Trains

A Sea Train (海列車 Umi Ressha) is an anachronistic locomotor in Eiichiro Oda's manga, One Piece. To date, there are only two in existence, both built by Tom the Fishman, a reputed and legendary ship-builder from the city of Water 7.

22 years prior to the manga's current date, Tom was considering building a proper Sea Train when he was approached by representatives of the World Government, who sought the Fishman for the crime of building Gol D. Roger's pirate ship, the Oro Jackson. At the time, Water 7's remoteness and proximity to a large number of Sea King made the port city undesirable for trade, slowly eroding the city and all who lived there. By building his "steam paddle boat", Tom would effectively save Water 7 by opening it up for trade, as well as saving his own life. The Judge overseeing Tom's trial agreed to postpone Tom's crimes for 10 years; if he was successful at building the Sea Train Network, he would be pardoned for his original crime.

When Tom began construction of Water 7's Sea Train Network, he had already built a prototypical steam engine called the Rocket Man. After drawing up a new blue print. Tom's polished train, The Puffing Tom, was originally only connected to Enies Lobby, but Tom took an additional four years to build tracks to three other nearby islands: Saint Popla, Pucchi, and San Faldo.

By design, a Sea Train is roughly immune to changes in weather; the train's momentum and speed allow it to pulse foreword in any situation, even against an Aqua Laguna (a large storm that hits Water 7 every year). Whenever the train passes over the track, a device near the wheels makes an underwater dissonance that drives away Sea Kings. The tracks of a Sea Train lie just under the surface of the ocean, and sway with the tides to avoid resistance damage. The tracks require only occasional maintainence, as they are never really "used"; a Sea Train paddles on the ocean's surface, and only connects to the tracks as a guide to its destination.

The Puffing Tom
Tom's finest and most powerful Sea Train. Puffing Tom was built during Tom's original ten year hiatus from government persecution, with significant improvements added over the Rocket Man. Puffing Tom's design was based on historical 19th century steam locomotives.

The Rocket Man
Tom's first attempt at a Sea Train. Rocket Man was considered by all who worked on it as an experimental failure; the train could only travel at dangerously high speeds, had no means of braking, and lacked the momentum to plow though obstacles without getting derailed. The Rocket Man was thought to be destroyed after crashing into the isle of Enies Lobby and it was hit with a cannon shell. However it had enough power left in it to jump the waterfall gap separating Enies Lobby and the Tower of Justice, carrying the Straw Hats along with it, and crashed into the aforementioned Tower.