**Chapter 97: Member Nations Resist**
Over the next two months, the Rocks Pirates didn't make any major moves.
Newgate was getting familiar with the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, sparring with Hades from time to time, and also battling other Great Pirates within the Rocks Pirates.
Shiki, John, Silver Axe, Wang Zhi – he basically challenged every powerful Cadre.
News of Newgate obtaining a powerful Devil Fruit naturally spread.
Almost every day, Hades could feel Newgate's strength improving, that vast, continuously surging terrifying power.
Unlike Newgate's ostentatiousness, Hades quietly trained and improved his own strength with his Subordinates.
In the Rocks Pirates, strength was everything; with strength, you could obtain anything.
Aside from when he first joined the Rocks Pirates, Hades had been inconspicuous within the crew.
Some people even gradually forgot about him.
Besides his Subordinates, the only ones he still interacted with were High-Ranking Cadres like Newgate and Karsus; they were on a different level.
Being low-key was Hades' established strategy within the Rocks Pirates.
Sitting on the sofa, Hades tallied his gains from this period.
The Exchange business was very popular, with quite a few Famous Swords and Devil Fruits passing through.
Newgate found the Tremor-Tremor Fruit while plundering treasure.
Other Pirates naturally had other gains as well.
Devil Fruits collected by Nobles, or found in Kingdom treasuries, also existed.
After every operation, the strength of the Rocks Pirates would increase.
Pirates eager for strength would eat a Devil Fruit as soon as they obtained it to enhance their strength.
However, not all Pirates would do this.
Some were already Ability Users.
Some were dissatisfied with the Devil Fruit Ability they found.
Or the Devil Fruit Ability was unknown, making them unable to decide.
In such cases, it was better to exchange the Devil Fruit for Beli.
This time, the Rocks Pirates plundered over a hundred Devil Fruits from eleven Kingdoms.
This number didn't include the Devil Fruits that were eaten immediately or hidden away and unknown to others.
Quite a number of Devil Fruits were sent to the Exchange.
Paramecia Type: Volcano-Volcano Fruit, Paramecia Type: Blood-Blood Fruit, Ancient Zoan: Sickle-Dragon Fruit, Ancient Zoan: Plesiosaur Fruit.
Did Hades lose out? Never.
How many of the Devil Fruits collected by Nobles were ordinary?
Of course, a very important reason was that some Pirates simply didn't know what Abilities these Devil Fruits possessed.
Even if there was a Devil Fruit Encyclopedia, it was very incomplete.
And frustratingly, while the Encyclopedia described the Abilities of most Devil Fruits in the World, most of them didn't have accompanying illustrations.
If a truly valuable Ability was found, these Pirates wouldn't be willing to sell them.
The peaceful period didn't last long.
The Marines, supported by the World Government, seemed to gain more confidence.
With an additional 150,000 Army soldiers, they continuously expanded their military strength in the New World.
They maintained a posture of pressure but didn't make any significant moves.
July 4th was the day the World Summit began, and also the founding day of the World Government.
Fifty Kings from World Government Member Nations would depart a month early to attend the World Summit at the World Government headquarters.
Interestingly, the Member Nations eligible to attend the World Summit were the Kingdoms with greater prestige in the World, not necessarily the fifty strongest Kingdoms.
Superpower Nations like Hilton Kingdom would not participate in such a meeting.
Powerhouse Nations with strong influence also wouldn't attend such meetings.
Their non-participation indicated a subtle rejection of the World Government by the Member Nations and clear dissatisfaction.
The vast influence of the major nations, and their thought-provoking actions, served as a strong boost for Member Nations who were hesitant and afraid of offending the World Government.
It's worth noting that the Heavenly Tribute was supposed to be transported to the World Government at the same time.
This time, the vast majority of Member Nations unanimously delayed the preparation of the Heavenly Tribute.
This meant they temporarily had no plan to submit the Heavenly Tribute.
This left the Marines, World Government Officials, and Agents who were sent to various Member Nations in advance to escort the Heavenly Tribute extremely awkward.
They were all given the cold shoulder.
They postponed the time for transporting the Heavenly Tribute until after the World Summit concluded.
And they clearly stated their intention to halve the Heavenly Tribute this year, or even refuse to submit it altogether.
Their attitude was clear and firm.
The World Government already felt a sense of crisis.
Before, it was just rumors; the opposition and resistance from Member Nations were only verbal.
But this time, the Member Nations truly began to drift away from the World Government.
Member Nations needed the World Government to maintain World stability, and the most important point was to protect the interests of the Member Nations.
The World Government clearly failed to do this.
Since the Rocks Pirates began their actions, the World Government had not shown the resolve to engage in resistance against the Rocks Pirates.
They let the Marines bear the brunt of everything.
There was no action even after Croydia Kingdom was destroyed.
Now, eleven more Member Nations have been annihilated by the Rocks Pirates.
The World Government finally made a move, but it was already too late.
The patience of the Member Nations had long reached its limit.
The destruction of Croydia Kingdom, Stone Country, and other Member Nations touched their nerves.
They didn't want to wait any longer; they had to teach the World Government a lesson.
To tell them that the operation of this World was never solely decided by the World Government.
The Marines were pressuring the World Government, the Member Nations were pressuring the World Government, and the Rocks Pirates were pressuring the World Government.
The entire World was pressuring the World Government.
If they didn't act soon, the prestige of the World Government would be continuously weakened.
The holding of the World Summit had no impact on the Rocks Pirates.
Conversely, the World Government had to worry about whether the Rocks Pirates would attack them.
Whether it was escorting the Kings attending the World Summit or the Force tasked with transporting the Heavenly Tribute, they significantly dispersed the strength of the Marines and the World Government.
Having spent a large amount of funds over the years, the World Government, in order to alleviate financial pressure, had begun printing Beli beyond limits.
This had already started to affect this Great Sea.
If the World Government didn't want such an influence to expand, they needed sufficient funds reserves, i.
e.
, the Heavenly Tribute, to mitigate it.
The World Government sending out powerful combat power was also largely to protect the Heavenly Tribute and the upcoming World Summit.
(end of chapter)