The Fifth Option Was Blank

Choose it.

As soon as Dragon finished speaking, the World Government's broadcast filled the screen.

"Attention all respondents: This question and answer session only has four valid options. The fifth option is due to a system malfunction and should not be submitted by any party."

Luo's hand was still hovering above the Blank square.

Lami's breathing had become shallow.

Chopper flipped through the monitoring data, speaking rapidly and urgently, "Her blood oxygen is dropping. Restore oxygen supply first, we'll talk about everything else later!"

"Will selecting a Blank option restore it?" Luo asked.

"No explanation is provided on the page."

Vegapunk accessed the edge of the system, and several small windows were squeezed next to the problem.

"The fifth item contains data, but the text is hidden. I need time to extract the encoding."

"How long?"

You always ask me questions that have no answers.

"Lami can't wait."

"Then let the Throne display the patient's condition first; the medical system cannot conceal life-threatening information during diagnosis and treatment."

Luo raised his hand and opened Lami's page.

[Patient's oxygen supply interrupted]

[Recovery Condition: Submit a valid answer]

Are Blank options considered valid answers?

[No permission to query]

Who has the right?

[Throne Administrator]

"Let him out."

[No permission to query]

Luo raised the Kikoku, the scabbard pressed against the screen.

You have two more chances to answer.

Wa Tie'er looked at him.

"Are you planning to cut a piece of the projector?"

"It relies on the Handover System of the White Swallow."

What happens after it's damaged?

"Let Vegapunk take over."

Vegapunk immediately retorted, "I didn't agree to that."

You can fix it.

"Fixing it doesn't mean I'll listen to you."

"Please repair first."

When you ask someone for a help, can you at least use a different phrase?

"Cannot."

The World Government's broadcast rang out again.

"Option 5 has been confirmed to have been implanted by an unauthorized operator. The Navy is to immediately arrest Trafalgar Law, and any answers he submits are deemed invalid."

A wanted poster appears on the screen.

A new charge was added after Luo's name.

[Unlawful Interference with the Throne]

[Rewriting God Valley's history]

[Hijacking of government healthcare assets]

Drake scanned it.

"They write really fast."

"We prepared in advance," Dragon said.

You know?

"They wrote to me too."

What is the charge?

"No charge."

Dragon raised his hand and pointed to the Blank options.

"They just deleted the name."

Footsteps could be heard outside the ward.

The Medical Department did not leave; they were setting up new equipment at the other end of the corridor.

Luo looked through the door and saw several black canisters connected to oxygen supply pipes.

"They are taking a breath."

Chopper asked, "What should we change it to?"

"Have no idea."

"Check the label."

"No label."

Vegapunk retrieved the transport manifest brought by the Medical Department.

"A hypothermic anesthetic, at a concentration sufficient to render an ordinary person unconscious for two days, Lami cannot touch it right now."

"Drake."

"I'll go dismantle it."

"Don't go out."

"Then how do we dismantle it?"

Luo took an empty medicine bottle from beside the bed and tossed it toward the door.

The room flashed by.

The medicine bottle switched positions with the valve in the corridor, the black can lost its connection, and the medicine sprayed out from the interface. Coughing and cursing immediately came from outside.

Drake closed the iron gate tightly.

"They'll change it."

"It will take a few minutes."

Is that enough?

"Watch Vegapunk."

"Don't rush me," Vegapunk said. "This Blank entry doesn't correspond to a regular character. The Throne didn't delete the name; it moved the entire class of objects out of the registration scope."

Luo looked at the sixteen empty beds.

"Unregistered patients?"

"More than patients."

"Doctor?"

"Also includes."

"Residents of God Valley?"

"Include."

"Navy?"

"If anyone had their records removed at that time, that includes them too."

Wa Tie'er looked up at the screen.

"Don't let it display."

"Why?" Luo asked.

"Once the list is made public, those who are still alive will be hunted down."

"They're already on the hunt."

"They're only chasing us now."

Who are you afraid of on the list?

Wa Tie'er the white cloth over his chest to cover the tubes.

"I'm afraid no one will live to see the day the list is announced."

"You know those people's names."

"I know a few."

"Explain."

"Save Lami first."

The Blank option is the answer.

You have no evidence.

There are seventeen copies here.

Luo projected sixteen Blank medical records, along with Dragon's nameless medical record, onto a global screen.

The system immediately displayed a warning.

[The medical records contain internal documents related to the Throne.]

[Please stop disclosing the third doctor's information publicly.]

"Restore oxygen supply."

Please submit a valid answer.

"Display the fifth item."

[This option does not exist]

Luo opened the first Blank medical record.

The page does not contain a name, only the time of death and transfer records.

Who is this?

[Unable to query]

"Where did you die?"

[God Valley Medical District]

Where did the body go?

[Unregistered]

Who confirmed the death?

[Unregistered]

"Since nothing was registered, what gives you the right to write 'death'?"

The system paused for a few seconds.

On screens around the world, Blank medical records are still being turned.

Luo then opened the second sheet.

It's the same record again.

The third one.

The fourth one.

Even after the sixteenth sheet was fully unfolded, there was still not a single name on the page.

"Chopper, put up the files for the Flevance kids."

"It's ready."

Sixteen names appeared next to the Blank medical record.

Echo.

Xiaosi.

And then there are the children whom the Medical Department refers to as having numbers.

Lami looked at the list and reached out to touch the fourth name on the screen.

"He wrote the character incorrectly."

Chopper asked, "Which one?"

"Here, his name is Abi, not Yabi."

"I'll change it."

"And Xiaosi, he's not number four."

"But we don't know his original name."

"Then write 'Xiaosi,' not 'number.'"

"Good."

The Medical Department's broadcast came in.

"Immediately stop spreading false patient information; these individuals have never entered the God Valley Medical System."

Lami turned toward the door.

Have you seen them?

The broadcast paused briefly.

Patients have no right to raise questions with the Medical Department.

"Then how do you know they didn't go in?"

"Record not found."

My records didn't exist before.

Your case involves an omission in the filing process.

"Seventeen people were all missed?"

There was no response.

Lami continued, "How many archives are missing from God Valley?"

The broadcast was cut off.

An old Den Den Mushi) in the ward transmitted this conversation simultaneously to the rest of the world.

In front of a screen in the Sabaody Archipelago, a reporter handed in seventeen names he had just copied down to the newspaper office.

On the conference table at the Marine Headquarters, several admirals were flipping through the old files of God Valley, but all they found were blank pages.

Revolutionary Army strongholds began comparing the list of missing persons.

More and more names are being submitted to the fifth option.

[God Valley Shipwright, Bade]

[Former naval medic, Liya]

[Survivor of a merchant ship from the West Blue, name unknown]

[Children on the slave Transport Ship, forty-two in total]

The system keeps deleting files.

New names are constantly being added.

The Sengoku was brought into the live stream.

"Vegapunk, can you find the original code for the fifth item?"

"Investigating."

The World Government says it's a malfunction.

"They always say it's a malfunction because they're afraid others won't understand."

I need evidence.

Why didn't you ask them for evidence when you Fleet Admiral?

The Den Den Mushi of the Sengoku closed its eyes.

"Now is not the time to argue about this."

"Then go find God Valley's original duty roster."

"It was destroyed long ago."

Dragon spoke from his hospital bed, "It wasn't destroyed."

Upon hearing his voice, Sengoku remained silent for a long time.

"Who are you?"

You've seen me before.

"Dragon?"

"Go ask Garp."

He's missing.

He left his duty badge.

Sengoku pushed the documents on the table aside.

Where's the sign?

"On the corpse."

Whose body?

"You registered it as Garp's corpse."

Luo walked to the corner and picked up the silent Den Den Mushi again.

What does K stand for?

Sengoku replied, "Garp."

"Anything else?"

"God Valley Naval Duty Number."

"Submit the original numbering sheet."

"I don't have permission."

"You were once Fleet Admiral."

"The God Valley Archives are above the Fleet Admiral's authority."

Vegapunk said, "Then let's find someone who isn't restricted by authority."

The screen suddenly went black in one area.

Immediately afterwards, a mechanical head with an Apple antenna squeezed into the World Government's signal.

"Like me."

The Medical Department attempted to shut down the line.

Vegapunk then revealed the opponent's control panel.

An internal order from the World Government appeared before everyone's eyes.

[Delete the fifth option]

[Remove unregistered individuals]

[If this cannot be completed, terminate all life support for the White Swallow]

Chopper cursed.

Lami's oxygen supply reading dropped below the danger line.

Luo unplugged his own oxygen tube and connected it to his sister.

"Brother, what about you?"

"I don't need it."

You need to breathe too.

"It's exhausting to talk, so don't say anything yet."

Lami was still staring at him.

Luo pressed the connector firmly.

"Return it to me after you recover."

Vegapunk unlocked the last layer of data lock.

Text begins to appear after the fifth item.

The first two words that surfaced were just one character.

[All]

The World Government's signal came again, attempting to overshadow what followed.

The screen flickered a few times.

Dragon looked at the two words and said, "What disappeared from God Valley was never just an island."

Luo asked, "Is that island still there?"

The place name is gone.

Where are they?

"The survivors had their names changed, the dead were left nameless, and the people who took them away disappeared from the records."

Where are my parents?

"They reserved names for others."

Who will keep it for them?

Dragon turned towards Lami.

"She."

The fifth item is finally complete.

[E, All those wiped out by God Valley]

The oxygen supply equipment has been restored to operation.

Lami took his first breath, but the tubes in his chest issued a warning of blockage.

She coughed a few times and pointed to the end of the ward.

"White Door."

Luo looked in the direction she pointed.

There was only one stone wall there.

What door?

"In the past, a White Door would appear during shift changes."

What's behind the door?

"Dad went in."