Starting with helping Zhao Kai ascend the throne in the snow

As the richest man in the pirate world, Tesoro is naturally not short of money. Since the death of his beloved Stella, Tesoro has become even more obsessed with money, but he also enjoys the pleasure of using money to enslave others.

On the contrary, he is not stingy with money, which is why his power has expanded rapidly over the years. With money and the willingness to spend it, he will naturally have no shortage of friends. Even the high and mighty Celestial Dragons will become his brothers because of money.

Therefore, upon hearing that Crocodile was there for money, Tesoro was not angry at the damage Crocodile had caused at the Golden Casino; instead, he felt a desire to befriend him.

More friends mean more paths; more enemies mean more walls to block your way.

In Tezzolo's eyes, any problem that can be solved with money is not a problem.

Although Crocodile is alone at the moment, he was once one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea personally recruited by the World Government. With some help, Crocodile will soon be able to regain his former power.

So when Tesoro learned that Crocodile wanted money, he decided to act as Crocodile's angel investor, willing to invest heavily to help him rise again. Isn't that how connections are built? As long as you lend a helping hand when someone is in trouble, you can establish a relationship once they become a powerful pirate again.

Unfortunately, Tesoro was unaware that everything Crocodile had told him was a lie, leading him to mistakenly believe that Crocodile was truly after money.

On the other side, after hearing Tesoro's words, Old Sha had a sudden thought and a desire to play a trick on him arose.

This time, everyone came out in full force to deal with Tesoro, and they had already laid a trap. With the strength Tesoro had shown, he had no way to break free. So at this moment, he didn't mind toying with his opponent.

"Oh, I wonder how much money the Golden Emperor intends to give me?" Crocodile asked Tesoro, feigning interest, while stopping his Erosion Reincarnation and standing up from the ground.

“Crocodile, this isn’t the place to talk. We can go to my private room to discuss this in detail. Just name your price, and I’m willing to pay whatever it takes.” Seeing Crocodile stop, Tesoro assumed that his words had moved Crocodile and immediately extended a generous invitation to his private room.

"No, let's make things clear first. I'm afraid if I go with you, I'll fall into your ambush and die here." Old Sha was just toying with the other party, so he naturally wouldn't accept Tesoro's invitation and refused without hesitation.

Tesoro frowned slightly upon hearing this. He seemed to sense that something was amiss. He had already shown such sincerity that an ordinary pirate would have been moved to tears and followed him to the private room. All he had to do was flatter him and offer him money, and they would become friends.

Crocodile, however, didn't play by the rules, and his seemingly normal smile seemed to hide a strange meaning. Tesoro looked closely but found nothing, and could only conclude that he was overthinking it.

"Alright, since you don't want to come to the private room with me, just name your price, and I'll send someone to bring the money over right away. That should put your mind at ease, right?" Tesoro assumed Crocodile was being overly cautious and could only say this.

"You'll give me whatever I ask for?" Old Sha tossed away his cigar, looking at Tezzo with a bright smile that sent a chill down Tezzo's spine.

However, Tezzolo, as the richest man who controls 20% of the world's wealth, nodded confidently and said, "Yes, as long as you can name it, I can afford it."

"I want gold, silver, copper, iron, and tin, ten thousand tons of each metal." Faced with Tesoro's extravagance, Old Sha jokingly announced the metal quota that Shen Qing had previously wanted.

"Are you kidding me?" Upon hearing Crocodile's words, Tesoro's gentle smile vanished instantly, replaced by icy anger.

Ten thousand tons of each of the metals—gold, silver, copper, iron, and tin—is an outrageous demand. Even if he controls 20% of the world's wealth, his gold reserves are only a little over 6000 tons, let alone what others have.

In the entire One Piece world, the only ones capable of producing tens of thousands of tons of gold at once are probably the Celestial Dragons who have ruled the world for hundreds of years, and even then, it's not just a single individual, but the entire Holy Land of Mary Geoise combined.

“Golden Emperor, how could I possibly play you? I really need that much metal. Besides, didn’t you say before that you could provide it as long as I asked?” Crocodile looked at Tesoro with a mocking expression, his words making the other man’s face turn ashen.

"Golden Emperor, don't waste any more breath on this madman. He's clearly determined to cause trouble," Mr. Tanaka said from the side.

Just then, before Tesoro could speak, a cold voice rang out from the side, "Alright, Crocodile, stop playing around. Let's get this over with quickly, lest things change."

As the words fell, Hawkeye and Kuzan appeared from two other directions, forming a triangle with Crocodile, surrounding Tesoro and the others in the very center.

"It's Hawkeye, what's he doing here...?"

"Isn't that Aokiji? Why isn't he wearing a navy uniform...?"

"Don't you know that Aokiji has already left the Navy?...

"Am I seeing things? How did a former Navy admiral end up with pirates? They even seem to be in cahoots..."

As Kuzan and Hawkeye appeared, a commotion erupted around them. Many of the people who had been observing realized the situation was turning against them and chose to leave the place of trouble.

Tesoro, who was surrounded in the middle, looked extremely pale when he saw Kuzan and Hawkeye appear, and his hands clenched tightly involuntarily.

He knew he was in big trouble. Today's events were clearly aimed at him, and if he didn't handle it well, he might die here today.

Therefore, he had to find a way to save himself, otherwise he would have no chance of escaping when faced with the combined attack of Hawkeye, Crocodile, and Kuzan.

Just as Tesoro was racking his brains in vain, Hawkeye looked at him calmly and said, "Tesoro, you can't escape today. Either come with us, or we'll beat you up and take you away."

"Hawkeye, I bet Tesoro won't behave. Why don't we just beat him up and then take him away with Seastone handcuffs?" Old Sand suggested from the side.

Tesoro listened to himself being judged like prey, his face dark and helpless. He was no match for the other party on his own, so he could only respond with silence.