Chapter 12: The Perfect Ship
Indeed the next day for the Straw Hats everything would go downhill…
However the day wasn't even close to being over so they still had to figure out how to transfer Merry's soul.
Merry and Usopp were looking through the catalogue.
"I can tell I can't transfer my spirit into them." Said Merry.
"What's the problem?" asked Usopp.
"Maybe it has to be built from scratch…" said Merry, "But…"
"But what?" asked Usopp.
"I don't trust the guy who came here today." Said Merry, "There's something off about him."
"It's not because he looks like me, is it?" asked Usopp.
"No… it's not that…" said Merry, "I can't put my finger on it…"
"You're having trouble finding a ship right?" asked JunJun butting into the conversation.
"You're till here?" asked Usopp.
"I have an idea, remember those guys who tired to steal the money?" said JunJun.
"What about them?" asked Usopp.
"If they tried to steal money form him I don't' know…" said Merry.
"They're trying to build a ship with that money." Said JunJun.
"What do they plan to do with the ship?" asked Usopp.
"I have no idea what Franky wants to with it afterward." Said JunJun, "All I know is that the wood is as hard as any steel."
"Really! That sounds amazing!" said the Merry.
"How do we know that we can trust a guy who tired to steal out money?" asked Usopp.
"He still owes us some favors." Said JunJun, "So it will be fine."
"I don't know maybe we should ask Luffy." Said Usopp.
They decided to ask Luffy and told him the situation, of course the other members (and the Amazoness Quartet) were there for the conversation.
"Oh wow! That sounds so awesome!" said Luffy.
"But he tried to steal our money!" said Nami, "And they're trouble makers."
"The Franky Family is complicated…" said CereCere.
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Nami.
"Well they do cause trouble for the city… but Iceberg seems to trust Franky." Said CereCere.
"Iceberg asked Franky to get us used to Water 7 and this time…" said PallaPalla.
"He never told us why he agreed or why Iceberg asked him." Said /CereCere.
"If I were to guess it has to do with those Government guys who always bother him." Said VesVes.
"Wait… I thought the Franky guy was a ship dismantler." Said Luffy remembering something.
"Yeah, but he always wanted to build a ship with this weird wood." Said PallaPalla.
"Okay then! We'll ask him to build the ship!" said Luffy.
"Great… he made his mind…" said Sanji.
"There's no stopping him now." Sighed Chopper.
The Amazoness Quartet took Luffy, Nami, Usopp and Sanji (who didn't want to leave Nami in such a place) to the Franky family house… which actually wasn't too far away. Of course they brought the money.
"This place is weird…" said Nami.
"I know…" said CereCere.
They opened the doors.
"Hey! Franky!" yelled VesVes.
That was when music started playing, a spot light lit up a storage and they saw a figure dancing behind a curtain with two woman with what appeared to be very strange square shaped hair styles.
"Did someone say my name" asked the man behind the curtain.
The straw Hats stared at this with sweat drop, expect for Luffy.
"Just sit back and listen to the number one hero of this island!" said the man.
"Can you please not do that introduction right, we want to talk business." Said CereCere.
"Spoil sport." Muttered the man who was clearly Franky removing the curtain.
That was when they saw Franky, he very tall with cyan hair. He had strange feature like a three prong chin, a metal nose and bullous hands and arm. However the most distinguishing feature was this.
"Why isn't he wearing any pants!" yelled Nami.
"You get used to it." Sighed CereCere.
"Put some pants on right now!" yelled Sanji.
"That's not going to work…" said JunJun.
"Trust me I tried." Said CereCere.
"Hey… the crew with Meioh Setsuna on their crew, right?" asked Franky.
"We already met with her." Said CereCere.
"Really? Does she have any information?" asked Franky.
"Turns out she was alive before the Great Cataclysm too." Said PallaPalla.
"We never met her but we have friends in common." Said CereCere.
"Is that so…" said Franky, then he saw the briefcases, "Wait is that the money Zambai and the others tried to steal earlier?"
"Actually that's what we wanted to talk about." Said JunJun.
They told them the situation minus the detail about the Spirit.
"So you will pay for the Adam Wood if in return I give you the ship I build?" asked Franky.
"That's right." Said Luffy, "I want a huge ship! With a brass stature."
"No brass stature!" yelled Nami.
"There's something we have to show you on the ship." said Usopp, "Something we want you to incorporate."
"Sure… I'll check it out." Said Franky.
"Word of warning, it might now because something you can easily incorporate with the new ship." whispered JunJun.
"Let's see about that." Said Franky.
They took Franky (and the two women who were known as the Square Sisters) to the Going Merry.
"Hello! I'm going the Going Merry! It's nice to meet you!" said Merry.
Franky stared at the Ship's Spirit, Franky was trained to be a ship wright by one of the best… it was because of that, he could tell that the girl in front of him was spirit of the ship.
"How can your ship have a spirit like that!" yelled Franky in shock.
"What you mean that girl is a spirit!" yelled one of the square sisters who was named Kiwi.
"Wait…How can you tell she looks like a normal girl to me…" said the other named Mozu.
"I think either people who traveled in me or real ship wrights can recognize me as a spirit." Said Merry.
"Hey! I'm no shipwright… I'm just living out my dream." Muttered Franky glaring at the ship's spirit.
"Okay then…" said Merry putting up her hands in defense.
Franky calmed down.
"But I don't understand how this is possible. I've heard of a Klabautermann but never manifestations like this…" said Franky.
"That because a I have a…" Luffy began.
However Luna suddenly came in like a cannonball tackling Luffy so hard he fell to the floor.
"That cat is tough…" said Franky.
"Well that's one way to keep a secret." Said Merry.
"All right! I want to work on this more than ever before!" said Franky getting fire up, he then did a pose while shouting "Super!" Which the square sister imitated.
"Get used to that pose." Joked PallaPalla, "He does that a lot."
"All right! Then! Let's work out the details!" said Nami.
Nami and Franky worked out the details about the money.
"Looks like you going to be getting a new body." Said Setsuna to Merry.
"If everything works out…" said Merry.
Merry looked at Luffy who was recovering from Luna's tackle.
"You worried about him?" asked Robin.
"Not at all." Said Merry, "I can tell Luffy is stronger than he knows."
Robin looked at the ship's spirit.
"How do you know that?" asked Robin.
"That a secret." Said Merry with a wink.
Soon enough Franky and the Square Sisters started leaving with the money in hand.
"If you double cross us we will make you pay!" yelled Nami.
"Don't worry! I promise I'll be back tomorrow." Said Franky, "Although it will take a week for the Adam wood to arrive."
"IT better!" yelled Nami.
"So it's going to take a while, isn't it?" asked Merry.
"Yeah." Said Nami.
"I don't mind!" said Merry, "The longer I'm here the better!"
"Hey! How much money do we have left?" asked Luffy.
"A little over 100 million." Sighed Nami. ]
"All right! Let use the money to celebrate!" cheered Luffy.
"No!" said Nami.
"What why?" asked Luffy.
"I want to buy nice new future." Said Nami.
"Bad idea." Said Luna now that Franky was gone.
"Yeah, that furniture will get busted within a week." Said Merry.
"I'll let you have the left over money that Franky didn't take." Said Nami.
"Really? All right!" said Luffy, "We're going out tonight!"
"I don't' think I'm up for it." Sighed Robin.
"Me neither." Sighed Setsuna.
"Oh come on…" muttered Luffy.
"I'm going with you to make sure you don't spend too much!" said Nami.
"I'm in!" cheered Usopp.
"Minds as well." Said Zoro.
"I have to think about it." Said Sanji torn between Nami and Robin.
"Hey we'll show you around town!" said PallaPalla.
"Even if we don't deiced to join we should at least show the best spots." Said VesVes.
"Oh sounds like fun!" said Chopper.
"All right! Let's do it!" said Luffy.
In the end Sanji decided not to go with them and keep Robin, Setsuna and Merry company… as well as the cats.
However Sanji began to get worried when it go after midnight.
"Don't worry they're fine…" said Setsuna.
"Zoro and Luffy probably got lost or Luffy's too big to carry." Joked Merry.
"You've always wanted to say that didn't you." Said Robin.
"There's so many things I always did want to say…" said Merry.
"You don't have to worry Sanji, I really doubt their in trouble." Said Setsuna.
The Straw Hats were walking back from a restaurant...
Luffy was bloated with food, turns out it was a place with a food challenge, if Luffy was able to eat all of the food he'd have the meal free.
Needless to say he did the challenge several times well into the night.
"You know you didn't have to it that many times..." Said Nami.
"I don't think the chef will you let you back in." sighed CereCere.
"Hey! I got free food didn't I?" asked Luffy.
That was when Zoro sensed something.
"Get down!" he shouted.
Luffy was so fat he wasn't able to dodge a kicking him into a wall.
It was strange the man wore a mask.
"Who is this guy?" asked Nami.
"That doesn't matter." Said the man, "Hand over the Silver Crystal right now."
"Why should I!" yelled Luffy managing to get up with his balloon belly disappearing.
"How was he able to do that!" yelled PallaPalla.
"Don't question it… I tried." Said Usopp.
"There's no way I will hand it over to some new guy!" yelled Luffy.
"New guy…" said the man, "I'm sorry I think you're mistaking who we're working for."
That was when suddenly a woman also wearing a mask showed up with a spiked whip, her attacks were so fast that Nami, Usopp, Chopper and PallaPalla were taken down by it.
"PallaPalla!" yelled VesVes.
"Who are you?" asked CereCere.
"I said hand over the Silver Crystal! Or does your other friends have to get hurt." Said the man.
"No way!" yelled Luffy.
Zoro readied his sword, VesVes her own whip, CereCere and JunJun got into a battle stance.
However a cutting wind blew all of CereCere down… the only reason why she was able to get away was because of her Devil Fruit abilities.
Turned out the wind came from a man wearing a skull shaped mask.
"Oh that's right, you ate a Logia." Said the man, "I had forge ten about that."
"So what?" said CereCere.
That was when the man suddenly appeared in front of her and poked her shoulder so hared it pierced her skin like a bullet.
She fell to the ground.
"But even Logia users can be surprised." Said the man.
Why you!" yelled Luffy.
The man's body began to shift, Luffy stared as he became a half man half beat of some kind. He then swiped at Luffy but
"Give me the silver Crystal now!" yelled the man.
"I won't!" yelled Luffy, "Moon Crisis…"
Before he could finish it suddenly the air opened behind him like a door and another masked person grabbed Luffy.
"Hey!" yelled Luffy.
However the new man poked Luffy in the neck cause him to fall to the ground struggling the breathe.
"We'll deal with him later!" said the new masked man.
The new masked man who wore a bear like mask shut the strange door in the leaving Luffy trapped.
"Are you sure that's a wise move?" asked the first masked man.
"Yes… besides, I already took care of Iceberg." Said the fourth.
"Good… hopefully we'll be able to convince him to hand over the Silver Crystal.
The four mysterious people then gnashed from site. Leaving the Straw Hats and Amazoness Quartet in shock, they had heard everything.
Indeed the worst day for the Straw Hats was only just beginning.
Next Time: The Straw Hats are in shock after what happened. They have to figure out who kidnapped Luffy. However they're not the only ones, as Iceberg survived his encounter with them as well... Will he be the key in finding them? Find out next time!