A month passed.
Sixty-four duels.
Sixty-four draws.
Dorry and Brogy's score remained tied at seventy-three thousand, four hundred and sixty-five battles each.
Ulquiorra developed a pattern.
Hunt with them at dawn. Watch their duel when the volcano erupted. Listen to their stories at night.
Search for the vision in between.
But the blurred woman never returned.
He'd tried everything. Stood in the exact position. Repeated word-for-word in his head.
But Nothing.
Only the feminine voice surfaced occasionally, whispering words he couldn't decipher.
He tried asking the giants about the heart.
But the responses weren't helpful.
"It's what makes you feel alive!"
"It's what drives you forward!"
"It beats faster when you fight someone worthy!"
"It aches when you remember fallen comrades!"
Their explanations would circle back to the same concept: eating, hunting, and fighting.
Actions Ulquiorra performed without feeling anything.
The giants noticed.
They'd stopped asking what was wrong after the first time, but their glances lingered. Concerned looks exchanged when they thought he couldn't see.
Brogy still insisted he taste their kills. Ulquiorra complied. The meat remained flavorless.
Dorry told stories about Elbaf's greatest warriors. Ulquiorra listened without response.
And the woman who might have answers remained trapped in a vision he couldn't recreate.
Which brought them to now.
Ulquiorra stood before the two armed giants.
The clearing they'd chosen stretched two hundred meters across. Trees bordered the space like spectators. Dorry held his massive broadsword. Brogy gripped his battle axe.
"Gabababababa!" Dorry's laugh shook leaves from nearby branches. "I've been waiting for this day!"
"Gegyagyagya!" Brogy's grin widened. "Ever since you killed that goldfish, we wanted to fight you!"
Brogy's expression shifted to concern.
"Are you sure you won't reconsider? Fighting both of us simultaneously?"
Ulquiorra's gaze moved to them.
"One or two. The result will be the same."
"Gabababababa!" Dorry raised his sword overhead. "That's the spirit of Elbaf! A true warrior knows no fear!"
"A proper answer!" Brogy hefted his axe. "We'll show you why we ruled the seas together!"
Both giants nodded.
"Ready?" Dorry asked.
Ulquiorra inclined his head once.
Brogy immediately swung his axe straight at him.
Ulquiorra caught the axe with his bare hand, stopping it completely.
The ground exploded outward from the shockwave. Brogy gripped the axe handle with both hands and pushed down with everything he had. The earth around Ulquiorra cracked and splintered from the force.
But the axe didn't budge.
Ulquiorra's hand trembled slightly under the pressure.
His eyes shifted to the side. A sword swing came at him from the left.
Ulquiorra released the axe and moved behind it, using the massive blade as cover.
Dorry's sword slammed into Brogy's axe. Both giants' hands shook from the impact.
Brogy dragged his axe along the ground, trying to knock Ulquiorra off balance.
The axe hit nothing.
Both giants froze in surprise.
"You missed."
The voice came from Brogy's shoulder.
Brogy turned his head. Ulquiorra stood there casually, looking back at the spot where he'd been standing a moment ago.
Dorry swung his fist at Ulquiorra.
Ulquiorra vanished.
Dorry's fist connected with Brogy's face instead.
"Watch where you're swinging!" Brogy rubbed his jaw.
"Then stop letting him use you as bait!" Dorry shot back.
The fight escalated.
The giants attacked together. Every swing, every thrust: Ulquiorra saw through it all.
They understood one thing immediately: Ulquiorra was much faster than they'd expected.
Both giants pushed their Observation Haki to its absolute limits, trying to sense where he'd appear next.
They attacked again simultaneously. Brogy from the left, Dorry from the right. Their weapons should have caught him between them.
But even with Observation active, they couldn't keep track of him. He'd vanish from one spot and appear directly in front of their faces before they could react. A palm strike to Brogy's jaw. A kick to Dorry's chest. Both giants were sent flying to their backs.
A hundred years of fighting each other meant they knew every move the other would make. They used that knowledge together, covering each other's openings, attacking in perfect rhythm.
But It didn't matter.
Ulquiorra stood in the air above them, completely untouched.
And then they understood.
He wasn't fighting them.
He was playing with them. Like an adult humoring children.
Both giants jumped back at the same time and stood side by side, breathing hard.
And they were grinning.
"We haven't fought together in over one hundred years!" Brogy's voice echoed across the island.
"In the name of Elbaf—" Dorry raised his sword.
"—we cannot disgrace our opponent by not giving our all!" Brogy raised his axe to match.
They moved in perfect synchronization, shifting their stances, gripping their weapons with both hands.
"Together our weapons form the most powerful attack Elbaf can offer!"
The air itself compressed around their blades.
"HAKOKU SOVEREIGNTY!"
Dorry swung his broadsword. A massive blue slash tore forward.
Brogy swung his axe. A red slash followed the exact same path.
The two slashes rushed toward Ulquiorra, carving the ground open beneath it and everything in its path.
Then they merged.
Blue and red twisted together into a single devastating wave. The combined attack grew larger with every meter it traveled"doubling, tripling in size.
Ulquiorra raised one hand.
The Hakoku Sovereignty hit.
The impact drove him backward. His feet carved trenches through the ground as trees exploded around him. He slid back, ten meters, twenty, fifty, the energy wave pressing relentlessly against his palm.
Ulquiorra placed his second hand on the wave.
His feet stopped moving.
The slash's pressure held for one more heartbeat, then dissipated. Smoke rose from Ulquiorra's hands. Scratches marked his palms where the energy had burned through.
Silence fell across the clearing.
Dorry stared.
Brogy stared.
Then both giants threw their heads back.
"Gabababababa!"
"Gegyagyagya!"
"He stopped it!" Brogy slammed his axe into the ground. "With his bare hands!"
"Our strongest technique!" Dorry wiped his eyes. "And he just—just caught it like a ball!"
Ulquiorra lowered his hands and looked at the giants. "I shall return the favor."
"Gabababababa!" Dorry laughed, raising his half-shattered sword. "Come then!"
"Gegyagyagya! Show us what you've got!" Brogy hefted his cracked axe.
Ulquiorra raised one finger toward them. Green light gathered at his fingertip.
"Cero."
The beam erupted.
Green light consumed everything. The giants braced themselves, crossing their Haki-coated arms, as the Cero slammed into them.
The world turned green. Trees behind them disintegrated as the beam carved through the jungle.
The Cero didn't stop. It kept pouring forward, an endless torrent of destructive energy.
Then, finally, the beam dissipated.
Dust settled slowly.
When the light faded, both giants were still standing.
Barely.
Blood poured from dozens of wounds. Dorry's left arm hung limp. Brogy's legs shook.
Their weapons were completely gone, and they still grinned like madmen.
"Worth it," Brogy gasped.
"Absolutely worth it," Dorry agreed.
Then both giants collapsed to their knees.
Both giants struggled to hold their heads up. Blood dripped from their wounds. Burns covered their bodies.
"Gabababa..." Dorry's laugh came out weak. "We... we withstood it."
"Gegyagya..." Brogy coughed. "Your strongest attack... and we're still breathing."
Pride radiated from both of them despite the injuries. Despite barely remaining conscious.
"We are warriors of Elbaf!" Brogy declared. "We do not fall easily!"
They looked at each other and grinned wider.
Ulquiorra's head tilted slightly.
"Strongest?"
The word came out flat. Confused.
Both giants froze.
Their grins faltered.
Dorry's eyes widened first. "Don't... don't tell me..."
"That wasn't it?" Brogy finished.
Silence stretched across the clearing.
Ulquiorra looked at them.
"It was not."
The giants stared.
Then stared some more.
"Gabababa..." Dorry's laugh came out strangled. "Of course it wasn't."
"Gegyagya..." Brogy's grin turned slightly hysterical. "Why would we think otherwise?"
Both giants collapsed face-first onto the ground.
"...mm mhm hmm mmm..."
The words came muffled through the dirt as Dorry's face remained pressed against the ground.
"...gmmm mhm hmhm..."
Brogy's voice followed, equally unintelligible.
Both giants lay sprawled across the ground like fallen monuments.
Neither moved.
Ulquiorra waited.
After several seconds, Dorry lifted his head slightly. Dirt clung to half his face.
"This... this hurts more than the wounds."
"Agreed." Brogy raised his head just enough to speak clearly as mud stuck to his forehead. "The wounds I can handle."
"But knowing that wasn't your strongest..." Dorry's head dropped back down with a thud. "Gabababa... that stings."
Ulquiorra's gaze shifted between them.
"If it displeases you, I can use my strongest."
Both giants' heads shot up.
"We're good! "Very good! Perfectly satisfied!"
"A warrior of Elbaf must die in battle!
"Not like this!" Dorry joined him. "Not as a demonstration!"
Both giants nodded emphatically, then immediately regretted it as their injuries flared.
Silence fell.
Brogy's head lifted again. "Besides... this was just a duel."
"Yes, just a duel," Dorry agreed immediately.
"And we have a guest who arrived on the island." Brogy's tone brightened considerably. "We should greet them properly."
"Yes!" Dorry's head bobbed once. "Yes, the guest! You should go handle that while we... while we rest."
"An hour," Brogy said. "We'll be back on our feet in an hour."
"Maybe four," Dorry muttered.
"Four hours," Brogy corrected. "Definitely four hours."
Neither giant attempted to stand. Or roll over. Or do anything beyond occasionally lifting their heads to speak.
Ulquiorra looked at them for several seconds.
"I see."
He turned and walked toward the coast.
The moment he disappeared into the jungle, both giants exhaled simultaneously.
"He's terrifying," Dorry said.
"Absolutely terrifying," Brogy agreed.
Both heads dropped back to the ground.
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Author's Notes:
Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Feedback is always appreciated. It would help me improve.