Going Back Today

"Going back today."

Yorki finished reading the last line on the wall, the rescue team had already carried the stretcher out of the lower deck.

After the Old Ship left the seabed, the water that had accumulated in the planks flowed down. Yorki lifted his foot and looked at the black mud stuck to the sole of his shoe.

"Wait a minute."

Magellan asked, "Where do you feel unwell?"

The ship hasn't left yet.

You have left the lower deck.

I'm talking about it.

Yorki gestured toward the Old Ship behind him.

Four of the six anchor chains have been cut, and the remaining two are still hanging on the foundation of the Impel Down. The hull is being supported by slings, and the patch plates on the starboard side are sticking out one after another.

Franky stared at the force diagram.

"We can't lift it any further, the keel will break."

Yorki was about to get off the stretcher.

Two Jailer blocked him from the left and right.

What are you doing down here?

"Ship repair."

You can't even stand up straight.

"Repairing a ship requires hands, not knees."

Franky tapped the screen.

"That sounds familiar, but don't move around. I'll tell them how to reinforce it."

Yorki looked at the Den Den Mushi.

Have you seen this ship before?

Even if you haven't seen it before, you can still tell. Those three patch panels on your starboard side are nailed upside down, and the Stern drainage hole is blocked.

"Even though it was nailed upside down, it still held up for fifty years."

"That's because the wood is tough."

What's your name?

"Franky."

Yorki read the name aloud.

"Shipbuilder?"

"Certainly."

Who is Master?

Franky's hand, which was reaching for the blueprints, froze in mid-air, his wrist knocking over the wrench beside him.

The wrench landed on the deck and spun twice.

Why are you asking this?

"You look at the keel first, then the drainage, and you still like to scold the ship repairmen. Nobody taught you to do this."

Yorki leaned back on the stretcher.

"Well taught."

Franky bent down and picked up the wrench.

"My master's name is Tom."

Yorki, who had been looking at the Old Ship, turned around when he heard the name.

"Tom?"

"You know him?"

"I've never seen his ship, but I've heard of it."

What do you mean by "having heard of his ship"?

Yorki pointed to the already opened iron box.

After the twelve children's records were taken away, a rusted copper plate was found at the bottom of the box. The rescuers just found it and discovered that it was engraved with the ship number used by the Return Voyage Project.

The last line contained a new number.

[Alternative vehicle for the return journey: Sea Train]

[Builder: Tom's Workers]

[Status: Builder has not returned]

Franky grabbed the edge of the screen.

Turn that copper coin over.

The Jailer did as instructed.

The back of the copper plate was covered in mud and sand. After brushing off the surface layer, a simple route map was revealed.

The route starts at Enies Lobby and ends at Water 7.

There is a blacked-out stop in the middle.

Yorki asked, "What is Sea Train?"

Franky did not answer.

Robin explained it to him.

"To restore Water 7 its former glory, Tom built a train that could run on rails over the sea."

"Then why write 'No Return'?"

"Because after he built the train, he was taken to Enies Lobby."

What was the verdict?

Franky put the wrench back on the table.

"Death penalty."

Yorki looked at him for a while.

"Has the body returned?"

"No."

"What about confirmation of death?"

No one answered the Den Den Mushi.

The Iceburg's communications were connected at that moment.

He had clearly run over; his collar was undone, and he was carrying old files from the mayor's office.

"Franky, read the number on the coin again."

Franky finished reading it aloud.

The sound of pages turning continued for a moment.

Iceburg discovered an early trial operation schedule for the Sea Train.

"This is the backup route number for the Puffing Tom during its first year of operation. Enies Lobby requested that we reserve a windowless car specifically for transporting prisoners whose transfers were not yet complete."

Nami asked, "Did Tom ride in that carriage?"

"Official records state that he was escorted from Water 7 to Enies Lobby."

I asked if anyone saw it.

"The escort was a judicial ship; the platform wasn't open, and the train doors weren't open either."

Franky looked up.

"But I watched that car drive away."

Iceburg placed the file on the table.

"What we saw was the judicial ship being loaded onto the train; we didn't see the master enter the carriage."

The Throne Page automatically retrieves old cases.

[Criminal Tom has been escorted out.]

[Contract for the construction of the Sea Train has been settled]

[The death sentence was accepted by the individual.]

Franky raised his hand and turned off the first screen, and the second one lit up again.

"He accepted the sin of building Roger's ship."

Robin said, "The original sentence was postponed due to the Sea Train's achievements, but Tom was later re-convicted after Spandam used his warships to attack the judicial ship."

"I know."

After saying those three words, Franky didn't continue.

Yorki, however, focused on the section about construction responsibility.

What did the ship do?

"It was stolen, and a judge was injured."

Were the shipbuilders on board at the time?

"Not here."

"He ordered the ship to open fire?"

"No."

"Then why should he take the call?"

Franky rubbed the oil off the wrench with his thumb.

"Because we built the ship."

"You answered it too?"

"Those two hundred-plus warships, I built them all."

Yorki tapped on the stretcher railing.

"No wonder you're so good at spotting rebounds; you've learned your lesson the hard way."

"Old man, ask fewer questions."

"I was imprisoned for fifty years, and I have a lot of problems."

Unanswered, it had already climbed up the copper coin to the return record.

Black Line runs through Tom's name, revealing a hidden escort list.

The list has three columns.

The first column, for passengers boarding, Blank.

The second column is for arriving personnel, Blank.

The third column reads "Manually supplemented".

Tom completed the handover of his life during transport.

Iceburg flipped through the old files to the very end.

"This one doesn't exist."

"Re-enrolled at Enies Lobby?"

"The seal belongs to Enies Lobby, but the date is ten years later."

Franky looked up.

"Ten years?"

Robin magnified the layers of ink.

"It wasn't until ten years after Tom was taken away that Enies Lobby finally completed this death handover."

"My master was sentenced to death on the spot."

"A judgment is not equivalent to its execution."

Akainu retrieved the Navy's detention records.

The judicial ship only submitted a personnel transfer application to the Navy, but did not submit a body identification report or an execution report.

Even more strangely, for ten years, the World Government applied for a batch of Fish-Man- specific drugs every year from a secret shipyard.

The reasons for the application remained the same throughout.

[Maintain the chief shipbuilding offender's ability to work]

Franky picked up the Den Den Mushi.

"Where is it?"

"It's been deleted."

Who deleted it?

"The last person to handle this was Spandam."

The sound of a chair being pushed aside came from the other side of the Iceburg.

I'm going to find Kokoro.

Don't tell her.

Do you think you can keep it a secret?

"Confirm first."

Yorki reached out and tugged at the relief blanket.

"Just ask the train."

Franky looked at him.

"Trains don't talk."

"The ship can't speak, but it remembers who stepped on the deck, which piece of wood was replaced, and which waterline doesn't belong to this sea."

"The Sea Train is made of iron."

"Then ask about the railway tracks."

Iceburg had already had someone retrieve the old maintenance manual for the Puffing Tom.

Ten years after Tom was taken away, the train once deviated from the Enies Lobby mainline without any apparent reason.

The driver reported that he experienced three consecutive impacts under the wheels.

The train eventually stopped for seven minutes on an abandoned branch line.

That stop had no platform and no passenger records.

The maintenance workers found only one fish scale beside the tracks.

The Iceburg records the fish scales and adds the number to the verification page.

The black docking points on the map then became visible.

It was an abandoned Shipyard located beneath the ocean currents of Enies Lobby.

Only the last two characters remain of the Shipyard's name.

[Tom]

Franky didn't touch the screen.

After a moment, he asked, "What is the deadline for applying for the medication?"

Akainu reads out the date.

Three days ago.