Wishfull-star: (≧◡≦)

Kae Membrana: Shits about to go down next chapter lol. I don't know why but I absolutely loved braided Franky in Dressrosa. Really don't now why but I thought it was so funny.

When they got back, the crowd had dispersed. "Ooh, the crowd is gone now," Luffy said, Usopp and Nami were holding the cases now.

"First let's find that guy, Iceberg." Usopp wondered if it was okay to walk in without permission. That wasn't a problem for Luffy, and he said, "Excuse me!" as he tried to climb the fence, only to be stopped by somebody, telling him they'd talk outside of the shipyard. Then he looked up, and all three were shocked speechless.

His face looked like Usopp! Only his now was more square. Wow! "Hi, Usopp!" He was smacked by the real Usopp. The guy asked what they were there for. He seemed like a nice guy already. Nami got over her shock and told him they were looking for Iceberg. She handed him the letter, and he recognized who it was from by the writing alone. Maybe because it was messy from her being drunk?

"Hey, how old are you?" Luffy asked.

"23."

"Heh, you sound a lot older," Luffy said bluntly. Kaku, as his name was, laughed and said he got that a lot.

"So, you know Iceberg? Who is he?" Nami wondered.

"How can I not? He's Water 7's mayor," Kaku said. "He's also head of the Galley-La Company, and oversees the sea train. He's very important to the city. He's also a very busy person, though. You just wanted your ship repaired, right?" the shipwright asked. When they nodded, he asked where the ship was, and said he'd be back soon.

Doing this promptly would make talking to Iceberg faster, and they could start negotiating prices. "Are you going on the yagara?" Nami asked. Kaku just chuckled.

"If I did that, it'd take way too long. I'll be back in ten minutes." And then he sprinted off at an amazing pace, and jumped off of the cliff. Luffy was in awe, and said he was cool. "But that was a cliff!" Nami shouted. "Why'd he do that?!"

"Now he's dead and can't look at the Merry!" Usopp lamented.

"Well, there are probably other shipwrights," Nami said, getting over it quickly. Luffy turned when he heard someone coming over. It was a guy with blue hair and tan skin. Very tall. He told them not to worry, he was fine. That was the usual.

"People call him the 'mountain wind'. He's the chief mechanic of dock #1 of the Galley-La Company, Kaku. Don't underestimate our men. They have to be strong, not average in physique. He'll be fine, this is how we work. Quick and high quality. Kalifa?" Iceberg asked casually.

The woman accompanying him, maybe a secretary? Or a butler? A girl butler? So a maid? Heh… "Investigation complete." Then she explained all about their crew. Those with the bounties, how many are on their ship, and where they came from. She knew everything.

"Hey, you're actually pretty smart, huh?" Kalifa glared at him, and Nami hurried to say he meant no offense. He was just stupid. Luffy laughed about it.

Iceberg complimented them for getting this far all the way from the East Blue. Then he introduced a mouse he kept in his pocket. "This is a mouse I recently adopted. His name is Tyrannosaurus. Please get him some food and a cage," he added to Kalifa. Was he talking to her the whole time?

Luffy said, "That's a good name! What a brave mouse!" It wasn't shying away from him. "Animals don't really like me much." Iceberg looked at the mouse in his pocket fondly, proudly. It was funny. He wondered why Luffy scared them off.

Nami said it was probably his stupidity, and Usopp nodded. Luffy wasn't bothered and didn't say anything else. Then Iceberg's serene and composed look cracked when Kalifa listed everything he needed to do that day. Being a mayor didn't seem very fun at all. "I don't want to!" Kalifa instantly canceled all of them.

Luffy said he wasn't very dependable if he did that. "Like you're one to talk!" Nami said, yanking on his ear. But she agreed, and Usopp nodded. Kalifa made to kick them, but Luffy could hear the sounds of her getting ready to attack, and ducked under her fast hit, which landed on Nami and Usopp. "You jerk why didn't you move us!"

"Ah, sorry!"

"Ill mannered brats! Don't you dare speak to Iceberg that way!" Then she calmed. "Ah, I'm sorry. I lost my cool back there." As if nothing happened. "Iceberg san is the hero of this city, please speak to him with respect."

"Shishishi, you're scary, huh?" Nami told him to shut up and stop causing problems. Iceberg requested he not anger Kalifa. Luffy didn't speak again when Nami gave him a death glare. She really was scary, wasn't she. It seemed Usopp felt the same.

Nami had them move on, and gave the mayor the letter from Kokoro. After reading it, he tore it up. They took it the wrong way, and begged him to fix their ship, they had money. But Iceberg hadn't torn it up as a no for fixing their ship. Kaku was already checking it out. He just didn't need the letter, which was a relief.

"Since I'm bored today, I'll show you around as we wait," Iceberg offered in a friendly voice, even though he was only not having anything to do because he cancelled all of his appointments. They followed him in, and Luffy asked if he could see the mouse again. He was denied holding it, but Iceberg brought it out on his hand, and it sniffed Luffy.

He was so happy an animal wasn't scared of him like that. He wondered why but didn't ask. Nobody would know, after all. "What a cool mouse," Luffy said. Then he heard people coming up from behind in their yagaras. Luffy turned before anyone noticed, and shot his arms out to take them back from the yagaras.

"Stay away from our money!" Luffy called. Nobody noticed this was a situation before the money was back. Nami ran at them, threatening death before they angrily left. "Who was that?" Luffy wondered.

Nami and Usopp thanked him for saving their money. "It's my money too, you know?" he replied with a grin. Now they had the cases with them, holding onto them. It was reckless to leave them on the yagaras, wasn't it? Nami asked who they were.

"The Franky Family. Thugs and also demolitionists. It's lucky you got the money back. They would have taken and spent it quickly." Luffy listened to them, and heard the same weapon he had with Zoro's fight.

Luffy turned to them. "I think those are the guys that fought Zoro," he said simply. Nami sighed. "Well, he probably wasn't the one to attack them right?" he asked, lightly defending his boyfriend.

"I guess. They better not have damaged the Merry more!" she said angrily. "Stupid thugs! Ugh!" Kalifa asked what they were talking about. Nami spoke, saying their swordsman was back on the ship, and they thought he got in a fight. "How do you know?"

Luffy proudly said he heard it from a bit ago. "That's quite interesting. So, you can eavesdrop on people, then?"

"Not really. I don't listen on purpose or anything when people are talking, not with me. I just heard them come up behind us, so that's why I took the money cases." Usopp said he saved their necks a lot with that. "And your city smells weird, but the way. Like food and trash." Nami told him not to be rude.

Iceberg said there were slums there, so some parts of it wouldn't smell the best. "Oh, okay." He then reminded the three he was going to show them around. They entered the shipyard, carrying the cases inside. They met the shipwrights. One guy with a thick cigar was named Paulie, who repaired masts and was short on money. Then there was Rob Lucci, who specialized in sawing and bolting. They all had their own specialized tasks.

It seemed Lucci didn't speak, his pigeon did so for him, and it flew away when Luffy came near. Iceberg said that would be a problem. Without the pigeon, Lucci was mute. "Tyrannosaurus really is brave, isn't he? But I don't understand what's so scary about you."

"I don't think I'm scary, either," Luffy said. "Well, he should get used to it when I'm not mean to him, like the yagara I was riding did." The pigeon did fly back, and Luffy introduced himself, and said he wasn't so scary. He wasn't wearing his sash right now, having forgotten it. Paulie came into the conversation and asked if he got a tattoo.

Nami said they spent too much money on it. "It doesn't even look good." Luffy knew she was lying, and stuck his tongue out at her. Then he was asked about his eyes.

"Most people in the Grand Line don't really care about them most of the time. There are lots of weird people in this sea, aren't there? Shishishi!" Iceberg said that was true. The pigeon called Paulie a coward for not liking his eyes. Then they got in a fight, the blonde one seeming to use ropes to attack. It was not a devil fruit, but still cool!

He wrapped it around Lucci's arm and yanked him over his head to slam him into the ground, but Lucci stopped the attack by landing on one sturdy hand, his fingers dug into the ground! Luffy was impressed. But he said, "Hey, rope guy! What was that for! It was the pigeon insulting you!" Luffy said.

"He hit me first," Paulie said conversationally, puffing out some of his smoke.

"Only because the pigeon couldn't, so the guy did for him!" Usopp asked why he was defending him so much. "He has a talking pigeon!" Luffy said, pointing at it.

"And we have a talking reindeer. It's not that surprising," Nami said. "Can we continue our tour, Iceberg-san?" she asked. But Luffy was angry at the pigeon. If he was going to talk smack, he should fight on his own! Nami grabbed his ear and yanked. "It doesn't matter! Neither is clearly really angry! Just leave it alone, stupid!"

Those around called her scary, and she raged at all of them, making Luffy laugh. Lucci's pigeon introduced themselves. Lucci and Hatori. How was it talking like a person? It wasn't a parrot, right? Nami said it was a ventriloquist, which Luffy had no clue of what it was, but the pigeon said that wasn't what it was, but gave them no explanation anyways.

Iceberg told them to stop fighting and get back to work. Then Paulie looked at Nami, and scolded her for wearing such a short skirt around a factor with only men. Then he scolded the secretary for the same reason, earning a kick to the head. "See! You even lifted your leg! What are you thinking?! Are you guys teasing us?!"

"Shut up!" Nami said. "I can wear what I want! Besides, I have these two to help me if any trouble comes up!" she added, holding both of them by the shoulders. Usopp sighed, and Luffy just wondered if they could see inside. "Why are you the one acting calm now?"

"Because you're the one acting crazy right now," Usopp said casually. Luffy giggled. They entered, and saw just how huge this place was! It was massive, with such huge tools and equipment. It was amazing! Luffy was in awe, and had trouble not running around to look at everything closer. It was full of strong looking guys, working hard.

They definitely had to find a shipwright here. There was no other choice. Iceberg said all of the men had to be strong and capable, their weird personalities didn't matter. "What if one was super weird?" Luffy wondered.

"If they can help here, that would be fine, still," Iceberg said.

"What if they, like, ate everything?" Nami told him to stop asking stupid questions. The others thought he was a weirdo, too. Iceberg led them through the shipyard, telling them to not let go of their money even when there weren't thugs around.

Luffy and Usopp both had trouble not wandering off, asking who the galleon was being made for, how they got the machinery here since it was so big, how many people worked and what they were like. "Luffy, let him answer one question and then ask the next," Nami asked like she was talking to a child.

He didn't listen. "Hey, did you ever work for the Pirate King?" Luffy wondered.

"His ship, the Oro Jackson, was built by the best shipwright ever. So, yes, he created the Pirate King's ship," Iceberg said. "Though I was not mayor back then. It was long ago, after all."

Luffy beamed. Now they were even more alike! Working on their ships here. They both went to Sky Island, too. And they were both the weird ones, the ones not like those on Sky Island. He looked down on his arm, wondering if anything like this happened to him, too. Paulie asked if he liked the Pirate King. "Yeah, I'm gonna be the next one," he stated confidently.

"Lofty dreams you got there," Paulie said. Luffy said he'd do it anyways, no matter what! Everyone around clearly adored the mayor, greeting him happily. Luffy asked why he was so popular. "I helped fix up Water 7 with the sea train, and then I do my best to be a good leader and mayor."

Kalifa added, "He gets respect due to his skills as a shipwright himself. Skill is everything here." Luffy asked what happened if someone could do nothing. "Then they aren't a worker here," she said shortly, adjusting her glasses. Luffy didn't really like her. She was really uptight. "But there's nobody who can replace him in skill or leadership, so everyone in town respects him highly."

"Heh, that's cool," Luffy said. He walked up to Iceberg and patted him on the shoulder. "Hey, everyone seems to like you! Come be my shipwright on my crew, it'll be fun!"

"What did you say?!"

"I'll mannered brat!" Iceberg was unbothered and asked if he didn't have one on his ship yet.

"Nope!"

"Well, there are a lot of shipwrights here, though you'll have trouble turning one into a pirate. But if you do find one that's willing, I don't mind if you take them."

"Heh, I thought you liked them all but now you wanna get rid of them?" Nami sighed in exasperation. "Well, that's lucky for us!" he said, making a 180. "I like you, and your mouse, so you should definitely come."

"I won't, but thank you for the offer," the mayor said politely. Luffy wandered to a huge cannon and looked inside, calling out, "hello!" and making it echo. But it reeked of gunpowder and he sneezed at it. Nami was patient and didn't yell at him, looking at everything in awe herself. She asked how long it took to make a ship.

Paulie answered, saying it depended on the size, and how much they were tipped on it. "We try to work fast, though. Nobody wants pirates here for long, after all," he added. Iceberg then asked if they had Nico Robin on their ship.

"Yeah! She's really smart. We were supposed to go looking for books together, but she went without me," he said in irritation. "Though it's pretty interesting being here, so I can't be too mad. Shishishi."

"Do you ever get tired of his overwhelming personality?" Kalifa asked Nami.

"Of course. But I'm used to it enough to not want to kill him," she said honestly. Luffy wasn't bothered. Then their attention was taken by Kakau's return. He looked kind of sad. Maybe he was tired after jumping off roofs. Luffy said he was the one who went to check on the Merry, looking forward to having an answer on what they needed to do to fix it.

Kaku said since Iceberg was there, he could talk now. Kaku sat down on a pile of logs. Luffy said they had lots of money to pay if the repairs cost a lot. "If possibly, make it strong and cool with lots of cannons. And can you remodel a kitchen? Sanji wants a better one, too." Nami asked for remodeled rooms, wanting some nice decorations as well. From what they'd seen of the shipyard, it seemed they could do anything to the Merry.

Kaku said, "Allow me to speak frankly, but your ship suffered significant damage. Your trip here must have been very eventful."

"It sure was! We climbed a mountain and went into the sky. And then we got lots of attacks from marines, and a monkey tore up our ship. Also, a guy ate half of our railing. Then the ship caught on fire and the mast broke off twice. So lots to repair, but we knew that. You can fix it though!" Nami asked if it would take a long time to do the amount of damage.

"No. The truth is, even we can't repair your ship," Kaku said, Luffy and Nami's faces falling immediately. "Even if we patch it up as good as we can, the odds of her making it to the next island is zero."

Nami said, "But we've been sailing perfectly fine the whole time!" Luffy didn't say a word. He wanted to hear more before he made a reaction. Paulie asked if something was wrong with the keel, and Kaku nodded.

"It is severely damaged. The problem isn't how much it would cost, or how much work it would require. The ship can't be repaired no matter what we try to do. It's already a miracle that you sailed safely this far with your ship in such a condition. I'm honestly really impressed with that."

"But, what's wrong with her?!" Nami demanded. Luffy stayed quiet. He knew they were telling the truth completely.

Paulie asked if she knew what a keel was. When she only knew it was the bottom part of the ship, he explained that the keel was the spine of the ship. What held it all together. "The most important part, actually. If it is damaged or broken, it dooms the entire ship. And the keel can't be replaced. It's what the ship started out on, so hypothetically, to fix it, you'd need to take apart the entire ship and start from scrap with a new keel. It just isn't possible.

"Your ship is nothing more than a pile of wood waiting to be scrapped." Luffy hated how he said it, but Nami shouted at him about it before he could. "I'm just telling you the truth." Nami looked to him, her face begging him to say it was a lie. He just shook his head sadly, and she bit her lip.

"Can't you rebuild her, then? If the wood she is right now is too damaged, you could replace the wood, right?" Luffy asked, false hope in his voice.

"If we tried that, your ship would no longer be your ship. It might look the same, but it wouldn't be. You'd have no memories there, and the soul of the ship would be different. It would never be identical for many reasons. The wood would not be the same, but personally, I think that the fact it is not your ship anymore would be the worst part," Iceberg said honestly, finally speaking.

Nami asked, "So… what you're saying is, we'll never be able to set sail with her again?" Her voice was shaking.

Memories flitted through Luffy's head. Most random, but meaningful. But then he remembered all the memories he had with Zoro there. He was special. And the smell of the ship was perfect. It smelled like all of his nakama, the sea, even Ace's scent was still on one part of the railing and in the crowsnest. Vivi's scent was in Nami and Robin's room.

Everything was on that ship. Almost every moment someone found out and accepted what he was. The first home for Robin in 20 years. The place where Nami fell in love. Their home was that ship, and if she couldn't be repaired, then what? A new ship? Having to say goodbye to all of their memories? Every wound on their ship was proof of their adventure.

But that wasn't a happy thought anymore. He thought they would be like wounds that could be fixed but scarred over, showing what kinds of things they went through.

"That is correct. You can either take it apart now, or sink her and let her die naturally. With the money you have, you can buy a new ship." Luffy was accepting it, but could also feel himself slipping into denial and anger. He pushed the already grief away.

"She's our ship, we can't get another one! We can't leave her, please fix it!" He knew they were telling the truth. "We don't want a new ship! We want… we want the Going Merry," he finished, voice cracking. He couldn't help it. But he didn't cry. He didn't want to hurt Nami more. He didn't care if these people saw him cry.

"If you insist on that ship, then you accept the reality that you will all sink with her. Sailing on that ship away from this island is a death sentence for all of you," Iceberg said. Nami asked why Luffy wasn't fighting more. It was their ship!

"But he's telling the truth, Nami," Luffy said. She had tears in her eyes as they were handed a ship catalog.

"Think about it and then come back when you've made a decision." Luffy was surprised when Iceberg gave his condolences to Nami's crying. Then they were told to hide when government people came. They picked up the cases and hid behind a building. They sat against it, and Luffy lifted the cases.

"Nami… they feel light," Luffy said.

"What? Don't joke, there should be 200 million berries in there!" she said, wiping her tears, seeming glad to slip into any other emotion than the one she was feeling, slipping into anger. Luffy let her. When they opened it, both screamed. Their money was gone! Two of the cases were completely empty!

Paulie came over and demanded to know what they were screaming for. "Our money is gone!" Nami screamed. Luffy turned the cases upside down and shook, but nothing came out! "These aren't even the right cases!" Nami noticed. They were black, but not the same at all. The inside was crappy and patched, unlike how their cases had been. "Our 200 million!"

"Now we can't even buy a ship!" Luffy lamented.

"Wait, where's Usopp?!" Nami demanded.

"Hey, Kaku, what were you doing with the Franky Family just now?" a guy with a spike of hair coming from his head said conversationally. Kaku hadn't been with them all day. "That's weird! I thought I saw your long nose…"

"Usopp got taken by the Franky Family! I didn't even notice! The smell was so thick, and there was so much noise, and-"

"I don't blame you, I was distracted, too. But we have to find him! Go find him! Now!" Luffy nodded. He smelled deeply, but he was nowhere close. He could smell where he was last, though. He went to the alley way his scent was the strongest, and followed that. It mixed with other smells.

He tried listening, but heard no voice. He ran around, but lost track of him once the scent reached the water. Luffy backed up and did a running jump to the other side. No, this would be easier from above. He rocketed himself up to the nearest roof. He was rubber, he could be like Kaku! He couldn't find him easily until he heard Nami only ten minutes later, and followed her screams of Usopp's name.

Luffy landed with an "oof" when he fell from a building and bounced. It reeked of blood, and he found Usopp laying on the ground, bloody, bruised and with broken bones. "Usopp! What happened to you?! Did the Franky Family do this?!"

Usopp wouldn't make eye contact with Luffy, as tears streamed down his face. "Yes… I'm so useless! They took all the money… I'm sorry, everyone!" he cried. It was so hard to look. Nami took his hand, tears in her eyes for seeing Usopp like this. "We were finally going to fix the Merry!" He hadn't been there to hear the bad news, then. "I lost the money! I'm so sorry!"

Nami said, "We're finding them and getting our fucking money back." Her voice was cold and hard. She ran off, but Luffy called after her, he could get there faster. He knew where the ship was easily. He could hear his friends. "Okay, but hurry! Get Chopper, now!"

"Yeah!" Luffy said, and ran, heading towards the voices he recognized. Hearing was more attuned than smells, even if a smell came before sound most times. He made it back to the ship, waving his arms. He didn't have the briefcase or either others. "Chopper! Everyone! We have to get to Usopp! He's really hurt!"

"WHAT?!"

"He was attacked and kidnapped and now he's all beat up!" Luffy shouted. Then Nami was there, making it back surprisingly quickly. She knew where she was going. "What are you doing?!"

"Get to the Franky House! I couldn't stop him, he left to go get the money back!"

"The money?"

"The Franky Family stole two thirds of the money! Hurry to the house, he's gonna get killed! Kaku said the Franky house was down the coast line to the west. Follow the coast and get there! I'll protect the ship." She pulled out a gun from a drawer in her bedroom they didn't know about.

Luffy said he didn't even need directions, he could smell Usopp's blood. The boys ran in the direction Nami gave and Luffy was leading, and he could hear laughing and jeering, but not Usopp's voice. How the hell could Nami not stop him?! She beat them up all the time, she could have kept him there. She should've been able to.

"Why did he go on his own?!" Sanji shouted angrily.

"Pride," Zoro said simply.

"There he is!" Luffy shouted. They hurried to the source of the smell of blood and the salty scent of fresh tears. They found him unconscious and beaten even worse than he had been before. Chopper said he'd live. But he was incredibly injured and needed treatment quickly. Luffy could hear the Franky Family inside, cheering and laughing. He heard them insulting Usopp.

"They're cheering about this and the money," Luffy said coldly, looking at the weird house. "Usopp, we're a little bit late." The four men, turned, and walked towards the house, promising to beat the shit out of them. And destroy their house like they destroyed Usopp's already low self-esteem.

Luffy didn't ask where Robin was. He could only deal with so much at once. The Merry, Usopp, and now this. He would ask about Robin later. If she got lost or something, he could find her himself.