The eastern shoreline of Thriller Bark was a ruined expanse of shattered cobblestone and upturned earth. To the far left, the air boiled where Monkey D. Luffy traded blows with Admiral Sakazuki. To the far right, the ocean itself was frozen solid, a testament to the clash between the Straw Hat swordsman, the cook, and Admiral Kuzan.
But in the center of the Vanguard's defensive line, the battle was defined by the cold, methodical application of physical force.
Vice-Admiral Bastille stood among the debris, his breath coming in sharp gasps behind his horned iron mask. His fingers were numb with a dull ache. Clutched in his right fist was a jagged piece of metal—the broken hilt of his signature Shark-Cleaver. He tossed the ruined weapon into the dirt.
A few yards away, Vice-Admiral Momonga wiped a thin trail of blood from the corner of his mouth. His pristine white Marine coat was torn at the hem. He kept his katana raised in a two-handed guard, his eyes locked on the three men standing opposite them.
To Momonga's right, Vice-Admiral Dalmatian crouched low to the ground in his Dog-Dog Fruit hybrid form, covered in white fur with black spots. Dalmatian was panting heavily.
"This makes no sense," Dalmatian growled. He spat a wad of dust onto the stones. "I hit him clean in the jaw. I drove a Haki-infused strike directly into his face. It should have snapped his neck. Instead, I nearly broke my own fingers."
"It is not their mass," Momonga replied, his voice calm and analytical. "The Magician shrunk their bodies and their weight, but he could not shrink their spirit. Look at the way the air warps around their weapons. They are coating their smaller forms in Armament Haki so dense it acts like an unbreakable second skin. We are not fighting mere men. We are fighting a century of unbroken combat experience wielding indestructible metal."
Standing thirty paces away, unbothered by the Marines, were Dory, Oimo, and Kashii.
The three warriors of Elbaf, shrunk down by Ben's magic. They weren't panting. They weren't bleeding.
Dory rolled his shoulders, adjusting his grip on the massive, rune-etched sword in his right hand. On his left arm rested a silver shield.
"Are you finished talking, Marines?" Dory called out, his deep voice carrying over the noise of the war zone. "My joints were just beginning to warm up. It has been a long time since I fought human-sized opponents with a blade this light."
Oimo chuckled, resting his spiked mace over his shoulder. "They hit fast. But their blows feel like the pecking of small birds. Shall we clear the path?"
Kashii stepped forward, his own silver shield raised slightly, his heavy battleaxe resting by his side. "Let them come. A warrior respects an enemy who stands his ground, even when outmatched."
Momonga tightened his grip on his katana. The blade hummed as he channeled a thick layer of Armament Haki along the steel, turning it pitch black.
"Do not let their appearance deceive you," Momonga ordered. "They carry the Haki of giants, but their reach is limited to a normal man's. We have the advantage in mobility. Bastille, you are without a blade. Run interference. Dalmatian, flank the axe-wielder. Exploit their blind spots. I will engage the swordsman."
"Understood," Bastille grunted, dropping into a brawling stance, his forearms turning black with Haki.
"I'll tear his throat out," Dalmatian snarled.
"Execute," Momonga commanded.
The three Vice-Admirals moved simultaneously. The sound of Soru being utilized by three master-class Marines created a rush of wind in the courtyard. They vanished from normal sight, leaving only faint trails of dust in their wake.
Momonga reappeared first, directly above Dory. He had utilized Geppo to strike from above. He brought his black blade down in an overhead cleave aimed squarely at Dory's neck.
Dory didn't look up. He didn't attempt to dodge. The combat instincts forged over a hundred years of daily duels on Little Garden allowed him to read the attack perfectly. Dory simply raised his left arm, angling the silver shield upward.
CLANG!
Momonga's blade struck the shield. The Marine expected resistance, perhaps even a deep gouge in the metal given his Haki. Instead, the Vibranium-Uru shield swallowed the blow completely. The silver metal flashed with a faint blue light.
Momonga felt the recoil instantly. His arms jerked backward, his wrists screaming in protest as his own kinetic force was halted dead. Before Momonga could recover his balance, Dory pivoted on his heel and drove the edge of the shield upward, blasting the stored force directly into the flat of Momonga's katana.
Momonga was thrown backward through the air, forced to execute a frantic mid-air backflip to land on his feet, skidding ten yards across the stone.
While Momonga engaged Dory, Dalmatian executed his flanking maneuver against Kashii.
The Zoan-user darted erratically around the courtyard, using Soru to bounce off the crumbling stone walls. He moved too fast to be tracked, constantly shifting his trajectory to confuse the giant.
Kashii sighed, watching the blurry movements. "You move like a frightened rabbit, dog."
Instead of trying to swat the fast-moving Marine, Kashii braced his silver shield firmly against the ground. He raised his heavy battleaxe and brought it down hard, striking his own shield.
BOOM!
The shield absorbed the heavy blow and instantly released the force outward in a shockwave along the ground. The cobblestone floor rippled and shattered violently. The sudden destruction of the earth ruined Dalmatian's footing. The Vice-Admiral tripped mid-sprint, tumbling out of his high-speed movement and crashing onto the broken stones.
Before Dalmatian could stand back up, Kashii reached over and grabbed him by the throat, slamming him into the dirt. Dalmatian gasped, slashing frantically at Kashii's arm with his claws.
Dalmatian's claws struck Kashii's arm and stopped dead. Kashii's skin had instantly turned pitch-black. Without his giant size, Kashii's Armament Haki was concentrated into a much smaller, far more durable surface area. The Vice-Admiral's claws couldn't pierce the armor.
Kashii loosened his grip just enough to let the bruised Marine scramble away, coughing violently.
On the far left of the skirmish, Vice-Admiral Bastille faced Oimo.
Without his Shark-Cleaver, Bastille ducked under a wide swing from Oimo's mace, letting the heavy weapon crash into the ground. Seizing the opening, Bastille grabbed the handle of the mace and delivered a heavy, Haki-infused kick to Oimo's wrist, managing to disarm the giant. The spiked mace flew several yards away, landing in the dirt.
Bastille charged forward, coating his fists in Armament Haki, aiming a powerful strike at Oimo's exposed chest.
BAM!
Bastille's fists connected. Oimo took one heavy step backward, a grunt of discomfort escaping his lips as he tightened his core, using internal Haki to absorb the worst of the impact.
"Oho," Oimo chuckled, adjusting his sunglasses. "That one actually stung. It felt like a bad case of heartburn. You pack a decent punch, masked man."
Bastille's eyes widened behind his iron mask. He had just delivered his strongest close-quarters attack, and the opponent likened it to indigestion. Bastille wound up his arm to strike again.
Oimo didn't move to defend himself. He simply extended his empty hand toward the discarded weapon behind the Marine.
The heavy Uru-metal mace responded to Oimo's spiritual connection and flew straight back into his grip. On its return flight, the spiked head of the mace smashed into the back of the charging Bastille, launching the Vice-Admiral face-first into the rubble.
While the Vice-Admirals were being pushed back, the Marines played their next card.
Twenty towering cyborgs—the Pacifistas—marched forward in a perfect line. They opened their mouths, yellow light gathering in their throats.
"Incoming!" a voice called from above.
Nineteen red-and-gold flying suits of armor—the Iron Legion—swooped down from the sky. They didn't just fly around aimlessly; they operated with flawless, synchronized tactical precision. Five drones strafed the frontline, firing concentrated blasts of blue repulsor energy directly into the Pacifistas' knee joints, forcing the massive cyborgs to stagger.
Another group fired blinding flares, knocking their laser-targeting systems off course. Yellow lasers sliced wildly through the air, melting the ruined walls instead of hitting the pirate crew.
Franky stepped forward, cracking his knuckles. He wore his usual Hawaiian shirt and speedo, looking completely human.
"You think you're the only cyborgs around here?" Franky grinned, his eyes gleaming behind his sunglasses. "Let me show you the real deal."
Franky held his hands out. Silver liquid metal poured from his pores, flowing rapidly down his arms. In a fraction of a second, the Vibranium nanites assembled themselves into two massive, engine-powered mechanical fists, easily the size of small cars. Exhaust pipes roared to life on his forearms, venting blue steam.
"Smack Hands!" Franky yelled.
He lunged at the nearest Pacifista. The World Government machine raised its hands to block, firing a laser beam point-blank at Franky's chest. Franky didn't flinch. The yellow beam struck his skin, but the Vibranium nanites beneath his epidermis absorbed the destructive heat and force completely.
Franky pushed through the blast and swung his massive metal fists. He bypassed the Pacifista's guard and clapped both Smack Hands squarely over the cyborg's head. With a brutal, hydraulic crush, the Pacifista's skull caved inward, wires and sparks erupting from its neck as the heavy machine fell backward, completely destroyed.
Two more Pacifistas turned their glowing eyes toward Franky, raising their palms.
Franky didn't panic. The giant fists melted back into liquid metal, flowing rapidly down to his legs.
"Punk Busters!"
Massive, heavy-duty mechanical boots formed over his feet, complete with hydraulic shock absorbers and glowing blue thrusters on the heels.
VROOOM!
The thrusters flared. Franky rocketed straight up into the air, easily clearing the fifty-foot height of the Pacifistas just as their lasers scorched the ground where he had been standing.
Hovering mid-air, the metal boots dissolved, flowing up his back and over his shoulders. With a loud clack, the liquid Vibranium locked into the shape of a massive, dual-barreled plasma cannon, drawing power directly from the Arc Reactor in his chest.
"Slam Cannon!"
Franky fired a continuous, devastating barrage of blue Arc energy. The blasts slammed into the Pacifistas from above. The raw, concussive force blew their armor plating apart, tearing through their mechanical frames and detonating their internal power cores in a chain reaction of explosions that sent scrap metal raining across the courtyard.
The Iron Legion swooped in to finish the job, firing synchronized repulsor beams that severed the limbs of the remaining, damaged Pacifistas.
"Super easy!" Franky posed mid-air as the cannon dissolved, letting gravity bring him back down to the stone floor in a flawless landing. "These fakes are nothing compared to the Iron General!"
The initial engagement across the vanguard had lasted less than a minute. The results were clear.
Seeing their ultimate cyborgs systematically dismantled by a single man and a swarm of drones, Momonga, Dalmatian, and Bastille regrouped in the center of the ruined courtyard. Bastille pulled himself from the rubble, his back bruised. Dalmatian was panting, clutching his throat. Momonga stood rigid, his grip on his katana strained.
They were veterans of the New World, but as they looked at Dory, Oimo, and Kashii—who had barely broken a sweat—they realized standard attacks were useless.
"Coordinate," Momonga said, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper. "We attack together. From all sides. Do not give them a moment to breathe."
The three Vice-Admirals scattered, initiating a simultaneous, multi-directional assault. They used Soru and Geppo to strike from the front, the sides, and the air at the exact same moment.
The three giants didn't panic. They stepped backward, standing shoulder-to-shoulder in a tight circle.
In a synchronized motion honed by the warrior culture of Elbaf, Dory, Oimo, and Kashii snapped their silver shields together, forming an overlapping dome of metal.
The Marines struck the shield wall with everything they had. Swords, claws, and fists battered the silver barrier, but the giants held firm. Using their battle instincts, the giants perfectly timed the enemy strikes. For a split second, they would open a small gap in the shield wall, thrusting their heavy weapons out like spears to strike the Marines before instantly sealing the wall again.
It was a traditional Elbaf shield-wall tactic, and it was punishing. Momonga was grazed by a sword thrust. Dalmatian was clipped by the axe. Bastille had to fall back to avoid being crushed by the mace. The Vice-Admirals were driven back, bleeding and exhausted.
"Commander!" a voice yelled from the entrance of the courtyard.
Thousands of Marine reinforcements poured through the broken gates, armed with rifles and swords. They had arrived to back up the Vice-Admirals.
"Swarm them!" Momonga ordered, pointing his sword at the giants. "Do not let them break formation!"
The massive army of Marines charged forward with a deafening war cry.
Dory looked at the oncoming horde and laughed. He stepped to the front of the group.
"Stand behind me, warriors!" Dory commanded.
He planted his feet firmly into the broken stones and held his silver shield up with both hands, facing the charging army. Oimo and Kashii stepped up directly behind their captain.
"Let's clear the path!" Kashii roared.
Oimo and Kashii wound up their massive weapons. With a coordinated shout, they swung the mace and the axe forward, striking the back of Dory's raised shield with all their strength.
BOOOOOOM!
The silver shield absorbed the twin blows from the giant warriors. It held the power for a fraction of a second before a massive wave of force erupted from the front of the shield like a cannon.
The shockwave swept through the courtyard, tearing up the ground and hitting the charging Marine reinforcements. Hundreds of soldiers were swept off their feet and sent flying backward into the walls and out of the gates. The courtyard was cleared in a single shot.
The three Vice-Admirals shielded their faces from the wind, staring in shock as their reinforcement army was wiped out in seconds.
Dory slowly lowered his shield. The three human-sized giants stood tall amidst the dust, completely untired, their black suits barely wrinkled.
Momonga tightened his grip on his katana, refusing to back down despite the situation.
"We are the shield of the world," Momonga said, his voice steady despite his exhaustion. He raised his blade. "We do not retreat. We do not yield."
Bastille crossed his arms, coating them in dark Haki. "We fight until we drop."
Dalmatian snarled, shifting into a low stance. "For Justice."
Dory looked at the three battered Marines. He saw the resolve in their eyes. He nodded slowly, a look of respect crossing his face. He lowered his sword to his side, his posture shifting to deadly serious.
"Very well," Dory rumbled. "You possess the spirits of warriors. It is an insult to face you with anything less than our full strength. Let us end this duel."
Oimo and Kashii tightened their grips on their heavy weapons.
Momonga took a deep breath, exchanging a brief look with Bastille and Dalmatian. They knew what was coming. They knew this next clash would likely be their last.
The human-sized giants lowered their stances, their weapons raised, ready to meet the final charge.