East Tax Ten

"Is there someone behind East Tax Nine?"

Just as Buggy pulled the broken pen out, upon hearing this, he stabbed it back into the ledger, puncturing a hole in the paper.

"What number is your lousy takeover team? I'm sick and tired of hearing those numbers."

East Tax Nine didn't reply. He flipped to the bottom of the ledger on his chest, where the strokes of his old name were covered by Black Line, but another page lit up on its own.

[East Tax Ten, Not Activated, Status: Cup Holder in Preparation]

Nami's face darkened.

What does "not enabled" mean?

Robin flipped through the old warehouse map, his fingertips moving down to where the eight Ledger-Clearing Cups had landed.

"The first nine are the connection points; the tenth might not be the Custodian, but rather the core component prepared for the General Cup Rack."

Lumi looked at the rescue footage of the lamp; the medic was removing the broken key fragments from his neck, and the lamp's hand was still tightly gripping the cup.

"Could it be the four people inside the door who couldn't be rescued?"

Mia listened to the Cup Voice on the floor and shook her head.

"The sound was even lower inside the door, and the rhythm was different because of the walls and foundation."

The old warehouse worker was shielded by the gold thread, his face pale but not fading.

"That's not an old warehouse yard, it's a dock ballast yard."

Akainu looked at the Momonga.

"Confirm."

The Momonga reports back.

"The old docks in Loguetown once housed a number of Sealed Storage Warehouses, which were abandoned after the Execution Platform was expanded. Archives show that they have been filled in."

Dragon looked at the old dock line on the map.

"Plain places are best for burying things that cannot be moved."

Lin Qi has put a new question on the Sky Screen.

[East Tax Ten Positioning Verification Questions]

[Question: When the East Tax Ten- Node appears, can the East People's General Ledger refuse location and rescue verification by indicating that it is not in use?]

[A. Yes, not using it does not make you a victim]

[B. Yes, the preparatory node has no owner's consent]

[C. Confirmed internally by East People's General Ledger]

[D. No, not being in use does not mean no one is there. If the cup holder is suspected of being a victim or someone with disabilities, their location should be verified and their channels of expression protected.]

"D."

Nami's answer drowned out the Cup Voice in the old warehouse of Loguetown.

Akainu said, "Navy Seat, D."

Longdao: "Revolutionary Army Seat, D."

Makino said, "The Civilian Witness Seat, D."

Lumi said, "Victim Seat, D, the word 'prepared' won't shut people up."

Buggy pressed it down.

"D, preparation is still possible; don't wait until it becomes official."

[Answer: D]

The map of the East Blue sank beneath the old dock of Loguetown, revealing the outline of the abandoned Sealed Storage Warehouse illuminated by Golden Light. Buried within the wall was a row of upside-down cups, each with its rim facing down, yet each cup bore the same number engraved on its bottom.

[Ten]

Vegapunk enlarged the image, pressing his eyebrows under his goggles.

"It's not just one cup; it's multiple carriers sharing a single number. The Throne has broken down the East Tax Ten into Cup Array."

Void Seven page.

"The Cup Array is used to gather all the Cup Voice from the East Blue. If activated, the General Cup Rack will take over all calls for help, and it will answer every sound heard from the outside world."

Naji clutched the blanket tightly.

"Substitute answer means to Replacement Page."

The Ju Bei struck a rapid rhythm, Mia immediately translated.

"The Ju Bei said, ' The Tax Token said before for him, I'm not in pain.'"

The shells of the Chao Bei also made a sound.

"Chao Bei said that the floating container had already Receipt on his behalf."

Nami looked at East Tax Nine.

"You spoke on their behalf too, didn't you?"

East Tax Nine's lips moved, but in the end, he didn't bring out his old habit of smiling.

"I said that."

Nami didn't press him for details, but he continued the conversation on his own.

"If the accounts told me they didn't need aid, then I said so."

Akainu's fingertips traced the scorch marks on the armrest.

"The record is a confession."

The East Tax Nine raised its head.

"But East Tax Eleven is activated, I don't need to say it; the entire East Blue will hear it say on behalf of all the cups that the problem has been solved."

Lin Qi writes the title.

[Cup Array Answering Prohibited Questions]

[Question: Can the East Tax Ten Cup Formation, without verifying the individual's wishes, substitute for the East Blue Cup Voices Node to issue statements such as "processed, no rescue needed, and waiver of liability"?]

[A. Yes, Cup Array is a general ledger tool]

[B. Yes, a unified response is more efficient]

[C. Can be answered by authorization from the Throne]

[D. No, the Cup Array must not represent the wishes of any victim; all records of proxy responses should be considered evidence of persecution and their right to make public statements should be frozen.]

Five seats, unanimous vote (D).

Buggy, the Pirate Joint Seat, pressed down too hard, causing the broken pen on the table to jump again.

[Answer: D]

The inverted cups in the Sealed Storage Warehouse began to turn right, and a crack appeared at the bottom of one of the cups. There was no sound of a child inside; instead, the intermittent breathing sounds of an adult man could be heard.

"Don't take over the general ledger."

Mia looked up.

"This is not the second batch of children."

Robin said, "He was probably the first test subject inserted into the East Tax Ten during its manufacture."

East Tax Nine stared at the cracked cup, his chest pages a jumbled mess.

"I've heard that voice before."

Nami asked, "Who?"

East Tax Nine's hands were held in place by the Golden Light, preventing him from covering his chest. He could only let the source file flip to an old record.

[East Tax Nine Training Log, Instructor, East Tax Eight, Last Signature Before Disappearance: Refusal to Hand Over the Preparatory Cup Stand to the Throne]

Buggy paused for a moment, then looked at the East Tax Eight Ledger-Clearing Cup that had just landed.

"Wasn't East Tax Eight already dead in the Ledger-Clearing Cup?"

Vegapunk projected the two voiceprint comparisons.

"The Ledger-Clearing Cup contains only faint echoes, while the Sealed Storage Warehouse may contain fragments of personality or even remnants of a living being."

Lumi immediately said, "We can't act like dead men first."

Robin added, "We can't forcibly awaken him as a fully alive person; the Throne might turn him into a trigger."

Lin Qi typed.

[Question about the remaining state of East Tax Eight]

[Question: When a sound resembling the remnants of the East Tax Eight appears in the Sealed Storage Warehouse Cup Array, how should it be characterized and handled?]

[A. Determined to be a residual echo from a dead person, it can be destroyed]

[B. If identified as a living being, immediately and forcibly awaken it.]

[C. Collection of East People's General Ledger]

[D. Characterize the situation as a case of protecting both the victim's remains and key evidence in parallel, establish secure communication first, do not forcibly awaken the victim, and do not return the Throne or the general ledger.]

"D."

East Tax Nine spoke first this time, his voice hoarse from being worn down by the ledger pages on his chest.

Nami glanced at him.

You have no seat.

East Tax Nine lowered his head.

"I know."

Akainu said, "Navy Seat, D."

Dragon Path: "D."

Makino said, "D."

Lumi said, "D."

Buggy glanced at East Tax Nine, then at Cracked Cup.

"Pirate Joint Seat, D, don't let the dead be used as abacus beads."

[Answer: D]

The audible sounds from the cracked cup were brought out by the Golden Light and slowly coalesced into recognizable words.

"Number Nine, stop laughing."

East Tax Nine, who had been hanging his head, finally couldn't hold back the habitual smile on his lips when he heard those words.

Nami didn't let him off the hook.

He calls you Number Nine, not East Tax Nine.

East Tax Nine looked at the cracked cup, and a small section of the Black Line on his chest was lifted, revealing the second stroke of his old name.

He wouldn't let me remember his name.

Robin asked, "Why?"

Remnants of annotations from East Tax Eight were found in the ledger pages of East Tax Nine.

[Remember the name; the general ledger can trace it back to the person in question.]

Makino placed her hand on the ledger and gently pressed down on the curled corner of the paper.

So it's not that he doesn't want to give you a name, it's that he's protecting you.

East Tax Nine did not answer, but East Tax Eight's voice came from inside the cracked cup again.

"Beneath the Cup Array, there's a child without a number. Don't let him mimic my speech."

Vegapunk immediately retrieved the diagram of the Sealed Storage Warehouse.

"The child without a number is in the center of the Cup Array; he is not East Tax Ten, but the mouth that East Tax Ten will use."

The voice from behind the Black Gate fell again.

The target is a silent component.

Before Lin Qi could even type, Nami had already taken a step forward.

"Silence doesn't mean being without a mouth."

A new notification popped up on the Sky Screen.

[Silent verification begins at the central target of the Sealed Storage Warehouse]

[If the target is unable to express their own will in this round, they will be automatically placed into the East Tax Ten Cup Formation]

Mia listened to the Blank Cup Array, her fingers pausing on the codebook.

He didn't knock.

Lumi looked at Lin Qi.

"Give him another way to express himself."

Lin Qi's input box lit up, and a drop of water suddenly seeped out from under the unnumbered cup in the center of the Sealed Storage Warehouse.