The Sea Train Is Not Guilty

"No."

Franky didn't even look at the blueprints.

"The Sea Train was not built incorrectly."

Send a message back from the Shipyard.

Tom then asked if the train had ever taken anyone to Enies Lobby.

"Sent."

"Has anyone died at the finish line?"

"Have."

"Then you still say you're right?"

This question was not translated by Yorki.

Tom used the tapping method he used to teach his apprentices in the studio, which both Iceburg and Franky understood.

Franky pulled the operational logs of the Puffing Tom in front of him.

"It has transported judges, prisoners, tourists, and even sick people."

Tom knocked.

Continue.

"The Enies Lobby used it to detain people wasn't its own choice."

Another one.

Even the people who build the train can't decide where each passenger goes.

Iceburg took over the conversation.

"Master, you built the Sea Train back then to save Water 7."

"But it later became a tool of Enies Lobby."

"So we changed it."

How to change it?

The Iceburg was removed from the current management rules for the Sea Train.

The special carriages for Enies Lobby were discontinued after the Straw Hat Pirates' attack on Enies Lobby. For regular escorts, the passenger list must be made public, and dangerous goods are not allowed to travel in the same carriage as passengers.

However, these rules only apply to the Water 7 Railway Company.

World Governments still retain the power of expropriation.

Iceburg picked up the mayor's seal.

"Effective today, the unconditional requisition of Enies Lobby is cancelled."

The Throne immediately rejected the proposal.

[The Sea Train is a project approved by the World Government]

"Approval does not equal everything."

[The railway passes through the waters under the jurisdiction of Enies Lobby]

"The tracks were built by Tom's Workers, and Water 7 is responsible for their maintenance."

[The builder is a criminal]

Franky pasted the newly restored case verification page onto the document.

"The charges are being retried; don't bring up old conclusions."

The Throne then invoked the construction agreement that Tom had signed years ago.

There is a hidden authorization clause in the agreement.

[In the event of a legal requirement, control of the train will be automatically transferred.]

Iceburg checks signature.

"Master hasn't seen this page before."

Robin zooms in on the edge of the paper.

"The original agreement was only six pages long; this one is on the seventh page, and the binding holes are different too."

"Another one done by brute force?"

"The paper is genuine, and the signature is from the first page."

Franky slammed his hand on the table.

"Then tear it down."

Unanswered, he pulled the signature off the seventh page and put it back in the original position where Tom had signed.

The authorization clauses, lacking a signatory, begin to fade.

At Water 7 Station, all the control levers on the Enies Lobby simultaneously snapped back to their original positions.

The driver leaned out from the front of the car.

"Mayor, the orbital signal has changed."

"Turn into what?"

The train is asking, "Who decides the next stop?"

Iceburg looked at the route map.

In the past, the destination was written by the control room before each train departed.

Now, an additional passenger confirmation step is required.

For escort personnel, legal documents and personal status verification are required, and unnamed carriages can no longer be used for transportation.

"Reserve."

"The World Government will revoke the railway permit."

"Make it retreat."

What will happen to Water 7 after it ceases operation?

Iceburg put the mayor's seal back into the box.

"Twenty-two years ago, my master was worried that this city wouldn't survive, so he signed whatever conditions were agreed upon."

"And now?"

"Now it's the city's turn to maintain the trains."

Franky grinned and chuckled a few times.

"This sentence is alright."

Yorki asked, "Did the one in the Shipyard hear that?"

Tom knocked three times.

In the old studio's signal system, three taps meant rework.

Iceburg asked, "What's wrong?"

Tom continued tapping.

He did not admit that the Sea Train was guilty.

That signature originally corresponded to another sentence.

[If the Sea Train harms innocent people, Tom's Workers has a responsibility to correct its purpose.]

The second half of the sentence in the Enies Lobby was deleted, and it was changed to "Tom confesses."

Iceburg rewrote the original text.

Franky added another one.

Changing the intended use does not equate to admitting that the construction was a crime.

Tom replied.

This time, the final responsibility was removed from the case.

The sound of iron rings hitting the ground echoed from inside the Shipyard.

Both locks have been released.

"Master, can we go now?"

The sound of two taps echoed back.

Cannot.

Chopper asked, "What else is holding him in place?"

Yorki listened to several rounds.

"It's not Human Lock, it's Shipyard."

Tom has worked here for twenty-two years, and the water gates have long relied on his physical strength.

Even after the identity lock is released, the system still considers him a structural part of the Shipyard.

If he leaves, the water gate will get out of control, and the accumulated ocean currents below Enies Lobby will wash away the maintenance deck.

Akainu said, "Evacuate Enies Lobby first."

Magellan has already begun his operation.

Enies Lobby has a small number of personnel, with many judicial officers having been transferred to temporary agencies after the Straw Hat Pirates' attack.

The prisoner list didn't match.

Public records show that the number of people detained underground is zero, but the water flow map shows forty-seven oxygen supply pipes.

There are still people down there.

Tom knocked.

"How many?"

He couldn't confirm.

Each time the water gate opened, the clanging of the iron gates could be heard from afar in the Shipyard.

At least a dozen people.

Enies Lobby refused to provide the list.

[No legally detained individuals in the underground area]

Mira sat in the Impel Down medical room, clutching a blanket.

It said I wasn't there before, too.

Yorki said, "The lack of a legal partner doesn't mean there's no one."

Lin Qi incorporated Mira and Yorki's rescue rules.

[If the facility denies the presence of any personnel, a life verification should be conducted first.]

The Throne is locked to the underground blueprints.

Vegapunk could only deduce this from the oxygen supply.

Of the forty-seven pipes, nineteen still have airflow.

One of them requires significantly more oxygen than the average person.

Franky asked, "Fish-Man?"

"It could be a giant, or something shared by multiple people."

Tom suddenly started banging.

The rhythm became chaotic, and the intervals became shorter and shorter.

"What happened?"

Yorki his ear close to the communicator.

"The water gate is opening."

Who opened it?

"Remote control from above."

The underground ocean current map of Enies Lobby turns red.

The transport ship, which had been blocked by Tom for three days, was approaching the outer entrance. The crew forcibly activated the backup mechanism, preparing to storm the Shipyard.

Once the water gate is opened, the area where Tom is located will be flooded first.

Jinbe asked, "Can you make him turn it off in reverse?"

"He injured his right leg, and his waist lock was just removed; he can't turn his head."

"The train can help."

Franky connected the point of force application on the track to the water gate gear.

The Puffing Tom stopped above, its engine steam running at full blast, holding the backup mechanism in place via iron pipes and old chains.

"Driver, reverse."

The wheels spun freely on the tracks, slowing the opening speed of the water gate.

Iceburg stared at the pressure gauge.

"The train won't last much longer."

"The Thousand Sunny is two days away."

"Even the fastest Kuja Ship will take at least ten hours."

Yorki lifted the rescue blanket.

"The old track of Impel Down away from Enies Lobby has been established."

Magellan looked at him.

"The dining car track only goes to the abandoned underwater station."

"Below the abandoned station lies the waterway for the Return Voyage Project; that ship sailed through there fifty years ago."

Zero was removed from the old flight path.

Yorki is right.

There is a long-closed transport pipeline between the abandoned railway in Impel Down and the underground Shipyard on Enies Lobby.

The pipe can only accommodate one food cart at a time.

Buggy looked at the car that had just rescued Mira.

"You want me to tear it down again?"

Mira took the ship's medical kit off the vehicle.

"Use this one."

Chopper asked hastily, "Who's going in?"

"Take the medicine and tools first."

"No one's operating it, so even if we arrive, we can't open the door."

"I'll go."

Yorki put his feet on the ground, his knees buckled back, and he slumped back onto the stretcher.

The medical team held him down.

Franky yelled through the screen, "You can't even get off a stretcher!"

"So you can squeeze into the food cart?"

"I can disassemble both robotic arms."

Who will repair the water gates after they're dismantled?

During the argument, Zero walked over to the food truck.

His wounds hadn't been treated yet; there were old cuts from the chains pressing into his wrists.

"I'll go."

Mo'er immediately asked, "You know how to repair ships?"

"Won't."

"Can you swim?"

"Won't."

"Then what are you going to do?"

Zero put the old ship 'Custodian card into the dining car.

"The people locked up in Tom's Shipyard are probably those who were transferred away on Transport Ship twenty-two years ago."

He pulled open the floorboards of the food cart, revealing a series of numbers that only the Custodian recognized.

"One of them was originally supposed to be sent to Enies Lobby by me."