Chapter 109: Order Up!
Upon reaching Water Seven, the straw hats on the ruined Going Merry and the navy ship with the giants Gerd and Kāshī on board, were met by two more marine warships flying a flag with a dog from the mast. And of course as soon as luffy saw the flag he bolted into his captains cabin shaking nervously. "What's up with luffy?" Vivi and Suki asked, it was then that a silver haired man in navy attire with a katana at his side, yelled out to them over the distance of sea between the ships. "Straw hat Pirates! By order of Vice Admiral Garp you, and your friends, shall be escorted to the docks. Whereupon you will be given lodgings for the night, food and water and then await the vice admiral's decision about your fate". Well that was it then, the badly damaged Going Merry, towed by the giants in their captured navy ship, were escorted by two further navy vessels into a nearby port; before being temporarily impounded. Thence, suddenly a gangplank was lowered into the Merry and that same silver haired marine came aboard; katana at his side. "My name is Gin Haijima, I'm a navy inspector general. It is my job to inspect this ship for contraband and any other illegal activities before reporting to the vice admiral. Be aware I'm not a threat but threaten me and that will change".
The moment the inspector general stepped foot on the Merry, Zoro and Sanji were both being held back by Robin and Vivi. Both young women eager to prevent any mishaps, especially if this marine wasn't going out of his way to make one. "Please Zoro, Sanji calm down", Vivi hissed, "I get the feeling that the marine is simply following navy protocol without any mind to actually find anything at all". Robin nodded her head in agreement, whilst using her devil fruit to make several arms holding sanji back; "I agree with the princess. Inspector Generals tend to be extremely hawkish about protocol, but this one is deliberately avoiding noting down anything piratical". 'Twas then that Franky spoke up. "Are you saying he's covering for us, and the vice admiral is in on it?"
"That is exactly what I'm doing", the voice of Gin Haijima interjected, from his new position by the bowsprit. "Straw hat Luffy is vice admiral Garp's grandson. Marine headquarters knows that Garp is in this vicinity and that he holds an unreserved dislike of buster calls, so if the vice admiral 'happens' to be here..." "Then he can say he stopped the buster call whilst inadvertently letting wanted man go", Nami concluded emerging from the command cabin dragging Luffy out behind her. "Very good deduction Miss Nami. I wouldn't have expected any less from the adopted granddaughter of the 'Buddha'".
As the group disembarked the Merry, Gerd and Kāshī were allowed to remain by the sea; as they didn't yet trust the marines to simply let them go, Gin Haijimi led the pirates towards a log cabin whereupon Franky was set upon by surviving members of his Franky Family. "Kiwi, Mozu..." he babbled out, embracing his two faithful female associates, "I thought the worst...when I saw the fires—" The two bikini clad black haired women with square hairstyles returned their bosses embraced before launching into telling him how they had witnessed the civilian uprising burning down the Galley-La shipwright firm, killing any shipwrights they found before taking away the top top shipwrights; Tilestone and Paulie and burping them alive. "No—I can't be...Iceberg would never allow it—there has to be a mistake", Franky begged. "I'm sorry boss," Kiwi cried, "but Iceberg is dead. He was dragged from Galley-La beaten, beheaded and then burned", Mozu enunciated. Then quite unexpectedly Franky turned around and knelt down before Luffy, placing his forehead on the ground. "Listen, Straw Hat. I know you guys need another ship to sail on, since the Going Merry has reached the end of her life. So please as a gift from me, let me offer you my skills to build a new one". Luffy grinned, offering Franky a handshake before turning back to Usopp and yanking the mask off his face. "I'm sorry for appearing to not care about the Merry, Usopp please come back?"
The sniper felt teardrops falling down his face as he read the emotions in luffy's eyes: regret and sorrow. "Luffy—" he cried, "I'm the one who should be apologising not you! I'm at fault". Zoro smirked at his captain and the snipers way of reaffirming crew status, followed by a huge cheer of joy by Suki and Chopper who ran forwards and hugged Usopp. "Welcome back sniper king!" Vivi and Robin smiled leaning on each other, knowing that it would have broken Luffy's heart to have left Usopp behind, "he really does have the gift of unity", the princess hummed adoringly. Robin felt her bodies desires warming up, at that realisation, and it took all of her will power to force herself to remember 'Nami is his girlfriend'. Forlornly looking out to sea.
Seeing the trust and friendship between the individual straw hats, made Franky feel even more happy in his decision to build their new ship. Such positivity and genuine joy, was rare nowadays in the era of rival governments and the influx of pirates after Rodger's death. Grinning to himself, the self styled super freak was suddenly startled by the voice of Sanji; "you do realise that with your knowledge of ships, Luffy will probably want you to join us". Blinking away his shock, Franky was reminded of the words of his late teacher; Tom, 'never apologise for any ship you build'.
"No matter how much I tried to forget, I still ended up following in the footsteps of my old master Tom", Franky spoke to Sanji; as well as Luffy who had walked up to the two of them. "Tom was the man that built the Oro Jackson, the ship that carried Gold Roger around the world. It was made from wood of the Jewel Tree, known as Adam. I wanted to use the money I failed to take from you guys to buy some. But now, considering that you rescued me from Enies Lobby, despite my trying to rob you guys, I have made the decision to build a new ship for you. One from the best wood and strong enough to handle the waters of the New World and suitable for the future king of the pirates".
"Of course," Luffy stated, getting a high five from Franky, which led everyone to join in the celebration of receiving a new ship, to be built by their newest crew mate. "Yeah! This is amazing!" Usopp yelled rushing forwards and holding out his sniper rifle, "if you're a shipwright you must also be a mechanic. My rifle has been seizing up recently..." The sniper grinned when a Franky simply responded, "I'll see to it". The celebrations broke out into a feast of meat and booze, which only Vivi grumbled about due to the lack of any greens; to which Sanji prepared a seafood salad for her and Suki. Robin laughed alongside the group as Nami, attempted to sell Luffy on the merits of seafood instead of meat. The captain frowned but gave in at honey roasted chilli squid. Chopper sat keeping an eye on the injured Kaku, whom Zoro had refused to leave his side. "I'm fine ..." the former agent tried to state but was stopped by Zoro's glare and Chopper pushing him back down, before jamming a thermometer into his mouth. "Shut up! You are injured, and as a doctor I will not be responsible for any unnecessary suffering".
It was that comments that reminded everybody else of Kaku's presence, "what is he doing here!" Robin glared, making six arms appear on the ground holding Kaku down. "Robin, I know he was one of the enemy but he risked his life against two of his fellow agents..." Zoro replied. "I don't want to be associated with Mariejois anymore", Kaku spoke up, "Once I'm recovered I'm going to try and find the revolutionaries and hand myself over to them. Hopefully I can gain their trust, and help overthrow the celestial dragons". Luffy walked over and glared down at the injured man before making a small vortex in his right hand. "You hurt Robin, and if you truly are repentant then I will give you the benefit of the doubt, but if you ever turn on us again then I won't hesitate to kill you".
Luffy's seriousness then broke into a smile, and he grabbed Kaku's hand and shook it, "but right now all I have to say is thank you for helping us. Now let's party!"