With Amon's explanation settling the last of his nerves, Hyozo gathered his courage and slowly raised one hand toward Machamp. His fingers made contact with the Pokémon's thick, solid arm, tentative at first, like touching something that might bite.
Machamp didn't flinch. It pushed its huge fist gently forward instead, nudging at Hyozo in a clumsy, almost eager attempt to endear itself. For all its fearsome bulk, there wasn't a trace of hostility in it.
That was enough. The tension in Hyozo's chest dissolved, replaced almost instantly by excitement he couldn't contain. He threw his arms around Machamp's massive leg and held on with a grin spreading across his face. Machamp swayed its great fists back and forth beside him, entirely unbothered, as though they were old friends already horsing around.
"Wow, you're incredible! Machamp, right? You're going to be my partner from now on. We'll work together!"
Machamp was enormous. Even crouched low to the ground it stood well over a meter tall, and if it straightened up fully it would have cleared three or four meters without question. The kind of thing that stopped a street cold just by walking down it. Hyozo, for all his usual composure, was still a kid at heart, and a creature like this hit every one of those instincts perfectly. He moved around Machamp with barely contained delight, poking at its arms, pressing his hands against the ridges of muscle, completely absorbed.
Franky watched from the side with an expression that made his envy impossible to miss.
Machamp, for its part, seemed perfectly happy with all the attention. It pressed back against Hyozo's hands and shuffled closer, shameless in the way it sought affection.
Eventually Hyozo settled down enough to look up at Amon properly.
"Amon. Thank you."
He meant it. Especially after hearing that Machamp could help haul materials around the shipyard. The thing was practically built for it.
"hahaha." Amon waved a hand.
"Even so," Hyozo said, "there's more to thank you for than the jar. You brought our master the rail design. That matters just as much." He bowed deeply, the kind of bow that had been drilled into him from childhood. Unhurried, sincere, nothing like Franky's loose and noisy gratitude.
Tom stepped forward alongside him. "Hyozo's right. You've been a saviour of Water Seven, Amon. Please accept our thanks."
"You're both far too formal about this."
"Not at all." Tom stroked his considerable belly and cleared his throat. "Which reminds me. There was actually one more thing I wanted to ask, if you'd permit it. I'd like to try a jar myself. Would that be possible?"
Watching his apprentices pull such remarkable things from their jars had worked on Tom steadily until the curiosity was simply impossible to ignore.
"Of course! Absolutely."
The main task was already finished, but Amon's interest hadn't gone anywhere. He'd sold twenty nine jars so far. One more and the system would hand him another Mystery Gift Package. The thought of a second package was more than enough to keep him motivated.
"Wonderful! I'm grateful." Tom hadn't expected Amon to agree so readily. His impression of this man climbed another notch. He produced the payment quickly. "One hundred thousand Berries. Please take it."
"Received. Which one would you like?"
"Let me have a look."
Tom stepped in among the jars and browsed at his own pace, eyes moving carefully from one to the next. Before long he emerged with a dark brownish-amber jar in hand, turning it over once to examine it.
"This one, I think."
Amon nodded. "Good choice. Open it up."
Having watched both Kokoro and Hyozo go through it already, Tom had a reasonable sense of what to do. He picked up a small wooden mallet and gave the jar a single firm tap.
It cracked clean open.
A pale green light flickered out from inside, and a rolled sheet of paper landed on the surface in front of him. A blueprint. Or something shaped very much like one.
Tom's eyes lit up immediately. After the rail schematics, another blueprint felt like a good omen.
He reached for it, then stopped. Whatever it was, he couldn't make sense of it just by looking. The diagrams and notations were beyond what he could parse on his own. With a slightly sheepish expression, he held it out toward Amon.
"I hate to keep troubling you, but could you take a look?"
"Of course. Happy to."
Amon took it and let the system scan run. The item's details surfaced a moment later.
[Sea Train Locomotive Design Schematics]: Detailed design plans for the construction of a Sea Train locomotive, including full methodology for its engine assembly and front carriage specifications.
Amon read it twice.
Sea Train locomotive schematics. But Franky had already mentioned that the locomotive and carriages were essentially complete. The only thing still missing was the rail system itself. Which meant Tom had spent a hundred thousand Berries on blueprints for something he'd already built.
Amon wasn't quite sure how to say that.
He looked up at Tom, then back at the blueprint, then said nothing for a moment.
Tom noticed the hesitation and his stomach sank a little. "That bad?"
"Here." Amon handed it over. "See for yourself."
There was no clean way to deliver it, and Tom would figure it out the moment he looked. Amon decided it was simpler to let the man reach his own conclusion.
"Let me see then." Tom unrolled the sheet with careful hands, scanning the content. His expression went flat almost immediately. "Ah. Sea Train locomotive schematics." He exhaled through his nose. "Well. I've already designed this myself, so..."
He started to roll it back up.
Then he paused.
"Hmm. Wait a moment." He leaned in closer, eyes narrowing. Something on the page had caught his attention, something that didn't quite match what he thought he was looking at.