One Piece: Hell Pirates

The next morning.

Sabaody Archipelago, World Economic News Agency headquarters.

After breakfast, the group gathered in Brook's room. The floor was littered with various kinds of Den Den Mushi. Antonio diligently fed them leaves and vegetables, treating the little snails with care and chatting with them like old friends.

The microphones and buttons on Den Den Mushi were artificial additions. Even if these parts got damaged, the snails wouldn’t feel pain. By attaching specific components, they could be modified to perform different functions—like faxing, or with the right speaker, becoming a radio telephone. The world truly was full of wonders.

"Antonio, ask the Den Den Mushi if they can acquire multiple functions at the same time, like combining video, fax, and projection features."

As someone from a modern world, Brook suddenly missed smartphones. He wondered if these high-tech creatures could be adapted for instant text and image communication alongside voice calls.

"Captain, the little snails say they only know the functions they’ve had since birth and will follow whatever modifications their owners make."

"Antonio, can you try training these young Den Den Mushi to develop multiple functions at once?"

"Captain, Den Den Mushi are naturally lazy. They only want to learn one frequency at a time. Adding more functions would be exhausting for them. Eating leaves doesn’t provide enough energy, so they need frequent rest."

So that’s how it was. Normally, outside of brief phone conversations, Den Den Mushi either ate or slept. If they were used for instant messaging, they’d have to stay awake constantly and would likely wear themselves out. Even the Image Den Den Mushi at Impel Down worked in shifts to monitor prisoners. Pushing them too hard could be fatal.

"Tell these young Den Den Mushi that, in addition to their basic communication function, they should also learn imaging and faxing. They can eat whatever they want. Maybe try using your Devil Fruit ability to help them?"

Although the idea seemed far-fetched, Brook wanted to give it a shot. However, low-energy food like leaves wouldn’t sustain the Den Den Mushi for long. Otherwise, they’d spend two hours eating just to manage five minutes of talking. He needed to find them a high-energy food source.

"Understood, Captain! I’ll do my best!"

With his Den Den Mushi-related Devil Fruit, Antonio deepened his bond with the snails, communicating with them as if they were lifelong friends.

Meanwhile, Brook asked Shakky about any recent black market news on Adam Wood. He wanted to stock up on materials to build a ship and hoped to find underground technicians capable of modifying Den Den Mushi. Leaving Antonio at the news agency, Brook and Shakky headed to Sabaody’s Grove 1-29, where pirates bound for the New World were trading exotic goods.

"Rare animals from Beast Island! Come take a look!"

"Striped creatures from Long Chain Island—don’t miss out!"

"A rare potion from the Drum Kingdom—only 500,000 berries!"

"Mechanical dogs from the Future Kingdom of Baldimore! These bad boys can take down pirates with 5-million-berry bounties! Yours for just 10 million berries!"

"Scraps of Treasure Tree Adam from the Rocks Pirates’ old ship! A rare collectible!"

A shipwright from the Champagne Shipyard was shouting about his wares—stolen goods from his own workplace, most likely.

Curious, Brook took a look. The Treasure Tree Adam was the strongest wood in the One Piece world—exceptionally tough and ideal for shipbuilding. But these scraps were just that—small, battered pieces. However, the leaves still attached to some pieces caught Brook’s eye.

"You call these scraps worth selling? Ugh, might as well use them for handicrafts. How much?"

Brook feigned disgust, but his sharp gaze remained locked on the still-vibrant Adam leaves. Could the Den Den Mushi eat them? If so, they might be a potent energy source.

"Ah, my dear customer, you have a sharp eye! Turn these into crafts, attach the name of Captain Rocks, and boom—instant collector’s items! Only one million berries, and they’re yours!"

The old shipwright immediately hyped up his goods and jacked up the price.

"Go to hell! I know you—you’re the old crook from Labrador Shipyard in Sabaody! Did you steal this?"

As a seasoned information broker, Shakky instantly saw through his act.

"Damn brat! If you’re not buying, quit running your mouth! Get lost!"

His face darkened as he tried to shoo them away.

"100,000 berries. Take it or leave it."

Brook’s cold blue eyes locked onto him. The air around them seemed to drop several degrees, making the old man shiver.

"Y-You’re the Vengeful Brook? The last survivor of the Rumbar Pirates? The guy who wiped out the Smoky Pirates in a single strike? Your bounty just jumped to 80 million berries!"

The old man pulled out that morning’s newspaper, featuring the latest bounty update:

Vengeful Brook, former acting captain of the Rumbar Pirates, previously known as 'Song Brook.' Eliminated the 56-million-berry pirate 'Poison Cannon' Sarin in one blow. New bounty: 80 million berries.

"M-Master Brook! These scraps are worthless! Just take them! But can you sign this bounty poster for me?"

The old shipwright’s eyes gleamed. Brook was a rising star among pirates—his autograph could fetch a fortune.

"I won’t rob you. Here’s 100,000 berries. Do you have any more Adam Wood scraps? Even just the leaves?"

After signing, Brook still tossed him the cash and packed up all the wood scraps and leaves.

"No more scraps. These leaves are from the last Adam branches I had. That’s it."

Brook asked the old man to keep an eye out for more Adam Wood in the future and left him a Den Den Mushi number.

"Captain Brook, what do you need this stuff for?" Shakky asked, puzzled.

"I want to see if Den Den Mushi can eat these leaves. Might as well give it a shot."

Brook and Shakky continued scouring the underground market for a scientist capable of modifying Den Den Mushi but found no luck. Eventually, Shakky reminded him that there might already be someone like that at the news agency.

Brook facepalmed. Hadn’t he just run around the whole black market only to end up right back where he started? Wasn’t this like searching for treasure while holding it in your hands the whole time?

Without wasting another second, Brook rushed back to the World Economic News Agency and sought out Moore to borrow an expert. Sure enough, the agency had a veteran technician who could install buttons, microphones, speakers, external fax machines, and even printers onto Den Den Mushi…

-----

"Mr. Brook, you want to install a small screen for a Den Den Mushi? Like the kind that connects to a video Den Den Mushi?"

A senior technical expert from the World Economic News Agency looked at Brook questioningly. Among the Image Den Den Mushi, the ones responsible for monitoring and observation were relatively small, but those used for projection grew much larger to store enough energy for continued projection.

Just like during the war at Marineford—the ones filming on the battlefield were relatively small, while the ones broadcasting live at the Sabaody Archipelago were massive. The same principle applied to Impel Down. The Den Den Mushi used for monitoring prisoners were small and easy to hide, while the ones in the surveillance room broadcasting live were significantly larger.

"Yes, can you do it?" Brook asked.

"It can be installed, but this small Den Den Mushi won’t be able to keep the screen on for long. It’ll get exhausted quickly and go into hibernation."

The senior expert pointed out the flaws. In fact, the method of using large-scale video Den Den Mushi for remote video communication already existed, but it had distance limitations. It wasn’t as efficient as using standard communication Den Den Mushi. Besides, Den Den Mushi were naturally weak, lazy, and unskilled. Each one retained only a single radio frequency and a single ability.

Young Den Den Mushi could only communicate within the same island. As humans trained them, some were specialized in taking pictures but lost the ability to communicate. Others retained communication but couldn’t project images. Those meant for photography had external printers to print images. Each Den Den Mushi had a designated function—no multitasking.

In short, these little creatures were simple and couldn’t handle too many features.

In the end, the technical expert customized a small screen for several dozen young Den Den Mushi, attaching it to their shells with a wire, similar to a telephone receiver.

Brook felt like he was looking at an early-generation touchscreen phone, wired to the Den Den Mushi and hanging from its shell.

A young Den Den Mushi equipped with the device lit up its screen for a few dozen seconds before it dimmed.

Another young Den Den Mushi communicated with Antonio, transmitting radio waves to project the portrait it saw onto the small screen. It worked—but soon ran out of energy and went into hibernation.

The battery life was disappointing.

For a while, Antonio trained these young Den Den Mushi in different skills, while Brook searched for various rare leaves to feed them—including leaves from the Yarukiman Mangrove, the Sun Tree Eve, and the Treasure Tree Adam.

Eventually, they discovered the Yarukiman Mangrove leaves worked well as daily food, allowing the screen to stay lit for 30 minutes. Feeding them Sun Tree Eve leaves extended it to an hour, while Treasure Tree Adam leaves stretched it to two hours.

Finally, the young Den Den Mushi were trained into a new type called "Cell Den Den Mushi," named by Brook himself. To conserve energy, it abandoned video communication but retained text-based messaging and mimicry functions.

---

Brook, Antonio, and Shakky each picked up their Cell Den Den Mushi screens and scribbled on them.

Their handwriting appeared on the respective screens.

[No. 2: Captain Brook, can you see what I wrote?] [No. 1: I see.] [No. 3: Amazing!]

Brook felt satisfied. Though it was a simple chat group, it reminded him of his past life.

"Captain, I want to change the number to my name."

Only Antonio could communicate with the Den Den Mushi and rename them.

"Captain, this function doesn’t seem all that useful! We can just talk on the ship, and for anything else, a regular Den Den Mushi works fine. Reading and writing texts is too much hassle."

Shakky found the device rather unnecessary.

Brook considered it and realized she had a point. Without a large user base, this wasn’t as practical as traditional Den Den Mushi.

Besides, feeding them rare leaves would make them difficult to maintain, and ordinary people couldn’t even afford regular Den Den Mushi. The world still relied on News Coo for most of its information.

Brook had no choice but to set the idea aside for now.

But perhaps he could create a guild? A sort of organization? Distribute these Cell Den Den Mushi to promising pirate captains and form a communication network!

Domination, swordsmanship, island intel, treasure maps… this had potential!

Yet, he wasn’t strong enough or famous enough to attract anyone. And even if he did, how could he guarantee they wouldn’t just turn on each other?

He decided—if he ever handed these out, it would only be to those he personally approved. And the chat group would remain anonymous until they had all grown stronger!

With careful planning, Brook saw this as a possibility. Unlike his past life, where he had foreknowledge of events, he was now decades ahead of the main story. He needed to secure his own information network. Controlling the intelligence sector of the World Economic News Agency might be his best bet.

---

Before he knew it, the next day arrived.

"Captain Brook! The first supernova of the year has arrived at the Sabaody Archipelago! It’s the captain of the Flying Pirates—Golden Lion Shiki! His bounty is 440 million berries! His ship can fly! The bounty poster states that he possesses the Float-Float Fruit, allowing him to make anything float!"

Early in the morning, Shakky came running with the latest intel.

"Golden Lion Shiki, huh? That name sounds familiar. I wonder how strong he is right now."

The Float-Float Fruit was a terrifying ability—it allowed for both offense and retreat. On top of that, Shiki was a dual-sword swordsman. No wonder the Marines gave him such a high bounty.

"Captain, do you want to check out the lawless zone and see this big shot in action?"

As an intelligence hunter, Shakky was eager to take a peek. But now that she was part of Brook’s crew, she decided to check with him first.

"Alright, just don’t cause any trouble."

Brook followed Shakky, curious to see the rising legend of the young Golden Lion Shiki.

---

At a bar in the lawless district of Sabaody.

A towering man with long golden hair, a cigar between his lips, and two swords at his waist raised a glass of liquor, brimming with confidence.

"If I didn’t want to see the legendary Fish-Man Island, I would’ve flown straight from the Red Line to the New World. Why waste time coating my ship?!"

"Captain Shiki, you’re the fastest supernova to reach Sabaody this year! You’re the strongest!"

One of Shiki’s subordinates praised him relentlessly, hyping up his captain.

"My ship can fly! Who the hell could be faster than me?! Hahaha!"

Golden Lion Shiki laughed triumphantly. He was only in his twenties, yet his bounty had already reached 440 million berries, making him the most dangerous supernova of the year!

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