Hey everyone! So sorry to keep you all waiting so long for this chapter but I had such a hard time with Franky! I couldn't really come up with anything for anyone else either, so I apologize. I promise I will be updating more frequently from now on, though, so please don't be too angry!
I don't know how this chapter turned out. I feel like it's really horrible but no matter how much I try to rewrite it, it always ends up like this, so I hope you enjoy it at least a little bit! Like always, reviews and suggestions are accepted!
Franky was getting worried. A giant fluttering mess of butterflies in his stomach made it hard for him to pay attention to the others and eat and he knew he was earning himself more than a few worried glances. He didn't pay them any attention. He was too busy trying to figure out why the butterflies were there.
It hit him like a freight train (and he knew all too well what getting hit by a train felt like) and he couldn't stop the sharp intake of breath that followed his moment of realization.
Luffy hadn't made a single scratch on the ship for nearly four whole days. Normally, this would have made Franky extremely happy. But now?
Now it served as a reminder that Luffy still had not healed from the war and loss of his brother. Not even after two years and being reunited with his nakama. His mind flashed back to the night that they had found Luffy sleeping in Brook's lap, blood pooled around them, and he cringed. No. Luffy had not had the time or circumstances to heal. He had suffered defeat after defeat in the matter of days. He had lost his nakama, his brother, his childhood, in days. One blow after another without any time to heal.
Franky did not know what his captain had been doing after he had sent the message that they were to wait two years to see him again, nor did he know who he spent his time with. All he knew was that that person or those people had kept Luffy from going insane and hurting himself. Luffy had told them all that much.
Hearing those words had struck a cord in them all. However, it struck a symphony of cords in Franky.
Franky was a shipwright and inventor. He had once thought that he was able to fix anything and everything. That thought had mostly been destroyed when Tom had been taken away but there was still a small part of him that still believed that. Then Luffy had said those words and it was then that he realized.
Yes, Franky was a shipwright. Yes, he may become the best shipwright in the world someday. Yes, he could fix and build many, many things.
This did not mean he could fix everything. Luffy was a prime example for that. Because no matter how much Franky worked on him or gave him new toys, Franky knew he would never be able to fully mend his captain's shattered heart.
Luffy had reminded Franky that there were some things in the world that just could not be repaired no matter how much you tried or wished.
And it was this realization and knowledge that destroyed Franky.
