The treasure hoarded in the Jewel Ice Sheet was the culmination of generations of accumulation by the Happo Navy.
The sheer volume of wealth was enough to drive anyone mad.
Even with two full warships and hundreds of Marines working together, it still took three whole hours to completely empty the treasure vault.
According to Hammer's estimate, the total haul was at least 30 billion Berries!
"My money... the Happo Navy's legacy..."
"Gone... all of it, gone..."
Chinjao, now without his drill-head, sat blank-eyed in front of the now dull, treasureless Jewel Ice Sheet.
Not a single coin had been left by those damn Marines.
Even Hammer, watching Chinjao's crushed expression, felt a twinge of... something.
He quickly marched over to Chinjao.
Everyone thought he might offer a few words of comfort.
"Drillhead, oh wait, you don't have one anymore. Guess I'll just call you 'Chinjao the Flat-Top' now."
"Flat-Top, have you learned your lesson yet? You shouldn't have messed with me. Shouldn't have messed with the Marines!"
"You're lucky I didn't toss you into Impel Down. Now your still thinking about the money? Hah, eat dirt!"
Everyone: 'Damn. That's cold-blooded.'
Chinjao was snapped back to life by the verbal abuse. His eyes turned bloodshot, a dangerous aura radiated from his body, and he glared viciously at Hammer.
"You little brat...! I'll remember this. I'll remember it until the day I KILL YOU!"
Hammer casually dug into his ear, completely unfazed.
"Yeah, good luck with that. I'm not staying still either, you know. Once I'm back, I'm starting Haki training."
'You Want to kill me? Good luck, I'm not stepping foot outside Marineford. Come at me if you dare!'
Then Hammer picked up his custom spike again and continued mining the glacier.
The ice from Jewel Ice Sheet was freakishly strong, technically ice, but harder than steel.
He was eager to try forging with it.
Soon, he excavated a huge block of ice, about the size of one of Garp's iron cannonballs.
"Lance, tie this thing up and drag it behind the ship. We're taking it to Marineford."
Lance stared at the ice ball, his face twitching, but he followed orders and got the men to work.
Once preparations were complete, Garp gave the signal:
"Set sail! Back to Marineford!"
They left him at Jewel Ice Sheet.
The guy was built like a tank, Hammer wasn't even slightly worried about him surviving.
And so, Warhammer and Doghead returned home fully loaded.
Marineford – Fleet Admiral's Office
"Hammer, let's hear it. That little skirmish with Chinjao, how much loot did we, ahem, 'reclaim'?"
"Old man Kong, you're the Fleet Admiral! Could you stop talking about money every other sentence? You sound like a street merchant, how vulgar!"
"Cut the crap! Just give me the number. How much did the Happo Navy have?"
And so began the usual verbal duel between Fleet Admiral Kong and Hammer.
Kong pressing. Hammer deflecting. Back and forth.
Eventually, Hammer sighed and surrendered the number.
"Thirty-six billion. And we had an agreement: a 40-60 split. HQ gets 40, I get 60!"
Thirty-six billion...
Sengoku and the others were stunned.
'That small-time Happo Navy had THAT kind of money?!'
Though shocked, they quickly regained their composure. Gotta keep up appearances, after all.
Kong's face lit up in joy, but was quickly replaced with a deep frown. Hammer immediately sensed something sketchy.
"Hammer, what you did counts as blatant looting, you know? As soon as you emptied Jewel Ice Sheet, the Kano Country filed a formal complaint."
"They claim the Navy plundered the wealth of a government-affiliated kingdom. Even the Five Elders got involved, I got an earful!"
He put on his best teary-eyed performance. It was actually pretty convincing.
But Hammer didn't believe it one bit.
"Oh? That so? Well, it just so happens I'll be making a delivery to Mariejois in a few days."
"I'll ask CP0 personally, let's see what they say about it."
He wasn't just any fool. Hammer had been in the game too long to fall for Kong's crocodile tears.
Kong immediately coughed awkwardly.
"No, no, that won't be necessary. I've already smoothed things over. Let's just talk about splitting the cash, shall we?"
Hammer snorted coldly, not even hiding his contempt.
Let's be real, the Happo Navy was a pirate group under the Kano Country. The kingdom would never risk making a scene at the World Government over them.
They knew full well it was shady business. Their king wouldn't dare stir up trouble.
"36 billion. I'm taking 21.6, eh, let's round it down to 21 billion."
"The remaining 15 billion goes to HQ."
Kong: '21 billion... 15 billion... This little bastard's math is too sharp.'
Tsuru: 'That's... a lot of funding at once."
Garp: 'Mmm, donuts taste even better when you're rich'
"You've been stationed at HQ for years. What do you even need that much money for? Why don't we-"
Before Kong could finish, Hammer cut him off.
"Stop right there! What I do with my money is my business! Don't you dare eye my piggy bank, old man!"
Seeing Hammer not giving even an inch, Kong gave up with a sigh.
"Fine, let's move on. There's been a lot of activity in the New World. Sakazuki's been stirring things up, and we're getting useful intel."
"First off, Whitebeard's crew has taken in a samurai from Wano. That's worth noting."
'Samurai? Kozuki Oden…?'
Hammer frowned slightly. He wasn't interested in Oden himself.
But his sword Enma, a blade that could drain Haki.
Now that he wanted to test.
"As for the Golden Lion Pirates, they've been quiet. Last time, their fleet got wrecked during the Edd War"
"Big Mom has clashed repeatedly with Sakazuki. He managed to defeat Perospero and others, but when Charlotte Linlin joined the fight, he was forced to retreat after being injured."
"That's the current situation in the New World."
"Now, about the Four Blues and the Grand Line..."
Kong picked up a document, his expression turning slightly serious.
"A lot of new pirates have popped up recently, some of them quite powerful."
"This is a list from the World Government. They want to pick a new Shichibukai from this batch."
"Everyone, take a look, especially you, Hammer."
Hammer groaned. He hated this Shichibukai nonsense, but there was no escaping it.
But then he flipped open the list...
...and the very first name?
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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