The next day at noon, as the midday sun spilled through the windows into the room, Eleco slowly opened his eyes.
He rubbed his sleepy eyes, steadied his mind, and remembered the important task of contacting the Germa Family.
At that moment, a special Den Den Mushi dedicated to contacting the Germa Family lay quietly on an exquisite tray, which was held up steadily by a maid kneeling respectfully beside the bed.
All of this was thanks to his conversation with Stephie yesterday.
Afterward, the observant Stephie had already arranged all matters properly.
Not only that, beside this maid knelt another maid, holding a tray laden with rich and appetizing food.
Looking at the scene before him, Eleco could not help but sigh inwardly: "Such a lifestyle is truly utterly decadent!"
Although his soul originated from the distant Blue Star and he had been deeply educated and nurtured by the ideals of the Dragon Country, he had no desire to change the current reality.
Perhaps to outsiders, he might seem bloated with the sudden wealth of an overnight success, but deep down, he firmly believed that the law of the jungle was the eternal truth of this world.
Just as the saying goes: "There are only individuals who betray their class, never a class that betrays itself."
In his eyes, social development and progress followed the most fundamental rule—the survival of the fittest.
If anyone dared to deny or defy this, what awaited them would inevitably be rapid decline and ultimate destruction.
Fairness? That was merely a way for the weak to vent, especially in a world like the King of the Pirates where individual might could influence an entire region; whoever had the stronger ability called the shots.
Therefore, Eleco now only wanted to cure his illness first, and then use his advantageous resources to reach the pinnacle in the upcoming turbulent era.
To return to the matter at hand.
After hastily dealing with his hunger, Eleco picked up the Den Den Mushi. Once the servants had set up the white anti-eavesdropping Den Den Mushi, he drove them out.
Speaking of Den Den Mushi, they really were quite fascinating!
They were the magical creatures used for communication in the world of pirates.
Resembling snails in appearance, they could be spotted, striped, or solid-colored, with a receiver or buttons set upon the apex of their shells.
When unconnected, they were as quiet as a sleeping baby; once connected, they would wake up like a disturbed sweet dream, making a "purupuru" sound.
During a call, the Den Den Mushi's mouth would move as flexibly as the speaker's, as if it possessed human emotions and could understand human speech.
Its working principle was to convert human voices into the Den Den Mushi's own voice for long-distance transmission and reception. This wondrous phenomenon had been confirmed by the author Eiichiro Oda in the SBS column as being naturally occurring creatures.
The varieties of Den Den Mushi were dazzlingly numerous.
Among them was the private Den Den Mushi, marked with a personal number on its shell—a unique, private number whose facial features seemed somewhat similar to its owner's, making every single one distinct.
It featured ten buttons from 0 to 9 on its side for peer-to-peer communication, and its size and functions were comparable to a household telephone (or rather, a mobile phone, capable of making mobile calls).
Not only that, it could be carried around with exceptionally strong signals; even across islands, calls could be made smoothly, and it could even make international long-distance calls.
With the addition of special parts, it could even send faxes!
During a call, it could vividly mimic the speaker's facial expressions and tone of voice.
The black Den Den Mushi was compact in size, resembling a black pearl, forever lingering in its juvenile stage.
It was obsessed with eavesdropping on other people's secrets.
It could only receive signals for wiretapping, yet the eavesdropping effect was as unpredictable as the shifting weather—sometimes clear, sometimes intermittent, making its exact source hard to pin down.
The golden Den Den Mushi resembled a shining golden pearl, and the signals it emitted could only be received by a silver Den Den Mushi.
It had no handset and could not make regular calls, but it possessed the mysterious power to initiate the Marine's ultimate combat force—the Buster Call.
Once pressed, it would ring, and the corresponding silver Den Den Mushi would receive the signal no matter how far away it was.
This authority could only be wielded by those of the rank of Marine Admiral or higher, and each person possessed only a single one in their lifetime.
The silver Den Den Mushi was jointly controlled by the three Marine Admirals, acting like a sturdy fortress to receive the signal of the golden Den Den Mushi.
Once the signal was received, Marineford would quickly issue commands, dispatching ten top-tier warships like iron behemoths.
Five Vice Admirals like fierce combat generals, ten Rear Admirals like sharp arrows, and the elite combat strength of the Marines, like a surging wave, would completely submerge the area from which the signal originated with artillery fire, reducing it to ashes.
The public Den Den Mushi had functions similar to the spotted Den Den Mushi, and also bore a number on its body as a fixed public identifier, belonging to a public numbering system completely distinct from the private numbers of the spotted Den Den Mushi.
It resembled a fixed telephone booth, appearing in chapter 500 of the manga, though it remained unknown what price one had to pay to use it—perhaps one Chopper Berri?
The surveillance Den Den Mushi, which appeared in Impel Down, captured images through the eyes of similar Den Den Mushi and projected those images onto the eyes of another Den Den Mushi, functioning similarly to closed-circuit television monitoring equipment.
The baby Den Den Mushi was the juvenile version of a Den Den Mushi, with functions similar to the spotted Den Den Mushi and an appearance like a miniature version of it.
Its advantage was its tiny size, allowing it to be carried anywhere; its disadvantage was a weak signal, unable to make international long-distance calls and limited to domestic (intra-island) calls. It was said that they could grow into regular private Den Den Mushi.
The visual Den Den Mushi could project images captured by "surveillance Den Den Mushi" onto a larger screen for broadcasting, characterized by a size larger than a human.
The baby-type Den Den Mushi can walk on its own and is massive in size.
The white Den Den Mushi appeared aboard Revolutionary Army leader Dragon's ship, slightly smaller than ordinary Den Den Mushi, used for anti-eavesdropping and placed next to spotted Den Den Mushi during use.
The camera Den Den Mushi appeared in chapter 747 of the manga, used by Koala to photograph a trading ship disguised as a pirate ship.
Den Den Mushi could be turned to stone by Hancock's abilities, and could also be poisoned by Magellan's poison gas.
Additionally, Den Den Mushi could fall ill, during which time they were unable to properly answer or transmit information (see chapter 616 of the One Piece manga).
Chapter 659 of the manga also mentioned that Den Den Mushi could not survive on the poison gas-filled island of Punk Hazard.
Den Den Mushi were most likely naturally occurring.
Because in the SBS, the author stated that they did not dislike being caught by humans, as being raised by humans meant they had feed to eat.
Thus it was deduced that they were all naturally generated animals.
The microphones and buttons on Den Den Mushi were artificially added after birth, so even if these parts were damaged, the Den Den Mushi felt no pain.
In chapter 711 of the manga, Robin's Den Den Mushi was released back into nature by the Tontatta tribe, with the microphone detached and left beside it.
The principle of the Den Den Mushi was to use bio-electrical waves as the transmission medium.
Every individual Den Den Mushi possessed its own unique electrical wave within it, but there was also a channel used as a public information wave.
This meant that each individual was also an information transmission base station; even if the transmitted public waves could not be decoded, they could still be transmitted through the individual.
Moreover, every Den Den Mushi had to be able to mimic the organism it faced down to the last detail before being put into use.
In other words, as long as two private Den Den Mushi touched face-to-face, they could add each other's contact information.
Following a few "purupuru" sounds, the person on the other end quickly answered the call.