Tom's request, stealing secrets from Enies Lobby

Water 7, Tom's Workshop. Eight o'clock in the morning, the sun is already high in the sky.

Lin Yuan stood at the workshop entrance with a glass of water in his hands, hands in his pockets, expressionless. He wasn't trying to look cool; he was just still half asleep.

Kaido leaned against a pillar next to him, gnawing on meat and chuckling "Ororo" for no apparent reason. Bullet squatted on the steps, rubbing his fists until they gleamed like he was polishing shoes. Ginny sat on her toolbox, flipping through an account book while cursing, "Kaido, you ate three million Beli's worth of meat last week, are you a pig?" Kaido pretended not to hear.

King was on the rooftop, pretending to be a master with his eyes closed. Moria was in a corner playing with his shadow, shaping it into various forms—a dog, a cat, and even Kaido's face. Kaido glanced at it and stomped the shadow away. Moria chuckled and started shaping it again.

Tom emerged from the depths of the workshop, carrying a roll of yellowed blueprints. The Blue Nezumi followed behind him, sipping tea with a squeaking sound.

"Lin Yuan, kid, I need to talk to you about something." Tom spread the blueprints on the table, put the hammer aside, and his expression became unusually serious. "It's not about shipbuilding, it's something else."

Lin Yuan walked over and glanced at the blueprints. They were covered with complex mechanical structures and marked with Ancient Script —none of which he recognized. But he knew this thing was no ordinary piece of work, because someone as ruthless as Tom, who could build ships in all sorts of ingenious ways, wouldn't usually show off a piece of scrap paper.

"Ancient Weapons?" Lin Yuan asked.

"Not weapons. Fragments of Ancient Weapon theories." Tom lowered his voice, as if revealing a shameful secret. "When I was young, the World Government tricked me into doing research, something about 'restoring ancient technology,' but they ended up using it to make weapons. I didn't know that at the time, and by the time I found out—it was too late."

Kaido stopped eating the meat and pricked up his ears. King opened his eyes from the rooftop.

Tom tapped his fingers on the blueprints. "I ran away later. But the World Government confiscated all my research materials, including a fragment of a design blueprint, which was my proudest creation. It wasn't some broken weapon, but a propulsion system—one that allowed a ship to run without wind or fuel. Even that freak Vegapunk didn't understand the principle behind it."

"Where is the surviving copy?" Lin Yuan asked.

"Enies Lobby. The lowest level archives, watched over by those CP lackeys." Tom looked up, a pleading glint in his eyes. "I'd like to ask you to help me get it back."

The workshop was silent for a fraction of a second.

Ginny was the first to speak, her tone like a mother hen. "Enies Lobby is the core institution of the World Government. Going there is tantamount to declaring war. Do you know how twisted those CP0 guys are? A bunch of pretentious guys in suits, shouting out the names of their moves when they fight."

"I know," Tom didn't deny it, "That's why I've never asked anyone for help. The Navy wouldn't dare, and the pirates couldn't handle it. But you're different—you fucking can open the door."

Lin Yuan took a sip of water. He was thinking: If he helped Tom get the incomplete scroll, the Void's performance would double, and it could even cross the Calm Belt. If he didn't help, the ship would still be built, but it would just be an ordinary good ship.

"I'll go," Lin Yuan said.

"I'll go too." Kaido tossed the meat bone aside and slung the Iron Club over his shoulder.

"You stay out to provide backup," Lin Yuan glanced at him. "With your size, you'll be on surveillance cameras in less than three seconds. Your picture on the bounty poster will be bigger than a warship."

Kaido thought about it and agreed that it made sense, so he sat down and started eating meat again.

"Ginny, give remote command. Jhin and Moria, come with me. Bullet and Kuma, stay at the workshop to protect Tom. Don't let anyone kidnap our shipwright."

Bullet and continued rubbing his fist.

Enies Lobby. Noon.

The gray-white building stands on the sea like a tombstone, exuding an eerie atmosphere. It is surrounded by patrol boats and watchtowers, and even seagulls flying by have to have their ID checked.

Lin Yuan, Jin, Moria stood on a reef on the outskirts of Enies Lobby. The sea breeze howled, turning Moria's hair into a mess.

Ginny's voice came through the Den Den Mushi, carrying a lazy, "I'm eating oranges, don't bother me" vibe. "The archives are on the lowest floor, three floors underground. There are two CP0s at the entrance, rotating every four hours. The corridors have infrared and pressure sensors—no, I mean, Observation Haki trigger devices. The World Government has installed anti- Observation Haki equipment around the archives; an ordinary person entering will trigger an alarm."

"Can we bypass it?" Lin Yuan asked.

"Yes. From the side, through three walls, there's a blind spot. There are no sensors there because the walls are too thick; ordinary ability users can't get through."

Lin Yuan grinned. "But I'm not an ordinary ability user."

He opened a small door beside him and peeked inside. Behind the door was a dark corridor, water droplets seeping from the walls, and the air smelled of old people, a mixture of paper and ink. There were no guards, no sensors—at least his Spatial Perception didn't detect anything.

"Walk."

The three men walked in silently, like three chicken thieves.

Archives.

Lin Yuan stepped out of the door, his feet sinking into the cold stone slabs, feeling like he was stepping on a coffin lid. Jin and Moria followed behind him, their footsteps as light as cats'. Moria could even move his shadow silently—a move he had practiced for three months just to steal things.

"Ginny, what's the scroll number?"

Tom said it's number XK-0017, the deepest part, the third cabinet from the left, the second shelf from the top.

Lin Yuan walked through rows of metal filing cabinets, as if browsing IKEA. His Spatial Perception remained active—there was no sign of life around him, and CP0 was still wandering the corridor, not yet inside. Jin followed behind him, the flames on his back suppressed to a minimum, leaving only a faint glow, like a lighter running out of power. Moria brought up the rear, his shadow spreading silently on the ground like a black carpet.

"Found it." Lin Yuan stopped in front of the third cabinet on the left.

The lock on the cabinet door was made of Seastone Alloy, which could not be opened with ordinary keys or even with ordinary Haki. But Lin Yuan did not need a key. He opened a Micro Door in the lock cylinder—a door as small as the eye of a pin. The structure of the lock cylinder unfolded in his mind like a 3D model. With a gentle push, the lock popped open.

"This ability to steal is truly exceptional," Lin Yuan muttered to himself.

He opened the cabinet door and took out a flat lead box. The box wasn't large, about the size of a thick dictionary, but it was as heavy as a brick. The lid was engraved with the World Government's symbol, below which were four numbers: XK-0017.

"This is it." He handed the lead box to Moria. "Take it, don't drop it. If you drop it, we'll both have to stay and work to pay off our debts."

Moria took the box, carefully stuffed it into the backpack on his back, and patted it to make sure it wouldn't fall out.

"Ginny, let's go—wait a minute."

Lin Yuan's Spatial Perception detected something. It wasn't a guard, but something in another cabinet. In that cabinet, there was a stack of documents with some words written on the cover—not in Ancient Script, but in common language, which he recognized at a glance.

Wano Country: List of Infiltrators (Top Secret)

Lin Yuan narrowed his eyes. This thing was far more valuable than the fragments of the power system.

He walked over, opened a door to the cabinet, and took out the documents. It was a thick stack, at least thirty pages long. He quickly flipped through a few pages—they were densely filled with names, code names, contact information, and mission details.

Kurozumi Orochi's name appeared no less than five times. His contacts, his sources of funding, and his intelligence channels all pointed to one direction: the Celestial Dragons, the Rosward Family.

"Lin Yuan, CP0 is here. Two of them, a man and a woman, dressed in suits and acting all high and mighty." Ginny's voice was tense.

"Understood." Lin Yuan tucked the document into his coat pocket as if it were a precious treasure. "Let's go."

The three stepped into the door, which closed silently behind them.

In the corridor.

Two CP0 agents were walking towards the archives. The man had slicked-back hair, and the woman was wearing high heels, walking with a confident stride, like she was on a catwalk.

"Did you write the patrol log?" the female agent asked.

"I wrote it. Still the same old story, not even Nezumi."

"That's good. In three months, I'll be rotating out of the area, and I can finally leave this awful place. I've had enough of the boxed lunches here."

As they talked, they pushed open the door to the archives.

Everything in the archives was as usual. The filing cabinets were neatly arranged, the floor was spotless, and there wasn't even a speck of dust in the air.

They didn't realize that the lock on the innermost cabinet had been opened before.

They also didn't notice the extra crumb of biscuit Moria had dropped on the ground.

The open sea.

Kaido stood on a small boat, his Iron Club rod planted at the bow like a gatekeeper. Bullet squatted at the stern, tapping his fingers on his knees to keep a rhythm, humming some unknown tune.

"Why haven't they come out yet?" Kaido impatiently.

"What's the rush?" Bullet said without looking up. "Lin Yuan has never failed to steal anything."

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Yuan opened the door at the bow of the ship. Three people walked out: Moria carried a lead box on his back, Lin Yuan had documents in his arms, and Jin was expressionless.

"Got it?" Kaido asked.

"Got it." Lin Yuan jumped onto the boat. "Let's go back. I'm starving."

"Oh dear... I'm hungry too!"

When are you not hungry?

Water 7, Tom's Workshop. Evening.

Tom's hands trembled as he took the lead box. He opened the lid, and inside was a roll of yellowed parchment covered with intricate mechanical designs and Ancient Script. He stared at it for a few seconds, and his eyes welled up with tears.

"That's it... that's it..." His voice trembled.

The Blue Nezumi came over, rubbed its head against his arm, and squeaked to comfort him. Tom sniffed and carefully placed the box on the workbench, as if it were an ancestral tablet.

"Lin Yuan, thank you. I'll be using the technology from the incomplete scroll on the Void. You wait, once this ship is built, the whole world will be watching me."

Lin Yuan didn't reply. He took out the stack of documents from his pocket and tossed them to Ginny.

"Check it out. The people here start from Wano Country."

Ginny took the document and turned to the first page. She made a circle behind her back with her finger, her eyes gleaming with a purple light— her Glint-Glint Fruit was open; she wasn't reading, she was verifying.

"These names... are all real." Her voice was a little tense. "The World Government has planted at least twenty spies in Wano Country. Some are in the Shogun's mansion, some in the port, and some are close to the Daimyo. Kurozumi Orochi's contact is among them."

Did Oden know?

"He probably doesn't know. These people are hiding their money even better than his wife's."

Lin Yuan was silent for a moment. "Make a copy of the list. Give it to Oden next time he comes."

Ginny nodded and began copying from the ledger. Kaido glanced over, didn't understand, and went back to eating his meat.

Late at night.

Lin Yuan stood by the dock of the Void, watching the keel gradually take shape. Tom was busy on the scaffolding, while the Blue Nezumi handed him tools. The man and the rat worked together seamlessly, as if they had been doing this for eight hundred years.

Ginny walked over, holding a glass of water.

"The list is copied. One more thing— Morgans relayed a message from Whitebeard's side that Newgate recently fought Golden Lion on the west side of the New World. The battle ended in a draw, but the territory was clearly defined."

"Is Whitebeard alright?"

"No. Neither did the Golden Lion. After their fight, they even drank together, reportedly several jars."

Lin Yuan's lips curled up slightly. "That's good."

When do you plan to visit him?

"Once the Void is built, we can sail our own ship. There's no shame in that."

Ginny smiled and handed him the water glass.

In the distance, the setting sun was sinking into the sea. On the canals of the Water 7, gondoliers sang songs, their voices mingling with the scent of sawdust and seawater—quite pleasant to listen to.

Lin Yuan took the water glass and took a sip.

Ginny.

"Um?"

"Next stop, that idiot Punk Hazard Caesar, time to take care of him."

Ginny wrote a line in the ledger: Punk Hazard, Caesar Clown, Artificial Devil Fruit laboratory, awaiting destruction. She also drew a skull at the end.

She closed the ledger and looked out at the sea.

The setting sun dyed the entire sea golden, as if it were on fire.

"By the way, Lin Yuan, when you were stealing today, did you think about what would happen if you got caught by CP0?"

"I've thought about it."

"Then what?"

"Then we'll trap them inside and let them stay in this alternate dimension for a few days," Lin Yuan said expressionlessly. "Anyway, there's air in there; they won't starve."

Ginny was silent for two seconds.

"... You're a real pervert."

"Thank you for the compliment."

(End of Chapter 68)