Cashing In and Making Friends

In the days after Hades joined the Rocks Pirates, he kept a much lower profile than anyone expected.

Apart from exploring every corner of Hachinosu, he got to know only three pirates.

One was Edward Newgate, the future Sea Emperor known as "Whitebeard" and "the strongest man in the world."

Edward Newgate had not built a faction of his own within the Rocks Pirates.

To the other pirates, his dream of having a family was laughable.

He sent most of the treasure he acquired back to his hometown, leaving himself flat broke.

Without treasure, why would any pirate follow him? Besides, Newgate had no such ambitions yet.

Meeting Newgate had actually been an accident.

While Hades was in a bar, Newgate walked over with a bottle of wine, sat across from him, and struck up a conversation.

More precisely, he wanted to drink on Hades's tab without paying a cent.

He had even mooched the bottle he brought from another pirate.

After all, Hades really was rich. As Jaeger's Son, he had the backing of the superpower Kronos Kingdom.

Only a few senior figures had originally known Hades's background. Once he arrived, everyone dug up the details.

The first thing Hades did after joining the Rocks Pirates was buy a luxurious mansion on Hachinosu.

Living on Hachinosu cost money, of course. Various factions lurked behind the island's businesses, and they all submitted to the Rocks Pirates and paid protection money.

In other words, the entire island was an asset of the Rocks Pirates.

Expanding the Rocks Pirates took enormous funds. How could they manage without money?

Plenty of people had seen Titan pull chest after chest of Beli straight out of his stomach, seemingly without end.

Two days later, an Exchange House opened with little fanfare.

It offered all kinds