Plans

"All right, Mother. Where are we going next? Straight to Hachinosu?"

After steadying himself, Hades looked at Nyx and asked. He had a feeling that since his mother had come in person, she must already have plans for them.

"No. Don't underestimate that place." Nyx shook her head. She didn't want Hades going there too soon.

With his current strength and the power of the Death-Death Fruit, Hades could barely secure a place in the Rocks Pirates as a full member.

He was still a long way from becoming an officer.

Hades was young, after all. Nyx didn't want him drawing too much attention before he'd had time to grow.

Stand out too much, and he would become a target. Even Nyx would have trouble protecting him then.

That place was a gathering ground for monsters.

Even the officers fell into two tiers based on strength, and she was only an ordinary officer herself.

In practice, the Rocks Pirates had just three ranks: Cannon Fodder, full members, and officers. The Cannon Fodder simply considered themselves full members.

Every full member would be a Great Pirate anywhere else on the seas.

Just like her.

But between them and the true monsters lay a gulf as wide as the heavens.

Go there without a solid foundation, and you might be devoured without a trace.

If Hades were a nobody, he could simply keep his head down for a while.

But his identity made that impossible. There was a good chance he would be targeted.

"I'm going to take you somewhere to train for two years. You need time to develop your Fruit Ability, and your Haki still needs work."

"After those two years, I'll take you to Hachinosu."

Nyx laid out the plan she had made in advance.

She had faith in Hades. Two years would be enough for him to undergo an astonishing transformation.

The Tartarus Family had a powerful bloodline, and Jaeger had been exceptional even among them. A monster from birth, he possessed the terrifying physique the family called the "Fierce God."

Steel Muscles and Iron Bones, innate Monstrous Strength, the fearsome vitality of a Beast King, and a vicious aura like that of a demon god.

Even without the Death-Death Fruit, Jaeger's monstrous physique would have made him one of the most formidable monsters on the seas.

For all his fame as the Grim Reaper, it was less that the Death-Death Fruit had made Jaeger than that Jaeger had made the Devil Fruit what it was.

As Jaeger's son, Hades had inherited that physique perfectly. His Observation Haki, awakened from birth, promised potential surpassing even his father's.

Hades nodded. His mother certainly knew the Rocks Pirates better than he did.

Most of what he knew about them still came from his previous life: many of the future Overlords of the Sea had emerged from the Rocks Pirates.

At this point in time, though, the crew had yet to reach its true peak.

Even monsters who would one day be renowned across the seas, such as Whitebeard, Golden Lion, and Big Mom, had not all joined the Rocks Pirates yet.

And those who had joined were only full members.

They had only just begun to make names for themselves and had yet to become the crew's core, though with their potential, they would rise quickly.

Of the names Hades recognized, the most prominent were John, Silver Axe, and Ochoku. Perhaps because they were older, all three were already core officers of the Rocks Pirates.

Even so, the crew had plenty of powerful figures Hades had never heard of. Perhaps they would die in the great battle to come, or be imprisoned in Impel Down and fade into obscurity.

"Violence King" Kosa, a user of the Paramecia Muscle-Muscle Fruit.

"Death Gun" Leon, a user of the Paramecia Pierce-Pierce Fruit.

"Golden King" Donovan, a user of the Paramecia Gold-Gold Fruit.

"Werewolf" Queiro, a user of the Mythical Zoan Human-Human Fruit, Werewolf Form. He was also a member of the Werewolf Race, one of the rare nonhuman races found on the seas.

They were all powerful figures who had joined in the early days of the Rocks Pirates, contemporaries of Rocks D. Zebek. Some were even older than he was.

Each had once been a renowned overlord in the New World. But all had fallen to Rocks, and their crews had been absorbed into the Rocks Pirates.

They were the crew's true core officers at present.

John, Silver Axe, and Ochoku, who had already risen to prominence, along with future figures like Golden Lion and Whitebeard, were merely the Rocks Pirates' rising stars.

Yet it was they who would bring the crew to its true peak.

There were many more monsters whose names would be unknown in the future.

The World Government would seal away all news of the Rocks Pirates. As time passed, who knew how many people the era would forget?

Hades had arrived at an early point in that history, giving him plenty of time to grow.

Having someone to protect him was ideal. That was his main reason for leaving the Kronos Kingdom. All he needed now was time.

Even the greatest potential needed pressure to awaken it and time to turn it into strength.

Even after joining the Rocks Pirates, he would need several years to develop.

He needed harsher training. The Wild Beasts of the Kronos Kingdom could no longer put him under any pressure.

Hades looked forward to seeing where his mother would take him.

He could roughly guess what it would be like, though: a harsher environment and fiercer beasts.

The New World had no shortage of such islands, but the place had to be safe from interference.

"We'll do as you say, Mother." Hades narrowed his eyes, and a thick, vicious aura erupted from him.

"But first, there are a few rats we need to clear out."

Hades swept his gaze around the ship. Nearly two hundred Pirates were aboard, all his mother's subordinates and members of the Black Night Pirates.

His gaze settled on several people, pinning them in place with a malevolent force.

They seemed to sense him watching. Their bodies stiffened, and their expressions changed.

Behind Hades, Titan unleashed a terrifying aura and fixed his gaze on the people around them.

A strange devouring power surfaced around his body, radiating an unseen pull that seemed to seize the soul.

A savage, greedy mouth opened in the palm of Titan's right hand.

Ananke also scanned their surroundings warily, ready to use her ability.