Chapter 233: The Sea Train Project
"This trial's outcome... it's fantastic..."
"It was truly terrifying how long it dragged on. But was that ship really stolen back then?"
"What are you talking about, you idiot! Of course it was stolen by that guy, Roger!"
The residents of Water 7 were buzzing with discussion, many of them genuinely happy for Tom.
However, Tom himself had already returned to his residence with the rest of his family, looking as though he hadn't taken the trial to heart in the slightest.
"Geez! I told you to send word back to Fish-Man Island earlier! If you had, we wouldn't have been on edge like this!"
Kokoro complained from the side. It was obvious that a trial dragging on for an entire year had taken a heavy mental toll on her.
"Tahahaha! His Majesty our King has so much to deal with, how could I waste his energy on just me? Besides, everything turned out fine in the end, didn't it? If something real had happened, there would've been plenty of time to contact him with a DON!"
Tom felt completely indifferent about the ordeal. From the results alone, everything was perfectly fine.
Weak nations have no diplomacy. Regardless of the world or the era, this phrase held absolute truth.
On this cruel sea, weak nations possessed absolutely no voice.
Furthermore, a nation needed more than just overall national strength; it needed exceptionally powerful individuals within its borders to secure enough authority to speak.
Otherwise, regardless of how vast their territory was or how massive their population, a King would hold absolutely zero status before the World Government.
Kings and Princesses alike were viewed as mere servants in the eyes of the Celestial Dragons—playthings they could toy with at will. If they killed one, the only thing they needed to consider was fabricating a public excuse.
In the interactions between various nations and the World Government, only Harald, as a special existence, commanded special treatment.
At least, before Imu decided to personally step in and micromanage everything to ruin, the Five Elders' attitude and strategic approach regarding Harald had been passable. Coupled with the fact that Elbaf intrinsically possessed a massive army of exceptionally powerful warriors, the giant nation became one of the rare "pure lands" in the world.
"So those people didn't actually think Mr. Tom was innocent, but changed their minds because of our country?"
Alongside Tom and Kokoro were two young humans and a large frog. The frog was a highly intelligent creature capable of swimming freestyle, named Yokozuna.
The two humans were Iceburg and Franky, Tom's beloved disciples.
"Of course, Iceburg," Kokoro replied, taking a swig from her bottle. "Tom and I come from the Ryugu Kingdom of Fish-Man Island. Today, that is a truly powerful, unshakeable nation."
Even living far from home, just mentioning the Ryugu Kingdom filled Kokoro with immense confidence.
"Recently, another merchant ship transporting lumber was robbed by pirates," Iceburg noted. "Ever since the Pirate King was executed, the number of pirates has multiplied, and merchant ships are increasingly easy prey. But as long as a ship flies the flag of Fish-Man Island, many pirates will actively choose to back off."
In the original timeline, Fish-Man Island only managed to survive the Great Pirate Era by successively relying on the flags of Whitebeard and Big Mom. Without them, given the island's abysmal management, it would have been completely reduced to a lawless wasteland long ago.
But under Nereus's absolute rule, Fish-Man Island held an unprecedented status completely absent in the original timeline.
This was exactly why Tom's trial concluded with such a drastically different outcome.
Tom was not a pirate, nor was he a criminal; he was an immensely prestigious master shipwright in Water 7. The vast majority of the locals deeply respected this hearty Fish-Man uncle who lived by the sea.
Through the World Government's exhaustive investigations, they discovered that not only did Tom possess peerless shipbuilding craftsmanship, but he also occasionally returned to Fish-Man Island.
According to intelligence from CP agents, Tom supposedly held a special administrative permit issued directly by the Ryugu Kingdom, though its specific purpose remained classified.
Fish-Man Island wasn't without external power projection. Fisher Tiger in the North Blue was a prime example.
He was the officially certified "Governor-General of the North Blue," acting as Fish-Man Island's highest-ranking external administrative official. The vast majority of the North Blue kingdoms treated him with extreme respect and courtesy.
All of this wasn't merely out of respect for Tiger himself, but out of sheer terror of Nereus, who stood behind him.
No matter how you looked at it, a master technological talent like Tom was not someone Fish-Man Island would easily abandon. The trials involving Roger's associates naturally drew massive attention; if word of Tom's execution reached Nereus's ears...
As long as Nereus decided to intervene, he would undoubtedly turn the world upside down. Given the World Government's current appeasement policy toward Fish-Man Island, they would quickly pacify Nereus over such a "trivial" matter.
And the officials handling the case would undoubtedly become the perfect scapegoats to calm his wrath.
The more you do, the more mistakes you make; do nothing, and you make no mistakes.
The official originally in charge of this case at Enies Lobby had exactly one year left until his retirement. By relentlessly stalling and citing bureaucratic delays, he successfully dumped this incredibly hot potato onto his successor.
As for the new judge, he personally believed Tom was innocent to begin with. If they genuinely wanted to prosecute shipwrights for building ships that eventually ended up in pirate hands, half the shipwrights on the Grand Line would have to be thrown straight into prison, and the other half would need to be thoroughly investigated.
In the end, the dead Roger became the perfect, all-encompassing scapegoat.
Roger already possessed a demonic reputation in the outside world anyway; accusing him of stealing a ship couldn't even be considered throwing dirty water on him.
Despite the massive scale and hype surrounding the trial, the gavel was raised high but brought down incredibly gently. Tom was merely slapped with a financial fine under the charge of "negligent supervision over his shipyard," and the court didn't even demand immediate payment.
"Because of 'Aqua Laguna'—the massive tsunami that strikes periodically—Water 7 is forced to import all its wood and iron from outer islands," Tom said, his tone growing serious. "Now that pirates are completely severing our trade routes, business is plummeting, and the shipbuilding companies have resorted to viciously fighting over the few remaining clients.
"If this vicious cycle continues, Water 7 will soon become a dying, sinking island."
"That is exactly why this island needs saving!" Tom grinned broadly. "His Majesty Nereus's approval regarding that proposal has just arrived.
"The construction of the Sea Train can begin immediately! The communication stated that World Government officials will be arriving very soon to negotiate the specific details with a DON!"
The Sea Train was a revolutionary track-based locomotive designed by Tom, capable of sailing directly over the ocean. By laying submerged tracks to connect the surrounding islands, it would establish an entirely new, unshakeable method of transportation.
In the original timeline, following his guilty verdict, Tom used this exact blueprint to secure a suspended sentence. Had things not gone horribly wrong thanks to Spandam, the sheer merit of building the Sea Train would have earned Tom a full pardon.
But now, Tom had submitted the blueprint to Nereus far in advance. During the Reverie the previous year, it was presented as an official, state-sponsored proposal by the Ryugu Kingdom.
The Ryugu Kingdom would provide the core technical guidance, while the connected islands and the World Government would provide the funding to jointly construct the Sea Train.
It was just that the World Government's bureaucratic efficiency was notoriously abysmal. Even simple sailing permits could be delayed for years. It was only recently that a concrete implementation plan had been finalized.
Over the past few years, Fish-Man Island had firmly established its terrifying reputation, using cold, hard facts to tell the entire world that they were not a soft persimmon to be casually squeezed.
Subsequently, through deep-sea topographical surveys, advanced nautical charting, and specialized escort and insurance services in treacherous waters, they forged profound logistical ties with other nations.
The Sea Train project, however, was a monumental infrastructure endeavor aimed at the entire world.
Once this oceanic railway was fully realized, anyone who rode or witnessed the Sea Train would gain a far deeper, more awe-inspiring understanding of the deep-sea kingdom that made it possible...
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