I Need a Gun!

"I told you, don't move!" Vergo blew air into the gun barrel in his hand, inflating it into an absurdly large sphere.

But his threat couldn't stop Conrad, who was already rushing toward Baby-5 as she leaped down from the sky, the only deep-red spot in the endless snow.

"Cover me!"

"Huh?" Rosinante's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. He knew how destructive Demon Bamboo was. "How?"

"Figure something out!" Conrad's eyes remained fixed on Baby-5, never wavering for even an instant.

The girl was so petite she seemed liable to be swept away by the wind. Yet at that moment, the two of them had eyes only for each other, one falling as the other ran, converging on the same point.

BANG!

The spherical barrel shrank in an instant and fired an air cannon. Vergo aimed at Conrad's legs. After all, even if his opponent had eaten the Op-Op Fruit, he didn't need his legs to perform surgery.

Rosinante moved at the same time as Vergo. He couldn't stand by and watch two children get killed right in front of him, so he threw himself in front of the barrel.

"Can you just come up with a plan because someone tells you to? Aah! Tekkai!"

BOOM!

The air cannon slammed into Rosinante's Tekkai, which he had braced himself to hold firm.

Baby-5 plunged into Conrad's arms, his arms raised to catch her.

The blast's flames tore apart his floral shirt and feather coat, sending Rosinante flying.

The impact of her fall buckled Conrad's planted knees and knocked him onto the snow, but he still caught Baby-5, and she clung tightly to him.

Baby-5 raised her crimson, embarrassed face. The first thing she saw was Conrad looking at her as if she were a precious treasure.

She might have hurt herself a little, too, but she couldn't feel it at all just then. "Are you okay? Are you all right?"

"Baby-5! Shoot him!"

Buffalo circled through the sky like an airplane, the hair on his neck spinning as he slowed his descent. "That crafty brat is tricking you! He's going to use you as a hostage!"

But Baby-5 seemed not to hear him. Her glistening black eyes were fixed on the blood trickling from the boy's mouth into his collar. His smile was radiant, though, and seemed to grow even wider at her distress.

"Give me a hand." Conrad took Baby-5's icy little hand.

Baby-5 hurriedly climbed off Conrad's chest. She clasped his hand between both of hers and pulled with all her might.

Conrad rose to his feet, his black eyes meeting hers. "Point your gun at me," he whispered.

Baby-5 raised her right hand, which transformed into a gun barrel and pressed against Conrad's forehead. One bullet was all it would take to end his life.

"Stop being stupid! Listen to Mr. Vergo! The young master will be here any moment!" Buffalo abruptly tilted his head back and soared into the sky, continuing his mission to keep watch on the Marines.

Vergo walked over to the fallen tree and kicked away its crown. Then he dragged Rosinante, battered and bruised, out of the snowdrift. His chest was completely stained with blood, and he was breathing in ragged, rapid gasps.

But there wasn't a trace of sympathy on the face behind his sunglasses. His Marine boot pressed down on Rosinante's mangled wound. "Tell me where the Op-Op Fruit is."

As he spoke, his sunglasses turned toward Conrad. "I don't like killing children, but I've killed plenty."

Rosinante knew he was being threatened. It didn't matter if he died; it was just a shame he hadn't managed to send the intelligence report yet. The poor, innocent—

He struggled, guilt-ridden, and looked toward Conrad.

"Don't worry! A man doesn't fear death! Surviving by selling someone out? You'd be underestimating me!"

Conrad grabbed Baby-5's wrist again, holding it as he once had the fishing spear that kept him alive for a week.

He looked Vergo over from head to toe. Every inch of his skin was covered in Armament Haki; his powerful body had no openings. Only one thought came to Conrad's mind.

"I need a gun! A Haki-infused gun!"

Baby-5 looked up at Conrad. The boy was about ten centimeters taller than her. Perhaps this was love at first sight.

Though Conrad hadn't explained, she somehow knew what he meant. He wasn't talking about the Fire Pistol that was her arm.

He meant a long-bladed weapon.

As it happened, she was a Weapon-Weapon Fruit user.

Baby-5 rose onto her toes in the snow and offered her increasingly slender waist to Conrad's frostbitten hand. It fit perfectly in his grasp.

Her deep-red cotton coat fluttered in the wind, its empty sleeves twisting into a blood-red tassel beneath the cold steel spearhead.

It would have been perfect, if Baby-5's legs hadn't still been standing in the snow below her waist.

"I... I can only turn part of my body into weapons for now. In the past, only my hands and feet could turn into pistols." Her delicate calves remained tucked into their long boots. Her knees rubbed together as she worried that he'd reject her and find her disappointing.

But Conrad only gripped the pitch-black shaft firmly, gazing at the imposing, ancient-looking spearhead that emerged from the fanged mouth at its base. In the cold light of the snowy night, it looked grim and sharp.

"I transformed into this based on your appearance..."

"Great! Keep going!" Conrad raised it high in one smooth motion. "You can do it! I know you can!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Baby-5's legs fused into a straight spear shaft, becoming two white stripes against the dark surface.

Her mind went blank. It was as if she'd found the one she was destined for. Joy made her dizzy, and the spearhead quivered with a ringing hum.

Just then, a cloud billowed into existence in the sky above the center of Minion Island. Threads spread out in every direction, descending to cover the entire island.

Conrad knew it was the Birdcage, a technique Doflamingo had developed through his study of the String-String Fruit.

The Donquixote Family had already landed on the island. They would be here any moment.

He had to strike! Right now! This very instant!

As soon as the thought flashed through his mind, Conrad charged, gripping the spear that had transformed for him, that had been born for him.

A spear! Gather all your strength at a single point! Break through the whole with a point!

Vergo found it absurd. A child had picked up a weapon transformed by another disobedient child and dared to attack him.

Before Conrad even reached him, his voice rang out, calling Vergo by name as if challenging him to a duel.

"VERGO!!!"

Conrad's body wasn't strong enough yet, but a fire that would never die burned in his heart. It was a volcano destined to erupt, waiting for the moment it would finally set the heavens alight.

He had to roar. The fire burned within him, and only a powerful, piercing shout could keep it from burning through his chest.

He couldn't use Ryuo, and he didn't understand Conqueror's Coating. The Conqueror's Haki inside him was like boiling water, steaming as it rose from his skin.

All he knew was that he had to focus his entire mind on the spearhead. It was the glimmer that would cut through their encirclement. His body adjusted its posture to unleash its most powerful attack, all for the sake of that one strike, into which he would pour every last bit of his Haki!

"This spear carries twenty years of my will! Can you block it?!"

In Vergo's eyes, Conrad looked like a harmless lamb suddenly baring its fangs, charging at him with ferocity.

But Vergo could see clearly that no matter how impressive this strike looked, it couldn't possibly break through his Armament Haki defense.

He raised the barrel of Demon Bamboo. As soon as Conrad reached him, he would knock the spear aside and strike down that head that never seemed to bow.

BOOM!

The steam rising from Conrad's body darkened in color, and his presence surged violently. His Conqueror's Haki erupted like a bursting boiler, rushing toward the spearhead in a single explosive torrent!

He gave everything he had to one strike. It was all or nothing—he would not turn back without victory.

"You can't block this! Haki propulsion! Army-Breaking Overlord Spear!"