"There's actually a method for building a locomotive like this?"
"Reducing water resistance to increase speed..."
"A streamlined front carriage?"
He read each line carefully, tracing the design principles with a practiced eye. His voice had dropped to something almost reverent.
"Extraordinary. Truly extraordinary. I never imagined a locomotive could be built this way."
He went through the whole thing once and then started from the beginning again, any trace of his earlier dismissiveness completely gone. The design philosophy in front of him was unlike anything he'd encountered in his years of work. Most people wouldn't even know where to begin with something so unconventional. But Tom had spent enough time with hull design and marine engineering that he could see, almost immediately, that it wasn't just theory. It was viable. Genuinely, practically viable. And that realization hit him like a wave.
This wasn't refinement. It was a different way of thinking altogether.
Franky and Hyozo had been watching their master's reaction with growing curiosity. They leaned in over his shoulder, close enough to read the page themselves.
"Is this the locomotive design?"
"Looks like it, but... wait."
"This... how is the front carriage supposed to be constructed like that?!"
They'd started skeptical. They finished with their mouths hanging open. The design concept had stopped them cold, same as it had stopped Tom. Neither of them had ever seen a locomotive engineered that way. Their eyes moved back and forth across the page, reading and rereading, as though the next pass might reveal some flaw that would make it all make sense.
Amon watched them with quiet satisfaction. He'd written the blueprint off as a wasted draw. It turned out he'd been wrong.
"Well?" he said.
"Exceptional." Tom set the page down and pressed a hand to his belly, exhaling slowly. "In all my years of shipbuilding, I've never come across a construction method like this. It seems I still have things to learn." He shook his head, but there was nothing deflated about it. He looked energized. "These jars of yours are brilliant, Amon. I'll say that plainly."
"As long as you're happy with it."
"Happy doesn't begin to cover it. Water Seven owes you more than I can properly express." Tom was already rolling the blueprint back up with careful hands, his mind clearly elsewhere. "In fact, I'd like to get back right away and start reworking the locomotive. I hope you'll forgive me for cutting this short."
"Go. I completely understand."
There was no point trying to hold him. Tom's attention was already back at the shipyard in his head.
"We'll take our leave then. Thank you, Mr Amon."
Tom gathered Franky and Hyozo and led them back to his vessel. They had a locomotive to rebuild and a rail system to lay, and now they had the tools for both.
Amon watched them go, then settled back into his beach chair.
...
The shipyard was loud by the time they returned. The moment Tom laid out what needed doing, the workers took one look at the materials and the complaints started rolling in almost immediately.
"Boss, these rails are too heavy. We can barely get them off the ground."
"Same with the iron plates. This is going to take forever."
"At this rate we'll be worked to death before the thing's even half built."
Tom heard them out with a strained expression. The workload was genuinely unreasonable. The rails were thick and heavy, the kind of material that took four or five men just to shift a few meters, and there was a great deal of it.
Then Hyozo had a thought.
"Master, Amon mentioned that Machamp could help with heavy work. Should we give it a try?"
Tom looked at the pile of materials, then at Machamp, then nodded. "Let's see what it can do."
Hyozo gave the signal.
Machamp let out a short, low call and stepped forward. It reached down and wrapped one hand around a massive log that had taken several workers together to budge, and lifted it off the ground without any visible effort. With all four arms moving, it scooped up four of the great logs at once and carried them across the yard at a brisk walk, as though the weight simply didn't register.
A job that would have taken hours was done in a minute.
Machamp didn't stop there. It moved straight on to the iron plates next, hauling pieces that had seemed immovable, one-handed, stacking them into position with a casual efficiency that left the watching workers completely speechless.
"What in the world is that thing? How is it that strong?"
"Ten of us couldn't budge that log. It just picked it up with one arm."
"Where did this creature even come from? Look at those arms!"
The yard had gone from exhausted grumbling to stunned murmuring in the space of a few minutes. Everyone had stopped what they were doing to watch.
Hyozo reached up and patted Machamp's head as it returned from another run. "I had no idea you were this strong. One of you really does handle the work of dozens." He scratched behind one of the Pokémon's ears, and Machamp leaned into it, pleased with itself.
"Remarkable," Tom said, watching the Pokémon work with admiration. "Strength like that might even put some members of the Roger Pirates to shame." He meant it as the highest compliment he could think of, and from the look on his face, he believed it.
"SUPER STRENGTH!" Franky flung both arms wide in his signature pose, fully committed to the moment.
While the shipyard buzzed with amazement at Machamp's performance, back aboard the ship Amon had just quietly received his thirtieth jar reward.