Kind Captain T-Bone

On the wild sea, Luffy sees the stranded cars ahead and shouts, "Are we there yet!?" Someone cries out, "Bashing Tom!!!" but the train roaring toward the wreckage is not the Puffing Tom. The crew yells, "It's Puffing Tom!!" and then notices the shark-faced engine charging over the waves. The shipwrights and Straw Hats recognize the new train from Water 7: "It's the new guy that changed into..." and someone finishes, "Sodapop!!" The answer comes from the others, "That's okay!! I like being here!!" and the engine barrels forward with everyone aboard. Luffy, Zoro, and Usopp react in shock, yelling "300 pound!!" and "Gomu Gomu!!" as Rocketman closes in on the abandoned cars.

The people stranded in the separated cars panic when they realize help is coming straight at them. Someone yells, "Can't you guys be serious for one minute!?" Another cries, "Gya-- Aguna's been destroyed!!" and Chopper screams, "BOOM!!" Nami snaps, "Cannon!!" while the crowd tries to process the impossible sight. "There's a train in front of us!!" someone warns, and the reaction spreads: "Guys!!" "Hey!!" "What!?" The rescued group answers that they have the time, and another voice asks whether the new arrivals have sharpened their blades. Then the words land: "Puffing Tom!?" Nami and the others finally understand that this is the Rocketman, not the government train, and that it has reached them much sooner than expected.

Rocketman stops beside the drifting cars, and the situation becomes painfully clear. The people trapped in the cars explain, "We don't have an engine, so we'll just have to wait for a rescue." Another voice adds, "Damn... what should we do now?" The car itself rocks in the waves as someone says, "That's just our luck... Ending up stranded in the sea without..." and another finishes, "Ahh!! The car keeps shaking!!" Luffy asks, "What!!?" and the answer comes back: "A rescue boat?!" But the train is the only thing coming. The group realizes they must board the Rocketman quickly: "Ahh!! Look!! There's something coming up behind us!!" and "Along the track? No way! There's only one sea train in the world!" The stranded passengers rush to seize their chance.

Rocketman pulls alongside the stranded cars, but the chaos inside only grows. Someone asks, "What the hell is that!?" and another answers in disbelief, "Wow! It's a sea train without an engine!!" A man shouts, "It's just 2 cars stranded there!!" The crew quickly guesses who may be inside: "Maybe Sanji and Usopp are inside!!" then another voice says, "Maybe Bro's inside, too!!" The Galley-La men remember the danger and shout, "Don't get infected!! Once the train stops, somebody help them get on!!" Zambai yells that they are going to crash, while Kokoro calmly calls back, "It's impossible. I told you that already. Nagagaga!!" Everyone can see the stranded cars, but stopping Rocketman is not part of the rescue plan.

Luffy decides before anyone else can finish planning. Chopper cries, "Luffy, what do we do now!?" and Luffy answers, "I'll check it out!!" He stretches his arm with "Gomu Gomu..." and fires himself toward the cars like a living grappling hook. The technique rockets across the sea with "ROCKET!!!" and Luffy crashes into the drifting car. From inside, someone screams, "Gyaaaa--!!" and another asks, "Huh!?" Luffy's approach is reckless and violent, but it is exactly fast enough for a train that cannot slow down. He lands among the startled passengers, forcing the rescue to happen by momentum instead of careful docking.

Luffy bursts into the stranded car and immediately asks the question that matters: "Sanji!! Are you here!?" Then, "Usopp!! Are you here!?" The men inside stare at him and realize who he is: "It's Straw Hat!!" One of them reports, "He says they're not there, and he's being shot at!!" The news means Sanji and Usopp are still farther ahead on the government train, and the danger shifts from rescue to pursuit. Luffy shouts to the others, "There we go!!" and the crew decides to help the stranded men anyway. A voice calls, "If we don't get rid of it, we'll be in danger, too!!" while another yells, "So what now!!?" The answer is simple: "Okay!! We'll help, too!!" and "Okay! Then we'll dismantle it in an instant before we crash!!"

Zoro takes the lead in clearing the obstacle. Luffy sees the cut coming and shouts, "Cut it! It's in the way." Zoro answers calmly, "Sure." The page briefly recalls his sword logic: Nitoryu is two sword style, and the motion called "Iai" means to draw the sword, cut the opponent, and resheathe the sword. Zoro says "Sure" again, then draws with "Nitou Ryuu: Iai" and finishes with "Rashomon!!!" A note explains that Rashomon is a gate in old Kyoto that has fallen into disrepair. The blade flash tears through the stranded car with a clean, impossible cut, opening a path for Rocketman through the wreckage.

The severed cars split apart in the storm. Passengers shriek, "EEEH~~~~~!!?" as the train car divides and Rocketman charges through the gap. The wreckage peels away on both sides, the waves swallow broken boards and iron, and the people tumble in shock while the rescue train roars past them. A small panel shows a hand and the sound "Cha-chink..." as the sword is resheathed, followed by a quiet, satisfied "Yeah." Zoro's cut has saved the moving train from a collision, but it also leaves everyone aboard staring at the scale of the slash and at the fact that the chase is still not over.

The rescued men are stunned by what Zoro did. One of them complains to Luffy, "Could you at least warn us before you do that sort of thing!!?" Luffy answers, "I did say to 'cut it'..." Others can barely believe it: "He's so terrifyingly strong, and he's not even the captain...!" and "But we couldn't have dreamed it was that!" Yet Zoro does not relax. He senses danger ahead and says, "It's not over yet...!!" Someone spots the next obstacle: "Hey! Look...!!" A massive sea king lies severed in the water, and the crew realizes that another swordsman must be in front of them. The warning grows darker: "Some one strong is further ahead......!!!"

Ahead of Rocketman, Captain T-Bone runs over the waves on foot, drenched and exhausted but driven by duty. He pants, "Haa..." and thinks of how he fell for the enemy trick: "... How could I have fallen for their trick...!! I've shamed myself for life!!!" Even so, he keeps moving. Sanji, from the pursuing train line ahead, warns, "Take care!!" T-Bone's answer is a vow: "I must catch up to the sea train!!! If the criminals that we're escorting escape... There will be even more innocent civilians who will suffer!!!" His body is already being battered by the sea, but he screams, "Even if I lose my arms and legs to these angry waves!!! I must bring justice to this unjust world!!!"

T-Bone's conviction becomes almost frightening in its purity. He roars, "Protecting the lives of innocent civilians... That's my sole purpose in life!!!!" Then he notices the roar of another engine cutting through the storm. "What...!!? The sea train?" he gasps. From Rocketman's roof, the others see him too: "Someone's there!!" and "What's that!!?" The shark-faced train barrels toward him, and T-Bone realizes this is not the Puffing Tom but another train entirely: "It's a new sea train!?" The page frames him alone on the track, soaked and wounded, standing between Rocketman and the path to Enies Lobby because his sense of justice will not let him move aside.

The Rocketman crew recognizes the man in their path. Someone cries, "Ah!!?" and then, "Ah!!! He's the Ship Butcher!!!" Another explains the danger: "He's a captain from Marine headquarters, Ship Butcher T-Bone!!! He can chop a pirate ship into pieces, like it's beef!! What's he doing here!!?" The order comes, "Okay!!! Crew, get ready to fire!!!" but Luffy stops them with "Wait!!!" He knows cannon fire will not be the answer. Chopper panics, "What!? If we don't hurry, he'll chop us in half, too!!!" Luffy asks, "Are you blind!?" and then gives the problem to the swordsman beside him: "Leave it to Zoro!!" Zoro steps forward and warns, "I'll only say this once!!! Get out of the way, or die!!!"

T-Bone refuses to yield. "I'm a captain from Marine headquarters!!!" he shouts. "I shall cut you in half in the name of justice!!!" Rocketman is not just a target to him; it is on "the road to the home of justice!!!" He reasons that if the people aboard are friends of Nico Robin, then one of them must be the pirate hunter. Zoro accepts the challenge without turning the train aside. T-Bone says, "Then so be it... Our destination lies the place you're trying to protect!!! Then come!!!" Zoro answers with "Santouryuu... Gyuuuki..." while T-Bone attacks with "Chokkaku Hichou... Poon..." The notes explain Santouryuu as three sword style, Gyuki as ox demon, and Chokkaku Hichou as perpendicular flying bird. T-Bone even mutters, "I hate swords that don't go straight!!"

The duel ends in a single decisive collision. T-Bone unleashes "Oodori!!!!" and Zoro answers with "Myu-zume!!!!" A note explains that Oodori means big bird and Myuzume means courage claw. The two sword styles crash together in the storm, wood and water exploding around them. T-Bone's attack is direct and honorable, but Zoro slips through the line of force and cuts past him. Someone cries, "He dodged everything!?" and the panels show the Marine captain's strike missing as Zoro's counter lands. The page does not mock T-Bone's conviction; it shows that his justice is real, but Zoro's resolve to reach Robin is stronger in this moment.

T-Bone falls into the sea with a huge "SPLASH!!" and Rocketman's passengers explode in relief. Luffy yells, "We beat the Ship Butcher~~~!!!" and the crowd answers, "WOW--!!!" Zoro, however, looks back at the fallen Marine with respect. He says, "You left the cars that I chopped in half... to pursue the sea train on foot... You're a good man..." Then he admits the necessity of the blow: "But we can't stop for you." The victory is not treated as a joke. T-Bone is an enemy standing in their way, but Zoro recognizes the sincerity behind the man who ran through the waves for justice.

Zoro's final words carry the chapter's answer to T-Bone's justice: "Maybe justice is an important burden to you... But we have even more important things on the line!!!" Behind him, the men in the wrecked cars realize what happened: "Hurry!! Hurry!! Captain T-Bone went out on foot!! He's in danger!!" Another insists, "No way!! Captain T-Bone would've cut that train in half!!" On Rocketman, Luffy and the others put together the evidence: "All of this must've been Sanji's handiwork!!" and "So we're almost there!?" Luffy's anger returns to the enemy ahead: "I'm gonna kick that pigeon guy flying!!!" The order rings out: "Okay!! Charge Rocketman!!! Our enemy is close--!!!" and the crew surges toward Enies Lobby.

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