The smell of roasted lamb and cheap ale still hung over Marineford when John Giant finally raised his sword.
Yamakaji had moved closer to the reinforced boundary with his cigar burning low between his fingers, while Momonga stood beside him with his arms folded and studied Dorry's stance.
"You've seen him fight recently," Momonga said.
"CP0, Pacifistas, and part of Kaido's fleet," Yamakaji replied. "Enough to know the old reports aren't worth much anymore."
"How much stronger is he?"
Yamakaji exhaled a thin stream of smoke and kept his eyes on Dorry. "That isn't the important difference. He wastes less."
Inside the field, John Giant and the other four Vice Admirals spread out instead of rushing, forcing Dorry to keep track of several weapons and angles at once.
"Your century-long duel cost you more than time," John said. "You could have spent those years sailing, leading your crew, or returning home."
Dorry tightened his hand around the hilt of his rebuilt sword. "You think we don't know?"
The answer came without anger, which quieted the nearest Marines more effectively than a roar.
Dorry looked briefly toward Oimo and Kashii before continuing. "For a hundred years, Brogy and I were too stubborn to stop."
Brogy scratched his beard. "True."
Dorry's head snapped toward him. "You're supposed to support me."
"I am supporting you."
"By agreeing with him?"
"He's right."
A vein bulged along Dorry's temple, drawing another round of laughter from the crowd.
He forced himself to look back at John Giant before Brogy managed to win the fight from outside the field.
"When Zaraki beat us on Little Garden, he didn't tell us our pride was worthless. He showed us we'd let that pride become a cage. So if you want to know whether we learned anything from wasting those hundred years..."
Armament Haki darkened only the section of his sword's edge that faced the five Marine giants.
"...come find out."
John Giant smiled for the first time. "That's what I wanted to hear."
Ronse shifted to John's left, Lacroix widened the angle on Dorry's sword side, the staff-wielding Vice Admiral moved behind and to the right, and the last giant stayed farther out with his saber ready.
Brogy immediately recognized the shape. "Gababababa! Five against one and they're still using a formation!"
Oimo folded his arms. "They are Marines."
Kashii nodded solemnly. "Marines like formations."
Several human officers nearby looked personally insulted.
Aboard the Oni Slayer, Gion leaned closer to the visual feed. "Dorry's stance changed. He didn't stand like that against the Pacifistas."
"They weren't trying to bait him."
"What is he waiting for?"
"The first mistake."
Gion glanced at Zaraki. "Whose?"
"Doesn't matter."
She sighed. "You could try explaining something properly once in a while."
"You understood me."
Before she could answer, the visual feed picked up another conversation from one of the upper terraces overlooking Marineford Plaza.
Sakazuki stood there with his arms folded, staring down at the banquet and giant training field with obvious disgust.
"Absurd. This is Marine Headquarters—the center of justice—yet we're holding a feast for pirates and letting Vice Admirals turn a formal cooperation agreement into entertainment."
Heavy footsteps approached behind him, and Zephyr stopped beside the terrace railing with his restored arms folded across his chest.
"Sakazuki."
The Admiral glanced over. "Instructor Zephyr. Even you approve of this?"
"Approve of pirates?" Zephyr snorted. "No."
"Then why tolerate it?"
"Because they're useful."
Sakazuki's expression hardened, but Zephyr continued before he could answer.
"Those two captains have been fighting longer than most Marines alive have existed. At Sabaody they used Observation Haki, selective Armament, and coordinated attacks better than their old files suggested. Our giant units have strength, but strength without control gets allies killed."
"Pirates lie."
"Then test what they teach. Watch them, compare it against our own doctrine, and throw away anything that doesn't work."
For a few seconds Sakazuki said nothing.
Zephyr's voice became quieter. "After losing my family, and after watching recruits fall in front of me because I couldn't protect every one of them, I stopped caring where a useful lesson came from. If a pirate knows something that keeps a Marine alive when the next monster comes, I want our people to learn it."
Sakazuki's jaw shifted. "I still hate the feast."
Zephyr's mouth twitched. "So do I."
"Then why are you holding a plate?"
Zephyr looked down at the roasted lamb in his left hand. "Garp said the cooks were wasting it."
For once, Sakazuki had no immediate answer.
Below them, John Giant lowered his sword, and the five Giant Vice Admirals moved.
...
"For the honor of the Marines and Elbaf—show us what you've got!"
John Giant and the other four Giant Vice Admirals roared together as they moved, their combined voices rolling across the training ground strongly enough to make cups rattle on the nearest banquet tables.
Brogy stood outside the reinforced boundary with Oimo and Kashii, his axe planted beside him as he shouted, "Gababababa! Don't embarrass us, Dorry!"
Dorry shot him an irritated glance. "Us? If you lose, people will remember we're co-captains, so get in here and help."
"No."
"You bastard."
The nearby Marines laughed again, but John Giant and the other four did not give Dorry time to continue arguing.
Their weapons came up together as they spread around him, Ronse carrying his axe, Lacroix lowering his blade, and the final two giants settling their grips on a heavy iron staff and an oversized saber.
Dorry did not discard his sword or assume some unfamiliar martial stance.
He simply shifted his feet, lowered the rebuilt blade slightly, relaxed his shoulders, and let Observation Haki spread across the field.
For a century, his fights with Brogy had followed a rhythm both of them knew almost perfectly because they had repeated the same kinds of exchanges thousands upon thousands of times.
Little Garden had ended that comfort.
Zaraki had attacked without following Brogy's familiar rhythm, Law and the Heart Pirates had appeared from angles Dorry had never needed to consider, CP0 had used Soru, and the Pacifistas had punished hesitation with coordinated firing lines.
The result was not a miraculous new technique. Dorry had simply learned to stop reacting only to visible movement and start paying closer attention to intent.
John Giant's first strike began in his shoulders before the blade actually moved, and Dorry stepped early enough that the enormous sword crashed down where he had been standing rather than where he was.
Ronse attacked from the opposite side with his axe sweeping toward Dorry's flank, but Dorry turned his rebuilt sword across his body and hardened only the section of the edge that would receive the blow.
CLANG—!
Ronse's arms shook under the impact. Instead of trying to force the axe backward with pure strength, Dorry twisted his blade and altered the angle just enough for the weapon to slide away, opening Ronse's guard for half a second.
That was all he needed.
Dorry drove his armored shoulder into Ronse's chest and shouted, "FIRST!"
The blow lifted the masked Vice Admiral from the ground and sent him backward toward Kuzan's reinforced boundary rather than toward the spectators.
Ronse struck the ice-and-stone barrier hard enough to crack it, dropped to one knee, and barely had time to raise his head before Dorry's sword stopped beside his neck.
The edge never touched him.
"Dead," Dorry said.
Ronse froze, and Sengoku immediately raised one hand. "Ronse is out."
Marineford erupted.
Brogy's laughter almost drowned out the crowd. "GABABABABA! FOUR LEFT!"
Dorry turned toward him. "Gegyagyagyagya! Shut up and guard my barrel!"
Brogy lifted an empty barrel.
Dorry stared at it.
"You drank it?"
"You were busy."
The disbelief on Dorry's face became so pronounced that even John Giant almost laughed, although he still used the distraction to attack.
His sword swept toward Dorry's ribs, but Observation Haki caught the intent in time for Dorry to twist away and let the edge scrape across his armor instead of biting into his side.
"Stop talking to Brogy!" John roared.
"HE DRANK MY ALE!"
"THAT IS NOT MY PROBLEM!"
"It is now!"
The exchange sent another wave of laughter through the spectators.
Aboard the Oni Slayer, Gion leaned against the command table while the visual relay shook with the crowd's noise. "One."
Zaraki held up one hand, all five fingers spread.
Gion frowned. "Five minutes?"
"Five moves."
She turned to stare at him. "Against five Giant Vice Admirals?"
"Four now."
"You know exactly what I meant."
Zaraki's mouth curved slightly. "Watch."
At Marineford, John Giant backed away and immediately ordered a change in formation, making sure the others stopped giving Dorry narrow angles he could exploit.
Lacroix and the saber wielder spread wider, while the staff wielder remained farther behind and refused to overcommit.
Dorry noticed the adjustment and laughed. "Gegyagyagyagya. Better."
They attacked again, with John forcing the first exchange and Lacroix following toward the opening as the staff came in from behind.
Dorry stepped aside from John's strike by the narrowest possible margin, turned his rebuilt sword into Lacroix's blade, and redirected the attack toward empty ground rather than trying to hold it in place.
The iron staff swept over his helmet when he ducked, and as Dorry planted one hand against the ground and swept his leg outward, the saber wielder jumped clear while John Giant was half a beat too slow.
Dorry's heel clipped John's ankle and broke his balance just long enough for the old captain to rise beneath his guard and drive the flat of the rebuilt sword upward.
"SECOND!"
The blow lifted John from his feet, but Dorry followed the motion instead of throwing him blindly, using the broad sword like a lever to carry his weight sideways before driving him onto the reinforced ground.
John tried to roll away, only for Dorry's sword point to stop against his chest before he could recover.
Sengoku raised his hand. "John Giant is out."
John stared at the point of the weapon for a moment, then looked up at Dorry and let out a reluctant laugh.
"Fine."
He pushed himself upright and walked beyond the boundary, leaving three Giant Vice Admirals in the field.