Dawn broke.
Light spilled across Little Garden in shades of amber and gold.
Ulquiorra sat on the boulder.
Dorry stirred first.
Brogy followed moments later, rubbing his eyes.
"Morning already?" He blinked at the sunrise, then froze.
His eyes landed on Ulquiorra.
Still sitting the same way from last night.
"Did you sleep at all, little friend?"
"I don't require sleep."
Both giants paused mid-stretch.
Dorry lowered his arms slowly, staring at Ulquiorra with an expression caught between concern and bewilderment.
"You don't need food." His voice came flat, almost exasperated. "You don't need sleep."
Brogy nodded seriously.
"What do you need?"
"Nothing."
Silence.
Dorry and Brogy exchanged glances.
Then Brogy slapped his knee.
"Well then!" His grin returned full force. "You can join us for the morning hunt!"
Dorry stood, brushing dirt from his cape and retrieved his broadsword.
"We hunt before every duel." Dorry gestured toward the jungle. "Need to keep our strength up. A hundred years of fighting takes effort, even for us."
"Plus dinosaur meat tastes better fresh!" Brogy added cheerfully.
"I don't need food."
"It's not about need!" Brogy threw his arms wide. "It's about the experience!"
Dorry nodded, placing his broadsword on his shoulder.
"Seeing who can bring down the biggest prey."
Ulquiorra tilted his head a fraction.
"I can kill prey instantly."
Both giants grinned identically.
"Then show us!" Brogy's laughter boomed. "Let's see who's the better hunter: me, Dorry, or you!"
Dorry's eyes gleamed with competitive fire.
"First one back with the largest catch wins."
They stared at Ulquiorra expectantly.
Ulquiorra's gaze moved between them.
"...Fine."
"Gegyagyagya!" Brogy's laughter shook the trees.
"Gabababababa!" Dorry joined in, raising his sword high. "The winner is the one who brings the biggest prey back!"
Both giants forze.
Dorry's brow furrowed.
He looked at Brogy.
"This sounds familiar."
Brogy nodded slowly.
"I recall something about a hunting contest." Dorry stroked his long beard. "But I can't exactly remember."
Brogy scratched his head.
"Don't worry, Dorry." He waved a massive hand. "Same goes for me."
They stood in silence for a moment.
Then Dorry shrugged, hoisting his broadsword.
"We can think about it later."
"Right!" Brogy's smile returned. "Now we have a competition to win!"
Both giants turned toward the jungle.
"On my mark!" Brogy crouched, taking his axe.
"Three!"
"Two!"
"One!"
"GO!"
They crashed into the jungle.
The entire island shook from their run.
Ulquiorra stood motionless on the boulder.
Then vanished.
Ulquiorra reappeared above the island.
High enough to oversee the entire island.
Dorry and Brogy crashed through the trees, the dinosaurs scattering before them.
There's nothing on this island large enough.
The strongest creature here would be trivial for Dorry or Brogy to hunt. A competition between them would be meaningless if all of them brought back the same thing.
Only one option remained.
His spiritual perception expanded outward, stretching beyond the island's shores. He could sense every presence within range: smaller sea creatures darting through coral formations.
Further.
Ulquiorra's spiritual perception pierced through hundreds meters of water.
Massive presences stirred below.
Creatures far larger than the dinosaurs roaming Little Garden.
Each one dwarfed normal sea life. Some measured fifty meters. Others exceeded a hundred.
But none of them were large enough.
Ulquiorra pushed his perception further out.
Then he felt it.
A presence so massive it distorted everything around it.
Seven hundred meters of living mass.
The creature just sat at the edge of little garden's exit.
That one.
Ulquiorra vanished again.
He reappeared nine hundred meters away from the island, standing on the ocean's surface.
He looked down.
Through the water's surface, through layers of ocean, to where that massive presence waited.
His spiritual pressure pulsed outward.
Just a ripple to stir awake the creature.
And the ocean responded.
Something started to rise.
Ulquiorra disappeared and reappeared further away.
The ocean erupted.
Water exploded upward.
A shadow rose beneath the surface.
Then the body broke through.
Water flowed from its body, created waterfalls that crashed back into the ocean.
A giant red goldfish emerged, mouth already open to swallow islands whole.
The creature's size dwarfed everything in sight.
Dinosaurs would be swallowed without notice.
Ulquiorra raised one finger.
Green light condensed at the tip.
Bright and blinding.
The air itself screamed.
"Cero."
The beam erupted.
Green energy tore through the Sea King's mouth, the blast carved through everything in its path. The beam punched straight through and emerged from the fish's back in a column of emerald fire.
The Sea King's body went rigid.
A perfect circular hole now existed from front to back.
Two hundred meters wide.
This will suffice.
Ulquiorra descended.
His hand closed around one of the massive fins.
He began walking on air toward Little Garden, dragging seven hundred meters of corpse behind him.
Dorry planted his boot on the dinosaur's head.
"Mine is clearly bigger!"
"You're delusional!" Brogy jabbed a finger at his own kill. "I measured it three times!"
Both dinosaurs lay sprawled across the ground, each easily a hundred meters from nose to tail.
Dorry crossed his arms.
"Six centimeters. Mine is six centimeters longer."
"Lies!" Brogy's face reddened. "Yours is shorter!"
"Your eyes are failing in your old age."
"I'm in my prime! and we're the same age!"
They glared at each other.
Then Dorry's expression shifted.
"We'll let our little friend decide." He nodded firmly. "An unbiased judgment."
"Fine!" Brogy looked around. "Where is he?"
The beach stretched empty.
No sign of Ulquiorra.
Dorry's brow furrowed.
"He should've returned by now."
Brogy's grin faded.
"Even the smallest prey wouldn't take this long."
A distant sound echoed across the island.
Both giants turned toward the ocean.
"What was that?"
They ran.
The island shook with each step as they crashed through trees toward the shore. When they broke through the treeline, both froze.
Their jaws dropped.
Ulquiorra walked on air, moving toward the island, dragging the gold fish with him.
"Is that..."
"The Island Eater." Brogy finished.
The goldfish's corpse towered over Little Garden itself.
Ulquiorra stopped.
The body settled into the shallows.
He descended and walked towards the giants.
"I have returned."
Silence.
Brogy blinked.
Blinked again.
Then his shoulders started shaking.
"Gegyagyagya!" The laughter exploded out of him. "You went a bit overboard, little friend!"
Dorry stared at the corpse.
At Ulquiorra.
Back to the corpse.
"You can fly."
"Yes."
"And you killed the Island Eater."
"Yes."
"Gabababababa!" Dorry's laughter joined Brogy's. "We didn't expect our little friend to be so strong!"
Brogy wiped tears from his eyes.
"I think you win!"
Dorry nodded, still grinning.
"At least I got second place."
Brogy's head snapped toward him.
"Second? You?"
"My dinosaur was bigger than yours."
"LIES!"
The ground trembled.
A deep rumble echoed across Little Garden.
Both giants stopped mid-argument.
Their heads turned toward the center of the island.
The volcano's peak erupted.
Smoke billowed upward in black columns.
Dorry's grin widened.
"Gabababababa!"
Brogy's laughter followed immediately.
"Gegyagyagya! Perfect timing!"
They turned to each other, eyes gleaming with excitement.
"We'll settle this the Elbaf way!" Dorry raised his broadsword.
"The only way warriors should!" Brogy hefted his axe.
Both giants turned toward Ulquiorra.
"We have something to settle, little friend." Dorry's voice carried absolute certainty. "We'll return after the duel."
Brogy nodded along.
They walked in opposite directions.
Dorry headed east.
Brogy marched west.
The island shook with each step until they disappeared into the jungle.
Ulquiorra remained on the beach.
He looked toward the volcano, then in the direction both giants had gone.
A moment passed.
Then the entire island trembled.
Two voices roared from opposite ends of Little Garden.
"DORRY!"
"BROGY!"
The jungle exploded.
Trees snapped like twigs as both giants charged.
They collided in the center.
Sword met axe, creating shockwaves.
Both giants grinned through the clash.
"Still slow as ever!" Dorry shoved forward.
"Big talk from someone about to lose!" Brogy pushed back.
Their weapons separated.
Dorry swung horizontally.
Brogy ducked and swept his axe upward.
Steel rang against steel again.
"Gabababababa! That's seventy-three thousand, four hundred and one!"
"Gegyagyagya! I'm winning this one!"
They broke apart, circling each other with massive grins.
Dorry charged first this time.
His broadsword came down in a devastating overhead strike.
Brogy blocked with the axe handle, then twisted and slammed his shoulder into Dorry's chest.
Dorry stumbled back three steps.
Then laughed.
"Good hit!"
"Then here's another!"
Dorry punched him straight in the face.
Dorry, without missing a beat, returned it in kind and delivered an upper cut to Borry.
Back and forth.
Laughter between every blow and wound.
Ulquiorra watched the fight.
The giants fought with everything. Each strike was meant to kill the other.
And they laughed.
Joy radiated from every movement.
Pride in every swing.
Respect in every block.