Chapter 1.2

However, before I could cross that line, a new noise caught my attention.

Laughter. Lots of laughter from different people, men and women, young and old, like a poorly edited recording of laughter.

Through this laughter, I realized two things: first, the fact that the laughter was often unique really helped solidify the idea that I was in the world of One Piece. After all, where else would someone laugh like "Yokokoko"?

The second thing I realized with a furious growl was that someone was mocking me. Hastily rising to my feet, I rushed towards the foliage in the direction where the laughter was coming from.

However, just before I encountered plant life, laughter changed direction, suddenly starting to come from behind me. I glanced at the clearing in the opposite direction for a second, but ignored it and walked forward. Fooling me once was bad enough, and I didn't want to do it again.

And so I went deeper into the jungle, pushing my way through plants and searching the jungle in search of whoever was messing with my head. A few minutes later I managed to notice another clearing. I escaped the jungle...

And he quickly stopped, looking in disbelief. -What the heck ...?

The clearing I was in was half the size of the previous one, but there was a stone table in the center.

On the rock was a snail, or at least something that looked like a snail. Her shell was slightly larger than a baseball, and her body was about the same size, in comparison. Her skin was dark gray and her shell was decorated with a black and white checkerboard style design.

The snail also had eyes at the tips and a mouth full of teeth in the middle of its body.

It also shook its head back and forth and chuckled hoarsely, tears streaming from its eyes from laughter.

I blinked, processing this turn of events. It... it was the Transponder Snail (Den Den Mushi). It was a little strange to see such a large snail in real life, but the recognition of its shape was unmistakable. I held back a sigh as I felt a weight lift from my heart. There's no doubt about it, I'm one hundred percent into One Piece!

Then I felt a dark rage fill me. The one who mocked me was at the other end of this snail!

- HEY! - I shouted angrily, putting all my irritation into my voice. -YOU ENJOY THE SHOW THERE, RIGHT?!

The snail jumped in shock, blinking at me in surprise... before jumping back and screaming in horror. And not just scream, but let out a piercing female squeal.

I jumped at the noise and my breath caught. "What the hell!?" I blurted out.

Then I froze when I noticed something. His shell... it's empty! There was no speaker in its body!

My mind raced as I tried to piece together what I was seeing. It's a Transponder Snail, no doubt, but without the transponder itself attached to it, that means it's a wild snail. And as far as I knew, people cannot communicate through wild snail transponders...

My mind froze as the last sentence ran through my head. Impossible... like... a man made of rubber?

I smiled with difficulty, reaching a conclusion. "They must be pranking me..." I muttered in disbelief.

It was at this point that I began to realize that the sound I was listening to had changed. Instead of screaming, the snail curled up and began to cry, sobs escaping from it.

I winced when I recognized the reaction. Now I remembered a rather important fact: such small snails were known as Baby Transponder Snails. Of course, I didn't really like children, but this...

I felt guilty when particularly pitiful sobs escaped the snail. I hastily fell to my knees and slowly moved towards the snail, raising my hands in a sign of peace. "Hey, hey, hey, sorry, sorry!" I grumbled quietly. -I didn't mean to scream, I was just upset, please don't cry!

The snail's crying died down and she slowly looked at me, tears still flowing from her eyes. "Grow up?" she croaked in a voice that did not really correspond to her age.

I hesitated for a moment before smiling hesitantly and nodding slowly. -Yes, I'm sorry. By the way...- I slowly changed my expression to an interested one and leaned forward, looking at the snail with interest. -It was a really neat trick. Did you get it after eating a swirl fruit that tasted disgusting?

The snail blinked and then nodded slowly. "C-coconut," he said, a word stitched together with syllables spoken in several different voices. He then scrunched up his face and stuck out his tongue in disgust. "Be!" he spat in the voice of an old man.

I chuckled slightly at the face he made. -Heh, yes. I heard that such fruits usually taste like ass." I looked him over slowly, curiously. -So...if I'm not wrong in my assumptions, you can make all sorts of sounds and noises, right?

Almost instantly the snail smiled and nodded. It opened its mouth...

-GROIN!

And I quickly jumped up in shock when the forest around me burst into noise. Squeals, rumbles, growls, buzzing, everything you would expect from the jungle. It's like someone just flipped a switch!

However, just as quickly as the noise began, it suddenly stopped and was replaced by a recording of laughter as the snail burst into mindless laughter again.

I stuttered as I realized the change in behavior before slowly starting to laugh. "That... that was kind of funny," I admitted with a shaky smile before thinking. -Okay... remembering how Apu apparently used his abilities to create music, I'm guessing that you have an ability somewhat similar to Music-Music Fruit. So... - I looked thoughtfully at the snail. -I guess that means you ate...something like a Noise Noise Fruit?

The snail stopped laughing and thought about my words for a second, and then smiled and began to shake its head from side to side. "Noise-Noise Fruit, Noise-Noise Fruit!" it made noise in my voice.

My eye twitched slightly. "Okay, this is a little creepy..." I admitted before hastily plastering a smile on my face. "But cool!" I slowly extended my hand to the snail. -It's very nice to meet you. My name is Cross. Jeremy Cross.

The snail blinked and sniffed my hand before smiling. I also smiled back.

Then it opened its mouth...

KUS!

- AH AH AH!

And he sank his teeth into my index finger, causing me to howl in pain as I jumped to my feet and waved my hand back and forth. "LET GO-LET GO-LET GO!" I shouted, trying to force the gastropod to let go of my finger.

Finally, the toothy snail let go of my finger, flew away from me and bounced off the rock it was lying on before catching itself. His eyes rolled madly for a second... until he focused and grinned madly, giggling again.

I snorted and waved my finger frantically, trying to ease the pain. Damn, that hurt like hell! I glared furiously at the giggling snail as I began wiping the mucus and saliva on my pants. -I take back all the good words I said to you! You are just a little...

I froze when my hand found my pocket. In particular, what was in my pocket.

Slowly, heavily, I reached into my pocket and pulled out something that couldn't fit into my head.

"I can't believe this..." I breathed out.

In my palm was the last thing I expected to see there: my iPhone 6S, completely intact and, with luck, fully functional.

Suddenly the device beeped and its screen lit up, showing a text message.

-BROB- Am I not generous? Check out the upgrade!

It didn't take long to understand what my "giver" was talking about: a quick glance at the screen showed that next to the battery and wifi symbols were infinity signs, guaranteeing that my phone would last indefinitely.

- Ha... - A smile slowly played on my face. "Well... thanks, I guess!" My smile slowly changed, becoming more enthusiastic. -Maybe you can also provide me with some food while you're here?

Another text appeared.

-BROB- Greedy, greedy! Nooo, why not? Why let you go hungry?

Without warning, something fell and landed on my head. I hastily reached out and caught everything before it hit the ground. I immediately smiled as soon as I saw the golden arches decorating the paper.

Most people will moan and curse about how McDonald's is unhealthy crap. On the other hand, these same people didn't spend who knows how long wandering around the jungle.

"Thank you very much!" I shouted, opening the bag and digging through the bag of food, enjoying it... until the moment when I finally noticed one of the tastes in my mouth and froze in horror.

I swallowed hard, slowly turning my fearful gaze towards my phone. -Did I just eat a biscuit?

-BROB- I guess this will teach you to watch what you put in your mouth, huh?

The blood quickly drained from my face. -Oh, you bitch...!

As if on cue, my stomach made an all-too-familiar gurgle.

The toilet paper roll quickly bounced off my skull.

-BROB- Run, run, run as quickly as possible! Better hurry up so you don't get your panties dirty, little man!

- BL***! - I screamed, picking up toilet paper and rushing to find a suitable place.

After about half an hour of what felt like liquid napalm rushing through my intestinal tract, I finally managed to crawl back into the clearing. -I need to stop laughing at those Gummy Bear reviews. I know their pain too well," I looked at my palm with a frown. -And as for you -!

I froze and stared at my empty palm in shock. Where the hell am I...? I quickly slapped my forehead. That's right, I dropped it when I grabbed the toilet paper. I started scanning the ground. She must still be somewhere...

I saw the edge of my iPhone... as it disappeared into the mouth of the Transponder Snail, and then it swallowed hard and grinned at me with a fucking smile.

...*satisfying burp*

My eye twitched with rage. "Oh... I... you..." I muttered. My mouth quickly curled into a dark, sullen grin as I slowly began to move towards him, my fingers twitching threateningly. -You... little... fucking...

The snail's smile changed to a fearful expression as it began to retreat from me, looking left and right in search of a way to escape.

Then he suddenly froze, blinking as his eyes became slightly unfocused, staring at something I couldn't see.

I stuttered a little, staring at him. -Hey...hey, are you okay? I'm mad, but I didn't mean to hurt you, I just...

"!" the snail suddenly screamed, its head froze with its eyes wide open in shock.

I jumped away from the snail, shocked by the sound it made. It was loud, crazy and...

I blinked as I realized my train of thought. Wasn't that the sound...?

"Is this... is this the detection sound from Metal Gear Solid?" I asked, not believing my ears.

The snail blinked in confusion, and then smiled widely and opened its mouth...

- IT'S THE EYE OF THE TIGER, IT'S THE THRILL OF THE FIGHT, RISIN' UP TO THE CHALLENGE, OF OUR RIVAL! (Lyrics from the song Eye Of The Tiger by Survivor)

Singing a very familiar song.

I stared at the snail in disbelief. "You must be kidding me..." Suddenly, when I moved my shoulder, it reminded me of the thing hanging around my neck. Thinking quickly, I put on my headphones and pressed them, praying that my "patron" - a word I really didn't want to use - would improve them as well.

Almost instantly, I was forced to flinch as my ears were subjected to sonic assault.

- What does the fox say? I'm sexy and I know it! We, we, we are made of broken parts! CELEBRATE the good times, go ahead! (excerpts from pop music)

"Ouch!" I hastily put the headphones back on my neck, trying to save my eardrums. I looked in surprise at the snail, which continued to smile and shake its head, listening to some beat that was inaudible to me. -Oh yes, you definitely have access to my world's Internet...

The snail finally raised its head and smiled at me with a sardonic grin. "Thank you!" he shouted.

I blinked in disbelief for a second, and then froze as a thought struck me. I looked thoughtfully at the snail. This snail, his strength wasn't very strong, but... well, at first glance, rubber, silence and strings didn't seem like something strong either, right? And to be honest, I loved being able to swim, so... well, it can't be fixed, right?

"Hey... you understand me, right?" I began slowly.

The snail looked at me and nodded slowly.

- Okay... okay... - I awkwardly turned away. Damn, why does this have to be so difficult. -Look, let me ask you something - do you like being here on this island? I mean..." I pointed at the silent forest around us. -The reason why there are no animals around... I guess it's because you scare them away with the noise you can make, right?

The snail flinched and stared at me in shock, then nodded again, only this time its expression was saddened.

- If you could... what would you say about leaving this island? I mean, with me.

The snail raised its head in shock.

"You see..." I scratched the back of my head with a worried smile. -I have a plan. You know who pirates are, right?

The snail nodded, making a grimace.

- Well, I know about a pirate crew that is not like other pirates. They are strong and amazing and... well, I want to join them! I want to join their crew and follow them out to sea and... well, hopefully have some fun adventures with them. But... - I lowered my head with a sigh. -The fact is that the life of a pirate is dangerous, and I'm just an ordinary, normal person. Nobody, really. I don't have the advantages needed to survive on the high seas.

Then I slowly raised my eyes and looked hopefully at the snail. -So... I was wondering... maybe you'd like to come with me and be that asset?

The gastropod tilted its head in confusion. -What? - it imitated.

I shrugged helplessly. -Well, the thing is that all Devil Fruits have the potential to become incredibly powerful, none of them are weak in nature. All it takes to make them work is the ingenuity of their user. But... - I pointed at the snail, making a grimace. -As you already know, you are a little...physically limited.

"DON'T ROLL YOUR BARREL ON ME, GUY!" the snail barked angrily.

"Hey, hey, it's not your fault and you have nothing to be ashamed of, it's just a fact!" I waved my hands in a defensive gesture. -But... look, I'm trying to propose to you, okay? Come with me: you will be the strength, the muscle, and I will be your arms and legs, the person who will tell you how to direct your powers, how to use them to the fullest! I'll be your brains!" I spread my arms wide. -Together, we can join those pirates and sail the Blue Seas! We will see sights that we never imagined, we will do something that no one has ever done before! To put it simply... we will have adventures. And let's be honest...

I cast a longing glance at the jungle. "It's not like you or I will have any other options here, is it?" I looked at the snail again. -So...what do you say, baby? Are you in or not?

The snail bit her lip, her eyes jumped back and forth, the gears moved in her head. Finally, he smiled from one eyeball to the other and extended an eye. "Give me your paw, partner!" it said drawlingly.

I smiled eagerly. "Well, okay!" I extended my hand...

BITE!

- AH!

And I winced in pain when the snail fell on my fingers and clenched its teeth.

I half winced, half grinned at the snail, raising it to eye level. "I think I just thought of a good name for you..." I managed. -How do you feel about being called Soundbite?

The Soundbite snail looked at me before grinning and redoubling the force of its bite.

"OW!" I shouted, raising my hand.

Luckily, Soundbite released his grip. Unfortunately, he released his grip!

"Oh, crap, crap, crap!" I scanned the air. -Hey, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, are you okay...?

KUS!

I tensed as sudden pressure hit... a very delicate part of my body.

At that moment I became acutely aware of how tired I was. Seeing no point in standing up straight, I slumped forward and landed face first in the grass.

"It's official..." I moaned pathetically. - It bites ...

Soundbite chuckled maliciously from where he bit my ass in agreement.