Chapters · Water Seven › Enies Lobby

Chapter 399: Jump Toward the Waterfall!!

Arc: Enies Lobby · Saga: Water Seven · Released:

Summary

At the courthouse plaza, the Straw Hats’ allies finish lowering the great drawbridge to the Gates of Justice, opening the route to the captive Robin (Mozu/Lulu hold the left tower, Kiwi/Tilestone the right). Across the gap CP9 (Lucci, Kaku, Kalifa, Blueno) declare it useless — “no one can beat us.” Chief Justice Baskerville, the three-headed “Judge Trio,” orders the courthouse mortar fired to destroy the drawbridge “even if you have to,” and a KABOOM stops the bridge halfway. Atop the Tower of Law, Spandam seizes both prizes — dragging Robin off while declaring he will also take Cutty Flam (Franky), naming Franky on-page as “the one who inherited the blueprint” for the Ancient Weapon, so the WG holds both keys. Franky stuns everyone by producing the real Pluton blueprints, hidden on his body — then burns them to ash on-page, declaring that the weapon’s architect (Tom) meant the plans as an “opposing force,” but the instant they’d fall into government hands they must be destroyed. The blueprint lineage Tom → Iceberg → Cutty Flam ends. Spandam shrieks, Robin reacts, and the gathered allies cheer the rescue race. As the half-fallen bridge hangs, the Rocketman — Kokoro’s brakeless Tom-built Sea Train, hauled by the King Bulls Sodom & Gomora and the giant frog Yokozuna — comes thundering through the courthouse on Kokoro’s order to “jump toward the waterfall,” carrying the entire rescue party airborne off the broken bridge.

New reveals

• The drawbridge to the Gates of Justice is lowered by the allies (the lever pulled, “GO, STRAW HATS!!”), opening the rescue route across the plaza in front of the courthouse (pp. 2, 4).
• Baskerville orders the mortar to destroy the drawbridge (“Stop the drawbridge, even if you have to destroy it!”), and the cannon-fire halts it halfway (pp. 5, 7).
• Spandam takes BOTH Robin and Franky. He names Franky on-page as Cutty Flam, the one who inherited the blueprint for the Ancient Weapon — “we have the CP9 assassination team on our side,” “such an opportunity for immense power” (pp. 8–9). This is the villains’-side restatement that the WG holds the two keys (Robin the Poneglyph-reader + Franky the blueprint-bearer).
• Franky has carried the REAL Pluton blueprints on his body — “You had that hidden in your body?!” — and shows them: “PLUTON” inscribed, “It’s the real thing… Lucci, Kaku, you guys should know” (pp. 9–10).
• ⭐ Franky BURNS the Pluton blueprints on-page (pp. 12–13). He declares the architect’s logic: the blueprint “was left in order to construct a counter-force,” but “the moment the blueprint becomes public, it must be destroyed” so no berserk power-seeker can ever build the weapon. The Tom → Iceberg → Cutty Flam blueprint lineage is ended; the physical plans no longer exist.
• The “two keys” hope collapses for the WG: “now the power to counter the weapon is gone!” / “if Nico Robin falls into your hands, we’re doomed!” — yet Franky bets on the Straw Hats winning anyway (pp. 12–13).
• The Rocketman (Tom’s brakeless prototype Sea Train, driven by Kokoro) is brought into the courthouse, hauled by the King Bulls Sodom & Gomora with Yokozuna, to ramp the rescuers off the broken drawbridge “toward the waterfall” (pp. 15–19).

Foreshadowing seeds planted

Payoffs (seeds from earlier chapters that resolve here)

Mentions / appearances

• Straw Hat side / allies: Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Usopp (referenced — “I’m still mad at you for chasing Usopp away”), Sanji, Tony Tony Chopper, Franky (= Cutty Flam, blueprint-bearer), Franky Family (Kiwi, Mozu, Peeply Lulu, Tilestone, the King Bulls Sodom & Gomora), Yokozuna, Kokoro, Galley-La Company.
• World Government side: Spandam (the Director), CP9 (Rob Lucci, Kaku, Kalifa, Blueno), Baskerville (Chief Justice / “Judge Trio”).
• Captive: Nico Robin.
• Mentioned / dead-character invoked: Tom (“Mr. Tom… who accomplished so much… threw it all away for that blueprint” — the architect’s intent honored), Iceberg (the middle holder of the blueprint lineage).
• Lore / props: the Pluton blueprints (Ancient Weapons), the Sea Train (the Rocketman), the drawbridge / Gates of Justice route, the Buster Call (the standing threat behind the WG’s stakes), the waterfall (the Gates-of-Justice cataract the train must ramp toward).
• Threads touched: Ancient Weapons, True History Ohara Was Killed For, Straw Hat Recruitment Pattern.

Notable panels

• Title page (p. 1): Cover story — “Ms. Golden Week’s Plan, A Baroque Reunion, Vol. 31: ‘Long Time No See!! (The old woman not seen in a long time) and the young lady I’m meeting for the first time.’” Baroque Works members (Mr. 3, Goldenweek, Miss Doublefinger figures) in striped prison garb behind bars. (Decorative cover-story instalment; not a foreshadowing color spread.)
• p. 2: Across the lowered bridge — Robin: “Bring it on!!” / CP9: “you really think you can survive… now that the entire world’s your enemy?!”
• p. 3: Straw Hats + allies on one side (“We’ll save you for sure!”), CP9 silhouetted on the other (“Don’t come!! It’s useless. No one can beat us…”); Robin’s “Don’t come!!”
• p. 4: “ALL RIGHT! I pulled the lever!” / “Go, Straw Hats!!” — the drawbridge lowers; left tower (Mozu & Lulu), right tower (Kiwi & Tilestone).
• pp. 6–7: Baskerville the “Judge Trio” (three heads: Bas / And / Kerville) ordering “Fire the mortar!!”; KABOOM halts the drawbridge halfway.
• p. 8: Spandam: “You’re coming with me, Nico Robin!” and “Someone, bring Cutty Flam” — names Franky as the blueprint heir; “We have the CP9 assassination team on our side.”
• pp. 9–10: “You had that hidden in your body?!” — Franky reveals the PLUTON blueprints; “It’s the real thing… Lucci, Kaku, you guys should know.”
• pp. 11–12: Franky’s “counter-force” speech and the burning of the blueprints (“the moment the blueprint becomes public, it must be destroyed”); Spandam’s “YOU IDIOT! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” / “DESTROY MY BLUEPRINT!!”
• p. 13: “now the power to counter the weapon is gone! …I’m gonna bet on them winning!”
• p. 14: Franky Family weep over freed “Bro Franky”; “Do combe do by rescue?!” — the gratitude beat.
• pp. 15–17: Kokoro shouts “Jump toward the waterfall!!”; the Rocketman comes “CHUGGA-CHUGGA” through the courthouse hauled by Sodom & Gomora + Yokozuna (“Tom’s Workers… the legendary shipbuilding company”).
• p. 18: Rocketman splash — the shark-prowed runaway Sea Train bursts forward, “ONK!!!”; “TO BE CONTINUED IN ONE PIECE, VOL. 42!”
• p. 19: The train launches off the broken bridge mid-air (“It’s flying!! It’s coming this way!”). (Capture note: by story order this airborne beat reads BEFORE the p. 18 “ONK!!!” landing splash — the final two captured pages appear transposed; recorded by their captured page numbers.)

Open questions raised

• Can the airborne Rocketman actually carry the rescue party across to the Gates-of-Justice tower, or will the broken bridge / waterfall doom the jump?
• With the Pluton blueprints destroyed, is the Ancient Weapon now unrecoverable, or does the buried battleship + a Poneglyph still suffice? (See Ancient Weapons.)
• Will Spandam still get Robin through the Gates of Justice before the alliance reaches her?
• Does Franky — now with no blueprints, no secret to guard, and a wrecked life in Water Seven — have anywhere left to go? (Seeds the recruitment question; not answered here.)

Notes

• Firsts discipline. No new entities debut. All characters/groups/lore pre-exist: Luffy, Robin, Franky, Spandam, CP9 (Lucci/Kaku/Kalifa/Blueno), Baskerville, the Franky Family roster, Kokoro, Sodom, Gomora, Yokozuna, the Sea Train (Rocketman), Tom, Iceberg. This chapter only ADVANCES their last_appearance to 0399. Tom and Iceberg are invoked in dialogue, not shown.
• Pluton-blueprint payoff is the load-bearing beat — Franky burning the real plans resolves the Carry-Overs “Pluton blueprints’ fate” watch-item. Per §Synth invariants the scorer appends to the Pluton Prediction; the Foreshadowing/Thread evidence is queued below.
• Cover-story (p. 1) is the “Baroque Reunion Vol.