The meeting with the Galley-La shipwrights was a cold splash of reality. Kaku, the man who moved like a 'Parkour Script', delivered the verdict with a professional coldness that made Nami cry.
"The keel is the spine of the ship," Kaku explained, his long nose casting a shadow over the blueprints. "Once it's gone, the ship is just a pile of floating scrap. No shipwright in the world can save her."
Luffy stood there, his hat shadowing his eyes. He turned to Amine. "Amine... is there really no way? No 'Cheat Code'? No 'Secret Patch'?"
Amine opened his system for everyone to see. The screen was covered in [CRITICAL ERROR] signs. "Luffy, the World Government—the 'Admin'—designed this world with limits. Even my system has to follow the 'Physical Law' of the Grand Line. If I try to force a fix, the ship will just explode into 'Digital Static'."
"I don't believe you!" Usopp roared, stepping between Luffy and Amine. "You're just a coward! You've changed, Amine! Ever since you got those 'Admin Permissions' in the sky, you think you can just decide who lives and who dies in this story!"
"Usopp, stop it!" Sanji stepped forward, but the tension was already at its breaking point.
"No!" Usopp pointed a trembling finger at Amine. "He's not a prophet! He's just a 'Lazy Editor' who wants to delete the parts of the story that are too hard to fix! Well, I won't let you delete the Merry! She's not an 'Asset'! She's our nakama!"
Amine felt a tear hit his screen. The system flickered. [New Quest: The Broken Bond. Objective: Survive the 'Captain vs. Sniper' Duel.]
The "Water 7 Update" had officially begun, and it was tearing the crew apart from the inside. The scripts were changing, and for the first time, Amine didn't know if he wanted to see the next page.