The Expanding Power and a Provoked Shiki

The six months after Hades decided to make his move belonged to him.

It wasn't just the Rocks Pirates watching this young monster who had come into his own. The Marines were watching too.

No matter how much they regretted it, the fact was beyond changing.

Hades had underestimated his own reputation. Not a single pirate he approached turned down his invitation.

That was exactly what Hades wanted.

Battle after battle, victory after victory—his potential was plain to see. Anyone who followed him could look forward to a brilliant future.

At just sixteen, he already possessed strength comparable to a Top Combatant. He had naturally become a core officer of the Rocks Pirates, and the youngest one at that.

No one dared underestimate Hades. He knew how terrifying the Death-Death Fruit's power was, so he took care not to abuse it.

But that did not mean others could provoke him. Pirates whose attitudes displeased Hades vanished from the world, one by one.

Plenty of people had seen it happen. The battle on the day Hades joined the Rocks Pirates, two years earlier, was still hard for many to forget.

Besides, wasn't it only natural for the defeated to submit to the victor?

And the victor had every right to end their lives.

Either way, they had no compelling reason to refuse.

The "Ring King" Bill Russell was a Paramecia Ring-Ring Fruit User, a Great Pirate with a bounty of over 400 million Beli. He had once led a Pirate Army alongside "Blade" Edge to destroy one of the World Government Member States in the Four Seas.

He was secretly close to "Blade" Edge. Edge's submission had undoubtedly influenced his judgment and inclined him toward Hades.

Bill Russell's decision to join came as a welcome surprise to Hades. He had not