"Is the Leaning Tower of Pisa Standing?"note with the English title Shaky Pisa. Released in 2003 by Geneon on Volume 1: The World's Most Wanted.
Lupin and his gang are now in Italy, looking over a deserted village which will reportedly be destroyed by an earthquake. Soon enough, the ground starts shaking as the thieves take shelter in Lupin's special refuge, and the village is reduced to a pile of rubble. Later, the group visits the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa: according to the information they gathered, the Tower is the next target of this mysterious Earthquake Group, and their unknown weapon which can cause earthquakes at will.
Using their radio to spy on the Earthquake Countermeasures Department meeting, they hear Zenigata accusing Lupin of being behind the blackmailing, but since he cannot produce any evidence he's quickly sent away. Soon a video message from the real mastermind behind the earthquakes is delivered to the Department: the deranged former scientist Dr. Paolo. The mad scientist illustrates the mechanics of his deadly earthquake-generating machine, and threatens to turn the beautiful Leaning Tower into dust along with all the other monuments of Italy unless a ransom of one million lire is delivered to a certain place 100 km south of Elba Island. Having no choice, the department accept to pay the ransom. Back at their lair, Lupin's gang plot to take the money for themselves.
As the helicopter carrying the trunk with the lire is prepared Fujiko and Jigen keep an eye on it from a distance. The helicopter drops the trunk in the middle of the sea signaled by a red spot; next to it happens to be Lupin's own plane, hidden beneath a sea-colored veil. As the thief tries to recover the trunk with a fishing rod, Zenigata arrives and snatches the trunk; in the following tug-of-war between thief and detective, the trunk opens and drops the bills into the ocean. Meanwhile, a mysterious dolphin uses a magnetic device to place a mine under Zenigata's boat before snatching the empty trunk and swimming away. Lupin scurries away, apparently empty-handed.
Back at the Department a new video from Dr. Paolo is delivered: the scientist, furious at receiving an empty trunk, demands an additional million to his original ransom and threatens to turn the whole peninsula to ruins, while Zenigata, still obsessed with Lupin, is kicked out. Back at the hideout, the gang enjoy some pasta while Lupin explains that he used the fishing pole to put a transmitter on the trunk; they can now track down Dr. Paolo's lair and recover the money. The group then heads south to Naples, where the signal comes from a laboratory on a distant island. Meanwhile Zenigata sneaks to the site of the second exchange and grabs the trunk with the two million, only to be snatched again by the same dolphin and carried away.
That night, Lupin, Jigen and Goemon infiltrate the Marine Science Laboratory, while Fujiko waits behind on a boat. The trio is quickly captured by an artificial whirlpool trap. After noticing the pool of trained dolphins used by the scientist to recover the money, they're confronted by Paolo, who believes them to be spies working for the department and retorts by unleashing his machine on Pisa, straightening the tower in the process. Before he can do more, the trained dolphin carrying the trunk and a surprised Zenigata arrive, prompting him to shut down the machine. Lupin reveals his identity as a simple thief and suddenly frees himself and his friends from their restraints. In the chaos, Goemon cuts the pool's glass panels, flooding the room and allowing Lupin to take the trunk from Zenigata. Completely insane over his plans falling to pieces, Paolo overloads his crumbling machine, causing the whole island to sink while our heroes manage to escape in time and Zenigata is "rescued" by the playful dolphin. Their joy is short-lived as the trunk opened during the mess, leaving the bills scattered in the sea, with Fujiko trying to recover them with a fishing net.
Back at Pisa, Zenigata is rewarded for stopping Dr. Paolo and saving the famous Tower from destruction while Lupin's gang watch the show before deciding to move on. Just as they leave, Zenigata sneezes loud enough to make the tower lean again.
This episode features examples of:
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: Goemon slashes open the dolphin tanks in Dr. Paolo's hideout.
- Alliterative Name: In the English dub only, Dr. Paolo is given the family name of Paravisini. This was likely inspired by the famous academic Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert.
- Animal Assassin: The trained dolphins are mostly used to recover and deliver the ransom, but they can also plant mines.
- Berserk Button: Dr. Paolo doesn't like it when people underestimate him or believe that they're trying to fool him.
- Collapsing Lair: The whole island at the end, brought down by the overloaded earthquake machine.
- Earthquake Machine: The one built by Dr. Paolo is the hub of the whole episode: according to him, the machine focus electromagnetic waves into a specific area where the "energy of the earth is stored", giving birth to earthquakes wherever he wishes. Said earthquakes stop as soon as he deactivates the machine.
- Evil Laugh: Dr. Paolo is prone to this one, which can also count as Laughing Mad.
- Friendly, Playful Dolphin: Especially the one near the end who decides to play with Zenigata.
- The Igor: Dr. Paolo's unnamed hunchback who serves him, but never speaks.
- Mad Scientist: Dr. Paolo was one who studied earthquakes.
- Monumental Damage: The villain threatens to unleash his earthquake machine to destroy the Tower of Pisa and all the famous monuments of Italy.
- Shout-Out: At one point, Lupin says "Let's make like a tree and get the hell out of here!"
- Skewed Priorities: Zenigata completely ignores the fact that Italy is under the threat of earthquakes and focuses on arresting Lupin.
- They Called Me Mad!: Highly implied to be the reason why Dr. Paolo decided to use his earthquake knowledge to build his machine and turn evil and insane.
- Villainous Breakdown: Not a paragon of mental health to begin with, but Dr. Paolo manages to become even more insane in the finale.
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Woolseyism: In the Italian dub, both Lupin and Dr. Paolo engage in some Neapolitan dialect in two scenes, while the former still sports a very thin accent.
