The Great Voyage: The Props Master on the Straw Hat Ship

"That's called a keel! Please, I'm a ship dismantler, how could I not know such basic common sense?!"

"I don't care, you just know how to fix ships! We need you to fix our ships!!"

"...How can you be so unreasonable?!"

Franky was also getting fed up with Luffy's antics, and his expression began to turn unfriendly.

"that……"

Seeing the two of them arguing and making a scene without getting to the point, Nami quickly stepped in:

"We heard from outside that you seem to urgently need money?"

Seeing that Franky was instantly drawn to her words, she quickly continued, "We happen to have quite a bit of savings, so we can definitely meet your request." "Hmm?"

Hearing this tone, which clearly indicated that he was not short of money, Franky couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

"What if I just asked for 500 million Pyrie?!"

Five hundred million?!

Nami was about to say, "This is outrageous!"

"Okay!"

Then Luffy nodded vigorously, "Don't even mention five hundred million, even one billion or fifteen billion, we can come up with that!"

His eyes were extremely firm and earnest as he said, "As long as you can fix the Going Merry!!"

Franky looked at Luffy and realized he wasn't joking; he seemed to be talking to him seriously. Franky fell silent.

After a while~

"I said……"

He then slowly began to speak, "I'm not joking."

"I'm not joking with you!!"

Luffy suddenly turned his head, "Link, how much of my personal savings did I collect at the Rainbow Mist and on Skypiea?"

His tone was very casual, as if he were talking about a hundred or two hundred Berries:

"Is there 500 million Berries?"

"More than enough, Captain."

Link snapped his fingers firmly.

La!

Around him were five black briefcases, each filled to the brim.

Click?

Link waved his hand, and the briefcase opened automatically, revealing stacks of bright green banknotes inside.

"There's more than just 500 million in there."

Link also crossed his arms, perfectly complementing Luffy's rare display of wealth and striking a pose for him.

"You saw it all."

Luffy patted the suitcase next to him and said to Franky again:

"If you need money, I have plenty here!!!"

He emphasized it to Frankie once again in that serious and earnest tone:

"As long as you can repair the Going Merry, money is absolutely no problem!!"

His resounding tone demonstrated his magnanimity as the captain of the ship.

This made Usopp very happy, and even Nami felt less distressed about taking out 500 million Berries.

Well, the main reason is to spend money on the Going Merry.

Secondary, it wasn't her money that was being spent, but rather her activity funds.

Anyway, it's Luffy's personal savings as captain, and he's willing to spend the money himself, especially for the sake of the sea.

Pirate ship, spending money on the blade.

Nami had no reason to stop this.

Franky stared at this scene and fell silent.

The technology used to refit the Going Merry! 210 million Berries! Roger back then!!

Franky fell silent once again, first looking at the five suitcases full of Berries, then at the determined gazes of Luffy, Link, and the other two standing there.

"I really am..."

He couldn't help but take a deep breath. "This is the first time I've ever met people who love ships so much! Woohoo!!!"

Franky spoke, his voice choked with emotion.

While money cannot fully reflect a person's truest emotions, it is certainly the most direct and readily observable reference point.

At least in Franky's opinion, no pirate would dare to take out 500 million Berries without batting an eye for the sake of their pirate ship.

Despite their composure and calmness, they probably have far more than 500 million Berries in their possession.

But... that's five hundred million! Five hundred million!!!

That price is enough to put a bounty on a division commander of the world's number one Whitebeard Pirates!

It was precisely because he understood the true value of this money that Franky was able to better empathize with the Straw Hat crew's love for their ship.

That is to say~

"You guys were absolutely awesome at speeding up the party!!"

He immediately wiped his eyes, patted his chest, and assured them, "I'll definitely help you with this!!"

"really?"

Upon hearing this, Luffy first inquired, and then immediately received a positive answer from Franky, at which point he burst into a happy smile.

"I knew you were a good person!!"

Alright, enough with the chit-chat~

Franky immediately swung his arm. "Where's your ship? Let me go see!"

"It should be being repaired by Carrera employees right now."

Nami thought for a moment and replied.

"Carrera? Didn't you already hire them to repair your ship? Why did you come all the way to me?!"

Franky asked, somewhat puzzled, and then half-jokingly added:

"Could it really be that the dragon bone broke?"

"Of course not, the Going Merry is well protected by us!"

Usopp quickly replied.

"What else do you need to repair?!"

Frankie was genuinely confused.

"Since it's not a problem with the keel, it shouldn't be a big issue, right?"

He was drinking his Coke and cracking a joke there:

"It's impossible to make major alterations to an existing ship. I just finished saying that~"

La!

He then noticed a group of people staring intently at him.

Why are you all looking at me like that?!

Franky almost choked on his cola. "Could it really be this?" The group of people immediately nodded in agreement.

"Is such that……"

Nami also stepped forward and explained their thoughts and needs to Franky.

"Wouldn't it become more suitable for seafaring?"

"...So we want to strengthen the Going Merry properly, to the point that it can withstand the waters of the latter half of the Grand Line and can dive through Fish-Man Island," she explained.

"I knew it."

Franky, wiping the Coke from his mouth, said, "To be honest, there have been quite a few cases like this over the years."

"There are pirates who cherish their ships so much that they can't accept their ships being phased out, so they would rather die than change ships."

"But in subsequent news reports, such people are often found submerged in the sea, or simply vanish without a trace, disappearing silently into the ocean." He sighed there, "So this ocean is just that cruel~ Aww!"

"So, can you meet our needs?!"

"Usopp asked expectantly."

"To completely remodel an already built ship..."

Franky immediately refused, saying, "Don't joke around. This kind of technology is comparable to a complete body reconstruction; only my master could possess it..."

He paused abruptly at this point.

In fact, he himself is now a genuine cyborg.

He can even transform his own flesh and blood into a powerful cyborg.

Moreover, at that time he was only using some materials from the abandoned ship, which was his masterpiece eight years earlier when he was twenty-six years old.

"Is there really no other way?!"

Usopp and Nami looked somewhat somber again.

Luffy remained silent, just staring straight at him.

"but……"

Frankie then gave an ambiguous answer: "It's not entirely hopeless."

"If I could obtain my master's technique, combined with my experience in modification, there shouldn't be any problem."

After undergoing self-transformation, he has accumulated about eight years of experience.

This modification technology was not only applied to him personally, but Franky also gradually applied it to shipbuilding.

However, he is still in the exploratory stage, and the technology is not yet mature.

"Is that so?!"

Luffy and his crew, their hopes rekindled, suddenly brightened up.

"Frankie, your master..."

Before Luffy could finish speaking, Franky immediately interrupted him:

“My master passed away many years ago…”

His tone was rather low.

It was because of the thirty-five warships he invented, the "Frankie Battleship," that Spandam, the then-commander of CP5, framed Tom, causing him to be accused of attacking a judicial ship and sent to Enies Lobby.

And he has never come out since.

In other words, he, as the disciple, bears an absolutely inescapable responsibility for his master's arrest and subsequent fate.

This is why, for so many years, Franky has been involved in the dismantling business rather than the shipbuilding business.

Because his creation, the "Franky Battleship," had harmed his mentor, it left an indelible shadow in his heart.

Therefore, his interest in building warships came to an end, and his modifications to his own ships were his last work in the past eight years.

"Ah, I'm sorry..."

Luffy realized he had said something he shouldn't have, and immediately apologized.

Then... he looked at Franky with a very hesitant expression.

Okay, stop looking at me like that.