Heart Demon Seed

Although Tony had no idea what crime he'd committed, fear told him that his life mattered most. Even if he was thrown in prison, his father would find a way to get him out.

So he gave in and started to crouch down with his hands over his head.

"I surren—"

But Laffitte's cane hooked under Tony's arm and lifted him like a child. Grinning sinisterly, he said, "Sorry, young master, but you have to fight the Marines today..."

His pale face turned toward the spotlight. "Give the order. Kill all the Marines, and these foolish civilians too."

Tony saw ripples circling before his eyes and murmured, dazed, "But I didn't bring enough men today."

"No, you did." Laffitte used his cane to pull Tony upright. The audience in the Opera House had all crouched down with their hands over their heads, leaving only them and the bodyguards standing. They stood out like sore thumbs.

Bang!

Conrad's gunshot rang out, cold and merciless. He'd said he would fire, so he would. A man who didn't keep his word couldn't stand tall.

A volley of gunfire erupted right after.

Through the open side of the Opera House, where there was no wall, the forty Marines of the Aokiji Buster Force fired into the bodyguards' wall of flesh.

The ladies couldn't hold back their fear. Screams spilled from behind their hands, clamped over their mouths.

But the king and Tony were out of the line of fire.

Laffitte had one person in each hand and had leaped onto the iron rigging beneath the Opera House's ceiling lights.

His leap was so light that it displayed superhuman strength. Though he carried two adults, he landed as softly as a feather.

The bald bodyguard in black, who had just blocked a bullet with his gun and had a steel cable for a right arm, had also slipped behind the box seats for cover.

Standing on the rigging, Tony's face had grown as furious as the king's, as if he, too, had remembered his noble status.

He recalled the Marlon Family's former glory as the head of West Blue's underworld, and his grandfather, who had once followed Rocks, the Conqueror of the World.

"Fight back... Fight back! Take them all out!"

As if answering Tony's shout, the dense clatter of leather shoes, like the pounding of hooves, rang through the dark, cold night.

Laffitte swung his cane and cut open the Opera House's sheet-metal roof. Carrying the king and Tony, he leaped lightly again and landed on the roof.

Rows of Mafiosi brandishing guns came marching in from both ends of the streets in front of and behind the Opera House. Their numbers blotted out the dark, and the blades and axes reflected a glimmering, flowing chill.

When Tony saw the Marlon Family crest on their clothes, he was overjoyed.

He didn't notice that not one of the faces in the night was familiar to him.

In an alley the Mafia passed, Bege stood with a cigar between his teeth and sneered, "The Marlon Family's young master ordered the Marines and all those powerful, influential figures killed. This news is sure to make tomorrow's headlines."

The tattooed man beside him, whose long tongue lolled out, grinned as he walked out of the alley and joined the Opera House's ranks. "The West Blue underworld is destined to be united under you, Boss."

On the Opera House's open western side, Conrad looked up at the sky again. Clouds drifted through the night, and the four deadly stars circling him had already shone with blinding, bloody light.

The center of the stage lay beneath his feet.

This was the misfortune brought by his birth star. If he hadn't suggested coming here, the Marines behind him wouldn't have appeared here at this moment.

He had calculated his birth star long ago. It was called—Ten Thousand Mile Slaughter.

"Kneel! Beg me for mercy!" the king and Tony roared in unison, their faces twisted in identical, smug grins.

Laffitte couldn't help laughing aloud, his face full of delight.

Hearing the enemy, the Marines realized they were surrounded. The footsteps showed just how numerous their foes were. And with killers hidden in the darkness, a heavy aura of death seemed to seep from everyone's skin.

"All hands, listen up!" Conrad's voice rang out, clear and loud. "Retreat!"

"Where to?" Shuzo suppressed the resentment in his heart. He was at a loss, so he chose to obey for now. The most important thing was to get everyone moving in the same direction.

"Ain, lead the way. Kujaku, seal off the rear."

Conrad lowered Baby-5's shield and walked alone toward the stage. "I'll hold them off!"

"How are you supposed to hold them off?" Kujaku asked in shock. She picked up the shield and hurried after him, positioning herself between Conrad and the audience.

"Ha! I am the Overlord Heavenly Image, a wielder of Conqueror's Haki!"

Conrad shouted, his voice growing louder with every step. "You'll only hold me back if you stay here! I've been holding back my full Haki because I was afraid I'd knock you all out!"

The Marines raised their guns and followed. Bling Bling had trained under Conrad from the beginning and knew how strong he was. "If we charge together, at least some of us can break through."

"Enough talk!" Conrad clenched his fist and slammed it into the wall behind the stage. "Whale-Slaying Tyrant Fist!"

The wooden wall shattered easily into splinters.

His Conqueror's Haki also shook everyone in the theater for an instant.

"Go! This way!" Conrad looked at Kujaku. "Keep Baby-5 safe for me. Take her with you. I'll join you as soon as I've held them off."

The shield shifted into liquid. The girl in the red dress and butterfly bow lowered her head and bit her lip. "Do I have to go too?"

The footsteps drew closer, mingling with the crack of gunfire and the clash of steel.

Conrad vigorously ruffled his hair and said gently, "My Haki's too strong. It'll knock you out too."

Baby-5 lowered her head even further. Kujaku took her wrist, and the Marines began moving toward the opening behind the stage.

Conrad drew a breath and turned around.

As soon as he turned his back, two small arms suddenly wrapped around his waist. Baby-5's voice, choked with tears, came out in a strained whisper.

"I...I'm not going! Don't send me away..."

Baby-5 clutched Conrad's clothes so tightly that her fingers dug into the muscles of his waist. Her voice trembled. "You said you'd always need me... D-do you not need me anymore?!"

Conrad was an orphan, so he wasn't one to cling and make a tearful farewell. Instead, he reached back and drew Baby-5 close at his side.

The stage spotlight stood three meters in front of them. They were in the darkness, just as their pasts had been mostly without sunlight.

Conrad thought of the little dark room he often visited. If he'd had someone to talk to in there, he wouldn't have had to talk to himself...

Conrad looked at the crowd of self-serving socialites in the audience. There were quite a few children among them, but he had no time to think it over. He flung out his hand and roared, "Get out! All of you, get out!"

The socialites felt as if they'd been pardoned. They lowered their hands from their heads and scrambled to find a way out alive.

Behind the stage came the sounds of stone and wood collapsing, lashes cracking, and walls scraping together as obstacles were piled up, leaving only the passage behind Conrad.

The way hadn't been sealed off.

The Mafiosi were here. They'd reached the broken wall, and several pairs of leather shoes were already stepping through.

In truth, Conrad had told the Marines to leave for a reason that had nothing to do with Conqueror's Haki.

He took Baby-5's supple hand and suddenly opened his eyes wide. Blood vessels surged and twisted across his black eyes, and his entire presence turned instantly ferocious.

He had done it to begin the reverse cultivation of the Heart-Freezing Art, one of his two core techniques.

He was reversing the technique that had once suppressed Qilin Mad Blood in the world of Fengyun, reversing the flow of the Haki coursing through his brain to seal it away.

To release the seed planted in him after he'd been confined in the little dark room and gone berserk—the Heart Demon Seed.

Blood surged upward, and veins bulged across his face.

"Yahahahahaha!!!"