Chapter 30
Franky
Franky fired out with his Weapons Left, feeling fairly confident since he wasn't facing any of the tables with his friends, any of the doors with his other friends, or the machine itself with his friends' minds and lives at stake. The Pacifista he was aiming at went down, to be replaced with another right behind it. As the cyborg took aim at the new threat, he took a second to shout out, "NINE!"
An explosion behind him, Usopp shouting some attack name Franky couldn't hear over the sound of his own weapon, and then the sounds of vines whipping out, something hard clacking on the floor somewhere behind him, followed by an eerie gurgling sound. Franky decided he was better off not knowing what kind of crazy exotic plant Usopp had just used as the sniper called out "EIGHT!"
How Zoro and Sanji got so much joy out of the competition of who could take out the most enemies was beyond Franky's understanding, but the shipwright and the sniper kept up the game nonetheless. It was the only way thing the cyborg could think of to keep Usopp's mind off their horrible, dire situation. No help was coming, Franky knew. Nami was pinned under the gravity light, and all the Devil Fruit users were trapped in the hall. Robin was too far away and even if she was there, she too would have been weakened by the blue light. All the two could do was continue to press on in their desperate, hopeless attack.
"Come on, Usopp! Only eight? You gotta work suuuuuper harder if you wanna catch up to me!" Franky called behind him as he finished firing another Weapons Left. "TEN!"
"Just…saving…my…special …weapon," Usopp declared, panting. The sniper was probably exhausted from launching such large charges from Kabuto so rapidly in succession. Franky heard that same clacking sound he'd heard earlier, like the sound of a marble hitting a solid tile floor. He'd realized he'd heard it several times during their battle.
"Hey, Usopp, what are you…?"
"GREEN STAR: BAMBOO JAVELIN!" the sniper suddenly shouted. Franky peered over his shoulder to see several Pacifistas stabbed through by multiple sharpened stakes sticking out of the ground. "Eh…Forteen!"
"Ah, laying a trap! Nice work! Looks like I have some catching up to do!" Franky laughed. "Strong Right! ELEVEN!"
For all Franky's good humor, he knew it was just a matter of time before the ever growing number of androids filling the room overwhelmed them. Eventually he and Usopp would begin tiring and even with the large arsenal they had between them and their clever plans, it wouldn't be enough.
Out the corner of his eye, Franky peered up at the scientist on his platform. When Franky had last looked at the man, he'd been watching the battle below with undisguised glee. Now he was hovering over something on the platform…Franky used a Strong Right to quickly knock his current opponent back and risked a quick glance at the scientist. What he saw made him gasp sharply.
The old man was trying to revive the mini Transponder Snail! And he looked like he was succeeding! If he revived that snail, it would only take the man a matter of seconds before he activated a gravity light over the two Straw Hats. And then it was game over.
Franky thought fast. They only had one shot at this and there was only one way he could think of to make it work. Turning around, he quickly grabbed Usopp around the waist in his massive right hand.
"Franky?! What the hell are you…?"
"Sorry, Usopp-bro! We only get one shot at this! Strooooonnnnggg…!"
"Eeeep! Franky! Wait-!"
"RIIIIIIIGHT!" With that, the cyborg launched Usopp up at the platform, the sniper screaming the whole way. Franky had a chance to see the scientist glance up, a shocked expression on his face that amused Franky to no end, and then Usopp collided with him, the momentum knocking the old man harshly into the wall behind him. Franky opened his fist, releasing Usopp onto the platform.
And then the Pacifistas attacked, striking the cyborg first on his vulnerable back, and then pummeling him viciously into the ground. Franky felt one of their laser beams begin striking at his head, burning off a good chunk of the "flesh" on his face. The cyborg was done for, he knew. He could only hope that Usopp would manage to activate the snail, turn off the blue lights and hopefully save the others before the Navy arrived.
"Thunderbreed Tempo!" Nami suddenly shouted. Franky suddenly felt all his circuits overcharge and go out for a moment as all his systems rebooted. As soon as his optical systems were back online, he glanced around, realizing that all the Pacifistas around him were down from the powerful lightning attack.
"Great job, Nami-sis!" he called, giving a thumbs up from the floor. He glanced over at Usopp, who was staring at them both in shock, his mouth agape. That was when Franky noticed the snail in the sniper's hand still wasn't entirely revived.
"Nami! Get down from there!" Chopper called from the hallway. "Robin managed to remotely deactivate the gravity light, but it's probably only a matter of time before Vegapunk reactivates it."
"Got it!" Nami called, jumping down from Sanji's table.
"Usopp!" Franky called from his position on the floor. He began to work his fingers as his arms slowly…oh so slowly…began to come back on. "How much longer before that snail's awake?"
"I-I'm not sure!" Usopp answered, and then yelped as a Pacifista fired a laser at him. Another headed for the stairs and began to climb. The sniper quickly fired an attack, knocking the Pacifista back.
"Gust Sword!" Nami called, taking out another one that headed for the stairs. "Huh. Interesting. They're not attacking me."
"Yeah? Well, they're attacking me!" Usopp protested.
"Verbal commands," Franky explained. "The last one said to ignore Nami and to go after me and Usopp-bro. They think I'm down for the count, since most of my systems are overloaded. So their only target right now is…"
"EEEEK!" Usopp shrieked, realizing the implications, as he fired shot after shot at the Pacifistas down below. Another fired a laser at him as the sniper ducked, barely in time.
"Usopp! Don't let them hit that snail!" Nami lectured.
"I'mNotTryingToLetThemHitTheSnail!" Usopp protested through gritted teeth. He continued trying to revive the transponder, but the creature was taking its time waking up.
Damn it, Franky thought. This was taking too much time. Even with three of them, there were far too many Pacifistas for them to take out. They needed those lights out. Now.
Finally, Franky could feel it. His left arm was completely back online. But what could he…? And suddenly, Franky realized what he could do to help the situation and he felt like a fool for not realizing it sooner. Of course, there were risks; these were weapons designed by the infamous Doctor Vegapunk, after all. There was no telling what would happen.
Deciding to place his trust in his captain's often time good luck, Franky aimed his left fist at one of the blue lights located above Law's hallway. He saw Law's eyes widen and then the doctor ducked further into the hall, correctly guessing what the cyborg was about to do.
"Weapooooons Left!" Franky shouted as a hail of gunfire assaulted the blue light, shattering the glass with in it. The light coming from it disappeared. Law peered around the corner, and then walked into the room through the threshold. The doctor bent over and picked up a handful of rubble from the floor.
"Room!" Law shouted, throwing the rubble into the air in front of him, "Shambles!"
And suddenly, every Pacifista in the room no longer had a head.
Law casually stepped around the pile of Pacifista heads on the floor in front of him and walked over to Franky.
"Are you alright, Robo-ya?"
"Yeah, I will be," Franky replied, feeling his other limbs finally starting to come back up.
"Sorry about that, Franky," Nami apologized.
"Don't worry about it, Nami-sis. I would have needed a lot more than a reboot if you hadn't done it."
"Hey, Nose-ya!" Law called up to Usopp. "Throw me that snail!"
"Hmm? What for Tra-guy?" the sniper asked. Franky noticed the Heart Pirates captain twitch at the nickname and his frown deepened a little.
"Toss it here!" Law demanded again, holding up his hand. "I'm gonna switch its body parts around till the thing decides to be compliant!"
Its eye stalks suddenly shooting up and wide, the mini snail stared in terror at Law, then turned pleadingly to Usopp. The sniper gave the thing a comforting pat on the head.
"There, there. You just help me out, little guy, and I won't let the man with the freaky powers rip you to shreds," Usopp said soothingly. The creature gave a happy little sigh. Usopp pointed at the last remaining blue light. "Now, can you turn off that light for us?"
The snail peered where Usopp was pointing, and then turned to the buttons on its shell. Carefully, it began to use its eyestalks to press a series of buttons and the blue light turned off. Franky gave a low whistle of appreciation.
"Clever critter," he stated, looking up at Law, who had crossed his arms and still stared daggers at the little snail. Soon Chopper and Brook were in the room, the little reindeer hovering over the cyborg shipwright in a panic.
"Franky! Franky! Are you okay?! We need to get a doc-!"
"You are the doctor, Chopper-san," Brook supplied smoothly, a boney yet reassuring hand patting the little doctor on the head.
"He'll be fine, Tony-ya. Nami-ya's lightning attack simply overcharged his systems and he's rebooting," Law reassured Chopper. He kneeled down next to Franky. "Tony-ya, if you could transform and give me a hand, we can help him up—"
Suddenly, a loud boom followed by the whole place shaking cut Law off. Franky's eyes widened. From experience, he knew an explosion when he heard one. Up on the platform, Usopp was screaming.
"What the hell was that?!" the sniper shrieked.
"It sounded like a cannonball!" Now Nami was panicking. Brook and Chopper were not far behind.
"HEY!" Franky called from the floor, getting the panicking Straw Hats' attention. Everyone paused for a moment and stared at the cyborg. "Doesn't matter what that was! Could've been Robin up to something for all we know! What matters now…" he paused to point to each of the three tables, "…is getting those three out of there!"
Franky watched as one by one the expressions on the others' faces changed from fear and panic to confidence and determination. Or at least a little bit less like fear. Franky was good either way.
"Sometimes, Franky, I forget that you were in charge of a gang at one point," Usopp muttered from on top of the platform.
"Well, in any case," Franky said, carefully getting up as Chopper helped in his Heavy Point form, "Brook, you better go do the ghosty thing and talk to our captain. I'll see if I can get up that platform and get an avatar to talk to the other two…"
And then Law's Transponder Snail began to ring. The Heart captain's expression turned worried as he pulled the snail out of his pocket. Franky realized the others were listening with bated breath. They knew who was most likely calling.
"Hello?" Law answered.
"Law-kun! Thank goodness! I've been having trouble getting through," Jinbei's voice spoke through the snail. Franky heard Nami gasp.
"The Navy…" she said worriedly.
"Your crew called, Law! The Navy's at the edge of their patrol line, but at their speed, they're less than thirty minutes out," Jinbei explained.
"Thanks for the news, Jinbei-ya. We've just taken the room. We'll hurry," Law assured the fishman.
"It gets worse, Law," Jinbei stated. Everyone in the room was completely silent as the helmsman continued, "That explosion you likely heard earlier? They have a long-range cannon."
"Long range…they're on the horizon! Is that even possible?" Franky asked.
"All I can tell you is what I saw. That cannonball came from the direction of the ships and they're firing at the facility," Jinbei explained, grimly.
"Vegapunk," Law stated, clutching the receiver tightly. "He must have told them to fire on the place."
"But what about his assistant? Doesn't he care…?" Suddenly Usopp broke off. When Franky looked up at him, the sniper was glancing all around the platform. "Hey, where'd the old man go?"
Author's Notes: Okay, a bit of humor before we get to more sad stuff.
-Sometimes even I forget that Franky was in charge of a gang at one point. Wish we got to see him interact with the other Straw Hats more. I always feel like he's one of the more underrated members. Probably because in the anime at least, the others all got some sort of solo filler adventure or bonding episode (even Brook). Franky just got to be part of that filler arc with the ice. At least he got to show everyone how awesome the shark sub was.
-It doesn't feature much in this one, but if you ever find yourself writing a One Piece fanfiction and you want to know the layout of the Thousand Sunny or the Going Merry, the One Piece wiki has schematics and layouts of both. For example, the doors under the Sunny's stairs contain bathrooms. The dining room and infirmary are connected. You have to climb the rigging to get to the crow's nest (there doesn't seem to be any ladder on the mast until you get to the top). And having actually served on a ship, I've always felt bad for the helmsman on the Sunny as they always have to be outside, even in rain.