked down.
"YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY WITH THIS!"
Crocodile summoned a sandstorm, halting Luffy's attack and forcing Oliver to release him.
"Damn!" said Oliver, steadying himself.
And in that instant, Crocodile stabbed him with his hook, making Oliver cough up blood.
"Oliver!" Luffy shouted as he saw his nakama wounded.
"The poison will slowly begin to corrode your body," said Crocodile, pushing the hook in deeper.
Despite the injury, Oliver smiled broadly.
"Gotcha."
Oliver gripped his arm tightly and struck the hook with his other hand, breaking it instantly.
With his bloodied hand, he delivered an electric shock. He quickly stored the hook in his inventory, pulled it back out, and slashed at Crocodile.
"If I'm poisoned, then so are you!"
He put it back in his inventory and kicked Crocodile to create distance.
"Damn brat!" Crocodile yelled, realizing he'd been hurt.
"Oliver! Are you okay?" asked Luffy.
"Yeah, it's just poison. I can handle it, but it definitely left a mark," said Oliver, sitting down for a moment.
"Leave him to me," said Luffy.
"You really think you can win? It doesn't matter what you do. I can take the antidote, and when the bomb explodes, everything will be over and I'll own this kingdom," said Crocodile, pulling a knife from where his hook had been.
"They'll stop that bomb," said Luffy, exhausted, before charging at Crocodile.
Meanwhile, Usopp and Vivi were running toward the clock tower, trying to regroup with the others.
"There they are!" shouted Nami while riding Chopper. "Vivi! Usopp!"
"Nami! Tony-kun!" said Vivi.
"The Marines saved us!" said Nami, running toward them.
"Did you find the cannon?" asked Chopper.
"I think so, but I'm not sure if this is all part of their plan," said Vivi. "That's the only place left—it's wide, and from here it's hard to imagine there's something there. I'm sure it's there!"
Vivi pointed at the clock tower.
"The clock tower..." said Nami, a bit out of breath.
"Makes sense. You can target any location from there," said Chopper.
Just then, some Baroque Works members showed up.
"There they are!"
"AHHH! How did they get here?!" screamed Usopp.
The Baroque Works members aimed their weapons, but someone suddenly launched them all away.
"Damned Baroque Works! Don't think you can do whatever you want in my kingdom!" yelled Kael in his hybrid form, kicking one of them as they tried to get up.
He looked ahead and saw Vivi, his face turning to one of joy, and ran straight to her.
"Sis!"
He jumped and hugged her, as it had been so long since he last saw her.
"You're safe! I'm so glad!" shouted Kael, crying rivers as he hugged Vivi.
"Kael? Is that you?" Vivi asked, unsure.
"Yeah," said Kael with a smile.
"Is he your brother?" asked Usopp, a bit nervous.
"That's right. You've grown so much," said Vivi, remembering him as a child. "But that's not important now—we have to stop the bomb!"
"Bomb? That's already taken care of," said Kael, letting go of Vivi and giving a thumbs-up.
"Taken care of?" everyone repeated.
Just then, Pell arrived at the clock tower and saw a hole, so he entered.
"What do you mean it's taken care of?" asked Vivi.
"I don't know. That's what the guy who hit me said," said Kael, recalling Oliver. "He told me to come here and tell you it's all ready."
"Princess! Here's the cannon—but it's empty!" shouted Pell.
"Empty?" said Vivi.
"Did we mess up?!" Usopp yelled, panicking.
"There are two people here, but they're unconscious—and there's an X on the cannon!" Pell shouted.
Hearing that, and recalling what her brother said, one person came to Vivi's mind... Oliver.
Back at the tomb, Luffy was on the ground, exhausted from his battle with Crocodile.
"It's over!" shouted Crocodile, waiting for the bomb to explode—but nothing happened. "Looks like those two were stopped."
"I-I knew they'd stop it," said Luffy.
"Doesn't matter. I didn't trust them to succeed anyway. That's why it was set to explode automatically a few seconds later if it wasn't fired on time," said Crocodile.
"You're trash," said King Cobra, who lay on the ground, unable to get up.
"Thanks for the compliment, Cobra. Even if it can't be aimed now, the death toll will still be high," said Crocodile, beginning to laugh.
"I don't know what you're laughing about," said Oliver, standing up and interrupting Crocodile. "Because the bomb is right here."
He made the bomb appear beside him, shocking Crocodile.
"What do you think? A little magic trick. And as you can see... there are still 20 minutes left before it explodes—and it never will," said Oliver with a grin, putting the bomb back into his inventory. "Your plan failed, Croco-Boy."
"YOU!" Crocodile screamed.
'Until now, I always thought of Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist as something to tear and slice... but Bomb didn't only use it that way,' thought Oliver, remembering his fight against Garou.
Oliver focused, and a reddish aura began to form around his hands.
Crocodile tried to attack, but Oliver appeared in front of him in an instant.
"Whirlwind Iron Cutting Fist!"
He punched Crocodile in the stomach, then stomped on his foot to immobilize him, and followed up with a barrage of rapid punches.
'I had forgotten that this Combat Style isn't just about tearing things apart—Bomb didn't use it that way. It's almost identical to Bang's style.'
He kept delivering hit after hit, not allowing Crocodile to move, dealing massive internal damage.
In a flash, a large spiral of sand formed on Crocodile's right hand.
"Sables: Pesado!"
Just before the attack landed, Oliver kicked Crocodile in the stomach, launching him into the air.
Crocodile's attack struck Oliver, but his body instinctively hardened with Tekkai, and the shockwave sent him flying, leaving him lying on the ground.
Crocodile coughed up blood from all of Oliver's hits.
"I-It's your turn, Captain," said Oliver from the floor.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Luffy began inflating with the air he was inhaling. Then, with all the air gathered, he twisted his body and released it at once, launching himself upward.
"GOMU GOMU NO...!!"
Seeing him approach, Crocodile tried to counter—but it was already too late.
"...STORM!!"
Luffy unleashed a flurry of punches directly at Crocodile, finally sending him crashing through the temple and blasting him into the sky.
[Remaining: 21/21]
[Mission Complete]
[Reward: 398,200,000 Berries, Talent Gacha Token, Weapon Gacha Token, Devil Fruit Gacha Token, and Combat Style Gacha Token]