Towering Memories and Treasured Dreams

by RoseDragonWitch

Sequel to 'Warm Memories' story. Already, a few weeks had passed since their adventure on the 'ghost island'. Still, they continue forward, preparing themselves for any challenge that awaits them. But it seems that their memories aren't willing to let them go just yet. A distant tower... a mysterious force that haunts the seas... will their trust with each other be strong enough?

30. Floor 46: The Shipwright's Regret

Floor 46: The Shipwright's Regret

"You sure that you're feeling up to this, Brook? We could rest if you need it…?" Chopper asked in concern as the crew made their way steadily upwards, the air now getting noticeably cold so that even some of the tougher members of the crew clearly noticed it now. Nami was now rubbing her hands together in an attempt to use friction to warm herself until Sanji took off his own coat and wrapped it around her shoulders.

"Thank you, Sanji," she shivered as he just smiled back and Brook was finishing drying his tears.

"In truth, I feel conflicted," Brook confessed. "While it was painful to witness such memories and to see Laboon, Captain Yorki and the others again as I remember them…? I am… I am glad. I feared that I was in danger of truly forgetting them and I…? I didn't even realize how faint my memories had become until now."

"Don't beat yourself up, it has been fifty years," Zoro reminded him.

"Do you need a minute before we move on?" Usopp offered but Brook was shaking his head.

"No, it is alright," he reassured him as Chopper leapt up into his arms and Brook was holding onto him like how a child would to their favorite stuffed animal. "I am feeling overwhelmed but it is nothing I cannot handle. Seeing all that, just helped me to remember why I continue on forward. I do not regret it. I wish to see this adventure through until the end now."

"Good, but you know… if you need to talk about it…?" Robin began but he reached out and placed a boney hand upon her shoulder.

"No need to say it, Robin-san," he said kindly, "I know. And perhaps… perhaps once we get out of here, I shall like to tell you all more stories about our adventures. Though… now that I think of it, I'm not sure there is much need for it since you all witnessed them yourselves, yohohoho."

"No! I wanna hear more!" Luffy said eagerly, "I liked your old captain! You totally need to tell us more stories about them!"

"What he said! We're all in agreement here!" Franky cheered on, "It would be SUPER to hear about them all! Whenever you're ready, bro!"

Brook just looked on, his emotions a bit all over the place at this point. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to feel, if it was supposed to be happy, angry, or something else. It torn him up inside that such private memories were shown, though he knew that it was no one's fault. Yet, it was strangely liberating to know that he didn't have to bare such memories alone any longer either. He would be smiling right now if he could… finding himself truly blessed to be surrounded by so many kind individuals. He supposed that all those years alone left him a little unhinged. It warmed his non-existing heart that the Straw Hats still accepted him… quirks included.

"I wonder what kind of star I was born under?" he muttered softly to himself.

"What was that, Brook?" Luffy asked, having heard him.

"Sorry, force of habit, Yohohoho," he laughed softly, "But I was just thinking that while I have suffered a lot of misfortune in my life… I have also been blessed by good luck as well. I shan't forget it again. Now, let us move forward! We can't continue until after we get out of here after all!"

With a much more cheerful laugh, Brook eagerly moved onwards, feeling both light and heavy at the same time.

His friends were all talking about how much fun the Rumbar Pirates were and were asking him all sorts of questions as they climbed the stairs. But there was one among them who was feeling true anxiety at this point of what was waiting for them.

"But you know, this concerns me," Robin said as some of her own dread began to return and she rubbed her arms as the cold continue to seep in around them.

"What does?" Nami asked curiously, tugging Sanji's coat a little tighter around her.

"Back on the previous island we saw only Luffy's memories… but here we are witnessing a mixture of all of ours," Robin reminded her.

"Yeah, so what's the problem?" Usopp pointed out.

"But that last floor was devoted entirely to Brook's memories," she went on with a frown. "And Brook was the only one who could open the door before, which led directly to witnessing his memoires. Does that mean that we will now be forced to witness all of our own memories after this?"

That caused them all the stop and stare at her, realizing what she was getting at.

"You mean, we have to watch all of our own memories now?" Nami gulped down as a new emotion gripped her heart—fear. The fear of being forced to witness her own miserable years of serving under Arlong…? Or even worse… her mother's death? Would she have to see that all again?

Others were also feeling similar bouts of panic at the thought of their own private feelings and memories on display—with Sanji perhaps the most shaken of them all. Memories that he had fought so hard to repress for most of his life could possibly be revealed to his crew as a single word popped into his head that made him feel ill… Vinsmoke.

No, no, he had vowed to himself to forget anything involving Vinsmoke or Germa ever again. He was terrified at how his friends were going to react upon seeing his own past? He wanted to be sick all at once at such a revelation.

"Ok, so… if that's true then…?" Usopp gulped down, "N-Now, it's not that I don't trust you guys and all but…? I don't know if I'm comfortable with this?"

"I don't think that any of us are," Robin frowned as the thoughts of her crew seeing some of the more… unsavory tasks she had been forced to do during her 20 years on the run. She could feel a cold sweat breaking out and a feeling as if someone was tying up her insides into knots. "But again, there's no guarantee that I'm right. It's just a theory. But if I am… then we are going to find out very soon. Since Brook was the only one who could open up the door before…? I think that whoever is able to open up the next one…?"

She didn't need to finish nor try to justify her reasoning, for they had no reason to doubt her. They were all sure that she was right, but they were now terrified of who it was who would be the 'lucky' one to have their memories on display next.

"Only one way to find out," Zoro said, gritting his teeth as he moved upwards and soon another door came into view. No one said a word for a few minutes as they all stared at it… Luffy, who already had his memories shone and nothing else to hide, was the next to try, but was unable to pull the door open either. The same was for Brook when he tried his hand at it but the door remained stubbornly locked for them.

"It won't open for me either," he said before looking back at the others, waiting to see what they would do. Zoro hesitated for only a moment before he also stepped up and tried his luck on the door but it was the same for him. One by one, other members like Usopp and Chopper tried and were secretly thankful to see that the door wouldn't respond to them.

"M-Maybe it is better not to find out?" Sanji said, not taking another step to the door even as he shoved his hands into his pockets to try and keep them from shaking.

"But why?" Luffy asked as if he didn't see the problem at all, "It doesn't matter to me who you guys were before."

"Luffy, you know as well as we do that there are some memories that are painful if they are viewed again," Nami muttered, too scared to even take a step forward, wondering if there was some way she could get out of this.

But it was Franky who stepped up next. He didn't look to anyone else as he stared at the door, almost fighting the urge to run away from it. No, this was stupid! He was a pirate! A Straw Hat Pirate no less! There was no way that he was ever going to look at himself again if he didn't shape up and face his own demons.

He took a deep breath and reached out to grab the door handle; though a part of him was deeply hoping for otherwise… he heard a clicking sound and he was able to push the door open. It was pitch black in front of him as everyone turned to look at him, who was strangely stony—his eyes overshadowed even in the dark. Franky knew what was waiting for him and he took a deep breath, the first to cross the threshold and the others followed him inside.

"Franky?" Luffy asked but their shipwright didn't say a word as he stepped inside the room, the others following immediately after.

"Franky? Does this mean that it's your memories that are next?" Chopper asked, not liking how uncharacteristically serious Franky had become.

"Yeah," he said with a glower as he looked around the dark room. "But it's alright. I think I'm ready. Alright whoever's doing this! I'm ready! Come on! Do your worse!"

For a moment, everything remained dark… but then the tower faded away and suddenly they were all blinking under a bright and hot sun. They all winced, feeling that the sun was even brighter than usual as they tried to see through the glare… and then they saw what it was that caused it. They were surrounded by water at the coast while a shining city that resembled a large fountain blossomed into existence behind them. Water flowed about them, reflecting the sun as the city seemed to glow cheerfully behind them—a city they all recognized at once.

"It's… its Water 7!" Usopp called out, his eyes widening at the sight, "That settles it then! These really do have to be your memories, Franky!"

"Wow! It feels so good to see it again," Sanji smiled as he remembered all that happened here.

"We just saw Water 7 not long ago on the other floors," Zoro pointed out with a roll of his eyes.

"Shut up! Can't you just enjoy things for once or do you have to ruin everyone's fun all the time?" Sanji yelled out. "Just because you have only two brain cells, one for swords and another for booze, doesn't mean that you can ruin things for everyone else!"

"What was that?!"

"You heard me, Mosshead!"

"Shut up, you shitty cook!"

"Enough! You both have such limited brain cells that you need to keep the few you have left," Nami yelled at them, their fighting giving her another headache.

But before anyone else could counter that, they heard what sounded like a child screaming. They all turned at once at the sound out to the ocean where they could see a tiny boat, hardly large enough for just one person, just within distance of the island. It was hard to see from here, but Usopp ran to the edge to try and get a better look, squinting out to see the tiny boat that had a cannon attached to the back while written on the sail in big letters were: BATTLE FRANKY 8.

At the helm of the ship was a boy, who looked to be a preteen and was now wildly trying to get the ship close to shore as quickly as possible.

"Hmm? Who's that…?" he asked, readjusting his goggles as he tried to get a clearer sight of the boy—and then he saw the boy was dressed in a simple shirt and speedo before he ducked his head down to get a better look where Usopp caught a sight of his bright blue hair.

"Eh?! F-Franky?! I… I think… is that you?" he gasped, getting everyone's attention as the ship was now moving at high speeds ever closer as if being chased by something.

"I remember this day," present-day Franky said watching as his battleship, barely holding itself together, was rocketing through the water as smooth as a knife through butter. "I think that this was about… roughly 24 years ago."

"Wow?! 24 years?" Luffy gasped in excitement as he ran to the edge of the water, trying to squint ahead to get a better look at Franky, "And that's you?"

"Yep," Franky nodded proudly.

"Wow, you sound old," Sanji stated.

"Shut up!" present-day Franky snapped before turning back to watch how his past self was handling himself.

"Ah, I'm almost afraid to ask, but what are you trying to escape from?" Zoro said slowly. As if on command, a large Sea King—one resembling a kind of fish/centipede creature—rose out of the water as it roared at the ship. The little boat was hardly more than a mouthful for the Sea King as the child form of Franky tried to fire at it with the cannons before the Sea King dove for him.

"What were you trying to do, Franky?" Robin asked in amusement when memory Franky realized that his cannon didn't so much as scratch the Sea King and memory Franky screamed as his boat was smashed apart by the wave and he was sent flying into the air.

"Well, I was trying to take down the Sea King," Franky justified as the remains of his battleship was also flung up into the air as well.

"I could guess that, but I wanted to know why?" Robin chuckled as they watched his past self continue to scream as he was now falling towards the island.

"Iceburg bet me that I couldn't take one out," present-day Franky said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Needed to prove that I could."

"But in the end, you couldn't?" Nami finished for him as he laughed as his memory self then shouted out.

"MOVE! MOVE ASIDE, ICEBURG!"

At that, everyone turned to look and soon spouted a teenage boy, dressed in shabby carpenter clothes, a tool belt around his waist, and bright dark blue hair tucked under a white bandana that was rummaging through the wreckage around him.

"Hey! It's Ice-Pops!" Luffy said happily

"Wow, I almost didn't recognize him without that fancy suit," Usopp said as Brook laughed.

"Ah, I think we are about to witness some early days with the two of you, Franky?" he asked as Franky just grinned as Iceburg stood up with some usable lumber under his arm and memory Franky came flying in overhead and crashed into the island.

"WHAT THE…? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, FRANKY?" Iceburg yelled before finally noticing the Sea King behind him and he screamed, dropping everything, and ducked behind more scrap as the beast slammed itself into the land.

"What'd you do to make that thing so mad, Franky?" Sanji had to ask curiously.

"Don't know! I was just testing out some cannonballs against the thing with the new cannon I built but it suddenly took offense even though the cannon didn't do squat against it," present-day Franky pouted in confusion as he tried to think back to what his younger mind was thinking that time.

"Oh geez, and you wonder why it was mad?" Usopp muttered as Luffy laughed.

"You sound like you were just as much fun back then as you are now, Franky!" he grinned, giving him a thumbs up. "You're a real rebel!"

"Of course, you can't change me overnight bro!" Franky said proudly.

"Hey! I think that there's a lot more scrap here than when were last here," Nami said suddenly as she looked around the island as the Sea King howled in pain and anger, but moved away, ducking down back below the water.

"Yeah, things in Water 7 weren't always as nice as how you saw it before," Franky answered as his memory self was pulling himself from the wreckage of his destroyed ship and Iceburg popped up, panting hard, gripping the front of his shirt as if trying to get his heart to calm down. Once he realized that they were safe, Iceburg punched memory Franky hard in the head before yelling at him, "Well? What the hell are you doing instead of helping me with work? To think that you keep making dangerous stuff like this!"

"Shut up! It's not of your business, Ice-for-brains!" memory Franky yelled back as he rubbed his sore head. "This is my precious battleship, the Battle Franky 8!"

"Do I want to know what happened to the previous 7?" Brook asked curiously.

"No, you don't," present-day Franky laughed.

"It's strange to see you without your metal nose, Franky," Chopper pointed out, and their Franky laughed again, pressing down hard on his own nose as he took on his old, classic hairstyle again for the occasion—much to the cheering of the more immature members of the crew.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but ditch the whole thing before someone gets hurt!" Iceburg yelled in anger.

"This is the scrap heap island!" memory Franky yelled, clearly not giving a damn about what Iceburg thought, "It's my own business to build whatever I want! Just wait and see! Next time, for sure, I'll build a battleship that will beat Sea Kings!"

"Really? So even back then you liked to build things like the General Franky?" Nami asked with a shake of her head.

"Yeah. I… had a bad habit of building battleships," Franky sighed and that got everyone's attention as they looked to him when they heard that bitter tone. Before he could answer though, the yelling was getting worse.

"Well…! There's no way you can beat them! I hope you get eaten!" Iceburg yelled back.

"I can beat them!"

"Well…! You can't!"

"You guys fight like brothers," Luffy grinned at the sight, thinking of all the fights that he got into with Ace and Sabo and laughed to himself.

"How rude of you!" Franky snapped but he was also smiling fondly at the memory.

The fighting looked ready to continue on all day until the large, mostly built ship behind them, slowly began to move, and they heard a deep, booming voice singing out at the same time. Usopp and Chopper both screamed out in fear at the sight until the ship was suddenly launched into the air as easily as if it was launched by a cannon. Underneath it they saw the shadow of a large man carrying several masts under his arm as if they were firewood. When he threw them, they flew through the air like javelins before they hit their mark upon the completed ship, which then dropped into the water—ready to set sail.

They all stared, taken aback by the suddenness of what just happened before looking back to the man who was responsible for it. Present-day Franky stepped forward, his own eyes wide with shock and amazement as he came into full view. The man, turns out, was actually a cowfish Fishman with short horns and a yellow body with markings under his eyes and spots on his neck near his teeth. He had white, curly hair sprouted behind his neck from under his brown bandanna and a large chest that couldn't hope to be closed by the shirt left unbuttoned. Whereas his lower body was actually relatively skinny compared to the upper part while also sporting tattoos on his shoulders of some kind of flowery design similar to the mark of the Sun Pirates that Jimbei had.

"Who's that?" Luffy asked curiously as Franky continued to move forward, his eyes never leaving the man who was the closest thing that he ever had to a father.

"Allow me to introduce the greatest shipwright the world has ever known… Tom," he said with no small amount of respect in his voice, "He was my mentor, my father-figure… I am who I am today because of him."

"He was your teacher? He taught you everything you know about building ships, Franky?" Chopper asked, his eyes sparkling with amazement.

"Sure did," Franky said proudly as he watched on, grinning at the shocked expressions his past self and Iceburg as they stared at Tom.

"That concludes the launch ceremony!" Tom laughed as he dusted off his hands as if he had done nothing more interesting than put a toy boat together instead of the enormous galleon. "We were able to make a good, solid ship today! Right, Yokozuna?"

At the sound of his name, they watched as the frog, now a fraction of the size he grew up to be, sitting down at Tom's side like an oversized, warty dog.

"He just launched that ship like it weighed nothing," Zoro said with a tone of impressment clearly there. "But what's a Fishman doing all the way here in Water 7?"

"Well, Water 7 was and is still known to have the greatest shipwrights in the world, and he came here to learn from them," Franky explained, "And he fell in love with the city and couldn't bring himself to leave it. So, before he knew it, he set up shop here and made himself a living."

"Wasn't that hard for him? He was a Fishman in a city full of humans…?" Nami asked worriedly but Franky waved his hand at her.

"Nah, not really," he confessed, "He had plenty of friends that he talked to and he didn't give a damn what anyone else thought of him."

"I guess that it explains a lot about you," Sanji smirked as Tom was heading off towards the city with Yokozuna hopping at his side.

"Let's finish it up tomorrow, shall we?" Tom called out, "Now, let's go home."

The entire time that the two were walking back, chatting about what to have for dinner, Franky and Iceburg just stood there in stunned silence before they realized they were getting left behind and went running after him, trying to tell him to wait up.

The Straw Hats all followed after them as Tom led them close to the outer wall of the city. But instead of heading upwards to where the buildings where, they were instead led to a makeshift building under one of the bridges where a large sign hung over the entrance that read out: TOM'S WORKERS.

"I know this place," Usopp said as he looked around, "This was where you took me with the Merry?"

"It's a bit out of the way and out of sight. I doubt that anyone would be able to find this place unless they knew where it was," Robin stated in mild surprise as they climbed up the stairs and into the small building.

"Well, Tom did have another building in the center of the city, but he was pressured to move out after he ended up building a ship for someone," present-day Franky said.

"Really? Why? Did he make a bad ship?" Luffy asked in surprise as he looked around the room.

"Far from it, there wasn't anything wrong with it," present-day Franky answered as he looked around fondly. Even after he had the Franky Family House built, he couldn't bring himself to ever abandon this place. There were so many memories here that he didn't want to risk anything happening to them… which was why he went ahead and blocked most of it off before he and his bros would use it as a shelter during Aqua Laguna. "It was who he made it for that got him in trouble."

"Really? Who was…?" Chopper asked, but at that moment a woman came up to greet them and they all gasped. There was no mistaking that thick, seaweed green hair and shark-like smile.

"Is that… Kokoro?!" Nami choked out as she stared at her.

"What? The monster granny? Are you sure?" Luffy asked, glancing at her with wide eyes.

"Yep! Sure looks different, doesn't she? Then again, it's hardly a surprise, this was over twenty years before you guys all met her," present-day Franky laughed. She certainly looked much younger with a rather voluptuous body and laughed as she welcomed them all home as if they were a little family.

"She's not drinking, I notice," Zoro pointed out, noticing how she seemed to be completely sober in this scene as she began to lay out what looked like curry for everyone to enjoy. It was honestly hard enough to look at her and not think of a bottle of booze in her hands… which made him really jealous right now because he could really use a drink…?

"Yeah, well, this was before she turned to the bottle," Franky muttered, knowing that the reason she started drinking was because of what happened to Tom. He gulped, suddenly nervous as he knew what was going to be waiting for them very soon.

Luffy, however, was drooling with hunger as he grasped at his own belly as he watched Kokoro pile generous helpings of food onto plates.

"Sanji…" he whined, "I'm hungry."

"And what do you want me to do about it?" Sanji asked with a roll of his eyes, "I can't exactly pull out a full course meal outta my ass now can I? Sorry, but the sooner we find the Sunny and get off this damn island, then the sooner you can eat."

"To be fair, most of the food you make does taste like crap anyway," Zoro said before Sanji spun around and was burning hot with literal flames licking his body at the insult.

"Look! You can insult me all you want but you do not get away with insulting my cooking! When was the last time you made something Moss Head that didn't kill someone?" Sanji snarled.

"Guys! Shut up! This isn't about you!" Nami snapped as Tom was suddenly asking memory Franky how his latest Battle Franky worked out and which number he was on now.

"The eighth one! It was close!" memory Franky said proudly.

"Don't lie!" Iceburg yelled as he swallowed a particularly large mouthful of food, "Geez, since you let him do this stuff, Tom, he gets full of himself! All he makes all day are dangerous weapons!"

"Shut up, Ice-for-brains!" memory Franky yelled.

And then the yelling started again as the two were now tugging at each other's faces and Tom laughed at it. Present-day Franky smiled at the scene, remembering all the good times and all the many fights that he had with his little family here. God… they sure have aged since then…? He had forgotten how young he looked here? But looking at Iceburg, he couldn't help but silently agree that the idiot was right. If he had just been more careful with his Battle Frankys…? All he wanted to do was build those little battleships to protect the island from anything that planned to attack them like pirates or Sea Kings…? He had told Tom that in secret once when his old mentor asked him what it was that drew him to build such devices and Franky remembered how embarrassed he was when he did explain it.

Tom just laughed and patted him on the shoulder before telling him to take pride in such a wish.

If only he had been more careful though…?

But at that moment, Kokoro came back with another bowl of food and was telling the two to stop fighting as they looked up at her.

"But Kokoro! This idiot was…!" they both tried to justify, but she just shook her head in fond exasperation, never losing her smile.

"Geeze," she told them as she stopped to place the plate down in front of Yokozuna, "You too, Tom. You're laughing too hard. What was so funny? Oh yeah, I just remembered. I heard that another trading ship with lumber on it was attacked by pirates. After Roger was executed, the number of pirates grew considerably."

"After Roger was executed? Wait, so this all happened right after the Pirate King was executed?" Luffy gasped in awe at the thought.

"You got it," present-day Franky confirmed, remembering how things got bad for Water 7 for a time.

"It's all over for this town," Kokoro sighed at that, looking generally worried, "Its being overtaken by the Great Pirate Era. People are in low spirits. We can now get lumber and iron only from other islands due to the floods caused by Aqua Laguna. And yet, violent seas and pirates hinder trading. Shipyards scramble for customers due to the shortage of work. They star fighting and then they lose their jobs. If nothing is done then water 7, an island that once left its mark on the world with its shipbuilding will just be waiting for the floods to happen."

The whole time she spoke, memory Franky ate as Iceburg looked on in concern—as if he was also troubled with the state of the world.

"Wow, you don't really think about how much changed since the Great Pirate Era started," Usopp said thoughtfully. "I never really gave it much thought, but it makes a lot of sense."

"Many islands, especially those with no connections to the World Government, suffered greatly after Roger's death and people took to the sea," Robin explained softly. "Those who pay the Heavenly Tribute are able to call upon aid from the Marines for protection, but in many places, especially those that weren't as wealthy, they suffered the most. Many didn't want to go out to sea to try and improve relations with other islands for fear of being attacked. I do think that it was a rough time for many."

"That's just sad when you put it like that," Usopp frowned until memory Franky was now begging Tom to teach him how to draw blueprints for a pirate ship. But at the request, Tom just burst out laughing again, causing memory Franky to frown.

"What's so funny?" he demanded, feeling insulted.

"Franky, there's no such thing as blueprints for a pirate ship," Tom explained reasonably, "If the sailors who board a ship put up a jolly roger, then it's a pirate ship. If they put up a seagull flag, then it's a Navy ship. I don't care what you wanna build, but a man should be resolutely proud of the ship he built."

"Wise words," Robin said with a fond smile as the memory disappeared but when it next appeared, they were all taken aback to find themselves in what looked like some kind of courtroom. They were standing near the back where a large crowd of people were already gathered. Every single seat of the pews in front of them was filled while even more people seemed to be piling up outside the door, trying to see inside.

"Woah! What is all this?!" Usopp yelled out, staring around in shock, "Is this a trial?!"

"Yeah, a bullshit one," Franky grumbled as he folded his arms, recognizing this at once.

Everyone was left confused even as they heard some grunts of someone trying to force their way through the crowd. They looked up in time to see memory Franky and Iceburg pushing their way past everyone just as they heard a voice call out: "The King of the Pirates, Gold Roger, was executed the other day. We consider shipbuilding engineer Tom's act of building Gold Roger's pirate ship, the Oro Jackson, to be aiding and abetting this vicious world-class criminal. Hence, Tom will be taken to Enies Lobby to be executed!"

At that, they all turned to the front of the courtroom where a judge was position up high in a seat while Tom was shackled with his arms behind his back and looking upwards, as cool as a cucumber, even as his two apprentices were staring on in horror.

"What?" memory Franky gasped in horror.

"Normally, no matter whom a shipwright sells a ship to, it's not a crime," the judge went on, "However, the King of the Pirates is an exception. We consider all those who have assisted in his pirating activities to be dangerous individuals! Hence, he's sentenced to the death penalty."

"Wait… you mean that ship that Tom built that you were talking about was actually for the King of the Pirates?!' Luffy yelled as his eyes lit up in amazement.

"Sure was," present-day Franky grinned proudly. "The Oro Jackson! Too this day, it's the only ship to have ever sailed the entire Grand Line! I said before that Tom was the greatest shipwright in the world and you can see now why!"

"Wow! That's so cool, Franky!" Luffy said, all but laughing in amazement as Franky gave him the thumbs up.

"But, wait, why was he being punished for that?" Brook questioned, "It would have been one thing if he was part of Roger's crew, but he wasn't, was he? So why would he receive the death sentence over just building a ship?"

"Because the World Government is full of cowards and are sick in the head," present-day Franky snarled.

"It was the same thing in a lot of places after Roger's execution. The World Government was so afraid of the Pirate King, even after his death, they were rounding up anyone who had even the slightest connection with him and his crew. Those that had talked to him, helped him in any way… I even heard that some were punished just for having caught a glimpse of him. So, in their eyes, anyone who helped out the Pirate King were just as guilty in their eyes as Roger was," Robin said softly.

She didn't dare mention this part out loud for Luffy's sake, but she remembered hearing how a massive hunt had gone on in the South Blue over a rumor that there was a possibility that Roger had a child. A massive search had been done but since nothing had been found even after Roger's death, the matter was disregarded as just a rumor. But remembering that, she could fully understand why Ace held so much contempt for his own father while he was growing up.

"Still, the death sentence just because he built a ship for him? Surely they could've just given him a slap on the wrist or something, right? This is way too extreme," Nami tried to reason.

"Too bad they didn't have you here to talk some sense to them," Franky glowered.

"Wait, we aren't going to get people like Ice-Pops and Galley-La in trouble because they helped us, right?" Luffy asked worriedly, "Cause I'm gonna be the King of the Pirates someday and you guys helped to build the Sunny…?"

"Nah, don't worry about that!" Franky laughed, "All that the others gotta do is blame it all on me and no one will complain. Plus, everyone loves Iceburg back in Water 7, they'll all back that up and pin it all on me if worse comes to shove."

Besides, it wasn't like the Pluton blueprints were around anymore so the Government really had no reason to go after Iceburg and the others like what happened with Tom. And even if they did… he was sure that clever bastard could figure out a way to get out of trouble. He was one of Tom's apprentices after all!

"You seem to be taking that part a little too well," Usopp muttered in a deadpanned voice.

"Kinda ironic though that the student of the man who built the first Pirate King's ship, would be the one who built and later joined as a shipwright for the next," Zoro grinned as smiled were suddenly on all their faces when they realized this.

Fate was truly an interesting thing at times.

Meanwhile, as they were talking, the Judge had delivered his verdict and was tasking with the marines on either side of Tom to take him away. But the problem was that Tom was so big that the puny marines weren't making any progress with moving him. Tom didn't even seem to notice them as he declared loudly, "I'm currently designing… a paddle steamer that runs on a railway set on the ocean's surface."

The judge raised his head in interest even as the two marines struggled to even budge the large Fishman, but Tom went on speaking as if they weren't there, "Suppose this island's decline is due to trade not happening as we wish it… suppose the hopelessness that people feel is coming from the worries about this sinking island. Thus building a sea train… will definitely save Water 7 someday!"

And that was when Tom went into much more details about his plans, how he was working on the design for this 'ship' that travelled on steam, and what it would do. A ship that could run from one island to another on a railway, carrying goods and people without worrying about the weather. Others in the crowd tried to reason that the rails would be destroyed with Aqua Laguna or by the Sea Kings, but Tom never batted an eye as he explained more and more about how it would work, safely ensuring delivery of needed supplies and passengers. He even described the designs for added protection from sea life which would ensure that industries can grow through trading. The blueprints were almost finished but not just any shipwright could build it and he asked if he could be allowed to finish.

The judge was looking deeply interested before asking if it could connect to Enies Lobby as well.

"Of course it can!" Tom said without any hesitation, "Once this technology is completed and eventually crosses the ocean, the relationships among islands all around the world will change for the better! The sea train is the hope of water 7!"

"Wow! So he was also the one who designed the Puffing Tom and came up with the idea of the Sea Kings?" Nami gasped in awe; a little annoyed with herself for not figuring it out right away due to the name.

"Yep! In this part of the Grand Line there were several islands that could normally take days to travel to, but thanks to the Sea Train, travel was cut to just a few hours," present-day Franky grinned. "His idea revolutionized not just Water 7 but all those islands!"

"Amazing!" Chopper cried out, jumping up and down, "Do you think that the entire world will have Sea Trains one day?"

"While I doubt that they could reach islands that are far away from each other, but to islands that are reasonably close? I don't see why not," Sanji said as he thought that over.

As for the judge, he was thinking it all over before asking Tom, "How long will it take to complete?"

"Ten years," Tom answered back with certainty.

"Then build it!" the judge declared, "As the development period for the sea train I give ten years probation to shipbuilding engineer Tom!"

Everyone was cheering, ready to see this through to the end before the memory faded. But there was one who didn't look happy. Memory Franky had a serious look on his face before everything went dark.

"Did Tom know that he would be in trouble for helping to build the ship for Roger and so decided to come up with this deal should they try to arrest him?" Brook asked their Franky as he remembered how angry his past self had been in the memory.

"I think that he guessed that something like that might happen," Franky agreed, "But he either didn't care, or he had this plan in mind all along to get him out of trouble. It was kinda agreed that if Tom could build the Sea Train and fulfill his side of the decision, then he would be let off."

"I still think that it's stupid that he got in trouble for helping the King of the Pirates out in the first place," Luffy pouted.

"You and me both, brother," present-day Franky agreed as the memory reappeared and this time they were back in the workshop with Tom and the others. Tom was laughing as the boys were all enjoying large bowls of ramen.

"I can't believe I'm still alive!" he laughed as Kokoro finished serving and actually frowned at him.

"This is no laughing matter, Tom," she scolded, "I thought that your time had come and I got a chill down my spine. But anyway, if things go well, they may let the matter with Roger go, huh?"

"Well… at any rate, you're amazing, Tom!" Iceburg said eagerly. "To think that you've been thinking about something like that? Everyone was rooting for you! The sea train really could…?"

But memory Franky slammed his bowl down hard to interrupt the discussion and got everyone's attention as he stood up and snapped with poorly concealed anger, "Thanks for the food! Come, Yokozuna! I'll teach you how to do the front crawl!"

"Hey, Franky!" Iceburg snapped as Yokozuna let out a startled ribbit and was now shoving the rest of the food into his mouth, "What's with you? You've been sulking for a while now!"

"Shut up! I'm angry at everything!" memory Franky yelled back, "Gold Roger's ship is the only ship in the world that went around the Grand Line! So why does Tom, who build such an amazing ship, have to get executed?! The people there were also saying that it was just natural, even though those idiots can't even build a raft! I also know that the reason our company is under a bridge is because you were kicked out by the townspeople over Roger's ship, right? Why the hell does the world's best shipwright have to be treated like this?!"

"That was what got me the most," present-day Franky glowered. "I mean, he built such an amazing vessel…? The only ship to have ever sailed around the world… and instead of being praised for his creation he was being prosecuted for it? He was being threatened with death over all of it when he's innocent! It just… really pissed me off that everyone was taking this so lightly and only thinking about the sea train when Tom's life was literally on the line here."

"I don't think that they meant anything bad by it, Franky…?" Chopper tried to comfort as present-day Franky just sulked.

"I don't blame you for feeling so upset about it, Franky," Robin agreed, also with a slight frown. "But Tom was certainly clever to have such an idea waiting in the wings."

It was almost like he was preparing for this moment. She couldn't help but wonder just what else Tom knew about all this, but in the memory, Tom surprised them all by just laughing it all off—which drove the memory Franky into a rage. He leapt up to grab him, yelling and shaking him as Iceburg tried to pull him off.

"I can't stand that you're laughing like this isn't a big deal?!" memory Franky yelled.

"Did you think that Tom could pull it off?" Sanji asked curiously.

"Of course! If anyone could do something so impossible in only ten years, it was Tom!" present-day Franky declared firmly. "I never once doubted his skills. But Tom was the closest thing to family I had at the time and just the idea that he was being threatened made me mad."

"Really? Did Tom take you in or something?" Usopp asked.

"Something like that. See, two years before this all happened, I was just dumped by my parents on this island and left behind because I was, and I quote, 'An uncontrollable brat'," present-day Franky stated as he made air quotes with his massive hands. "I passed the time by building stuff with all the scrap I found and that was where I met Tom. I was so impressed with what he could do that I made a cannon from the junk I found lying around and showed it off before asking him to take me in and teach me to be a shipwright."

"Who were your parents? Did you ever find out what happened to them?" Chopper questioned worriedly, afraid that he might be bringing up painful memories for his friend. But Franky didn't seem the least bit bothered by the question.

"No idea. Don't really remember them that well to be honest. Just some worthless pirates from someplace I suppose. Never found out what happened to them after they dumped me. Probably died out on the Grand line somewhere," Franky said unconcerned as his past self took out his anger on poor Yokozuna instead by teaching him the front crawl and yelled when he was getting it wrong.

"Why teach him the front crawl? I have to ask?" Sanji asked.

"Why not?" present-day Franky asked back as snorts of laughter could be heard among the rest of the crew at the obvious 'Franky' answer.

After that, they all watched on as the next series of memories played out before them on more of how the building of the railway and the sea train went. The first few memories were of Franky mostly on his own as he continued to build his battleships. But with everyone hard at work on the sea train, they hardly paid any attention to him and his creations, which clearly made him feel lonely. His memory self would constantly be spying on them, wondering what they were doing and watched in amazement as the train slowly began to take shape. Soon enough, he began to help out, pulling the large pieces of steel and wood alongside the others as they worked in all kinds of weather together.

They were some wholesome moments after that as they recognized the first sea train as Rocketman—which got people like Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper really excited to see how such a crazy, out-of-control train was first built. Even the other Straw Hats were fascinated with the process as it was a series of trial and error to get the train running, getting the railway together, and testing out different forms of protection that could scare off even Sea Kings.

More than once, memory Franky was almost eaten by them as they were forced to hightail it home before everything blew up in their faces. But the biggest problem turned out to be Rocketman and how dangerous it truly was. They all knew how fast and wild the train was after having ridden it themselves all the way through Aqua Laguna, but now they could see just how difficult it was for Tom and the others to get it under control even when it wasn't in danger of sinking on the railway. In the end, they all came to the agreement that it was just too dangerous to be used and decided to scrap it all together. They moved it down to one of the old warehouses where the Straw Hats knew that it would later be put to use for their own adventure to Enies Lobby one day, before Tom's Workers started to work on a better, more improved model that they quickly recognized as the Puffing Tom.

They watched as the years rolled by and the two boys of Franky and Iceburg grew up alongside each other, flourishing under Tom's watchful eye, until the day came that the Sea Train was fully built and operational. The day that they declared it finished, half of the city came out to see it and rode it around the island, much to the excited cheers of those lucky enough to be the first ones to get on board.

"It truly is a wonder, Franky," Brook said in awe, "A masterful piece of ingenuity. While I can't say I know what it's like to build something like that, I know that you must have all been so proud to have been a part of it."

"Hell ya," present-day Franky grinned as Kokoro, dressed as the conductor, began to do a lap around Water 7. "Seeing that baby fully operational was one of the highlights of my life. It was thanks to what I learned here that I was able to go on and build the Sunny…?"

"Then that means that Tom was able to fulfill his promise and should be let go of any charges against him, right?" Usopp asked excitedly.

"Yeah… all we needed to do was finish connecting the railway to the other islands and we'd… we'd been set," present-day Franky said as cheers could be heard from the other Straw Hats until they saw the sudden dark expression on Franky's face. He just stood there, watching his past self with Tom and the others as they watched on proudly as the train finished its lap people were waving happily from the windows. In fact, Iceburg was so overwhelmed that he actually cried as everyone celebrated around them.

The next memory that appeared showed them all back on Scrap Heap Island, but this time they could see Tom and Iceburg working on another ship a short distance away where a group of people in suits were gathered around them. They moved closer to get a look at what was going on before a cannonball came flying out of nowhere and blew up right near where all but one of the suits was stand and thus sending him flying. As he screamed, Robin's eyes widened in repulsion upon realizing who it was.

But before anyone could really gasp what was going on, they heard someone laughing behind them and turned to see an older memory Franky standing there proudly, in front of his latest battleship that was hauling a dead Sea King behind him.

"Sorry about that! My bad! Looks like you got in the way of my victory cannon salute!" memory Franky laughed, "IT'S SUPER! BATTLE FRANKY 35 COMES HOME WITH BOOTY! THAT'S RIGHT! CHECK IT OUT! IS THIS NOT THE BIGGEST SEA KING YOU EVER LAID YOUR EYES ON?"

"Eh, I've seen bigger," Zoro said, not impressed.

"Can you ever be supportive for once?" Usopp snapped at him.

But present-day Franky was frowning heavily at his past self, fully understanding why Iceburg used to get so mad at him in those days. Right on point, Iceburg jumped down and went over with a large mallet before actually trying to take apart his battleship. Naturally, memory Franky wasn't having any of it and ran to him, trying to pull him off as he demanded what he was doing.

"WILL YOU EVER GROW UP?!" Iceburg yelled after pushing him away. "EVER SINCE YOU WERE A KID ALL YOU EVER WANTED TO DO WAS BUILD THESE STUPID BATTLESHIPS! THIS HAS TO STOP! THIS BETTER BE THE LAST ONE OTHERWISE I'M GONNA START TEARING THEM ALL APART MYSELF!"

"WHAT WAS THAT?" memory Franky threatened, "YOU LAY A FINGER ON MY SHIP AND YOU'RE DEAD MEAT!"

But Iceburg spun him around and slammed him up against the ship as he yelled, "YEAH WELL, LISTEN TO ME FRANKY! IF YOU WERE ABLE TO KILL A SEA KING WITH THIS FLOATING PIECE OF JUNK THEN THAT MEANS IT'S A DANGEROUS WEAPON! AND YOU GOT ALL THOSE OTHER BATTLESHIPS LYING AROUND HERE? WHAT'RE YOU THINKING?!"

"HEY! IT'S NOT LIKE I'M ATTACKING PEOPLE WITH THEM AM I?"

"I'M NOT SAYING YOU'D DO THAT! BUT YOU'RE MAKING IT EASIER FOR ANYONE ELSE WHO WOULD WANT TO, YOU IDIOT!"

"I hate to be that person, but I see what he was talking about," Nami frowned a little.

"But Franky always takes really good care of everything on the Sunny!" Chopper pointed out, "He's normally so careful about allowing anything dangerous being used."

"Yeah, I know that now," present-day Franky grumbled as Tom, who just came over to check out what the problem was, was kept laughing even as Iceburg was asking for Tom to back him up.

All the while there was a beaten up agent practically dragging himself along the ground until he was able to get up.

"Who's this guy?" Luffy asked innocently.

"Don't know, but looks like a loser to me," Sanji shrugged.

"HANG ON! THIS IS NO LAUGHING MATTER! I DEMAND A SINCERE APOLOGY AND THAT YOU LISTEN TO WHAT I'VE COME HERE TO SAY!" Spandam yelled even while sporting a large, red bump on his head.

"Government guy, are ya?" Tom asked, finally stopped laughing and a more thoughtful expression came over him. "So is this here about the trial?"

But it couldn't have been any clearer that Spandam had no idea what he was talking about as he demanded that he wanted to speak to Tom in private. Tom's face suddenly became very serious before telling memory Franky and Iceburg to head back ahead of him.

"Wait? That's it?" Luffy asked as he looked around at the fading memory. "What was so important about that panda guy?"

"That dumbass wanted to get something from Tom but Tom refused to hand it over," present-day Franky said softly, "I'm sure you'll see in a minute what it was."

Sure enough, the next memory showed them back at their workshop. The windows outside revealed that it looked to be very late at night, and memory Franky and Iceburg were both yawning as if getting ready for bed. Tom was sitting at a table with his hands upon a set of very old looking papers and seemed to be looking over them with a grave expression. Before anyone could ask, Tom looked up at the boys and called, "Iceburg? Franky? Hey boys, come here?"

"What's up?" Iceburg asked politely.

"It's about time I let you in on something important," he said as he held up the papers for them to see.

"W-What is it?" Chopper asked worriedly as Usopp and Luffy went around to get a look at the papers too. Luffy tilted his head in confusion, not understanding at all what he was seeing. Usopp, meanwhile, could tell that they were blueprints of some kind and while they did look a little bit like some of the things that he had seen Franky design, most of it a went right over his head.

But memory Franky and Iceburg both seemed to understand immediately what these were for though as they glanced over the blueprints themselves. Their eyes soon widened in amazement before turning to shock… and then finally to horror. Iceburg's hands were even shaking as he stared at them and memory Franky's jaw all but hit the floor.

"W-Why would anyone ever dreaming of something like this?" Iceburg asked as memory Franky was too stunned for words.

"Is this for real? Can this thing actually be built?" he gasped out, his eyes bugging out.

"Those are the blueprints for a nightmare. A real monster," Tom explained gravely, "The government has learned of their existence and have started sniffing around for them. It's too dangerous for me to keep them anymore."

"Wait…? Is that…?" Robin began slowly, looking at their Franky with wide eyes.

"The blueprints for Pluton? Yeah," present-day Franky nodded in confirmation

"I don't get it, what's so scary about them?" Usopp asked, still struggling to make heads or tails of the blueprints.

"Only an experienced craftsman could really make use of those blueprints, but there's a reason for that," present-day Franky confessed.

"This is terrifying but I agree," Iceburg said, "I'll keep them."

But there was only one thing on memory Franky's mind as he asked eagerly, "Iceburg? Hey, let's see if we can build this thing."

Iceburg responded by hitting him hard in the head before snapping, "You idiot! Do you ever think before you speak? This thing must never be built! Don't you realize how much destruction it can cause?"

"Yeah, the world would be done for," Tom agreed and even memory Franky became unusually quiet before Tom laughed again. "Besides trying to build the damn thing, you can do whatever the hell you want to it for now, even toss it if you need to."

"Yes, of course," Iceburg said before Tom became serious again.

"While I got your attention, here's another storm coming," he said and he put a wanted poser on the table and they stared when they realized that it was the old one of Robin when she was a child.

"So that's it," Robin sighed with a faint smile as the memory soon faded once again.

"Ok, I'm lost here," Nami said as she looked around them. "I think I heard you mention the term Pluton before… isn't that the weapon that Crocodile was looking for in Alabasta?"

"Yes, an ancient weapon so powerful that it could wipe out entire islands," Robin confirmed.

"WHOA! REALLY?!" Luffy cried out with his eyes wide while Usopp and Chopper screamed at the thought. "YOU MEAN THAT THIS TOM GUY HAS THE WEAPON?!"

"Don't be an idiot!" Franky said as he rolled his eyes, "Those blueprints weren't for Pluton itself, but rather for a counter weapon that just happens to have the same name."

"So there're two ancient weapons named Pluton?" Brook asked, trying to understand.

"No, listen, there is only one ancient weapon named Pluton," Franky explained, "And Robin's right in that it was powerful enough to destroy entire islands. Because of that, architects drafted up those blueprints a long, long time ago which was designed specifically to put a stop to Pluton. But the damn thing was never built since it wasn't needed. Pluton all but disappeared and the blueprints existed just in case Pluton was ever revived. Can you imagine what would happen if some power-hungry dumbass ever got his hands on a weapon that could blow away an entire island? The world needed those blueprints to be able to fight back as a worst case scenario. So it was passed down through the shipwrights in Water 7 for generations. Tom was the latest in a long line of shipwrights who protected them until he passed them onto me and Iceburg."

"But why did he have your wanted poster, Robin?" Chopper asked innocently before Robin patted him on the head.

"I do have the knowledge on how to revive that weapon, so he most likely wanted to warn them about what I could do," she said kindly.

"Wait, I thought that the government said the reason you got that poster and high bounty as a kid was because you destroyed some battleships?" Usopp pointed out, "Didn't they want to keep quiet about how you could read those poneglyph things?"

"That's the official story. No idea how Tom came to know the truth, but he was clever," present-day Franky shrugged. Most likely he put two and two together. If he realized that Robin came from Ohara, then he figured that she might have the ability to read the poneglyphs as well. He smirked at the thought at how badly that ended up backfiring on the Government. Sweet, anything that could cause those bastards some form of pain was good in his eyes.

The next memory retuned and they saw that it was the middle of the day and they were in the main harbor at Water 7; where Franky looked up in time to see the judicial ship coming in. His grin quickly faded as he realized what this was and he looked around. Sure enough, his memory self was carrying a basket with him, and was wearing pants for once, as he was heading towards the markets to pick up some ingredients for Kokoro. He remembered that day all too clearly… and how much he had been looking forward to that celebratory feast with Tom and the others… one that they never got to share.

"Wow… almost don't recognize you with pants, Franky," Sanji smirked before a crowd began to gather around the judicial ship. "What's the occasion?"

"This… this was supposed to be the day of Tom's trial…" present-day Franky answered, not looking around at any of them as he braced himself for what was to come.

"Really? Good, then they'll see that Tom kept his promises and should be let off," Nami smiled as everyone in the memory looked excited.

"Is Tom here yet?"

"Not yet!"

"I can't wait to see the look on his face when the judge lets him off!"

Even memory Franky was smiling up at the ship, as if he was also looking forward to hearing the words that Tom was free to go. As quickly as that smile came though, it vanished for a cannonball suddenly came flying out of nowhere and struck at the ship. It was all so sudden and unexpected that even a few Straw Hats screamed out in shock as people were staring around, most already running away and screaming in a panic, as they tried to detect the cause of the attack.

Present-day Franky was grinding his teeth so hard that it was a wonder that he didn't break them as he knew exactly where to look and turned to gaze out at the sea even as someone pointed out that there was something coming towards them. It looked like a fleet of ships were sailing towards them, and more cannons were being fired even as they watched.

"What's going on? Is it pirates?" Zoro called out over the noise.

"No! Look closely!" Robin said and pointed through the smoke. There were at least ten of them all together, all firing upon the judicial ship—most of them sporting numbers and the name of Battle Franky.

"HUH? FRANKY! THOSE ARE YOUR BATTLESHIPS!" Luffy cried out.

"WHO WOULD BE DOING THIS?!" Chopper screamed out in a panic as people were all but running over each other to get away. The only one in the memory who didn't run was Franky… who was staring at the scene in dismay—like he was having a nightmare.

"What's happening? What the hell? Who's doing this?" memory Franky croaked out, "Who took my ships?"

Instead of waiting for a miraculous answer, memory Franky bolted with fury on his face and the present-day Franky was close behind with the Straw Hats following after him. No one spoke a word as they tried to grasp at what was happening. They knew that as reckless as Franky could be, he would never do something as terrible as attacking innocent people like this! Besides, he was right here, he couldn't have been the one leading those ships anyway. But who and why was this happening?

"Franky?!" Nami called as they ran through the streets, "Why is this happening? Does this have something to do with the blueprints and those government agents?"

"Yeah!" present-day Franky growled back, "That bastard Spanda somehow found out about the blueprints and came to meet with Tom that day so that he could try and get them from him. But when Tom refused to hand them over, he decided to play dirty!"

Nami's eyes widened in shock at that before Scrap Heap Island came into sights. But as soon as they skidded to a stop, they saw that they were already too late. Out on the water were the remains of memory Franky's battleships going up in flames… while lying in a crater of smoke on the shore were Tom and Iceburg. From the looks of things they had tried to put a stop to the attack on their own but were hit in the process; most likely from the government agents who bailed out before they were discovered by the townsfolk.

"Tom?! Iceburg?!" memory Franky yelled as he ran ahead to check on them. "Hey? Can you hear me? Are you ok? What the hell happened here?"

Chopper ran forward to inspect them himself, and gasped at the sight of the harpoon sticking out of Tom's chest. Yet, at the sound of his voice, Iceburg finally moved, raising his head where a dribble of blood was dripping down the side of his head. Even as memory Franky asked his questions, Iceburg got to his feet and marched over to him just to deck him right in the face. Memory Franky fell against the rubble around them, sporting a bruise as he glared at him, but Iceburg wasn't taking it as he snarled, "You stupid ass."

None of the Straw Hats had ever seen Iceburg look as livid as he did at that moment—he truly looked ready to kill someone as his entire body shook with rage. But rather than continue on with fighting, it was as if all the fight was drained out of him before he dropped to his knees, declaring, "It's your fault this happened."

At that, memory Franky stared on at Iceburg, as if he wasn't able to understand his words, but Iceburg wasn't done yet.

"It was that intelligence agent…" he wheezed, choking on some ash, "he used your damn battleships to attack people at the harbor."

"That…? That scumbag slug…!" Sanji hissed as Brook looked ready to go hunt down that Spanda jerk for this. How dare he hurt innocent people like that?

But memory Franky was still too horrified at what he was hearing and tried to stutter out, "N-No… I didn't… hurt anybody…?"

He was staring around him as if hoping that someone else would be able to leap up to his defense, but Iceburg wasn't having any of it as he still shook from where he knelt on the ground and snarled, "I told you this would happen but you don't listen."

"My ships did this? They hurt Tom?" memory Franky croaked out, looking like he still couldn't believe at what he was seeing. At that, Iceburg lost whatever composure he had left and grabbed memory Franky by the shoulders and shook him.

"Look, we have the ability to create powerful things. Weapons. Even if you weren't trying to… weapons are made to hurt people!" Iceburg said slowly and clearly in that still astonishingly calm voice, which only made the matter feel that much more serious than if he had been yelling. The sheer gravity of it all was what hurt the most since there was nothing that memory Franky could say to disprove that when the evidence lay all around them. "Whether you want them to or not they can hurt your friends."

Memory Franky started weeping as it finally set in just how careless he was and the Straw Hats felt their hearts break at the sight. They knew better than anyone how much love and pride that Franky put into his creations and to see them not only be destroyed but used to hurt others was too much for him to take.

"That's what the government did to us," Iceburg explained, "They used your creations to hurt a lot of people. People we care about. And now they're gonna put the blame on us. They wanna back Tom into a corner so that they can get those blueprints. After all this… you still don't think your hands don't have blood on them?"

Memory Franky pressed his hands to the sides of his head, as if hoping to block out the accusations that were being thrown at him even as Iceburg declared, with tears running down his face, "If Tom gets taken away… if he hangs for this…? I swear on my life… I will never forgive you!"

"But it wasn't your fault, Franky!" Luffy cried out, turning to their present-day Franky, ready to defend him. "You would never do something like that!"

"But I was the one who built those ships… sure, I didn't use them that day… but I was the one who left them lying about where anyone could get to them if they wanted to," he answered back as silent tears fell down his own face. "If nothing else, I had a responsibility to make sure that they didn't cause trouble. I should have kept them locked up someplace secure, if nothing else. So in a sense… it was my fault for being so careless."

"So… that's why you take protecting your workshop onboard the Sunny so seriously?" Nami whispered in understanding.

"Yeah…" present-day Franky muttered as he closed his eyes, unable to bring himself to continue watching. "It was a hard lesson but one I'm not gonna forget again."

Meanwhile, memory Franky was crying out as the full reality hit him with the force of a speeding sea train. He began to sob, trembling all over as Iceburg slammed his fists into the ground as he cried.

"Stop it!" Tom commanded, making them all jump and looked to him.

"Tom…" Iceburg croaked.

"It's not his fault. Don't blame him," he wheezed.

"How badly hurt is he, Chopper?" Zoro asked Chopper who dashed forward to get a look at his wounds. His mind went immediately to doctor mode as he examined him and could see the multiple burns and gashes… the worst being the harpoon in his chest. Chopper supposed that if he had been a human then he could have died instantly, but because he was a bit tougher thanks to his Fishman body, the damage was about halved of what it normally would have been. If they could pull out the harpoon and stop his bleeding then he was sure to survive with only a few scars to show for it. Before he could tell them this though, Tom wheezed out, "He didn't do this."

"You still believe that after everything that's happened?" Iceburg demanded incredulously as memory Franky worked his way up to his feet and staggered over to Tom, examining his injuries.

"This is… this is one of the special harpoons I made! Once it pierces its target, you can't pull it out! I'm so sorry…" he gasped as he cried. But Tom just gave a weak chuckle as he reassured him, "Don't apologize. It's barely even a scratch."

No one knew what to do, but it seemed that it was too late for them for Spanda appeared, grinning from ear to ear with that slimy smile. Seeing him only caused every member of the Straw Hats to be filled with loathing for him, knowing that he wasn't even hiding the smugness at what he had just done.

"Damn him…" Luffy snarled out, now wanting to break this guy's face in.

The only person who was even more outraged at what was happening than Franky was Robin, who felt true hatred in her heart as she glared at Spanda—the memories of how he tormented her as he dragged her across the Bridge of Hesitation still fresh in her mind.

The memory faded about them, but it reappeared almost instantly to reveal that they were in the middle of town with Tom, Franky, and Iceburg all tied up and forced on the ground while being surrounded by what looked like half of the populace of Water 7.

"What's going on?" Brook asked softly, feeling like if he spoke too loudly then the tense atmosphere would shatter apart. "I feel as though I am on trial right now…?"

"We were," present-day Franky answered. "This was supposed to be the day of Tom's trial where he would've been cleared of any charges. That's why that dumbass attacked the ship specifically. He was trying to force Tom to make a deal."

"Well that's dumb," Zoro muttered, "How was he supposed to get his hands on any blueprints if Tom was taken in?"

"Well, Spanda isn't exactly bright so I guess it makes sense…?" present-day Franky shrugged before Spanda appeared.

"These are the culprits behind the attack!" Spanda called out proudly, "Rest easy everyone! We, the men of CP5, have destroyed their attack ships! They'll cause no more trouble!"

The townspeople were all whispering to each other, trying to figure out what was going on and why it happened at all. Spanda spoke to the judge, who thanked him for helping, which caused them all too silently fume with anger even as the slimy smile returned.

"How can anyone believe a word that comes out of that mouth?" Nami demanded in outrage.

"Come on! Look at him! It couldn't be more obvious that he was the one who did it all!" Usopp added, pointing him out as if hoping to get the crowd to agree.

Still, the trial was forced to go on with a makeshift table in the middle of the road as the people watched. Marines and the judge were on one side while the three were on the other side while waiting to see how they would be judged—all three had their heads bowed so that their eyes couldn't be clearly seen.

The judge hit the table with the mallet and called out, "First off, with the Sea Train. Magificiant work. With it Water 7 will continue to grow and flourish. For that, on your previous charge of building Gold Roger's ship, your forgiveness had been pretty much decided today. Knowing that, why in the world would you commit such a heinous crime and erase that opportunity? Please explain yourself!"

"Duh! That's why they couldn't possibly have done it!" Sanji called out angrily. "It makes no sense! Clearly someone else was responsible for it!"

"That's a lie!" memory Franky yelled from the ground until he was able to get up. "It wasn't Tom or any of us who attacked the Judicial Ship! It was that idiot Spanda! He's the one responsible!"

Spanda just looked on with dumb expression, which wasn't hard for him, before everyone began to laugh at the sudden accusation as if they couldn't believe what they were hearing.

"What's so funny?!" Luffy demanded, practically steaming up with anger. "Why are you all laughing?! It's the truth!"

"Don't bother, bro," present-day Franky sighed as he shook his head at how naive he was back then. "See, the fact is that Tom's Workers were always seen as kinda like the outcasts of Water 7. It wasn't until after the Sea Train was built did the town change their opinion of us. But even still… it was my word against a Government agent. There was no way that they were going to believe me since I had no proof of what he had done. Not to mention the fact that I built those battleships didn't help my case."

"But it makes more sense than you guys attacking that ship alone!" Chopper yelled out furiously.

"Even so… it was Franky's word against a member of CP5, a branch that works directly under the World Government," Robin answered on behalf of Franky. "Who do you think the government was going to listen to? Especially if they knew about the blueprints?"

"Your name is Cutty Flam, correct?" Spanda asked suddenly.

"Cutty Flam?" Luffy repeated in confusion so that you could almost see the question marks hanging over his head. "Who's that?"

"No one, don't know where that idiot got that name from," present-day Franky lied, not wanting to get into details. Cutty Flam was dead, he died the same day that Tom was taken away.

"I believe that was the name we took down from you when we caught you red-handed on board on of those treacherous raid ships and correct me if I'm mistaken but weren't those very same raid ships all made by your company?" Spanda went on, lying through his teeth.

"Oh come on! He was at the harbor where the ship was!" Sanji pointed out, "Just ask anyone who was there and they would've pointed him out! Sure he was wearing pants at the time, but you think that they would recognize someone like him there!"

"Wow, I don't know if that was a compliment or not anymore," present-day Franky muttered to himself as he thought it all over.

"Ships that would do such a horrible thing…" memory Franky said, looking heart-broken at the mere thought of what his own battleships had done, "Something so awful… are no longer my ships!"

But at those words, Tom seemed to snap right out of it. He pulled at his chains, breaking them as easily as if they were made of cardboard before he leapt to his feet. Everyone stared on in shock as the normally laughing, jovial shipwright was suddenly nowhere to be found and a terrifyingly furious Fishman was there in his place. Suddenly, to everyone's shock, Tom raised up his fist and sent memory Franky crashing to the ground from the punch, causing the memory to haze over for a second where memory Franky was in danger of passing out.

Townspeople screamed as the marines pointed their guns at him, but Tom ignored them all once again as if there was no one else around. Even Iceburg seemed shocked by this, staring on with wide eyes as he mumbled, "He just hit him… Tom has never hit Franky before."

"Why was he so angry at you, Franky?! You were just trying to defend him!" Chopper cried out in shock. He had always seen Tom as someone so cheerful that seeing him make such a drastic 180 was frightening.

"Yeah… because I stepped over a line I shouldn't have," present-day Franky answered back. At the time, he didn't understand his mentor's words, but looking on now as he is… he felt that he could understand why Tom was so enraged by this. As a craftsman… the worst thing that one could do was to deny their own works. That was like saying that you were ashamed of being a craftsman to begin with. Something that Tom wouldn't allow to pass by without retribution.

Despite having his hands chained behind him, memory Franky was able to push himself up to a sitting positon and demanded, "What did you do that for?!"

"They're no longer your ships, you say? Don't you ever say that again!" Tom snapped, even his voice sounding furious despite how he struggled with breath.

"What's wrong with saying that? I wish I never made them!" memory Franky yelled as he screwed up his eyes shut, trying to keep his tears at bay. "If those ships didn't exist, no one would have gotten hurt."

But Tom wasn't having any of that as he reached over and grasped the harpoon by the handle and began to pull it out of his chest.

"When a ship is built… no matter what type…" he said, "Is neither good nor evil."

He finished pulling the pole out, tossing it aside even as he was left with a gaping hole in his chest, causing Chopper to cry out at the sight, knowing that he needed to be seen as soon as possible to have that treated.

But Tom ignored any pain he was in before he gave a firm bit of advice.

"I don't care what kind of ships you choose to make for the rest of your life," he wheezed as memory Franky stared up at him, shaking with some kind of unknown emotion as the words echoed in their ears, "Remember! Even if the ships you built hurt someone. Even if they destroy the world. Even if no one else does, their creator must love them unconditionally! The one who made them must never deny them! Don't place the blame on the ships! You must be proud of every ship you've ever created!"

Robin stared on as the words triggered something in the back of her own memories. How Franky had said something very similar to her her being alive, the fact that she was born at all… wasn't a sin.

She felt a sad smile come to her face despite the situation at hand as she understood her crewmate just a little better.

Everyone around them, both in the memory and not, seemed to have been stunned by his words as Tom spoke again, this time quietly so that only Franky and Iceburg could hear him.

"Iceberg. Franky. Don't interfere with what I'm about to do… No matter what," he warned before turning his back to them with a determined look that said that he was planning something that they knew couldn't be good for him. And then, a split second later, Tom lunged himself at Spanda, who didn't see him coming until it was too late and he was decked with a punch to his face as well.

"HE GOT HIM!" Luffy cheered at the sight of watching Spanda's face now bruised and swollen.

"I think you had an amazing mentor, Franky," Robin stated, unable to stop the surge of satisfaction at the sight of that jerk getting a taste of what he deserved.

"THAT'S RIGHT! HIT HIM AGAIN!" Nami cheered, surprising some them.

"What are you doing?!" memory Franky yelled as the few who remained in the crowd began to turn tail and run, leaving only a stubborn few including Kokoro and Yokazuna.

"Stop it! Please!" Iceberg cried, also trying to defuse the situation. "You're making things worse than they already are…"

"He already knew that there was no way out of this so decided to go out on his own terms," Zoro said with some respect. "He figured that he might as well get at least a punch in for you, Franky before he went."

"I guess. I mean, it was clear the World Government pinned this crime on us and that it was the World Government who judged us," present-day Franky guessed. "There was no way that we could get out of this now. He must have guessed how much I wanted to beat the crap outta that Spanda guy for using my ships like that and thought to do it for me. Tom… what a guy…?"

As he said that, Tom had grasped Spanda by his neck and was lifting him off the ground as he snarled, "Can you even comprehend? The pain you put that boy through?!"

Spanda's face was so terrified that he looked ready to wet himself, but he was still able to scream out to the marines to fire. Bullets were shot straight into Tom's back and screams could be heard as they watched on in astonishment as Tom fell to his knees.

"TOM! NO!" memory Franky screamed as Spanda was dropped and he began to laugh.

It was a twisted thing to see the injustice of all of this as Spanda yelled out, "Not so tough now are ya, huh? Serves you right, you stupid Fishman!"

Present-day Franky couldn't bear looking at this and covered his eyes with one of his massive hands, feeling as if someone had taken a mallet and hammered his heart at being forced to watch this all again. He could feel his crew around him, trying to comfort him for this even as he heard his memory self running up to Tom, asking why he was doing this in a desperate voice.

Spanda ordered for them to be taken away as the people all began to turn on Tom, muttering at how he must have been waiting around for years to attack them. But memory Franky was growing angry again as he yelled out, "HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT HIM LIKE THAT YOU BASTARDS?!"

"Stop it," Tom chided him. "It's alright."

"But Tom…"

"I'd like to confess!" Tom said, turning back to the judge, who was silent the entire time as he watched the exchange. "The raid on the Judicial Ship was led by me!"

"No it wasn't!" Chopper cried out, "Why'd he say that?!"

"To take the blame for it all," present-day Franky mumbled as he continued to try and fight the tears but was failing miserably as they began to flow.

His past self gasped at this as he cried, "That's not true! Why would you say that?"

Tom continued to ignore him as he asked, still speaking directly to the judge, "But… I have a request…"

"Save your breath, Fishman!" Spanda shouted. "Nobody gives a damn about your…"

"Shut your mouth, CP5!" the judge spoke up, shutting him up right there before he turned back to Tom and asked, "So, what is this request?"

"If building the Sea Train was supposed to be considered a pardon against one charge against me," Tom reminded him, "Then I'd like to be pardoned for today's charges."

"No… he's gonna sacrifice himself!" Nami gasped, understanding what he was doing now.

"But by clearing off this charge with the Sea Train then he has nothing to clear his previous charge?" Sanji pointed out, "Not that it should've been a charge in the first place, but that's not the point! What's he gonna do?!"

"I don't think there's anything he can really do," Brook whispered as the judge seemed to share this thought process.

"Even if that request was to be granted you would be right back to where you were to begin with," the judge reminded him, "You'll end up with the crime of building a ship for the King of Pirates, which will result in maximum penalty."

"But at least this way he could spare Iceburg and Franky from being imprisoned along with him," Zoro said, his eye softening in realization. "That's why he asked to clear this charge instead."

"What a brave man!" Luffy whimpered, looking torn between crying and getting angry on Franky's behalf.

"Sounds good. I like that better anyway. Giving a hand to that Roger guy is something I'll never forget… In fact… it's something I take great pride in!" Tom declared without an ounce of shame as everyone stared on in shock.

"Why Tom? Tell me," memory Franky demanded, clearly wishing that he could think of or do something that could wake them all up from this nightmare.

"It's for the best," Tom scolded before adding in a softer and gentler voice to memory Franky. "Now listen. Don't blame yourself, for this? I never thought the World Government would go to such extremes to get the blueprints. The situation with Roger only makes the matter worse."

"But even so, it doesn't have to be this way…?" memory Franky tried to reason.

"There really isn't any other options," Robin pointed out as she glared back at Spanda and wishing she could break his spine again. "He's not going to allow it. Even if the people believed that Tom had nothing to do with the attack on the judicial ship, the World Government will surely back up Spanda regardless. Tom must've realized this and decided that the best he could do was minimize the damages before anyone else got hurt."

"But that's… that's not fair!" Chopper cried out tearfully. "Tom didn't do anything! He's a great man! He shouldn't have had to go through this!"

"Some trial this turned out to be!" Usopp growled out angry on Franky's behalf.

"Either way, that's how the Government works when they are after something," Robin whispered. "And the fact that Tom did confess isn't going to be ignored either. Even if he was lying about it to save Franky and Iceburg, I don't see how he could get out of this anymore."

"Couldn't he offer to build another Sea Train or something?!" Brook offered, despite already knowing the answer.

"Again, Spanda wasn't going to let this go. He may have tried something similar again in the future even if Tom tried to plea for another deal," Sanji hissed in disgust.

"No, its fine," Tom insisted, not looking at them as his eyes suddenly drooped as if he was tired, "Look around you. Even if I'm charged with a crime from years ago, nothing about this town is the same now as it was back then. This island is alive and strong. This is only the beginning. No matter what happens to me I was still able to help this town. My dream… is finally… begun to run…"

His words slurred at the end before he finally slipped to the ground, out cold.

"What happened?! Why'd he just pass out?!" Luffy yelled out in worry as memory Franky and Iceburg were crying out for Tom in panic.

Spanda burst out laughing at the sight as he yelled, "The tranquilizers finally kicked in! Capture those three for the Judicial Ship attack!"

As the marines moved forward though, the judge seemed to have had a chance of heart. Whether or not he truly believed Tom was innocent or took mercy upon a dead man's last wish, he declared, "Hold it! I'm amending the charges. For the crime of building the pirate ship for Gold Roger, the King of the Pirates, Tom and Tom alone will be apprehended and taken to Enies Lobby! That is all."

Spanda looked both annoyed and furious at this decision but seemed to take some kind of comfort in the fact that he was about to get what he wanted with Tom and commanded that the boys be released before other marines stepped up to use some stronger chains on Tom.

It was a tough pill to swallow as they could only look on as the boys were released and forced to watch their mentor being taken away. Kokoro broke free from the crowd with Yokozuna and ran to their side, keeping her hands on their shoulders to stop them from charging again.

"Tom can't be saved from this," they heard her whisper to them, "If it's the World Government we are up against, there's nothing we can do! Endure it… Tom traded his life for yours. If you make an enemy out of them, you won't be able to win no matter how many lives you have to give. Enies Lobby is the government's personal judicial island. Not one person who was sent to that dreadful place has ever been seen again!"

"Well, they sure can't claim that anymore, can they?" Sanji spat out with a strange satisfaction as he glanced over at Robin.

"Courtesy of us!" Nami added with a nod. "And to add insult to injury… they ended up burning their own island down."

"Not that it matters since we got blamed for it anyway," Robin added with the tiniest trace of a smile there but unable to bring herself to do so out of respect for Franky at what had to have been the worse day of his life.

"The sea train is ready for departure sir! We can leave whenever you like!" one of the marines declared.

"Very good," Spanda said smugly as memory Franky watched, his rage building.

"Kokoro…" memory Franky hissed and the Straw Hats felt some of their worry increase at the sound. They knew him well enough to know that he wasn't the type to be able to just swallow this without saying something. And that rage only grew when he was forced to watch Spanda stomping down on Tom's head and insult him.

"I… cant…" memory Franky hissed, trembling with fury before screaming out, "ENDURE THIS!"

He broke free from Kokoro's grip and charged ahead, grabbing a rifle out of one of the marines hands as he did so and leapt into the air, swinging the rifle around like a club and slammed Spanda right in the face like Tom had done before and sent him flying.

The few who remained in the crowd fled as Iceburg and Kokoro screamed at him to stop. The marines surrounded him as memory Franky stood over Tom, trying to protect him. He tried to fight them all off but he was hopelessly outnumbered until a bullet was fired into his shoulder, causing him to fall right into Iceburg and Kokoro, with clear worry on their faces. But the marines were all coming and Iceburg forced memory Franky upright and screamed, "Hurry! Get out of here!"

With no choice, memory Franky turned and ran as tears fell and disappeared among the junk scattered around the island as the memory changed once more.

"Franky… I'm so sorry. You must've been in so much pain from all this?" Brook said softly, knowing that he must be blaming himself for what happened. "But Tom was right. None of this was your fault."

"I get what you're saying, but still… I know that I do have some responsibility for what happened," present-day Franky sobbed out.

Perhaps it was out an attempt to distract them from what they saw but Zoro asked, just as the memory disappeared, "How many times has that guy gotten hit? And still not die?"

"No idea…" Robin said. "First he was punched by Tom and then Franky… and then he was hit by Franky a couple times again at Enies Lobby…?"

"And you ended up breaking the guy's spine in half," present-day Franky sniffled but with a satisfied look in his eyes as he finally lowered his hands from his face, where tears were falling like a river. "Good times…"

Another memory came pretty quickly after that and they found themselves out on the tracks at sea with memory Franky pulling up to them in one of his surviving Battle Frankys. Memory Franky was panting and had a wild look in his eyes as he heaved what looked like a cross between a cannon and bazooka onto his back before he got onto the tracks. Yokozuna was with him and was ribbiting anxiously as memory Franky only responded, "Stay right there, Yokozuna."

No one knew what he was doing at first until they heard the sound of a whistle and they looked ahead to see the Sea Train was heading directly towards them with Water 7 in the background.

"Franky…?" Brook whispered in horror, "What are you doing?"

Present-day Franky didn't answer as he watched on even as the others quickly grasped the situation.

"Franky… you need to move!" Chopper cried out. "I never treated anyone who was hit by a sea train before and I don't want to know how bad those injuries are going to be!"

"Too late for that," was his only answer as he folded his arms and watched as his memory self held up the bazooka and took aim.

"Alright, Puffing Tom! That's far enough! What do you think you're doing?! Where are you taking your creator?!" he demanded and fired. He fired again and again, multiple blasts at the train but he wasn't even able to slow it down, let alone scratch it. Nami covered her mouth as she gulped down at what was about to come. Franky helped to build the Puffing Tom so surely he would've known how tough that thing was?!

Yokozuna was ribbiting harder than ever as he clearly was trying to get Franky to stop and get back in the boat before it was too late. But memory Franky was beyond reason at this point as he finally dropped the cannon, holding out his arms and vowed, "I won't let you pass! Give Tom back to us! YOU HEAR ME? STOP NOW SEA TRAIN!"

Some of the Straw Hats covered their eyes, not wanting to see what happened while others watched on with their eyes shadowed over and stoic expressions as they waited for the inevitable.

Present-day Franky watched on sadly as he thought back to that moment. He didn't want to build ships anymore after that. He couldn't love ships that hurt others despite Tom's words. But still… more than anything else… his goal in life… was to be just like Tom. He couldn't let them take him without at least trying his damnest to get him back. Even if it was futile… he had to at least try or else he never would forgive himself.

The Sea Train rushed on, not stopping even as memory Franky's body was sent flying with blood splattering in the sea round them.

No one said a single word for some time after that.

The memory faded in and out, becoming badly distorted and bleached at that point. They knew that Franky had to have been hit hard… and he was fighting to stay awake as blood filtered across the memory. In time, the clear sky seemed to cloud over until it became very foggy. No one wanted to ask what was going on since everything was still distorted, but in time they saw it cleared up to a point that they could see a ship in front of them. Memory Franky came up for air, his face screwed with pain and dripping with blood and salt water. They all recognized the look on his face though as a man who was barely keeping himself together.

"Franky…?" Luffy asked in worry, not liking the dazed expression in memory Franky's eyes.

"Its fine," present day Franky said as he watched on. "I was dying at this point when I saw the ship in the distance. I made it there and found no one on board but a lot of scrap metal. So…? I did what I had to. I found a way to rebuild my body."

"That was just insane though," Nami said, staring at him even as the memory faded again, "I knew that Kokoro said that you were hit by the sea train but… I guess I didn't expect it to be so literal?"

"That was so reckless!" Chopper snapped up tearfully at him, "What were you expecting? For it not to hurt?"

"I guess… I didn't think twice about it," Franky sniffled as he let the tears fall. "All I could think of was that I had to do something, anything, to try and stop this nightmare from happening. I didn't think of 'oh crap maybe this was a bad idea' until it was too late, ya know? Luckily for me, I was able to find that abandon ship with all that scrap metal on board."

"I still can't believe that you were able to do all that on your own?" Usopp pointed out in awe. "I mean, you literally built yourself up from the ground up."

"Hey, I was dying, I had to do something," Franky said before giving a rather proud grin. "Not that it was easy or fast. It was a lot of trial and error until I was able to fix myself up to a point that I knew I would be ok. After I finished taking care of myself, I was able to return to Water 7, though even that took a while."

In the next memory, it clearly looked like a lot more time has passed for the memory Franky was now looking much more like the person they met over two years ago, as well as Iceburg who was in a fine suit and his hair was slicked back in a professional manner—signaling that this must have all happened after he started up Galley-La.

They were back in their old headquarters when the two had been apprentices under Tom, but even this place had looked like it had seen better days. It had clearly fallen apart since the two of them were last here; sitting opposite each other with a tense atmosphere between them.

"Hey, I remember this," present-day Franky said in surprise as he took a step closer to get a look at the two of them, who didn't seem to be able to look at each other in the eye. "This was the first time that the two of us met up since…? Since Tom was taken away."

"Really? Wow… that must have been awkward," Zoro stated.

"Yeah, not sure if it was more awkward for him or me," present-day Franky confessed.

"You sure picked a roundabout way of meeting me," memory Franky finally said, breaking the silence between the two.

"Well… maybe," Iceburg agreed slowly, "But anyway, what's up with that strange looking body of yours?"

"Screw you," memory Franky responded defensively, "The Sea Train mangled my body, so in order to stay alive, I rebuilt it using some iron scraps. That's not the issue!" He slammed his fists on the table and got up. "I heard that your company been contracted to build ships for the World Government! I won't tolerate you doing anything to help them! How could you? They took Tom away!"

"And the weapons that caused the incident… have you forgotten who made those?!" Iceburg barked back coldly.

That was as worse as a slap in the face to memory Franky who flinched as if someone did hit him particularly hard.

"Low blow, bro…" present-day Franky sighed. This was the reason why he waited so long to speak to Iceburg even after he recovered from his accident. He just… he couldn't bring himself to face him after everything that happened. Especially since he knew that he wouldn't be able to say anything that wasn't true.

"I'm sure you have plenty you wanna say to me," Iceburg snapped as he got up, "But I have a few as well. I still haven't forgiven you! Four years isn't nearly enough time for that! I'm surprised you even have the nerve to show your face around here after what happened!"

"What'd you say?" memory Franky snarled back loudly.

"The Government told me you had died in an accident on the railway! You never came back so I believed it to be true!" Iceburg informed him darkly. "Even if Tom forgave you, remember this… it doesn't mean for a second that I'm going to."

The two sat leaned back in their seats, suddenly no longer able to look at the other again.

"I guess that Ice-for-brains thought that if he worked with the government then they wouldn't get suspicious that he had the blueprints after Tom," present-day Franky sighed in understanding. "I mean… I get it… but that didn't mean I liked it."

"I think that you both did what you felt like you had to," Nami offered sadly as she reached up to touch her shoulder where her tattoo was. "Sometimes… you have to work for those who hurt you for the greater good."

"Knowing that, it was probably hard for Iceburg to have to work with the same people who took your mentor away, but if it protected the blueprints and Water 7, I guess he was willing to swallow his pride for it," Sanji said, noticing how Nami was touching her arm like that, and understanding what she was thinking of as well.

"What's with all the secrecy?" memory Franky asked finally, "Something going on?"

Iceburg didn't answer as he reached into his shirt and pulled out the stack of blueprints and threw them onto the table in front of them. Memory Franky looked startled at the sight of them again and the Straw Hats didn't blame him, because they were all sure that just seeing those papers were sure to bring back all sorts of bad memories.

"Don't call yourself Cutty Flam anymore," Iceburg advised. "It's only a matter of time before the government targets me. Now I want you to listen to me. I want you to take these and leave this island, Franky."

"Wait… your name is Cutty Flam?" Luffy asked, startled at this as he looked to their Franky.

"No, not anymore. The name's Franky and don't you dare start calling me anything else," present-day Franky snapped back.

"Who came up with the name Franky anyway?" Chopper asked curiously.

Present-day Franky didn't answer as he looked away, remembering how it had been Iceburg, of all people, who gave him that name. Say what you will about the guy… he had a talent for names. Who else other than him could name a tiny mouse Tyrannosaurus?

"Why should I?" memory Franky demanded.

"The Cutty Flam from Tom's Workers is dead," Iceburg reminded him, "As long as you don't use that name anymore they'll be no connections between us. Additionally, if you leave the island the whereabouts of the blueprints will vanish."

"Hey! Wait a second! What'll happen if the government comes after you and you don't have them?" memory Franky tried to reason.

"I've said what I came to say," was all Iceburg stated, clearly not interested in going any deeper than this as he got up and immediately head to the door.

Memory Franky got back up and yelled, taken aback by all this, "What the…? Hey, Iceburg!"

"We shouldn't see each other again," was all Iceburg could say, not even looking back as he was halfway to the door.

"Hey! Wait up! Listen to me! You wanna end up the same way Tom did?" memory Franky demanded, "If you're threatened and your life is in danger, hand them over! If you don't want to do that you can burn them right before their eyes!"

Present-day Franky thought back to when he ended up being the one to burn those blueprints right in front of their eyes. He was glad that he got to tell Iceburg about them because he suspected that he had been wanting to do the same for a long time. Even though it wasn't what they planned, he couldn't help but feel a sense of relief knowing that those damn blueprints were destroyed once and for all. One less thing to worry about if someone couldn't build it anymore.

"If you were me… would you do that?" Iceburg asked, stopping memory Franky in his tracks as his words died in his throat. "Tom had achieved so many wonderful things. But he gave up everything to keep these blueprints hidden from the world. As long as the risk remains and a woman named Nico Robin can figure out how to restore the weapon… then the world needs these blueprints to be able to fight back! If I continue to keep them with me… even if they threaten my life I won't hand them over to the Government."

"Who would've thought that we'd become crewmates, right Robin?" present-day Franky asked with a watery smile. "Sorry for thinking that you were some kind of scary monster back then."

"None taken," Robin reassured him kindly, "I admit that I wasn't exactly the nicest person back then."

"Are you sure? You know me… what if I decide to build it? You really think you can trust me?" memory Franky asked, his eyes going from Iceburg to the blueprints and then back.

"I'm giving them to you… doesn't that answer your question?" Iceburg pointed out sharply and Franky stared at him. "We never change, do we? Every time we meet face-to-face we yell and argue with each other. I won't forgive you… and you may feel the same way about me too… but…?"

Iceburg paused there as he clenched his fists, his entire body trembling with sobs before he choked out, "Franky… I'm… I'm really… I'm so glad you're still alive."

Memory Franky stared at him as the present-day Franky sobbed.

"Damn you Ice-for-brains… don't you go getting all sentimental on me!" he cried out as others like Luffy, Chopper and Usopp were also tearing up at the sight.

"You listen to me!" memory Franky declared suddenly, also looking a little watery-eyed, "I'm not gonna leave this island! You got that Ice-for-brains! I'm gonna do whatever the hell I wanna do! You think I'm gonna do what you tell me?! I rather die! Understand?!"

"Damn it, Flunky!" Iceburg yelled back, finally turning around to face him, tears streaming down his face, "Why can't you get it through that thick head of yours. This is to protect the blueprints?!"

"Shut it! You're the one who doesn't get it! I'm not leaving this island no matter what!" memory Franky yelled as the memory faded.

"You know… I don't think that we ever had such a touching heart-to-heart like that before," present-day Franky said with a smile. He was still crying, but the smile was genuine as he got to see that scene again. As much as he and Iceburg fought, he couldn't imagine ever truly losing that stubborn idiot. If he did…? He wasn't sure what he would do.

Perhaps Iceburg felt the same way. Who was he kidding? Of course Iceburg felt the same way… he had too big of a heart to not care. Not that he'd ever tell Ice-for-brains that, of course.

"Why didn't you want to leave Franky?" Brook asked curiously, "I'm sure that this place held too many memories for you…?"

"I couldn't… I couldn't even think about building another ship again after what happened to Tom," he sniffled. "If I never built those ships then…?"

"Oi, did you forget what Tom said already?" Sanji asked, "Sure, you built all those battleships, but you weren't the one who fired them that day. It was that bastard Spanda or whatever his name was."

"Look, I know now that it wasn't my fault for what happened that day and you're right in that it was tough to be there at first, but I couldn't just leave!" present-day Franky said as they returned to the dark tower. "But the fact is that this island was Tom's home and I had to make what happened right however I could. That's why I chose to try and keep the island safe in my own way. That's why I spent those few years working from the shadows… building up my ship dismantling business, making a name for myself in Water 7's underworld…? Attacking pirates dumb enough to attack the island by bounty hunting…?

"You were trying to atone for what happened to Tom…?" Brook finished in understanding. "Is that why you also chose to give up building ships after that?"

Robin also was smiling sadly as she reached up and gently patted Franky on the shoulder.

"Just being alive… just being what you are… isn't a sin," she said softly as he looked up at her and she smiled a little wider. "You said something very similar to me, once. Remember?"

"Y-Yeah," he said as he also forced a smile as he raised his head. "I guess… whenever I worked on building ships after that, it just brought back my mistakes and the fact that Tom was taken away from me. That's why, for years, I couldn't even bring myself to make another ship."

"But… wait, that money you stole from us back when we were on Water 7?" Usopp pointed out, "Was for that Adam's Wood, wasn't it? What were you planning on using it for then?"

Franky was silent for a few moments as he took his time to find an answer. Under the cover of the darkness, he felt safer when he answered, "Because… despite my promise to myself never to build another ship… I couldn't bring myself to fully cast aside my dream. After we got that money and I made off to purchase the wood, I decided that it would be the first and last ship since Tom's death that I would build."

"And you gave it to us?" Luffy pointed out with a grin that could be seen even in this darkness and Franky wiped his eyes before he shone his lights once again so that they could see.

"Yeah," he said a little bashfully, "Why wouldn't I? We're buddies, right? After seeing how far you guys were willing to go for a friend… I mean, declaring war against the World Government? That was pretty badass. And it was something that I always wished I could've done. The moment I saw that burning flag… I knew that you guys were my kind of people."

Luffy grinned even wider before laughing and told him, "I'm glad that you made it, Franky."

Franky grinned back before striking his signature pose.

"Of course! Who wouldn't want to travel with SUPER ARMORED ME?!" he declared proudly. He was still smiling even as they left the floor behind and continued onwards as Franky was left all twisted up inside. Though he had come to terms with what happened to Tom… and even relished on the memory of him personally beating that Spanda to a bloody pulp… he couldn't help but wonder if Tom would be proud of how far he had come.

Tom's words echoed in his mind and as he didn't even try to wipe the tears away this time.

Tom… he won't forget ever again what Tom said. He was a Straw Hat and damn proud of it!

(Yes. That was surprisingly difficult to write. But it's only going to get worse, or better depending on how you look at it, from here because the next chapter is one that I think that many are looking forward to the most. Robin's past is finally about to be fully revealed to her friends.)