The familiar scent of the ocean breeze returned to the pirates' nostrils as the time jump finished, but equally prominent were the scents of wood and metal. Most of the crew had only just begun to recognize where they were from the countless pieces of ruined ships around them when Franky spoke.
"This is Scrap Island. This is the day that Spanda stole my battleships to frame Tom!"
He looked around frantically, and spying the ships that he had used, moved over to them as fast as Shaving. The others followed at equal speed…by which time Franky had already disassembled two of them and was working on a third.
Even after everything else I've seen, I still say that doesn't make sense, Usopp thought to himself.
"Franky, wait," Robin said firmly. The shipwright had already finished with the third ship, but slowly turned back to look at Robin before he could do more.
"What is it, Robin?" he growled.
"If you disassemble the ships, Spandam and his agents won't have the chance to attempt to frame Tom."
Franky blinked with a blank expression, along with everyone else.
"…Isn't that the point?" Luffy asked. Robin gave a chilling smile before speaking again.
"Personally, I prefer the idea of letting his agents steal the battleships. We catch them in the act and bring them onboard the Judicial Ship that they attempted to attack, and interrogate Spandam before judge and jury. Perhaps they'd even let us act as executioners."
It was at that moment that they remembered exactly how much Spandam had tormented Robin when she had been in his custody. He had beaten her, taunted her…made her cry. A wave of Haki washed over them before Luffy spoke a single word.
"Franky?"
The cyborg had already made up his mind.
"I'll be the one to interrogate him."
"Guys, let's get going; we have company!" Sanji said, replacing his hood. A group of uniformed Agents approached the ships, looking around them with an air of grim determination. But though they thought they had heard voices around the area of the ships, there was nobody to be seen when they arrived and began to board them.
Many of the inhabitants of the city of Water 7 were flocking to the Judicial Ship that was docking at the island. Tom, the master fishman shipwright, had fulfilled the promise he made and constructed the sea train; there were none who would object to him being acquitted of the 'crime' of building the Oro Jackson. A young blue-haired man named Cutty Flam, nicknamed Franky to those who knew him, paused in his shopping to observe the ship as it came in, and the civilians began flocking to it.
Wow. It's been fourteen years already, he thought, looking over the ship. Memories stirred of the last time that ship had come, and though he still felt resentment for how his teacher had been attacked before, he couldn't help but feel happy with what had been done since then to acquit him. It shouldn't have been necessary, but at least it would be over soon.
The peace was shattered instantly as an explosion erupted next to the judicial ship, rocking the boat where it was docked. More explosions followed quickly, all of them around the ship. While many of the spectators began to flee, thinking it a pirate attack, Franky spotted some figures in black around the ship; they seemed to appear wherever the explosions were. Gritting his teeth, he dropped the shopping basket before running towards one of them, fist outstretched.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" he yelled, punching with all of his strength at the nearest one. The figure caught his fist in its palm, and fear washed over Franky as he felt the strength behind it; it was more powerful than one of his battleships. Then that fear faded before pure shock as the figure stretched an arm an impossible distance above his head, and caught a cannonball that was aiming at the ship. The figure released Franky's hand and pointed in the distance, and Franky's eyes widened in horror as he recognized several of his own battleships, his own Battle Franky ships, firing towards the judicial ship.
"What…what the…?" he managed.
"We'll explain everything later, Franky. For now, just know that we're here to help," the man said, his voice suggesting relative youth. Franky didn't respond, only watching spellbound as the group of figures—eight that he could count—continued fending off shot after shot from his Battle Franky ships. After a minute or so of this, Franky noticed the old judge that had pardoned Tom before, Jorge, coming onto the judicial ship's deck along with his guards.
"GUYS, NOW! DISARM THOSE BATTLESHIPS!" roared a massive figure, appearing on the deck next to the judge. Franky was hardly thinking at the moment, only focusing on getting some answers as to what exactly the hell was going on. As he ran up the steps to the ship, he saw out of the corner of his eye that several of the figures in black were moving towards the battleships. One was swimming, two were flying, and one was running on the water. He slowed down the slightest amount as he took that in, confirming that he was indeed seeing the impossible sight that he thought he was seeing, and then continued to run up the steps. The massive black figure was facing the judge, who was surrounded by many Marines that had their rifles in their hands, but not raised to fire. His arrival drew everyone's attention.
"OK. Your Honor, do you have any idea what the hell is going on here?"
"We appear to be under attack, and are being protected thanks to the intervention of these strangers," the judge replied. His voice made it clear that he was not coping perfectly with the current events either.
"Besides the obvious," Franky growled.
"This gentleman has neglected to elaborate beyond the obvious, though he says he'll do so as soon as the perpetrators are exposed," Jorge said, gesturing to the massive man beside him. Franky turned to him, and was promptly cut off when three of the figures from before returned over to where they were, jumping and landing on the deck with a group of men in their grasps, all dressed in suited uniforms.
"Government agents, huh? Who sent you to attack the judicial ship, and why?" the massive man growled.
The agents remained perfectly silent.
"Answer his question," the judge said, peering at them sternly.
"You have no authority over us, Jorge," spat one of the agents.
One of the other cloaked figures moved to stand beside the massive man.
"Maybe you didn't hear the question," he said, and Franky recognized him as the man that he had tried to attack before. The next moment, Franky felt a strange and terrible force pressing down hard on him, something about that man making him sweat bullets.
"WHO SENT YOU TO ATTACK THIS SHIP?!" he yelled. The agents, who looked to be on the verge of passing out, spoke in unison.
"S-Spandam, chief of Cipher Police no. five."
The aura died as fast as it had come, and the agents collapsed, out cold. Franky sunk to his knees himself, staring at the man; whoever he was, he was glad he wasn't an enemy. The massive man spoke again.
"Your Honor, I'm sure you heard what they said. Now, I'd like for someone to keep a record of the interrogation that's about to happen, just to be sure that nobody objects when this bastard gets what's coming to him."
A stream of indignant yells and screams coming from above them cut off any chance of responding. Looking up, they saw one of the cloaked figures with a man in his arms, slowly descending towards them. As they touched down, the man squirmed out of the figure's arms, crashing to the deck before rising to his feet. Franky's eyes narrowed as he recognized the panda-like man that had come to see Tom a few days before…about the Pluton blueprints.
"WHAT THE HELL IS ALL OF THIS?! I DEMAND—"
His speech was abruptly cut off by the spontaneous appearance of many arms all across his body, pinning his arms to his sides, binding his feet in place, and covering his mouth. At the same time, two of the figures drew swords and crossed them beneath Spandam's chin, one white and one black, ready to decapitate him.
Spandam had been smugly awaiting the news of the success of his plan back on the Scrap Island. That had lasted all of one minute before the agents reported back that a mysterious group of figures were fending off the attack, and not one shot had made it to the judicial ship yet. Furious, Spandam had looked through his binoculars to see a group of figures in black slicing, striking, or deflecting the blows with apparent ease. His eyes widened as he saw a pair of them approaching the battleships themselves with the Moonwalk technique.
"Impossible! The only ones who should be capable of using any of the Six Powers are Dad's subordinates! I have authority for this mission directly from the Five Elder Stars; not even CP9 has the right to interfere with this," Spandam said furiously.
His eyes widened further still as he saw the Marines and agents being abducted from the battleships by one of the flying figures and two that had approached on the water. The battleships were left dead in the water, and Spandam grimaced.
"Well, at least they're not going to say anything. Still, this is absurd. After I get out of this mess, I'll have to come up with another way to frame Tom and get those blueprints. But one way or another, I'll get my hands on Pluton, and I'll bring this 'Great Pirate Era' to its end! And most importantly of all, I'll get my promotion! I might even join the Five Elder Stars themselves…or I could just use Pluton to overthrow them, it's not like anyone could stand up to that monster. Oh, yes! Being king of the entire world, I love that idea!"
Spandam grinned as images of his own splendor ran rampant through his mind, and he set the binoculars down, reaching into his coat to grab a Transponder Snail, intending to call his father to ask about rogue CP9 agents. After all, those two that had been flying towards the battleships were definitely using Moonwalk…those two…two?
"…Wait a minute. Only one of those two was grabbing the agents. But then…where's the other one?" Spandam wondered aloud, picking up the binoculars again.
"Right behind you," came a voice an inch from his ear.
Spandam screamed, growing louder even as he was forcibly grabbed before the figure began jumping.
"PUT ME DOWN! PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!"
"You might want to rethink that," the figure said dryly. Spandam then noticed that he was now several meters above the sea, and he swallowed before resuming his rant.
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM, YOU BASTARD? YOU'RE INTERFERING IN MATTERS OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE TO THE WORLD GOVERNMENT! DO YOU HONESTLY BELIEVE THAT YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BE PUNISHED FOR THIS UNDER THE LAW?! I'LL HAVE YOU HANGED!"
And so the litany of threats continued up until the figure brought him on the deck of the Judicial Ship. He barely acknowledged the presence of the judge and Marines, or that the other agents seemed to be unconscious.
"WHAT THE HELL IS ALL OF THIS?! I DEMAND—"
His ranting ended at last when he felt himself become bound. Gentle but firm arms gripped him tightly all over his body while two blades crossed by his throat, and his eyes widened in horror before he began attempting to squirm out of his bonds. A massive figure dressed in black with enormous and oddly-shaped arms walked over to him, towering above him and drawing his sight.
"Court is now in session. The honorable judge Jorge presides, and the cloaked strangers serve as chief witnesses for the prosecution," he stated firmly. Jorge raised an eyebrow, but nodded. Then the giant turned back to Spandam, and spoke in a voice filled with hate.
"You're in no place to demand anything. Here's what's going to happen. I'm going to ask you some simple yes-or-no questions. And every time you lie or don't answer, we're going to cut something off. And I guarantee you, they will be things you will miss," he snarled.
As if to emphasize his point, the blades moved briefly to touch Spandam's left shoulder and armpit, poised to amputate the arm. The man sweated more, and nodded frantically, clearly ready to comply. The hand covering his mouth moved down slightly to caress his throat, clearly ready to grip it if provoked, and the swordsmen returned their blades to be directly before that hand before the figure began his interrogation.
"Are you Spandam?"
"Yes," he replied immediately.
"The chief of CP5?"
"Yes."
"The son of Spandine?"
"…Yes," Spandam replied, thinking again that his might have to do with CP9.
"Do you have authorization to be on this island?"
"Yes."
"Do you like elephants?"
Spandam, along with everyone else he could see, looked puzzled at the non sequitur.
"Um, yes?" he replied truthfully. His fears began to ebb away at that point; maybe this wasn't something to worry about after all.
"Did you come to this island because of an appeal you made to the Five Elder Stars?"
Spandam stiffened, his sudden hope fading fast.
"Y-yes."
"Do you desire to bring the Great Pirate Era to an end as fast as possible?"
"Yes."
"Did your appeal have to do with that?"
"Yes."
"Did it involve one of the Ancient Weapons?"
The hands gripped him tighter, and he swallowed, feeling his neck struggle to bulge against the hand at his neck.
"Y-yes."
"Was it Pluton?"
"Y-y-yes."
The figure looming over him seemed to grow even larger as he spoke even more coldly.
"Did you send orders to these agents to commandeer those battleships, known to be the creations of Tom's apprentice, Cutty Flam, who is currently standing right here and therefore could not have used those ships, to destroy this Judicial Ship with the intention to frame Tom so that you could interrogate him for the location of the blueprints for Pluton that he supposedly has in his possession, but denied as much when you spoke to him a few days ago?"
An unearthly chill invaded Spandam's senses, and he noted in horror that it was emanating from the white sword at his throat; he could feel his skin beginning to freeze. His instinct was to panic, but the logical portion of his mind forced itself forward.
They know what the answer to the question is, and if I lie, I'll be dead or worse. There's no choice, I'll have to confess it; Dad can get me out of this mess. The fact that there are rogue CP9 agents involved should get rid of any credibility about this. It won't be any worse than a setback.
"…Yes," he said at last. The swords were removed and the hands vanished, leaving Spandam to fall face-first before the judge, who was glaring down at him alongside Cutty Flam, the Marines, and several civilians that had approached as the interrogation went on.
"Your Honor, allow me to add an additional piece of evidence before you offer your sentence," said the figure that had brought him over, pulling a strange seashell out of his cloak. He pressed a button on it, and the resulting noise made Spandam's blood run cold.
"…this is absurd. After I get out of this mess, I'll have to come up with another way to frame Tom and get those blueprints. But one way or another, I'll get my hands on Pluton, and I'll bring this 'Great Pirate Era' to its end! And most importantly of all, I'll get my promotion! I might even join the Five Elder Stars themselves…or I could just use Pluton to overthrow them, it's not like anyone could stand up to that monster. Oh, yes! Being king of the entire world, I love that idea!"
Spandam was soaked in his own sweat, looking with horror at the shell.
"Spandam of CP5."
Spandam turned slowly to face the judge, whose glare was positively arctic.
"You are charged with the crimes of theft, abuse of government authority and resources, attempted frame-up, attempted destruction of government property, attempted murder, and conspiracy to commit high treason." The judge raised his voice as he spoke to the watchers. "Has our jury reached a verdict?"
"GUILTY! GUILTY!" they screamed, far from in unison but with the same words.
"The jury rules in favor of the prosecution. Spandam of CP5, you are hereby stripped of your title, and sentenced to execution," Jorge said gravely.
Spandam did not have so much as a second to respond to this before one of the interrogator's massive hands grabbed his head, lifting him off of the ground.
"Your Honor, I request permission to carry out his sentence immediately," he heard the man say.
"Permission granted," came the reply.
Excruciating pain came across his senses for a single second, and then Spandam knew no more.
Before the interrogation began, Franky was under the distinct impression that nothing could make him angrier than he was at that moment. That was proven wrong no less than three times throughout the interrogation, and at the moment he heard the judge say 'execution,' he was ready to request that he be granted permission to blow him to oblivion with his battleships.
The disappointment that he felt when he was robbed of that chance was nonexistent, however, when a symphony of bones cracking filled the air as the massive figure squeezed, crushed, and rolled Spandam between his massive gloved hands with the casual motions of crumpling up a piece of paper. The Marines and everyone watching were clearly horrified, and were visibly relieved when he dumped whatever was left over the side of the ship, rather than where anyone could see it.
"…Cutty Flam. Inform Tom that his trial will be postponed for another 24 hours while I recover from these events. Court adjourned," Jorge muttered, staggering back inside the ship. Franky gulped as the figures turned to him, now counting ten altogether.
"You're going to see Tom, huh? We have business with him as well," said the figure that had held the shell. The civilians looked up at hearing this, but none were willing to speak. Not that they had a chance to; in the space of two seconds, Franky had been picked up, and the figures had vanished from sight.
Any sense of direction or location that Franky had vanished as soon as the figure picked him up; the only thing his senses could discern was that the wind and his surroundings were rushing by as if he were riding Rocketman at full speed. He could not be certain for the life of him, but he'd say that it took about two minutes before everything slowed down, and he was set down onto his own two feet. He hazily recognized a couple of familiar figures in front of him.
"Franky, what the hell is going on?" Iceburg demanded.
"Uhh, hey there, Brains-for-ice, did you get the stuff that Kokororo asked for Tom's acquitty partal?" he slurred, stumbling forward a couple of steps before falling flat on his face.
"Wow. I haven't seen anyone that punch drunk since Usopp tried to out-Shave Luffy," said one of the figures. Another one ran forward, pulling something from inside his cloak before waving it in front of Franky's face. The horrible smells emanating cleared his head as fast as blinking, and he got to his feet. He then recognized that Iceburg, Tom, Kokoro, and Yokozuna were all looking at him with questioning expressions, and that he was at the Tom's Workers building. Blinking, he turned back around to see the ten strange figures, and opened his mouth.
"Let's go inside. Then we'll talk," said the massive man. Franky exhaled sharply, but wasted no more time before walking back towards the building, grabbing Iceburg as he went.
"Tom, thanks to these guys, your trial isn't for another day. We need to listen to what they have to say," he barked. Taken aback by the tone Franky used, Iceburg stopped resisting being dragged, and the others followed him inside the small building. Remarkably, all fifteen of them were able to fit comfortably.
"All right, who the hell are you people?" Franky demanded.
In unison, the ten of them raised their hands and removed their hoods, revealing ten very different individuals. A young man with black hair and a scar under one eye; a young man with green hair and a scar over one eye; a young woman with orange hair; a young man with black hair covered by a white hat and orange ear protectors; a young man with blonde hair covering his right eye and a swirly eyebrow over his left; a small bipedal creature that looked very much like a raccoon-dog; a woman with black hair and orange sunglasses on her forehead; a tall skeleton with a black afro; and a blue-skinned whale shark fishman that seemed vaguely familiar. The last one, the massive man that had interrogated Spandam, had blue hair in a buzzcut, a metal nose, and a chin that ended in three points.
"We are the Straw Hat Pirates, the successors of the Roger Pirates," the dark-haired woman said.
A collective silence followed these words before Tom began laughing.
"What kind of a joke is this? If there were another Pirate King, it'd be known all over the world!" he chortled.
"That would be true, if it had already happened in this time," said the green-haired man.
"Our crew was formed eight years from now, and it was three years after that that our captain became the Pirate King. On one of the islands that we visit for training, we met and saved an old man with a time-based Devil Fruit, who allowed us to go back in time to save someone that we lost in our pasts as thanks," said the massive man. Another silence fell after these words, and Franky broke it a moment later.
"Are you saying that if you hadn't come back here…that Spandam bastard would have succeeded in framing Tom? All because of my battleships?" he demanded.
"And it took me eight years to forgive myself for it," the massive man said. As his words sunk in, Franky's eyes widened, and he gaped at the giant.
"Oh, come on! You expect me to believe that Flunky wound up on the Pirate King's crew?" Iceburg asked.
"SHUT IT, ICE-FOR-BRAINS!"
Iceburg's voice and doubts promptly fell silent; both Franky and the massive figure had said that in perfect unison. Nobody else ever called him Ice-for-brains except Franky. As the truth of the situation sunk in, Tom looked to the future Franky.
"Franky…what happened to you?"
"Spandam, that government agent that came after the Pluton blueprints a few days ago, stole my battleships to destroy the Judicial Ship. In my time, he succeeded, and then pinned the crime on us. To keep Iceburg and me from being arrested, you let the absolution of building the Sea Train erase that day's crime, and accepted a death sentence for building the Oro Jackson. They took you to Enies Lobby on the Sea Train you built. I couldn't control my rage; I rowed out and stood on the tracks, and tried to stop the Puffing Tom on my own. You can guess how that went."
Kokoro, Tom, Iceburg, Yokozuna, and young Franky all gaped in horror at the man.
"I was barely alive when I drifted to a scrap ship. To survive, I rebuilt my body with iron, and became a cyborg. It took four years before I made it back to Water 7, which had become a thriving city thanks to the Sea Train and its beloved new mayor, Iceburg. I met with him later that night, and he passed on the blueprints for Pluton to me, hoping that I'd leave the island so that they'd never be found. But I refused to leave the city; the only advice he gave me that I took was discarding the name Cutty Flam, and only going by Franky from then on. I became the head of Water 7's underworld, gathering in starving people, thugs, drunkards, and turning them all into bounty hunters and ship dismantlers that became the Franky Family. All of that lasted for four years until the day that the Straw Hat Pirates found their way to the city.
"Long story short, the government's secret assassin group, CP9, had had a few agents undercover in this city for five years, and they chose that time to arrest me and try to get the blueprints."
"Wait a minute, wait a minute. Sorry to interrupt, but if they knew who you were, why'd they wait four years?" Iceburg asked.
"One, because they thought you still had the blueprints, and you were too good at playing dumb for them to risk making a move any sooner," older Franky said dryly, though it seemed to be a compliment.
"But the main reason was so they could kill two birds with one stone, by getting the only other key to Pluton left in the world: the Straw Hat Pirates' archaeologist, Nico Robin," he said, gesturing towards the dark-haired woman. Tom's Workers stiffened.
"Both of us were taken to Enies Lobby, and in the time it took us to get there, I found out that Robin wasn't the monster that the World Government said she was. She may be the only person in the world who could revive the Ancient Weapons, but that doesn't mean she wanted to."
"None of the Oharan scholars wanted to revive the weapons," Robin said, speaking bitterly.
"The truth is that all they were ever interested in was learning the truth of the Void Century, a gap of history that began 900 years ago, and ended with the disappearance of a powerful kingdom and the founding of the World Government. The risk that someone could learn the truth about that century, and expose the secrets that the World Government has kept hidden since its inception, is the main reason that the study of Poneglyphs was outlawed; the Ancient Weapons were just a convenient cover story. Ohara's scholars discovered too much about the Void Century through their research, and that's the true reason that the island was destroyed."
She turned her gaze on Iceburg.
"I confronted you as mayor when I was in CP9's custody, and informed you that I had no interest in the Ancient Weapons. In response, you stated explicitly that if my desires for learning history would bring the world to ruin, I was better off dying. You were not the first to say something like that; you cannot imagine how many people told me over the course of twenty years that my existence was an unforgivable sin, and that I had no right to want to live."
Everyone in the room flinched at hearing that, and Tom was the next to speak.
"So, you really have no intention of reviving the Ancient Weapons?"
"Let me put it this way: it was after twenty years of being on the run that I found the Poneglyph that told where Pluton was hidden. And the disappointment that it wasn't the Rio Poneglyph, the Poneglyph that told the True History, was too much for me on top of everything else that I had gone through over the years. If it hadn't been for my captain forcibly carrying me out of the collapsing crypt where the Poneglyph was hidden and allowing me a place on his crew, I would have died that day."
Tom slowly nodded, and then looked at his older apprentice.
"Iceburg. As soon as you can, destroy the blueprints; there's no good reason to keep them now."
"…Yes, Tom," he replied, understanding his reasoning.
"All right, now that that's out of the way…what exactly did you do to prevent history from repeating itself?" Tom asked, turning back towards the Straw Hat Pirates.
The story finished a few minutes later. Iceburg, Tom, Kokoro, and Yokozuna all looked a little green as it did.
"Count yourselves lucky that you weren't there to see and hear it," young Franky said, shuddering before looking back at his older self.
"Seriously, maybe he deserved that, but did you have to be so brutal?"
"Did I forget to mention that Spandam went on to become the head of CP9, and was responsible for bringing both Nico Robin and me to Enies Lobby? From the second we were brought to him, he never stopped abusing us physically and mentally, me over Tom's death, and Robin over everything she'd gone through, AND the fact that he planned to capture the Straw Hats even though CP9 had promised to leave them alone in exchange for her coming quietly. And before all of that, his agents planned to assassinate Iceburg and pin it on the Straw Hats, all just so that he could get his hands on Pluton."
"Don't forget that he was ready to sacrifice all 10,000 soldiers on Enies Lobby to a Buster Call just so that he could get away with Robin," said the blond man.
There was a pause as those words sunk in.
"…I was wrong: he didn't deserve that. He deserved worse. You killed that bastard way too quickly," young Franky spat.
"For once, Franky, I agree with you," Iceburg said, his voice as cold as his namesake.
"So do I, to be honest, but we don't have a whole lot of time; we only get to stay here for an hour, and most of that's already gone. I wasn't going to waste too much of it on revenge," Franky said, turning to Tom. They were silent for a few moments before Franky bowed his head.
"In my time, the last time I ever saw you, you hit me for trying to disown my battleships for what they had been used for. I won't say anything like that this time…but I'm sorry, Tom. I'm sorry that you had to give up your life because of my stupidity at leaving my battleships laying around."
These words pierced young Franky like the harpoons of his creations, and he slowly turned to look at Iceburg. His fellow apprentice, however, was still staring at his older self, and thoughts anywhere along the lines of 'I told you so' were oceans away from his mind.
All he could see was the massively changed body hidden beneath the cloak, spherical shoulders and massively oversized arms doubtlessly hiding metal and weapons worked into flesh and bone. This was the fate of the man who, if he was being honest, was his best friend. It was the proof that he had never recovered, and would never recover, from the fact that his mistake killed the only real father that he had ever known. There was no room left for him to add insults.
Tom, meanwhile, had half a mind to laugh off what the man was saying. But he didn't, because he saw the same thing that Iceburg did.
"Franky, did I ever blame you in your time?" Tom asked.
"…No."
"Then what makes you think I have any reason to blame you now? You've done nothing wrong; all you've done is prevent something horrible from happening. The only one who could be blamed for this is dead now. You have nothing to apologize for."
Franky trembled, but it seemed to be too much for him to hear; he moved forward and wrapped his arms around the fishman, who hardly hesitated to respond when he heard and saw the tears of his grown apprentice.
"Part of me always knew you'd say that. But…I've just missed you so much, Tom," Franky said, tears surging down his face. Many of the other members of the crew noted that he somehow seemed more dignified with his crying than he normally did.
"So, tell me, how did you ever get out of Enies Lobby?" Kokoro asked after a minute. Most of the crew recoiled away from her as she spoke, much to the confusion of Tom's workers. Franky broke his embrace to look over at Kokoro, his tone dry as he spoke.
"You know, so long as I'm here, I may as well ask you: I considered you family for decades, so why the hell, in all that time, did you never tell us that you were a mermaid?"
Iceburg and young Franky's jaws hit the deck as they looked at Kokoro. She laughed, as did Tom.
"Well, it never came up. If you had asked how I met Tom, I would have told you, but you never did that," she said amusedly.
"M-m-m-mermaid?" Iceburg and young Franky asked. Kokoro nonchalantly removed her shoes, revealing fins where feet should have been.
"When a merman or mermaid turns thirty, their tail splits in half and they can live on the land," she explained.
A small part of the apprentices' minds reasoned that it must have been something of a rude awakening when the Straw Hats found out in their time; Iceburg and even young Franky had no intention of saying it out loud, but she wasn't exactly—
"Pretty fair point, I guess," Franky said with a shrug.
"Anyway, Franky, are you going to introduce the rest of your crew to us? I'd like to hear the story behind that skeleton there," Tom said.
Said skeleton stepped forward with a bow.
"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Tom. I am 'Dead Bones' Brook, also called 'Humming' Brook and 'Soul King' Brook, musician of the Straw Hat Pirates."
"His appearance is thanks to the Revive-Revive Fruit," said the blond man. "He and his crew sailed the Grand Line years before Roger, but they were massacred in the Florian Triangle. Brook's soul took a year to find its way back to his body, and this is what happened."
"Wait a second! Brook is there right now in this time, and this is before Moria and Thriller Bark showed up!" said Luffy, a massive grin lighting up his face. Seeing him so happy now was a little unnerving for young Franky; how could anyone with a smile that big be so scary?
"Now that I think about it, you're right. Hey, Tom?" Franky asked, looking back at the fishman.
"Brook's crew was killed 42 years ago. Since then, he's been drifting in the Florian Triangle alone. You think you'd be up for rescuing him?"
Tom's Workers seemed horrified at the idea of someone spending that much time alone, and that seemed to be enough to get rid of any reservations they had.
"We'll have him out of that nightmare in a month," Kokoro affirmed.
"In that case, you may want to inform the present time Straw Hat Pirates, when that time comes, that they'll want to arm themselves with a great deal of salt before they leave this island," Brook said.
"Salt?" Iceburg and Franky asked.
"You'll find out," Brook said enigmatically.
"We seem to be helping ourselves out a lot more than we intended at first. Perhaps we should just prepare Haki and Six Powers manuals for everyone we meet as we go back?" Robin suggested.
"Nah, no point in making things too easy on us. But that reminds me…" Franky said. He turned away, and sounds of metal moving reached everyone's ears. When he turned back, he had a thick stack of sheets in his hands, which he handed to his younger self. The front page was labeled "BF-38."
"You don't need to become a cyborg like I have, but if you want to, those are the blueprints. You can have the power to destroy a sea king in your hands whenever you want, and there's no risk of anyone stealing it."
Young Franky flipped over the first page, revealing a full-body picture of his future self: massive metal shoulders, arms, and hands; legs that were half metal, half flesh; and…an open floral shirt and speedo as his only clothing.
"Oh, come on! Out of all the bad traits you have now, the one you don't outgrow is being a pervert?" Iceburg said exasperatedly, looking at the blueprints along with Franky.
"No need for flattery, Iceburg," older Franky said sincerely, causing most of those present to sweatdrop. Tom and Luffy simply laughed, and young Franky pushed those thoughts aside as he looked through the blueprints.
"…It's awesome, sure, but I'm not sure I want to make this huge of a change to myself," he said, clearly conflicted.
"I figured. Like I said, if you decide you want to, the blueprints are right there."
Young Franky nodded, setting them safely aside on a desk.
The conversation proceeded for the better part of the next half hour, the story of Enies Lobby and many other adventures that they would have dancing through Franky's mind. Iceburg was taking notes as he listened, particularly about the CP9 agents and their powers; if he became mayor, he wanted to know what to look out for. Franky, meanwhile, listened carefully to the words about the family he would make from the island's rejects, pondering over what he could do about that. The thought of being a cyborg came back to his mind several times, but he still had difficulty making his choice. Of course, that may have had something to do with the fact that he was taking in the stories of adventures that he would be sharing with a rubber man, a swordsmen with three swords, a weather witch, a liar and sniper, a chef with legs of iron, a reindeer doctor, Nico Robin, a living skeleton that he was going to meet sooner than later, and an ex-Warlord.
Even Iceburg couldn't deny that that was awesome.
But Tom's Workers listened with a sense of particular pride as Franky talked about the Thousand Sunny, his dream ship that Iceburg himself had helped build and (Franky grudgingly admitted) had named. A glint showed in his eye that gave the impression that young Franky would never live that down, but his congratulations were obviously sincere.
"So, you fulfilled your dreams?" Tom asked.
"Every one of them. And now that I've managed to save you, my only regret is not being able to be with you in my time," Franky replied, smiling a bit sadly. Tom returned the smile.
"I am proud of you, Franky, and I know I couldn't have been prouder if I saw you live out your dreams in your time. Just remember that for anything else you do from now on," he began.
"Do it with gusto," he finished, in unison with Franky and a handful of others in the building. They shared a laugh, and then the room erupted in light. Tom understood at once.
"Take care of yourself, Franky," he said.
The two shared another embrace before the cyborg looked to his younger self one more time.
"Franky. Whatever you decide, make sure that in eight years, you'll be ready to join the Straw Hat Pirates. If your dream ship sails under Luffy's jolly roger, there'll be no chance of not making it to Raftel and beyond. And whatever you do, make sure that you grow up to be…"
He rolled his arms together before striking his signature pose, along with several others on the crew.
"SUPER!"
Young Franky grinned even as Iceburg facepalmed. And in the next second, the light was gone, and the pirates with it.
Whew. Nearly 2am, but I'm done at last. I kept you all waiting longer than I thought for this, but when I brainstormed ideas for Blueh, Franky's got the least detail; here's hoping that I did it well.
Now, I meant to address this in my Author's Notes last chapter: several of you have been wondering if I intend to continue off of the storylines created as a result of the various interventions. I should elaborate on this now: I only adopted this story because I didn't want to see something so interesting dead-end. I honestly don't think that highly of my skills as an author. I can admit without reservation that I'm skilled, but I'm no master; I can't create something like Once Again, Second Wind, New Game Plus, or Tomorrow's Romance Dawn without taking an obscene amount of time. So the answer is no, I will not. However, if any of you would be interested in writing stories off of the beginnings that I have given, please feel free to PM me and ask; I'd love to see where these storylines go.
Next, the poll. *Pauses.* At this point, I'm honestly wondering if I should bother to leave it open anymore; 8 votes have gone to Corazon (technically 9, but one is indirect), while no other option has gotten more than 2. In light of that, I'll go ahead and say this now: if Corazon maintains the majority of the vote until I publish Jinbe's turn in Chapter 8, I'll close the polls early and have them save Corazon in Chapter 9. Even so, I do have a few more chapters until then, so I probably shouldn't assume too much.
And speaking of the next few chapters, in addition to the normal kudos towards my beta, lunanime, I must also give her kudos for giving me a rather easy solution for the unknown factors of Brook's past (though I have little doubt that it's going to come to light before too much longer), so I will be publishing that one after Robin's. So, the poll will probably remain open until Chapter 10, barring the above statement.
Now, with all of that said, I'm going to get a nice long sleep, because I don't have class tomorrow. Usopp's turn is next. I'll get it up when I can, between college, job-hunting, and the fact that I didn't brainstorm anything for Banchina back when I presented ideas to Blueh. How will I manage to make an absurdly simple intervention last for an hour's time, and make it seem interesting within a few thousand words? Well, there's only one way to find out. And in that regard, it's as I always say: Patience is a virtue.