Chapter 6: Six days after arriving in Little Garden
As mentioned previously, Luffy had the ability to wake up when it would be most inconvenient for the people around him. Nami was, unfortunately, the only person who slept around him these days. This is why she woke up not to him sleeping soundly next to her, but to his stupid grinning face mere inches away from hers. Before she could shout in surprise, he leaned in to kiss her. While he was doing that, he grabbed her wrists and tried pulling her out of bed.
She resisted, as the bed was comfy and she had no idea what had him so excited. "Come on come on come ooooooonn!" He insisted, making a big show of it with that smile plastered over his face.
"What has gotten you so- worked up-!" She said between pulling herself in the opposite direction. Eventually he relented, choosing to bounce up and down on his heels like a golden retriever with their leash in their mouth.
"Today's the day! Remember?! The day!" He said, waiting for her to remember something that he most likely did not actually tell her about.
Nami brushed her hair out of her face and glanced over Luffy's shoulder at the window. Through the blinds she could see the sun was barely up, which was absolute bullshit as far as she was concerned. Not when she didn't have any real responsibilities or a mother to make her get out of bed anymore. She didn't have a shift on the walls, which meant noon was going to be her new morning. "What day…? Luffy, use your words."
"The day Franky's gonna take us out on his cool Jeep, remember?! The Frankystein?!" God damn he was cute when he got excited, she couldn't deny that. But what in the world was he talking about- ohhhhhh.
"Ohhhhhh right, right." She dropped down back onto the pillow. "You don't really need me for that, Luffy. That's more your thing. You go have fun."
Luffy's mood immediately crashed and she could physically feel it. Even though she wasn't looking at him, she could tell all of his excitement had just evaporated. She turned her head warily towards him and seeing his shattered happiness filled her with immediate guilt.
"Aww… But we never do anything together…" He said gloomily.
"Wh-what are you talking about? We live together. We do everything together!"
Luffy shoved his hands in his pockets and looked to the floor, pouting. "Yeah, but we still don't do anything or go anywhere… We haven't been on an adventure in, like, forever!"
Luffy loved adventures, just as much as he loved Nami. The two of them had met on an adventure, after all. He had spent five years alone in a zombie-overrun New York and he wanted to make up for lost time by seeing as much as he could. Back in Boston, whenever Bellemere needed to send out a scouting party or a scavenger group, Luffy was always first to volunteer, and he often managed to convince Nami to come with him.
Nami didn't quite share his level of enthusiasm for exploration. She preferred to map out the routes and take care of the planning, rather than the actual on-foot traveling. At least initially. Thinking back on it, she couldn't remember a time when she actually regretted going along whenever Luffy dragged her someplace outside of the walls. She just needed some kind of push to get her out in the first place.
Today's push came in the form of his poor dejected, borderline wounded face. The worst part about it is that he wasn't even doing her the decency of trying to guilt her. Exaggerated guilt trips were the norm for Nami. She had pulled that kind of trick on her mother and sister for as long as she could remember. Crocodile tears were her bread and fucking butter.
But like everything else with Luffy, his heartbreak was 100% legitimate. He couldn't fake it if he tried.
Awash with guilt, she threw her hands up in surrender. "Okay okay, no you're right!" She stammered. "It's been a while, yeah! Let's go check out the cool car thing!"
Luffy's mood immediately brightened, just as quickly as it had soured. It was easy to pull Luffy out of a bad mood once the situation that put him in that mood was resolved. He didn't like to dwell on things and he forgave people easily if they actually wanted forgiveness. Nami tried her hardest not to take advantage of that. He kept her honest.
They were up and out the door before anyone else that morning. The outpost was quiet and still this early in the morning. Luffy was bouncing circles around her while they walked down the sidewalk to Franky and Sanji's place. "This is gonna be so cool! It'll be like when we found that army jeep that one time? But we couldn't get it started? So we had to just leave it there? But this one is way cooler because it actually drives and it has ARMOR PLATING!"
Nami hadn't actually seen the thing yet, so all she had to go on was Luffy's half-complete descriptions. The way he went on about it had her curious and his excitement was starting to infect her.
When they got to Franky and Sanji's front door, Luffy pounded on it with both fists like he was Kenshiro and the door was someone who had stolen food from a poor family. Sanji was the one who opened the door, the smell of a cooking breakfast wafting after him. "Oh hey, morning, Luffy. You're here for Franky's… thing, right?"
"Yeah we are! Hey, what's that smell?" Luffy asked, shoving past and inviting himself in.
Sanji didn't miss a beat, "Yeah help yourself, there's eggs and toast and stuff," he said with honest sincerity. If you lived with Luffy long enough, you eventually learned to excuse his lack of manners when food was involved. Instead Sanji turned back to Nami, grinning at her. "I take it you're just dropping him off here, right? Worried he might get lost on the way to our house?"
Nami shrugged nonchalantly. "Actually I figured I would join him. I'm a little curious about this Frankystein thing myself~"
This caught Sanji for a loop, but he quickly recovered. "Huh. Well… Okay! Allow me to prepare you a breakfast too~" his voice singing as he led her inside.
If there was one thing Sanji loved, it was preparing food for other people. Even while he was cooking more and more to keep Luffy satisfied, he was also hard at work preparing food for the Frankystein trip. Enough to keep them going if they were out longer than they planned on being out. Franky himself didn't appear until after breakfast, emerging from the garage and greeting Luffy and Nami with a booming "GOOOOOOD MORNING!"
He strutted over to Luffy and clapped him on the shoulder, shaking him in a borderline violent way. "You ready, kiddo?! I'm super pumped up! You and me, we're gonna show those zombies the power of ENGINEERING!" He finished it off with a triumphant pose, like a sentai ranger.
Luffy thought it was the greatest thing in the world and threw his arms up in celebration. "YEAH! And I'm even MORE excited 'cuz Nami's coming with us!"
This just made Franky cheer even louder, "YEAH! THE MORE THE MERRIER!"
"Aaaaand," Sanji said, butting in on their celebration. "If Nami's going, maybe I could, ah, tag along too?"
Luffy and Franky didn't pick up on the implication, they just continued on with their celebrating and quickly shifted into eagerly babbling about what they were going to do. Nami was a bit more perceptive than them and she side-eyed Sanji something fierce. "You're only going along because I'm going?"
Sanji smiled like he had a secret. "Ahaha, what? No, I just uh- Y'know, I figured I could go along to make sure everything goes… Smoothly. Those two would be fine on their own, but if they're roping you along, someone's gotta be there to help wrangle them. Right?"
This answer seemed to satisfy Nami and she dropped the issue for now. She still made a mental note to keep an eye on him too.
"Well come on, party of four! We got us a TRIP TO MAKE!" Franky bellowed, pushing Luffy and Nami out of their chairs and ushering everyone towards the garage.
"I've been workin' on this thing since I got here and it's finally road-worthy! There's still work I gotta do to make it SUPER perfect, so this is just a test run of what I got so far! That being said, lady and gentlemen, I give you… THE FRANKYSTEIN!"
He slammed on the garage door opener, allowing light to shine in and reveal the monster car in a conveniently dramatic and showy way. The light reflected off of the red, white, and blue paint, making it nearly glisten as the garage was illuminated.
There was a lot more superfluous junk attached to it, more than Robin saw when she was introduced to the car a chapter ago. Not that the trio knew that, since this was their first time seeing it, but you know.
For instance, aside from the cow catcher and the spikes, there appeared to be a double-barreled shotgun where the driver's side mirror would've gone. It was welded there on a pivot point, so the driver could still fire while they were driving, with a gun conveniently right there. That seemed to be the idea at least. There was also a mount on the top of the car, presumably where a minigun would go if Franky ever stumbled upon one. The doors had been welded shut and the frames around the windows were armored up, so the only way inside was to climb in through the back. This prevented any raider from opening the door and yanking them out, as well as make themselves a target if they tried to climb in. The tires had obviously been replaced as well, bigger and more intimidating than what one would find on a commercial jeep. There were also spikes on the rims of the tires because of course there were.
Luffy couldn't help but tear up. It was a thing of beauty, even in this incomplete state. He stood there, biting his lip and taking it all in. "It's… It's so beautiful…"
Sanji nodded in approval. At the very least, Franky knew what he was doing, and he had the means and willpower to make his dreams come true. Sanji could admire an accomplishment such as this, regardless of whether or not it was practical.
Nami didn't quite get the appeal, but then again she was never really a car person anyway. "You did all this yourself?"
"Yup! I even painted it myself! This thing is my pride and joy!" Franky beamed with pride, climbing through the back and into the driver's seat. He beckoned the others to join him.
"I guess it looks pretty cool," Nami said as she and the boys climbed into the thing. Sanji hopped into the front passenger seat, leaving Luffy and Nami to take the back.
"Wait 'til you see the thing in action! It's gonna blow your minds!" He cranked the engine and pulled out of the garage, onto the cul-de-sac. As he pulled up to the gate, he laid onto the horn, alerting whoever was on guard duty at the time. As it turned out, Baby came running up along the balcony.
"'Allo Monsieur Franky! You are heading out, yes?" she called out, waving down at them.
"You got it, kid! Mind opening up for us?"
She peered over the other side of the wall to make sure it was clear of any unfriendlies and then scurried down the ladder to hit the repurposed garage door opener that would bring the gate to life. When the gate came to a complete open, Franky waved to her. "See ya later, Baby!"
"Good luck out zhere! Be safe!" She smiled straight in Sanji's direction. "I will see you soon, Monsieur Sanji~!"
Sanji, caught off-guard, laughed like a man who forgot what laughter is and waved back to her. He felt like he could have made a better impression if he had actively scowled at her instead. Once they were clear of the wall, they could hear the low rumbling of the gate closing behind them and Sanji sank into his chair, dragging his hands across his face.
"So uh… Where are we headed?" Nami asked as Franky took them through the maze of subdivision streets. "Or is this just a drive around wherever thing?"
"I'm glad you asked!" Franky said with all the enthusiasm of a tour guide, except his was authentic and not the regurgitated fake enthusiasm from years of repeating the same thing over and over again. He pulled out of the subdivision, onto the main road. It was predictably deserted, the builders took the liberty of clearing out some of the roads near the outpost when it was under construction. "I got a special place in mind! We… are headed…" He paused for more dramatic effect, looking over his shoulder at his passengers. "For the… BOARDWALK!"
"THE BOARDWAAAAAALK!" Luffy cheered.
"I don't think any of the rides are running, Luffy," Nami said, grabbing his shoulder to calm him down.
"I- I know that! I wasn't-!" he stammered.
"Why do you want to go to the boardwalk?" Sanji asked.
"Because, we haven't been there yet! We didn't look at it while we were building the outpost, so maybe there's some stuff there. Besides, all the rides probably good for scrap or somethin'."
"Sounds like it could be dangerous," Nami muttered.
Franky stuck his hand out the window and patted the jeep's door. "That's why we got this sweet baby to keep us safe! Now!" he brought the Frankystein to a stop and turned around to face his companions. "Who's ready to see how this thing handles?"
"I AM I AM I AM!" Luffy shouted, waving his arm frantically like he was a student in class.
"HELL YEAH! EVERYONE PUT ON YOUR SEATBELTS!" Franky barked. Sanji and Nami hesitated to do anything. Franky drummed the steering wheel. "I'm serious! Safety first, that's the rule of the Frankystein!"
He waited until he heard the click of everyone buckling up, and then he stomped onto the gas pedal as hard as he could. The Frankystein lurched forward on squealing tires, leaving behind smoke where rubber met concrete. A tank like this wasn't meant for speed, but Franky had clearly decided to let physics sort it out rather than deal with it himself. Once the thing got moving, it clearly wouldn't stop for anything save the hand of God Himself.
"WE DON'T NEED TO GO THIS FAST!" Nami yelled, digging into the seat with her fingernails.
"YEAH WE DO THIS IS AWESOME!" Luffy cheered.
"IT'S GONNA GET EVEN BETTER! EVERYONE HOLD ON!" Franky ordered. He pointed forward with one hand and Sanji, in the front seat, had a clear view of what was up.
There was a group of zombies clustered in the middle of the road. Not too many, around five or so. Enough that a normal car would have trouble just running them down. Most cars could handle running down maybe one or two. But this was not most cars.
"Oh God no," he managed to get out before the Frankystein made impact.
The cowcatcher, armed with its spikes and blades and weight, turned the rotted walking corpses into a fine red paste. Like Gallagher himself had brought down his mighty mallet onto a watermelon full of blood, they splattered onto the windshield and would have coated the passengers as well, had Franky not had the foresight to roll the windows up. Franky cackled like a madman and Luffy joined in as well.
"YESSS IT TOTALLY WORKS! THIS THING IS SUPER INVINCIBLE!"
The windshield wipers kicked in and smeared away as much gore as possible, leaving it just barely visible. He barely let up on the gas either. Choosing instead to cruise down the miles towards the boardwalk at an exceptionally high speed. No matter how many pockets of zombies they seemed to run across, the Frankystein did not stop. It liquefied any corpse it came across.
Eventually Franky pulled off the gas and eased his way onto the brakes. The Frankystein, unfamiliar with such ideas as "stopping" grinded to a halt and by the time it settled to a stopped position, the passengers all lurched forward, glad Franky had instructed them to wear their seatbelts.
"THAT WORKED WAY BETTER THAN I COULD'VE EVER HOPED!"
"THAT'S WHAT IT DOES?!" Nami screeched. "YOU JUST RUN THEM DOWN?! THAT'S HOW IT WORKS?!"
"That's just how it works now! Once I get some more weapons on this thing, it'll be more than just a wrecking ball on wheels!" Franky looked through the blood-smeared window. "Hm. Proooobably gonna have to stock up on windshield wiper fluid, though. Hold on, gimme a sec to clear this off."
Franky crawled his way past everyone and hopped off the back of the jeep. Sanji, with shaking hands, reached for his cigarette pack and lighter. He fumbled around until he could light one properly and wasn't at all surprised when Nami's hand thrust forward into his field of vision with an open palm. He placed one of his smokes and the lighter in her hand and she also fumbled to light one.
"WASN'T THAT THE COOLEST THING IN THE WORLD?!" Luffy squealed, bouncing in his seat.
"I thought we were going to die so many times…" Nami whispered.
"I wish he would've told us he was going to do that…" Sanji sank into his chair, sucking in a deep breath. "Where are we anyway?"
The trio glanced around at their surroundings. They had spent the majority of the trip/roller-coaster-from-hell driving east towards Jenkinson's Boardwalk, and now they found themselves in what used to be one of those touristy towns with locally owned shops on either side of the street. "Looks like the kind of place my mom would've liked to go shopping…" Nami noted. She unbuckled her seatbelt and lifted herself up to get a better look.
"Hey! You think there's any bars around here?! Maybe we can get lucky like the last time we were in a place like this!" Luffy asked, not bothering to wait for a response before he unbuckled his own seatbelt and clambered over the back of the jeep.
Nami's eyes widened and she climbed out after hm. "Ooh good idea!"
Sanji scrambled to get his seatbelt unbuckled and did the same. "Wait for me, I'm not letting Nami go searching around by herself!"
"Hey guys!" Franky called out from the front. "What's that over there?"
The trio looked over to where Franky was pointing. Ahead of the Frankystein, down the street, was a haphazard gathering of abandoned police cars and a SWAT truck. In front of them were road barricades, scattered about and knocked over. They looked like they hadn't been touched in years.
"Oh damn, looks like they tried to block this part of the road off or something. Maybe the boardwalk was an evac zone?" Sanji asked. The others shrugged or shook their head.
"Whatever it is, clearly didn't work too well or else they wouldn't have ditched 'em." Franky shrugged as he said it. "Ah well! I'm sure the Frankystein can plow through 'em if we take it slow! I finished cleaning off the windshield so we're good t' go!"
"Aw come on, can't we look around a little bit?! We're already stopped, we should go exploring!" Luffy said, already scanning buildings to determine which one would have the best sweet loot.
"I think we can afford to look around a little bit. Besides, empty police cars might mean a decent stockpile of weapons!" Nami added.
"But-... But guys… Boardwalk…" Franky said, trying his hardest not to pout.
Sanji shrugged. "We'll look around for a bit and if things get dicey, we just make a mad dash for the car! Easy as that."
"YESSS! Double adventure! Exploring a cool town and exploring a boardwalk! See, Nami?! Aren't you glad you came now?!" Luffy exclaimed, grabbing her wrists and spinning her around.
"What's the worst that could happen?" Sanji said.