Worst Nightmare

by Sarcasticles

The Straw Hats do, in fact, have things that keep them up at night. Chapter 9: For two years the nightmares persisted. For two years Luffy worked night and day to conquer them. With time they faded, but they never went away entirely. Luffy got the feeling they never would. Now Complete.

7. Franky

What makes a man a man?

Franky was forced to ponder the question as he sees himself reflected in a pool of water. He doesn't spend much time looking at himself anymore, if only because it's nearly impossible to squeeze himself into the bathroom to look in the mirror.

It was a good thing that his super new body didn't have much need for that particular room, at least not in the traditional sense. He was more scrap than flesh these days, having spent the better part of two years slowly replacing muscle, bone, and blood with gears, steel, and cola.

The only exception is his back, and Franky can't see much of that anyway, so it's not like he cares. He spent many a sleepless night trying to decide whether or not to rig up a system that would upgrade his one weakness before deciding against it, because even if he did have a super idea or dozen on how to utilize that space to install different functions that he otherwise would be unable to implement, there was something to be said about keeping some part of himself the same.

Franky has no regrets about turning his body into a weapon. He's a cyborg, and damn proud of it. He took ownership of his workmanship, and would stand by it until the bitter end. Sure he looked different and there were some things he could no longer do, but he had friends that accepted him and his dream awaited him. Life was good.

At the same time Franky couldn't forget Kuma, the man who had replaced himself bit by bit, until he was no longer human. Thanks to Vegapunk's technology, the line between man and machine was a blurry one, and Franky had nightmares that one day he would inadvertently cross over, and there would be no turning back.

It was almost a relief that he still had nightmares. Nightmares meant he could still dream, and machines couldn't dream. Franky could fire lasers out of his hands and light out of his nipples, but there was still a bone-chilling fear and a sense of helplessness when someone attacked his back. His weaknesses made him human, and that wasn't something he was willing to give up, no matter the consequences.