Archive of Our Own ^beta

‘I don’t know, Ice-bro, I have a bad feeling about this.’

‘What are you talking about, Franky? It’s not like this is the first time I’ve had to go on a long trip.’

Franky runs a hand over his face. ‘I know that. Like I said, I just have a bad feeling about it. I mean, the road is closed so you’ll have to go through the woods and that’s already dodgy. Then there’s the fact that they’ve called for you so suddenly. You usually know about these big, important meetings at least two months in advance, not two weeks.’

‘So, an important issue has suddenly arisen, I’m not going to ignore a summon. And besides, it’s not even that big, there are plenty of countries that haven’t even been invited.’ Iceburg tells Franky seriously, zipping up his bag.

‘You’re not helping your argument. You know something’s big when you have to start with who’s not invited.’ Paulie says from the doorway, his own bag ready to go.

Iceburg gives Paulie a withering look. ‘You’re not supposed to help his argument, darling, you’re supposed to help mine.’

Paulie raises an eyebrow. ‘I don’t know, I was just reading over my vows and there was nothing said about not agreeing with your brother when he’s probably right.’

‘Thank you, future-bro-in-law.’ Franky almost yells with relief at someone else agreeing this whole thing felt weird.

‘But you don’t have anything to worry about, Franky, I’ll make sure nothing happens to our dear mayor.’

The dear mayor in question groans. ‘I am a grown man, I do not need anyone looking after me.’

Paulie smiles as he comes over to kiss Iceburg. ‘Yes, you’re a big strong man who lets me tie him up every night.’

‘Oh ew, ew. Fine I’m leaving.’ Franky shouts heading for the door. Before he leaves though, he stops and looks at the pair again. ‘I’m serious though, stay safe.’

Paulie nods as Iceburg gives him an exasperated smile. ‘We’ll be back before you know it, Franky. And take good care of Tyrannosaurus!’ A statement which Franky only responds to with a wave of his hand. 

Iceburg thinks about this conversation several hours later as their horse gets spooked in the middle of the forest. He sighs and tells Paulie to stay in the carriage while he checks on their horse. He gets out before Paulie can protest and approaches the horse slowly, speaking softly to not spook her further. ‘Hey, hey girl, you’re okay. What happened? What did you see?’ The horse neighs in response and tries to turn, to pull the carriage back the way they came. Iceburg sighs, intending the comfort her so they can continue before he hears a noise. An inhuman roar hits his ears and the horse rears back in fear. Iceburg freezes, then sees something in the distance. He doesn’t think twice before reaching for the carriage door and locking it so Paulie can’t get out. Paulie begins banging on the door, demanding to be let out, and for Iceburg to get in, but Iceburg ignores him, turning the horse to get her moving back to Water 7. 

Paulie’s shouts fade into the distance as the carriage gets pulled away and Iceburg turns to look back through the woods, but before his eyes can distinguish any shapes, something hits him over the head and he falls unconscious.

Franky is sitting in Iceburg’s living room, where he always stays when looking after Tyrannosaurus, it’s easier just leaving him here rather than taking him to the chaos that is the Franky House (and he stays in the living room since he’s too big for the bedrooms). He expects the rest of the evening to pass in the comfortable silence so he jumps in shock when Paulie comes barrelling in. ‘Paulie, what-’

Paulie’s breath heaves. ‘The woods…there was…something. Iceburg…he…’

Franky rushes over to him and shakes his shoulder firmly. ‘Paulie, breathe. What happened?’

Paulie takes in a deep shuddering breath. ‘We heard something in the woods. Iceburg got out before I could stop him. He locked me in and sent the horse running back here. I…I couldn’t…I couldn’t look after him…I’m sorry.’

‘Okay, okay.’ Franky nods frantically, soaking in Paulie’s words quickly. ‘There was nothing you could do and I’m sure he’s fine. You…um…you stay here-’

‘What?! No. I-’

‘And I’ll go. I’ll bring him back. I have better eyes for the dark, Paulie. Ice-bro is fine. He can take care of himself.’ Franky says, squeezing Paulie’s shoulders firmly. ‘Okay? Breathe. I’ll bring him back.’

Paulie takes a deep, shuddering breath, and nods slowly. ‘Go. Don’t…don’t let him stay out there alone.’

Franky nods determinedly, not wasting another second before rushing out. He immediately goes for the carriage, unhooking the horse and using the reins to guide her carefully, but purposefully behind him, thinking that Iceburg might need the transport back. Franky knows Iceburg is fine, he can feel it, he doesn’t doubt it for a second, but he still hurries, seeing Paulie in such a terrified state would’ve been a shock for anyone in Water 7, so he would prefer to get Iceburg back to him as soon as possible.

When he reaches the darkest part of the forest, he looks around, it’s certainly difficult to see in the dark, but if anyone can see the places in the dirt where someone has obviously been dragged across it, it’s Franky. He follows the trail slowly, not wanting to lose track of it in the pitch black forest, not even realising just how long, and how far he’s walked, until he reaches…the castle. A shiver runs through him as he looks up at the large structure. He’s never stood so close to it before, Tom and Kokoro having forbidden him from ever coming this far.

The castle is a place also known as Enies Lobby, it was home to the royalty of Water 7, but eventually it became a pointless structure that was then turned into a prison, but that only lasted for so long. And now it simply sits in the forest, abandoned…or so everyone believed. It certainly looks abandoned, Franky thinks as he gazes up at it, but this is where the trail leads so he must persevere.

The door creaks loudly as he pushes it, but it opens easily, so he takes a step over the threshold and is immediately overwhelmed by the most sinister aura he’s ever felt. Franky ignores it, he has to, and calls out, ‘Ice-bro? You here?’ Suddenly it feels like there are several eyes looking at him but he gets no response, so he steps in further, calling out again, a little louder. ‘Iceburg? Please be here.’ He hears his own voice echoing back to him and a cold breeze sends a chill through his body.

Suddenly, there’s a body crashing into his and a pair of hands pushing at his chest. ‘Franky, you need to get out of here!’

Franky looks down at Iceburg frantically pushing at him, alarmed. ‘Ice-bro! I’m glad I found you quickly, I wasn’t exactly planning on staying long. Let’s get out of here.’

‘I…I can’t…I can’t leave.’ Iceburg stutters out, his eyes darting around.

‘What do you mean you can’t leave? I came to get you, let’s go.’ Franky insists, grabbing Iceburg’s shoulder and pulling him gently.

‘He can’t leave.’ A mysterious, feminine voice suddenly speaks from the darkness, the sound filling the entire castle.

Franky looks up, searching for where the voice could’ve come from. ‘Who are you? What are you talking about?’ He demands.

‘Enies Lobby has chosen for him to stay. He cannot leave and will soon deform.’ The voice speaks again.

Iceburg pushes at Franky’s chest again. ‘It’s right, I can’t leave, I tried already, so you need to go before you get trapped too.’

‘I can’t just leave you here, Ice-bro, I promised Paulie I’d get you back safe and sound.’ Franky turns his face towards where he’s almost certain the voice is coming from. ‘He’s not staying here. What? The building decided not to let him leave? Fine. Take me instead, let me take his place and let Iceburg go.’

‘Franky, you can’t-’ Iceburg starts to say, shaking his head but Franky ignores him.

‘You hear me? Take me instead.’ He insists and silence surrounds them.

The silence is deafening, so quiet that it’s loud but eventually, the voice speaks one more time. ‘As you wish.’

Nothing happens, nothing is different and yet Franky somehow knows…he cannot leave. And Iceburg knows it too.

‘What have you done, Moron-ky?!’

‘I’m sending you home, Ice for Brains. Water 7 needs you.’ Franky says calmly, already having  accepted  his fate before he started bargaining with the voice.

Iceburg shakes his head again. ‘No, why would you-’

Franky properly pushes him towards the entrance of the castle. ‘Go, Ice-bro. I’ll be fine. You have a lot of people depending on you, I can’t just let you stay trapped in a decrepit castle by a disembodied voice.’

‘People depend on you too.’ Iceburg argues weakly.

‘The Franky Family can take care of themselves. Now go, before I have to tell you again.’

Iceburg’s face crumbles slightly, and he throws himself at Franky, hugging him tightly. ‘You’re just like Tom, why do you have to be like this?’ He mutters before pulling away, schooling his expression back into something more familiar. ‘This isn’t goodbye, Franky. You will not be trapped here forever.’ He says with finality before walking out of the castle, the doors slamming behind him.

Franky sighs, that sinking, lonely feeling he had become so familiar with after being hit by the sea train filling him again as he stares at the closed entrance.

‘That was very noble of you.’

‘Holy f-’ Franky practically jumps out of his skin as a voice speaks from behind him, and can’t stop the (very manly) scream that comes out of him when he turns and comes face to face with a skeleton. ‘What the hell are you?!’

‘Nice going, Brook. Have you forgotten you look like a skeleton?’ A gruff voice comes from the darkness, followed by another.

‘Leave him alone, mosshead. I think we all tend to forget what we look like.’ It says, but Franky can’t tear his eyes away from the skeleton that suddenly tilts its head.

‘My apologies. I do tend to forget that my current appearance is not…regular.’ The skeleton says and Franky feels like he can’t breathe, how does he even begin to process this?

‘Regular? That’s one way to put it.’ Another male voice says.

‘I don’t think any of this is helping. Brook, back up a little.’ A feminine voice says, different from the mysterious one from earlier. Franky watches as the skeleton obeys and backs away and shakes his head in disbelief. ‘Luffy, go introduce yourself.’

Something slinks out of the darkness, a young man wearing shorts and a vest with a large “x” shaped scar on his chest stands before Franky. ‘Hi, nice to meet you, I’m Monkey D. Luffy.’ He holds out a hand and Franky finally notices the skin of his arms and legs. It’s…shiny? And black. It has the appearance of…vulcanised rubber. And, as Franky realises when he finally shakes the man’s hand, the consistency of hard rubber too.

‘Um, hi. I’m Franky.’

The young man, Luffy, smiles widely, something Franky is sure would be jovial and comforting had it not been for the rest of his charred appearance. Luffy abruptly turns around and Franky can see a straw hat hanging from his neck down his back. ‘Well he didn’t pass out after seeing Brook, I think he’ll be fine meeting you guys.’

A scoff comes out of the darkness followed by a…cat? A woman? The form was distinctly feminine but it was covered in orange fur, with black and white stripes, and cold, feline eyes appraising him. ‘The rest of us aren’t literal skeletons, Luffy. But you probably have a point. I’m Nami.’ She holds out a hand…paw? It’s more similar to a hand, but the fur and claws certainly give the appearance of a paw. He shakes it regardless and she raises an eyebrow at the size and look of his hand. ‘I’m surprised the castle has already taken effect on you, it took a while for us to change.’

‘Change?’ Franky looks down at himself, concerned. ‘What do you mean “change?” This is just what I look like.’ He explains looking back at the cat who looks at him surprised and confused. ‘I’m a cyborg.’

‘What?’

‘That’s so cool!’ Luffy says, overlapping Nami’s exclamation of shock, and another figure stumbles out from the shadows.

‘A cyborg? Really?’ This figure is another young man, with dark skin and black, curly hair, except this man has large horns coming out of his head and his legs are…goat legs, giving him the appearance of a satyr? A faun? A faun is standing in front of him with wide eyes and slightly shaking legs. ‘Are you…really a cyborg?’

‘Sure am, bro.’ Franky says, holding up his left arm and letting his hand fall and popping out the machine gun in his arm. ‘I was in the middle of some upgrades actually, so I look more weird than usual, but I am definitely a cyborg.’ As he explains, he flips his hand back up, turns it and his palm opens to reveal the cannon inside it. 

The faun turns his head behind him. ‘Chopper! Get in here, I have a feeling he’s not going to get scared of you.’ He calls out loudly.

‘No!’ Comes the response. It sounds like it’s coming from far away, but it’s still very clear. The voice is strange, it sounds like the voice of a child but layered over with something monstrous, so just one word sounded like a ferocious roar.

‘Chopper-’ The faun starts again but is interrupted by the same gruff voice from earlier.

‘I’ll go speak to him.’

‘Yeah, you go do that, Zoro. He only listens to you when he’s like this anyway.’ Franky hears footsteps disappearing into the darkness and watches as the faun sighs, then turns back around. Suddenly, he stands up straighter, and dramatically points to himself. ‘Well, Mr Cyborg, I am the great captain Usopp, the best-’

He’s suddenly cut off by the cat woman, Nami, whacking the back of his head. ‘Just Usopp, ignore everything else.’

Franky nods, throwing the cat a somewhat fearful thumbs up. ‘You got it, sis.’ 

A sigh comes from the shadows and another young man steps out looking…fairly normal. He has thick black hair, covering the right side of his face, and a curled eyebrow. The most unnerving thing about him is the look in eye, it’s dead and unfeeling, and Franky feels a chill go through him. The man crosses his arms and looks up and down, taking Franky’s full form in. ‘I’m Sanji.’

Before anything else can be said or Franky can consider the lacklustre introduction, a shake goes through the building and a loud stomping sound starts approaching him. The building shakes again and a head is suddenly poking out of the darkness. It’s…strange…some sort of gorilla? The big eyes blink down at him and Franky’s gaze travel up further, seeing a pair of antlers…a deer? ‘Whoa, he is weird, Zoro.’ Franky hears the childlike voice layered with the monstrous growls that he heard earlier…a child-deer-monster?

‘I told you.’ That gruff voice says from the shadows and the creature takes a full step out. It’s huge with giant claws and Franky’s sure that if it was attacking him, it’d be terrifying, but standing still as it is…it’s kind of…cute.

‘Zoro said you’re a cyborg, is that true?’ The deer asks eagerly and Franky nods, showing off the same trick as earlier and its eyes sparkle. ‘That’s so cool! And you’re not…scared of me?’

Franky shakes his head honestly, figuring out that the reluctance to come out and meet him earlier must be because it’s worried its huge form would scare people. ‘No way, I’ve met plenty of weirdos before, myself included. I’m not about to be scared just because you’re a little big.’

‘I’m Chopper!’ Even layered with the monstrous growl, he definitely sounds like a kid, Franky thinks, so he smiles up at him.

‘Nice to meet you, little bro, I’m Franky.’

‘And I’m Zoro.’ The owner of the gruff voice finally reveals himself from the darkness and Franky doesn’t know why the kid had any reason thinking someone was going to be scared of him because Zoro is…a demon. Three heads, all wearing the same deep scowl and all missing an eye, along with six arms, each pair crossed. It’s unclear where exactly those extra heads and arms are coming from but it certainly makes him look like some sort of demon.

‘And I’m Brook.’ The skeleton speaks as he stands behind him. ‘ I apologise for frightening you earlier.’

Franky swallows, trying not to stare too much at Zoro and turns his head to focus on Brook. ‘No, you’re fine, it’s all super. I didn’t realise there was anyone else here, so seeing a talking skeleton was definitely not what I was expecting.’  Brook inclines his head towards Franky and tips his hat, showing he understands, and Franky looks back at Luffy. ‘Is that…everyone?’

Luffy takes a moment, seemingly counting everyone in the room before shaking his head. ‘No. Jimbei can’t leave water, so he’s got a small pool in the garden that he has to stay in and then there’s-’

‘We’ll get to that later.’ Nami abruptly cuts him off, making Franky more suspicious about what that could be. ‘Okay, now that introductions are over, we should give you a tour. It’s harder to see at night but since you said you’re a cyborg…’

‘Oh, you don’t have to worry about my eyesight, little sis, I can see no matter the lighting.’ He gives her a thumbs up and she shrugs.

‘Alright then.’ 

They take turns showing Franky around, explaining the rooms and where they all spend most of their time, Chopper has to stay downstairs, being too big to go up the stairs and Zoro stays with him. He gets shown quite a bit of the castle, except they only ominously point to a door leading outside and tell him he can meet Jimbei tomorrow and tell him firmly to never go to the West Wing, refusing to answer when Franky asks why. But eventually, they take Franky to a room that he can sleep in, although, about half of them look like they don’t believe he does sleep, even after Franky tells them he can, and he will because he’s about to pass out at any second. Something proven true after the group leaves and Franky lies down on the bed that actually fits his large size and promptly passes out, a dreamless sleep overtaking him.

When Franky wakes in the morning, he traces his steps back through the castle to find his way to the kitchen. Sanji is cooking up a storm, almost literally, moving inhumanly fast with flames popping up everywhere he touches. In between movements, he turned his head slightly to level Franky with a calm, emotionless, stare. ‘Have you got any allergies or preferences I should know about?’

‘No way, little bro. I’ll eat anything.’ Franky answers easily and Sanji gives him a curt nod.

‘Good. You’ll fit right in with the rest of those idiots.’ He says, then gets straight back into what he was doing.

Franky nods, even though Sanji is no longer looking at him, then backs out of the room. He thinks about how Sanji is so human compared to the rest of the group he met last night and wonders if he is seemingly emotionless in the same way the others are…physically inhuman. He asks himself if they had met under different circumstances, would his tone be so flat and unfeeling, his face so blank? All thoughts that lead him into questioning what exactly was going on in here. 

He ends up wandering into a dining room and everyone he already met is already present, around the table in some way, including…the skeleton, which Franky chooses not to question. The group notice him and all greet him loudly, seeming in far better spirits now than the night before. He finds a spot he can slide into…next to the skeleton and they all begin to ask Franky an array of questions that he’s more than happy to answer. 

Eventually, Sanji interrupts them by bringing in breakfast. There’s…a lot. Truly, there is a ton of food. And Franky would know what a ton of food looks like, he has to feed the Franky Family daily, he’s seen how the shipwrights eat but the amount Sanji’s brought out easily doubles it. And it looks like it’s mainly for Luffy. Franky watches in fascination as Luffy inhales everything on his plate while everyone else rushes to eat before Luffy can start stealing off their plates, his arms seemingly stretching further than any human arm he’s ever seen before. Franky quickly picks up on how mealtimes are supposed to go and starts eating his food as fast as their others, while watching as Luffy’s hand gets stabbed with a random fork when it gets too close to someone else’s plate. And finally, Franky registers the taste and it is undeniably the best food he’s ever eaten, the motion of shovelling it all into his mouth is now no longer due to playing keep away with Luffy but instead due to how much he is genuinely enjoying it and before he knows it, everyone has finished eating, there’s no more food left despite how much there was.

Franky acknowledges that he doesn’t know the group well enough to know whether or not it’s strange that Zoro is the one who starts cleaning up but there’s something in the back of his head that makes a note of it. He also doesn’t think twice about jumping up to help, refusing Zoro’s refusal for help. When they enter the kitchen, Sanji is still cooking furiously, and turns his head slightly just to see them. ‘Didn’t drop anything this time, mosshead?’ He asks, some semblance of snark in his tone.

‘I never drop any of your stupid plates, curly brow.’ Zoro answers, placing all the dirty dishes in the sink far more gently than what his voice gives off.

Franky swears he sees a spark in Sanji’s eye, as he starts to snarl at the three headed man. ‘These plates are worth more than anything you’ve ever paid for in your life, marimo.’ 

Zoro just smirks, and fully steps into Sanji’s space. ‘Sounds pretty stupid to pay that much for something you eat your food off.’ 

The pair are suddenly pushing the foreheads together and snarling while Franky stands there awkwardly. ‘Um…bros?’ 

Sanji turns his head abruptly and Franky watches as the emotion fades from his face and he’s back to blankly staring at him. ‘Franky. Take this.’ Suddenly Franky is holding a huge bowl, really, it’s more like a bucket. ‘Follow me. Come meet Jimbei.’ Franky nods, not knowing what else to do and Sanji turns to Zoro. ‘Mosshead, take-’

‘I got it, cook. Don’t worry.’ Zoro says quickly, taking the other bowl that was sitting on the counter.

Before Franky knows it, Sanji is striding out of the kitchen and Franky rushes to keep up with him, while also making sure that nothing spills out of the huge bowl. Sanji heads to a door that Franky hadn’t noticed last night in the dark and pushes it open, leading Franky outside.

The first thing Franky sees is a fairly poor excuse for a pool. It seems to be more of a wooden box filled with water than a proper pool, that is covered in bad patchwork repairs. Then he finally notices what’s inside it. It’s…a fishman, possibly a shark type, one that’s even bigger than Tom was, but this fishman seems…different. The stereotype of fishmen being dangerous and scary was something Franky never took kindly to. The best man he’s ever known was a fishman, but this one, in the pool, looks like a common stereotype. Large, sharp teeth to match his huge body along with enormous tusks, a huge bolt shaped scar running down his face, and long, sharp claws. He does look menacing, but considering the…people inside the castle, he doubts the scarier-than-average-looking fishman is any worse than the rest of them. So without hesitation, he holds out the huge bowl of food he’s still got a tight grip on and smiles. ‘You must be Jimbei. Nice to meet you, bro. I’m Franky.’

The fishman looks at Sanji. ‘He got here last night. And he already looked like that. Apparently he’s a cyborg.’ Sanji explains and Jimbei gently takes the food from Franky.

‘Thank you.’ Jimbei’s low, rumbling voice says. ‘A cyborg?’

‘Yeah, part man, part robot. That’s me.’

‘Fascinating.’ Jimbei speaks again before lowering himself more into the water and starting to eat.

Sani seems to know that this is the end of the conversation because he turns and swiftly walks back into the castle. ‘He used to talk a lot more.’ He starts to say as soon as they’re out of earshot. ‘We think that whatever made us all like this also affected his vocal cords, because he speaks a lot less now.’

Franky nods, choosing not to ask more about that despite his rampant curiosity at what could have happened to change them from…whatever they were before, to what they are now. ‘Is he also stuck in the water now?’

‘Yes. None of us have a particular specialty in building so making a place for him was difficult but we managed.’ Sanji tells him.

Franky takes note of this, and decides that if he’s stuck here with the rest of them, he’s going to make it as livable as possible. So within the week he’s got a new pool built for Jimbei, deeper, sturdier and with better water flow. Everyone is extremely impressed with him, but Franky only cares about the grateful smile he gets from the fishman. Then he gets to work on the rest of the castle. He makes all the doorways bigger for Chopper, fixes all the holes and cracks in the ground so Usopp stops getting his hooves caught in them, makes the strongest dummies he possibly can for Luffy to punch, Sanji to kick and Zoro to slash. Once he learns more about them all, he builds Nami a telescope, telling her that while it’s not as good as drawing a map of the world, hopefully mapping out the stars will do for the time being. Then he fixes up all the instruments the castle has to offer, making sure Brook has a wide array to choose from. And he just keeps going, repairing everything he can all while still avoiding the west wing, like he was told to. But it couldn’t last forever. The repairs on the rest of the castle were going so well, but with just how decrepit the building was before Franky showed up, it was inevitable something was going to happen in the area he hadn’t gotten the chance to fix. 

Just after breakfast one morning, Franky was coming back inside from delivering Jimbei’s breakfast to him, when he suddenly hears a crash and a scream. He rushes up the stairs immediately, heading for the sound, and finds Usopp underneath a pile of debris. He’s groaning in pain and Franky yells down the stairs, ‘Zoro! Usopp is trapped, I need help!’ Because while he knows everyone in this castle definitely has the strength to help remove all the debris, Zoro has the most amount of hands making him the most useful in this situation. Franky immediately gets to work removing all the bits of timber and stone burying Usopp. ‘I’ll get you out of here as soon as I can, little bro, but I need to make sure more doesn’t collapse on you.’

Usopp grimaces and groans in pain, but nods. ‘Yeah, yeah, I know, just make it quick…ow…I think something’s broken.’ He hisses loudly, shutting his eyes tightly.

A loud thud alerts Franky to Zoro’s presence so he’s not shocked when he hears Zoro’s voice. ‘Where do I start?’

Franky points to the top of the pile, where all the weight is sitting. ‘Here.’ They quickly get to work, removing all they can hurriedly but carefully. Luffy and Sanji appear shortly after, following Franky’s lead but Usopp is struggling. There’s clearly something directly on top of his leg that is causing him the most pain, but they can’t get to it until they remove everything else first, something Franky tries to calmly convey to Usopp as he bites the inside of his mouth, trying not to scream. ‘We’re almost there, little bro, just hold on.’

As the group manages to shift everything that’s directly in front of them and the back set of debris is revealed, something moves the large pieces pinning Usopp’s leg and Franky gasps as he falls back from shock.

He may have said Zoro looked like a demon but this…this was a demon. A giant, red, winged demon. A demon who was also stunningly beautiful. A demon who was not looking at him, and was instead reaching a large hand towards Usopp. Fear spikes through Franky’s body, afraid of what it was going to do to Usopp, but he can’t seem to move, staying frozen. But that large hand gently scoops up Usopp, large claws wrapping around him protectively, and places him in Zoro’s front pair of arms. Zoro runs down the stairs but Franky can’t seem to take his eyes away from the huge creature.

‘Super…’ He breathes out softly and the demon snaps its gaze towards Franky, before disappearing back into the darkness. Franky suddenly unfreezes and stands up quickly, his feet already moving the direction it went before a hand on his chest stops him. He looks down at the hand, then at Sanji who is shaking his head.

‘Later.’

‘But-’

Sanji walks down the stairs, grabbing Franky and pulling him with him, with Luffy following closely, so they can all go check on Usopp. Chopper was able to prepare for Usopp quickly, and despite his large size, he is gentle with Usopp but works fast. He confirms that Usopp’s leg is broken and he’ll have to keep off it, but that’s not really a surprise. The whole time, Usopp keeps as brave a face as he can, but it’s clear he’s in pain.

“Later” doesn’t come until the next morning when Franky finally breaks and asks what exactly is living in the west wing.

Nami sighs. ‘That’s Robin. She…we followed her here. There were a lot of things about her past that we didn’t know and she left, hoping it would keep us safe. As if we were going to let her go after hearing something as ridiculous as that. But she had already been changed, cursed by the time we got to her but we weren’t going to leave her alone, no matter how much she told us to leave. We would never want her to feel alone. And that’s why we’re here.’

Franky nods, processing the information slowly. ‘So, is the curse because of her?’

‘No.’ Luffy pipes up, speaking firmly. ‘It was the people who she was scared of. They cursed her.’

‘And us by extension.’ Zoro adds. ‘They were just mad ‘cause we were winning.’

‘Oh yeah, we look like real winners now, mosshead.’ Sanji says sarcastically.

Brook taps his bony finger on his chin thoughtfully. ‘And I’m sure it was Luffy’s declaration of war on the government that truly sparked their anger.’

‘You declared war on the world government?!’ Franky exclaims, but somehow, that information doesn't surprise him.

‘Hey, Sniper King is the one who burned the flag!’ Luffy says adamantly.

‘After you told him to.’ Usopp bites back, seemingly able to ignore the pain of his broken leg to speak on behalf of this “Sniper King.”

‘Who…’ Franky starts to ask before Nami shakes her head, expression showing exasperation, and holds up a paw, very clearly saying, “Don’t ask” so he doesn’t.

‘Anyway,’ Nami says loudly, putting an end to the squabbling. ‘Robin hides up there because she’s ashamed, and we try to give her space. She was getting better with coming out and spending time with us but then she was worried about how a stranger would react to her, so she’s stayed away again.’

‘Well, she was here first, I’m basically an intruder, so I shouldn’t be the reason she hides away.’ Franky says, his gaze flitting towards the door as if just saying the words would make her appear.

But she doesn’t appear. And Franky respects the original rule he was given, staying away from the west wing for most of the day, but by dinner he’s restless and he asks Sanji if he can take Robin’s dinner up to her. The man hesitates for a moment, but just sighs and hands the big bowl to him. It’s not as big as the bowl Jimbei gets for his meals, instead it’s closer in size to what Chopper is given. Franky makes his way up the stairs carefully, trying not to spill anything, and he’s successful, going into the west wing for the first time. He takes it slow, moving through the hallway, noting just how much worse this area of the castle looks, unconsciously listing every single thing that needs to be repaired so there’s no risk of another accident. Once Franky gets to the very end of the hall, he’s met with a large wooden door. He takes a deep breath and knocks.

‘Come in.’ The sound of a lovely voice is heard through the door, and Franky couldn’t disobey the soft command, even if he wanted to. He pushes the door open, more prepared to see the cursed woman again, but his heart speeds up upon seeing her, beating faster as she turns her head slowly to look at the cyborg. Franky tries not to squirm under her scrutinising gaze. ‘Why are you here?’

Franky inhales sharply, not even realising he had stopped breathing, before he can answer her. ‘I asked if I could bring you dinner…I wanted to meet you.’ He explains honestly.

‘Why? Do I not scare you?’

‘No. You’re just like all of us trapped here. Why would I be afraid of you?’ Franky asks, getting closer.

Robin narrows her eyes at him, but she seems more confused rather than intimidating. ‘You should be.’ She turns away, clearly putting an end to the conversation, so Franky leaves her with the bowl, and backs away slowly, looking around the room.

Before he leaves, he clears his throat, hoping to grab Robin’s attention again, which he achieves, her head slowly turning back to face him. ‘You know…I want to respect you and your wishes, but I also really want to start fixing this side of the castle. I mean, we don’t want another accident. What would Usopp even do if he broke both legs?’

‘He wouldn’t be able to run away anymore…’ Robin says, her tone wry and mysterious, and amused smile tugging at the sides of her mouth.

Franky isn’t sure how to interpret the statement, but he has a feeling this is her sense of humour, so he waves a hand casually. ‘He’d probably still find a way to run away.’

‘Yes, I suppose he would.’ There’s a pause as the two simply stare at each other, making Franky acutely aware of his still pounding heart. ‘Alright.’ Robin eventually says. ‘It would be…pragmatic for some repairs to be done. You have been doing the rest of the building, after all.’

‘How did you know?’ Franky asks with a small smile, simply assuming one of the others must have mentioned it.

Instead, the wry smile returns to Robin’s face. ‘I see everything.’

The conversation stops there, but that’s fine. He’s finally met the creature in the west wing, and has gotten permission to repair her space. That’s exactly what he wanted. What he didn’t realise was that Robin would venture out of her room as he did repairs so she could watch him. So Franky talks. He doesn’t need the sound to fill the silence, but he certainly needs a distraction from her intense, penetrating stare, and she never stops him from speaking, so he tells Robin…everything. He starts with his life before coming to the castle then goes backwards, eventually telling Robin his entire life story. The first time she responded was when he spoke about being hit by the sea train and having to fix himself.

‘What did it feel like?’ Surprised at hearing her voice so suddenly, Franky ends up dropping the hammer he was using, and sighs as it lands on the floor with a thud.

‘Which part?’ Franky asks, intending to climb down the ladder and retrieve it but there’s no need, Robin’s already grabbed the hammer and holds it up to him.

‘All of it.’ She answers, her stare unblinking.

‘It hurt. Getting run over by the sea train tore my body apart, and that was painful enough. I can’t say if fixing myself was more painful, but it hurt just as much, at least. The isolation didn’t help either. I think being alone just made the pain worse.’ Franky tells Robin as she nods slowly, and he feels unable to break away from her gaze. ‘Sometimes I get phantom pains, and not just in one area but down my entire body, but other than that, I’m fine now. And my body can do way cooler stuff.’

Robin tilts her head. ‘Are you really?’

Franky blinks, then nods shakily. ‘Yeah, I…I’m super.’

Robin hums, but goes back to where she was, letting Franky get back to work. He takes a deep breath, before continuing, both his work, and his story. 

During the next few days, he eventually runs out of things to say about his own life, so he tentatively asks Robin about her life, assuring her that she doesn’t have to tell him anything she doesn’t want to. However, to his surprise she does speak. She asks if he’s ever heard of Ohara, and at Franky’s confusion, she tells him that she’s the last living scholar from Ohara, making her dangerous, and technically a criminal, and that’s what made her end up here. She hoped to escape her past by staying with the crew, but when she realised that would be impossible, she left them to keep them safe.

‘You should have known they weren’t going to accept that.’ Franky says, looking back at her and seeing a fond yet exasperated expression on her face.

‘Yes. I should have.’ She agrees. ‘But my mere presence is a danger to them. I never wanted them to suffer because of me.’

‘But that’s their choice to make. You can’t make that decision for anybody else. You know, no one is born to be alone.’

Robin’s eyes snap to his. ‘What?’

‘You weren’t born into this world to be alone, Robin. Your existence is not a crime. You should be allowed to go wherever you want, with whoever you want. And if your friends want to stay with you, follow you, there’s nothing you can do to stop them. Let other people care about you, Robin. Because they’ll care whether you want them to or not.’ Franky says, his gaze never straying from Robin’s.

They both stare at each other before Robin disappears, fleeing to her room. Franky worries, hoping he hasn’t said anything wrong, but decides to give her space. And thankfully, it doesn’t seem to ruin their tentative relationship, because the next day Robin is back out of the room to keep Franky company while he works. She goes back to keeping silent, and Franky doesn’t push, instead filling the silence with explanation’s of what he’s already done in the castle, and what he plans to do.

‘Do you ever think of him?’ Robin suddenly interrupts one day, shocking Franky, but he doesn’t drop anything this time.

‘Think of who?’ He asks despite already knowing who she’s talking about.

‘Tom.’ She states simply and Franky sighs, then shrugs.

‘Of course I think of him, this is where he was taken to be executed. How could I not think about Tom?’ During his first week in the castle, Franky spent a good amount of time searching for any evidence of Tom’s presence. He asked Jimbei if he knew if there was any kind of cemetery that was made for the prisoners. There was, but it was outside the boundaries of whatever kept them in the castle. But he’s sure it still wouldn’t lead him anywhere. They never gave Tom the respect he deserved while he lived, why would it be any different in death.

‘You said you used to blame yourself for what happened…why don’t you anymore?’ Robin asks and Franky finally looks at her.

‘It took a long time, and hearing Iceburg’s voice in my head saying he’d never forgive me didn’t help. But…they wanted him dead. Stupid Spanda had already decided that Tom was a criminal and had to die. Even if I had never built the Battle Franky’s, he still would have found some way to assure the arrest. I still feel guilt, of course I do, but there was nothing that could have been done.’ Franky tries to explain his thoughts on the matter. Some days are worse than others, waking up in a cold sweat with his brain telling him it was his fault, he could have saved Tom, but when rationality sets in, he remembers who’s really to blame.

Robin doesn’t say anything else after that, so Franky turns back to his repairs. And the weeks go on like that, Franky learns to work in silence with her, but he still prefers to speak because very rarely, Robin will talk too, interrupting him to ask more strange questions, but Franky always answers, no matter what. He’s happy to talk to her, he wants to talk to her, so he will grasp at any thread of a conversation she gives him. And Franky gets used to feeling her heavy stare on him, and actually finds her constant watching helpful when he does accidentally drop something because she always picks it up, bringing it to him wordlessly. 

And after all the time he’s spent in the castle, weeks that become months, Franky isn’t sure how he feels about Robin. Well, that’s not quite true, he actually thinks he might love her. Now, Franky knows what love feels like. He loved Tom. He loves Iceburg and Kokoro. He loves the Franky Family. He might even say he loves Paulie. And He thinks he’s starting to love the chaotic crew of borderline monsters he’s been forced to live with. But with Robin…he feels different. The familiar feeling of love is certainly there but then there’s something…more? He’s not sure how to explain it. So he ignores it, there’s no reason he should say anything. They can just keep going like they have. So Franky keeps repairing the castle until it’s practically as good as new.

Back in Water 7, Iceburg isn’t doing great. He’s tried his best to keep a brave face but after months and months of Franky being gone, being stuck in the same place Tom was taken, he’s starting to break a little bit. He thought he lost Franky once, after saying terrible things to him, and getting past that was bad enough. But now he’s lost Franky all over again. Paulie’s been doing his best to support Iceburg but he can’t stop his own feelings of guilt from overtaking him sometimes. Both men constantly have deep, dark circles under their eyes, and it will often take several calls of their names to properly catch their attention.

‘-sir!’ The sound of someone’s voice finally brings Iceburg back to the present and he shakes his head slightly before focusing on his secretary.

‘I apologise, Kalifa. What were you saying?’ Iceburg says, trying not to agitate her. He’s been zoning out on so many conversations, he knows she’s getting fed up with it.

Kalifa tries to keep her annoyed huff to herself. ‘As I was saying, everybody has now signed and are simply waiting on your signature.’

Iceburg blinks at her. ‘My signature for what.’

‘For the demolition of Enies Lobby.’

A chill goes through Iceburg’s body. They can’t demolish Enies Lobby. Franky can’t leave. If Franky can’t leave when they start tearing the place down, he’ll… ‘No.’ He manages to say firmly.

Kalifa sighs. ‘Sir, haven’t you been the one saying that Enies Lobby needs to be demolished for years?’

She’s right. He was. Enies Lobby is an ugly, terrifying, deteriorating building. It was the place where Tom was executed. Iceburg hates it and he had wanted it gone for years. But tearing the building down would mean potentially killing Franky. ‘I…I’ve changed my mind. Enies Lobby is a part of our history and tearing it down would be pretending it never happened.’ He says in a rush, hoping it sounds reasonable and believable, shuffling papers at the same time so he doesn’t have to look at the woman. It means he misses the way Kalifa narrows her eyes at him, before her usual stoic expression is back on her face. Iceburg hopes this means the conversation is over, and Franky will be safe.

So he’s shocked when Paulie bursts into his office later that week without knocking. ‘Paulie, what-’ 

‘Why has demolition for Enies Lobby just been announced? You said that Franky physically cannot leave, do you realise what will happen if-’ 

‘What?’ Iceburg asks in alarm, interrupting his rant that was bound to go on longer. ‘I never signed off on that.’

‘But I saw your signature on the notice. I know your signature, Iceburg.’ Paulie says and Iceburg stares at him before jumping up from his desk.

‘Show me.’ He demands and he and Paulie run out of the room, Paulie leading the way to where he saw one of the copies of the notice. Iceburg’s signature is very clearly sitting on the bottom and Iceburg can’t believe his eyes. ‘I never signed that, Paulie. I promise.’

‘Are you saying someone forged your signature?’ Paulie asks slowly.

‘I would hate to accuse anyone, but that’s the only explanation. When do they start?’ Iceburg starts frantically reading through the notice.

Paulie swallows. ‘Tonight.’

As dusk starts to fall over the castle, a light rain comes with it, drizzling and Franky sits outside the kitchen, watching Zoro as he walks out, who then stops when he notices the cyborg. ‘What?’

Franky smiles softly. ‘You fight with him so that he can still feel emotions, right?’ He watches Zoro tense minutely before relaxing again.

‘Clearly.’ He eventually grunts out.

‘I assume Sanji was someone who’s very free with his emotions.’ Franky guesses and Zoro nods. ‘It must be frustrating for him to feel nothing then.’ 

‘If he was himself he’d be more upset about the way he’s been changed than anybody else. To the cook, feeling nothing is the most monstrous trait a person can have. When I realised I could still piss him off, I just went with it because the cook being angry is better than nothing.’ Zoro sighs. ‘Why are you asking?’

‘What’s it like? Loving someone like that?’ Franky must be spending far too much time with Robin, but he thinks he understands why she tends to ask a leading question before asking what she really wants to, because he’s just done the same thing.

Zoro tenses again, looking at Franky with all three of his open eyes wearily. ‘What?’

‘Everything you do for the others comes naturally to you, I can tell. But you go out of your way to piss off Sanji, something you just said you do to make sure he feels something. You must love him, right?’ Franky tells him calmly.

‘Don’t…tell anyone.’ Zoro eventually grunts out.

‘They don’t know?’ Franky asks, raising an eyebrow. It’s so obvious, even through Sanji’s lack of feeling, how would they not know?

Zoro runs a hand through the hair on each head. ‘We…we were planning on telling them…before Robin left, but going after Robin was more important and now…technically he doesn’t love me right now, so there’s no point in saying anything.’ They spend a moment in companionable silence, Zoro suddenly feeling l relieved that someone finally knows. 

‘You didn’t answer my question. What’s it like?’

‘Overwhelming.’ Is Zoro’s immediate answer. ‘You wouldn’t believe what Curly Brow is actually like, but he is overwhelming with just how much and how deeply he feels. But being loved by him is so wonderful that I will wait for however long it takes to get my cook back, just so I can feel it again. And in return, I do whatever I can. It feels like I’ll never be good enough for him, but I know that he loves me, even if he can’t feel it right now. Yeah, it’s  overwhelming, but it’s worth it.’

Franky nods slowly. ‘How did you know?’

Zoro shrugs. ‘I just knew. Why?’

‘I-’ Franky’s hesitant answer is suddenly interrupted by a loud shout from Jimbei. A rare sound to hear that makes Franky and Zoro immediately jump up and rush to the door that leads to his pool. 

Luffy is not far behind them, his rubber-like limbs flinging him to the edge of the water quickly. ‘Jimbei, what’s happened?’ Jimbei points to where they can only just see the main road and see very clearly a crowd of people approaching the castle, the sun slowly setting behind them as the rain starts coming down harder, blurring the image. ‘What’s happening?’

Franky narrows his eyes, trying to get a clearer picture of the crowd and what they’re doing. ‘Wait…no. Oh no.’

‘What?’

‘Ice-bro has been trying to get Enies Lobby demolished for years, before he knew you guys were here, obviously. Somebody must’ve finally paid attention.’ Franky explains with a groan.

‘Demolished?’ Somebody says, but Franky isn’t paying attention to who, before Nami and Usopp suddenly rush through the door.

‘It’s them.’ Nami states, out of breath as lightning cracks over the castle. ‘They’re back.’

Silence chokes out the space before Franky watches every one look at Luffy before looking at Luffy himself, watching as he pulls his straw hat down to cover his eyes. ‘We won’t lose this time.’

Zoro is the first one to move, rushing back into the castle and calling for Sanji, Chopper and Brook to catch them up on what’s happening. The others don’t take long to follow, Luffy bounding through the door, with Nami and Usopp hot on his heels. But Franky looks at Jimbei.

‘Alright, so, I thought it was a little much for me to do this when I built this for you, but there is actually a defence system built into the walls of the pool. I have no doubt you can fight, but being stuck in the water I’m sure is a bit of a handicap. So if you push…’ Franky walks around the side, then points to a small button that’s on the outside but still in reach for Jimbei, ‘this button, here, you’ll have the best pool defence Water 7 has ever seen.’

Jimbei nods thoughtfully. ‘Thank you, Franky. Go join the others.’ Franky nods at the quiet order and runs.

Everyone’s gathered at the foot of stairs, all talking over each other, so it’s difficult for Franky to gather what exactly the conversation is about, until Sanji says, ‘They won by trapping us in this castle and cursing us. I won’t put it past them to just knock down the building.’

‘No. They’ll want to prove they can beat us without tricks this time. That cat won’t let Luffy die without a fight.’ Zoro says firmly and Luffy seems to agree with the way he’s nodding.

‘He has to face me again. I won’t let him walk away this time. And they’re not getting Robin.’ Luffy says firmly, and Franky fully believes him. 

‘Um, bros, and sis, is this the time I should bring up the upgrades I might’ve made when doing the repairs?’ Franky asks, and they all look at him.

‘What upgrades, Franky?’ Nami asks slowly and Franky walks to the front doors. 

There had always been a lever next to the doors, one that was used to open the windows at the very top of the building but it didn’t work by the time Franky got there, so while repairing it, he made some additions. He figured out early on that he could touch the outside walls of the castle by reaching through the doors and windows, even though he couldn’t leave. So, he had built internal shields into the building. The goal had always been to strengthen the structure, and shields were the best way he knew how to do it. He just treated Enies Lobby like another Battle Franky. The majority of the building was armoured at this point, Franky just had to activate the shields, it was nowhere near indestructible, but it would certainly delay demolition. Franky explained all this as the loud, creaky sounds of the shields moving filled the building. ‘Trust me, we’ll be safe until we win.’

‘Good call, Franky.’ Nami nods in approval.

And it seems he activated them just in time, because the front doors flew into the room, kicked off their hinges and Zoro was quick to pull out a sword and cut through them, making sure the others weren’t hit. There was a pause, as a bunch of people in black gathered at the door. Franky narrows his eyes at the group. He can’t believe who he sees. Lucci and Kaku who work hard and diligently for Paulie, who’s never had a bad word to say about the two shipwrights. Kalifa, who has been dedicated to Iceburg as his secretary for years, the trust Iceburg holds in her is steadfast. And Blueno, from the bar, who never once refused him, or anyone, service, no matter what. He’s shocked into silence. These are the people who trapped his new friends here? People who are so intertwined with life in Water 7. There are more people gathered behind them, he doesn’t recognise any of them but then someone else steps forward and Franky feels like he looks familiar, although can’t recognise him until…

‘Cutty Flam. I’m so glad you’re here. We wanted to get rid of Iceburg first, but this is better.’ That grating, smug voice is undeniable, despite how long it's been since he heard it.

‘Spanda? You’re the one behind this?!’ He yells out angrily and Spandam’s face pinches with rage.

‘It’s Spandam, you idiot!’ He has his own little tantrum before seemingly calming down and stalking slowly towards Franky and the group. ‘Like, I said, this is better. I hate you far more, you’re the one who did this to my face after all. And Iceburg will be easy to deal with, he’s not a freak like you and your master after all.’ He’s thrown back suddenly by a strong punch to his face, Franky fuming from where he’s standing and ready to throw another punch to make sure Spandam keeps his stupid mouth shut. Spandam sits up quickly and snarls. ‘Get them!’

But no one moves, Lucci and Kalifa looking at Spandam pitifully, with everyone else blatantly ignoring him, before Lucci sighs. ‘Let’s get this over with.’

Before they know it, everyone is locked in a fight. Lucci tears towards Luffy, jumping and transforming into a huge leopard before landing directly on top of the rubber man, but Luffy doesn’t back down easily, pushing him off and punching him. Kaku pulls swords out of…somewhere and abruptly turns into a giraffe. Zoro goes straight for him, seemingly unbothered, so Franky chooses not to question it. Nami starts fighting Kalifa, her expression scarier than Franky’s ever seen it while Brook starts fighting Blueno. Usopp is halfway up the stairs, providing cover and stopping Spandam in his tracks every time he tries to move. Sanji is fighting with a man that’s turned into a wolf, Chopper is attacking a weird looking guy with long hair, while the other weird looking guy with, what seems to be, a zipper mouth is coming straight for Franky.

Franky pulls his arm back then punches the guy right in his zipper mouth as hard as he can, and despite noticing that all these people have some sort of body hardening technique, the impact of the blow is great enough to zipper guy flying back and through the doors to Jimbei’s pool. He hears a low shout from Jimbei and starts to advance towards the door.

‘Franky!’ Franky turns to the frantic call of his name, his eyes finding Usopp constantly shooting then reloading his kabuto at an unbelievable speed. ‘He’s gone after Robin!’ Franky scans the entire room, and realises he can’t see Spandam anywhere.

He doesn’t think twice before sprinting up the stairs, avoiding all the other fights, and runs until he reaches the west wing, skidding to a stop when he sees the hole that’s been put through the outside wall. Looking out of it, he sees the rain pounding down, thunder claps drowning out every other sound, but he squints through the rain and the quickly approaching dark, finally making out Robin’s image climbing up the turrets with Spandam following her, swinging a strange looking sword. He looks like he’s shouting, but Franky can’t hear anything he’s saying, he also doesn’t care, all he cares about is the terrified, broken expression on Robin’s face.

Franky jumps out of the hole and into the rain, his feet landing hard on the cold, wet stone. He slips but he pays it no mind, climbing up the uneven surfaces as fast as he can, slipping and sliding as he goes. He keeps his eyes on Robin the entire time. Her wings flap in distress, but whatever keeps them tethered to the castle will not let her fly away so she just keeps climbing, doing her best to avoid the swings of Spandam’s bizarre sword. 

‘Robin! Fight back!’ Franky tries to call out to her but the sound of the rain drowns out his voice. Thankfully, something seems to draw her gaze to where he’s trying to get to her and he calls out again. ‘You’re not a monster if you’re just defending yourself. Fight back!’

He doesn’t know if she hears him, or just sees something in his expression, but Robin’s hand flies up to stop the downward swing of Spandam’s sword. They wrestle a little, but Robin clearly has the upper hand due to her current size and strength, and she grabs the sword firmly before tossing it away, and it falls from the building, disappearing into the darkening night. Spandam doesn’t back down after losing his sword though, continuing to go after Robin with his hands, fighting her physically. 

They grapple, but soon enough Robin is holding Spandam over the empty space below them and he’s struggling, true fear finally showing in his eyes and he’s desperately grabbing at her hands. Franky thinks he can hear him begging but he still pays no mind to him, fully focused on getting to Robin, to make sure she’s not about to be all self sacrificial again for the sake of the others who are taking care of themselves perfectly fine. He watches as Robin’s expression softens, then she turns to put him down safely on the roof and the wind must be blowing the right way to carry her voice because Franky hears her growl, ‘Leave my friends alone.’ Before shoving him away and turning to Franky, climbing over the roof to get to him.

Franky smiles, relieved, and starts speaking, whether Robin can actually hear him or not is irrelevant to him. ‘Let’s go, Robin. Back to the others, we’ll make sure they’re okay. And you can see for yourself that we’ll always fight for you, even if you don’t realise you deserve it.’ His words tumble over each other, drowned out by the storm, but Robin is close to him, almost within arms reach, and then they can…

A shot rings out through the deafening sound of the storm and Franky watches as a bullet passes straight through Robin’s chest, hitting his own but bouncing straight off with a small ding. Robin freezes, before starting to topple forward, and Franky rushes to catch her, almost slipping off the roof in his rush. Meanwhile, Spandam is gloating to himself, holding his hidden gun out as he laughs. But it doesn’t last long as he gets caught in the storm and slips, falling the same direction his sword went, off the roof and straight into the dark, his scream lost in the wind.

Franky manages to steady Robin so she doesn’t hit the roof and roll off it, and he lowers them both down slowly, trying to see how bad the wound is. ‘Robin, Robin, you have to stay with me. I can’t carry you in this rain, I’ll slip, but we need to get you to Chopper, he’ll…he can…’ Franky can’t seem to get his words out fast enough, making his best effort to keep his feet planted while gently pulling Robin towards the hole in the wall that he came through.

A large hand comes up to touch his cheek, stopping his mindless rambling. ‘Franky, I don’t think I can make it.’ Robin speaks softly, but they’re close enough that Franky can hear her.

‘Don’t…don’t say that, Robin. You’ll be fine we just have to get you inside and straight to Chopper and-’

Robin’s clawed thumb gently swipes under Franky’s eye, wiping away tears he doesn’t realise he’s crying. ‘Franky…thank you…for seeing me…for who I really am…’ Her hand begins to fall but Franky grabs it desperately, holding it against him.

‘Robin, please! Everyone down there needs you, you can’t leave them, they love you. I love you. Please just hang on.’ He can’t stop the sobs that start leaving his mouth. ‘I love you, Robin.’ He falls on top of her, desperately listening for her heartbeat that’s fading fast.

But somehow, inexplicably, before her heartbeat stops completely, it speeds up again, pounding hard against her chest and her body jolts away from Franky, forcing him to let her go. He watches with wide eyes as the Robin he knows begins to change. Her wings and horns retract into her body, as she grows smaller and her skin loses all of its red colour. Franky’s ready for her as her body comes back to him and she now fits in his arms like she was always meant to be there. Her eyes blink open slowly, and Franky is stunned by her beautiful blue eyes, unable to stop staring at her. ‘Franky? Say something.’ Her voice is the same as what he’s been hearing, but it’s jarring to hear it come from such a different form, but Franky knows…she’s still the same.

‘Super.’ He eventually manages to breath out and Robin laughs softly, a sound Franky is desperate to hear again.

Eventually, after spending a little too long staring at each other in the rain, they manage to make their way back inside and are greeted with the sound of celebration. As they make their way down the stairs, Franky sees the people who came to fight them all collapsed on the ground, soundly defeated, while a group of people who he knows but has technically not seen before stand around them cheering. He can recognise all of them, but Luffy no longer resembles burnt rubber, Nami, Usopp and Brook are fully human, Zoro has one head and two arms, Sanji is blond and has a wide smile on his face, unfamiliar to Franky, Chopper is a much tinier reindeer and Jimbei is out of his pool, gathered with the rest of them, and no longer has the large, terrifying teeth and claws. They all turn upon hearing Robin and Franky approaching.

‘We won!’ Luffy shouts, his arms stretching out towards the pair and flinging himself to where they’re standing, wrapping them both in a huge hug.

‘And we’re back to normal!’ Nami adds, hugging Usopp tightly.

‘Yeah, how did that happen?’ Usopp says from where he’s squished against Nami’s chest, unfazed from the tight hug.

Luffy laughs loudly. ‘Who cares? Isn’t it more important that it’s happened? And that we can leave now.’

Before anyone can say anything else, the doors open and a panting, drenched Iceburg stands in the doorway, his face filled with fear. But as soon as he catches sight of Franky, he almost cries with relief, rushing into the building and racing up the stairs. Luffy lets go of the pair in time for Iceburg to throw himself at Franky. ‘How do you get into these situations, Moron-ky? Stop doing this to me. I thought you were a goner. For real this time.’

‘They can’t take me down that easily, Ice for brains.’ Franky tells him gently, rubbing his back. 

It doesn’t take long for Paulie to follow, breathing even harder as he enters the building, the fear based adrenaline not having helped him as much as it did Iceburg. ‘What happened here?’ He asks between heavy breaths, staring at the group of people on the ground, horrified at the sight of his friends like that. So Franky explains everything he can while the small crew reunites, ecstatic to see Robin back to herself. 

Franky is taken aback by just how different Sanji is, fawning over Robin insistently and he kind of feels overwhelmed on her behalf. But a quick glance at Zoro tells Franky everything he needs to know. The subtle yet fond and relieved expression says this is who Sanji used to be, and Zoro is thrilled to have him back. The now tiny Chopper clambers up Zoro until he’s sitting on his shoulder, chattering non stop as he checks over him for injuries and Zoro doesn’t protest, letting the doctor do as he pleases. Brook is happily touching his instruments with his flesh covered fingers, relearning how it feels while he and Jimbei speak to each other softly. 

Sanji suddenly announces that he’s going to be preparing a feast for their last night here and Luffy cheers the loudest.

‘So his appetite wasn’t a part of the change then?’ Franky snorts softly and Usopp laughs.

‘We wish. Our captain will always be a monster, even if it’s just his stomach.’ Nami says. ‘Also, that’s quite the statement, Sanji. We don’t if it’s our last night here, since we still can’t go anywhere. We don’t have the Merry anymore. Remember?’ Everyone seems to deflate slightly at the reminder.

‘Wait, you guys didn’t mention you’re missing a ship. I’ll build you one. That is, if you're serious about becoming King of the pirates.’ Franky says casually and Luffy crosses his arms.

‘Of course I’m serious.’ He says, before grinning again. ‘You’ll really build us a ship? And you’ll come with us too, right? You’re our friend now.’

‘And we do need a shipwright since no one here seems to know how to treat a ship properly.’ Nami tacks on, eyeing Sanji and Zoro in particular, who are both conveniently looking away, yet nobody seems to notice just how close they’re standing to each other.

‘I…’ Franky’s first thought is to say no. He’s needed here in Water 7, the Franky family needs him, and he’d hate to leave Iceburg behind…again. But then Robin catches his gaze, a raised eyebrow and a small smirk on her face, already knowing his answer and Franky doesn’t even realise he’s nodding until he finally answers. ‘Yes. I’ll come with you.’