The Foolish Grappler

by Cryptographers

I was so Foolish and Weak back then, I was a complete failure. Yet, for some reason, I was given a chance to prove to the gods and fate that she wasn't wrong. So here I am, isekai'd to the world of one piece, and boy, is it different to what I thought. However, a wise man once told me that even a fool, if he persists in his folly, he could become wise. Oc gamer, Parallel-Cannon.

1. The First Step

The Foolish grappler Chapter 1

A/N: Hello, thank you for reading my story. This is my first ever *Cough* that has ever seen the light of the sun. Because of this, I have made quite a lot of errors that I don't like in the earlier chapters, so I have decided that every ten chapters or so, I will take some time to rewrite and edit my previous chapters. This can be anywhere from simple spelling and grammar fixes to retconning things and adding totally new information and scenes or at least improve them.

I will be adding marks like the below to each chapter to notify when it's been most recently updated, with sometimes a list of things changed.

EXAMPLE: ( This is the latest one for this chapter)

LAST EDITED 16/01/23 CHANGES:

Fixed spelling errors and grammar.

Added and subtracted scenes along with adding more detail.

Edited System information and retconned minor information.

(dates will be DD/MM/YY)

I am also adding this from my tenth chapter for those that are coming to this story looking for something specific yet becoming disappointed hence this will provide information that stops anyone 'wasting their time' as I have done before.

I also feel I should mention now as I have had a few reviews asking when Adorno will meet the straw hats, and for this, there is likely an unpopular answer. The short answer is yes; in the far, far future, he will meet them. However, he isn't ever going to join the straw hats; he may be friends but never join. The long answer to why not the straw hats is A) I don't think his character would fit in the straw hats. B) I don't feel I have the skill of writing actual good characters well, and if there is one of the few things I hate most in fanfiction is good characters written poorly. So, with that, you may be wondering who he will be with then, and the answer to that is …. Spoiler, just know it's not what you will think. I would rather have a badly written OC than a badly written NOC.

Anyway, if this causes you to stop reading, I understand; as a fellow reader, I can't count the number of times I have been reading until the author does some dumb shit that causes me to stop reading. I just hope that while this may not be what you were coming into this for, trust me, I WILL TRY MY BEST TO MAKE THIS A GOOD ORIGINAL STORY WORTHY OF YOUR TIME.

Thank you to those who read this story hope I made your day a slightly bit better by reading this.

Foreword

Well, if you're reading this, it means that somehow I have died. It doesn't matter how, nor do I care now as I am dead. You must also be wondering what exactly this book is about. Well, it's simple, I feel that a story needed to be told. One, that was not about just me but of those that were closest to me and how they fulfilled their dreams against all odds. However, I do have two questions for you before you continue reading. They may seem simple to answer, and in a way, they are, but when is life ever that simple? I spent most of my life searching for the answers to these two questions.

What really is freedom? What is the cost of having freedom, and is it worth the cost?

The thing about life-changing events is that they are rarely predictable as normally they tend to pop up from the blue and inevitably change your life forever. They aren't all good or bad and oftentimes are just opportunities whose outcomes are determined by what you do at that moment of choice. If you view my track record, then you would see failure after failure in those choices, but then who is keeping count?

This time when I woke up was just like any other time I have awoken, wishing I never had to. No matter how much I may wish for that to be true, the reality is just that uncaring. Though I suppose I should thank whatever god there is/was/isn't there that I didn't have a nightmare. Every time I have one, those days are bound to be crap; maybe this was a sign that today was going to be a rare good day. Sadly as is often the case, the universe loved to prove me wrong; as I was still in bed thinking how this could possibly be a good day, I was interrupted by a screeching banshee at my door.

"WAKE UP, YA FAT BASTARD! YOUR BREAKFAST IS GETTING COLD" That screech from the banshee was my sister.

"URRRGGGHH Shut up, banshee, I will be down soon", Was my oh-so-intelligent reply, full of meaning and feeling. Perhaps it's unfair to call her a banshee due to her being self consensus about her voice being, I quote, 'Too girly', yet my rest was just disturbed; hence I feel that was called for.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING BANSHEE YA FAT SLUG JUST WA-" Was the predicted reply; however it seemed she was cut off, likely mum not liking the yelling.

"Urgh fine just hurry up slug mum also wants to speak to yah," She finished, which was followed by footsteps of her stomping back down to the table to eat.

Realising that morning of laying in bed wasn't in the cards of fate, I slowly got up, still not fully awake. Sitting on my bed now, I looked around my bedroom for something to put on my top as I doubted my family would want to see me in just boxers.

My bedroom isn't anything special it's full of trash from my last night of gaming and discord. I had a few posters of some anime waifus which I won as I normally wouldn't care to buy stuff like that though they are nice. I got my bookshelf of my manga plus my figurines and other bibs and bobs. Across from my bed were my gaming setup, which is probably the most expansive thing in here and the thing that I guess the most use, other than my phone on the bedside table. As I got up, I picked said phone up and walked over to a singlet that I spotted on the floor that may or may not have been dirty, but after a sniff test was fine, so I up it on. Now that I was ready to go down to finally have breakfast which I must admit I was hungry for.

I must admit that looking in the mirror in my wardrobe, I am far from attractive, given extra weight since I stopped caring; hell, my singlet barely covers my gut, but it will have to do. It's not like I care about being attractive; it's not as if I will ever have a girlfriend or anything meaningful in my life. Realising that this was a dumb line of thought that I had been over many times, I finally set off to have breakfast.

When I finally got downstairs, I found everything was as it normally was. Mum was getting ready to dish out breakfast of what looked like bacon and eggs with some toast. I don't know how she does it, but she was able to make even simple meals like that quite tasty. Aside from her, there was dad at the head of the small table, reading the newspaper silently and reading to himself. The last person in my family is my little sister, who most who knew her would describe as a Tomboy, which is why she is still self concise about her squeaky voice. Granted, she is a few years younger than me she is still miffed as it really doesn't fit with her personality.

"Good morning, I'm finally awake" I greeted them as I walked over to the table and got a seat.

"Ah, good to see you finally joined us, son. Did you have a good night's sleep" Greeted my father as he looked over his newspaper to look at me. If I had to describe my father, he was the generic office worker; nothing really stood out; he likely blends into the background easily. Though I shouldn't be harsh on him, he is the reason we still have this house and food to eat, so there's that.

"Don't worry baby I am nearly finished with breakfast", Said my mother from the kitchen, finishing up breakfast. Now my mother, on the other hand, is somewhat of a mixed bag as while her past as an athlete is obvious still in her keeping her body in peak shape, she also has that motherly feel to her with how she cares for me and sis all the time and how she dresses as a typical mother would. Sadly for me and lucky for my father, she is quite gifted in the 'assets' department, both top and bottom and before you say how weird it is for me to look at my mother. It's because I hear it all the time from the people at my school. No matter what I say, the things they say I rather not remember before breakfast and ruin my morning more.

"Took you long enough, slug," Said my little sister; as I said, she is quite the stereotypical tomboy. However, the older she gets, the more our happy relationship breaks down, and I don't know why. She takes after our mum in many ways, such as her athleticism though thankfully, she isn't old enough to be the target of the guys at my school though I dread the day.

"Don't talk to your brother like that. Apologise now?" said mother sternly to my sister, causing me to have a smug face.

"I'm sorry", She regretfully said with an eye roll, clearly not meaning it, but mother didn't see that, so I just let it go. Understandably she was a bit miffed about this, yet she quickly let it go as our mother finally started serving our breakfast. After which, all four of us started to dig in, and boy, was it good. I sniggered at my sister when she did her best impersonation of a black hole sucking up bits and pieces. I ate quietly while I surfed the net on my phone, too busy to notice the disappointed looks from my family. Or, maybe I just didn't care enough to look, maybe both. Well, sadly, you don't know what you have until you lose it.

"So, son, have you put any thought into what you're going to do after school I know your just 15 but its better sooner than later. You could always join my firm; we could always use another member to the team." My father stated as he was finishing up his breakfast. This is a topic that has been brought up a lot lately as I myself don't haven't any clear plans.

"Not really dad I am still deciding but I will be sure to tell your my answer as your my father." I stated.

"Well what ever you do We will be proud" He finished as he went back to his meal.

After I finished first eating 3 whole plates of breakfast, I went back upstairs to chill out and game before I had to leave for school. At the time, school seemed like it was just a waste of time. I got Great scores on all the tests I was not well-liked among both the teachers and students. It's not just over petty stuff like not listening to the teachers or showing up others. I was bullied often by most people at school, and the rest just ignored me, which I am fine with.

I guess it doesn't help that I was falsely blamed as the person who hid cameras in the girl's locker rooms when I did no such thing. There was no real evidence I was even remotely connected to it, but who cares It was an easy way to throw others off the trail. For the record, I didn't do it; why would I with the risk of being found out and then having a legitimate reason for people to hate me when I can just look up free porn. Why go through the effort when I've got all the 2d girls I could ever want. But as I said, I'm an easy target to pin the blame on. It's not like it's hard to find out who really did; it just doesn't matter to them.

After quickly finishing the level, I started. It was time for me to get dressed and leave, which is precisely what I did. Have I said how much I hate the school uniform it's tacky, uncomfortable, hot and sweaty during summer while not being that warm during winter. After getting everything ready I left for school. I went by myself as my sister has morning clubs so she has dad drop her off early while I have to take the bus so I had to get to the bus stop myself. I didn't have the privilege of getting dropped off due to being older and needing to be responsible and independent.

On my way to the bus stop praying to whoever would listen that the bus won't be late today which would just make this day go downhill. As I was walking down the street looking at my phone, which is just as good as a constant of the universe. I logged into my discord account Captain_Lolz. After checking on the many servers I am on, I came across some interesting posts. It seemed like the guys finished while I was asleep. That's a shame; it may help if I explain what I am referring to. Late last night a new chapter of one of my favourite one-piece fanfics got updated and within it was a puzzle for the main character. However, a group of guys on the fic's discord thought we would give it a crack. I guess we cracked it, and now we were celebrating.

-RookVibadag- That was an awesome collaboration

-NolanR- That last part had my mind spinning. We solved it, though!

-Vroxic- Yeah, we're kinda stretched out mentally ngl

-MrBallin- The World Government's going to be on our asses if we ever get hit by truck-kun lol.

-Captain_Lolz- That'd be the least of our worries if we were in One Piece.

-Vroxic- We'd have cheats ofc, a gamer system

-Jon Reeve- dude, our bounties would be insane

-RookVibadag- Who said we'd be pirates?

-Vroxic- We'd all have our own perks

-Captain_Lolz- dont worry, we'd have extra lives, gamer and all that

-NolanR- I call dibs on hancock, although she'd be on calm belt

-Jon Reeve- shiet, all the girls are hot though. i call momo's sister in wano

-Jon Reeve- I gotta go to wano to get mah waifu

-MrBallin- How are you even going to get there lmaoo

-NolanR- No idea lol.

-RookVibadag- Just gotta swim through the calm belt. Get grinding, doesn't your waifu deserve the work? XD

-Vroxic- We wouldn't go on an adventure together though, that'd be boring

-MrBallin- Lol, I'm fighting Garp style.

-Jon Reeve- i'd be the kicks guy

-Captain_Lolz- I'd be the badass guy who takes no shit and gets all the waifus

-NolanR- I wouldn't eat a devil fruit, I'd be the charming Rogue

-Vroxic- I'd be a marksman

-NolanR- alright i'm gonna crash now, see ya

-Jon Reeve- I'd be a carpenter

-Captain_Lolz- #NoDFforlife

-NolanR- We all know just want to be a rip off baki

-MrBallin- The stat system should be simple.

-Vroxic- I have an idea, 5 base stats….

That bastard Nolan! So what if it's true? You don't have to call me a rip-off (Crys inside) I am original … anyway, it was at that point when I heard a shout. I looked towards the shout and saw a truck barreling down the road; the front window was tinted and was still a far distance away, but it wasn't slowing down, going throw a few red lights and nearly hitting people.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY, IT'S NOT STOPING!", A man shouted off to the side, seemingly to the girl that was crossing the street. She seemed to have headphones on, meaning she couldn't hear anything. It was then that I recognised who it was; it was the little sister of my childhood friend; she is about as old as my little sis was. She changed what school she went to after the incident which I fully understand given the bad memories of 'that' at her old school.

I don't really know what it was, but I felt something in me break, and when that happened, I felt like someone jumpstarted my heart. It felt like there was lava in my veins as it spread to my legs as they burned and it was only then did I realise that I started running towards her. I dropped my bag and phone to be as fast as possible. I ran as fast as I could. I forced my legs to push myself faster than; the last step was like pistons that hammered into the ground. I was running faster than I ever did before as if my life depended on making it now on not being too late this time.

As I was running, images flashed in my mind, memories of the past coming back to the forefront of my mind.

"I HATE YOU WHY DIDN'T YOU SAVE HER YOUR STUPID FAT BASTARD SHE WAS WRONG TO EVER BELIEVE IN YOU"

This time I won't be too slow; this time I will not be too late for her.

As I got closer to the two of them, the truck was almost upon them. I knocked her out of the way, and that's all I remembered of my life before it was changed forever. Ha, I guess, for once, I wasn't too late.

My first thought when I woke up was: Did I wet the bed again? For the record, It's perfectly normal for kids my kids at my age to do that... Anyway, that was not the case I soon found out. When I opened my eyes, I saw a bright blue sky with barely a cloud which was quite unexpected. The next thing that broke through to my awareness was the charismatic sound of waves breaking onto a beach that I am quite familiar with, having lived near the beach growing up. Finally, when I looked down to where my covers should be, instead, I found myself on a beach on the edge of the surf, soaking wet.

I don't know about you but to me, waking up on a beach you weren't there a moment ago is a bit weird; it's not normal to wake up in the surf unless it's the new Year. Anyway, quickly realising that I should stop laying in the surf, I got up. As I did that, I realised that I was still wearing my school uniform that I had put on this morning, but nothing else; no phone, no bag, nothing.

At that moment, many thoughts raced through my head, including but not limited to. Where am I? How did I end up here? Am I dead? Is this heaven? If so, this sucks! The whirlwind of such thoughts continued for who knows how long. Eventually, when I realised that maybe I should move, I also spotted a hovel far down the coast. It seemed like I had some walking to do as it was a fair walk away.

Realising that I had nothing better to do, I set off walking towards the only sign of human civilisation. As I walked, I had to admit, when I finally took in the sights of this beach, and not thinking of whether I was in hell or heaven, that this place was beautiful. The sand was silky soft, the water so crystal clear it nearly looked unnatural, only one or two small clouds in the sky that didn't block the powerful sun from beaming down, and there was a lush tree line that marked the boundary between the beach and beyond, even with its own pack of growling hungry looking wolfs

*SKILL: OBSERVE UNLOCKED*

( Click for full explanation )

Name: Tequila Wolf Adolescent

Lv: **

Description: The Tequila wolf species is native to Wolf Island which is home to many unique native and introduced species of wolf. It manages to stand out from the rest of the native wolf species due to its weird gait and facial expressions, which likened to be like that of a drunkard coming home from a late night at the bar.

Users should be advised that this doesn't make them weaker or easier targets for you. They would be a deadly dangerous foe, as this unpredictability allows them to take out even veteran soldiers if they let their guard down. They normally attack in groups; hence it's rare to find one alone. However, if they are, it's likely stronger than normal. They have been known to raid towns with the aim to raid their food stores and their bars for alcohol. It's not commonly known why they target the alcohol stores though it's been suggested that they may be able to consume alcohol just like humans.

They have been known to grow to lengths of about 6 to 7 feet and heights of 3 feet. They are natural fighters; the system advises you to run, or you will be killed.

Stats:

Health: ***/***

Brawn: ***

Vitality: **

Dexterity: ****

Intellect: *

Wisdom: *

Charm: *

Oh, is that a group of crabs dancing cool….. It's sad how long it took for me to realise what my eyes saw; granted, I didn't expect to see a floating screen straight from a gamer story in my vision, so I would like some leniency.

But to double-check for sure, I looked back over my left shoulder. Yep, both the floating screen and my eyes didn't lie to me; there were three wolfs, specifically three so-called tequila wolfs, based on the glowing text above each of their heads which brought its whole new set of questions; however, they didn't look like they would wait much longer, so I did what any man in my place would do.

"HELP, PLEASE, SOMEONE HELP ME; OH LORD, I AM GOING TO DIE A VIRGIN!" I calmly yelled as I 'gracefully' started running like my life depended on it, as at that moment, it most definitely did.

"COME TO ME, BOY!" Out of nowhere, I hear what must be the voice of an angel sent to save me; I look around as I am sprinting. I found where the voice was coming from; up ahead was the angel in question jogging towards me. While he didn't have any white feathery wings or a halo, that didn't matter to me. As I got closer and closer, I was not able to see any weapon on him, which really put a halt to my excitement at getting saved. However, as I am getting close, I trip over in the sand due to one of the wolfs catching me by the ankle.

-5hp

"AH, My bloody ankle" I yelled justifiably, given I think I twisted my ankle. It's the first time I ever did that. Well, there is a first time for everything, but this was the worst time for it to happen.

The sound of their paws and their breaths are getting much closer to me as I turn around, and not ten meters behind me are the three wolves that would love to have me as their dinner. Thankfully for me, I heard a voice so full of conviction that If it said the sky was green, I would believe them.

"Back off, you troublesome mutts, before I put you down!" That threat somehow worked as they, first when rigidly still as if they were stone statues; however, after which they started to slowly backpedal until they broke out in a sprint away.

I laid back onto my back, exhausted, as that was the fastest I had run in a long time and running in a school uniform while under a clear sky on a beach is not advisable.

It was finally now that I could actually get a good look at the one who saved me, and he wasn't what I expected; his face was all wrinkly like a dried-out raisin left in the sun too long he had a slight hunch that most elderly have along with some thick glasses and baggy clothes.

"Thank you, sure you saved my life is there any way I ca-" I started thanking him until he interrupted me by saying.

"Contentment is the greatest of wealth a man can have; I saved you as that was the right thing to do, anyway I think it's best if we get you inside and see to that ankle", he said in a voice that was hard to describe as if your grandfather was both a mob boss and cheesy kung fu movie.

"Oh, I don't want to bother you, sir; I can get up myself see" as I got up, showing him I was fine… Wait, didn't I just have a sprained ankle? How can it not hurt? As I focused on my ankle, a pop-up appeared in my vision over my ankle.

PERK: GAMER BODY

This perk grants the body immunity from injuries as if the user was a game character. However, this doesn't negate HP damage which will continue as normal.

Limited time: 23:45 hours left.

It was at that moment It finally clicked in my head that I was living out one of my dreams, being isekai'd into a gamer story.

( Start Of Arc 1 Book 1 Titled "The Beginning" )