DATE: JUNE 25th, 2019 (25/6/19)

Sorry about the wait. I have HSC, a momentum problem in writing (see my profile), and a quick hit of gastro. That sucked. Either way, new chapter is here, and you can probably tell who it is. Enjoy!

The dust started to settle, water stopped rippling, the ground no longer shook.

As the onlookers peered ahead, Jinbe was heaving heavily in breath, yet still standing proud. Powerful attack it was, he wasn't going down so easily. Apparently, considering he was also still standing strong with no intention of crumbling, neither was Fisher Tiger. He didn't look nearly as bad as Jinbe did, but he was still bleeding here and there with countless bruises. This shocked some of the residents of the Fish-Man District, as despite how minor it looked compared to injuries others in the Fish-Man District had received, this was the worst that they had seen Tiger, let alone the closest someone had come to defeating him in straight combat (despite the difference in damage taken between the two). After all, he pretty much owned the place.

But injury come due, Jinbe gave out a final groan of exhaustion before falling forward onto the cold sea floor. Not unconscious, but enough to know that he is done fighting Tiger for today.

"...Dammit…" Jinbe muttered, head flat on the ground. He was so close to beating Tiger...okay, maybe not. But he injured him enough to be substantial, right?!

Tiger chuckled to himself. "Considering how brutally you were fighting, I'm impressed by your calmness and composure." He then walked up to Jinbe, who was looking up at him with a slightly grouchy look. Did he understand? Who knows? He wasn't Jinbe. Regardless, he held a hand out to the Whale Shark Fish-Man. "Sorry to say, brother, but I'm still stronger than you."

Jinbe pouted. Pouted. "Or maybe because you know how I fight from watching and battling me countless times." Yeah, he was a bit salty after the loss. But hey, after 2 years of 'sparring' on the regular, seemingly no difference in the outcome (though everyone else argued elsewise), you tend to get a bit sour.

But through each loss, he had grown stronger, learned from his mistakes, became greater. He had to be honest, though. If not for the Dream Realm providing him with nearly Double Time for training, he wouldn't even be able to make Tiger break a bead of sweat, let alone cause him injuries in battle. But as he learned from today and every other, he still had a long way to go before besting the Adventurer.

Although, he hadn't even noticed he himself had a following almost as large as Tiger from his strength. Maybe he didn't care?

After the little comment he made, Jinbe grabbed Tiger's hand to pull himself up from his gut, a little grunt from Jinbe's end. He dusted off his clothes, which was a white karate kimono with a black belt, along with another navy blue outer shirt with large sleeves, the ends a light blue with swirls. Ironically enough, the swirls were the exact same as his sideburns. Jinbe himself had also grown since nine years ago when he found the Sunny. His hair was now a dark grey, almost jet black, reaching all the way down the back of his neck, along with his eyebrows and aforementioned sideburns becoming a more pronounced blonde.

"MAAADADADADADADADADA!" Tiger gave out a hearty laugh. "I guess that could also be it!" He grinned. His face then turned back to neutral, but with a smile on it for once in his life. "Honestly, though? Give it a few years and you'll surpass me without a break of a sweat. I have good faith you'll be the strongest Fish-Man we have, Jinbe." Most of the surrounding Fish-Men nodded in agreement. Whether they liked him or not, he was incredibly fit for the title.

To be quite real, Jinbe deserved it at this point. He talked with Tiger about what had happened on the Sunny quite often (young Hatchan had overheard a couple times 'in secret', though Jinbe knew he was there), others laughed at him thinking he was delusional for believing a 'decent human' existed. While back in the day he beat the shit out of them, regardless of age or strength, he'd grown out of that by now and either ignore them or simply smirked to himself.

Jinbe smirked right now, actually. "From you aging, I assume?" He challenged. Some of the weaker Fish-Men started breaking out in a cold sweat, fearing Tiger might outlash as such snark.

All Fisher Tiger did do was laugh. He didn't even bother hiding a snicker, he just flat out howled.

"MAAADADADADADADADADADADADADA!"

"So what was it you wanted to talk about, Jinbe?" Brook asked, placing the Gomoku board down.

"I...feel like I'm having a midlife crisis before my 20s…" Jinbe replied, webbed hand holding his head above the table.

This evening, Jinbe was wearing an orange kimono lined with navy blue sleeve ends and belt, reading "FISHY" On the front. Brook, meanwhile, was wearing a purple dress shirt and dark grey blazer, along with maroon jeans and jet black formal shoes with leather topping. A lavender fedora with a poppy sat beside him on the table.

Somehow, it was raining in the Dream Realm today. It didn't happen often, either; twice between Brook and Jinbe arriving, and twice in between that. Tonight was the 5th day it had happened, and since Jinbe was a little down for some reason, Brook figured he'd set up one of the games he had found a while ago. Considering he played it alot with Yorki (Which was 34 years ago, might he add), he didn't know if the newer generations knew of it. He didn't count Jinbe because of how the average citizen of Fish-Man Island barely knew anything or anywhere outside of it. Back then, Jinbe got the grasp of a couple games pretty quickly; Ludo, Koi-Koi (a twist his crew made for Hanafuda), and Gomoku were the ones he enjoyed best. Didn't really seem fond of most card games, though there were a couple exceptions like I Doubt It, or as everyone he'd ever met above the age of 11 called it, Bullshit. I mean, who doesn't like calling out a liar?

Brook sighed a bit as he sorted out the pieces, handing the white ones to Jinbe. "Very well then, walk me through it. What happened today?" He asked. "Does it involve besting Tiger again?"

Now it was Jinbe's turn to sigh. "You know me well." It made sense, considering Brook was like an uncle to him at this point. "I just...I feel like, no matter how hard I train here or back there, I don't think I'm improving at all. I know I've improved at least slightly, but…" Jinbe trailed off a bit before shaking his head, trying to get back on track. "I...I feel as if it's all pointless for some reason…"

More often than not, Brook knew how to answer Jinbe's questions. He was insightful like that. He knew the lad since a tyke after all. And fortunately for Jinbe, this was one of those times.

"Jinbe," Brook started. "Have you ever considered that Tiger is simply that incredibly strong?"

Jinbe had to do a double take as he lifted his head of his hand. "Of course! Why-"

"Then what if you're also just that strong, but rather than compare to others of a similar feat, you're just too fixated on besting one Fish-Man? Have you considered how strong you actually are instead of believing you're only weak because you cannot defeat a single person, who goes through as much as you and beyond?"

His eyes widened. Brook had a point; he barely even noticed there were crowds when he and Tiger had a spar. He didn't even know until Arlong walked up to him and pointed towards everybody. And even then, he shut that from his mind. Holy shit, Brook was right again! He'd been only focused on defeating a single person to prove his strength. And even then…

He looked up to Brook with a small smile. "Thanks, Brook. I needed that."

"Yohohohoho," Brook chuckled. "Too right you did." He then placed a black piece 5x5 from the top left corner; his signature Gomoku opening.

"Huh. So you finally managed to reach 44°." Jinbe asked, placing a white piece to block Brook's four for the fifth time. He wasn't that blind, you know!

"Indeed!" Brook exclaimed, placing a black piece to cancel Jinbe's slowly forming three-and-three. He had always been proud of small things like this, especially since he had to survive out there doing nothing the whole day but quite literally 'rolling in his grave'. He'd be saving that one for when he found someone (or vice-versa), his magnum opus of Skull Jokes if you will. "I finally managed to loosen my ankle joint enough to reach it!" Brook let out some air from god knows where out his mouth in a small sigh. "Now I just need to finish the other 4°."

"..." Jinbe deadpanned at his figurative uncle. "You'd think you'd learn by now to go bit by bit to finish something rather than the whole trip at once."

"Bite me." Brook replied. Why could he be proud of something for once? Oh wait, he often was. Time and time again, here and the Florian Triangle . Was he being petty again? Yeah, he was being petty again.

A white piece to form a new three near the bottom.

A black piece at the top right to form a four-and-four that Jinbe somehow hadn't noticed yet.

A white piece below the one prior, forming yet another three-and-three.

"You're being petty again."

"I am indeed being petty again."

SPLASH!

A familiar sound stopped the game, shocking the two. Both even let out a small gasp. They looked to the door outside, then each other, before rushing outside the door onto the deck.

Brook grabbed his miniature telescope and looked forward. It certainly wasn't aft, as they both heard it outside the front door; the only door. Beside him, Jinbe started looking off the starboard bow using sheer eye power. And considering he was well accustomed to water, he was confident he'd be able to find whatever fell in this time.

Immediately, where Jinbe was looking, he was proven right as a new person had entered the Dream Realm, popping out from the surface of the water.

"Brook! Over here!" Jinbe waved over. Brook immediately folded his telescope back in and rushed over to Jinbe's position.

As he looked through the telescope, with Jinbe's hand over the latter's forehead (despite no sun but with the light thereof), the new guy came into view. Much like them when they appeared, they were a child. A guy by the structure of his face, let alone his hair; it was light blue, even lighter/paler than Jinbe's skin, vertically spiked, and pointing mostly to the right at a slight angle. The kid also seemed to be wearing some sort of round goggles, brown with nearly black lenses. Could you even see out of those things? He was also wearing an open tropical shirt like a vest, a dark teal colour with purple diagonal lines rushing southwest.

The two hadn't realised it, but the rain had stopped.

As Cutty Flam washed the water out of his eyes, trying to see, he started to look back on whatever the fuck that was. 'Oh my god,' he thought to himself. 'I'm actually gonna be a Cyborg. That's cool as hell! And when he said a ship,-' as he finished washing the water blocking his vision, he looked around him, absolutely nothing, even the water below him was clear. Hell, he could see most of himself underwater (with some of his legs and feet being a bit blurry). It was almost like a black dome of water. Holy shit, was he in an oversized fishbowl?

When he turned to his left, though, he saw one of the sexiest ships he had ever seen. And believe me, Tom had shown him a hell of a lot of ships. A giant brig sloop with a beautiful paint job, strong masts, a lion figurehead (why did it look like a sun? Was it the sun?), and...was that another Fish-Man like Tom? And is that a Skeleton?!

Franky let off a massive grin.

"HEY!" The two were caught off guard by the kid's yell. "NICE SHIP!" Wait. Why wasn't he scared of a skeleton in a void? And had he seen a Fish-Man before? This...this was odd. Or was he just that optimistic.

"Thanks, I guess?!" Jinbe yelled back, confused. This kid had strange priorities.

"Oh yeah! Where are we?!" Was the next question. A bit later than expected, but still anticipated nonetheless. For better or worse.

After clearing his throat and head, Brook turned full attention to the pile of blue spikes. "Get on board!" He replied. "We'll explain everything!" With that, he and Jinbe rushed back to centre deck, Jinbe rushing to pull down the ladder.

The kid seemed to be satisfied, as he bore a...smirk? and started swimming towards where Jinbe had been moving to set down his way up.

By the time he got to the already dropped ladder, Jinbe could've sworn the kid had stars in his eyes. "HOLY HELL, THIS THING'S MASSIVE!" he cheered.

Jinbe rolled his eyes. "No shit!" He retorted to Captain Obvious before jeering his thumb behind him. "Now hurry it up!"

"Got it!"

With that settled, Jinbe went to the lawn WHICH WAS STILL SO COMFORTABLE FOR NINE YEARS NOW SWEET GHANDI'S TITS and sat down, waiting for the newcomer with Brook.

He turned his head to Brook. "You sure this is a good idea?" He asked.

Brook deadpanned, a rare sight from him. "Jinbe. The same thing happened with you, as did it with me. And as far as I can tell, the one difference between all three so far is that I was the only one here when I arrived." 'Except for that girl's voice…' Brook kept that last thought to himself. He'd given up on that search long ago, finding no worth in a wild goose chase here of all places.

Jinbe accepted this answer, nodding. "Fair enough."

During this talk, the new kid had finally climbed up to the top, hoisting himself over the railing.

"Thanks!" Was the reply, the kid still smiling brightly. The two had turned their attention to him and...the hell…?

"Uh, kid?" Jinbe asked, trying so sound as minimally awkward as possible.

"...Yeah?" said child asked, raised eyebrow afoot.

"Where...where are your pants?"

"What pants?"

Both Brook and Jinbe inwardly sighed at this. 'Oh no.' This kid was going to be wearing nothing but bloody speedos, wasn't he? The red actually fit the shirt well, but that's not the point.

"And why aren't you wearing pants, young man?" Brook tried, curious.

The kid almost looked offended of all things after that comment. "Why should I?" He countered. "Legs constrain my movements jam my groove. My legs deserve to be free, dammit!" That last word was something (what looked like) en eight year old shouldn't know.

After his little proclamation, he then struck this...let's call it 'unique' pose. Arms high and proud, wrists back-to-back, right leg bent, left leg strut, leaning to his right, head held high without a care in the world.

Jinbe turned to Brook. "The fuck?"

Brook was just as conflicted. "I have no idea…"

The kid, meanwhile, was stuck in his own little world, loud and proud like he proclaimed the Declaration of Independence with a twist of Soul. This kid had balls of steel, and one didn't even need to look at the speedos to see that.

Said kid looked back down. "Hm?" He seemed confused. Did he forget something? "Oh, sorry. Off track," He laughed to himself. "Anyway, name's Franky. It's what I live by, and goddamn it'll be what I die by." The now named Franky smirked, before turning into a straight face, slightly frowning. "But yeah, where the hell is this?"

Brook cleared his throat. "I believe we can answer that." He replied. "Now then, this is your dream, put simply. To be specific, everyone who resides here is dreaming, appearing here in their sleep."

Franky nodded slowly, a small smile on his face. "I don't have a clue how that happens, but that sounds awesome!"

Jinbe smiled to himself. If this kid was this upbeat, he'd do just fine. "Don't worry, Franky, we'll explain anything we can before morning." He assured.

Franky smiled in return. "Thanks." He replied in gratitude. "Also, can we just take a moment of our time to appreciate HOW AWESOME THIS SHIP IS?!" Yep, he definitely had stars in his eyes. It was almost blinding to look at.

"Yohohohoho," Brook chuckled to himself. "Yes, yes, it is indeed incredible. It's been housing me here for 53 years now. Hard to believe, honestly."

Considering he'd been here for 9 years now, Jinbe may not have the level of experience of Brook, but this was still his home all the same. None finer. "Come then," He requested, standing up. "Let's get you something to drink before showing you around, yes?" As Brook nodded in agreement, the two walked towards the inside of the ship. Behind them, Franky had a wicked smile. He was going to like it here.

When Franky got upstairs, the door already open, he saw Brook prepare a cup of what seemed to be coffee. Looked pitch-black, though. It seemed he was a bit loud, as the skeleton had turned towards him.

"Ah, Franky. Would you be interested in a Long Black?" Brook offered.

The former hadn't a damn what exactly that was, but it seemed he was referencing the weird coffee he was making. "Nah, not a coffee person." Besides, he was a bit young compared to most people starting with coffee.

Brook nodded. "Very well," He then turned to the fridge. "Let's see what else we have." He then opened the door to look at what was there. "Let's see; fresh water, milk, orange juice, cactus juice, sake, oh, I forgot I had some leftover genmaicha...hm?" Brook paused for a bit, seeing a strange maroon bottle with a thin neck, a dark brown liquid inside. "What could this be?" He asked, pulling the bottle out and inspecting it.

The moment Franky saw it, his excitement skyrocketed, instantly grabbing the bottle from Brook's bony grasp. "Is that cola?!" He exclaimed, hyped to the teeth.

The other two were confused; the hell was that? "Cola?" they asked simultaneously.

Franky looked shocked at the question. "You two've never heard of cola?" Franky asked, eyebrow raised.

"I'm 62 years old, having been dead for 24. I know of no other drink past my death besides what I hear from Jinbe." Brook's answer.

"I'm essentially from the slums of Fish-Man-kind; have been since I was born." Jinbe's answer.

Franky nodded, understanding these answers. "I haven't had it either, but I've seen it before, and heard it's really sweet! Tom wouldn't let me have any, though; said I'd go crazy."

Brook slowly grabbed the bottle back from Franky. "Well maybe this 'Tom' had a point. Maybe another day, but we still need to show you around, don't we?"

As saddened as Franky got from the lustrous taste of cola escaping him once more, he got the message. "Fair enough," He nodded. "And yeah, I want to see the whole ship! It's gotta be the most beautiful ship ever!"

"Yohohohoho! I most certainly won't deny that!" Brook laughed in agreement. "Now then, let's begin the tour right away."

"Yeah!" Franky cheered.

"Also, Jinbe?" Brook quickly turned to the Fish-Man.

"Hm?"

"Five in a row." A black piece to finish the game.

"DAMMIT!"

*Snore*

Franky had often been a heavy sleeper. He may not sleep much, but when he did, dear god, would he sleep. Even back in the days of Cutty Flam, he'd been a stone in his slumber.

*Snore*

And tonight was no different. Despite the fact that he was in a pitch-black void and had slept on the wooden floor tonight, he was still in possibly the deepest sleep known to mankind.

"Zombies...wolves...zombies riding wolves…" *Snore*

Even with the giant cyborg before him trying to wake him up, he didn't budge in the slightest. Impressive, to be honest.

At this point, the guy decided to start shaking the kid. "Come on, kiddo. Wake up." Nothing. He'd been at this for the past five minutes, yet even within a dream, Franky was a solid sleeper. "Wake up, kid!" the cyborg yelled.

Franky started flailing his arms, sounding cranky. "Alright, I'm up, I'm up." He sighed. After a yawn and a rub of his eyes with his left arm, he looked around to see...nothing. Absolutely nothing. "What." Had the world turned off or something?

"Jesus christ, kid, that took me far longer than it should've." A voice from behind Franky spoke. It was probably the whitest 30s voice he'd ever heard, and holy hell did the guy sound high up. "Why do you have to be such a heavy sleeper?" it groaned.

Franky seemed perplexed by this attitude the voice gave off. "I don't know; I just am!" He retorted. "How the hell am I supposed to know I'm good at sleeping?!"

"You tell me, kid." How subtly avoidant. "I've been trying to wake you up for the past five minutes, and considering what I gotta do, that's a shitton of time wasted!"

By this point, Franky was annoyed and confused; apparently, he was so good at sleeping that he could sleep within his sleep and not be woken up either way, there was a guy behind him complaining for wasting their time in HIS SLEEP, and now he just wanted to punch them in the face, futile as it was. Never had been a morning person.

So when he spun around to see them, he wasn't met with just a guy in his 30s, oh no. He was met with a bloody titan, almost 8 foot. No wonder the voice was so high up. As he stood back, the titan of a man had a massive chest with a white singlet with the letters 'GIGA' written on it in black, capital letters, along with a black leather vest to the sides. His hair was a sky blue, messy but still moved into a direction (think Ken Masters). His arms were bloody enormous, with round, literally spherical, shoulders that covered most of his biceps and the upper half of his arms, with 'BF-37' written on both of them, and the bottom half covered in a light blue metal with dark blue stars afront them. His legs were hairy, but there was metal along the middle to his thighs all the way down to his feet, which had beige sandals on, actually.

This thing in front of him? It was a cyborg. A mother. Fucking. CYBORG.

Franky's eyes went high beam in sheer awe of the beast before him. "HOLY SHIT!" He roared, smile wider than what should be legal. "ARE YOU A ROBOT OH MY GOD YOU'RE A ROBOT HOLY CRAP THIS IS THE BEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE!" He didn't even care if he was wearing what he was bleeding sweating and crying into earlier today; Franky was in sheer ecstasy.

The cyborg before him smirked, sunglasses afront him raised to his forehead and a cocked eyebrow. "Damn straight, champ!" He confirmed, putting a thumbs up from his giant red hand, causing Franky to froth at the mouth from his little fit of joy. "I, young man, am the most advanced cyborg the world has ever seen!, Self developed, too. I've got everything a guy could need!" He then went through a crash course of everything he had from the list to showing them off himself, including, but not limited to: "Superhuman strength, nipple lights, shoulder rockets, mini hands from my bigger hands, a radical beam attack, customisable pop-out hair, THE WHOLE JOINT!" Franky was almost unconscious at this point, only not being so to hear what else this guy had in his arsenal. "And you want to know what I really am, kid?" Franky immediately nodded damn-near ferally. "Well lemme tell ya, then. I. Am." He then struck a post, his blue wrists back to back, combining the stars into one as he leaned to the side, showing his awesomeness in a single move.

"SUPER!"

"YEAH!" Franky cheered at the whole thing before him, pulling a similar pose. Honestly, he could barely tell the entire place was pitch-black. He could've sworn there was a golden light behind this dude with heavenly angels chorusing in the background. From a reader perspective, Ode to Joy wouldn't be far off from this exact scene that Franky wouldn't forget for the rest of his life.

Soon, the light and choir dilated, the cyborg standing back up straight. He jabbed a thumb at himself. "Yep, that's me!" He smirked. He then noticed Franky wasn't moving, and his eyes were yellow instead of black. Was that froth at the side of his mouth? Was the kid even conscious?! Shit, he barely had enough time!

He waved his smaller yellow right hand in front of the kid's face. "Come on, little dude, wake up! I know I'm awesome, but that's no excuse to black out!" He chastised.

Frany then blinked, shaking his head, processing what had just happened. He then chuckled to himself. "Sorry." He apologised. "But really, that was the best thing I've ever seen!"

The cyborg smirked again. "I can tell." He then adopted a more serious look. "Alright, from those two knockouts, I have far less time than I should, so I'll abridge it for ya." He then cleared his throat-

"Hold on!" Franky demanded, holding a T with his arms. "There's something I remember when you showed me your godly awesomeness." He called out.

The cyborg frowned a bit. "And what's that, kid?" He challenged.

Franky caught himself. "Two things, actually." He corrected, holding out his middle and index fingers. "First, you said 'SUPER!' at the end. That's my catchphrase." Franky looked like he wanted to strangle the cyborg; he was personal about his personal image, dammit! "And second, another thing that I do; the pose!" He then did his signature pose, much like earlier. "This one. You did it exactly the same but with enough clout to bewitch a Sea King." He then straightened himself up again. "But that means-?!" He froze. "..." He seemed to have an epiphany. "Holy shit…"

The cyborg then began to smirk again.

Franky's excitement shot back up to the golden 11 again. "YOU'RE ME!" He screamed. "In the future, I'm gonna be you! You're me! But that-" Franky's eyes went high-beam again. "I'M GONNA BE A CYBORG, HOLY HELL!"

By this point, the older Franky was laughing like crazy, almost a sugar high. "Yep, little me! It's you! But it's actually me!" He then struck the signature Franky pose again. "A SUPER me, to be precise!"

The younger Franky giggled like little kid, hyped as hell.

It was only when white started to peer out of both the ground and the cyborg Franky that he got back down from the clouds.

"W-wait!" He cried "What's happening?!" He started panicking! "Oh shit! Are you dying!"

Older Franky laughed. "Nah, I'm good," He answered. "You just decided to sleep for so long that all the time I have here went by at lightspeed." With a shrug, more light began to erupt. Suddenly, it wasn't so dark anymore. Hell, even younger Franky had some light coming out, which scared the shit out of him.

"Alright, kid, listen up!" The latter quickly shot his attention to his future self. "I'll be brief here; you're about to see the greatest ship to ever sail the sea! When you find it, get over there!"

"Huh?!" Young Franky was confused. "Whaddaya mean?! Where am I going?"

"Wait for when you get down there!" Older Franky shot down. "Also, if I remember time and age correctly, you'll find two people on the ship!" He held out his big red left hand, which popped out the smaller yellow one to pull out two fingers like his past self had earlier. The light was getting far brighter and more abundant now. "One's a skeleton. A ridiculously tall skeleton. The other's a Fish-Man, just like Tom!"

Young Franky was confused as hell. A dope ship is nice and all, but why such a weird selection of creatures? "Why, though?!" was the demand. It had almost no gravity behind it, though.

"Just accept it and get SUPER ready, would ya?!" Older Franky roared.

"Okay, okay, fine!" Young Franky whined, pouting. The light was coating over half of both of them, and almost all around them, not a single black spot in sight.

"Good." Older Franky moved into the signature Franky pose. "Now, GO KICK SOME ASS!" He demanded, a wicked smile aboard.

Young Franky couldn't help but follow suit, a massive smile adopted to his features. Kick ass, he says? He'll go however many extra miles were on that road! "Loud and clear, Franky!" He reported, following the same pose. They stayed like this until nothing else could be seen but the light at the end of the tunnel.

What a hell of a sendoff to yourself.

There you go. Now I just need to read up what happens on Water 7 during the next 6 years.