The moment the countdown appeared, the assessment stopped being a test.
Gion moved first.
Konpira flashed toward Monkey's wrist, but the CP0 agent abandoned the control station with Soru before the blade reached him.
His injured body could not sustain its earlier speed; he reappeared only several meters away and stumbled when his foot struck the ground.
Yamakaji placed himself between Monkey and the Marine recording shelters.
"Every Den Den Mushi saw you authorize that purge."
Monkey's cracked mask turned toward him.
"Then the record will show whether the candidates survived."
Nine seconds.
The disabled Pacifistas began humming.
Heat gathered beneath their damaged armor as emergency circuits forced the experimental cores beyond safe output.
The blast would not erase half of Sabaody or destroy an island, but eight simultaneous purges inside a confined assessment ground could tear apart the outer dock, ignite the mangrove resin, and kill everyone who remained nearby.
Law had no intention of allowing the countdown to reach that point with the units still on land.
A vast ROOM expanded from beneath the mangrove shelf.
The blue boundary rose through the water, crossed the reinforced platform, and enclosed the visual Den Den Mushi, the Marine shelters, the three CP0 agents, and all eight Pacifistas.
The Polar Tang had moved close to the underside of the outer reef while everyone watched the assessment, placing Law just within range.
Monkey froze.
"Trafalgar Law."
His voice carried equal parts recognition and outrage.
From inside the submerged submarine, Law ignored him.
"Bepo, maintain depth. Shachi, Penguin, clear the medical bay. We are about to receive more idiots than beds."
Eight seconds.
Law snapped his fingers.
"Shambles."
The recording shelters vanished from the edge of the combat ground and reappeared behind the third Marine barricade, exchanged with stacks of empty supply crates.
The visual Den Den Mushi never stopped transmitting.
A second exchange moved the nearest Marines and technical crews farther inland.
A third pulled Dog and Bear away from the unstable Pacifistas before either injured agent could resist, placing them beside Gion and Yamakaji beneath Marine guard.
The repeated large exchanges made Law's breath catch inside the Polar Tang, but he kept ROOM open.
Dorry looked down at the red lights pulsing inside the machines.
"What do we do with them?"
"Open sea," Zaraki answered. "Keep them away from the ships."
Brogy's grin returned despite the danger.
"That sounds simple."
Seven seconds.
Dorry drove the broad face of his sword beneath PX-01 and PX-02.
The reinforced weapon bent but did not break as he lifted both machines together and hurled them over the outer breakwater.
Brogy hooked PX-03 and PX-04 with the curved inner edge of his axe.
One enormous turn of his shoulders sent the disabled units spinning into the same stretch of empty water.
The remaining four were spread too far apart to move with one strike.
Law marked two boulders beyond the reef through ROOM.
"Shambles."
PX-05 and PX-06 disappeared from the platform and reappeared above the open sea, exchanged with the stones.
They fell beside the first four units, red warning lights still pulsing.
Five seconds.
PX-07 lay near the central control station. PX-08 remained buried in the reinforced platform where Brogy had crushed it.
Monkey had retreated directly behind the last two machines, either believing they would shield him or hoping Zaraki would be forced to choose between stopping him and saving everyone else.
Zaraki drew Nozarashi.
"Drink, Nozarashi."
The rough sword widened into its enormous chipped cleaver.
Dark-gold arcs crawled through the pressure collecting along its edge, visible to everyone but understood by none of them as anything more than the strange force surrounding Zaraki's blade.
Nozarashi's voice entered his mind.
'Cut the man first.'
'The machines are louder.'
'He is more annoying!'
Four seconds.
Zaraki chose the purpose before he swung.
Move the last two Pacifistas.
Leave Monkey alive.
Do not cut through the mangrove roots, the longship, or the Oni Slayer.
Nozarashi swept across the platform.
The slash passed beneath PX-07 and through the damaged stone trapping PX-08. It did not slice through either power core.
The compressed force lifted both disabled machines from the ground and drove them over the breakwater toward the other six.
The same controlled stroke stopped against the empty water beyond them.
Monkey was left standing alone beside the ruined console.
Three seconds.
Gion reached him with Soru of her own and placed Konpira's edge against the opening beneath his mask.
"Move and you lose more than the mask."
Monkey's hands slowly lifted.
Two seconds.
Law shifted the Polar Tang deeper beneath the shelf.
Dorry and Brogy planted their weapons against the ground and turned their bodies between the open sea and the ships behind them.
Zaraki stepped onto the edge of the ruined platform with Nozarashi held in both hands.
The eight Pacifistas struck the water.
One second.
Their cores purged.
The sea beyond Grove 1 erupted.
Eight white flashes merged beneath the surface and threw a column of water and fire into the sky.
The blast did not erase the archipelago, but it displaced enough water to create a wall that rose above the repaired giant longship's mast.
Burning fragments of armor spun through the spray, while the shockwave raced toward the mangrove roots, the Oni Slayer, and every vessel anchored behind the breakwater.
Future Sight showed Zaraki the first path.
The pressure wave struck the harbor.
The longship rolled broadside and shattered against the outer berth.
The Oni Slayer tore free of its moorings.
The mangrove resin ignited across Grove 1.
He rejected that future before it arrived.
Zaraki tightened both hands around Nozarashi and cut upward through the center of the approaching wall.
The dark-gold slash opened the shockwave and the towering mass of water along a single controlled line.
The two halves curved away from the harbor, one passing east of the Government transport and the other breaking harmlessly across the empty western reef.
Most of the burning debris followed the divided current rather than entering the grove.
The force that remained struck Dorry and Brogy.
Both giants crossed their Armament-coated weapons before them.
The new sword and axe groaned under the impact, and the stone beneath their feet fractured, but they held their ground and shielded the assessment platform from the last of the spray.
The explosion faded into steam and rain.
For several breaths, no one spoke.
The repaired longship still floated behind the breakwater.
The Oni Slayer remained secured at Dock Three.
The mangrove roots were wet but unburned, and every recording Den Den Mushi continued staring at Monkey from the safety of the third barricade.
Law released ROOM.
Inside the Polar Tang, he caught the edge of the navigation table and breathed through the strain.
Bepo looked toward him anxiously.
"Captain?"
"I'm fine. Surface enough to open the upper hatch, but keep the submarine outside the assessment berth."
The Polar Tang rose near the outer edge of the secured perimeter.
Law appeared on the platform a moment later in an exchange with a broken steel plate, Kikoku over one shoulder and irritation carved into every line of his face.
Monkey's mask turned toward him.
"You entered a Government-restricted assessment and interfered with CP0 equipment."
Law looked at the scorched sea where eight prototypes had just detonated.
"I moved your equipment after you converted it into bombs. You are welcome."
"You are a pirate."
"And you are alive because the pirates and candidates you tried to kill chose not to return the favor."
Gion kept Konpira at Monkey's throat.
"Dog and Bear require treatment. You do as well."
"I will not accept—"
"You will," Yamakaji said. "The official recording shows you initiating an unauthorized purge after the Marine observers ended the combat stage. Until Headquarters reviews the footage, none of you are leaving this grove without medical clearance and recorded statements."
Monkey's head turned toward him.
"You do not possess authority over CP0."
"No," Yamakaji replied. "But I possess authority over the Marine personnel and secured dock you nearly destroyed. If you attempt to leave before giving a statement, I will report that as obstruction of a Fleet Admiral's investigation."
Law walked past them toward Dog and Bear.
"I am treating the fractures first. Anyone who objects can keep the broken bones."
Brogy rested his axe against one shoulder.
"Gababababa! The doctor sounds angry."
Dorry lowered his sword.
"Gegyagyagyagya! He always sounds angry."
"He travels with Zaraki."
"That explains it."
Zaraki sealed Nozarashi by deliberately closing the flow feeding the released blade.
The chipped cleaver shuddered once before returning to its rough, heavy form.
He looked toward Monkey.
"You wanted to test whether they could protect the surroundings while fighting Government weapons. They protected your agents, your ships, your recording, and the grove from the mess you made."
Monkey said nothing.
Gion finally lowered Konpira, though she did not sheathe it.
"As Marine observer, I formally record that Dorry the Blue Ogre and Brogy the Red Ogre have passed the combat portion of the preliminary Warlord assessment."
Yamakaji nodded.
"They demonstrated Haki, adaptability, controlled force, and the ability to distinguish hostile targets from allied personnel under lethal pressure."
Dorry looked toward them.
"And Oimo and Kashii?"
"The combat result does not settle your political condition," Gion said. "That demand remains part of the official record and must be answered before either of you accepts an appointment."
Brogy's expression hardened.
"Then we have not accepted yet."
"No," Gion replied. "You have not."
That answer earned more respect from the giants than any false promise would have.
A Marine signalman ran from the eastern observation post.
"Vice Admiral Gion! Vice Admiral Yamakaji! Vice Admiral Garp's ship has entered the archipelago and will reach Grove 1 in approximately fifteen minutes!"
Zaraki's mouth tightened.
Law noticed.
"You looked happier when the Pacifistas began exploding."
"The machines didn't plan to lecture me."
"That may be the most reasonable fear you have expressed."
Behind them, the visual Den Den Mushi continued sending the entire incident to Marineford.