Adoptive Daughter Relationships Cannot Be Transferred

"Nobody should touch that seal."

Nami stared at the image of the cemetery, the ledger in her hand already turned to the last page.

Nojiko crouched down beside the coffin, withdrawing her outstretched hand.

"I didn't touch it, and neither did the medical staff."

When was the seal in the keyhole applied?

"The cemetery caretaker said he had never seen this small door before."

Akainu retrieved the sealed records of the 16th Marine Branch.

"The Seal Number belongs to Captain Nezumi; its purpose is to confirm that the Emigrated Population Without Local Relatives."

Nami looked to the other side of the screen.

"Arlong, do you recognize this seal?"

"Ask the Navy about what they do."

"The adopted daughter relationship will be activated after the transfer is completed. Who is the adopted daughter in this sentence?"

Arlong tugged at the iron chains on his hands.

"How many adopted daughters are there in the village? Can't you count them yourself?"

Nojiko picked up a dry cloth and wiped away the mud next to the seal.

Two engraved marks were visible along the edge of the small door.

A winding path, like an unfinished orange.

The other one only has half a windmill.

Nami.

Nojiko moved the camera closer to the wooden board.

"This was carved when we were kids."

Nami stared at the two marks.

"I didn't carve anything on the coffin."

"I don't either."

The cemetery caretaker was searching through old cemetery registers nearby.

"After Bellemere's burial, there is no record of the coffin being reopened, nor were the outer planks replaced."

Robin asked, "Are those two marks below the seal, or above it?"

Nojiko turn signal.

"It's half-covered by a seal at the bottom."

"Then it would be sealed off even before the 16th Marine Branch."

"But we haven't carved it."

Arlong chuckled through the Den Den Mushi.

"A dead man has two underlings; there has to be a mark on the books."

Nami flipped back to the first few pages of the tax register from Arlong's era.

Did you carve it?

"I don't have time to carve designs on the coffin."

Who is that?

"The Fish-Man in charge of registration."

Jinbe immediately asked, "What's your name?"

Arlong didn't reply.

"Arlong."

"Dead."

How did he die?

"It was your human navy that shot him."

Akainu searches for battle reports from the early stages of his takeover of Cocoyasi Village.

"No Fish-Man deaths recorded."

"Of course you won't write it."

What was that Fish-Man's responsibility?

Arlong lifted the chain and put it back on the table.

"Count the people, keep track of the money, even the dead must be recorded."

Nami asked, "Did he discover that Bellemere was still associated with us, so he left a mark?"

He thought the woman was stupid; she died and still put her two children's names on her register.

Nojiko continued from the cemetery, "Bellemere never had any adoption papers processed."

The Village Chief brought the old neighborhood register of Foosha Village into the communications system.

"There were no formal adoption procedures in Cocoyasi Village. After Bellemere brought the two children home, she simply added their names to the village's Family Register."

Robin unfolded the two records side by side.

"Local Family Registers recognize foster care relationships, but the World Government's household registers do not. Therefore, after her death, Nami and Nojiko should revert to a relationship without guardianship."

But we didn't.

Nami opened the tax book.

"Arlong has been collecting money from us under the guise of Bellemere's adopted daughter."

"This relationship is only valid when taxes are paid."

Robin's hand rested on the Emigration Column.

"When it came time to transfer the deceased's identity, it was treated as something that could be taken away."

Lin Qi asked, "Where did the adopted daughter relationship go?"

Akainu found a supplementary record by following the seal of the 16th Marine Branch.

"Grand Line, Enies Lobby Affiliated Population Registry"

Nami looked up.

"Enies Lobby?"

The purpose of the supplementary registration is stated as Family Relationship Filling of children without a registered address.

Makino didn't understand.

"What's the meaning?"

Vegapunk Access Instructions.

"Children lacking parental records cannot be registered in the Throne Household Registry. The population database will extract uncancelled kinship relationships from deceased families and fill them into the children's files."

"To exchange the dead man's daughter for someone else?"

More accurately, it's about reusing a relationship.

Nami placed the ledger on the table.

"That's not called more accurate."

Vegapunk shut his mouth.

A soft creak came from the square gate in the cemetery.

The seal bulged outwards, and a small, yellowed piece of paper squeezed out from the crack in the door.

Nojiko didn't go to pick it up.

The paper fell onto the coffin lid by itself.

[Source: Bellemere]

[Available Adopted Daughter Spots: Two]

[The adopted daughter can be reassigned after moving out]

Nami stared at the last line.

When did we move out?

Akainu flipped through the list of those being relocated.

"After Bellemere was registered and moved to the Grand Line, your relationship also entered Transfer Status."

"Nojiko and I are still living in the village."

"The 16th Marine Branch recorded your actual residence as temporary stay."

Arlong spoke.

"Because you owe taxes."

"You left us in the village to work for you, but the navy wrote that we had already moved away."

"As long as I'm alive, who cares what's written in the books?"

What's written in the books determines what they can take next time.

The Ju Bei placed its Tax Token in the picture.

"I was also short of budget at first, but later I was able to fit it into the cabinet."

Arlong glanced at the Tax Token.

"What does it have to do with me that the people of the East Blue are using children to pay for their debts?"

Nami laid out the annual tax payments under Bellemere's name.

"You left an entrance."

"I'm just collecting money."

"You used her death to continue collecting money for eight years, and then Captain Nezumi sent this relationship to the population database. You two went one after the other; neither of you can pretend you didn't see it."

The Throne Page unfolds above the cemetery.

[Adoption relationships are confirmed by the registration system; relationships that have not been legally registered can be reassigned.]

[A: Bellemere's relationship with her two adopted daughters is invalid]

[B: The relationship automatically terminates upon Bellemere's death]

[C: The adopted daughter has moved out; the relationship can be used to fill other Empty Households ]

Arlong turned his face away.

"Here we go again."

Lin Qi did not immediately write the fourth line.

"Nami, this question should be asked of you and Nojiko."

Nojiko touched the orange-shaped engraving on the edge of the coffin lid.

"Bellemere never asked us if we wanted to be her daughter."

Nami looked at her.

What are you trying to say?

"She took us in like a baby, and kept saying she didn't have any money at home and told us to eat less, but in the end she was the one who ate the most."

The Village Chief coughed from behind.

"Bellemere would curse if he heard that."

"Then let her curse."

Nojiko hand to the side of the square door.

"She doesn't have legal documents, but she raised us, and we acknowledge her as our partner. This relationship isn't included in the population database."

Nami picked up her pen and added the fourth line.

[D: The family relationship formed through cohabitation and the individual's confirmation cannot be used for household registration transfer. Bellemere's death does not erase the existing relationship, nor does it create control over the adopted daughter.]

Makino voted first for the Civilian Witness Seat.

"What family members left behind was not a spot."

Dragon confirms his Revolutionary Army Seat.

"No administrative system may buy or sell kinship records."

Akainu glanced at the options for a few moments and then chose D.

"The relocation and supplementary registration for the 16th Marine Branch is invalid; the Enies Lobby population database has ceased accessing related information."

As Buggy stamped the document, he asked, "What about the two children who were filled in?"

Robin said, "We can't delete them directly; we need to confirm first whether they gained survival status because of this."

"Can deleting a relationship kill someone?"

"The Throne will allow this to happen."

Lin Qi added the protection clause to the question.

"Those who were previously filled in will not bear responsibility for misappropriation; their independent identities will be established first, and then their relationship with Bellemere will be severed."

The last vote fell.

The square door on the side of the coffin opened outward by half an inch.

There were no remains inside.

There were only two rolled-up strips of cloth.

One of them says Nami.

One of them says "Nojiko".

Both strips of cloth had been cut, and someone else's number had been sewn onto the cuts.

Nojiko looked at the numbers.

How many children are there?

After counting, Robin answered, "Sixteen."

"Two spots available, how can there be sixteen?"

The same adopted daughter relationship was used eight times.

The population database records then appeared.

The first seven attempts to fill the gaps have all been completed, for only two reasons.

The child died.

The child was transferred to another program.

It is still in use the eighth time.

Nami continued reading from the latest number.

The receiving location did not specify Enies Lobby.

That column is marked with the records of the resettlement of the Ohara survivors.

Robin looked up.

The pages are still unfolding outwards.

The currently used object at the bottom has only one name.

Nicole Robin