People Are Still Beneath Enies Lobby

How many people have you driven here?

Mo'er stared at the number on the floor of the food cart.

Count from Zero to the nineteenth hole.

"Nineteen."

"When that Transport Ship sank, there were more than just the children from the White Ship on board?"

"And there are people Enies Lobby needs."

"You never said that."

"You didn't ask either."

A Hui helped Mo'er back into the chair.

"Don't make a sound now."

"I didn't make a sound."

"You pulled off the IV line."

Mo'er glanced down and withdrew his hand.

Zero continues to identify the serial number.

Of the nineteen Transfer Subject, six came from islands erased by the World Government, four could hear special Echo, and the remaining nine had no record of origin.

Nineteen of the oxygen supply pipes at Tom's Shipyard were still operational.

"They're all alive?"

After asking the question, Chopper shook his head first.

The fact that oxygen is still available doesn't mean everyone inside can live for 22 years.

Zero didn't provide any guarantees either.

"The handover requirement at the time was to keep the object usable, not necessarily to preserve its original physical condition."

Vegapunk took the number.

"It might be similar to a bear modification project."

Franky asked, "Does Tom know who they are?"

A knocking sound came.

Tom didn't know the name, only that every now and then a ship without a flag would be delivered to the water gate.

No people were unloaded from the ship; only sealed metal boxes were removed.

The metal box entered the underground detention area along the tracks.

When was the last time?

Seven days ago.

"The ship he stopped?"

One time.

Franky looked at the list of biological dormancy agents.

"The ship wasn't carrying medicine; it was carrying a new Transfer Subject."

Zero sat in the dining car.

"Let me through."

Magellan did not allow them to pass immediately.

"The pipes have been sealed for many years, and water may have seeped inside."

The food cart can move.

How did you know?

"The people who designed this line back then left a return route for the Custodian."

Yorki supported himself on the stretcher.

"Children in the Return Voyage Project have no right to return."

"The Custodian is available."

"So you stayed at the bottom of the ship for twenty-two years and didn't leave?"

Zero inserts the ship's nameplate into the control slot.

"The return route only recognizes completed handovers, and I didn't hand over a single one."

The food cart's green light came on.

The Throne immediately issued a warning.

[Zero Custodian returns to the judicial facility and will resume his original duties]

[Historical handover responsibilities are reinstated]

Mo'er held the food cart door shut.

"If you go, it will be locked again."

Tom only has one day's worth of oxygen.

"Let the tools go first."

"The people inside won't open the door for the tools."

Are you absolutely sure you can do it?

Zero looked at the number on the base plate.

"They recognize my tapping."

The Unanswered extended from Lin Qi's direction, entangling Zero's ship's nameplate.

[Entry as a rescue worker only]

The system refuses to acknowledge it.

[Zero has no current identity]

"Then we'll fix it."

Lin Qi picked up his pen.

"Name remains blank; identify as temporary rescue worker."

"I don't need an identity."

"You don't need it, but it does."

Zero stared at him for a moment.

"Don't write 'the Custodian'."

"Know."

After the Five-Party Seats were granted temporary relief permission, the original positions were reinstated and the notices were removed.

The dining car began to enter the abandoned tracks.

Chopper filled the other side with medicine and oxygen cylinders.

Buggy removed one of his hands and left it inside the car.

"Let me make this clear first: I'm only responsible for unlocking locks, not getting them wet."

Your hands don't need to breathe.

"It will hurt."

"Then don't go."

"Everything was packed, and you're only telling me now?"

The wheel enters the pipe.

The lights of Impel Down receded into the distance, leaving only a single old light from the food truck in front.

Zero tapped the vehicle wall twice with the boat sign.

An echo came from afar.

One time.

Three times.

Two times.

"There's someone in the pipes."

Buggy's hand touched the edge of the lock.

There's something blocking the way.

The food cart slowed down.

The light shone on a wooden door lying across the track.

The wooden door was already swollen from being soaked, with a metal plaque for Tom's Workers embedded in the center.

Upon seeing this, Franky immediately said, "Don't pry it open, there's water behind the door."

How did you figure that out?

"The wooden board is bulging this way."

"How do I drive it?"

"Find the small hole at the bottom."

Buggy's hand groped along the door panel and dug a plug out of the mud.

After it was pulled out, a stream of water flowed in first, followed by a rolled-up piece of paper.

The paper contained a simple drawing by Tom.

He discovered the pipe ten years ago and tried to open it from the side of the Shipyard, but was unable to do so due to water pressure.

There was a sentence written at the end of the drawing.

[If anyone comes from Impel Down, close the third gate first.]

Franky instructs Buggy to disassemble the control box beside the track.

The third valve was so rusted that it couldn't be turned.

Zero wrapped the chain around the valve stem, and the two of them pulled together.

Turn the valve half a turn.

Water behind the wooden door began to flow into the side pipe.

Buggy cursed a few times.

Why didn't Tom write which side is up when he drew the picture?

Franky replied, "He has a habit of drawing things upside down."

"Why?"

"To facilitate construction on the bottom of the ship."

Is shipbuilding always this complicated?

"I'm a shipbuilder too."

Aren't you a cyborg?

Who told you that cyborgs can't build ships?

The water level behind the wooden door dropped, and Zero pushed the door open to enter the next section.

The pipe walls were covered in scratches.

Nineteen sets of numbers were engraved on it with nails, and each set had a date below it.

The most recent date was yesterday.

Zero reached out and touched the engraving.

Tom comes to check on things once a day.

"Can he leave the Shipyard?"

"This is probably the only way to get there."

The food truck continued its journey.

The closer you get to Enies Lobby, the clearer the knocking becomes.

The movements were not coordinated.

Some people knocked once and then stopped, some kept repeating the sound, and one place only rang once every ten seconds.

Zero responded using the same old takeover code.

"The Custodian has arrived."

All nineteen oxygen supply pipes simultaneously went silent.

A moment later, a voice came from the farthest point.

"Don't hand over the reins."

Zero is holding the ship's nameplate.

"I will not hand over the reins."

The second answer comes from the right.

Is Mo'er dead?

Mo'er snatched the Den Den Mushi.

"He's not dead."

The person in the pipe asked, "Then why does the record say he's dead?"

"Because that bastard reported my death."

Zero did not refute.

"It has been withdrawn."

The third person asked, "Did the White Ship?"

"No, both the mother and child are being moved."

The fourth person asked Tom.

He's still by the water gate.

The nineteen strikes resumed.

This time the pace is faster.

Zero listened to it several times.

They told us not to open the outer door.

"Why?"

"The cargo ship's cargo has arrived."

Vegapunk immediately checked the oxygen supply data.

In addition to the nineteen pipelines, there is a twentieth one.

The new pipeline was not connected to oxygen, yet life was observed.

Tom sounded the warning again.

The backup mechanism outside the water gate is already half-opened.

The blocked transport ship is using the ocean currents to crash into the entrance.

The dining car was 300 meters from the Shipyard.

Franky pushed the steam of the Puffing Tom to its limit.

The rails made a continuous rattling sound.

"Master, hold on for five more minutes."

Tom only replied twice.

He couldn't turn it anymore.

The water gate slowly opened.

Seawater squeezed into the Shipyard through the cracks in the door, pushing the newly delivered iron box inward.

The lid of the box flipped open upon impact.

There were no children or experimental subjects inside.

There was only a blood-stained navy coat.

An old military rank insignia was hanging on the chest of his coat.

Robin recognized the name on it.

"This uniform belongs to Marine Headquarters Lieutenant Commander Rosinante."