The One Who Survived
"First, confirm if she is really her."
Robin did not approach the camera.
The woman placed her hands on the table.
"There are seven scratch marks on the inside of the Water Storage Barrel, the shortest one being in the lower left corner. I used to kick that spot with my left foot when I was a kid."
Akainu had the old footage verified.
There were indeed seven scratch marks inside the bucket.
"Name."
Mira.
What's your surname?
They gave me six, which one do you want to hear?
Your surname at birth.
The woman shook her head.
"Before the people on the ship could tell me, Enies Lobby said they would give me back my real surname if I could prove that Nicole Robin was hiding on the refugee ship."
Robin asked, "You agreed?"
I promised it when I was eight years old.
How do they want you to prove it?
"Recite a testimony that says a dark-haired girl hid in the cargo hold before the ship set sail, and then escaped over the sea after the shelling."
Have you seen that girl?
"No."
"Then why did you agree?"
Mira picked up a wooden plaque from the table.
"They said if I didn't answer, they would send me back to the Water Storage Barrel."
Nami asked, "Was the testimony used?"
Akainu retrieves Robin's wanted file.
"Yes, after Operation Ohara, the World Government used survivor testimonies to prove that Robin had infiltrated a refugee ship and then temporarily left the ship."
But Robin escaped from the other side of the coast.
"The Navy knows."
"Knowing full well, why keep the false testimony?"
"It makes the shelling of the refugee boats seem necessary."
Mira raised her hand and tapped the table.
"I changed my mind later."
"When?"
Ten years old.
And the result?
"They said the first testimony was complete, and anything beyond that could only be considered mental instability."
Unanswered the survey form that had climbed up in front of her.
The black line draws many small strokes from below the word "complete".
Each one was a denial written by Mira later.
I've never seen Robin.
There were no scholars on board.
[Don't make me identify the photos again]
I want to go back to Four Seasons Island.
A total of 417 times.
All of it was buried under the first false testimony.
Robin asked, "Why are you able to appear on the screen now?"
"After Saul's death record was revoked, the Ohara Witness Archive re-verified my case, and I was sent out as incomplete material."
"Where are you now?"
"Have no idea."
The room had no windows, and the door had no number.
Mira glanced back.
Meals are delivered here once a day, and the person delivering them wears a white mask.
Dragon said, "Enies Lobby has been destroyed, and this witness repository may have been moved to Mary Geoise facility."
Akainu requested the Navy to track the communications.
The coordinates are Blank.
The Throne then took over the survey form.
Witness Mira confirmed that Nicole Robin boarded the refugee ship.
[His testimony supports the military necessity]
[If her testimony is withdrawn, Mira will lose her witness status and her current means of subsistence.]
After reading it, Mira lowered her head to tidy up the wooden plaques on the table.
The wooden sign was placed twice, but it's still crooked.
She simply pushed it over.
"They make me hear that sentence every year."
Robin asked, "Do you want to withdraw your testimony?"
"Think."
"We may run out of food after withdrawing."
"When you were rescuing others just now, didn't you say that rescue efforts shouldn't turn into debt?"
"I said that."
"I want this one too."
Lin Qi pulled up the life support rules.
The Throne cannot be copied.
Mira's rations were provided through the Witness Program; her rations ceased upon revocation of her status.
"What does she eat each day?" Makino asked.
Mira looked toward the door.
A bowl of porridge, and occasionally some bread.
"Want some water?"
There are pipes inside the wall.
What if you get sick?
"I'm fine."
Chopper immediately connected.
"Move your face closer."
"Do what?"
"Look at your eyes and your tongue."
Mira did as instructed.
Chopper asked her more than ten questions through the screen, and then asked her to press her ankle.
"She has been malnourished for a long time, and may also have leg problems; we can't suddenly stop her from eating."
Lin Qi included an independent medical pathway in the fourth option.
The Throne still stands in the way.
[Location of protected object cannot be provided]
"It can deliver food every day, so it knows where it is."
Nami dragged out the ration records.
The food was not brought in from the outside.
An automated conveyor belt connects to the back of the room.
The track number belongs to the old facilities of Impel Down.
Akainu looked at the number.
"There are no registered areas below Level 6 of Impel Down."
Buggy leaned forward.
Is there room below the sixth floor?
"You were in Impel Down, didn't you notice?"
"I'm busy escaping from prison, I don't have time to measure the floor."
Jinbe connected to the Pirate Seat's communications.
"There was indeed the sound of flowing water at the deepest part of the sixth level; I initially thought it was coming from the seabed."
Dragon said, "If the rails are supplied from Impel Down, the rooms might be built inside an underwater foundation."
Mira heard the words "Impel Down" and repeatedly touched the edge of the wooden sign.
They said there's no sea outside.
Have you ever seen the outside world?
"No."
"Have you heard anything?"
Every now and then, someone sings outside the wall.
Robin asked, "What are you singing?"
Mira thought for a moment and hummed a short, off-key melody.
Brook's Den Den Mushi slid out of the Straw Hat Pirates' line.
"This song is Binks' Sake."
Luffy hummed along for a couple of seconds.
Nami cut off his microphone.
How long will the people outside the wall sing?
Sometimes, all night long, while singing, only one person's voice remains.
Brook moves closer to the screen.
Could you please sing it again?
Mira hummed it again.
There are three more knocking sounds at the end.
Brook didn't say anything more.
Robin asked, "You've heard of it?"
"This singing style belongs to the Rumbar Pirates."
"Your crew?"
"Yes."
"But they died in the Florian Triangle fifty years ago."
Brook raised her hand and adjusted her top hat.
That's why I wanted to know why someone was singing our song Impel Down.
Mira pointed to the left side of the room.
"The sound is coming from behind this wall."
When was the last time?
"Yesterday."
Chopper asked, "Is it just singing?"
There's still one person counting people.
What number of people are you counting?
He said there were originally fifty people on the ship, then a child disappeared, and then a skeleton disappeared.
Brook's hand slipped from the brim of his top hat.
"That child's name is Laboon."
Mira looked at the skull in the Den Den Mushi.
"That's what the people behind the wall are saying too."
What else did he say?
He said if one day the man in the Straw Hat came and asked him to pass on a message to the skull.
Brook brought her face even closer.
"Please speak."
Mira paused for a moment to recall.
They didn't blame you for living too long.
A muffled thud came from the left wall of the room.
The person singing had clearly heard the communication from here.
The plaster fell onto Mira's wooden sign.
She took two steps back.
A second impact followed.
An Old Ship marker was visible on the wall.
Brook recognized the mark.
"That's the Rumbar Pirates' ship's infirmary."
The person behind the wall began to knock.
Fifty strokes.
One less.
One less.
There were forty-eight responses remaining.
The Throne Page immediately covers the room.
[The Ohara Witness Archive and the Rumbar Pirates' End-of-Life Project are about to be merged and cleaned up]
Mira grabbed the wooden sign and ran towards the wall.
"They're taking the singer away!"
A mumbled reminder came from behind the wall first.
"Don't open the door."
Immediately afterwards, another, more distant song echoed through the conveyor track.
The voice was so old that it could barely hold its own, yet it kept repeating the same name over and over.
"Laboon."