Cutty Flam

The plaza is still shaken by Tom's outburst. Citizens scatter and shout, "GET OUT OF THE HARBOR---!" while another voice cries, "TOM'S GONE BERSERK---!" Tom stands wounded and massive in the center of the square, surrounded by guards, townspeople, Franky, Iceburg, Spandam, and the judge. The silence between their faces is heavy: Franky is horrified, Iceburg is grim, Spandam watches for advantage, and the judge listens. Tom finally speaks with deliberate calm, not as a man denying what happened, but as one choosing where the blame should fall: "I WAS FRAMED BY THE WORLD GOVERNMENT, I WILL BE JUDGED BY THE WORLD GOVERNMENT." Then he accepts the consequence in his own words: "THIS DOUBT CAN'T BE DISPELLED ..... THIS IS THE END ...!!"

Tom's decision horrifies Franky. Franky pleads, "DON'T YOU WANT TO PUNCH HIM, FRANKY?!" while Tom answers the deeper wound rather than the provocation. His ships, his apprentices, and his reputation have all been "USED FOR SUCH A THING..." because of the government's trap, and the accusation hangs over his "untainted ships." But Tom does not turn his fury on Franky. Instead, he turns on the people trying to use Franky's pain as a weapon, striking with brutal force. The blow sends a guard flying with "HOGYAAA!!!" and the square erupts again. Someone screams, "TOM'S STARTING TO GET VIOLENT!!!" while another cries, "WAAAAAAA!!" The violence is not random madness; Tom is refusing to let Franky carry the whole shame alone while Spandam's lie turns their craft into evidence.

Franky, Iceburg, Kokoro, and Yokozuna watch Tom fight back. Franky screams, "TOM-SAN!!!" Iceburg shouts, "STOP IT, TOM-SAN!!! IF YOU REALLY GET INTO THIS --" Yokozuna cries, "GERO!!" and Kokoro can only ask, "WHAT IS..." Tom's answer cuts through the panic: "DO YOU UNDERSTAND HIS PAIN!!?" He is talking about Franky, the boy whose creations have been twisted into proof of a crime. Tom grabs and throws another man, yelling, "YOU!!!" and the guards respond with force. A command rings out: "FIRE--!!!" Rifles and cannons blast toward him. The page holds the contradiction of the scene: Tom is being treated as the attacker, but his rage comes from watching the World Government crush the child he raised as an apprentice.

The armed response escalates. Bullets and cannon fire hammer Tom's body while Franky screams, "TOM-SAN---!!!" The authorities fire a "TRANQUIL-IZER PELETE---!!!" and Tom is finally brought down under the eyes of the whole plaza. The sound of impact and smoke fills the square, and the people around him stare at what has been done. Franky rushes to him and asks, "TOM-SAN!!! WHAT IS THIS--" Spandam, delighted by the spectacle, laughs, "WAHAHAHAHA!!" and mocks him: "HA---!! LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE, YOU STUPID MERMAN!!" Tom, Franky, and the townspeople are all forced to watch the trap complete itself. The government has not simply caught Tom; it has made his resistance look like further proof of guilt.

Spandam seizes control of the public narrative. He orders, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING, MEN?! CAPTURE HIM, QUICKLY!!!" and then, "TAKE ALL OF THESE FELONIOUS WORKERS OF TOM TO ENIES LOBBY!!!" The crowd turns on Tom almost immediately. "...THAT TOM IS SUCH A DANGEROUS GUY!" one person says. Another asks, "WHAT THE HELL WAS HE THINKING?!" Others decide his past must have been a lie: "JUST AS I THOUGHT, HE SOLD HIS SOUL TO THE PIRATES!!" and "BUILDING THOSE SHIPS!! HE WAS JUST WAITING FOR THIS CHANCE!!" Franky cannot endure it and shouts back, "YOU ASSHOLES...!! YOU SAY THAT AGAIN TO TOM-SAN'S FACE...!!" But Tom stops him gently: "KNOCK IT OFF... IT'S ALRIGHT, FRANKY..." Then he turns to the judge: "YOUR HONOR ..." The judge answers, "HM?"

Tom makes his request plainly. He says, "I'LL CONFESS TO ATTACKING ... THE SHIHOUSEN!!!" Franky reacts in shock: "EH!!?" and tries to stop him, "WHA--?!!! STOP IT, TOM-SAN!!!" But Tom silences CP5 first: "BE QUIET, CP5!!!" When they call him a fool, he answers their contempt: "IGNORE THAT!! FOOLISH MERMAN!! WHO LISTENS TO REQUESTS FROM A CRIMINAL." The judge listens anyway, and Tom continues: "...... BUT I HAVE ... ONE REQUEST...!!!" He asks the court to use this new charge instead of the old one: "IF YOU SAY THAT I CAN MAKE ANY ONE CRIME DISAPPEAR FOR BUILDING THE SEA TRAIN... I WANT IT TO BE THE CRIME COMMITTED TODAY ...!!!" He is not trying to save himself. He is choosing to erase the crime that would condemn Franky and Iceburg along with him.

The judge understands the cost of Tom's request. He says, "EVEN IF I GRANT YOU THIS ... IT'LL BE AS IT WAS 12 YEARS AGO ... THE CRIME OF BUILDING THE PIRATE KING'S SHIP WILL REMAIN!!" Tom accepts it without hesitation. He first says quietly, "AH... THAT'S FOR THE BEST...!!" Then he raises his voice and reveals the pride at the center of his life: "I TAKE PRIDE IN THE POWER ... I LENT THAT MAN NAMED ROGER WITH A DON!!!" He refuses to trade away that deed as if it were shameful. The crime tied to Gol D. Roger's ship can remain, because Tom does not regret making a ship that carried a man into history. What he wants removed is the false present-day crime that would destroy his apprentices.

Tom's pride shocks the city. People cry, "HE LENT TO THE PIRATE KING...!!!" and "TAKING PRIDE IN THE POWER." Another voice calls him arrogant: "THAT ARRO-GANT...!!!" The old suspicion returns immediately as the crowd mutters, "TRAITOR---!!!" and "SAVAGE MERMAN---!!!" Franky can only ask, "WHY!!? TOM-SAN..." Tom answers him with calm strength, "DON'T TORTURE YOURSELF... FRANKY." He tells Franky that this outcome is acceptable because the government always would have come for him eventually: "AS UNLIKELY AS IT SEEMED THAT THE BLUEPRINTS WOULD BE SOUGHT BY THE GOVERNMENT... I'M IN THIS POSITION BECAUSE OF MY DEALINGS WITH ROGER, YOU KNOW." Franky protests, "......!! BUT YOU STILL DIDN'T HAVE TO ...!!" Tom reassures him again: "IT'S OKAY." Franky can only whisper, "----- LOOK ..."

Tom looks at Water Seven and sees the dream that has already been fulfilled. He says, "EVEN IF THE CRIME RETURNS FROM 12 YEARS AGO... EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT FROM THE OLD DAYS. ----- NOW, THIS ISLAND IS FULL OF POWER." To Franky and Iceburg, he explains what matters more than his body: "FROM HERE ON OUT... NO MAT-TER WHAT HAPPENS TO MY BODY ... I WAS ABLE TO HELP THIS TOWN. MY DREAM ... HAS FINALLY STARTED TO RUN ..." The page shows the sea train, the living proof of his labor, while Franky cries, "TOM-SAN!!!" Tom is bleeding and condemned, but not defeated in the way Spandam wants. Water Seven now has the power to cross the sea, trade, and survive. Tom's dream is moving on rails even as he is being taken away from it.

Tom entrusts the future to the two boys who remain. He says, "I LEAVE 'THOSE BLUE-PRINTS' IN YOUR HANDS ... ICEBURG, FRANKY ..." Franky and Iceburg cry out, "TOM-SAN!!!" and "TOM-SAN......!!" Kokoro, shaking with grief, realizes the finality of it: "KOKORO... YOKOZUNA... TO THIS DAY I AM IN YOUR DEBT." Spandam celebrates the outcome, laughing, "WAHAHAHA!!! THE DRUGS HAVE FINALLY RUN THEIR COURSE!!" Then the judge changes the charges exactly as Tom requested. The order goes out: "ARREST THOSE THREE ATTACKERS OF THE SHIHOUSEN!!!!" Franky screams, "WAIT!!!" and a shocked voice asks, "AH?" But the judge's words are final: "THE CHARGES HAVE BEEN CHANGED." Tom has protected the apprentices legally, while leaving them the blueprint and the wound of his sacrifice.

The new sentence is announced over the square: "FOR THE CRIME OF BUILDING THE PIRATE KING, GOLD ROGER'S, SHIP... SHIPWRIGHT TOM WILL BE ESCORTED TO ENIES LOBBY!! THAT IS ALL." The word lands like a death sentence. Tom quietly asks for mercy for the boys: "RELEASE THE OTHER TWO!!" Spandam, or the authorities around him, decide they no longer need the apprentices: "I DON'T KNOW WHAT FEELINGS HAVE SWAYED YOU, OLD MAN... FINE, I HAVE NO USE FOR HIS AP-PRENTICES." But the release does not make the situation hopeful. Kokoro explains the reality to Franky and Iceburg: "TOM-SAN... CAN'T BE SAVED ANYMORE ... THERE'S NOTHING WE CAN DO AGAINST THE WORLD GOVERNMENT." She explains Enies Lobby: "'ENIES LOBBY' IS OWNED BY THE GOVERNMENT, AS A 'JUDGEMENT ISLAND'. THERE HASN'T BEEN ONE CRIMINAL.... WHO'S EVER COME BACK FROM THERE!!!" She tells them, "BE STRONG, YOU GUYS... TOM-SAN RESCUED YOU."

The government prepares to move Tom by sea train. An official announces, "PREPARATIONS FOR THE SEA TRAIN ARE COMPLETE! WE'RE READY FOR TRANSPORT!!!" Kokoro breaks: "KOKORO...!! I... CAN'T TAKE IT." A soldier mocks Tom as they prepare to carry him: "THIS FAT, CRAZY MERMAN!!!" and another laughs, "WAHAHAHA!! HEY!! YOU SOLDIERS, CARRY THIS GUY RIGHT NOW!!" Then Franky snaps. As the soldier bends over Tom, Franky drives his weapon into the man's face and sends him flying. A guard notices too late: "HMM?" and then "!!!" Franky shouts his own name-like cry through the chaos: "FRANKY!!!" He is no longer arguing, defending, or explaining. He is acting from grief, trying to stop the final removal of the man who raised him as a shipwright.

Franky's attack explodes across the plaza. The crowd screams, "WAH---!!!" and someone realizes, "THIS TIME TOM'S APPRENTICE HAS GONE BERSERK!!!" Another voice says, "SPANDAM'S FACE IS ALL MESSED UP!!!" Yokozuna cries, "GERO GEROOO!!!" while Kokoro shouts, "FRANKY, DON'T DO THIS!!!" The guards try to contain him: "ARREST THAT BASTARD!!" and "YOU HAVE PERMISSION TO SHOOT!!!" Franky charges through the gunfire and shouts the only thing that matters to him: "GIVE BACK TOM-SAN-----!!!" Another person yells, "BRING IT ON!!! I'LL DIE BEFORE I LET YOU TAKE HIM!!" The page shows Franky no longer thinking about consequences, guilt, or evidence. He is fighting the World Government's machinery directly, even though everyone around him knows the train is already leaving.

The sea train pulls away from Water Seven with smoke pouring from its stack. Franky fails to stop Tom's transport, and inside the train Spandam lies hurt and furious. He spits, "DAMMIT, HE ESCAPED!!!" and swears revenge: "I'LL NEVER FORGIVE THAT SHITTY LITTLE BRAT, CUTTY FLAM!!!" The name lands as the chapter's hidden title and reveals the boy behind the name Franky. Spandam also admits the larger objective is not finished: "THAT GUY'S DEFINITELY A CRIMINAL!!! ONCE WE SETTLE THIS MATTER, I'LL COME RUNNING RIGHT BACK HERE TO TRY AND GET THAT IDIOT HUNG!!!" Even after Tom is taken, Spandam's hatred remains fixed on Franky and the blueprints. The train carries Tom toward Enies Lobby, while the threat to Franky's future is only postponed.

On the tracks, Spandam's men realize Franky has followed them. Someone asks, "WHAT'S WRONG!!?" Another calls, "SPANDAM!!!" Spandam bellows the name again: "IT'S CUTTY FLAM!!!" and someone else reacts, "WHAT!!?" A soldier explains, "HE FOLLOWED US ALL THE WAY HERE." Franky stands on the rails with a heavy weapon, bloodied and fixed on the train. The guards panic: "HE'S ON THE TRACKS!!!" and "HE'S CARRYING SOME KIND OF WEAPON!!!" Yokozuna tries to follow or help from the side, but Kokoro tells him, "STAY THERE, YOKO-ZUNA." Yokozuna cries, "GERO GERO!!" while the train bears down. The page turns Franky's grief into a reckless one-man blockade against the sea train itself.

The men on the train cannot understand Franky's choice. Someone screams, "IS HE AN IDIOT!!?" and another, "THAT BASTARD!!!!" A panicked voice asks, "WHA.... WHAT SHOULD WE DO!?" but the answer from inside the train is merciless: "ARE YOU STUPID AS WELL?!!! RUN HIM OVER!! I DON'T CARE!!" The justification follows immediately: "HE'S A CRIMINAL, HIS EXECUTION DATE JUST GOT MOVED EARLIER!! YOU DON'T HAVE TO THINK ABOUT IT!" Franky opens fire, shouting at the engine, "STOP, PUFFING TOM!!" and "WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE TAKING YOUR PARENT?!!!" Cannons answer with "BOOM!! BOOM!!" and the train keeps coming. Franky is trying to stop the very machine Tom built, because that dream ship is now carrying Tom away from him.

Franky refuses to move. Yokozuna cries, "GERO!!!" and the train roars forward while Franky braces himself on the rails. He shouts, "STOP, SEA TRAIN!!!!" and then, "I WON'T LET-YOU-GO!!! GIVE BACK TOM-SAN!!!" The words become a child's plea wrapped in a doomed act of defiance. Tom, inside the train, laughs through tears and pain: "TAHA!! ...!!...!!...!!" The laughter pulls him into memory. He remembers a smaller, abandoned Franky beside scrap and asks, "WHAT A PIECE OF WORK." Franky had answered, "I SEE!! YOU WERE ABANDONED, HUH!!" and Tom had laughed, "HEY!! YOU LAUGH TOO MUCH!!" The memory ends with Tom welcoming the boy: "OKAY!! COME LIVE WITH ME WITH A DON!!" In the present, Franky stands before Tom's train because that invitation made Tom his parent.

The train hits Franky. The cowcatcher slams into him on the tracks as Yokozuna sobs, "SOB..." and Tom's train keeps moving. Franky's thoughts turn into regret and need: "I... DON'T WANT TO MAKE SHIPS ANY MORE...!!! I CAN'T LOVE A SHIP THAT HURT SO MANY OF MY IMPORTANT PEOPLE...!!" But the deeper truth breaks through immediately after: "BUT TOM-SAN! MY GOAL IS STILL YOU!!!" He begs the man who taught him everything, "I WANT YOU TO COME BACK AND TEACH ME SOME MORE!!!" The impact is violent, but the emotional point is sharper than the injury. Franky does not reject shipbuilding because he hates ships; he rejects it because the ship he loved most, Puffing Tom, is carrying away the person who gave him a life.

Puffing Tom races away over the water, leaving Water Seven and Franky's desperate stand behind. The final words of the chapter return to Tom's dream of shipbuilding. A voice says, "I WANT TO MAKE ... A DREAM SHIP SOMEDAY." Another phrase completes the thought: "A DREAM SHIP THAT WILL... PROUDLY RIDE OVER ... THE UNKNOWN WAVES AT THE END OF THE WORLD." The ending connects Tom's pride, Franky's pain, and the future of shipwrights in one image: a ship can be used for tragedy, but the dream of making a ship that crosses the world's farthest seas still remains. The chapter closes with the sea train carrying Tom toward Enies Lobby and with Franky's future broken open by guilt, loss, and the name Cutty Flam.

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