The roar from Marineford's training field poured through the visual Den Den Mushi aboard the Oni Slayer while Sengoku moved closer to the reinforced boundary, apparently forgetting the drink he had been holding during the banquet.
Garp stood beside him with both fists planted on his hips, grinning broadly as he watched John Giant leave the field.
"Bwahahaha! That wasn't just speed."
Sengoku adjusted his glasses. "No. He moved before Ronse realized the formation had opened, and he broke John's balance before the second attack finished developing."
"Observation Haki and experience."
"Exactly."
That was the sort of combat knowledge Marine Headquarters could actually use.
Dorry had not revealed some miraculous shortcut that would suddenly transform ordinary Marines into monsters; he had simply demonstrated how reading an opponent's intention early enough could make a small, efficient movement more valuable than a larger one made too late.
Inside the field, the remaining three Giant Vice Admirals appeared to reach the same conclusion.
Lacroix took the center, the staff wielder shifted right, and the saber wielder moved left, widening the triangle until Dorry could no longer attack one of them without entering another's range.
"Don't chase him," Lacroix ordered. "Make him come to us."
Dorry's grin widened. "Gegyagyagyagya! Better."
On the Oni Slayer, Gion was still staring at Zaraki's raised hand. "Two. You said five moves before the fight started, so how did you know?"
Zaraki took another drink. "I fought him."
"That still isn't an explanation."
"It keeps being enough."
At Marineford, Dorry drove forward with enough force to crack the stone beneath his leading foot, but there was no strange aura around him and no impossible disappearance.
The staff wielder saw him coming and thrust straight toward his chest, forcing Dorry to turn sideways and let the shaft scrape across his armor before catching it with his free hand.
The Vice Admiral's eyes widened when Dorry pulled him forward, and the pommel of the rebuilt sword struck his breastplate before he could recover.
"THIRD!"
The blow emptied his lungs and sent him rolling across the reinforced field until he hit the inner barrier.
He managed to push himself onto one knee, but his legs refused to cooperate after the impact and he dropped back down.
Sengoku lifted one hand. "Out."
The defeated giant slapped the ground in frustration but obeyed.
Three exchanges had removed three officers from the fight, and by then the watching Marines were no longer merely cheering.
Yamakaji noticed several giant-unit officers writing rapidly in notebooks while others argued over Dorry's foot placement and the angles he had used.
Momonga followed his gaze. "Now I understand why Sengoku wanted this."
"It isn't the size," Yamakaji said through a stream of cigar smoke.
"No."
"It's how little Dorry needs to do."
Gion reached the same conclusion from the visual feed. "He could have hit harder every time, but he doesn't."
"No point."
She glanced toward Zaraki. "So when you said five moves, you weren't predicting five knockouts."
"I didn't think Sengoku wanted five funerals."
For once, Gion did not answer immediately.
Back at Marineford, Lacroix and the final saber-wielding Vice Admiral stood several dozen meters apart. Neither looked angry anymore, and after a quick glance at one another Lacroix adjusted his grip.
"One attack each."
His partner nodded. "Agreed."
Dorry raised his sword. "Gegyagyagyagya! Now you're thinking."
They attacked together, Lacroix's sword sweeping horizontally from the left while the saber came from the right.
Rather than retreat from the two enormous blades, Dorry stepped forward and met Lacroix's weapon first with the reinforced edge of his own sword coated in Armament Haki.
He did not need to stop the slash completely.
Changing the angle by a few degrees was enough to send Lacroix's weapon into the incoming saber and break the timing of both Marine giants.
Dorry drove through the opening and punched Lacroix squarely in the breastplate.
"FOURTH!"
The blow did not cave in the armor.
Dorry controlled it well enough to lift Lacroix from the ground and drive him backward until his boots carved twin trenches across the field, then followed just far enough for the rebuilt sword to stop beneath his chin before he could reset his stance.
Lacroix looked down at the edge and exhaled. "I'm out."
Only one Giant Vice Admiral remained.
The crowd gradually quieted again, and aboard the Oni Slayer, Gion looked at Zaraki's hand as four fingers folded down and one remained.
"You are enjoying this far too much."
Zaraki leaned back in his chair. "Last one."
The final Giant Vice Admiral did not attack immediately.
He looked first at Ronse, then at John Giant, then toward the staff wielder sitting near a Marine doctor, and finally at Lacroix walking toward the boundary.
Four different approaches had failed, and Dorry had answered each one differently.
The giant Marine slowly raised his saber. "Fleet Admiral."
Sengoku looked toward him.
"I want to see the strike from the Sabaody report."
A murmur spread through the spectators as Dorry's expression sharpened.
"The controlled one," the Vice Admiral clarified. "Not Hakoku Sovereignty. The sword strike you used after the Pacifista firing line forced you to fight inside the harbor without tearing the place apart."
Dorry glanced toward Brogy, who immediately grinned.
"Gababababa! Show them."
Dorry looked back at his opponent. "All right."
He raised the rebuilt sword as Kuzan stepped closer to the boundary and placed one hand against the ground, thickening the existing ice barriers before the attack rather than waiting until something went wrong.
"Ara, ara... if we're doing this, let's keep Headquarters standing."
Sengoku lifted the loudspeaker Den Den Mushi. "Dorry, keep it inside the field."
"I heard you."
"And don't cut the fortress."
Dorry's eye twitched. "Gegyagyagyagya! I'm not Zaraki!"
Aboard the Oni Slayer, Zaraki stared at the screen while Gion's shoulders shook with suppressed laughter.
"You walked into that."
"He's getting mouthy."
"He's several hundred miles away."
"I can remember it."
Dorry bent his knees and launched himself upward with enough force to crack the stone beneath his boots.
There was nothing silent or impossible about a giant that size leaving the ground; the entire training field boomed, dust rolled outward, and every Marine using Observation Haki could follow his presence clearly as he rose above the reinforced arena.